1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,120 Good morning church. Today we're going to be reading 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:08,119 in Obadiah and if you don't have a Bible, you can look under your 3 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:15,840 seat and we're going to be reading from page 724, starting 4 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,640 in verse one. The vision of Obadiah. 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,080 Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom. 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,400 We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been 7 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:30,240 sent among the nations. Rise up, let us rise against her 8 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,480 for battle. Behold, I will make you small 9 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:36,160 among the nations. You shall be utterly despised. 10 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,400 The pride of your heart has deceived you, and you live. 11 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,280 And you who live in the clefts of the rock in your lofty 12 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:46,000 dwelling, who say in your heart, who will bring me down to the 13 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,680 ground, though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,440 is set among the stars? From there I will bring you 15 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,160 down, declares the Lord. If thieves came to you, if 16 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:00,240 plunderers came by night, how you have been destroyed? 17 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,520 Would they not steal only enough for themselves? 18 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,360 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? 19 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,480 How Esau has been pillaged, his treasure sought out. 20 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,320 All your allies have driven you to your border. 21 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:15,320 Those at peace with you have deceived you. 22 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,280 They have prevailed against you. Those who eat your bread have 23 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:23,880 set a trap beneath you. You have no understanding, will 24 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,920 I not on that day, declares the Lord, Destroy the wise men out 25 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:32,320 of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau, and your mighty 26 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:36,080 men shall be dismayed of Timon, so that every man from Mount 27 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:40,440 Esau will be cut off by slaughter because of the 28 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,120 violence done to your brother Jacob. 29 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:45,000 Shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. 30 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,480 On the day that you stand aloof, On the day that strangers 31 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:52,000 carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and 32 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,960 cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 33 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,520 But do not glow over the day of your brother in the day of his 34 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,360 misfortune. Do not rejoice over the people 35 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,320 of Judah in the day of their ruin. 36 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,040 Do not boast in the day of distress. 37 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,800 Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their 38 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,720 calamity. Do not glow over his disaster in 39 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,960 the day of his calamity. Do not loot his wealth in the 40 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,200 day of his calamity. Do not stand at the crossroads 41 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:23,560 to cut off his fugitives. Do not hand over his survivors 42 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,800 in the day of distress, for the day of the Lord is near upon all 43 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,000 the nations. As you have done, it shall be 44 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,080 done to you. Your deed shall return on your 45 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,840 own head. For as you have drunk on my holy 46 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,800 mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually. 47 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,120 They shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had 48 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,520 never been. But in Mount Zion there shall be 49 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:48,720 those who escape, and it shall be holy. 50 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,960 And the House of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. 51 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,520 The House of Jacob shall be a fire, and the House of Joseph 52 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,520 aflame, and the House of Esau stubble. 53 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,480 They shall burn them and consume consume them, and there shall be 54 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:05,280 no survivor for the House of Esau. 55 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:10,400 For the Lord has spoken. Those of the Negeb shall possess 56 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,920 Mount Esau, and those of the Shephala shall possess the land 57 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:16,760 of the Philistines. They shall possess the land of 58 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:20,040 Ephraim, and the land of Samaria and Benjamin shall possess 59 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,520 Gilead. the Exiles of this, the Exiles of this host of the 60 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,880 people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as 61 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,920 far as Zarephath, and the Exiles of Jerusalem who are in 62 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,880 Sephoraid shall possess the land of the Negeb. 63 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,720 Savior shall go up to the Mount to Mount Zion to rule Mount 64 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:42,480 Esau, and the Kingdom shall be the Lord's. 65 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:52,400 This is the word of the Lord. What's going on with Poor City 66 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:54,760 family and friends? How we doing good. 67 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,040 My name is Tanner. I'm the lead pastor here. 68 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,040 It's a joy to be with you and y'all at Poor City. 69 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,240 We are on a mission to do 4 things. 70 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,800 Help people fall in love with God's book, the Bible. 71 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,000 We're trying to help people fall in love with God's people, the 72 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,280 church, with God's mission, which is just living life with 73 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,120 him on mission, and to fall in love with God's city, Norfolk. 74 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,959 OK, now here's the good news. You don't ever have to have read 75 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:22,280 all the way through your Bible. You don't ever have to have been 76 00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:24,600 a member of a church. You don't have ever had to share 77 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,480 your faith with anybody or even live in the city of Norfolk to 78 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:28,560 join us. OK? 79 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:31,800 You just have to be real. You just have to be hungry. 80 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:34,680 You just have to want to grow and learn. 81 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,320 That's sort of the ingredients here at Port City that make us 82 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,920 tick is we we're just hungry to see a move of God amongst us. 83 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,840 We're hungry to learn His word. We believe He still speaks. 84 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:48,560 We believe He still saves. We believe that He wants us to 85 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,280 just be a messy group of people doing it together for the good, 86 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:53,640 the good of others. And that's what we're all about. 87 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,280 So if you have not gone to starting point yet, that is a 88 00:04:56,280 --> 00:04:58,160 great next step for you on March 1st. 89 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,840 We want to invite you to that. It's a great way to just learn 90 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:03,160 more about who we are. If you have gone to starting 91 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,680 point and a good next step for you is just to to apply to 92 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:10,000 become a member or to just keep getting to know people in our 93 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:11,520 church. A lot of churches start with 94 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,360 activity. We start with relationship here 95 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,080 at Port City and we just love that. 96 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,360 We want to get to know y'all. And then lastly, I would love to 97 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,760 just just pray. I would love to pray before we 98 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:27,240 dive into Obadiah, which maybe you've never read before, but 99 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,560 it's an awesome book and I'm excited to to see what the Lord 100 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,800 has for us. OK, let's pray our father, we 101 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:35,760 love you. Thank you for your work. 102 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,880 I thank you that you are the type of God who who saves us and 103 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:42,760 then brings you into a family, the church and and living on 104 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,440 mission with you and just enjoying life with you and God. 105 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:47,120 You want to bless cities like Norfolk through it. 106 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,360 So I just pray over this this people that you're building here 107 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,080 in our awesome hotel here in the great city of Norfolk. 108 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,520 God that you would you would continue to just just help us 109 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:00,400 stumble with you through this. So father, what we know not 110 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,560 right now, would you teach us what we have not would you give 111 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,120 us and who we are not? Would you please make us let the 112 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,680 words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be 113 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:09,720 acceptable in your sight And everybody who agree with that 114 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:15,720 said Amen, you all. We can learn a lot about God by 115 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,280 just thinking about the emotional experience of 116 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:21,720 parenting. There are a few things in life 117 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,240 where you can feel such a range of emotions in 5 minutes. 118 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:31,520 You can be proud of a kid, confused by your kid, hurt by 119 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,840 your kid, angry with your kid, patient with your kid. 120 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,880 And then from all of those feelings, as a parent, come 121 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,360 tactics. We plead with them, we beg them, 122 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,040 we warn them, we encourage them. We tell them we love them, we're 123 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,280 proud of them, and when we got to we disciplined them, right? 124 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,680 That's parenting. It's it's a range of emotions 125 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:58,480 and tactics, right. We all Lord the Lord our God is 126 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,800 like the perfect, non petty holy parent. 127 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:04,680 That's the good news. He does nothing because he's in 128 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,480 a bad mood. He doesn't need coffee to be on 129 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,560 God just is. But there's something about the 130 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:15,600 heart and tactics of a parent that I think is a helpful image 131 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,040 for us to grab on to, particularly as we think about 132 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,680 the minor prophet series we're in where we're going through a 133 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,520 minor prophet each week. OK, I'm going to show you a 134 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:25,600 graphic here in a minute. But what you got to understand 135 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:30,400 before I do is behind all parental tactics and emotions is 136 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:32,720 1 desire. Every parent just wants 137 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:36,000 fellowship with their kid. We're good, intimacy safe. 138 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:38,960 Now go be who you are out there. We're good. 139 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:41,720 Now go walk in that. It's intimacy and identity, 140 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,640 right? And it's the same for the Lord. 141 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,960 He has one goal, intimacy with his people and then for them to 142 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:48,480 walk in their identity out there. 143 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,440 Now the range of emotions and tactics he uses to get there 144 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:54,640 vary, just like it does for us as parents. 145 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:56,520 Are you all with me? Let me show you this chart. 146 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,720 What we're seeing in the Minor Prophets is God has one desire. 147 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:07,360 Turn back to me, turn back to me, be my people. 148 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:10,000 And when you do that you will showcase my goodness to the 149 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,960 nations and what's happening as we go through each book is the 150 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:17,480 way he's begging them to turn back shifts. 151 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:20,840 So in Hosea, it was please stop cheating on me. 152 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:23,760 And it was images of a idolatrous relationship and 153 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:25,640 asking them to tear their hearts up. 154 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,880 In the book of Joel, it was judgment and hell is coming in 155 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,040 the day of the Lord and the spirit's going to be poured out. 156 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,799 And then we get into Amos and he's talking about, man, I see 157 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:36,840 y'all's hypocrisy. Y'all need to let justice flow 158 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,400 like rivers and and one day I'm going to make all things right. 159 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,480 And then that brings us to today in the book of Obadiah. 160 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:49,960 Obadiah is a really unique book, but what you've got to 161 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:54,000 understand is that the Lord has been very direct with his people 162 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,000 for a long time about what's wrong with them and how he sees 163 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:58,840 their hypocrisy. And he's, he's kind of that 164 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,120 parent looking at the kid, just talking to them a lot and a lot 165 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:02,600 and a lot. And then in Obadiah, he does 166 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:06,160 something different. He's actually going to turn to 167 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:09,400 the bullies that he's been allowing to teach his kids a 168 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:10,840 lesson. He's going to talk to the 169 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:14,720 bullies in front of his kid. So imagine being before your 170 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:16,960 parent who's disappointed in you, has been coaching you, 171 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:18,600 disciplining you, talking to you. 172 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,960 And then he turns and says to the person who's been making 173 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:24,960 your life difficult, although they allowed it, they're going 174 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,800 to say you're going to get yours as that child a little bit. 175 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:30,160 Your heart is going to flicker, right? 176 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,720 This reminds you, he's not done with me. 177 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,640 He sees me. He cares about me, He loves me. 178 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:41,640 Even in the midst of these hard conversations we've been having, 179 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:44,560 and the evidence is that he just turned to this bully right here 180 00:09:44,560 --> 00:09:45,760 and says, you're going to get yours. 181 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:50,760 Does that make sense? So my hope for us as the Lord 182 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,440 calls out the Edomites through the book of Obadiah, is that we 183 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:57,720 will learn a couple of things #1 let's not copy them in their 184 00:09:57,720 --> 00:09:59,640 proud hearts, which he's going to call out. 185 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,360 So there's still some of that in us that we got to do some some 186 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:04,000 sanctifying surgery on. Amen. 187 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,600 And then the second piece is just taking comfort in God sees 188 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,600 all and we don't have to take vengeance on nobody. 189 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:14,160 This is what powers the New Testament church to love our 190 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:17,440 enemies and pray for those who persecute us and not to have to 191 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:19,320 get even because the Lord is going to sort them out. 192 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:21,360 And that just puts us at ease. Amen. 193 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:26,400 All right, to get there, we got two points #1 beware prides 194 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:30,120 deception, and #2 take courage in God's restoration. 195 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:31,960 If you are ready, let me hear you say I'm ready. 196 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,600 OK point #1 beware prides deception. 197 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,320 Verse one says the vision of Obadiah. 198 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,320 Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom. 199 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,920 OK the book of Obadiah is written around 500 BC. 200 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:51,280 It is a post exilic book if you've not been with us in this 201 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:53,960 series. OK 930 The Kingdom is united 202 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:56,880 under David and Solomon. It splits into Israel in the 203 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:00,280 north, Judah in the South. Israel falls to the Assyrians at 204 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:05,320 722 BC Judah falls to the Babylonians in 586 BC. 205 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,880 So Obadiah has written after those events have transpired. 206 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,320 OK, that's called a post exilic book because exile has already 207 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:14,320 happened. And now that leads us to the 208 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,120 question of who are the Edomites and why do we keep hearing Edom 209 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:18,560 and Esau all throughout this book? 210 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:22,320 If you don't know the Old Testament story, that's OK. 211 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,480 We'll dive into that more here this spring when we get back 212 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:28,520 into the life of Jacob in the book of Genesis. 213 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,560 But for now, what you need to know is God started his 214 00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:34,160 redemption project through a man named Abraham, who had a son 215 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:37,600 named Isaac, who had two sons named Jacob and Esau. 216 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,920 OK. The Lord chose Jacob, not Esau. 217 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,160 There was tension between Jacob and Esau, OK, a lot of tension, 218 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,360 a lot of animosity. And that animosity continued 219 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:50,360 through their lineage. It didn't stop with just them. 220 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:53,840 So imagine like their lineage goes on to fight with each other 221 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,080 the same way the brothers originally did. 222 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,680 Are you with me? You can write down if you are 223 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:00,760 studying this stuff later, which I hope you are. 224 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:03,320 Numbers 20. There's a famous scene when the 225 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:05,680 people of God have been delivered from Egypt and they're 226 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:08,600 on the way to the promised land. They need to pass through Edom. 227 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,720 And the people of Edom literally almost make a barrier guarding 228 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:15,280 their space to say, you ain't coming in. 229 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,520 And Moses pleads with them like, hey, we'll pay for everything. 230 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:21,440 We just want. We just want to cut through. 231 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:24,960 And it's a famous moment where they harden their heart and say, 232 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,360 you ain't coming in here. So that's some of the growing 233 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:31,400 animosity over time, but it actually goes to a new level 234 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,680 here in the Book of Obadiah. Look with me at verses 10 235 00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:39,560 through 12. Because of the violence done to 236 00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:43,400 your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut 237 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:46,080 off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, 238 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,040 on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and 239 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,560 foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you 240 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:55,560 were like one of them. But do not glow over the day of 241 00:12:55,560 --> 00:12:57,160 your brother in the day of his misfortune. 242 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,400 Do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their 243 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:01,960 ruin. Do not boast in the day of 244 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,120 distress. So I mentioned that Babylon took 245 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,560 over Jerusalem and Judah in 586 BC. 246 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:13,840 So imagine the Babylonians coming in, taking their stuff, 247 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:18,120 taking their money, pillaging them, taking their people back 248 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:21,560 to where they're from, and the people of Edom almost lining up 249 00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:27,280 like they're watching a movie, gloating, maybe getting some 250 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,000 words in as they are carried off into slavery. 251 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:31,560 Or maybe they're taking some things. 252 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:34,920 And y'all, when pillaging is happening, it's not pretty, OK? 253 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:38,360 And the Edomites boast in that day, they gloat, they stand 254 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:41,000 aloof, they don't lift a finger to help their brother. 255 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:45,040 Are you with me? That is the backdrop here for 256 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,400 the book of Obadiah. But then something really 257 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,960 interesting happens in verse 15. This is all making sense to us 258 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:53,640 to eat them stuff. OK, I get it. 259 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:55,560 They stood aloof. God is not happy about that. 260 00:13:55,840 --> 00:14:01,680 But look with me at verse 15. For the day of the Lord is near 261 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:06,480 upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be 262 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:08,680 done to you. Your deed shall return on your 263 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:10,920 own head. For as you have drunk on my holy 264 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,240 mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually. 265 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:15,920 So they shall drink and swallow and shall be as though they had 266 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:20,960 never been. So isn't it interesting that the 267 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:25,320 the the warning shifts from just the people of Edom to all the 268 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:26,400 nations? Did you see that? 269 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:29,560 And it's almost like the very same things that were just 270 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,600 directed just to Edom get directed to all the nations who 271 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:34,280 stand opposed to God's people. Are you with me? 272 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:40,600 So something that's happening here is that the Edomites are 273 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:44,560 sort of a, an image of what's going to happen to everyone who 274 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,720 stands opposed to the Lord, right? 275 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:51,160 Which begs the question of what is underneath that both the 276 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,600 nations are doing and the Edomites are doing that God is 277 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:56,360 really against. Like, what's the real issue? 278 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,440 I get that they gloated historically in that moment, but 279 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,240 how could that be applied to all nations? 280 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:03,760 All nations didn't necessarily do that. 281 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:06,440 Well, let's look at verses 3 and four. 282 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:09,840 I think two of the most stunning verses I've read in all the 283 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,080 Bible to describe a particular sin. 284 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:19,200 Check this out. The pride of your heart has 285 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:23,600 deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock in your 286 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:28,240 lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, who will bring me down to 287 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,520 the ground, though you soar aloft like the eagle, though 288 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:33,280 your nest is set among the stars. 289 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,720 From there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. 290 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:45,040 Pride, y'all pride. So historically, the people of 291 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,880 Edom were proud. The people of Esau were proud. 292 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:52,880 Theologically, anybody, nations, Edom, anywhere, anytime, all of 293 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,880 history. Who shares in that pride is 294 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,000 opposed to the Lord because we are not high as we're about to 295 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,600 talk about. We're deceived when we operate 296 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,840 that way and practically for us here today, whether you follow 297 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:09,880 Jesus or not, we've got a lot to learn about how pride is 298 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,360 deceiving us. OK, so let's let's focus on this 299 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:14,840 phrase. Look with me at verse three one 300 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:17,880 more time. Just a shocking phrase to me. 301 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:22,840 The pride of your heart has deceived you. 302 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,040 The way the Bible thinks about the heart y'all is that the 303 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,280 heart Maybe you're you've not been around the Bible much. 304 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:35,000 The heart isn't just an organ in your physical body. 305 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:39,160 The heart represents you. It represents the center of your 306 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,520 will, your emotions, your thinking, your decisions. 307 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:47,040 Everything you do, the Bible says, flows from your heart. 308 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,480 So when it says the pride of your heart has deceived you by 309 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:54,280 saying the pride of your heart, it's saying that the center of 310 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:56,520 who you are is proud. Are you with me? 311 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:01,280 The pride of your heart, the, the place that is most you, that 312 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:03,680 directs all that you do, is filled with pride. 313 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,359 And what is pride? Well, I think the verses offer 314 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:09,599 us a great image. It says you who live in the 315 00:17:09,599 --> 00:17:13,960 clefts of the rock in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, 316 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,119 who will bring me down to the ground? 317 00:17:16,599 --> 00:17:19,680 Do you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set 318 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:21,480 among the stars? From there I will bring you 319 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:22,960 down, says the Lord. Y'all. 320 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:27,720 Pride is the disposition of our heart, where we think we are 321 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:31,960 higher than we really are. Y'all, when you're high up, you 322 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:33,920 have the ultimate perspective, right? 323 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:36,200 The highest one is the safest one. 324 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:38,080 The highest one is the most powerful one. 325 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,800 That is why, by the way, the Lord our God is known as the 326 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,560 Most High because he actually is the one, right? 327 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:50,360 But in our hearts, what what sin is, is it's the inclination of 328 00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:53,880 your heart, the default of your heart in my heart that makes us 329 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,600 think we're elevated. We're an eagle, we're among the 330 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,200 stars. We have an objective 331 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,400 perspective, but all the rest of you are subjective, right? 332 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,360 That's what pride does is everybody's walking around think 333 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:07,680 of they're the most high. Isn't that ironic? 334 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:14,080 The the great theologian Rick Ross once said, I'm self-made, 335 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,320 you just affiliated. I build it ground up. 336 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,800 You bought and renovated. Here's the idea that Ross was 337 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,320 getting across to my teenage mind years ago. 338 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:28,200 I am self-made. I built everything you see. 339 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,840 But you inherited what you got. You worked with something given 340 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,040 to you. I did it all from nothing. 341 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:37,760 And there's something of that in all of us. 342 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,120 Sometimes it comes in like victimhood type pride and 343 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:43,320 sometimes it comes in I'm the greatest, but they're not that 344 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,520 different from each other. Some of y'all know my my 345 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:49,200 favorite movie of all time is The Lion King. 346 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:52,560 I resonate with like every character in Lion King. 347 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:54,040 There's a lot you can learn from all of them. 348 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:59,400 But when it comes to pride, it's Scar y'all Scar is so proud. 349 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,560 He has a huge ego and he's also a huge victim because they're 350 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:05,960 not that different. Victimhood and ego are not that 351 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:06,960 different. Y'all? 352 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,200 Listen to some of his lyrics from our from Be prepared. 353 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:13,800 Check this out. So prepare for the chance of a 354 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:16,960 lifetime. Be prepared for sensational 355 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,760 news. A shining new era is tiptoeing 356 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:22,800 era. And where do we feature? 357 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,080 Just listen to teacher. I know it sounds sordid, but 358 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,720 you'll be rewarded when at last I'm giving my due. 359 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,000 An injustice deliciously squared. 360 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:38,000 Be prepared. And at the very end, as his song 361 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:39,440 is crescendoing, this is what he says. 362 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:45,360 Meticulous planning, tenacity spanning decades of denial is 363 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:50,080 simply while I'll be king, undisputed, respected, saluted 364 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:56,080 and seen for the wonder I am. Yes, my teeth and ambitions are 365 00:19:56,080 --> 00:20:00,200 bared. Be prepared y'all, there's some 366 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:05,240 scar in all of us. What our pride does is it makes 367 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,360 us think we're not trying to kill Mufasa y'all. 368 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,440 To use the analogy, y'all, the person we want out the way. 369 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:16,360 The only thing keeping me from being as I really see myself is 370 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:19,880 actually God. The person keeping me from 371 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:24,040 running the show is sort of Him. So what we want is him out the 372 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:25,520 way. So I could be king and then all 373 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:27,960 y'all are just my hyenas. Does that make sense? 374 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:30,440 This is my show and you play a role in it. 375 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,640 That's what pride does is it makes you the center of 376 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:37,680 everything. So as we think about how this 377 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:44,760 applies to to the Bible story, This is why they put Jesus to 378 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:48,880 death because the idea was like, I need him out the way. 379 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:51,160 If his claims are true, he's got to go now. 380 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,720 Some people killed Jesus and played the stupid card of I, I 381 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:56,600 don't hate him or anything, but he does have to die. 382 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,840 You know, this is Pilate famously washing his hands and 383 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,720 saying I'm not guilty for what I'm about to do, but he's got to 384 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,440 die, am I right? But some of us are directly 385 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:08,880 opposed to the Lord and hate him. 386 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,920 But in either case, through stupidity and let's get him out 387 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,920 the way or through direct prideful hatred. 388 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:18,440 The the goal is the same, which is I need to run this show, not 389 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:20,760 him. That is what pride does. 390 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,560 It makes us think we are the one running the show. 391 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,600 But as the verse tells us, the pride of your heart has deceived 392 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:30,880 you. Somebody say deceived. 393 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,560 It's lied to you. It's tricked you because you are 394 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,720 not among the stars, you are not an eagle, you are not in the 395 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:38,760 rocks. OK. 396 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:43,560 And this idea of deception raises an interesting question, 397 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:46,880 which is, did God create you to be deceiving yourself? 398 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,200 If it's of your heart, where did that come from? 399 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:54,680 OK, which is why Genesis chapter 3 is so important to always keep 400 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,360 in the back of your mind. OK, I'll read it over you. 401 00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:59,800 The first sin was introduced this way. 402 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:03,960 Genesis 3. I read verses one through 6 over 403 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:06,160 you. Now the serpent was more crafty 404 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,360 than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had 405 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:10,360 made. He said to the woman, Did God 406 00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:13,000 actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 407 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,600 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit 408 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:19,200 of the trees in the garden. But God said, You should not eat 409 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:21,800 of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, 410 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:23,840 neither shall you touch it, lest you die. 411 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,640 But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, 412 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,560 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open, 413 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:34,200 and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 414 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,200 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that 415 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,920 it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desired to 416 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,760 make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. 417 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:45,480 And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he 418 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,120 ate. Y'all Sin entered the world 419 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:52,920 through deception. Satan deceived them. 420 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,760 And when they ate the fruit, what started outside of them? 421 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:58,960 The first deception came from the outside. 422 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:02,200 But the moment we sin. Now deception flows naturally 423 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:03,640 from the inside. Does that make sense? 424 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:05,560 That's what it means to be fallen. 425 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:08,280 That's what it means to have original sin. 426 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:12,560 It means we're born into a default OK we're the pride of 427 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,280 our heart is deceiving us. Are you with me So no, you were 428 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,440 not created to deceive yourself, but you are fallen. 429 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:21,960 OK you are apart from the grace of God. 430 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:24,880 You need to be redeemed. This is this is the the gospel 431 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,400 story. Is this possible for our heart 432 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:32,440 to be made new and changed. But you all we just got to 433 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,200 wrestle with that. When I read Obadiah three about 434 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,320 I bout, I don't know if you ever have those reactions. 435 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,000 Do you ever read a verse? You're like, how have I never 436 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,120 read this? And you just want to like ask 437 00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:44,360 somebody. Have you ever read Obadiah 438 00:23:44,360 --> 00:23:45,880 three? It said the pride of your heart 439 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,080 has deceived you. If I could go all the way back 440 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:49,920 to 18 year old Tanner when I got saved. 441 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,720 I think that phrase captures what it felt like to start 442 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:53,840 reading the Bible with my friend. 443 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,920 It was this idea that I thought what was keeping me from being 444 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,200 happy in life was just that everybody wasn't getting in 445 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:02,160 line. And if I could just have a 446 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:04,320 little more control and if things just went my way a little 447 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:07,280 bit more, and behind all the anger and the anxiety and all 448 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:09,680 the pride was just, I'm close to getting my moment. 449 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,320 But to hear what sin really is is that the pride of your heart 450 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:16,160 has deceived you, which means you're not miserable because 451 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,240 you're not getting your way. You're miserable because you 452 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,560 think to be happy would be to get your way. 453 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,320 Like you've been deceived. Then once you realize you've 454 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:24,960 been deceived, you're like, I don't want to be deceived no 455 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:26,720 more. How do I get out of that? 456 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,360 And that's the idea of rescue. That's what the Bible is all 457 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:33,040 about is you can't sober yourself up. 458 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,440 You can't undeceive yourself. You need somebody from the 459 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:40,520 outside to rescue you. So I want to talk to non 460 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,000 Christians and Christians before we move on. 461 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,520 If you're not a Christian here today, I just want you to start 462 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:48,320 because by the end, at the end, I'm going to give you the 463 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,440 biggest reason you should humble yourself and get out of the 464 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,160 stars, y'all, to come to faith in crisis, to get off your high 465 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:55,560 horse. And that's where it comes from. 466 00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:58,080 Is this verse right here. So stop thinking you an eagle. 467 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,520 But for now, what I just want you processing is, is it 468 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,440 possible that God's right that the pride of your heart is 469 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,840 deceiving you? Is that possible? 470 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:09,880 Is it possible that you're wrong? 471 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:13,200 And y'all, that deception comes in many ways. 472 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,400 You could be proud of how open minded you are. 473 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:17,200 You could be proud of how good of a person you think you are. 474 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,200 It comes in a myriad of forms. But behind it all is deception. 475 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,280 You are not God. You are not among the stars. 476 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,280 And that's hard. But if you weren't created to 477 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,520 live among the stars, it's actually kindness to tell you 478 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,080 you've been deceived. So is it possible that that's 479 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,320 true, that the Bible's right in assessing you that way? 480 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:36,440 Would you begin to agree with God about that? 481 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:39,040 And to the believers in the room, here's what I want to say 482 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:43,720 to you is write down James 4. Write down first Peter 5. 483 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,800 Those two texts are huge on humbling ourselves that God 484 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,280 opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble. 485 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:53,600 And what's really interesting, when you go read those texts, it 486 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,840 gives you 3 things to do. Humble yourself, submit to God, 487 00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:00,680 resist Satan. All three of those are in both 488 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,320 those texts. Humble yourself, submit to God, 489 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,600 resist Satan. I found that I tend to just 490 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:09,200 focus on one of those, like when I'm trying to humble myself, I'm 491 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,360 just very focused on how sinful I am. 492 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:14,800 And I get you can actually get a little stuck in yourself and in 493 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,080 your feelings through the humbling of yourself, but then 494 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:18,560 you need to focus on submitting to God. 495 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:19,840 Like what is God calling me to do? 496 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,480 How can I just focus on him instead of just trying to get 497 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,640 myself out of the stars? How do I actually submit to God? 498 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:27,480 Who is in the stars? Are you with me? 499 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,720 And then lastly, resist Satan, yo. 500 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:35,160 Anytime deception is going on, anytime we're proud, Satan is 501 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,040 still at work because that's his frequency, that's his 502 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:39,880 wavelength. He doesn't live in reality. 503 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,160 He lives in rebellion. OK, so we've got to resist him. 504 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,960 We do have to take authority over our thought life and and 505 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,720 there are just patterns and ways that we just get stuck and they 506 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:53,640 feel so natural to us that many times are his his strategy to to 507 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:57,720 get us get us proud once again. So humble yourself, submit to 508 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:03,880 God and resist Satan. Now let's shift to how after 509 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,520 focusing on the pride of Edom, of how God is encouraging his 510 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:12,440 child by by by talking to Edom this way, let's take courage in 511 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,280 God's restoration. Don't just imagine being that 512 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,760 kid standing there. God is through the minor 513 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,120 prophets been telling you hard things for hundreds of years. 514 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:22,640 We've been showing you the map throughout the series. 515 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,960 I'm not going to right now, but prophets are all over Israel and 516 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,880 Judah and they're saying hard things to the people of God year 517 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,200 over year over year. You're going into exile and so 518 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,960 you it could get to where you think man is God just like done 519 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:37,520 with us? Is he against us? 520 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:44,240 And then Obadiah 15 through 21 and he's just like just 521 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,440 encouraging them like you're going to possess land again and 522 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,080 you're going to you're going to, you're going to be back in your 523 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,560 spot and, and it's going to be OK. 524 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,480 And the, the Kingdom will belong to the Lord and the Edomites are 525 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,040 going to get handled. And you've got to just be 526 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,120 lighting up on the inside as God's kid in that moment, you 527 00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:03,960 know? So here are three ways I think 528 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:08,880 hearing Obadiah should encourage or us to take courage. 529 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,880 OK, first one, take courage. God is not done with us. 530 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,360 God is not done with us, Y'all? They were in exile. 531 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:22,440 They were in Babylon. So to hear this text and to hear 532 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:26,000 that we're going to be back, to hear that God is not done with 533 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:30,520 us for them, that just that just would have put something in them 534 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:34,320 of like God's not done. Even exile is part of how he's 535 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:37,160 coming after us in love. Does that make sense? 536 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,560 Like God is purposeful even in the ways he disciplines us. 537 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:46,640 Hebrews 13 talks about this, that God is the ultimate loving 538 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:49,400 parent. Everything he does is 539 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:51,760 purposeful. He is never done with you. 540 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,840 If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, there is nothing in your 541 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,360 life that is punitive. All of it is purposeful. 542 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:02,560 Now what's hard for us to understand is we don't know. 543 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,320 We don't have the the calculus, the gospel calculus within 544 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,560 ourselves yet to know what is purposefully like discipline 545 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:11,800 from the Lord, what is just this is hardship of life. 546 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,120 It's just a broken place. I don't know, but I know his 547 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,960 purpose in all of it is your reformation not your punishment. 548 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,600 Are you with me? Like what God wants for you is 549 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:27,840 to become like his Son and we don't these promises to them 550 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,560 about going back to the land we see ultimately in Jesus. 551 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:34,400 Y'all where we're going is with the Lord in full rest forever. 552 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,880 There is a final Sabbath day of rest the book of Hebrews talk 553 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,240 about that we're aiming for. So no matter what you're going 554 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:43,160 through in your life right now, that is coming. 555 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,240 Ephesians 2 talks about he's going to show you kindness for 556 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,080 ages. That's his plan for you. 557 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,000 He wants to keep showing you kindness forever. 558 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,920 And sometimes when we're suffering or we're feeling like 559 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,360 we're getting squeezed by life, we start thinking God must be 560 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:01,360 done with us because I'm getting squeezed. 561 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:05,520 Believer, God is not done with you. 562 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:10,800 He's not. He is using this in your life. 563 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,480 Even when we don't understand it #2 take courage. 564 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,920 God is stronger than the bad guys. 565 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:19,960 God is stronger than the bad guys. 566 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:23,240 Verse 4 though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest 567 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,920 is set among the stars. From there I will bring you 568 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:27,800 down, declares the Lord. Y'all. 569 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,320 The Lord brings down the people who think they're in the stars. 570 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,720 He just boop. God could just pull them down at 571 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,320 just a heartbeat, which to the people of God historically is 572 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,800 comforting because they felt like the bad guys had all the 573 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:43,440 power. We're getting beat down. 574 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:45,080 They laughed at us all along the way. 575 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,360 Lord, they stood there while we got pillaged. 576 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,280 We were in a quip last week and and one of our members who knows 577 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,040 their Bible like crazy, pointed out something that I never 578 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,920 thought about before, but articulated so well I wanted to 579 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:58,720 share it with you. They were talking about with Old 580 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,360 Testament stories. We do a couple of things, but 581 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:02,680 there's a third thing I want to add to it. 582 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:06,120 One is we moralize them. You know, like think like Daniel 583 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,680 on the lion's den. Be courageous like Daniel, OK. 584 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,640 And hopefully you've been around enough gospel centered teaching 585 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,440 over time, you know, not to moralize things. 586 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:16,920 OK. But then even with the gospel 587 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:18,920 centered thing, which we're going to end our sermon with 588 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:22,280 here today, what we can do is we can still just focus on, oh, 589 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,520 those cool Old Testament stories are just to point to how Jesus 590 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:27,160 would eventually do that, which is true. 591 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:31,000 But the third thing they're also doing is they're supposed to 592 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,680 actually in real time for real people in real history that 593 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,520 lived in those places, give them courage that God's in control 594 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,440 when it looks like he isn't. Does that make sense? 595 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,080 That's that's a big purpose why Daniel and the lion's den is 596 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:45,680 there. It's the same purpose of 597 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:50,120 Obadiah, which is if God is in control in the moment, the bad 598 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:53,720 guys have the most power are standing aloof gloating over us. 599 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,360 If we genuinely believe God is in control right now, how would 600 00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:59,240 it change how we live? Does that make sense? 601 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,800 So we we don't need to moralize that or even just Gospel center 602 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,040 that and jump to Jesus, which we will because he's the power for 603 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:10,360 the change. But it's also supposed to make 604 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:15,280 us take courage that even in the worst moment, even in captivity, 605 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,720 God is stronger than them. God is in charge. 606 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,880 God will sort them out. God is handling even the 607 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,200 craziest moment where it looks like everybody but God has 608 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:30,680 power. He has it third way. 609 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,680 This leads us to take courage. Become like him, not like them. 610 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,120 Become like him, not like them. Remember, they're in Babylon, 611 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:44,320 y'all. The temptation was to conform to 612 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:46,080 their environment. The temptation. 613 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,160 Have you ever noticed maybe you've been on a sports team or 614 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:52,200 something when your season feels like it's over but there's still 615 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:54,440 halfway left? Like if you're O and eight, 616 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:57,880 there's somebody on your team that embodies the attitude of 617 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:01,040 what's the point? Have you ever noticed that when 618 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,240 you're losing, it begins to feel like, what's the point? 619 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,000 Maybe you're in a workplace where people don't care, so why 620 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,120 should you? Like it can become like, what's 621 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:09,960 the point? And once you get there, you tend 622 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,680 to conform to your environment. Have you noticed that once your 623 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,440 mind gives up like that, once it doesn't feel purposeful, you 624 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,520 conform to whatever it is going on around you. 625 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,160 Have you ever noticed that it's very contagious? 626 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:25,800 And so I think what we need to to hear is that because God is 627 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:28,600 stronger than them and God's not done, God's using this for us, 628 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:31,560 it changes how we live now. Are you with me? 629 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:36,040 So I want to give you 3 parallels of how I think Obadiah 630 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:39,240 by the people in the time period would have known. 631 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,680 That means they need to live that I think the New Testament 632 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:42,880 church needs. Are you with me? 633 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:47,680 Here are the three ways. Number one, stop conforming. 634 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:52,520 Stop conforming, y'all? They were tempted to conform to 635 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,560 the Babylonian practices. They had the power. 636 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:58,760 Let me take on their technology. Let me take on their all their 637 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:00,400 ways, their methods, their things. 638 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:02,960 There's no point anyways. We're losing, we're in exile. 639 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,160 God don't care. So let's just let's figure out 640 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,680 how they do things. But y'all, what the New 641 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,600 Testament teaches us is in light of Christ's resurrection, 642 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,120 everything you do matters. Whether you eat or drink or 643 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,400 whatever you do do all to the glory of God. 644 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:18,560 Every second matters. Everything matters. 645 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:23,320 Every part of your day matters. So y'all, you are a Christ 646 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:25,360 follower before you're an American. 647 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,760 You are. We've got to be thinking about 648 00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:32,960 who we are in our identity and light of who Christ calls us to 649 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,760 be and what the New Testament church calls us to be, and not 650 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:37,560 just comparing ourselves to other Americans. 651 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:40,639 Does that make sense? We tend to conform to the 652 00:34:40,639 --> 00:34:44,440 patterns around us, and we're not conforming ourselves to who 653 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,760 Christ is in his ways. So let's renew our mind in that 654 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:49,840 way. I don't know what you're 655 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:51,679 conforming patterns have looked like for me. 656 00:34:51,679 --> 00:34:53,480 A lot of them start with technology. 657 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:56,480 They do like that. That's just one of the easiest 658 00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:00,400 ways for me to think. Am I just slowly just accepting 659 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,600 that this is normal? This is not normal. 660 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,000 Every week I feel that when I get the reminder of how much 661 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,760 time I average per day on my screen last week, I'm like, God, 662 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:12,080 did I really average 2 hours a day on this device last week? 663 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,680 That means for 14 hours, I 14 hours. 664 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,520 Father, help me so stop conforming #2 love the city, 665 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:23,480 love this city. So this is what's really 666 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:29,200 interesting about Obadiah. Obadiah is highly similar to 667 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:33,840 Jeremiah 49 verses 7 to 22, which leads to hundreds of books 668 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,040 by scholars of was one of them written first? 669 00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:37,120 Was one of them copying the other? 670 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,080 Was there another thing they were both copying from? 671 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,760 Or could God be giving the same message from different 672 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,600 geographical locations because he's God through different 673 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,760 people at the same time? I think so, but y'all what's 674 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,880 interesting about it quoting highly from Jeremiah is you 675 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:54,960 might know this Jeremiah was also written to the Exiles and 676 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,600 it was written for the purpose of getting them to live a 677 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:03,000 certain way while in Babylon. Jeremiah 29 is all about y'all 678 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:07,920 need to love Babylon, stop whining that you're not in the 679 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,200 promised land and become who I made you to be where you are. 680 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,960 So when I bring you back, it'll be blessed be Jerusalem in 681 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:16,280 Babylon. So when you come back to 682 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,240 Jerusalem, Jerusalem will be Jerusalem. 683 00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:20,720 Are you with me? But if you keep whining and 684 00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:24,520 focus on what you don't got while you're in Babylon, that's 685 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:27,720 not what I'm after. I'm after the Reformation of the 686 00:36:27,720 --> 00:36:30,600 place in which you live. I want you to change where you 687 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:32,680 are, not just get you out of where you are. 688 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:38,040 So for us, y'all love the city you live in, love where you are, 689 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:42,800 seek its welfare in a city like Norfolk. 690 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:45,240 It's similar to many other big cities, some of the the big 691 00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:46,880 ones. It's so easy to think about the 692 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,600 next place you're going to live. And what we do is we think I'll 693 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:51,920 be intentional in this way or this way, or I'll be this type 694 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,560 of person once I get there. And we just want to say, hey, 695 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,320 the Lord's got you here. Norfolk needs you. 696 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,760 We need you like the people of God here need you. 697 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,400 There's an interdependence you were created to be a part of in 698 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,080 a seeking the good of the city where the Lord has you. 699 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:08,080 And once he brings you where you're going, guess you're going 700 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,000 to be, you're going to be who you're being here. 701 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:12,520 Because I've had those times in my life where I'm like, I'll be 702 00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:15,960 intentional when I get that next job or when I'll do that next 703 00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:18,560 thing or when we have that. And guess who I end up being 704 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,160 when I get there? But it was when I said, when I 705 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,720 get there, you know what I mean? So just seek the welfare now 706 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:27,480 while you're here. Learn God's ways. 707 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:31,000 Learn how to live out Jeremiah 29 with us. 708 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,040 And then when you go wherever the Lord, I hope he gets you 709 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:35,240 there. God bless you. 710 00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:37,120 Or some of y'all ended up here for a long time. 711 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:39,160 I hope and I pray that hard. That's something y'all be 712 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,000 surprised by how long the Lord keeps you in Norfolk. 713 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,800 And #3 the way I think that Obadiah would change the people 714 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:49,200 of God is love your enemies. Love your enemies again. 715 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:51,840 They're in Babylon, y'all. They're in Babylon. 716 00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:54,640 The New Testament church changed the world. 717 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:57,640 And one of the main ways they did that was through love of 718 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:01,240 enemy. Jesus said love your enemies and 719 00:38:01,240 --> 00:38:04,600 pray for those who persecute you. 720 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,200 Y'all? They were facing martyrdom in 721 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:10,360 the early church. I think one of the things we do 722 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,840 with enemy stuff, I don't know if you do this, we think it 723 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,280 means it has to be somebody who just hates you or wants you to 724 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:17,000 die for being a Christian, for them to be an enemy. 725 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,360 That's not what that means. We make enemies out of stuff all 726 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:21,680 the time. Little ways. 727 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,120 Anytime you were about to gossip about somebody, you feel 728 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:28,600 threatened, right? I wouldn't slander somebody 729 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:30,680 else's character if I didn't feel threatened by them. 730 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:34,160 That sounds like an enemy to me. You don't slander friends, you 731 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:36,560 know. Well, sometimes we do, because 732 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:38,280 even our friends become our enemies, right? 733 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,360 You're not operating like a hyena right now. 734 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:42,760 I need you. I need you in orbit of what I'm 735 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,440 trying to do here. So the point is, what if we 736 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:49,840 zoomed out from just thinking of an enemy as somebody just 737 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:55,360 oppositely opposed to your good? But y'all, it's just basic 738 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:57,720 things like forgiveness, bitterness, resentment. 739 00:38:57,720 --> 00:39:00,240 Anytime those things are festering in our souls, there's 740 00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:03,760 enemy dynamics at play. This is why the Lord's Prayer is 741 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,480 a daily prayer. Forgive us our debts as we 742 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:08,760 forgive those who have trespassed against us. 743 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,480 Help us let go of stuff so we're not carrying it. 744 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:16,200 Does that make sense, y'all? I believe if we genuinely 745 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:20,640 believe Romans 12 that vengeance is mine, I will repay, declares 746 00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:23,760 the Lord. Your life will change because 747 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:26,080 what you begin to believe is nobody's getting away with 748 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:28,760 anything. God will sort it out. 749 00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:32,880 Either that sin will be put on Christ or it's going to be put 750 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:35,800 in hell, period. And what that does is it makes 751 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:39,000 me stop having to be the judge, jury, and executioner. 752 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:42,200 I can give it to the Lord, and then you're calling me to love 753 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:45,000 my enemies. But I'm only going to do that if 754 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:46,720 I really believe He's going to do that. 755 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:49,520 Does that make sense? So many times we take control of 756 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:51,640 the situation. We do the gossip, we do the 757 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:54,840 slander, we do all the little subtle ways of hate on our 758 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:57,320 enemies because we don't believe God's going to handle it. 759 00:39:57,360 --> 00:39:59,920 I got to handle it. That makes sense. 760 00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:01,680 I got to. This image just come to mind. 761 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:03,360 I was a teacher. I was 22 years old. 762 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:06,560 I remember like day 5 this one class I had no control. 763 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:07,880 Shout out to teachers, pray for him. 764 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:11,200 It was already over y'all. Like it was like I was like I 765 00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:13,520 need a new semester because this is getting bad. 766 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:17,040 My man Tyreek, he wrote me a note. 767 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:21,520 He said in it, man, he was like, Mr. T, you need to get that 768 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:23,920 little girl in the 2nd row. She messing with me, you need to 769 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:25,440 handle it. And this was the last line of 770 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:27,120 the letter. I'll never forget. 771 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:34,920 He went dot, dot, dot or I will. And I remember just like Tyreek, 772 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:36,880 he ain't going to do nothing, man. 773 00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:40,240 But it was like he was trying to control me, to control her. 774 00:40:40,240 --> 00:40:42,200 You know what I mean? Like, and I was like, we're all 775 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:44,120 Tyreek, you know, we scar. We Tyreek. 776 00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:47,200 That's the point of the sermon. But through the Spirit, you have 777 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,920 the opportunity to trust God's going to handle it. 778 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:52,360 To Tyreek's credit, he was trying to get me to handle it. 779 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:54,520 He's like, I know what I'm going to do if you want to do 780 00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:56,360 something. And then the ironic thing was 781 00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:58,800 his mom called me the next day and said, Tyreek told me he 782 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:00,720 wrote you a note. And that was a that was a fun 783 00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:04,040 conversation. That was a fun conversation. 784 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:07,080 We all, we seek revenge so subtly in so many ways. 785 00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:10,720 We defame people's character. We slander them, we throw jabs 786 00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:12,840 at them. But Oh yeah, I guess he's kind 787 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,960 of good. You know, we just jab, we jab, 788 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:19,600 we poke we. But if we really believe God's 789 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:22,560 got it, we could seek the good of others. 790 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:25,800 We could pray for them and ask God to give us new hearts when 791 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,120 we don't want to. I do want to close by sharing 792 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:29,560 the story of Daniel on the Lion's den. 793 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:33,240 So I think it's very similar to the impact that Obadiah would 794 00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:35,120 have, and it's the ultimate reason we should humble 795 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,480 ourselves. Y'all, y'all. 796 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:41,200 Daniel on the Lion's Den is a pretty dope story from the book 797 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:46,360 of Daniel. Where Daniel loved Yahweh, OK, 798 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:51,520 he was taken captive and put into the Babylonian context and 799 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:53,840 forced to learn their customs and their ways, but he still 800 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:56,960 loved God. So God's favor was on his life 801 00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:00,760 and Daniel was just rising in political power and the the the 802 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:02,160 Babylonians were like, Daniel's got it. 803 00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:04,200 We got to give him everything. This dude is the man. 804 00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:09,200 Well, he developed some enemies. Some Babylonian political 805 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:11,920 officials hated him and how much favor he had and how everything 806 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:14,280 went his way. So because they hated him, they 807 00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:16,320 devised the scheme. OK. 808 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,760 And their scheme was to go to the king and say, O king, you 809 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,160 are so great. O king, you are awesome. 810 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,360 And notice how to get them in on his scheme. 811 00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,040 They appealed to his pride. Hello. 812 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:29,000 They said, you're the greatest. No one should worship anyone but 813 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:32,680 you, right, O King? And he's like, why, yes, that 814 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:35,200 sounds great. And they're like, OK, king, so 815 00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:37,840 if anybody worships anybody other than you because you're 816 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:39,840 the greatest king, they should get killed, right? 817 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:41,080 They should get thrown in the lion's den. 818 00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:42,920 Sounds great. See that it's done. 819 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,200 So they go out and they write the edict and they send it all 820 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,040 out. And then they're like, ready 821 00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:50,960 with the cameras out for when Daniel is praying three times a 822 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:53,120 day, just like he always does to the Lord and not to the king. 823 00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:55,960 And they're like, oh, king, you said, because you're the 824 00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:58,800 greatest, right? That if anybody did that, that 825 00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:01,200 they would have to die. Well, Daniel, I don't know what 826 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:04,480 to tell you, but he he been praying to to that other guy. 827 00:43:06,240 --> 00:43:07,640 I see what you did. You tricked me. 828 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:09,520 I guess we got to throw him in the lion's den. 829 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:12,640 So the king throws Daniel in the lion's den. 830 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:15,280 The king goes to sleep. He's stressed. 831 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:17,880 He wakes up and he rushes to the lion's den. 832 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,080 And what happens? Daniel is chilling. 833 00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:26,040 Lions didn't touch him. And the king is so just like 834 00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:27,360 what? Blown away? 835 00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:29,560 God must be with you. This is incredible. 836 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:34,680 Whoever devised that plan, let's throw them in, right, y'all? 837 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:38,640 Here is the the gospel kind of kind of turn of that story. 838 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:43,600 OK, y'all, what ultimately humbles us, what gets you to get 839 00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:47,760 off your high horse? The story of the Bible is not 840 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:52,600 that you are a Daniel, y'all in that story, the scar figure, the 841 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,520 hyenas figure is the officials who plotted to get Daniel out 842 00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:56,760 the way. That's who you are. 843 00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:59,240 That's who I am. That's what our pride does, 844 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:01,360 y'all. The good news of the Bible is 845 00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:05,840 there was one who was perfect and sinless and actually humble 846 00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:09,520 and didn't live like he was the greatest of all time and amongst 847 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:11,560 the stars, though He made the stars right. 848 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:14,560 This is Jesus. Jesus created all things, full 849 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:18,760 of all power, full of all goodness, and he did not walk 850 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:22,480 around demanding that we worship him, which is crazy. 851 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,840 At the end of his life, he gets thrown into the lion's den, 852 00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:30,080 which is the cross, and dies in the place of those who are 853 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,920 actually proud. Though he was humble, Jesus is 854 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:34,800 the one humble man who ever lived. 855 00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:39,920 The Bible does not give you the path for you to be humble enough 856 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:41,560 to get yourself to earn salvation. 857 00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:45,760 The Bible teaches that the path to you actually becoming who God 858 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:48,400 made you to be is first admitting that you are not that 859 00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:50,840 and you need salvation. You need a rescue. 860 00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:53,680 You need somebody who is sinless, thrown into the fire 861 00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:55,600 for you, thrown into the lion's den for you. 862 00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:57,480 And that's what Jesus has done for you. 863 00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:01,000 The ultimate reason you should come down from those stars, the 864 00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:03,960 ultimate reason you can admit that you've been deceived, is 865 00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:06,640 because there was one who was not deceived. 866 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:08,560 There is one who lived perfectly. 867 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:13,280 There is one who is so humble so that your proud self could go 868 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:14,880 free. That's the gospel. 869 00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:17,360 The one humble person dying for all the proud people. 870 00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:21,160 The church isn't really the humble people as much as we're 871 00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:24,280 the ones who've been set free by Christ and now by the Spirit. 872 00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:28,640 We can walk in these things. So if you don't know Jesus, he 873 00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:30,960 took the cross knowing how proud you are. 874 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,400 That's the good news. The pride of your heart has 875 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:37,640 deceived you, but it doesn't have to be that way anymore. 876 00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:39,880 You have heard the good news and you can trust Him. 877 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:43,440 You can repent, you can believe. Let's pray together. 878 00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:49,520 Our Father, you're so grateful for your word. 879 00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:53,240 Or I pray for any of my friends who don't know you, God, just 880 00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:56,720 that right now as they hear that the pride of their heart has 881 00:45:56,720 --> 00:45:58,840 deceived them, they would agree with that for the first time, 882 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:02,360 God, they would turn, they would see that you are the the sinless 883 00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:05,200 one who died in their place so they could be set free. 884 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:07,880 You got to pray for your church. I pray you will build us up. 885 00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:09,760 We will learn to love the city in which we dwell. 886 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:11,000 We will learn to love our enemies. 887 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:14,000 I pray God that that we would just trust that you're going to 888 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:16,320 sort it out. God that you are not punitive. 889 00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:19,120 You are always purposeful. God, that just in your purposes, 890 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:21,880 God, you would you would teach us to trust you and it shapes 891 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:24,400 how we live here and now. Lord, have your hand upon this 892 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:26,480 time. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.