1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,760 Good morning. Oh, man. 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:05,840 Hey, do you guys confused all you look at the band and 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:07,360 everybody shuffled around to the right. 4 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,080 Do you guys notice at all? Different drummer, different 5 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:12,640 bass guy, new lead guy. Can you guys go for these guys? 6 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:13,920 Come on then. Fantastic. 7 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:18,400 I was talking to Joel. I was like, man, you're doing 8 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:21,680 pretty good on the bass. And he he was like, well, I say 9 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:23,760 you got no iPad or nothing for the music. 10 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,440 He goes, I I can't read the music anyway, so I just played 11 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,640 by ear. I memorize it and wow, 12 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:31,240 fantastic. I'm looking over and going this 13 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:33,280 is this is too good. You make I can't I'm so sick of 14 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,520 these guys talent, you know, shouldn't have that much talent 15 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,400 one person. But anyway, we appreciate these 16 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,760 guys. So can you guys say rejoice 17 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,120 always. Now let's say it like we want to 18 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,120 rejoice, rejoice always. Come on somebody. 19 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,200 You guys have just memorized the verse today. 20 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,040 Come on, somebody first lessons 516. 21 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:53,760 You got it right there. Rejoice always. 22 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,960 And this verse we talked about lately, but this is one of those 23 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,720 seasons of just full of joy. We get to choose joy, Amen. 24 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,400 And then it goes on to we pray continually. 25 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,040 We could choose prayer. We grateful for all 26 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,680 circumstances for it's God's will for you in Christ Jesus, 27 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:09,400 Amen. And as Christians, there's 28 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,040 something different about us. Even when the circumstances are 29 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,000 difficult, it's not the way you want to go. 30 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,440 It's a season of uncertainty. Even life or death, we can still 31 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:20,520 choose joy, choose to pray, and choose to be grateful. 32 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,000 Amen. And people sense that they walk 33 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,280 in and it just, there's something about the person who's 34 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,320 been the presence of God and the demeanor they have because they 35 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:31,000 actually walk with Jesus. And so today I was going to just 36 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,720 celebrate a few things. It's been just an exciting 37 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,400 season at our church. First of all, Mother's Day last 38 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:38,360 week, largest middle day we ever had. 39 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:44,080 Fantastic preaching, by the way. Come on, somebody, everybody's 40 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:45,880 like, how's it feel to be the second best preacher in the 41 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:47,120 house? I'm like, I'm probably like the 42 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:48,560 10th. There's there's so many great 43 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:52,200 guys, dude, I'm telling you so and ladies, but just fantastic. 44 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,120 We had 421 people out. Largest Mother's Day I've ever 45 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:56,440 had. Just amazing. 46 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:58,080 Give it for everybody's new, give it for moms. 47 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,600 Just wow. It's just, it's just insane. 48 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,520 Like we don't know what really to prepare for anymore. 49 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,480 Like how many kids, I don't know, we don't even know 50 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:08,440 anymore. We had three people. 51 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:10,320 It's amazing on Mother's Day day. 52 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:12,560 I don't know all the time you're like man pastor, like I just 53 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:14,880 want to get more involved. I want to jump on the team. 54 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:17,240 I'm like sweet. And they all came to set up 55 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,000 today. So we had three new people set 56 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,120 up this morning. Just jumped on in fantastic. 57 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,160 It's just fun. It's just be a part of what 58 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:27,200 God's doing this whole thing. There's a lady that came out. 59 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,200 It's been coming for a season, but mentioned the the bouquet 60 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,320 bar and was just super excited. Like I cannot believe you guys 61 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,200 go all this extra difference like this extra miles to 62 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,400 celebrate moms and just open up this it just if you come out of 63 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,360 different churches, it's kind of get a little stale, you know, 64 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,480 and stagnant and it just I feel like most people forget this, 65 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,720 but one of the qualifications for a pastor is actually fit for 66 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:50,920 hospitality. And I think when somebody comes 67 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:53,800 into a church, this just no automatic like these people love 68 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,640 people. Amen, because God loves us, we 69 00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:58,120 love everyone else. Amen. 70 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:01,520 And just a little tiny caveats and fun things, but man, how 71 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,400 exciting just to do that kind of stuff and to give back and play 72 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:06,040 difference. And people notice those small 73 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,640 things like if you love us this much, I mean, what else do you 74 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:09,160 love? You know? 75 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,000 And it's just amazing to play part of that story. 76 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:12,800 So I want to say thank you all ladies, put that together. 77 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,200 I will promise you there was zero men behind that. 78 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:21,400 Just saying I'll stop. I can, I can do that. 79 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:23,680 This is pretty cool. Last week there, there was a mom 80 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,440 who couldn't make it, but her whole family came out. 81 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:28,200 And it was one of those families that had kind of been between 82 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,840 churches for a season. Her husband came out and her 83 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,560 family came out, kids came out and spouses and all the things. 84 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:35,440 And it took about a whole row plus some. 85 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,680 And she talked to us this week and she's I was so excited that 86 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,400 even though I couldn't be there, my entire family went to 87 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:43,200 Mother's Day at church. Who knows? 88 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:44,160 That's a good Mother's Day. Amen. 89 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,480 Like my family was in church even without me dragging me to 90 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:49,600 church, you know, which is often the case, right? 91 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:52,000 One of the things exciting this season, our belt and SIM 8 92 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,320 project, It's like it's a godsend, Amen. 93 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,720 Like we, we prayed for an opportunity to say yes. 94 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,240 Like Lord, give us the opportunity to say yes to, I'll 95 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,200 be honest with you, this was, was not the first opportunity 96 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,680 that we thought we'd say yes to. Although we're like, Lord, if 97 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,800 you do it, but like, that's just amazing what the Lord's done. 98 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:12,640 Amen. And so to walk in the season, 99 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:14,880 just a quick update. We're still in the due diligence 100 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:15,920 phase. We're still working on some 101 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:17,920 things we kicked out to end of May. 102 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:22,480 So they got some things to fix, but they're going to Amen And so 103 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:24,840 we're so excited for the season and what God's doing and this is 104 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:26,640 above and beyond. We could ask or imagine, you 105 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,320 know, this, this, this Ephesians 3/20/21 like Lord, you just 106 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,760 doing more than than we even dreamed of. 107 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:34,200 And I think that's what Lord does Amen. 108 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:37,920 And so I encourage you guys just be praying and just just we're, 109 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,400 I know you guys are like, we're going to see some drawings and I 110 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:43,160 almost put like the, the their drawings on the screen and like 111 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:45,600 we're trying to turn this into a church. 112 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:49,360 You know, it's, it's crazy. So, but it, it's so much fun and 113 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:50,840 excited to just to run the season. 114 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:55,080 This is another crazy fun story. So this week I got a call from 115 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:58,040 you guys know Patti Gazelle, who knows Patti full life. 116 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,600 Patti. She's she's she can't come as 117 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,480 much her husband's struggle with dementia and just come with the 118 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,280 seasons. And if you know Patti, she's 119 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:06,800 just full life. She is so bubbly. 120 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:12,160 If she ever sends you a card, man, my Lord is like, and it's a 121 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,320 3D card. I mean, she makes custom cards 122 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,480 and she's like send cards to to Charlie's 8th birthday. 123 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:19,960 And I, I said, man, I'm probably just going to disappoint you 124 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,800 with whatever I send. This is not going to be like 125 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,640 this crazy thing. But she called me or text me. 126 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:27,480 She said, Hey, I've something shipped my house. 127 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,360 I think it's for you. That's our thing is like, man, I 128 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,080 did ship something to her a while back and her address is in 129 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:35,240 my Amazon. Maybe I sent her some things 130 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:37,680 that I shouldn't and has a password that's kind of 131 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,800 dangerous, you know, like what did I ship her? 132 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,320 You know, so I go back on Amazon. 133 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,680 I'm like, Nah, OK, we're I saw. I don't think I shoot anything. 134 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:46,960 She goes, you'll know when you see it. 135 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,240 They're like, OK, surprise. And so I show up and she had 136 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,200 this Amazon box and it was actually full of all these 137 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,120 heaven books. And so she bought a case these 138 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,400 books and she said, I heard you need some of these to pass out 139 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:02,200 to more people because this book has played just played such a 140 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:04,920 difference in my life. But she said I was so afraid of 141 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:06,520 dying. I was so afraid of of of 142 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:07,920 eternity. I didn't know anything. 143 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:09,040 I didn't know what was going to be like. 144 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:10,880 And so I was just definitely afraid of holding everything. 145 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,920 I was so sad and scared. And now I get a chance like to 146 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,360 share with other people. And she told me she was I'm so 147 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:20,400 excited for heaven. Isn't it amazing and so on. 148 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:22,560 Her heart is like, I just want heaven to get in some other 149 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:24,520 people. Amen And so if you walk through 150 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:26,400 a season where maybe there's some of your family that's 151 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,320 struggling with just kind of life and death, or you're you're 152 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,280 in the middle of it and you're you're walking the season bad 153 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:33,560 prognosis. I get to send this book to a 154 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,320 lady that was put on Hospice last week, 51 years old and was 155 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:39,960 given a month to a year to live. And I was like, you got to get 156 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:41,600 your mind and heart around heaven right now because you 157 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:43,000 man, I'm telling you, it is so exciting. 158 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,640 I know you're just scared to death, but man, just scared to 159 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:46,280 life. Amen. 160 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:48,560 And so I'll encourage you. I've got an extra copy up here 161 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,080 if somebody wants to just come find me after. 162 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:52,040 I don't want to throw it hurt anybody like it did last time. 163 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,640 So it was a bad thing. So anyway, we're going to dive 164 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,560 into this series. So how do you actually read the 165 00:06:58,560 --> 00:06:59,640 Bible? We're going to theology, but how 166 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:01,480 do you read the Bible? This is the best book you've 167 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:04,360 ever read, by the way, Amen. I mean, we we love Randy Alcorn, 168 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:06,600 but dude, he got nothing on this all came from that, Amen. 169 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:08,640 And so I would encourage you guys like, how do we actually 170 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,080 read the Scripture? Because for most people, as a 171 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,320 pastor I meet, they're not really against reading the 172 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:15,200 Bible. They just feel really 173 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,120 overwhelmed by it, but like they don't know where to start. 174 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:20,760 If they have started, they didn't finish, right? 175 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:22,440 Like they're going to read the Bible in the year and didn't do 176 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:23,760 that. Like you tried, like Lord, you 177 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:25,840 made a commitment. You start checking the boxes in 178 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:27,920 about 5 days in. You're like, man, I'm so 179 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:29,960 confused, right? Have you read the Bible and 180 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,680 didn't get anything out of it? I'll be real honest on the path, 181 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:34,520 I've read the Bible and sometimes I read like what in 182 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:38,360 the world just happened, right? And it could be confusing and 183 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,840 then we kind of get discouraged. I think Satan has a strategy to 184 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,080 keep us away from the Bible. I think it's way more spirits 185 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,360 than we ever think or imagine. But for most people, it's very 186 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,120 overwhelming. And then we get distracted and 187 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:48,920 busy. And so I want to encourage you 188 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:50,080 guys. How do we dive in the Bible? 189 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,360 So today I'm just going to use some simple things, some 190 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:54,600 practical things, but I'm also going to give you some really 191 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:56,520 deep encouragement of why we should dive in. 192 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:58,400 So I think that's going to maybe shift the needle for you to 193 00:07:58,400 --> 00:07:59,840 really, really spend some time with the Lord. 194 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:01,080 And so I'll just start with this. 195 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,840 It is actually very dangerous not to read the Bible. 196 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,040 It is very dangerous not to put your head to Scripture. 197 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:09,240 Even if it's confusing, you don't know to start, I would 198 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,000 encourage you that we got to make time to get ourselves in 199 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,120 the Bible. It says this in Proverbs 1412. 200 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,000 It says this. There is a way that appears to 201 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,200 be right, but in the end it leads to death. 202 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,080 There's a way it appears right to a man, but in the end it 203 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:26,680 bleeds to death. And it's really scary because 204 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:30,000 most people were doing were confident in doing like the path 205 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,200 looks good, the direction makes sense. 206 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:35,520 It feels good relationally, it makes sense financially, and 207 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:38,320 we're going through our life. But the danger of the whole 208 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,960 thing is we're not doing it with the Lord, Amen. 209 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,760 And it seems like it's like, why is the path for destruction? 210 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,560 It it seems good like this is it like my life is built on these 211 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:51,320 things? And it's like the American dream 212 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:53,960 or the pursuit of this American dream, but has nothing to do 213 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:56,160 about Jesus. Like we're not following his 214 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:57,400 will. We're not hearing his voice. 215 00:08:57,480 --> 00:08:58,960 We don't know the direction wants to go. 216 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,000 Like it looks this is the right way, but it's not from the Lord. 217 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:04,800 And Satan is really good. He didn't he didn't really come 218 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:07,760 out to the front door right? Like he, he distracts you and he 219 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,200 keeps you busy and he puts all these obstacles in your life and 220 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:12,240 he just gets your heart and mind focused on something else 221 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,600 besides him. Now this goes all the way back 222 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,560 to the original sin in Genesis chapter 3. 223 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:18,840 And you guys remember what happened when Ave. they ate the 224 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:19,960 apple? What was the first thing that 225 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:23,160 happened? You guys remember their eyes 226 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:24,040 were open. That's right. 227 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:25,280 Good job over here. That's really good. 228 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:29,440 Their eyes were opened and they recognized good and evil and 229 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:32,040 they recognized they were naked and they were ashamed. 230 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,800 And what they do from God, they hear from God, they reign from 231 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:37,400 God. And you know, we often think 232 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,320 about the the curse and we think, oh, well, this is what it 233 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,200 is now. And there's there's toil and 234 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,080 there's pain and all these things and there's death. 235 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:46,720 And that is true. But what happens is we forget 236 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,800 the very essence of what broke was our relationship with God. 237 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:53,960 That was the very first time that God, I'm going to say, got 238 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,120 up in the morning, OK, right. And he walks in the cool the 239 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,720 morning and he looks for his son Adam and his daughter Eve. 240 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,240 Where are you? And they don't answer for a 241 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:04,920 second. And he cries like, where are you 242 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:07,920 let go over here. It is the first act of grace, by 243 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,080 the way, Amen, That God still pursued us even when we're 244 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,760 broken and messed up and covered the sin and shame and 245 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:18,000 selfishness. Our God still loves us, Amen. 246 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,600 And you can't forget that. That's just so foundational to 247 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,200 walk with God because I think Satan has just kept us broken 248 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,640 and in shame and in combination. But we forget the very essence 249 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,240 is that there was a time where we got every morning and we 250 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:32,000 grabbed the hand of our Father and said, we're going to play 251 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:33,960 today. What we're going to do today, 252 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,400 what we're going to build today. What kind of animals are going 253 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:37,720 to name today? What, what, what things are we 254 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:39,240 going to discover today? We're going to teach today. 255 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,160 And we never knew it was like not to actually walk with God, 256 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:46,320 that his voice was preeminent, His love and grace were over us. 257 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,320 We were covered completely. And then we walked away. 258 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:51,480 And I think what happens is sometimes we equate our broken 259 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:53,880 relationship with God, that we don't pursue him because we 260 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,320 don't think God loves us. And that's not part of the 261 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:58,880 curse, Amen. God, do not curses and say, get 262 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,360 out of my presence. I don't love you anymore, you 263 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,320 are worthless. Get away from me. 264 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:05,320 I think Satan likes to teach us that, though, Amen. 265 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,760 And So what happens is when we don't get in the Bible, we're 266 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:11,320 actually going back to the original plan of Satan. 267 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,160 We're going back to the original way that Satan was where our 268 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:16,880 where our voice and God's voice are no longer connected. 269 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:19,600 And it's very dangerous. Matter of fact, I would say it's 270 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:23,200 even deconstructive. Like you will take your life and 271 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,000 drive it to its furthest extent, as far away from God as 272 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:27,800 possible. Even the point we don't believe 273 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,520 in God anymore. This is what Satan's strategy 274 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:33,760 has been the entire time. It's kind of interesting too, 275 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:36,040 because, you know, people like really love the Bible. 276 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:39,200 Sometimes you get like a bad Rep, you know, like, you see, 277 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:41,560 these guys were kind of the top. Sometimes we call them Bible 278 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:42,760 thumpers. I don't know, a group kind of 279 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:44,560 church like that. It was just like Hellfire. 280 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,360 You got saved every Sunday. Come on, somebody, right? 281 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,480 Maybe it was just me, right? That was a fundamental Baptist. 282 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:52,240 We say it wasn't fun. It was definitely mental. 283 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:55,880 Come on, somebody. If you come from that circle, 284 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:57,040 you'll laugh harder than anybody else. 285 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,240 But if you're not laughing, then I might not see you next week. 286 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,800 But it's all good. I'll quote the great theologian. 287 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,000 We, we come to being dangerous. We're going to quote Alice 288 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:08,040 Cooper. Come on, somebody. 289 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:10,960 Oh, man. And if you know anything about 290 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:12,560 Alice Cooper's music, I mean, it's dark, right? 291 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:15,160 I mean, there's got guillotines, you got snakes, you got all this 292 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:17,680 whore, all these things. And his story is crazy. 293 00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:21,080 And I don't know all the bits of the story, but he became 294 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,480 obviously drugs, alcohol, all the all the 9 yards. 295 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,160 What's crazy is his wife, Cheryl, She's actually a 296 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,480 pastor's daughter. And I started thinking like, 297 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:29,680 man, Can you imagine that conversation? 298 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:34,560 Like you're going to marry who? Like you're doing what? 299 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:36,200 Like, I just like, man, you know? 300 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,720 You know, there was like all sorts of this drama dysfunction 301 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:40,160 that happened. But it's crazy. 302 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:41,800 She actually came to Christ later in her life. 303 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,200 And through that, Alice saw the difference that was made in her 304 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:46,480 life. And he was struggling with 305 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:48,000 alcohol. And he said, I cannot, I know I 306 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,400 cannot defeat this on my own because it's so destructive. 307 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:52,840 And so he turned to Jesus, our relationship with Christ. 308 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,520 And it's been sober for decades. And he had this quote and I saw 309 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:56,720 it the other day and it's so amazing. 310 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:00,160 He said drinking beer is easy, trashy hotel room is easy. 311 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:02,480 But being a Christian, that's a tough call. 312 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:06,240 He said that's real rebellion. That's pretty good. 313 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:07,920 Amen. That's our thing about real 314 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:09,760 rebellion. Like when you pick up the Bible 315 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,680 every time you read it, this is the most rebellious act you 316 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:14,880 could ever do. You're, you're rebellion against 317 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:17,840 original sin, you're you're rebelling against Satan, you're 318 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,760 rebelling against sin nature, like you are turning back to God 319 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:22,560 and fighting your world a real war. 320 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:24,640 And it's pretty amazing. There's a reason why the Bible 321 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,080 calls this a sword, because you actually have to be in rebellion 322 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:30,800 to actually use it. And so I think Satan just wants 323 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:32,200 to keep us away from getting the Bible. 324 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:34,560 And for most people, sadly, they don't read the Bible. 325 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:38,080 Most people, it's just, it's like literate but illiterate. 326 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:40,840 They choose not to read and I want to encourage you guys. 327 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:44,080 If you could do one act as a Christian, it'd begin your face 328 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:46,840 before God and open his scripture and just let God speak 329 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,440 you through his word is a foundational piece of your walk 330 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:52,800 with God. You know, I think about this 331 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:55,880 sword called the Bible and I I love my my boy Peter. 332 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:57,600 He he's just so fiery in the Bible. 333 00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,800 Some of you guys remind me of Peter by the way, you just like 334 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:02,000 you just go for it. You don't care about the 335 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,320 consequence. You just going and Peter was 336 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:06,920 that guy right? And he he was so upset when 337 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:08,160 Jesus was getting arrested. What did he do? 338 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:09,400 He pulled out his sword and what? 339 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:11,600 Yeah, cough, Malchus's ear, right? 340 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:13,800 And in Jesus, he picks up the ear and he heals them. 341 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:17,320 He tells Peter, whoever lives by a sword what dies by a sword. 342 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,480 And it's the last time you see Peter ever pick up a physical 343 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:22,160 sword. Every time. 344 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:23,680 The last time you see him be a brawler. 345 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:25,440 And some of you guys come out of the world like if you ain't 346 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:27,000 fighting, you're not getting anything communicated. 347 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:28,720 Like there's a line. I'm just going to just going to 348 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:30,960 punch your lights out, right. And that that was Peter. 349 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,000 But when Jesus told me if you live by the sword, died by the 350 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:34,840 sword, it's really interesting because we always think we 351 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:37,320 aren't supposed to fight. But what what Peter learned that 352 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:39,440 he was restored. And anyway, what did Jesus tell 353 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:40,840 him? If you love me, what? 354 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,200 Feed my sheep. If you love me, feed my lambs. 355 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,880 If you love me, feed my sheep. And for the rest of Piers life, 356 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:49,760 what do you do? Yeah, he picked up the sword. 357 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:53,200 Amen. He he, he exchanged a physical 358 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,040 weapon for the most spiritual weapon you can have and he 359 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:58,800 preached the Bible, Amen to the point of death. 360 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:00,880 Matter of fact, he was so passionate about the word of 361 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,600 God, he proclaimed it evenly when he was in Rome and in 362 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,160 preaching to these people that were highly persecuted. 363 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,760 And this is the way he says about the word of God itself. 364 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,400 And second Peter, this very last thing he's writing, second Peter 365 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:14,800 chapter one, verse 3. This is what you're reading by 366 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:17,520 the way, when you pick the Bible up, it says his divine power. 367 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:22,440 Talk about God himself has given us what everything, not just 368 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:27,040 some things, but every single thing we need for what a godly 369 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,120 life. So God's power gives us 370 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,280 everything we need for a godly life. 371 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,400 And you know, sometimes you want to like live somebody else's 372 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:35,400 life, like, oh man, it'd be great and this and that. 373 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:37,800 No, no, you just want to live the life that God has for you, 374 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:40,520 Amen. Be content with where God has 375 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:43,840 put you. Live a God life through how our 376 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:49,400 knowledge of him like so we know about God, God's divine power, 377 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:51,800 because we know about our knowledge of God. 378 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,920 How do we get knowledge of God through the Scripture, Amen. 379 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,120 And so because we know about his power through the Scripture, it 380 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:02,000 says who has called us, I love this by his own glory and his 381 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:03,480 own goodness. You sing about that a little bit 382 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:05,720 ago. Like I want to come into your 383 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,000 goodness. I want to come into your glory 384 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:09,440 on the talk of what you're doing. 385 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,640 It's not our glory and our goodness, it's his, Amen, 386 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,160 through his power and says there's first force that through 387 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:20,840 these he has given us his very great and precious promises. 388 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,280 So, so when God's power, which is comes through God's word and 389 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,200 knowing him, and we experience God's goodness and God's grace 390 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:33,400 and God's plan, he gives us this amazing promises and great 391 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:36,320 promises you find in Scripture. I live my life by those, by the 392 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:38,200 way, Amen. They're like the voices of 393 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:41,280 people just kind of keep fading farther away as the voice of God 394 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,960 is lifted up. It says so through them You may 395 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:52,040 what participate in his divine nature like so so we get a part 396 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:53,800 of our lives. This resurrected Mike's over 397 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:56,560 here laughing to make me finish what I started earlier. 398 00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:59,800 Mike and then sat up out a lot. I gave him the list and he's 399 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,960 like he was dying and it's great whatever, but we get to 400 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:06,520 participate in his divine nature. 401 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,200 That means when we came to Christ as a part of us that was 402 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,560 resurrected because the power of Jesus and we could participate 403 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:15,280 in the resurrection power of Christ, our soul spirit is 404 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:17,400 already resurrected just like Christ. 405 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:19,119 There's a part of us that looks just like heaven. 406 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,440 This is the grace of God, Amen. And having escaped the 407 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:24,680 corruption. So by being resurrected, we've 408 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:29,480 escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 409 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:30,760 Does that sound like a war to you? 410 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,400 Sounds just like a war. And Peter is so excited to tell 411 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,600 those people you no longer have to live by the things of man, by 412 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:40,720 the evil that's done because we know Jesus, because of his power 413 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:42,960 through knowledge of Christ, through the Scripture. 414 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:45,320 He boldly proclaimed through Scripture. 415 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:47,800 That's what his whole life was built on and ultimately appeared 416 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:49,840 into this. That's through the Scripture 417 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:53,440 that you are saved. You're saved because you know 418 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,640 who God is because of Scripture. It's not because you grew up in 419 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,320 a Christian home or you are a good person. 420 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:02,080 It's because you know who Jesus is, because we have the Bible, 421 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:03,960 Amen. And Peter knew, if there's one 422 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:06,720 thing I'm going to die for, I'm going to die making sure that 423 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,680 you know the Scripture, Amen. And there's people in this world 424 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:12,640 that are being arrested and killed because they preach the 425 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,120 Bible every single day and not just because they're on the 426 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:17,240 pulpit, OK? They're living it out every 427 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:19,520 single day. You think about this knowledge 428 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:21,640 of Jesus that were saved and resurrected like Christ. 429 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:22,960 Here's the thing you get about the Bible. 430 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,240 And and this would be people disagree, hopefully not in this 431 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:27,560 room, but maybe. But the Bible is absolute truth, 432 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:30,960 like every part of the Bible. And what what Peter is actually 433 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:33,840 saying, this is your first and final authority. 434 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:37,240 That's what he says, is it? He says everything to the 435 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:38,800 knowledge of Christ. You have everything to live a 436 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,320 godly life. So what that means is our life 437 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:43,960 is best put under Scripture. Amen. 438 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:46,880 Now the world's going to tell you a lot different, like, oh, 439 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,160 there's no absolute truth, which which is an absolute truth, by 440 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,200 the way, just throw it out there. 441 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,960 I guess you're wondering, but the Scripture is everything we 442 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,640 need. And imagine if God gave us a 443 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,480 playbook that told everything about the enemy schemes. 444 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:02,480 Like what? What? 445 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,280 What if we had like a way to break the code and understand 446 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:08,320 the strategy and know the plan and the ways that our enemy 447 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:10,400 thought? It's pretty crazy to think about 448 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:12,400 it, isn't it? You go back to World War 2, it's 449 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:14,280 pretty amazing. You guys ever heard a, a band 450 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,440 named Alan Turney? You know that is he, he, he, he, 451 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:19,160 he was the one that decoded the enigma. 452 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,720 You guys remember the Enigma, OK and all that they changed every 453 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,560 day and it was this dial had different dials on it and nobody 454 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:27,880 could figure it out. And he made the first computer 455 00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:31,520 that was like a manual computer, but it he got electronic all 456 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:34,440 these solenoids. And every day they figured out 457 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:35,800 they'd say how Hitler at the end. 458 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,520 And so he put new the last letters of every message and he 459 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,560 used it to decode every day. And so the last part of the war, 460 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,200 they knew every single message from the Germans, but nobody 461 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:47,920 knew that we knew what they were saying till decades later was 462 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:50,160 classified. But what's really cool that most 463 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:53,240 people understand is that when they broke the enemy's code, 464 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,760 they believe it saved. At minimum, this is a low number 465 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:02,400 saved two years of World War 2 fighting, which would actually 466 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:05,480 be interpreted into if you took like actual people, they believe 467 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:09,920 it saved 14,000,000 lives by decoding the enemy's code. 468 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,720 And I started thinking about that, and I started thinking, 469 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:17,080 man, how many lives have we saved if people can start coding 470 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,480 the enemy's real code? Like how many people know Jesus 471 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,240 if they get to see the way that God made it, if they just 472 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:25,680 understood, like there's a scheme that you're playing into 473 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,080 and we're too busy fighting other people to recognize that 474 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:29,680 we're all enemy. You cannot be seen. 475 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,000 And he has a scheme and a plan to distract you from the love of 476 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,000 God, that that God has a plan for you, that he's pursued us 477 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:37,320 from day one. Our sin. 478 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:41,000 God has chased us down this stuff that people say, well, God 479 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,680 doesn't exist and he spun atop and walked away and God doesn't 480 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:46,600 love us. That is so far from Scripture it 481 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:48,720 is unreal because God is pursuing us. 482 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,240 When I share the Gospel, the first thing I want to start with 483 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:54,640 is the the first thing that man opens eyes to was the face of 484 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:58,000 God because God has always chosen to love us. 485 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:00,440 It's a great place to start. By the way, if you like one of 486 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:02,200 those Romans 323 guys, I love you. 487 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:03,640 Just go back one step. Amen. 488 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,800 If you don't know I'm talking about, it's OK, He'll get there. 489 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:09,680 But how do you read the Bible? So let's just walk through some 490 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,000 like real practical pieces. The the first thing you want to 491 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,040 look for when you open the Bible and by the way, the Bible, the 492 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:16,200 Bible means what you guys remember. 493 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:20,600 The Bible means books. That's right. 494 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,480 It doesn't mean just a book. It means books, a library, a 495 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:25,320 collection. And so when you open the Bible, 496 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,160 what you want to do is you want to figure out the writer of the 497 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:29,960 book you're reading because there's 66 books. 498 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:32,880 You want to figure out the author's intention. 499 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:34,400 Somebody say all thorough intent. 500 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:37,240 It's kind of weird. Like you don't usually have to 501 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:38,680 think about that because you're so used to. 502 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:40,280 You'll read whatever you're writing, reading. 503 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:44,160 It'll make perfect sense. Like, I went back to like 1997, 504 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:45,960 maybe 98. I'm not quite sure the whole 505 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,280 love story here. But if I were to pick up a note 506 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,960 from Barry to Christie, Come on, somebody, where's Barry at? 507 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:58,120 By the way, I believe you skipped that step, Right, Barry? 508 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,280 Oh, man, I'm sure he's been all sappy and lovey and gooey. 509 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:05,320 I mean, we we all know Barry didn't write anything. 510 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:07,600 I know you're right, Barry. I was going to ask Christy, 511 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:09,000 like, what? What do you do to woo you? 512 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:09,920 What did you do? Barry? 513 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,800 There's so much I want to say, but I won't just to protect him. 514 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:21,040 But. But if you read the note, if you 515 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:23,280 had a note and you read it, you'd be like, Oh yeah, this is 516 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:25,400 a love note, you know, And that that would be the context, like 517 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,160 the intention of this and that he's wooing her heart as hard as 518 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,080 that, as I believe. But then you you know that, 519 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:33,360 right? And if you pick up the Bible and 520 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:36,600 you read it like, what is this is, is this like a history book? 521 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,360 Is this trying to describe the facts that happened? 522 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,080 Is this stuff that's written for like a command from God? 523 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:44,280 Is this poetry? And there's like imagery? 524 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:46,120 Like what's the imagery? What's happening? 525 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:47,920 Like, is it, is this a letter of somebody? 526 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:49,400 Like what's The Who, who wrote the letter? 527 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,840 What's the point of the letter? Like, who's the letter written 528 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:53,800 to? Like, was he trying to correct? 529 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:55,320 Nobody writes something for no reason. 530 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,400 Like what? What's the, the big theme like 531 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,120 what's he trying to accomplish and what direction is it going? 532 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:02,200 Prophecy, What's what's the warning? 533 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:03,800 There's always a warning in prophecy, by the way. 534 00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:06,720 And it was very, it was never like you guys doing great. 535 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:13,040 Keep up the good work. I don't think God sent many 536 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:14,880 prophets as clear that message to anybody. 537 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:17,200 It was like, get back on track. You're going to be have some 538 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:19,080 judgment, right? And it's just you. 539 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:21,280 What's the intention? What's the author intent? 540 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,480 And I was going to say the Bible does not mean whatever you want 541 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:26,880 it to mean. I see this so often, like people 542 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,480 take scripture and they just take a verse and whatever they 543 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,400 come up with and it has to fit their preference, which is a lot 544 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,400 of Christians do this by the way, they put personal 545 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,280 preferences into Scripture, which is very interesting. 546 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,720 And then they die on the hill, a personal preference. 547 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:41,720 I'm like that that that's crazy, right. 548 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:43,880 And you got the world. They'll put their own 549 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:46,120 preferences and like deny that Scripture isn't real. 550 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,360 And so it's always coming with their own way of reading it. 551 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,080 And I've seen Bibles that take masculine of the Bible. 552 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:53,640 I've seen Bible. It's just weird. 553 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:55,800 There's certain things where people are like, Oh, God's not a 554 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:57,880 man. He's he's this, I'm like, where, 555 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,000 where, where did you? Where are you getting that from? 556 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,920 There was a man that came for to our church for a short time and 557 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,920 at one point it wasn't at the time it was it was like trying 558 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:08,680 to justify polygamy from Scripture. 559 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,000 I was like, that's interesting. I've never seen somebody with so 560 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:17,560 much balls to go there to scripture and Lily say that's OK 561 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:19,640 to have multiple spouses from Scripture. 562 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,080 Is that crazy? It's crazy to me. 563 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:23,640 I was like, are you reading the same Bible I'm reading? 564 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:28,600 And I look at this, I think, is this prescriptive or descriptive 565 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,320 when you read this? I mean, just because people did 566 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:33,360 in the Bible doesn't mean we should do it. 567 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,600 People ate an apple and disobeyed God or a fruit and 568 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:38,640 walk. It doesn't mean you should do 569 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:40,000 it. Just because it's written there 570 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,040 that it wasn't prescriptive for us. 571 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,720 It wasn't a command from God just because people were like, 572 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,280 yes, they were selfish and did what they wanted to do, but I 573 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:49,680 don't know. That's just that was just me. 574 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:50,960 And yes, I said balls from the stage. 575 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:55,360 You can quote it. So it's a salty church. 576 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,880 It's a salty guy. I mean, you're trying to justify 577 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,360 sin from the Bible. It's just like, man, Oh, that's 578 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:03,960 great, man. And you see this on so many 579 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,440 levels, man sexuality or any other pieces like it's OK to be 580 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,760 drunk or all these, I don't live my party life. 581 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:12,480 You see all the time. It's like, are you going to 582 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:14,920 scripture, putting yourself under authority of scripture or 583 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:16,800 you going to scripture because you want to make it say what you 584 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,560 want to make it say? And it's like you just can't 585 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:21,640 twist it. And like, I just think you just 586 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:23,960 got to put that to a stop, man. And why, why didn't do that 587 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:26,440 anyway? I, I was, if I can go to 588 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,000 scripture and make it say whatever I want to say, I'm 589 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,880 going to resign as a pastor. I'm going to go to my lake house 590 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:37,360 and I'm never coming back. And what's the point? 591 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,040 I mean, if, if, if, if the authority, if, if the God I 592 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,960 serve is so manipulated by my way of thinking that he's no God 593 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:48,480 at all, just going to say it. And so if you can just make it 594 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,520 what you want to say, like, I don't know if you really love 595 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:52,960 God as much. You just love yourself because 596 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,720 there's no honor in that. Anyway, that was a, the proof of 597 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,960 thought. Put that out there so we don't 598 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,360 bring meaning into Scripture. We discover meaning from 599 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:06,240 Scripture. We go to Scripture and we say, 600 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,120 what is the authority? God, What are you saying through 601 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:11,840 this writer to these people? And we pull out the meaning from 602 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,720 the texts. Acts 1711. 603 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:16,200 There's a church that was really good doing this. 604 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:20,960 It says now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than 605 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,400 those in Thessalonica. Man be bummed to be in 606 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:24,360 Thesalonica right there. Right. 607 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,200 Like all alternatives. Yeah, they were more spiritual. 608 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:29,560 Yeah, they had better character. And why? 609 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:31,200 Why? It says for they received the 610 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:34,840 message, some of the Scripture and of Jesus with great 611 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,680 eagerness. They were excited for the things 612 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:42,080 of God and they what, examine the Scriptures, how often? 613 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:47,720 Help me out every day, every Sunday, every life group, every 614 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,880 Bible study, every day, they examine the Scripture. 615 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:52,200 That's good. By the way, Amen. 616 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,920 This is a noble character to see it not not just because it was 617 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:57,920 like, man, I'm just curious to see the Bible says they're 618 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,560 actually questioning if what Paul is saying is actually true. 619 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:04,000 Isn't that amazing to think like who would question Paul? 620 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,640 The Berean church, Amen. And if you're like, go to church 621 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,440 like, well, Pastor Sean said, so I hope you know better than 622 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:14,160 that, Amen. I hope, I hope you don't quote 623 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,360 me when you're sharing the gospel with somebody. 624 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:21,400 You know, My pastor told me the Bible says Amen. 625 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,600 And the best way to know truth in any regard of truth, I don't 626 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,000 care if it's science, it's reason, it's history, whatever 627 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,800 is the best way to know truth is to filter it through Scripture. 628 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,880 You take what you hear through any area and you put it through 629 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:36,520 Scripture. If you know the truth about 630 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,920 marriage, take it through Scripture and you know the truth 631 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,240 of all the things that culture is doing, just go back to 632 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,600 scripture and that fact. The best way to know Scripture 633 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,040 is actually to filter through more Scripture. 634 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,040 Amen. You can't take one idea from one 635 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,560 area that's not even a command of God and then say it applies 636 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,600 to everything in the world. If you the Bible is, by the way, 637 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,400 does not contradict itself, it completes itself. 638 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:02,560 Amen. If you think it's a 639 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,560 contradiction, you have to do some more studying or change 640 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,240 your heart because you can find what you're looking for, I 641 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,120 guess. But with the best filter of 642 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:13,560 scripture is scripture itself. The the Bible, The God of the 643 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,720 Bible is consistent and pure and never changing. 644 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:20,160 And the Bible is written by God. He is the author of the Bible. 645 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:24,000 And it's not even a dead book, it's the living book, Amen. 646 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,880 And so you can go to it and it will show you the things in your 647 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,000 life that it be shifted. It's not going to give you 2 648 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,440 different answers for the same thing. 649 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:32,600 So you can test your preachers, Amen. 650 00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:35,400 You can test your leaders. You can test what everybody's 651 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,080 saying in the world. Is this really what the Bible 652 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:39,080 says? Now? 653 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,440 It's kind of crazy because there's a lot of loving, well 654 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:46,200 meaning people that will give you half or three quarter of the 655 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,120 truth. They don't want to offend you 656 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:53,080 and so they tell you the easy answer or half the answer. 657 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,080 It looks like a lot of great ways, like a person struggling 658 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,160 financially and a good hearted Christian will say that's OK, 659 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:00,720 you don't need to give to God right now. 660 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:04,280 Save your money and take care of yourself and then give back to 661 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,880 God when you can. That makes no sense to me as a 662 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:08,520 Christian. Like, I don't say you have to 663 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,400 give it to church, but returning to God was given to you is 664 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,320 actually command of God. It's in the heart of God. 665 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,760 So I, I know you feel for this, this widowed young lady or 666 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:21,720 whatever the situation is, but that's not scripture, Amen. 667 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,120 That's just like your way of like placating the scripture. 668 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,080 And there's a lot of people that will down the hill, personal 669 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:35,360 preference, which may be like 90% truth or 50% truth, or they 670 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,560 down the hill, they'll, they'll, they'll use the name of, of 671 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,720 personal preference or they'll use the name of tolerance. 672 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:45,360 In the name of tolerance, I'll preach the message that's pal of 673 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:47,600 people's ear that people will come and hear this message. 674 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:49,640 There's a lot of churches like that. 675 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:51,760 And I don't, I don't, I just don't understand it. 676 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,440 I, I really don't like, I, I, I don't serve like a made-up God, 677 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:57,920 like I sort of living act of God that's in Scripture. 678 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,920 And so the under the call of any person is to tickle people's 679 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:02,880 ear. Yes, I do think you should be 680 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,440 cognizant and you should care, and you have something hard to 681 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:06,800 say. You should say it with grace and 682 00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:10,240 mercy and love, truth and love, Amen. 683 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,560 But I don't think you you forego truth because you really love 684 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,960 people more than Jesus, because you don't love them more than 685 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,280 Jesus, Amen. But the ultimate we preach the 686 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:23,880 name of Jesus. And by the way, the name of 687 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:25,960 Jesus does offend. It is offensive. 688 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:28,320 The first time I had a chance to preach the gospel to A to a 689 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,040 crowd of people, it was just soccer ministry that put 690 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,120 together when I was in college and had a kids camp and you 691 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:35,480 know, all those things. There's a group of parents, 692 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:38,000 there's probably 40-50 people. And I remember preparing for 693 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,440 this and I was like, I don't know who's going to be there, 694 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:40,920 but it's kind of weird. It's a bunch of people in the 695 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:42,160 community. I was like, man, I don't want to 696 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:43,640 share the gospel. I don't want offend anybody. 697 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,600 Is that the dumbest thing ever? But like my insecurity, my name 698 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:49,800 of tolerance was like so great. I don't want to offend anybody. 699 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:51,640 And this man told me he's like a fourth generation church 700 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:53,000 planner. He said, Sean, look me in the 701 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:54,880 eyes, the gospel is going to offend. 702 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,840 Get over it. I was like, oh, OK, guess I'm 703 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:00,800 preaching the gospel, you know, but but it's like, where is your 704 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,240 faith hung on? You know, like we can't let our 705 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:05,920 insecurity and our personal preferences and our our worries, 706 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,560 like supersede the name of Jesus. 707 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,160 And I think a lot of people do it in this culture because it's 708 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,600 it's if you notice, politics become more spiritual. 709 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:15,080 I think the church become less spiritual. 710 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:17,280 And so politics is coming into the church. 711 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:19,360 And so I think it's time the church just has to do. 712 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,560 We always done just stand up and just speak and share the truth 713 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,720 in love. Amen, I'm watching social media. 714 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:29,960 I know truth and hate Anyway, so how do the Bible? 715 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:31,920 I think you guys start out and you got to ask yourself what's 716 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:34,440 the authors intention? And I think dive deep into the 717 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:38,120 context that your second thing, look at the context and so 718 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:39,960 context, everything. Context is what's around the 719 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:42,080 text. Like who wrote it? 720 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:44,720 That's like if you didn't know that was Berry right in that 721 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,560 note, that'd be a little kind of weird, right? 722 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,480 If you read the scripture, it's like, is this Paul? 723 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,240 Like what's what's Paul's story is, is is this Joshua? 724 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:54,560 What's Joshua's story? Moses, you just got to who 725 00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:56,360 wrote, what's the context, this big context? 726 00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:58,560 Who wrote this? Who are they writing to? 727 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,280 Why is this happening? Like what's this past about? 728 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:02,480 I'll give you an illustration of this. 729 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:04,600 How many guys memorize the verse lately? 730 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,200 Show of hands by lately. OK, yeah. 731 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:08,440 Good, awesome. A lot of you guys, right. 732 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,320 If you memorize the verse, I will encourage you to always 733 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:13,800 memorize the context of the verse. 734 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,800 Can I encourage you that it would be like owning a shovel 735 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:19,400 and don't know what a shovel's for? 736 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,440 If you memorize a verse without context, you like, I have this 737 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,680 awesome shovel. I don't know what it does 738 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:26,960 because I don't know what it's made to do. 739 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,040 And I would encourage you when you memorize a scripture, know 740 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,240 the context of Scripture. I'll give you an illustration. 741 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:33,680 There's this awesome thing out front. 742 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:35,680 You guys see the kids store out there by the way, you guys see 743 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,080 the you know what that is? These are our biggest rewards. 744 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,360 You know, we're incentivizing, just encouraging all these kids 745 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:42,840 like, hey, memorize the scripture, like show up with 746 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:48,120 your Bible, Amen. Bring a friend, like be nice in 747 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,760 the groups and they give them kids cash and they can buy stuff 748 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:52,720 from the store. Amen, Hallelujah, praise God. 749 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:56,400 And one of the ways that they can get some kids cash is by 750 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:58,480 memorizing a scripture. And so this last week's 751 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,640 scripture, I believe it was elementary was Ruth and they 752 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:03,000 know this one. They may teach those kids yet. 753 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:05,120 All right, just me. All right, some of you guys. 754 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:14,840 Good job, Diane Ruth 116 And so I see the verse. 755 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:16,080 I'm like, all right, kids, let's go for it. 756 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,360 You know, and it says where where you go, I'll go. 757 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:20,600 And they they skipped the part which I was like, put it in 758 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:23,760 there where you stand, I'll stand your people will be my 759 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,360 people. Was they stay man, I messed it 760 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,200 up already. Will you stay on stay your 761 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,000 people become my people and your God, my God. 762 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,440 And so I taught this to my older two kids and I was like, OK, 763 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,680 let's we've kept working it and they were just all the place and 764 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:38,640 I kept working it. I was like, OK, I'm like, what 765 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,120 does this even mean? So I'm like as a passion, I'm 766 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,320 like, I better make sure. So I have to read chapter 1, 767 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,800 right? I'm like, who is saying this? 768 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:48,400 I know there's like other characters besides Ruth. 769 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,240 Well, it turns out who wrote this? 770 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,120 Ruth wrote this. I was like, OK, she's talking. 771 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:54,760 OK, what's going on? If you know the story? 772 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:56,120 So who's who's Ruth talking to you? 773 00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:57,800 She's talking to owe me. OK, who's Naomi? 774 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,360 I know me. She came from some Bethlehem and 775 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,760 it was a famine. So she went to the Moabites and 776 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,360 she married this Moabite man and she had kids. 777 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:08,960 She had two sons, and each of those sons got married. 778 00:34:09,159 --> 00:34:12,520 And then for whatever crazy reason, her husband passed away 779 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,920 and her twin sons passed away. And she's left with Ruth, her 780 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,000 daughter-in-law. And then she has another 781 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:19,600 daughter-in-law. And she's telling them right 782 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:22,239 before that she says, hey, Ruth and other daughter Law can't 783 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:24,440 remember her name. She says, you guys just stay 784 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:26,280 here, go back to your family with the Moabites. 785 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,239 Just go be a mom's house and just stay and this is like 786 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:32,560 Ruth's declaration that I'm not going to stay here with these 787 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:34,639 other gods. I'm actually going to go with 788 00:34:34,639 --> 00:34:36,480 you. So over you go, I go and 789 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:41,040 wherever you stay, I'll stay and your people, my people and your 790 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:44,800 God because my God Amen. Now you got to know all that for 791 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:46,880 that, that verse that makes sense, Amen. 792 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:48,679 We do this all the time in different ways. 793 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:50,800 How do you know like Philippians 413. 794 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:54,040 How many all know that, right? I could do all things through 795 00:34:54,040 --> 00:35:00,480 Christ, who and a lot of guys, it's like I can accomplish great 796 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,160 things for a Lord. And you see this all the time. 797 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:04,960 Like you get the tattoo, which is cool, right? 798 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:06,560 We love the tattoo. It's amazing. 799 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:08,960 Hope you put it in context, otherwise you're going to be 800 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:11,840 real bummed out today when you find out what this really means. 801 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:13,520 Anybody have a tattoo of this, by the way? 802 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:18,520 They're so ashamed they won't raise their hand right now and 803 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:20,360 you get the tattoo right? And you're like, this is what it 804 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:21,720 means. What does it really mean? 805 00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:23,440 You gotta look at the context. I mean, it's a great verse out 806 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,240 of context, you know, I mean, because it stands alone. 807 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:28,960 So you can just kind of use it, But it's it's not talking about 808 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:31,080 accomplishment. It's not talking about like, I 809 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:34,240 can accomplish great things. Go forth college student and do 810 00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:37,080 great things, go win the game. Like that's not what it's 811 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:39,520 saying. It's not the the absolute 812 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:40,760 meaning. Like that's not what he's trying 813 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:42,320 to accomplish. So let's just read the context. 814 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:45,600 Philippians 410, look at that. So I rejoice greatly in the Lord 815 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:48,080 that you at last renewed your concern for me. 816 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,920 Who's who, who who's you talking to? 817 00:35:52,240 --> 00:35:55,800 I resource greatly, Lord, that that you, who's you Church of 818 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:57,920 Philippi. Thank you that you renewed. 819 00:35:57,920 --> 00:35:58,680 I want to make sure you're right. 820 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:00,360 You're concerned for me. But what are you saying? 821 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:03,480 OK. They they, they have been giving 822 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,240 gifts to him. They're they're a church plant. 823 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:09,200 They don't have a lot and they haven't been doing anything in 824 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:13,720 the moment, but something happened and they gave a gift to 825 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:16,080 Paul and he's writing us back to him. 826 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,280 I'm so glad at last you were new to concern me. 827 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:20,200 Indeed, you were concerned. I'm not saying you weren't 828 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:22,400 concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 829 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,560 You'd have the money, the resources, the people to show 830 00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:27,160 your concern. How will we praise God? 831 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:29,080 I've been in that spot a lot. Amen. 832 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,520 Like I want to help a missionary out and I'm like, brother, like 833 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,480 I'll pray for you, which is still great, but I don't have a 834 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:37,640 lot to give you. You guys follow me. 835 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:39,840 Like you want to help, but you can't because you're not on the 836 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,560 spot to help him. And verse 11 says I'm not saying 837 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,720 this because I'm in need where I have learned to be what help me 838 00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:47,920 out content, whatever the circumstance. 839 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:50,000 I'm not. I'm not saying thank you because 840 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:51,840 I was broken. I couldn't do my own without 841 00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:54,360 God. I'm just telling you I've been 842 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,320 content to whatever the circumstances, you can go on to 843 00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:58,760 talk. I know what is to be in need. 844 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,600 I know what it is to to lack. I know what it is to have 845 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,080 plenty. I've learned the secret of being 846 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,680 what content in any and every situation. 847 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:11,640 So there's a secret whether he's well fed or he's starving to 848 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:13,680 death. He says when I'm fed or hungry, 849 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:16,840 we're living in plenty or want, whether I'm on a castle, when 850 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:21,160 I'm in a mansion or I'm in a pit and I'm being beaten and I'm 851 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,320 just left for dead, which these things happen to Paul because I 852 00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:25,640 learned the secret. Come on. 853 00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:29,040 So what's the secret? I can do all things through 854 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:33,040 Christ who strengthens me. So this isn't about achievement. 855 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:35,560 It, it, it, it's actually about resilience. 856 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:40,080 It's it's about being content. It it, it it's being OK to 857 00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,200 suffer. So when you say I do all things 858 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:44,240 in Christ to me, that means you're OK, whatever the 859 00:37:44,240 --> 00:37:46,480 circumstances are that this is God's will for your life right 860 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:48,400 there. That's what that means, Amen. 861 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:50,680 But if you take the verse, you're like, I'll just, you can 862 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:52,240 do all things like if that's what it's saying. 863 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:54,720 How many guys knew that this was a missionary passage? 864 00:37:54,720 --> 00:37:57,720 By the way, how many guys knew that this there's a missionary 865 00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:00,520 passage that was written to a church that then gave to Paul 866 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:01,920 and Paul's like, man, thank you for the gift. 867 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,600 But I want you to know with or without it, that was content 868 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,360 because God had me right where I should be. 869 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,880 That's pretty good, Amen, and we can learn a lot from that verse 870 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:12,320 that I can endure all things is a better maybe the best 871 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:14,400 translation. I can do all things through 872 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:16,200 Christ. And so if you don't know the 873 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:19,280 context and there's a lot to say about context, but if you know 874 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:22,080 the context, I would encourage you first of all, to get a style 875 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:25,600 of study Bible, Amen. Like, yes, how many guys have a 876 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:28,440 study Bible show of hands. All right, read the study Bible 877 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:30,760 at the beginning of every book and study Bible is going to be a 878 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:32,640 synopsis of the book. I know you're going to talk 879 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:34,200 about the author and then history and when it was written 880 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:37,400 and who was written to and the the theological themes and all 881 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:39,720 these little pieces. You have to read that, Amen. 882 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:41,720 Like, don't you? You'll be of course, you're 883 00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:43,080 confused. You pick the Bible up and you 884 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:45,240 don't know who it's written to and why it's written. 885 00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:47,960 You'd be like, huh, you have to study, Amen. 886 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:53,800 Study. All right, sorry, I'll stop but 887 00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:57,960 and study by was also notes at the bottom of the different 888 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,400 pieces and I usually highlight things that be about different 889 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,320 pins on or things are really important. 890 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:03,560 I would encourage you to do that. 891 00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:05,560 Amen. You can study the words there's 892 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:07,360 in in America. There's an endless amount of 893 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:08,880 study tools. There. 894 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,160 There is there you go. There is more journaling. 895 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:14,240 Oh, he's tried them out there you go. 896 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,360 There's a lot of them, right? And in in America, there's more 897 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,920 content created for Christian writing than any other society 898 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:23,280 in the history of the world. And it doesn't look like it 899 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:27,000 affected our culture very much. Isn't it interesting because you 900 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:28,280 actually have to do something with it. 901 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:30,280 Amen. And so don't let the Bible sit 902 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:31,200 on the shelf. Just read it. 903 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:33,080 I would encourage you, if you don't know where to start, you 904 00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:35,000 don't study Bible. You can Google some things. 905 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:36,960 It's dangerous a little bit. I'll say that you can use 906 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:38,960 ChatGPT. You can just get who wrote this. 907 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:40,760 You can find something out. But again, you have to weigh 908 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:41,880 things and get a scripture, Amen. 909 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:43,920 Like just don't take its word for it. 910 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,400 I don't care who it is. You have to study and learn. 911 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:47,920 And if you want to learn, it's amazing. 912 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:50,200 You can often find you will find the answers. 913 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:51,560 Amen. There's a good website 914 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,200 calledgotquestions.org. If you're just looking for like 915 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,800 just like where to go and you ask any question, it would kind 916 00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:58,240 of pop out like an amazing answer. 917 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,480 I will say ChatGPT still seems to be like, you know, 918 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,560 evangelical like it's still like we believe the Bible, which is 919 00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:06,880 probably will change at some point in the future. 920 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:08,960 But at the moment you got some answers there. 921 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:11,040 You can ask, you can phone a friend. 922 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:13,920 Come on somebody. Hey, Rick Lilly, what's going on 923 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:16,320 with this scripture 10 hours later. 924 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:20,600 Thank you, Rick. Come on, somebody, right. 925 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,280 But you got to have friends like that, Amen. 926 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:25,600 You don't. You got to follow a rabbi. 927 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,400 You know what I'm saying? Rabbi Rick, Come on, somebody 928 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:28,880 you know. Oh, I just love it. 929 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:32,280 But there's godly men and women in the church you could ask and 930 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:33,200 they would love to give an answer. 931 00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:35,200 Amen. Like, you know, ignorance is 932 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:37,240 sometimes a choice. And so we can ask, right? 933 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:39,160 Ultimately, this is what it looks like. 934 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:42,680 So there's a man I met with last week, which kind of like 935 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,280 recovery group, like a men's Bible study Monday night over 936 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,080 elite Total fitness plug. Bucky. 937 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,840 Bucky, there you go. Bucky's right here in the back. 938 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:52,960 Give it up for a buck. He don't know it. 939 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:53,960 You know the why you're clapping. 940 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,840 We give it Bucky and Bucky man, he's fired for Jesus. 941 00:40:57,840 --> 00:40:59,520 Amen. And he's telling them about 942 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:02,120 Christ and it we just the whole conversation is amazing and just 943 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:05,520 all built on scripture, which I applaud and I thank you because 944 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,040 so many people just Foo Foo stuff and it's like built on 945 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:10,760 human wisdom and human ideals. That's not built on God. 946 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:12,800 And that's what lasts when we get done. 947 00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:14,320 There's a man who's really curious and he has some 948 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:15,840 questions and there's about marriage and all that stuff. 949 00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:17,320 And you can tell he's like discontent. 950 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:19,920 And Bucky just says, hey, dude, I got a verse for you. 951 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:24,560 He pulls up Second Corinthians 4, I believe, and he talks about 952 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:27,840 this present temporary affliction, momentary 953 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:29,320 affliction. And he quotes the verse like 954 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:30,800 opens it up and says, hey, guy, I got this verse. 955 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:34,240 I was going to say, Bucky memorized that verse. 956 00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,160 You internalize the verse. You knew the context of the 957 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,120 verse. And when he needed to use the 958 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:43,080 verse, he brought it up because he had it in his heart already. 959 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:45,240 Amen. That's going to encourage you. 960 00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:48,600 You cannot share something or apply something if you don't 961 00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:52,280 know what it means. You have to know the context. 962 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,720 You have to know why it's written and who it's written to. 963 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:57,720 And then you can take a word. The Bible says in Proverbs that 964 00:41:57,720 --> 00:42:00,480 a word fitly spoken is like an apple gold and frame silver, 965 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,600 that you can take a moment, you can bring it right to Jesus 966 00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:04,920 because you have a word from the word. 967 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:07,400 You actually have a word from God because you actually walk 968 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,600 with God. I keep saying if you want to be 969 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:11,920 spiritual, you actually have to be spiritual, but that means the 970 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:15,560 point of the Bible, by the way, is not to check off the point. 971 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:17,960 You read the Bible. The point of the Bible, you 972 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,560 don't get extra credit because you read left to right and you 973 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:23,440 didn't apply anything or obey. It actually may be worse for 974 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:27,040 you, but you have to read the Bible. 975 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:29,920 You read it to be transformed, Amen. 976 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:33,240 And we let God transform you and not just transform you because 977 00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:34,760 you're trying to be obedient, earn God's love. 978 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:38,200 You just be transformed because you in the presence of God and 979 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:39,720 when you read the Bible, it's like you're reaching your hand 980 00:42:39,720 --> 00:42:42,040 out to God and saying, Dad, just show me the way. 981 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,560 It's like, it's like breaking original curse by original 982 00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:47,800 purpose. You're open the Bible and you're 983 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,920 walking with God. And so I encourage you just if 984 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:54,840 you don't know what it means, like slow down, ask questions 985 00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:57,600 like fight for it. Like I have to do as a pastor, I 986 00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:00,240 have to wrestle things. The the ladies actually asked me 987 00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:01,880 this question, like, what's the interesting of soul and the 988 00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:03,080 spirit? Hebrews 412. 989 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,560 I'm like, that's complicated. Like let me give you that 990 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:09,280 dichotomy trichotomy man's speech with the context of 991 00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:11,760 Hebrews 412 and keep on a text message for you guys. 992 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:16,240 You know what I'm saying? Like, thank you for asking, you 993 00:43:16,240 --> 00:43:17,800 know, and she's in the front row right here. 994 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:19,720 And she replied back, that's really good stuff. 995 00:43:19,720 --> 00:43:21,040 Thank you. I was like, that took me an 996 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:25,400 hour. You know, there's so many lines 997 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:27,200 and now it's quotable. You can just like share it. 998 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:30,920 Like Pastor said, Pastor Sean said, like, well, there's a lot 999 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:33,880 there, right, But I would tell you about the Bible. 1000 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:36,600 Confusion is not failure. When you read the Bible and 1001 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:37,600 you're confused, that's not failure. 1002 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:39,680 That's an opportunity to go deeper. 1003 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:42,280 And that's that's how I know so much about Scripture. 1004 00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:44,200 It's not because I just downloaded it. 1005 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,000 It's just when I have a question, I try to find an 1006 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:49,240 answer like I'm confused. I'm like, I want to out educate 1007 00:43:49,240 --> 00:43:52,360 myself from this problem and I recognize there's some questions 1008 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:53,400 I ask. They're not going to find an 1009 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:56,400 answer to like why God? That's you get some things 1010 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:58,800 around it, right. But when you ask questions about 1011 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:02,120 Scripture, it's amazing how many often that God show you can find 1012 00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:03,600 it and it's searching and studying. 1013 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:07,040 But the goal of reading the Bible is to find God's voice 1014 00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:10,000 again, to find significance from the Scripture. 1015 00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:12,800 What does this look like for me today, Paul, you are so grateful 1016 00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:16,240 that no matter how hard it got, you can do all things through 1017 00:44:16,240 --> 00:44:17,840 Christ. And so when life doesn't go my 1018 00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:21,720 way or it's uncertain on between jobs or my kids are acting like 1019 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,200 lunatics because that just happens at times, all these 1020 00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:25,680 things happen. Lord, I'm just going to trust 1021 00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:27,920 you, Amen. Like I'm finding the significant 1022 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,600 from that scripture and applying to myself immediately. 1023 00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:34,280 This one says to James about the Bible, James 123 Anyone who 1024 00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,720 listens to the word but does not do what it says, like someone 1025 00:44:37,720 --> 00:44:40,240 who looks at a face in the mirror, his own face in the 1026 00:44:40,240 --> 00:44:42,600 mirror, and after looking himself goes away and it 1027 00:44:42,720 --> 00:44:44,680 immediately forgets what it looks like. 1028 00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:46,800 I I, I, I love these type of Christians, man. 1029 00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:48,200 They think their poop don't stink. 1030 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,120 You know, they're like perfect, everything's great. 1031 00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:52,440 I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. 1032 00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:54,760 Like you look in the mirror, you, you find the flaws. 1033 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:56,960 Amen. You, you see the goodness, 1034 00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:58,560 right? But you also see like there's 1035 00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:01,040 some room to grow and you change. 1036 00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:06,560 But says whoever looks intently into the what help me out that 1037 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:09,560 is on the screen. Yet there it is. 1038 00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:13,400 There it is, there it is. Who looks in to help me out. 1039 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:17,400 The perfect law that gives freedom. 1040 00:45:17,720 --> 00:45:19,240 Who knows? That's an oxymoron. 1041 00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:23,920 A law that produces freedom. That's pretty good. 1042 00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:28,000 That's pretty good and continues in it, not forgetting what they 1043 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:30,920 have heard, but doing it. They'll be blessed in what they 1044 00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:32,520 do. And the people want the blessed 1045 00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:36,480 life, but they don't want the obedient life like they want the 1046 00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:38,800 life that a Christian has. They want the joy and and the 1047 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,200 contentment like that Paul had, but they don't put themselves 1048 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:43,640 under the scripture. And we say is when you open the 1049 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:47,320 Bible, it's like you're like, Oh, OK, I man, that's going 1050 00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:49,840 great. Oh, and you make a choice to 1051 00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:50,480 change. Amen. 1052 00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:56,560 And this law, it's amazing, you, you obey the law of God and you 1053 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:59,720 have ultimate freedom. It's amazing. 1054 00:45:59,720 --> 00:46:01,920 The most freedom is actually found under the authority of 1055 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:03,640 scripture. And if you're like, well, I 1056 00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:05,360 don't want my, I want my marriage to be successful. 1057 00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:08,920 I want my kids to be godly. I don't know how to apply to all 1058 00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:09,840 these things that you're going through. 1059 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,560 I feel overwhelmed and defeated, like you have to put yourself 1060 00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:13,400 under Scripture. Amen. 1061 00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:15,600 And if you're not willing to chase that down, ain't nobody 1062 00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:18,040 going to chase it down for you. Nobody's going to be like, did 1063 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:19,760 you read your Bible today and God spoke to you? 1064 00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:22,560 It's not very often you have the life you have to do that, Amen. 1065 00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:25,840 We call it a culture of self feeders. 1066 00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:28,840 Before I planted this church, there's a man that was training 1067 00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:31,760 me and he's he told me, he said babies cry when they're hungry. 1068 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:33,120 Grown men get up and make a sandwich. 1069 00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:37,120 It's pretty good, Amen. Like I don't get anything from 1070 00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:39,720 the Bible just because you're probably not reading hard enough 1071 00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:42,440 like you. I promise you, when, when I read 1072 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:45,400 scripture, I, I, I want to read scripture where I don't leave 1073 00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:48,600 until I hear something from God. I don't leave scripture until I, 1074 00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:52,440 I, I've got some, some nugget of truth that no, God is there. 1075 00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:54,560 And I sense that I need to be obedient to something. 1076 00:46:54,920 --> 00:46:56,720 Like I want to do a direction. I want some wisdom. 1077 00:46:56,720 --> 00:46:59,000 I want, I want something for my life when it opened the Bible. 1078 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:00,640 Amen. I don't want to do this like, 1079 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:02,640 well, I, I signed for a Bible from the year plan. 1080 00:47:02,720 --> 00:47:04,040 There's a ones going on right now. 1081 00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:06,440 People are loving it, which is awesome, right, But I just want 1082 00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:10,320 to go through the motions like, well, look how far I've made and 1083 00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:13,240 not be transformed. I, I would say it's quality over 1084 00:47:13,240 --> 00:47:15,640 quantity every single time. And at the end of the day, I 1085 00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:17,960 would say it this way, it's not how much you read the Bible, 1086 00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:19,800 it's how much let the Bible read you. 1087 00:47:20,720 --> 00:47:22,960 If you don't leave transformed because of Scripture, it's not 1088 00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:25,280 because God's not willing. Amen. 1089 00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:27,400 And then we just, you just live that out. 1090 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:30,000 And I tell you, this sounds so basic, but this is like the 1091 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,160 turning point for some of you guys's lives, like just to read 1092 00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:37,600 the Bible and let the Bible read you fighting against and 1093 00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:40,760 rebellion against all the Wiles of schemes, the devil, the fiery 1094 00:47:40,880 --> 00:47:43,200 arrows. We talk about Ephesians chapter 1095 00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:47,920 6 about the original design that we have and that we walk wisely 1096 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,800 in this world because we know exactly who we are, exactly 1097 00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:53,280 where we came from, exactly what God's called us to do, because 1098 00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:56,640 we can know God's will, because we actually know God himself. 1099 00:47:57,360 --> 00:47:59,880 Amen. So Father, come before you God. 1100 00:47:59,880 --> 00:48:02,040 I pray God, we just elevate the Bible in our lives today. 1101 00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:04,480 I pray for those that are Jesus followers today that would just 1102 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:07,120 say today I need to get in my Bible. 1103 00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:12,680 I need to have not just a habit, but I need a deep desire to get 1104 00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:16,640 in the race, to get in the rebellion, to step out against 1105 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:18,440 all the things that are attacking me that I've given so 1106 00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:21,560 much ground to and get my nose into scripture and know who you 1107 00:48:21,560 --> 00:48:22,960 are. How many guys would say today's 1108 00:48:22,960 --> 00:48:24,400 the day you just need to turn back to Scripture? 1109 00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:25,640 How many guys show your hands today? 1110 00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:27,440 That's you? Like it's been a long time since 1111 00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:29,760 that has been the prominent feature, the priority of your 1112 00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:31,080 life. I'm going to follow you, God, 1113 00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:33,720 not because I have to, because I'm going to know you be 1114 00:48:33,720 --> 00:48:36,120 equipped and all things got to serve you. 1115 00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:39,320 And so God, you see the hands. God, I pray for repentance on 1116 00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:41,440 our church. Pray repentance in their hearts 1117 00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:45,600 or those who may be just gone through the motions and forgot 1118 00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:49,680 that this is a real war, that this isn't a peacetime movement. 1119 00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,240 And so God help us to step into your presence and to feel your 1120 00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:54,560 love. And then we simply just dine 1121 00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:56,480 with you, even the presence of our enemies. 1122 00:48:56,480 --> 00:49:00,040 God, you set a table before us and that you were enough, just 1123 00:49:00,040 --> 00:49:03,120 like Paul talked about, that we can do all things because you 1124 00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:05,720 are with us. I'll pray for one group of 1125 00:49:05,720 --> 00:49:08,520 people specifically today as those you'd say today. 1126 00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:11,840 I needed the Bible to read me like baby day. 1127 00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:14,680 You recognize that there's a God who loves you. 1128 00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:19,600 We talked about that in Genesis. And the Bible says in John that 1129 00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:25,360 the Word of God himself is Jesus and that he became flesh and 1130 00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:27,360 dwelt among us, that we beheld the glory, the glory, the only 1131 00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:29,000 Godfather full of grace and truth. 1132 00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:33,080 And Jesus, the actual word of God is trying to come into your 1133 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:35,280 life today. The Bible says if it calls on 1134 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:38,440 Jesus be saved, forgiven and made new that Jesus went to the 1135 00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:40,800 cross and died for you and exchanged all your sins for all 1136 00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:45,080 his rights, his righteousness, because he loves you. 1137 00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:48,320 It's never stopped pursuing you in the store of redemption. 1138 00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:52,240 And so today if you need Jesus to come into your life and save 1139 00:49:52,240 --> 00:49:54,360 your sin for the very first time, that ain't be looking 1140 00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:55,480 around. Not going to call it. 1141 00:49:55,480 --> 00:49:58,520 Make it weird be a humble yourself before God today and 1142 00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:02,080 say yes to Jesus and have to do life in Jesus be forgiven today. 1143 00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:03,320 If that's you just raise your own highest place. 1144 00:50:03,320 --> 00:50:05,840 I need Jesus today and to walk out here with a relationship 1145 00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:10,400 with Christ forgiven and made new for the very first time when 1146 00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:11,600 we do prayer. If that's you, the prayer does 1147 00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:13,800 not save you, but set your heart towards him and say father God 1148 00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:17,720 thanks so much for loving me enough that you'd give me a word 1149 00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:21,880 named Jesus to die on the cross for me. 1150 00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:25,960 There's a sinless Son of God because you care enough about 1151 00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:27,560 me. Even though I was still strained 1152 00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:31,520 in my sin, I was yet helpless. You died for me and God, Your 1153 00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:33,640 eyes were on me. There's a joy be set before you 1154 00:50:33,640 --> 00:50:35,560 adored the cross. Thank you so much for loving me, 1155 00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:36,720 God. I humble myself. 1156 00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:39,480 God be coming alive today. These are idle words. 1157 00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:42,800 This isn't dead ink. So thank you Jesus for this 1158 00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:46,160 living word that you've given me, that you have life today. 1159 00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:49,080 Just like Peter talked about the knowledge of you that I've been 1160 00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:52,680 partaking in the aspect of the divine nature of God. 1161 00:50:53,280 --> 00:50:55,800 So thank you Jesus, I pray this in Jesus name. 1162 00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:58,240 The church said Amen. Come on, give some glory to God 1163 00:50:58,240 --> 00:50:58,880 today. Amen.