1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,200 We're still doing topical stuff for at least this week. 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:07,600 The Lord kind of wanted me to do all of January and I keep trying 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:09,440 to talk him out of it because I'm really ready to get started 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:11,840 in Exodus. But for right now, we're going 5 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,960 through so today it's going to be we're going to be in Joshua 6 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:20,120 one versus one through 9 and we're going to be talking about 7 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,320 spending time in the word is really the the point of the 8 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:30,120 whole, the topical part of it. But my corny title, meditate on 9 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:32,680 this. I was going to see if I could do 10 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:35,840 something really offensive and mock yoga, but I decided I would 11 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:42,320 just say meditate on this. So we'll, we'll start in chapter 12 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:47,360 1 of Joshua one or Joshua, Joshua chapter 1, starting in 13 00:00:47,480 --> 00:00:54,480 verse one, after the death of after the death of Moses, the 14 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,920 servant of Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, 15 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,240 the son of the son of Nun, Moses, his assistant. 16 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,800 Moses, my servant is dead. Now, therefore arise and go over 17 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,640 the Jordan, you and all the people through the land which I 18 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:13,040 am giving to them, the children of Israel, every place the sole 19 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:17,080 of your foot will tread upon. I have given you, as I said to 20 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,640 Moses, from the wilderness of Lebanon, as far as the great 21 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,640 river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to 22 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,600 the great city towards or the great sea towards the going down 23 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:30,720 of the sun shall be your territory. 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,360 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your 25 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,480 life. As I was with Moses, so I will 26 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:40,400 be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake 27 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:42,000 you. Be strong and of good courage, 28 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:47,160 for to this people you shall divide its inheritance, the land 29 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:49,200 which I swore to their fathers to give them. 30 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,720 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe 31 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,240 to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded 32 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:01,040 you to do, not turning from it to the right hand or to the 33 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,440 left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 34 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,680 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you 35 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,240 shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to 36 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,720 do according to all that is written in it. 37 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:16,680 For when you will make your soul, for then you will make 38 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,880 your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 39 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,480 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage? 40 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:28,240 Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with 41 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:32,080 you wherever you go. And Lord, I just lift up today. 42 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,240 I lift up this time. I thank you for so many things, 43 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:38,200 Lord, that you do for us every day. 44 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:42,280 Lord, that you just keep this congregation in this body 45 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,720 physically healthy, Lord, spiritually healthy, Lord, that 46 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,640 you also protect us as we're driving on the roads. 47 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,440 And Lord, that you put appointments in front of each 48 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:58,640 and every one of us to speak life into people's lives, Lord. 49 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:02,280 To. Share you with the community 50 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:04,360 around us and I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen. 51 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:11,000 So how important was the law the the book of the law is is what 52 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:16,160 God's telling Moses or telling Joshua here and it was a 53 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:22,080 necessity for leadership to understand it completely was was 54 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:27,760 God's will for his people is to actually get it and understand 55 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,680 it. And the thing with that is guys 56 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:38,320 and I, I don't know if we as Christians really basking in the 57 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,160 joy that we have a God that wrote it down. 58 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:44,000 You don't have to go figure it out, right? 59 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,880 It's, it is, it is written down for us to know what he expects, 60 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,560 what he, what it is to serve him. 61 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,840 And now in Deuteronomy, Moses explains to the Israelites what 62 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:04,520 will be expected of a king in Deuteronomy 17, verses 18 and 63 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:09,000 19. And we'll wait and let you guys 64 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:10,240 turn there if you have your Bibles. 65 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:15,440 I, I cheat because I have it all printed out so I can blow 66 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:17,519 through them, but I don't let you guys actually get there. 67 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:22,880 So see, I put my Bible up here, so I would actually stop and 68 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:28,480 flip to it. So starting in verse 18 of 69 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:33,080 chapter 17. Also it shall be when he sits on 70 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:35,960 the throne of the Kingdom, that he shall write for himself a 71 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:41,840 copy of the law in a book from the one before the priests and 72 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:44,960 Levites, and it shall be with him, and he shall read it all 73 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,200 the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his 74 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:53,280 God, and be careful to observe all the words of the law and the 75 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:55,880 statues. So kings were required to write 76 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,920 out with a quill on a scroll or a chisel on a rock. 77 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,880 The entire book of the law, which had a minimum would be 78 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,040 Leviticus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, but it was 79 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:08,160 probably Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and 80 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:10,840 Deuteronomy. So anybody want to take that on? 81 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,280 OK, I get, I mean, I'll let you type it out. 82 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:15,400 Right. I'll give you I'll give you a 83 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:17,400 computer and you can get to typing. 84 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:23,640 But there are rules. It must be written on skins of 85 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:28,280 clean animals. It must be prepared for the 86 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:33,160 synagogue used by by by a Jew only must be fastened together 87 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:35,120 with strings taken from clean animals. 88 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,920 Each skin must contain exactly the number of columns, which 89 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,240 must be equal throughout the entire manuscript. 90 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,840 The breadth of each column must consist of 30 letters, and 91 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:50,680 there's a list of 20 or 30 more things. 92 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:52,840 Here's one. Each time the scribe comes 93 00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:56,960 across the Hebrew word for God, he has to wipe his pen clean. 94 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,400 And when he comes across the name of God, Yahweh, he has to 95 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:03,520 wash his whole body before he could write it. 96 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,240 And should a king address the scribe while writing the name, 97 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:13,360 he must take no notice of him. If a sheet of parchment had one 98 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:15,360 mistake on it, the sheet was condemned. 99 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,320 If there were three mistakes found on any page, the whole 100 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:24,240 manuscript was condemned. Every word and every letter was 101 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,480 counted. If a letter or a word was 102 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:28,440 omitted, the manuscript was condemned. 103 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,840 So if the if the king wrote wrote all of the book of 104 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:35,000 Deuteronomy and they went through and checked it and he 105 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,640 missed one word, they crumpled it up, threw it away and well, 106 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:40,640 they didn't actually do that. There's a whole process of them 107 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,800 getting still the word of God. But anyway, he had to do it 108 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:45,400 again. And so. 109 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:48,040 All that to be. Said is that it was taken 110 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,560 seriously and and there was a gift in the fact that God wrote 111 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:58,600 it down for us and and we should understand it at A at a personal 112 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:03,520 level. Luke 24, verse 44. 113 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:15,960 Says. Then he said to them, These are 114 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,640 the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that 115 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,040 all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of 116 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,280 Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. 117 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:29,560 And I. I challenge anybody here, 118 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:39,080 including myself to go through without AI and find everything 119 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:41,160 that speaks of Jesus in the Bible. 120 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,840 And I'm pretty sure on your whether Jesus comes back first 121 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,440 or in your day and day, dying day, that assignment will not be 122 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,680 completed, right? So there is there is always more 123 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:55,080 for us to learn in the word. There's always more places for 124 00:07:55,080 --> 00:08:02,680 Jesus to show us and reveal to us who he is and his his vision 125 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:07,200 for us. So this this verse, this verse 126 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,840 in in Joshua, I say is the key verse to Joshua is that he's 127 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:13,680 supposed to dwell on the word of God. 128 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:20,360 One of my favorite moments in, in the book of Joshua is when 129 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,800 AI, they get, they get excited and they think they've got 130 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,040 something after they've done Jericho and they think they can 131 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,640 go attack AI and they, they go attack AI without asking God or 132 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,640 talking to God. And people die and there's 133 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,200 repentance and there's that. But then they go and they, they, 134 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:39,480 they go to God and they say, how do we do this? 135 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,400 And God gives them a plan and they go conquer that plan and 136 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:46,680 they, they conquer AI. And then Joshua takes them up on 137 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:49,560 a mountain and reads them the entire law. 138 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,360 Like, OK, let's be clear. When we did Jericho, you got it 139 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:55,560 in your head, you did something. So now we're going to do this 140 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:58,800 little town of AI and now we're going to go on a mountain and 141 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,080 I'm going to read you the whole law so we can remember who our 142 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:05,040 God is, right? And once again, that's I just 143 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,600 when this is when Joshua was saying we're going to, you know, 144 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,520 when it says they read the book of the law, that is Joshua going 145 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,680 up on the mountain and reading them five books of the Bible. 146 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:15,680 Anybody want to sit through that? 147 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:24,840 I can start right? I mean, it is they they really 148 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:27,520 dug into it, right? They really understand. 149 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:31,520 Do we understand that that God came down and on a mountain and, 150 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,080 and gave Moses these books and then he spoke to men and women 151 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:40,640 and and wrote down his word inspired by the Holy Spirit, 152 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:45,360 right. And for us to know those things 153 00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:48,520 is, is so important. We're not going to go there. 154 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:52,920 But if you guys want to look at how much, how much reverence the 155 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,520 book of the law had, they had lost it at one point where they 156 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,280 weren't reading it and they'd had some bad kings in Israel or 157 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:04,760 in Judah. And Josiah, a good king in 158 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:10,480 Second Samuel was presented with the book of the law and he 159 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:14,440 basically acted like the Ninevites in Jonah. 160 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,240 He tore his clothes and repented and said we have to do 161 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:20,720 everything in that book. I don't know what we, we, I 162 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,240 apologize. We, we are, we are beyond 163 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:25,640 sinning. And he had been doing he had 164 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,560 been doing. If you if you read that second 165 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:33,480 Samuel, chapters 22 and 23, you will see that he really was a 166 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,480 good king that was really doing after God's heart on that. 167 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:40,080 But when he actually got to the law, he was, he was convicted. 168 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:44,560 And and that's us, right? Is that's, that's the awesome 169 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:48,280 thing about the word of God is that it will, it will convict 170 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,000 us. It will, it will change us 171 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,880 because it has the power, right? It's got the it's, it's got the 172 00:10:53,880 --> 00:11:00,560 words of life. And through this, and you got a 173 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:04,080 picture in this moment, Joshua understood something that we 174 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,080 don't understand. And the enemy does a really good 175 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,840 job of trying very hard to hide this Joshua. 176 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,000 It was very clear that Joshua was about to. 177 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:18,320 End for battle. Right and and God said that if 178 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,560 you do these things, you will make your way prosperous and you 179 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:23,640 will have good success. Do you guys want to be 180 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:26,120 prosperous and have good success, Right. 181 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:30,200 And Joshua understood that he was about to battle that would 182 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,920 get people killed if he didn't have, if he wasn't prosperous. 183 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:35,760 And have good success. It was going to go badly. 184 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:42,760 And so Joshua wanted to wanted to do that right. 185 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,280 Do we want do we understand that every day we're in a battle, 186 00:11:46,560 --> 00:11:49,680 right? Not one, not one that we we 187 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:54,080 don't get a swing swords and we don't get to have catapults and 188 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,240 but we're in a battle in the in the heavenly place, in the 189 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:04,080 heavenly places, right? And we're in a battle for souls 190 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:11,760 and Eleazar in in second Samuel 23 verses 9:00 and 10:00. 191 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:13,800 I've I've talked about him before. 192 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:18,240 Just a great picture of what how the Lord uses us in a battle. 193 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:23,640 And this is a physical battle starting in verse 9. 194 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:30,160 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Anonite, one of 195 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:33,600 the three mighty men with David. When they defied the Philistines 196 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:37,080 who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel 197 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,840 had retreated, he arose and attacked the Philistines until 198 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:44,720 his hand was weary and his hand stuck to the sword. 199 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,840 And the Lord brought about a great victory that day, and the 200 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,800 people returned after him only to plunder. 201 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:56,560 So, so how do we do that, right? Do we go get swords and start 202 00:12:56,560 --> 00:12:59,440 swinging and, and hitting people with them? 203 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,680 You know, how do I, how do I cling to my sword and that the 204 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:08,120 key is we stay focused on Jesus and his word. 205 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,560 You know, I always say, Can you imagine Eleazar mid battle 206 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:14,960 saying something like I need to check my feet? 207 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,240 I wonder what the social media is going on today. 208 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:19,600 I wonder, I wonder what my friends are up to. 209 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,480 What's what's my e-mail right there? 210 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:26,080 There's a there's a focus we need when we're in the word 211 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,960 right? And it says you shall not 212 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:32,080 depart. God is telling Joshua to stay 213 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:34,720 focused. Don't take your eyes off the 214 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,080 truth. Know who I am. 215 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:42,120 If we stay in the word, we stay out of our fields. 216 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,720 The enemy doesn't stand and and then and when we stay out of our 217 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,120 fields, suddenly the enemy doesn't stand a chance right. 218 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:55,240 And and when I say feels it's you can I pull up YouTube or 219 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,560 Facebook and I can listen to people tell me how they feel and 220 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:01,240 how they think this is right or how they feel that is right. 221 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:04,160 And none of that really matters, right? 222 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:12,880 What matters is what is right. You know Jeremiah 17 verses 7:00 223 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:20,120 and 9:00. If you want to turn there says 224 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:25,200 blessed is the man who trusts and trusts in the Lord, and 225 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:29,560 whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree 226 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,600 planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the 227 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:38,240 river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaves will 228 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:42,880 be green, and will not be, and will not be anxious in the year 229 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,680 of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. 230 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:49,080 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. 231 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:54,320 Who can know it? So if I'm in my fields, that 232 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,280 would be in my heart, which is desperately wicked, right? 233 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:03,360 But if I'm in the word, if I, if I am planted next to the the 234 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,800 living water of the word right then, then all of a sudden I 235 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,040 have green leaves and I'm not anxious. 236 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:17,600 But when we least focus on his word and life, we get 237 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:21,040 distracted, right and start thinking I know better. 238 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:24,840 This is this is always a especially like I said, when 239 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,760 we're on YouTube or Facebook, we have all kinds of people that 240 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:33,240 just know better than the Lord. The enemy tweaks stuff and we 241 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:37,240 miss it right, because we don't know what the word says because 242 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,840 we haven't read it right. It's I have an old, old buddy 243 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,800 that I worked with. He was actually a, a Baptist 244 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:48,080 kid, Baptist guy grew up with the Baptist and, and he used to 245 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:53,360 joke and say the Bible loses all its mysticism and fuzziness when 246 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,600 you read it, right. I mean, when you listen to 247 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,480 somebody, you can very quickly, very often in a, in a 248 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,200 conversation or debate with somebody, you can very quickly 249 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:05,760 know just from the words coming out of their mouth if they've 250 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,960 read the Bible or if they've just heard things about the 251 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:12,360 Bible, right. And we need to be those that 252 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,920 have read the Bible that are, that are in our word, right? 253 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:20,200 That because it's what changes people's lives, not not because 254 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,480 I have the perfect argument. You know, I, I say this a lot, 255 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,560 You know, when I'm in Uganda, the last thing I want to do when 256 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:28,880 some, when I walk away from somebody that I've shared the 257 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:33,480 gospel with, the last thing I want them doing is re replaying 258 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,000 the conversation we had in their head and figuring out how to 259 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,040 beat me in the argument. I want to leave them arguing 260 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:41,840 with the Lord, right? I want to leave them going. 261 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:47,120 That is what it says right and that's that's what that's what 262 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,400 we should be after all the time is not in my fields right, but 263 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:58,320 in this is what the word of God says right and Ephesians 617 264 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,880 we've all heard the armor of God, but it says I take the 265 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:06,240 helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is 266 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,960 the word of God. So in the Eleazar. 267 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,839 Quote. Passage. 268 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,200 It's so if the sword, if the word of God is our sword, right? 269 00:17:18,599 --> 00:17:23,000 How well should we know that? How well should we know the 270 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,319 thing we're support our offensive weapon and and not 271 00:17:27,319 --> 00:17:32,360 offensive to damage, but offensive to win, right to to 272 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:36,440 have those conversations. You know, I mean, when you think 273 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:40,280 about what happened, when I say stand back, Lord, I know how to 274 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:41,720 reach this world better than you. 275 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,200 You know, anybody, if you've seen any YouTube videos or or 276 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:49,040 churches like that, that that veer off what the Bible says 277 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:50,360 because they don't want to offend. 278 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,120 Let's skip over sin and judgement and just love and 279 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:57,120 accept. But then you all but don't don't 280 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:00,560 think that that's you know, there there are just as many 281 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,040 Pharisaical churches out there or people out there that says 282 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:08,200 let's skip love and just be in judgement and condemnation, 283 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:12,280 right. We are not supposed to turn from 284 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,680 the right or the left right. We're we're supposed to stay in 285 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:22,240 the word and that is that is something that is hard for us 286 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:27,000 because it is really truly trusting him and submitting to 287 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:33,400 him all the time because I want, I want an easy path. 288 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:35,800 I want something that I can just say it's like this and I'm just 289 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:37,440 going to be like this all the time. 290 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:43,840 And God says you're supposed to love, love people for their 291 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:47,080 best. And guys, I love in in our 292 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:55,240 crooked culture, which we'll get into love is not letting letting 293 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,560 people do whatever they want and follow their heart. 294 00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,160 That is dreadfully wicked, right? 295 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,840 It is, It is loving them and doing the best for them. 296 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:09,480 You know, I, I loving someone is not letting them run, run out 297 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,480 and jump and run in front of a train they don't see coming. 298 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:14,600 That isn't loving, right? Well, they really, they, they 299 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,200 think they can beat the train. Well, it isn't loving to let 300 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,600 them do that. Loving is tackling them, right? 301 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,200 It's doing the best thing for the other person. 302 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:30,480 That's loving First Timothy 41 says now the spirit especially 303 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:34,960 says that in the latter time, some will depart from the faith, 304 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,880 giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. 305 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:42,480 And that's guys. When we skip sin and judgment, 306 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,920 we're in those doctrines. When we when we're just judge 307 00:19:46,120 --> 00:19:50,200 judgment and condemnation, we're in those doctrines, right? 308 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,320 We need to stay focused and stay in the Word, right? 309 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:59,360 Second Timothy 316 and we all know this one, I believe it says 310 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,520 all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is 311 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:05,720 profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 312 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:09,680 instruction and righteousness. So it's got the ability to do 313 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:13,040 anything we need it to do. It's got the ability to reach 314 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,920 the lost. It's got the ability to correct 315 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:20,600 the lost. It's got the ability to train 316 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:27,520 the lost, but then it. Joshua and Joshua goes on to say 317 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,920 you shall meditate. And meditate has been jacked, 318 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:35,720 hijacked by yoga and Buddhists and Hindus, because what they 319 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:40,440 say it is, is they're trying to empty their minds to get to a 320 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:44,280 higher reality. And that is a completely 321 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:47,840 different idea, right? Because if you empty your minds, 322 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:53,400 Jesus shared in Matthew 12 verses 43 through 45 what that 323 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,440 looks like and why that should never be our goal. 324 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,920 When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry 325 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:05,480 places seeking rest and finds none. 326 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,720 Then he says, I'll return to my house from which I came, and 327 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:14,520 when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 328 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:19,080 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked 329 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,360 than himself, and they enter and dwell there. 330 00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:24,200 And the last state of the man is worse than the first. 331 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:28,000 So shall it also be with this wicked generation. 332 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:35,280 So when, when, when we try to empty our minds, when we try to. 333 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,360 I just need to get. They just need to be like at 334 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:43,440 peace and and in a state of calm. 335 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,280 But I'm not, I'm not putting anything good in. 336 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:53,080 Something's coming in right. A better way to explain what God 337 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:58,040 means by meditation is contemplation, or to think on 338 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,640 it, to ponder, to chew it over, to dwell on it, or to memorize 339 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:10,640 it. Psalm 119, verse 15 says, I will 340 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:17,760 meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways and my 341 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:19,760 favorite and I have lots of faith. 342 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:22,680 One of my favorite verses, which I have 100. 343 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:28,880 So it's it's my favorite today, Philippians 4 verses 8 and 9. 344 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:34,520 And it says finally, brethren, whatever things are true, 345 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:36,880 whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, 346 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:39,560 whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, 347 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:43,560 whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, 348 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:48,240 if there is any praiseworthy, anything praiseworthy, meditate 349 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:55,640 on these things, right? So This Is Us meditating on the 350 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:03,600 word, right? Psalm 91 says he shall cover you 351 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:07,400 with his feathers and under his wings you shall take refuge. 352 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,560 His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 353 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:18,080 So his truth is our shield from our from the enemy's lines, 354 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,720 right? So if I know what the truth is, 355 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,520 then the enemy's enemy's lies have no effect over me. 356 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:27,320 If we are full of God's truth, we can hear deceptions. 357 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:34,160 I was that a small Bible study? Probably 10 years ago and they 358 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:41,520 had a guest speaker and he wasn't like a, a bad man And he, 359 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:46,720 he didn't, he didn't, there was nothing I could pick out 360 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,840 specifically that wasn't right about what he was saying, but it 361 00:23:51,840 --> 00:24:00,040 was all, and, and it was, he was prophesying. 362 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:04,160 And, and then, you know, but when you, when you get into his 363 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,440 particular denomination or group, you know, they're, 364 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,000 they're training people to prophecy and they're training 365 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,960 people to speak in tongues. And there's just something off 366 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:21,280 there because it, there's, if you look at, if you look at like 367 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,320 Acts, was there a lot of training at that moment? 368 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:27,120 Those guys speaking in tongues did did Peter put on a seminar 369 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:31,000 before everybody started speaking in tongues, right when, 370 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:35,560 when Saul, when Saul went up or Saul, which is king Saul, when 371 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,640 Samuel says you're going to go prophesied it Samuel give him a 372 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:41,160 a seminar on what prophesying look like. 373 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:43,040 Everybody know that story, right? 374 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,480 It's so that stuff comes from the Lord. 375 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:53,160 It's not a training session that you get and we need to, we need 376 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:57,680 to meditate on, on noble, on being noble, right? 377 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,400 And what is noble? It's it's great or elevated or 378 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:05,440 dignified. It's it's righteousness, right? 379 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:13,040 And in Job, it says Job 29, which I recommend. 380 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,960 All the guys in here should just sit down, write down, read Job 381 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:23,880 29 because for you it's as it's as powerful a chapter as Psalm 382 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:29,720 3rd Proverbs 31 is to ladies right, but I'm just going to 383 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,240 verse 14. It says I put on righteousness 384 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,320 and it clothed me. My justice was like a robe and a 385 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:39,000 turban. Job understood God's 386 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,960 righteousness. It covered his life right. 387 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:48,800 Psalm 82 three and this is on meditating on justice. 388 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:54,960 Defend the poor and the fatherless do not or do justice 389 00:25:55,120 --> 00:26:02,960 to afflict the needy. When we stay in God's Word, we 390 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:08,920 can discern justice. And this is many well, well 391 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:10,320 meaning. I mean, that's the thing guys, 392 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:15,240 is, is that many well meaning fuzzy thinkers out there miss 393 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,920 justice completely. And in our culture, I already 394 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,000 talked about it is some sometimes that plan is that I'm 395 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,320 just going to love others and agree with all of their views 396 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:33,280 and accept them. And the fuzzy thinking in that 397 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:37,920 is because they'll, they'll also say things like, well, Jesus 398 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:42,960 accepts everybody. And so we just have to accept 399 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,160 everybody as they are. But let's, let's look at what 400 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,760 Jesus did in in John 8 verses 11 and 12. 401 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,240 And this is, if you don't know the story, this is the woman 402 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,480 that was caught in the very act of adultery. 403 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,280 And she was brought before him and they wanted to stay, wanted 404 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,720 him, wanted her stoned. And he said, you know, he who 405 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,480 hasn't sinned, cast the first stone. 406 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,400 And none of them did. And they all left. 407 00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:12,080 And so he looks up and he asks her, he says, so where are your 408 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:16,000 where are your condemners? And she says they've all you 409 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,640 know, she actually right here, she says in verse 11, she said 410 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:25,320 no one Lord, and Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you go 411 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:30,840 and sin no more than Jesus spoke to them again saying I am the 412 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:34,360 light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk 413 00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:36,960 in darkness, but have the light of life. 414 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,680 So this wasn't Jesus accepting her as she was. 415 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:47,680 This was Jesus saying that I'm not going to condemn you go and 416 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:52,440 sin no more, right? And if you're, if you're walking 417 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,240 with me, you won't walk in darkness, right? 418 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:59,960 You, I will, I will. Christ will show us how to walk 419 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:02,400 in the light. And he does that. 420 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:07,560 He does that through his spirit and through his word right and 421 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:11,520 then loving others is forcing them to believe and act like you 422 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:18,880 and guys, I would say that if the if the American conservative 423 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,160 church is guilty of anything, this is their guilt. 424 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:29,960 And we we're in good company because Luke 954 and 55, two of 425 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:34,640 our favorites. And when his disciples James and 426 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,720 John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire 427 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,600 to come down from heaven and consume them just like Elijah 428 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:44,480 did, But he turned to rebuke them. 429 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,360 You do not know what manner of spirit you are. 430 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:51,360 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to 431 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:53,760 save them. And they went out, went to 432 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:58,520 another village. So James and John really thought 433 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,000 they were, they were going to do the Lord's work, right? 434 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,200 They went to a village and the village didn't receive them. 435 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,640 And they said, let's just burn them out, get rid of them. 436 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:09,920 Anybody ever feel like that, right? 437 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:14,480 And, and Jesus rebuked them, right? 438 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,520 And said, you don't know what manner of spirit you are in. 439 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:19,800 I came to save the world, not destroy it. 440 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:29,320 Being in the world, being in the word gives us the ability to see 441 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:33,960 the world and its problems from what what it is and how God 442 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,720 wants to handle it. You know, I was meeting with the 443 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:42,640 elders and that's as we're downtown, as we're downtown and 444 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:46,400 the, the, the vision for this body and this church and this 445 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:51,560 location is that we're to be in the world, but not of it. 446 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,240 And guys, the only way we pull that off, the only way that 447 00:29:55,240 --> 00:30:00,360 happens and we, we honor God and reach the community. 448 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:04,320 The only way that happens is if we're in his word, if we're 449 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:09,240 walking in step with him, right? Because if you let me try to 450 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,440 figure it out, I'm going to, I'm going to blow it, right? 451 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:14,960 Because I'm going to lean too far one way or the other, 452 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:20,280 because because either side of that coin is easier to do right, 453 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:25,360 to be too loving or to be too judgmental is easier than 454 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:28,840 walking down the middle and loving like Jesus loved. 455 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:33,920 And the only way we do that is if we're in his word right, and 456 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:36,920 we're, we're listening to him and we're, we're obeying him and 457 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:38,520 we're submitting to him. But we can't. 458 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:43,360 I don't submit to, I don't submit to some random thing out 459 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,680 here, right? Jesus isn't some random thing. 460 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,880 This isn't a this isn't a game we play in religious world. 461 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,920 He wrote it down. We have we have words we can 462 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:57,120 follow. There's guidance that we get and 463 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,760 then we will, as he told Joshua, then we will we will make our 464 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:05,800 way prosperous and we will have good success right as we as we 465 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:12,560 spend time in his word. John 519 says, then Jesus 466 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:15,840 answered and said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, the son 467 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,160 can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do for 468 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:23,240 whatever he does, the son also does in like manner. 469 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:30,960 So when Jesus and we've all read the gospels, hopefully, but when 470 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:35,040 Jesus was here, how many times did he have interactions with 471 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:37,400 people that just amazed you, right? 472 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,520 You know, my favorite, my, my favorite back and forth with the 473 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:45,280 Pharisees was on taxes because it was, it was an amazing 474 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:49,760 question, right? I mean, he's, he's in the temple 475 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,440 and everybody in the temple hates Rome. 476 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,640 And but there are still people in the temple that will turn him 477 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:00,480 in for being seditious towards Rome. 478 00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:04,680 So when they come to him and say, well, who should we pay 479 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:05,480 taxes? Now? 480 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:10,760 If he says yes, we should pay taxes, they're going to say that 481 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:15,520 he was he's he's not of God and that he's evil. 482 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,320 But if he says they that he shouldn't pay taxes, then 483 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:22,360 they'll say that he's striking A rebellion and Rome should come 484 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:26,200 pick him up and kill him. And what does Jesus do in that 485 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,920 moment? He has the perfect answer, 486 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:31,720 right? He just asked for a coin and 487 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,000 says give to Caesar. What's Caesar's and give to God? 488 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,080 What's God's? And they were amazed by his 489 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,280 answer because it was an impossible question, guys. 490 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,080 That's what we run into every day or impossible questions. 491 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,280 And the only way we're ever going to answer them is if we're 492 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:51,240 in step with our Savior, in step with the Spirit of the Lord. 493 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,760 And the only way to be there is to be like we talked last week, 494 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:59,160 to be spending time in prayer, but also be spending time in his 495 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,480 Word, right? Know what he says, don't think 496 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,760 what he says. Nobody says He wrote it down for 497 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:11,320 us to read it And then meditate on purity. 498 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:19,600 And First Timothy 412 says let no one despise your youth, but 499 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:23,920 be an example to the believers in Word and conduct and love and 500 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:28,600 spirit and faith and purity. Purity is an all or nothing 501 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:30,960 game, right? We've talked about the the help 502 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,640 the last time I was talking about purity, but one I was 503 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:39,240 thinking about when I was thinking on purity in Uganda, 504 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:43,400 they have the UN came in and there was they were having they 505 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:45,680 were having some health problems in their camps. 506 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:51,520 So because all the all the people were going out in the 507 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,120 Bush and going to the bathroom, well, that's a lot of people in 508 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,920 a very tight area. And so you can imagine the mess 509 00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:01,040 that was. So they dug pit latrines and pit 510 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:05,040 latrines solved that problem and created a much larger problem. 511 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:10,679 Well, I don't know, larger, just another problem that Ugandans 512 00:34:10,679 --> 00:34:12,199 were not prepared for at the time. 513 00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:16,000 And that was the pit latrines. They dig them down about 30 feet 514 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,960 boreholes, which are their pump their their water pumps, they're 515 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:24,199 dug down about 30 feet. Anybody figure out what that 516 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:27,120 that sound like pure water anymore, right? 517 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,679 And but the The funny thing with that story, and that's exactly 518 00:34:30,679 --> 00:34:33,920 how I expected you guys to react to it, is the moment I said that 519 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,239 they were at the same level instantly. 520 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,480 You didn't ask me how far apart they were. 521 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:44,840 You just knew that they were no longer pure, right? 522 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:48,480 You didn't say, well, is the pit latrine in the same area now? 523 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,320 It, it doesn't matter at that point that water is, has been 524 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:57,960 contaminated and it has it's, it's actually so most of the 525 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:04,480 guys in Uganda are shockingly stubborn and like maybe there's 526 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:09,000 some men in Idaho like that. That's the way we've always done 527 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,160 it. I got 1 buddy that is his, him 528 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,000 and his wife are really smart people. 529 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,160 They're, they're intelligent. They know things and they, they 530 00:35:17,720 --> 00:35:20,240 don't boil their water. And the reason they don't boil 531 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:24,280 their water and JB like, and, and I think they're boiling 532 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:28,560 their water now after many conversations, but he's like, I 533 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:30,520 didn't have to boil my water when I was a kid. 534 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:32,360 We don't have to boil our water. That's a bunch of 535 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:34,400 ridiculousness. Well, the difference is when he 536 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,040 was a kid, there were some things in the water, bacteria 537 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:41,360 and other things that could make it, could make it an American 538 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:43,320 sick, but couldn't make a Ugandan sick. 539 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:48,760 They got stronger stomachs that we have over just, they built up 540 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:53,160 those enzymes and stuff. But now all of the water has 541 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:57,520 typhoid in it because it's tied to pit latrines. 542 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,840 And that's the difference, right, Is that we've 543 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:03,720 contaminated, they contaminated their water. 544 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:09,920 And that purity is important and it's important for us. 545 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:14,200 The, this is the pure, right? I've got, I've got a library of 546 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:19,560 commentaries downstairs and I, and they have very good things 547 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:21,920 in them right there. There are guys way smarter than 548 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:26,240 me that have written way better things and they're intelligent, 549 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:28,600 but they're not scripture, right? 550 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:33,680 They are not pure. And so everything is to be 551 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,800 balanced off of what this says, right? 552 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:43,120 That's you'll find all the crooked doctrine out there is by 553 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:48,160 leaving parts of this out right, Whether you're Pentecostal or 554 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:52,560 Baptist or 7th Day Adventist or whatever the denomination is, 555 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,160 it's ignoring. It's not that what you're doing 556 00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:59,440 is wrong. It's when you start pointing at 557 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:02,080 the others and saying they're doing it wrong, it's usually 558 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:06,880 because you are willfully ignoring verses in the Bible. 559 00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,960 J Vernon McGee is if you guys the Bible bus. 560 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:12,640 I'm sure many of you have listened to him. 561 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:18,000 He's a he's a good old guy. Well, he's I, if you ever 562 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:21,080 listening to him, teach on the gifts of the Spirit. 563 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:28,080 A man that teaches phenomenally at a very simple level from 564 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:31,760 Genesis to Revelation, gets to the gifts of the Spirit and 565 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,040 starts doing backflips. With his own rules. 566 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:37,080 To get away with it because he doesn't want the gifts of the 567 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:42,680 spirit to be a thing and before he before he passed away because 568 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:47,600 God does have a sense of humor. He was healed and and and admits 569 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,280 he was healed and had a different opinion out. 570 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,360 I mean the Bible bust all those radio programs had already been 571 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:56,600 done. But my point with that is, is 572 00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:01,040 that everybody in a commentary, everybody in a Bible study, 573 00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:05,840 they're they're sinners, right? They're sinners that are doing 574 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,760 their best right to discern this. 575 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:15,520 What you need to do is read it and you need to be in it, right? 576 00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:20,400 And and this is how important that is to the Lord. 577 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:28,600 Ephesians 5 chapter teasing chapter 5 verses 25 and 26 says 578 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:32,920 husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and 579 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:38,160 gave himself for her that he Christ might sanctify and 580 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:44,680 cleanse the church with the washing of the water by the word 581 00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:53,000 and then meditate on love and that's if you guys don't you 582 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,840 guys never done this. This is I'm going to use my 583 00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:57,880 name, but you guys can put your name in here. 584 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:01,000 First Corinthians 13 verses 4 through 8. 585 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,240 Nick suffers long and is kind. Nick does not envy. 586 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:09,480 Nick does not parade himself. Nick is not puffed up. 587 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:13,360 Nick does not behave rudely. Nick does not seek his own. 588 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:17,000 Nick is not provoked. Nick's thinks no evil. 589 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:19,920 Nick does not rejoice in iniquity. 590 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:23,040 Nick rejoices in truth. Nick bears all things Nick 591 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,360 believes all things Nick's hopes all things Nick endures all 592 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:30,720 things Nick never fails. Well, I fail at every one of 593 00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:36,920 those on a regular basis, right? And the only way that that I 594 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:44,360 could ever, ever hope to hit that target is if I'm in Christ 595 00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:46,400 and I'm letting him work through me. 596 00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:50,200 And, and part of that being in Christ is being in his word, 597 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:54,040 right? It's not about, it's not about 598 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:57,640 what I think Christ is or what I feel like Christ is. 599 00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:00,960 It's who is Christ. And he tells us, right? 600 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:07,560 And I need his filling and washing every day to guide me. 601 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,000 So I need to be in His word every day. 602 00:40:14,240 --> 00:40:17,200 Because he can love people through me that I can't love. 603 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:18,560 He can. He can. 604 00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:25,520 He doesn't seek his own right. He does believe all things. 605 00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:31,160 He does endure all things. I don't do any of that. 606 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:38,440 Well outside of him. You know, it's I I've shared 607 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:42,320 with my daughters for years. The only good thing about Nick 608 00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:45,920 Adams is, is Jesus Christ. And guys, I, I, I can't 609 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:50,680 emphasize that enough. Right when it says that our 610 00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:53,520 hearts are dreadfully wicked, my heart is dreadfully wicked. 611 00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,080 Outside of Christ, there is no good in me. 612 00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:00,040 It's not like I showed up with some love and he added some 613 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:03,240 right outside of him. I've got a whole lot of 614 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:09,720 selfishness that just wants me. And so I need to be in his word 615 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:13,360 all the time being renewed and washed by him. 616 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:17,400 I need him to be guiding and directing me in everything I do. 617 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:24,280 When we meditate on good, it says and that's the gospel is 618 00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:26,520 the good news. Do you dwell on that? 619 00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:31,680 Do you do you ever just sit and and go through the go through 620 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:38,920 the gospels and just think about what he did and who he is and 621 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:43,720 the goodness of that. You know, John 317 back to for 622 00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:47,400 God did not send his son into the world to condemn his to get 623 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:51,040 them the world, but that the world through him might be saved 624 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:57,800 and how good a news that is and the virtue meditating on virtue 625 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:01,760 is just the standard of right. If we stay in the word, we know 626 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:13,880 the standard and the standard is Revelation 19 verses verse 13 627 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:19,560 says he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is 628 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:26,200 called the word of God. Love that line because that is 629 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:29,600 more than more than when John says he was the word of God. 630 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:32,840 And I mean this is John writing Revelation, but this isn't his 631 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:36,960 name is called the word of God, right? 632 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:44,560 It's the Bible is not God by any stretch of the imagination, but 633 00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:51,360 it is him reaching out to us to tell us who he is, like an 634 00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:55,240 autobiography written by somebody from 100 years ago. 635 00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:59,000 This is the Bible is something that we get to read and and 636 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:05,160 learn who our God is, not who Nick thinks he is right, not who 637 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:08,040 Chuck Smith thinks he is or Billy Graham thinks he is. 638 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:15,600 This is this is written in plain English for us to know who he is 639 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:22,120 and it's translated into hundreds of other languages that 640 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:25,320 we may observe like it says back in Joshua, which is just to 641 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:32,440 adhere or practice to obey Romans 616 and I use this one 642 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:35,240 all the time. Do you know do you not know that 643 00:43:35,240 --> 00:43:38,480 to whom you present yourself slaves to obey you are that one 644 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:42,640 slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or 645 00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:44,640 obedience leading to righteousness. 646 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:48,960 What are we obedient to right? Are we obedient to our feelings 647 00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:51,880 or are we be obedient to God? And where do we get our 648 00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:55,000 obedience from? He wrote it down, right. 649 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:03,360 When we practice or comply or adhere to the book of the law, 650 00:44:04,240 --> 00:44:07,760 we will end in complete agreement, which is leads to 651 00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:10,920 righteousness, right? That's that's the joy is when 652 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,800 when you apply this to your life, you find out that this is 653 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:22,480 the truth. So back-to-back to second Samuel 654 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:28,400 with Eleazar and the battle. How do you think his focus was? 655 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:33,960 Do you think he was in complete agreement with God and his will 656 00:44:33,960 --> 00:44:36,080 for his sword? Do you think he was arguing with 657 00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,880 him about it? I mean, you know, they're in the 658 00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:40,080 battle. And he said, well, I think I 659 00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,560 should go over here. Or was he just holding on to the 660 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:46,520 sword? Eleazar was ready for the battle 661 00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:50,760 because he knew his sword and he trusted God to use it. 662 00:44:51,720 --> 00:44:53,520 Do you know your Bible that well? 663 00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:57,400 And I don't mean I don't mean memorized it cover to cover. 664 00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:05,160 The the coolest thing about the word is it will show up at times 665 00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:08,920 you have no idea that you needed it, right? 666 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:13,600 And it's in there and it's ready to be used. 667 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:21,200 Luke 2112 to 15. And if you think of this like 668 00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:26,360 Eleazar practicing for battle with his sword, he didn't know 669 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:28,320 he's going to fight 100 guys or 300 guys. 670 00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:30,760 He was just practicing with his sword. 671 00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:36,360 And then when it came time to go to war, God used it as it was 672 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:41,680 needed to be used. Luke 21 verses 12 to 15, it 673 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:46,160 says, But before all these things, they will lay their 674 00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:49,720 hands on you and persecute you and deliver you up to the 675 00:45:49,720 --> 00:45:53,400 synagogues and the prisons. You will be brought before kings 676 00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:58,640 and rulers for My name's sake, but it will turn out for you as 677 00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:02,280 on an occasion for testimony. Therefore settle it in your 678 00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:05,000 hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will 679 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,600 answer for. I will give you a mouth of 680 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:11,560 wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to 681 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:15,200 contradict or resist. So we're not supposed to 682 00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:18,640 meditate on particular arguments would be my point. 683 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:22,440 There in Uganda, they have two different ways of teaching in 684 00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:28,480 the world and and one is to teach critical thinking. 685 00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:31,040 Like if I'm going to teach you English, I'm going to teach you 686 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:34,040 how to speak English and you're going to understand the words 687 00:46:34,240 --> 00:46:38,040 and in that you're going to be able to communicate or I'm going 688 00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:39,960 to teach you like we teach Spanish. 689 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:43,320 If anybody's ever been here or been in a Spanish class, we're 690 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:46,000 going to teach you in Uganda. If I if I look at a whole room 691 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:47,640 like this and I say, how are you? 692 00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:53,760 The entire room will echo. I am fine because that is the, 693 00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:57,680 that is the I say, how are you? You say I am fine. 694 00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:01,200 If you say, how are you? And I say I'm doing all right. 695 00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:04,480 You have no idea what I just said because you don't know what 696 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:06,400 those words are. You just know the back and 697 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:11,080 forth, right? And my point there is don't, 698 00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:16,680 don't concern yourself with the conversations you're going to 699 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:18,440 have. God knows what those are going 700 00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:20,960 to be. Can you concern yourself with 701 00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:28,480 being in his word and when those conversations come up, even if 702 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:32,560 you're in in court or in trouble or being persecuted, when those 703 00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:37,720 times come, the words that will be needed you will have because 704 00:47:37,720 --> 00:47:40,960 he will give them to you. Acts. 705 00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:48,680 This is my Peter and John had one thing they got credit for 706 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:54,440 and through through their entire time, you know, John called 707 00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:56,400 himself the disciple Jesus loved. 708 00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:00,000 There's lots of things, but this is the thing I think they went, 709 00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:02,760 yes, that's us. I want, I want that written on 710 00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:04,400 my team stone that that's what I want. 711 00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:11,320 Acts 413 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and 712 00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:15,160 perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, 713 00:48:15,200 --> 00:48:19,240 they marvelled and they realized they had been with Jesus. 714 00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:23,600 That's what I want on my tombstone, right? 715 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,680 Not that not, not anything else that I've been with Jesus, 716 00:48:28,720 --> 00:48:31,720 right? The only way to get that credit 717 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:38,680 is to spend time with Him. And we'll finish with John 1 718 00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:41,640 verses one through 4. I'm sure we all know it. 719 00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:45,320 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 720 00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:48,960 the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God 721 00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:52,160 and all things were made through him, and without him nothing was 722 00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:56,080 made that was made. In him was life, and the life 723 00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:59,960 was the light of men. Only be strong and very 724 00:48:59,960 --> 00:49:05,000 courageous because you have been with Jesus, the Word of God. 725 00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:10,120 So I encourage you to be in your Bible to be reading guys, we're 726 00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:14,360 going into a season of just a great time to be in your word, 727 00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:16,920 right? Great time to be praying, be in 728 00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:24,360 your word, a time to to just hang out with him and have a 729 00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:27,640 great week. Dear Lord, I just thank you for 730 00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:30,160 everybody here. I thank you for this time. 731 00:49:30,160 --> 00:49:33,600 I thank you that you did write yourself down, Lord, That you, 732 00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:38,120 you gave us specific instructions for life, Lord, 733 00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:43,120 That from Genesis to Revelation is all instructions you've 734 00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:45,960 given, Lord. And that would be in your word, 735 00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:52,840 Lord, that that I encourage everyone here just to ask you to 736 00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:56,280 fill them with a desire for your word, Lord, That you would just 737 00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:01,360 give us a passion for it, Lord, And that you would open our eyes 738 00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:04,920 to see it, my Lord, You'd be revealing yourself to us through 739 00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:08,240 your word continually. And I pray all this in Jesus 740 00:50:08,240 --> 00:50:25,800 name, Amen. How I love the voice of Jesus on 741 00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:28,920 the cross of Calvary.