1 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:08,360 This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd. 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,280 Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,320 striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:19,560 our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,400 at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message well. 6 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:30,120 Friends, we are drawing near to the conclusion of the book of 7 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:34,000 Acts, which I'll be honest, anytime we come to the close or 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,560 near the close of a series, I always feel a little a little 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:39,880 sad. It's always a little sad because 10 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,480 every book of the Bible, everything that we get to 11 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:46,280 experience in God's word, it's man if you allow it to be, It's 12 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:48,920 so incredibly fulfilling and it will teach you so much. 13 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:53,080 And so to next week is our last week in the book of Acts. 14 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,680 And then as you're probably aware of, starting on September 15 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,640 7th, we're going to be hanging out with Moses all fall. 16 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,760 And I'm really looking forward to that. 17 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:07,160 But it will be sad to leave Paul where he is, but that's how that 18 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,560 goes. Speaking of Paul, it's been 19 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:14,000 interesting since probably around chapter 20 or 21. 20 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:19,280 We've watched as Paul, just like this dude, cannot catch a break 21 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:21,920 to save his life. I mean, it's been really bad for 22 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,840 him. And interestingly, like as 23 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,200 we're, as we're moving forward into this week, things aren't 24 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,920 really going to get much better, quite frankly. 25 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:33,800 Like it's going to go from bad to worse in a lot of ways. 26 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,000 And so he's dealt with corrupt officials, he's had bogus 27 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:42,920 trials, and he's been basically in lock up now for over 2 years 28 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,960 waiting for somebody to exercise some justice on his behalf. 29 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:49,400 And it's just not going that well. 30 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,160 Well, God has told him you need to go to Rome. 31 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,360 You will go to Rome and you will preach the gospel to Caesar 32 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:01,120 himself. So in God's good plan, God puts 33 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:05,080 Paul on a boat, on a ship. That's chapter 27 of Acts. 34 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:09,639 Paul gets on the boat and gosh, again, it's just, it's 35 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:11,640 ridiculous. It's going to go from bad to 36 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:16,720 worse. And I'll tell you what, if you 37 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,760 feel like you can understand that maybe you've been 38 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,920 experiencing some things lately, or maybe they're long gone or 39 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,840 whatever, where you're like, man, I, I cannot catch a break. 40 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,920 I, I'm glad you're here today. I really mean that. 41 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:36,600 Because quite frankly, you will need to hear Paul's story. 42 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:41,600 You will need to pull from that what God wants you to hear. 43 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,000 And so I am absolutely thankful that you're here today if you're 44 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,000 going through some stuff. And if you're not, it's still 45 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,640 good for you to hear because it is inevitable. 46 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:53,960 You will have trials. You will have tribulation. 47 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,040 Jesus promised you what a good promise, right? 48 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,520 Well, anyway, yeah. So we're going to be in the 49 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,840 middle of Acts chapter 27 today, and it's a longer chapter, and 50 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:05,440 I'm not going to read the whole thing. 51 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,160 We're going to read kind of the middle section of that, which I 52 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:12,560 think is kind of the heart of what we all need to hear. 53 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:17,160 And so here's what I would do. I would encourage you go read 54 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,560 all of Chapter 27. It's going to take you about 5 55 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:22,160 minutes, but it's worth your time. 56 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:24,800 You're going to get some more details and stuff like that that 57 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:28,160 are really beneficial. And if you want a little bit 58 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:32,160 more, let me make a ridiculously shameless plug and say if you 59 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:36,520 want more details and commentary and thoughts on the on Acts 27, 60 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:39,360 you can listen to the podcast tomorrow afternoon. 61 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,120 It should drop. And then Pastor Matt and I will 62 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:44,680 explore some more ideas that we didn't have time for today. 63 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,240 But As for today, let me set this up and tell you that we're 64 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:49,520 going to learn at least three things. 65 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,360 We're going to learn that it's important to be a truth teller. 66 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,840 We're going to see the necessity of the storm. 67 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,640 And then we're going to hear what it we're going to hear how 68 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:01,800 to survive and thrive in the storm. 69 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:06,320 Again, how to be a truth teller. That's important see the 70 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:08,560 necessity of the storm and then we're going to learn how to 71 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:13,320 survive and thrive in the storm. And so today we read Acts 72 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:21,800 chapter 27 verses 20 through 38. Guess I'm looking back here. 73 00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:23,680 Is that TV on? Can we get that? 74 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,240 If not, that's OK. I'll I'll take I'll take this 75 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:31,720 one. Acts 2720 through 38 Reading in 76 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,200 Jesus name. When neither sun nor stars 77 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:39,360 appeared for many days, and no small Tempest lay on us, all of 78 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:43,200 our hope of being saved, saved was at last abandoned. 79 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,880 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up 80 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,480 among them and said, Men, you should have listened to me and 81 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,280 have not set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss 82 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:56,880 yet. Now I urge you to take heart, 83 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,040 for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the 84 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,560 ship. For this very night there stood 85 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:07,080 before me an Angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I 86 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:09,880 worship. And he said, Do not be afraid, 87 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,280 Paul. You must stand before Caesar, 88 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:16,360 and behold, God has granted you all of those who sail with you. 89 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:20,480 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be 90 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:24,960 exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some 91 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:28,240 island. When the 14th night had come, as 92 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,680 we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea about midnight, the 93 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,840 sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 94 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,400 So they took a sounding and found that and found 20 fathoms. 95 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,960 That's 120 feet. A little further on they took a 96 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,280 sounding again and found 15 fathoms. 97 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,320 And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down 4 98 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,840 anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 99 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,680 And when the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship 100 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,320 and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of 101 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:05,960 laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and 102 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:10,320 the soldiers, Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be 103 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:12,680 saved. Then the soldiers cut away the 104 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:15,160 ropes of the ship's boat and let it go. 105 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,120 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some 106 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:23,120 food, saying, Today is the 14th day that you have continued in 107 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,760 suspense and without food, having taken nothing. 108 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,800 Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will give you 109 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:35,320 strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of 110 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,000 you. And when he had said these 111 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,760 things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the 112 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,480 presence of all, he broke it and began to eat. 113 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,280 Then they were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. 114 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:52,040 We were in all 276 persons in the ship, and when they had 115 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,680 eaten enough, they lighten the ship, throwing out the wheat 116 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,080 into the sea. Here ends the reading of God's 117 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:05,120 Word. I think because of who I am, I 118 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,200 think most of us love a really good I told you so. 119 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,640 When we're the ones who are saying it to somebody else, I 120 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:17,400 do, I really do. Although in my, let's say more 121 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,080 mature, more mature years, I've backed off of that a little bit 122 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,560 because it just makes me a scoundrel when I say it and 123 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,560 people don't like me. But I, I do think it's, it's, 124 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,480 it's appropriate to every once in a while put out. 125 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:34,120 And I told you so. Now that may not always sound 126 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,880 like that exact phrase. It could come off like, oh, see, 127 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:43,640 I was right, or it could be, you know what called it predicted 128 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:45,520 it. Just call me Nostradamus. 129 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:47,240 You know, you can get creative with this. 130 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:49,720 Have some fun with that. When you're going to tell people 131 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,240 that they were wrong and you were right, like get creative. 132 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:57,520 It'll be way more fun for you. Don't shake your head. 133 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,080 It's true. It's going to be it's going to 134 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:00,480 be fun. Think of some fun ways. 135 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,000 Let me let me give you at least some insight on this. 136 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:10,120 Depending on the relationship category that you talk about, it 137 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,600 may be more or less appropriate to give a go to a good old 138 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:17,960 fashioned, I told you so. So for your with your spouse, 139 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:22,080 yeah, I would, and this is just a recommendation. 140 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:27,280 I would use it maybe rarely unless you're just like looking 141 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,080 to pick a fight. Like if you if you really just 142 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:32,080 want to like pick a fight, you go ahead and do it. 143 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:34,840 And some of you in this room have done that. 144 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:37,360 And maybe you just did that recently. 145 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,159 And so like an elbow is coming your way. 146 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:46,480 That's fine. Now your boss, I would caution 147 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:50,000 you about telling your boss. I told you so. 148 00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:54,280 I, I mean, you're, you're looking at losing your job if 149 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,680 you do it the wrong way. So just be very cautious with 150 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:59,800 that one. Co workers maybe more often, 151 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:04,120 perhaps, especially if it's going to bring them to a point 152 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:08,600 where they can actually be more productive at work. 153 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:10,880 If that's what it's going to take, then sure. 154 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:15,840 And then maybe finally, if you have kids, if you have children, 155 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,760 you know what, this might be the case where you say I told you so 156 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:23,360 most often you want to know why? Because these beautiful, tiny 157 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:25,680 little people, they think we know nothing. 158 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,520 They do. They're like, you're so old. 159 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:34,640 What do you know? Well, every once in a while it 160 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,520 is probably appropriate to remind them that our age and 161 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:45,560 intelligence is superior. Just going to leave that there. 162 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:51,760 Now getting to Paul, why does he do this? 163 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,280 Ask the question, why does Paul do this? 164 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,720 Does he do this because, you know, in the fruit of the 165 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:02,680 spirit, he didn't mention tact. So he feels like, sure, let's do 166 00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:03,920 that. Does he? 167 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,960 Does he say I told you so because he's bitter and he's 168 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:10,960 prideful and he needs that. Does he does he do it just 169 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:15,520 because he's downright petty? No, I will tell you that he does 170 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,360 not say I told you so for any of those reasons. 171 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,360 The reason that he said I told you so is because he needs those 172 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,840 sailors and those people to know that God is always right. 173 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:32,440 God is always right. When God says something to do or 174 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:37,120 not to do, it is correct. It is the best possible outcome 175 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:40,240 every time because quite frankly, Paul knows and 176 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:42,880 everybody who's on that ship knows that it's not like this 177 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,480 guy has a lot of nautical expertise. 178 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:51,720 This is his third shipwreck. Like if you're, I don't know if 179 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,680 you really want to listen to this guy, but if he's got the 180 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:58,040 word of the Lord given directly to him, we ought to listen 181 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:03,680 because God is always right. And here's the thing, God in his 182 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:06,400 Word and through his Holy Spirit speaks wisdom and truth. 183 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:10,840 And we are called to speak into people's lives that same wisdom 184 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:14,560 and truth. Therefore, it is sometimes 185 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:19,600 appropriate to gently and lovingly and tactfully remind 186 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:22,360 them of that truth. Now that's probably not going to 187 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:25,480 sound like a snarky I told you so, But what that is going to 188 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,760 sound like, especially if you've been giving them godly wisdom 189 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:33,320 already and they work against that to their own, to their own 190 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:37,440 diminishing returns. You might say, it's OK to gently 191 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:41,560 bring that back and say, listen, do you remember when I told you? 192 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:44,320 And then give them God's word again. 193 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:48,040 And that's the thing, friends, like we all need accountability. 194 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:53,000 We all do I I need that Like we, we all need that sense of 195 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,080 accountability. And as we are speaking God's 196 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:58,680 word and his wisdom to each other and to our neighbor or to 197 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:02,840 family members, whatever, it's, it's good to come back to that. 198 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:06,480 Not because we're right, not because we're this grand great 199 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,120 thing, but because He is, because he is always right. 200 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,680 He never leads us astray. So I'm going to leave that there 201 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:18,120 for now. If you want to share some fun, I 202 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,520 told you those stories with me. I probably won't put them on the 203 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:23,600 podcast. I don't know. 204 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:25,520 We'll see. Depends how funny they are. 205 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:28,640 Anyway, here's what I want us to do. 206 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,400 I want us to spend probably the majority of our time seeing the 207 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:35,720 necessity of the storm. I think that's really important. 208 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:39,200 Here's the thing. Ask another question. 209 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:45,560 If God really wants Paul to get all the way to Rome and to 210 00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:50,720 preach the gospel to Caesar, why would he allow the the the the 211 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,440 multi week storms? Why would he allow Paul to get 212 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:58,480 shipwrecked? Why would he allow going on and 213 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:00,320 on and on? Why would he allow those things? 214 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:03,760 You know what that question sounds an awful like? 215 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:07,560 Why does God allow bad things to happen? 216 00:13:13,420 --> 00:13:17,420 If you've never asked that question, either you have a 217 00:13:17,460 --> 00:13:23,280 tremendous faith that is greater than my own, or you haven't been 218 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:25,080 through anything yet and you will. 219 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:28,600 Why does God allow these things to happen? 220 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:37,480 The most difficult things in life, the metaphorical storms 221 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:41,640 that we endure are the things that actually shape us the most, 222 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:44,400 right? If you've been through anything, 223 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:50,600 you you know that to be true. So every athlete, every high 224 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:55,040 level athlete, every high level executive, every person of real 225 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:58,280 substance who has achieved a lot, you know what they will all 226 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,080 say universally, They will all universally say that they didn't 227 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,600 actually learn a lot from their winds, but they learned an awful 228 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:10,200 lot from their losses. They learned a lot through the 229 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,600 storm, the winds that those are great, like sweet, but like they 230 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,720 didn't learn a lot. It is in the storms where we 231 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:22,160 learn the most, where we get wisdom, where we get wiser. 232 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:23,520 Let me give you an example of this. 233 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:27,120 There's a financial guru who a lot of you probably know named 234 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,880 Dave Ramsey. And in the mid 80s, Dave Ramsey 235 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:33,360 was worth somewhere in the neighborhood of about $4 236 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,640 million. Now go back 30-40 years. 237 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:40,280 That's a lot of money, right? It still is today, but even more 238 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,200 than so, he's worth all this money. 239 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:45,520 He's got all this money out on real estate and the banks call 240 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,240 back the loans. Like out of nowhere they call 241 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:49,840 him back. He goes bankrupt. 242 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:54,440 Not only does he go bankrupt, but he's got some 100 thousands 243 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,640 worth of dollars of back taxes that he owes to the IRS. 244 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:03,480 He is just broken. The storm has sank his ship. 245 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:08,320 What does he do? Here's what he does. 246 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:11,000 He learns. He doesn't. 247 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,080 He doesn't claim to be a victim of anything. 248 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,400 He just learns and he starts thinking how? 249 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,760 Where did I go wrong? Where was my mistake? 250 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:22,960 And what happens is after, as he's reflecting on this over a 251 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:27,840 long period of time, he ends up developing a system that creates 252 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:31,800 financial stability and wealth over a long consistent period of 253 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,280 time, right? It's called Financial Peace 254 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,040 University. And quite frankly, one of the 255 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,160 reasons why I can stand before you on this stage today and why 256 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:44,920 I can have way too many pairs of shoes, Lord help me, is because 257 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:49,080 of Dave Ramsey and his failure. Because he taught me through his 258 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:53,160 failure and then his work, what it looks like to be responsible 259 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:57,760 with money, what it looks like to give God what he, what he's 260 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,720 given to me and like how to have a healthy view of that and to 261 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:03,520 and to do that. And I'm not the only one. 262 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:05,960 There's millions of people out there who will say Dave Ramsey's 263 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,680 failure, Dave Ramsey's storm is the reason why I'm financially 264 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:11,760 stable today. That's a cool thing. 265 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:17,120 Now, let in saying all that, let me tell you that not everybody 266 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:21,320 grows in the storm. You know, people like this, 267 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:24,600 maybe you've been one. Not everybody grows in the 268 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:26,760 storm. And here's the thing, I don't 269 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,120 want that for you. I don't want you to come out of 270 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:31,560 the storm stunted or worse than when you went in. 271 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:35,200 So let me just point out three things that will stunt you in 272 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:38,400 the storm. First and foremost, if you are 273 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,560 fixated on the injustice of the storm, in other words, this 274 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:46,800 isn't fair, this isn't right, none of this is my fault, on and 275 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:48,680 on and on. You essentially create a victim 276 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,400 mentality for yourself. That's what you do. 277 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:56,520 And if you do that, the the problem is at some point it'll 278 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:58,480 start to feel good to be the victim. 279 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:01,760 Do you know what I mean? So people talk to you and 280 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:03,960 they're like, oh, how are you doing? 281 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,359 And they make that little voice to you. 282 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:12,480 It's ridiculous. How are you doing? 283 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,160 They're they frown up and eventually you get so used to 284 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,000 that level of attention that you don't want to stop being a 285 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:23,079 victim because you love that. You love that people are 286 00:17:23,079 --> 00:17:25,440 actually seeing you and paying attention to you and they care 287 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:29,200 about your heart and your life. But if you stay a victim, if you 288 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:31,320 push for that, you'll never grow. 289 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,680 You'll always be the victim. You'll always be the person who 290 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,600 says, if I had, if I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have it at 291 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:39,680 all. Don't be that person. 292 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:45,720 Second thing, if we can, we cannot grow in the storm if we 293 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,960 can't see the reason for it. And we do this all the time. 294 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,280 We say, Lord, if you would just tell me why this terrible stuff 295 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,560 is happening to me, I'll be OK with it. 296 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,240 No, you won't. Don't lie to yourself. 297 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:02,040 You won't be OK if you know why. Let let me give you a great 298 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,320 example of this and I'll be as brief as I can because it's a 299 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:07,920 big story. We've talked about Joseph 300 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,640 before. Joseph is last half of the book 301 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,280 of Genesis. So Joseph is sold into slavery 302 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:15,400 by his brothers. Why? 303 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:20,080 Because he's a jerk. They hate him because he's been 304 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:21,560 handed everything. He's a jerk. 305 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:23,680 And so they sell him into slavery. 306 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,960 I'm sure he was asking, Lord why this isn't fair. 307 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,320 No answer. And then after being sold into 308 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:32,800 slavery, he becomes this really good slave. 309 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:36,480 And then he gets framed and then he's thrown in a dungeon and 310 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:39,200 he's like, oh, Lord, why No answer? 311 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:42,840 And then after being thrown in that dungeon and remaining there 312 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,520 for a number of years, he's brought into Pharaoh's house. 313 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,760 And, and through his time of pain, through his time in the 314 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,800 storm, God has shaped him in the storm to be not an egotistical 315 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,840 young punk, but somebody who thinks deeply, somebody who 316 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,160 seeks after God with his whole heart. 317 00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:02,960 And all of a sudden, God gives him this revelation that ends up 318 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,520 helping hundreds of thousands of people not starve to death. 319 00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:09,560 Lord, why? Why? 320 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:17,240 You see, here's the thing. We're never going to grow. 321 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,560 Joseph got to see the why. We don't always get to see that. 322 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,600 If you think about Job, for example, maybe the most famous 323 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:27,440 sufferer of all time, Job never even got the why. 324 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,440 God helped him and he and he and he gave him back more than what 325 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,880 he had in the 1st place, but he never heard the why, he just had 326 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,640 the trust. So if you get stuck in this 327 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,080 thing of why, why, why, why me, why me, why me, you won't grow, 328 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,560 you will stay stunted and you will be bitter and angry. 329 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:50,320 Third thing, and I'll make this one quick, if you try to avoid 330 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:54,320 the storm altogether, you try to avoid suffering by any means 331 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,440 necessary, guess what? A, you won't be able to do it 332 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:04,040 because it's coming, but B, when it does hit you, you'll be so 333 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:07,280 shocked that it's there. Let me give you a quick example. 334 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:11,880 If you're raising kids and you basically put them in this 335 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,840 little bubble where they never have to endure anything 336 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,840 difficult, where everything is handed to them, you know what 337 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:19,440 kind of people you end up raising? 338 00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:22,880 I will tell you because there's a lot of them out there. 339 00:20:24,360 --> 00:20:28,360 There are it's people who insist that everything needs to be 340 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:30,880 given to them. It's people that do not have the 341 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,160 guts and the courage to make it through the storm because oh, 342 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,680 why is this happening to me? Poor me, poor me, poor me. 343 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,240 Don't do that to them and don't do that to yourself. 344 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:44,120 You deserve better, but you will not thrive in the storm if you 345 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:46,480 try to avoid it. You have to go through it. 346 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:50,320 You have to go through it. There's no getting around that. 347 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:53,280 Let me move forward here a little bit. 348 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:55,600 Now, where are we going with all this? 349 00:20:56,360 --> 00:20:59,280 I'm going to give you the 10,000 foot view of the why. 350 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,560 Now, some of you are probably, hopefully, if you're still with 351 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,960 me, you've got some level of baited anticipation of, Oh my 352 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:09,400 gosh, the pastor is going to tell me why I suffer. 353 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,520 No, I'm not. No, I'm not. 354 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:17,040 Not really. I don't know the particular 355 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,440 issues that you may be going through right now or at any 356 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:22,520 given point in your life unless you share those with me. 357 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,440 And even if you share those details with me, I'm not 358 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:27,240 necessarily going to be able to tell you why. 359 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:29,520 But here's what I can tell you about the why. 360 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:32,000 And it's like the 10,000 foot view. 361 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,640 The reason why we go through storms, the reason why we suffer 362 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:38,880 is to know God. Do you get that? 363 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:44,200 The reason why God allows the storms to come into our life and 364 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:48,000 to rain and to move us and to rock us is so that we can meet 365 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,120 Him. It's so that we can meet Him. 366 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,720 Think about this. When the sailors are on the 367 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,680 boat, you know what they start doing? 368 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:01,880 They do what any smart sailor does, which is it gets really 369 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:03,400 rough. It gets really crazy and they 370 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:05,040 start throwing everything overboard. 371 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:07,520 They start throwing it all out of the ship. 372 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,280 And the reason why they do that is they're trying to lighten the 373 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,880 burden on the ship. And so everything that they 374 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,360 thought was going to save them, everything that they thought was 375 00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:17,840 going to make them a bunch of money, they have to throw it all 376 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,120 away. And then you know what they do 377 00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:23,240 in this particular occasion, they run the ship into the 378 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:29,080 ground. I'm going to ask you pause for a 379 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:31,720 second. What do you need to throw 380 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,200 overboard? What have you been relying on 381 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:39,080 that can't save you? Think about it. 382 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,400 What what, what ships that you think you're steering? 383 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:45,960 Do you need to run into the ground because they're not going 384 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,680 to help you in the end? What are those things, man? 385 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,000 You need to think about that. You need to, you need to pull 386 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,960 yourself together on this one because quite frankly, it, it 387 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,400 could be a job, it could be a career, it could be money, it 388 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,640 could be a person. But I got to tell you, and I 389 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:07,200 mean this, none of those things and not even the people closest 390 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:10,960 to you, none of them will be able to save you from the storm. 391 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,280 Only God can do that. They might help you steer the 392 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,160 ship, but God is the only one who's going to save you in the 393 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:19,080 storm. You need him. 394 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:21,560 And the storms are there to remind you of that. 395 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,160 The storms are not there to to break you. 396 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,240 They're there. They're there to make you. 397 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,640 It's not there to break you. It's there to make you make you 398 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,400 do what make you lean on him. That's why they're there. 399 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,400 And that brings us to kind of our, our kind of concluding 400 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:46,560 idea. OK, how do we survive and thrive 401 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,720 in the storm? I, I want to show you something 402 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,240 that it's kind of funny. I've been missing all my own 403 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,240 slides. I should really have the back do 404 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:02,400 it because I'm not good at this. And then Matt, you know what can 405 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,360 we can we take a second? Let's let's take a breath, Let's 406 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:08,520 turn around and all look at Matt and say hi. 407 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,320 Hey, Matt. You know, one of the things I 408 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,360 love about Matt is that when I do something weird, he always 409 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:21,960 makes the face. I love it so much. 410 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,960 And and I just he made a face and I was just like, oh, I wish 411 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:30,080 everybody could see that face. It's why it's why, honestly, 412 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,800 it's one of the reasons why we need to have like video for the 413 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:36,840 podcast because it's I wish you could see what I see. 414 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,120 Anyway, Matt, I love you. Thank you for being a good 415 00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:45,240 sport. OK, back to what we were talking 416 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,480 about how to survive and thrive in the storm. 417 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:52,960 Now let me pause here before we get into this and tell you that 418 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:56,680 an important way to read your Bible that I don't think a lot 419 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:01,640 of people do is to ask the Bible questions and then let God 420 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:04,960 answer. Ask it questions and let God 421 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,040 answer. Some of us read the Bible and we 422 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,600 read it in kind of a devotional sense, like, oh, that's pretty 423 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:11,880 cool. Like Jesus loves me and that's 424 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:13,600 that's that's awesome. Yep. 425 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:17,680 And that's true. But I want you to start reading 426 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:23,440 God's word with expectation, with expectation, because for 427 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,000 example, as I'm reading this text this week over and over 428 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,800 again, something happened to me. I had I had the burning 429 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:34,360 question, Lord, like, what? What do you want me to do when 430 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:36,400 life gets rocky? What, what do you want me to do 431 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,520 in the midst of the storm? How am I supposed to endure 432 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:40,880 this? Like is there an answer that you 433 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,240 can give me that helps me endure this? 434 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:48,720 Ask the question, get an answer. Here's the answer. 435 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,600 Here's how you survive and thrive in the storm. 436 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,360 First and foremost, you see who you belong to. 437 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,280 That's number one. Second of all, you worship 438 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:00,080 through the storm, and third of all, you give thanks in the 439 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:02,160 storm. Let me describe these three 440 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,960 things for you really quickly. The definition of the Greek word 441 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:11,440 that we translate to belong, it actually means legal ownership 442 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,040 in possession. That's what it means. 443 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,840 It means legal ownership and possession. 444 00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:20,080 So think about what Paul is saying here in the midst of 445 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,520 everything going wrong. His life has been terrible for 446 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,600 probably the last 20 years as far as human standards go. 447 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,120 And you know what? He's not fazed. 448 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:33,040 Why? Why is he not fazed? 449 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:38,640 Because he knows that Jesus Christ is in legal possession of 450 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,840 him. He belongs to Jesus Christ. 451 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:47,080 My goodness, friends, if you know who you belong to, there is 452 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,000 nothing that should make you afraid. 453 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,880 I understand the hard things happen in the financial stuff 454 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,120 and the relationship stuff. I've, I've been there, I get it. 455 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,280 But man, at the end of the day, or even in the middle of the 456 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:02,200 day, if I need it, if I remember to whom I belong, all of a 457 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:06,080 sudden it resets my point of view and it puts me back in a 458 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:11,000 place of safety and security and hope and love, because I know 459 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:19,600 the one who I belong to was the one who decided not to belong to 460 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,760 heaven anymore. Do you see that? 461 00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:27,240 Do you get that in God's Word that Jesus Christ, our perfect 462 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,840 Savior, left heaven? He left the place where He 463 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:33,520 belongs to come down here so that you can belong to Him. 464 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:39,440 Do you see it? 2nd, we need to worship in the 465 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,400 storm. Gosh, you know what worship 466 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:44,600 means? I'm going to give you a pretty 467 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:46,760 fair definition. We think about worship. 468 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:49,560 We say we're coming to worship. Well, that means singing songs. 469 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,280 That means listening to a guy talk too much. 470 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,520 OK, fine. But you know what real worship 471 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:56,320 is? It's acknowledging God for who 472 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,720 He is. That's what worship is. 473 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,440 So you know what worship sounds like in prayer. 474 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:08,480 Father, you are sovereign. You are holy, You are great, You 475 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:15,280 are full of mercy and love. You are my King, You are my 476 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,240 Savior. That's worship. 477 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:20,680 That's worship. And when you worship in the 478 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,000 middle of the storms, when you worship in the midst of 479 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,440 hardship, again, it's going to reset your heart. 480 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:30,600 It's going to put you back into a place where you can see the 481 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,080 priorities of this life and you can finally see them clearly. 482 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:36,880 You can finally start to see that it's not about the stuff 483 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,000 you obtain or the OR the title that you have at your job. 484 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,960 It's about worshipping and knowing the God of the universe, 485 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:45,880 which is what he designed you for. 486 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,400 Worship in the storm and then finally giving thanks in the 487 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:54,400 storm. You want to survive and thrive 488 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,360 in the storm. Start with a heart of gratitude. 489 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,280 I'll tell you what, friends, it is weird. 490 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:08,080 And if you come to my office and things are really going sideways 491 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:12,240 in your life, it may not be the first thing I'll tell you, but 492 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,320 we're going to get there. I'm going to get to the point 493 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,280 with you where I'll tell you. And what do you have to be 494 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:23,400 thankful for? What, how is God still holding 495 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:26,720 you tight in his hands despite anything that's happening in 496 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,080 your life? How is he still doing that? 497 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:33,640 How is He still being faithful to you, man? 498 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,600 An attitude of gratitude. It moves our hearts in such a 499 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:41,720 way that even when the worst things happen to us, and I mean, 500 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,880 let's, let's just skip everything else and let's go 501 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,280 right to the end, even when death comes our way, you know 502 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:54,520 what happens? If I am thankful to God for the 503 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:59,200 life He's given me, I can be thankful to God for the life 504 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:03,200 that He's going to give me. And even death itself cannot 505 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,880 stop me for being thankful for what's coming, because I know 506 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,360 what's coming, because I know what Jesus Christ promises. 507 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:11,520 Jesus Christ promises life eternal. 508 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:16,280 He promises peace. He promises A reformed body that 509 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,680 doesn't deal with pain and sickness and death and disease 510 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,800 because he has beat all of those things when he came out of the 511 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,480 tomb. Be thankful. 512 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:36,720 Be thankful in the storm. I hope that makes sense to you, 513 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:42,160 those three things. And let me let me make you a 514 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:46,440 promise, not like like a car salesman kind of promise, but 515 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:48,560 let me make you a real promise that sticks. 516 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,280 When you do these three things, when life gets hard, it doesn't 517 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:58,800 necessarily take the hard thing away, but it will absolutely 518 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,760 change how you feel and how you move through the storm. 519 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:05,400 And that's worth it. That's enough because God will 520 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,520 always be with you. He has promised that. 521 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:14,680 Let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we 522 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,000 thank you for who you are. We thank you for your incredible 523 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,480 mercy towards us. Lord, you. 524 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:25,480 You see our hearts. You know our thoughts. 525 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:29,640 You know the things that are inside of each one of us that 526 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:34,760 are not honoring to you, and despite seeing all those things, 527 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:44,240 you love us anyway. Lord, I pray that when the 528 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:50,120 storms come for any of us, that we would fix our eyes on you, 529 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:57,760 that we would not be moved or shaken by the world that brings 530 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,240 us trouble and by Satan himself, but that we would hold on tight 531 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:05,360 to Your gospel, that we would cling to the cross, that we 532 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:11,440 would hold on to Jesus Christ. Lord, let that be the position 533 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:16,560 of our hearts that we might endure and that we might worship 534 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:18,720 and glorify. And thank You for the entire 535 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,840 thing. So Father, do that work through 536 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,600 Your Holy Spirit in each one of us, and we pray this all in the 537 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,360 name of Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and our King. 538 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:38,440 And all God's people said Amen. Thanks for listening to ERC 539 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:40,920 Sundays. To support the work God is doing 540 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:42,520 at Emmaus Rd. Church, visit 541 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,520 emmausrdonline.org/giving.