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If you have your Bible, would you turn to Luke chapter 12?

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I'm going to get some helpers on here.

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Can't see nothing.

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And we've been looking through this, and Jesus has been offering some warnings.

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He's saying, beware of hypocrisy and beware of covetousnessness.

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and then he has another beware that we're going to look at today.

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And so he, I used to tell my kids this all the time.

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I said, listen, I don't tell you things to hear myself talk.

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Right?

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I used to tell my kids that.

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And I tell you things because I expect you to do.

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Now, my wife had this, this.

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capacity to repeat herself like 30 times. I'm just like once or twice and then that comes the thunder.

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Right? Do what I tell you to do and I'm not talking to hear me speak. So I'm talking for you to hear me.

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And that's the way Jesus is. He's not he's not wasting his breath when he says these things.

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He's telling us you had better stand up and pay attention to what he is saying to us.

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and with these warnings against hypocrisy and covetousness,

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it's a powerful thing.

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We need to take it to heart because these things will deny you of the life that God has for you

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if you let them run amok in your lives.

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And so we're going to read, we're going to take a couple chunks.

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We're going to take one big chunk and then a little bit at the end.

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And so let's read the first one and we'll pray. It's starting in verse 22 of Luke

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chapter 12. And my heading here in above the verse of Luke in Luke 1222 says, do not worry.

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And it says here, then Jesus said to his disciples, therefore I say to you, do not worry about

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your life, what you will eat or nor about.

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the body what you will put on. Life is more than food and the body is more than clothing.

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Consider the ravens for they neither sow nor reap which have neither storehouse nor barn

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and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds and which of you by worrying

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can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do

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the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow, they neither toil nor

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spin, and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

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If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

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how much more will he clothe you, oh, you of little faith? And do not seek,

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what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things,

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the nations of the world seek after, and your father knows that you need these things,

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but seek the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock,

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for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms.

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provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail

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where no thief approaches nor moth destroys for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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So we pray.

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Lord, thank you.

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Thank you for your admonitions, Lord, your instructions, your corrections, Lord.

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And all these words can have those effects on our lives of the people sitting in this room.

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and Lord, I know that there's great conviction in my heart, Lord, that I've allowed some of these things

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to take my attention away from you. And Lord, I want to turn and repent for that even now,

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Lord, and just pray that you would, Lord, put our minds, our hearts, our focus, our purpose, Lord,

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in the right place. Lord, knowing that we're called to be rich in you, you told us,

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there last week, Lord, that we should have riches towards God, that our treasures truly should be

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in heaven. So help us to set our mind on things above and teach us from your word today,

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we pray in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. And so he starts off here, right? He, well, verse 21 says,

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so is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. This was the negative statement

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of the guy that was building bigger and better barns.

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And so the Lord's suggestion is here that,

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no, your riches really should be towards God,

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not towards Bank of Commerce.

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And so he shifts gears as he tells him.

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He says, then he said to his disciples,

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therefore I say to you, don't worry about your life.

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Some of your versions says, take no thought.

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Right? Take no thought about your life. And so to be thinking about that, to be consumed in your mind about your life,

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you see, that was the guy's problem in last week's study, the man who had a bumper crop. All he could say was I, me, my, mine.

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And that's all he could think about was himself. And the Lord rebuked him.

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for that and saying tonight, today, your soul is required of you. And that is the thought that you and I

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should live our lives and today my soul may be required of me. Therefore, how will I live my life?

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Because it does. It throws a whole different view on life when you realize, no, this could be the

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day that I stand before God and give an account for everything I've done, everything I've said,

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and everything I've thought.

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Not about you,

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but that sends shivers up and down my spine.

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And so he's telling us, listen,

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don't be anxious.

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Last, you know, a couple weeks ago,

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it was beware of hypocrisy.

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Don't be a hypocrite.

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Don't say and not do.

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I know as a parent I've done that at.

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My parents did it, right?

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they say do as I say not as I do

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right

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because your parents tell you not

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remember my dad telling me son never smoked cigarettes

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right

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do what I say not what I do

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yeah but what you do is speaking so loud

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that I can't hear what you're saying

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right

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I remember my stepdad telling me, boy, never do drugs.

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As he snorting the line of cannabinol, you know.

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Give me that dollar, you know, the rolled up one.

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That's what they would use.

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Well, if they were doing well, it'd be $100.

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Hope none of you had that kind of experience, but that's the world.

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That's what they do.

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They say and they do.

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don't do. Beware of hypocrisy. Then last week we looked at covetousness. I think it's covetousness.

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But, right, it's in the top ten. It made the top ten, you shall not covet. Right? Desire something

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that you have plenty of already. Or desire what your neighbor has. I want that.

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you have to keep that in check right i mean daily i mean i was studying for this message and on my bible app there's a

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little pop-up of this girl in really tight stuff right there is a there is a temptation to say i want that

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i'm serious so what do i do there's actually a little button you can push the blocks it out

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for a time, then it comes back up.

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You know, they got this thing figured out, you guys.

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These algorithms and these little pop-up things,

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they know what makes us tick, us pig-headed men.

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So it's a battle that you're in constantly, right?

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It's not just say, I'm not going to covet.

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And that's a done deal.

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No.

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You've got to walk that out every single day of your life

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until the day that you're dead.

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because it never goes away.

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I don't care how old you get.

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And I remember one time I was talking to my grandpa.

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I said, Grandpa, I heard this statistic about men.

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It was kind of shocking.

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And my grandpa was 80.

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I said, Grandpa, they said that a man can have a sexual thought every 90 seconds.

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He said, yeah, or more.

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I'm just like, that's what I've got to deal with the rest of my life.

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When you get old, it doesn't go away.

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Nope, don't go away, son.

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So keep your dukes up.

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Keep fighting the good fight.

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Now Jesus says, beware of worry.

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He says, do not worry.

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The worry is a tyrant, right?

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The rich farmer that we looked at last week, he was worried about how much he had.

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What am I going to do with that all?

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How am I going to take care of this so I can take a life of ease?

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Well, that was his first mistake.

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I'm sorry, you don't get out of this life by taking a life of ease.

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That's when God said, you fool.

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He says, it's a foolish.

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to think that way. We're in a sojourn. We're in a pilgrimage that's not over. We keep going. You keep

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moving forward with the Lord. You stop and you get skid marks on your back. We call it backsliding,

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right? You don't stop. You keep going. You keep pressing towards the things of the Lord.

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But then you have the disciples that follow Jesus and they're worried about because they don't have

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enough. They're knocking themselves out, fishing and working hard. And we know this because when Jesus

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tells the story of the rich young ruler, right, that it's impossible for, it's easier for a camel to go

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through the eye of a sewing needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. And Peter goes,

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well, who can be saved then? He's a poor man. He's not rich, but that was his desire. The Bible says,

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be careful.

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Those who desire riches fall into a temptation and a snare.

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I don't have you ever seen any animal ever snared.

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It ain't pretty, right?

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Snares them around the neck, chokes them out.

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That's what this desire can do.

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And then worry just compounds it and makes it even more twisted.

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but the Lord calls us, right?

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Walk by Faye.

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Really?

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I'm convinced that every day God finds a way to ask you and me, do you trust me?

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Every day I'm convinced that God asks you or puts you in this situation where that question just resonates in your heart and your mind.

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Do you trust me?

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I've been having that a lot lately

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do you trust me

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is there anything too hard for me

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are you scared that I don't got you

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if you're walking by faith

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and he says

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notice what he says here

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he says therefore I say to you

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do not worry about your life

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what does that mean

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don't worry about your life

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You mean like, that part of my life?

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Like breathing?

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That's actually what the word literally means is breath or breathing.

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Don't worry about your breath.

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Don't I give you every breath?

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God gives us every breath.

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Why is it that we forget that?

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That's what kills me about myself.

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Because I forget this all the time.

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How much I really enjoy breathing.

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yesterday I was running a 5k and I'm not in very good shape

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holy cow was I very I was very conscientious of my breathing

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right because it just there wasn't enough coming in right

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it was it was it was a battle very humiliating

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then two girls beat me that was really humiliating

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But it's about your life.

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The word life here is a word in the Greek is called

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Pescuhei, right?

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Puscohe means connected to the act of breathing or soul,

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which God gives.

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And if we give back, if we give it back to him, we have nothing to worry about.

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So God gives you breath and life.

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If you'll give that breath and that life back to him, then you have nothing to worry about.

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Don't worry about your life because you've given it to God.

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Simple, right?

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Elementary.

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But worry comes, and it's like this thief.

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Actually, the word comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word, the word worry, that means to strangle.

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It strangles you, these life worries that we have.

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A few thoughts here on this worry thing.

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Chuck Missler said, and he couldn't remember who got this question.

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quote from, but he says, it says this, worry is a trickle of fear running through the mind,

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which eventually cuts a crevice so deep that it will drain all other thoughts away.

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I'll say that again.

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Worry is a trickle of fear running through the mind.

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It's all in your head, man.

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Which eventually cuts a crevice so deep that it will drain all other thoughts away.

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Isn't that true?

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What are we worried about?

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Cortain Boom said,

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worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow.

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Duh.

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It empties today of its strength.

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A couple more.

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Worry is assuming a responsibility

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that God did not intend for you to have.

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Right?

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Worry is assuming a responsibility

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that God did not intend for you to have.

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And the last one.

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Worry is like paying interest on a debt

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never comes due, right? Worries like paying interest on a debt that never comes true. Notice what he

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says to him. He says, don't worry about what you're going to eat. Are you guys worried about what

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you're going to eat after church today? No. Flip a coin, man, Longhorn, Applebee's, Chili's,

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Charles Jr.'s, maybe those make some of you, all of those make you puke. I don't know.

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but the fact is we ain't got much of a issue there

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shouldn't be too worried about that

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but most of the world does worry about that

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I remember when we were in Africa

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some of the kids we saw in some of the villages

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they would eat three to four times a week

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it's just like

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oh my gosh

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how do these people survive

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it was incredible

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or what you wear.

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I mean, how many times have I heard American women say,

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I have nothing to wear?

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Go look at their closets.

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I'm just like, are you serious?

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40 pairs of shoes, you know,

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a limitless amount of outfits.

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So maybe we're not worrying about those things like others do.

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And so in verse 23, he goes down and he says,

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for life is more than food and the body is more than clothing.

242
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Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap,

243
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:04,720
which have neither a storehouse or bar.

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00:19:04,740 --> 00:19:14,500
barn and God feeds them of how much more value are you than the birds? God values us. Why? Because we're

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his image bearers. God has relationship with us. God takes care of all the animals.

246
00:19:24,060 --> 00:19:28,880
Right? Do you see any little, you know, robins standing out by the roadside holding a sign?

247
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Thing, anything helps?

248
00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:40,380
I mean, think about it.

249
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And he says we're of more value.

250
00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:54,220
Our job is not to chase after a buck or chased after new outfits or, you know, a porterhouse steak.

251
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It's to chase after him.

252
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:08,400
Which of you, by worrying, verse 25, can add one cubit to his stature?

253
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:15,500
If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?

254
00:20:16,700 --> 00:20:18,680
It's like some things are just too big for us.

255
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:22,760
We have to trust the Lord.

256
00:20:23,140 --> 00:20:26,180
You can't even add one stature, you know, one cubit.

257
00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:29,620
that'd make me probably about 6-6.

258
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:36,140
I used to think that would be cool.

259
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But now because the ground has become so hard,

260
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I want to stay as close to it as I can.

261
00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,440
But your thought, your worry, it can't change anything,

262
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except for maybe give you ulcers, right, destroy your health,

263
00:20:58,660 --> 00:21:01,440
and maybe help your hair turn a little bit gray faster.

264
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:09,500
The psalmist, I think, puts it all in perspective in Psalm 39, verse 5.

265
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It says, indeed, you have made my days as a handbreadth.

266
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Like, my life is like this long.

267
00:21:18,060 --> 00:21:20,820
And my age is as nothing before you.

268
00:21:21,340 --> 00:21:24,480
Certainly every man at his best is but a vapor.

269
00:21:26,419 --> 00:21:35,760
Sela. You and I are very best. We're just a... Well, that's what it says in the new, the good news

270
00:21:36,060 --> 00:21:41,940
translation says, how short you have made my life in your sight, my lifetime seems nothing.

271
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:51,660
Indeed, every living being is no more than a puff of wind. I like that version. That's us.

272
00:21:55,840 --> 00:22:01,200
It's like, yeah, not much.

273
00:22:02,740 --> 00:22:07,360
That's why Paul said, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to.

274
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Because you ain't much.

275
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:12,240
Just a puff of wind.

276
00:22:13,460 --> 00:22:14,220
That's all you are.

277
00:22:14,350 --> 00:22:20,560
Whether you live six years or 60 or 160, we're not much.

278
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And yet God shows this incredible interest in us.

279
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:31,000
In all of creation, we seem to be that thing that he focuses on the most.

280
00:22:33,420 --> 00:22:36,020
Verse 28 says,

281
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:42,260
If then God so close the grass, which today is in the field

282
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:44,040
and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

283
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:46,500
how much more will he clothe you?

284
00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:48,200
Oh, you of little faith.

285
00:22:51,100 --> 00:22:52,160
Oh, you of little faith.

286
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:53,440
I feel like that all the time.

287
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:55,920
I feel like the Lord's saying to me all the time.

288
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:58,120
Oh, you of little faith.

289
00:22:58,360 --> 00:22:59,840
Scotty, what's up, Bubba?

290
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:02,880
Come on, you need to come talk to me.

291
00:23:05,540 --> 00:23:06,920
Quit fretting so much.

292
00:23:09,300 --> 00:23:10,460
Clean your act up.

293
00:23:16,540 --> 00:23:19,480
That's what he's doing there at the end of the verse.

294
00:23:19,700 --> 00:23:24,140
Jesus just puts his finger on the problem. No, it's your faith. It's a faith issue.

295
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:32,060
It's not a needs issue. Everyone has needs. The grass has needs. The birds have needs.

296
00:23:33,340 --> 00:23:37,120
I supply those needs is what he's telling us. Do you believe that?

297
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:41,220
Do you believe that by faith?

298
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,460
Versus 39, excuse me, 30 and 31, for all these,

299
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:55,060
these things the nations of the world seek after and your father knows that you need these things

300
00:23:55,540 --> 00:24:02,720
but seek the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you. God encourages us,

301
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:09,300
right? This is the version of Matthew 633. Seek ye first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

302
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:14,840
All these things will be added to you. What are you seeking? That's the issue.

303
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:17,820
Or who are you seeking?

304
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,960
because if you seek me, you'll not lack anything.

305
00:24:25,980 --> 00:24:27,880
It's kind of like the whole manna thing.

306
00:24:28,740 --> 00:24:30,060
You can go out and gather a lot.

307
00:24:30,860 --> 00:24:31,880
You won't have any left over.

308
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:33,400
Or you can go out and have a little,

309
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,520
and you'll gather a little, and you'll have enough.

310
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:38,280
That's God's economy.

311
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:40,940
So much different than how we see the world.

312
00:24:48,660 --> 00:24:50,880
So he says to him there in verse 32,

313
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:52,600
Do not fear little flock,

314
00:24:54,060 --> 00:24:57,140
for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

315
00:24:59,200 --> 00:24:59,920
But you've got to want it.

316
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:02,600
You don't want the kingdom.

317
00:25:03,380 --> 00:25:04,920
You're not going to have any part of the kingdom.

318
00:25:06,980 --> 00:25:07,680
You got to want it.

319
00:25:08,270 --> 00:25:09,860
I remember a kid telling me that one time.

320
00:25:10,580 --> 00:25:16,960
We were working together, and he was kind of a long greaser, you know, stoner dude.

321
00:25:19,740 --> 00:25:20,920
And I could relate, right?

322
00:25:21,740 --> 00:25:22,920
I used to run with his kind.

323
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:26,680
What a pompous pig I was.

324
00:25:26,900 --> 00:25:27,060
Anyway.

325
00:25:29,100 --> 00:25:34,860
And I was just, I was thinking, I mean, the first time I saw him, we were on this, I got this new job,

326
00:25:34,900 --> 00:25:37,160
and we were on this work crew, the first time I saw him, I just thought,

327
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,440
Oh, Lord, never let me, please don't ever have me work with that guy.

328
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:49,460
Well, I think the Lord, when you start telling the Lord, right, how things should go,

329
00:25:50,340 --> 00:25:53,300
you know, what do they say, tell God your plans and listen to him laugh?

330
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,440
Well, then very next day, guess what, me and him are in a transport,

331
00:25:57,720 --> 00:25:59,020
transport and equipment together.

332
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:04,840
And I'm going, oh, I'm going to backslide all over this guy's face.

333
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:12,060
But we got to talk and the Lord, and I prayed, I did, I earnestly pray, I said, oh, Lord,

334
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:12,880
you got to help me today.

335
00:26:13,740 --> 00:26:15,060
And I started praying for this guy.

336
00:26:15,220 --> 00:26:20,420
And I mean, all of a sudden, as we started to talk, I was just overwhelmed with compassion

337
00:26:21,180 --> 00:26:22,180
for this guy.

338
00:26:23,180 --> 00:26:25,300
And man, I mean, the Lord opened the door.

339
00:26:25,420 --> 00:26:28,680
I shared the whole plan of salvation and the gospel with him.

340
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:31,380
And, you know, he was kind of agreeable.

341
00:26:31,500 --> 00:26:35,040
And then he looked at me and he goes, you know, you know, Scotty, all this stuff you're

342
00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:36,040
saying about Jesus.

343
00:26:37,020 --> 00:26:38,240
He says, you got to want it, don't you?

344
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:41,100
I said, yeah, Chris, you got to want it.

345
00:26:42,220 --> 00:26:43,060
He said, I don't want it yet.

346
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,820
And I think he's changed his mind since then.

347
00:26:46,900 --> 00:26:48,380
There's been some deaths in his family.

348
00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:50,420
He's been faced with eternity.

349
00:26:51,420 --> 00:26:55,400
And I think he's maybe, maybe, you know, stepped over the threshold

350
00:26:55,580 --> 00:26:57,480
and accepted Jesus is his Lord and Savior.

351
00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:58,580
If not, he's close.

352
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:00,560
But you've got to want it.

353
00:27:02,700 --> 00:27:03,740
So many people don't want it.

354
00:27:04,220 --> 00:27:06,400
Well, they want what God has to offer.

355
00:27:07,460 --> 00:27:08,800
they just don't want to obey him.

356
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,840
They want all the blessings of God

357
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:15,500
and then to live their life the way they want to.

358
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:18,220
Jesus goes, it don't work like that.

359
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:21,800
Obedience is better than sacrifice.

360
00:27:22,740 --> 00:27:24,360
Come to me. He who would come

361
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,580
and be my disciple must deny himself, pick up his cross,

362
00:27:28,020 --> 00:27:29,160
his instrument of death,

363
00:27:29,300 --> 00:27:31,220
die to himself every day and follow me.

364
00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:36,400
And that's where a lot of people

365
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:45,300
they're done not going to do it so and and and these are these hard words he says little flock

366
00:27:46,460 --> 00:27:51,720
i notice how he's speaking to him like a grandparent speaks to a three-year-old now come here

367
00:27:52,600 --> 00:28:03,240
come here my widow one right he's he's enduring he's loving but he's really putting us

368
00:28:03,180 --> 00:28:07,240
in our place when he says, little flock, oh, you poor little dumb sheep.

369
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:19,560
The lexicon, the Greek lexicon kind of puts this whole thought into perspective.

370
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:24,160
The word, the word that he uses there with little flock is micros.

371
00:28:24,340 --> 00:28:27,740
I think it's where we get our word micro, you know, tiny.

372
00:28:29,060 --> 00:28:29,920
Like it's insignificant.

373
00:28:30,980 --> 00:28:33,300
And it appears 46 times in the New Testament.

374
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:34,860
That's how many times it occurs.

375
00:28:35,420 --> 00:28:41,940
And it describes something quantitatively small or qualitatively least.

376
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:56,360
The Spirit employs the word, listen to this, to highlight humility, vulnerability, brevity, beginnings, apparent insignificance.

377
00:28:56,780 --> 00:28:57,600
How does that make you feel?

378
00:28:58,220 --> 00:29:05,820
and universal scope weaving these nuances into core Christian teaching and practices.

379
00:29:11,460 --> 00:29:17,640
Humility, vulnerability, brevity, beginnings, apparent insignificance.

380
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,540
Do you feel that way sometimes being compared to God in the big picture?

381
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:28,080
When you start looking at the big picture, some of you have seen Louis Giglio's thing called LAM,

382
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:29,900
when he does that thing.

383
00:29:30,340 --> 00:29:32,820
And he talks about the stars, right?

384
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:39,980
And Canis Majoris, you can fit seven quadrillion, get your head around that number,

385
00:29:40,540 --> 00:29:48,580
seven quadrillion earths inside of the star that God spoke into existence into Canis Majoris.

386
00:29:49,540 --> 00:29:53,320
That's seven quadrillion earths.

387
00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:57,660
That's a speck, on a speck.

388
00:29:58,800 --> 00:29:59,540
in a star

389
00:30:00,660 --> 00:30:03,740
and you are a speck on one of those tiny specks.

390
00:30:10,900 --> 00:30:12,480
Talk about insignificant.

391
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:15,480
Does our lives mean anything?

392
00:30:16,430 --> 00:30:17,680
You have to ask ourselves.

393
00:30:18,260 --> 00:30:20,080
And if it wasn't for God,

394
00:30:21,700 --> 00:30:23,300
the answer would be, no.

395
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,540
You know, you're as insignificant as a grain of sand on the seashore.

396
00:30:28,820 --> 00:30:29,620
you got nothing

397
00:30:31,500 --> 00:30:32,160
isn't amazing

398
00:30:33,140 --> 00:30:34,100
when you look of it

399
00:30:34,380 --> 00:30:35,460
think of it that way

400
00:30:35,620 --> 00:30:36,920
and how prideful we think

401
00:30:37,580 --> 00:30:38,540
when we get saved

402
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:40,660
God you got quite a catch here

403
00:30:44,730 --> 00:30:44,840
and he got

404
00:30:44,890 --> 00:30:45,000
that's got quite a catch here

405
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:51,920
and he got nothing

406
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:53,220
it's that it's that flower

407
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:54,840
right it's like that flower

408
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:56,339
that he talks about

409
00:30:57,480 --> 00:30:59,980
It's beautiful simply because of who God is.

410
00:31:00,340 --> 00:31:01,800
And it's for His glory.

411
00:31:02,340 --> 00:31:05,280
The very reason we exist, right?

412
00:31:06,740 --> 00:31:07,880
Is for His glory.

413
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,940
This is why Jesus tells that rich young ruler,

414
00:31:15,660 --> 00:31:17,240
you go and sell all that you got.

415
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:18,920
Go and sell it all.

416
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:20,920
And then you come follow me.

417
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:22,220
You remember what happened?

418
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:24,380
He went away sorrowful.

419
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,940
This says because he had many riches.

420
00:31:29,500 --> 00:31:43,100
See, it's not a sin, folks, to have things, but it is beyond evil, beyond evil for things to have you.

421
00:31:44,860 --> 00:31:45,040
Right?

422
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:51,800
It is not a sin to have things, but it is beyond evil to have things, have you.

423
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:58,660
And so, little flock, listen.

424
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,900
For it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

425
00:32:08,780 --> 00:32:11,640
He's not giving it to us because we deserve it.

426
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:13,180
Right?

427
00:32:13,460 --> 00:32:16,580
He's giving it to us since, because we have denied ourselves,

428
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,180
and we're picking up our cross and we're following him.

429
00:32:19,260 --> 00:32:20,940
That's why God wants to give it to us.

430
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:29,980
or should I say that's why we would get is because we're willing to do that and so many are not

431
00:32:30,270 --> 00:32:37,640
willing to do that so he says God wants to give you the kingdom what the riches are untold

432
00:32:38,060 --> 00:32:44,499
they're unparalleled unprecedented unrivaled so sell what you have and give alms

433
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:48,300
sell what you have and give alms

434
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:50,640
oh

435
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:53,340
that's rough

436
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,020
means to be extremely generous

437
00:33:00,500 --> 00:33:01,600
giving what you have

438
00:33:02,660 --> 00:33:04,260
provide yourselves money bags

439
00:33:04,420 --> 00:33:07,400
which do not grow old a treasure in the heavens

440
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:09,360
that does not fail

441
00:33:10,860 --> 00:33:12,620
and this is that whole thought

442
00:33:12,620 --> 00:33:14,480
and idea you and I we can

443
00:33:14,500 --> 00:33:28,520
not out give God we give God 10% man we think we just cut a fat hog we should give it all to him it's all

444
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:40,940
of it so he tells us to give and when you think about this as believers when we give you know

445
00:33:42,860 --> 00:33:47,000
Lee had just mentioned, you know, about some of our needs for the building.

446
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,780
And I believe that God is going to provide that according to his goodness.

447
00:33:53,390 --> 00:33:59,940
And so there's three ways to give according to God's word where you don't get puffed up.

448
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,560
You don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to.

449
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:06,960
Or, you know, some people believe because they give a certain amount.

450
00:34:07,060 --> 00:34:09,560
Well, then I need to call the shots here.

451
00:34:13,519 --> 00:34:21,659
and so first of all we just need to give from a pure heart you know i know i've given homeless people

452
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:26,280
things before and people get after me see yeah you gave the guy 20 bucks he's just going to go down

453
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:32,620
and buy three bottles of wine and get drunk yeah but i gave him sincerity i gave because i felt like the

454
00:34:32,679 --> 00:34:37,440
guy had a need if he goes and squanders as that's between him and god what i did was between me and god

455
00:34:40,060 --> 00:34:41,240
God can sort all that out.

456
00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:42,659
I need to give.

457
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:50,440
And so the first thought is to give in secrecy.

458
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:53,080
Jesus suggests that.

459
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,340
And in the sermon on the mount there in Matthew chapter 6, he says,

460
00:34:56,540 --> 00:34:59,400
hey, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

461
00:35:01,100 --> 00:35:01,260
Right?

462
00:35:02,020 --> 00:35:03,460
So when you give, just do it.

463
00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:05,640
You don't need any accolades.

464
00:35:05,940 --> 00:35:06,340
Because why?

465
00:35:06,420 --> 00:35:07,300
You're storing up your treasure.

466
00:35:07,340 --> 00:35:12,080
in heaven. You know, Jesus said, well, if you give and then you want somebody to pat you on the

467
00:35:12,180 --> 00:35:17,640
back, you got your reward. You're not getting nothing in heaven. Right? You got your reward.

468
00:35:19,380 --> 00:35:26,940
No, you give without telling anyone. God sees in secret will reward you openly. So give

469
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:35,060
secretly. Give why? Because God's blessed you and you're able to do it. You recognize that.

470
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:36,500
God's really blessed us.

471
00:35:38,220 --> 00:35:39,600
Me and my wife, we're super blessed.

472
00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:41,000
We get 30 eggs a day.

473
00:35:47,580 --> 00:35:50,520
I'm just like, wow, that's a lot of eggs.

474
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:53,520
I'm not lacking protein.

475
00:35:58,060 --> 00:35:58,620
But we give.

476
00:35:58,720 --> 00:35:58,860
Why?

477
00:35:58,940 --> 00:36:00,240
Because God's given to us.

478
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,700
Secondly, give sincerely.

479
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:04,400
Give with sincerity.

480
00:36:07,940 --> 00:36:15,780
because the attitude that you have either makes your gift an act of worship or hypocrisy.

481
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,360
It's an act of worship or hypocrisy.

482
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:22,780
So just be sincere.

483
00:36:23,500 --> 00:36:24,280
Lord, you bless me.

484
00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:26,100
How could I ever outgive you?

485
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,580
Just give from the abundance that God's given you.

486
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:31,680
You remember the story of the widow, right?

487
00:36:32,180 --> 00:36:33,180
I remember years ago.

488
00:36:34,020 --> 00:36:37,600
It was on a news station.

489
00:36:40,820 --> 00:36:43,240
And they were talking about charity,

490
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:46,460
and I think it was a journalist interviewing a pastor,

491
00:36:47,380 --> 00:36:49,540
and they were talking about charity and giving,

492
00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,240
and the journalist said, hey, did you hear Bill Gates

493
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,200
just gave a million-dollar charitable gift,

494
00:36:56,620 --> 00:36:58,220
the largest one in human history?

495
00:36:59,620 --> 00:37:02,200
And the pastor goes, oh, I thought the widow's two mites were.

496
00:37:05,460 --> 00:37:10,340
right because why because she gave the Bible says everything she had

497
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:13,400
Bill Gates gave out of his abundance

498
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:22,080
I don't know that we ever see anybody taking Jesus up on the hey

499
00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:24,680
go sell all that you got and come and follow me

500
00:37:29,820 --> 00:37:31,619
we see anonize and Sephora

501
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:39,220
right they sold some ground and then put up the hypocritical front that they were going to give

502
00:37:39,340 --> 00:37:49,400
all the money but they kept some back and god killed them both just be sincere just be sincere

503
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:58,480
and honest last of all we give a reward because of the estological reward at the end of your life

504
00:37:58,860 --> 00:38:07,880
right the father will reward in his his timing pointing the treasure to heaven you're storing up treasures in heaven

505
00:38:09,140 --> 00:38:16,940
so in a sense we can take some of it with us we just pay it forward into heaven storing up treasures in

506
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:28,460
heaven where notice he says robbers can't break in and steal and it does not fail where no theme

507
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:35,040
If he approaches nor moth destroys, for where your treasure is, there where your heart be also.

508
00:38:37,500 --> 00:38:43,100
I want to ask you today, just take a little quick analysis. What has your heart?

509
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:52,960
What has your heart? Or maybe who has your heart? And I think we can all say,

510
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:59,720
Relationally, yes, my wife or husband has my heart, my children, my grandchildren.

511
00:39:02,580 --> 00:39:05,320
But ultimately, the Lord would have our heart.

512
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,200
And then it is interesting how that works.

513
00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:12,240
When we give our heart to the Lord, our wife and husband have more of us.

514
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:14,500
Our children have more of us.

515
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:16,720
Our grandchildren have more of us.

516
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:17,320
Why?

517
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:23,500
Because God is an inexhaustible source that fills your heart and mind.

518
00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:25,680
with a love that we cannot muster.

519
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:28,240
We don't have it within us.

520
00:39:28,660 --> 00:39:30,240
But when we give our heart to him,

521
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:32,420
he can fill it up and there's an abundance.

522
00:39:32,740 --> 00:39:35,160
That's the abundant life that Jesus was talking about.

523
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:41,560
Well, almost finished here.

524
00:39:42,180 --> 00:39:42,320
Sorry.

525
00:39:44,060 --> 00:39:46,220
Last, verse 35 through 40,

526
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:47,860
this is where we're going to end.

527
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:51,620
It says, let your waist be girded in your lamps burning.

528
00:39:52,620 --> 00:39:52,780
Right?

529
00:39:53,320 --> 00:40:01,940
And you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding

530
00:40:02,500 --> 00:40:07,080
that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.

531
00:40:07,740 --> 00:40:13,360
Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.

532
00:40:13,900 --> 00:40:20,880
Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them.

533
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:27,600
and if he should come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so

534
00:40:28,260 --> 00:40:29,640
so blessed are those servants.

535
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:36,420
But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would have come,

536
00:40:36,780 --> 00:40:40,240
he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

537
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:46,700
Therefore, you also be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

538
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:59,640
So this here is a call to diligence. Get ready, be ready, and stay ready, right? For the Lord is coming.

539
00:41:00,660 --> 00:41:10,360
That's why, right, hypocrisy, covetousness, and worry, right? He warns us against those three things,

540
00:41:11,240 --> 00:41:17,540
because those are the three things that trip us up. The best way to overcome or to conquer these

541
00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:19,980
things is to focus what? The Lord's coming.

542
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:22,100
Jesus is coming.

543
00:41:23,020 --> 00:41:25,300
Guys, listen, it's the best way to live your life.

544
00:41:27,220 --> 00:41:32,460
His return should be the overwhelming priority in your entire life daily.

545
00:41:33,540 --> 00:41:35,280
Why? It sanitizes your life.

546
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:40,920
Right? I watch what I say. I watch what I do. Jesus might come back today.

547
00:41:42,020 --> 00:41:43,760
And what do I want him to find me doing?

548
00:41:46,340 --> 00:41:49,020
It keeps me in a really good place.

549
00:41:49,380 --> 00:41:57,260
the apostles they taught this this is called the doctrine of eminence he is coming when you least

550
00:41:58,850 --> 00:42:04,800
expect it so people who have this take that no jesus can't come until you just you're you just

551
00:42:05,020 --> 00:42:11,720
denied the doctrine of imminence no you're saying oh this has to happen before jesus can come no he can

552
00:42:11,810 --> 00:42:19,020
come at any time even the early church believed this right titus says in titus 213 looking for the blessed

553
00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:26,380
open, glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That appearing. Is there,

554
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:32,360
is there anything that can compare? Well, when you talk to Tina, did you have, I want to get my

555
00:42:32,500 --> 00:42:42,460
driver's license first. No, nobody wants you to get your driver's license first. Okay? Absolutely

556
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:47,720
nobody. Or the girls. I want to get married.

557
00:42:48,980 --> 00:42:49,940
I promise you

558
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:51,120
you don't want to get married

559
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:52,960
compared to Jesus is coming

560
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:54,720
you don't want to get married

561
00:42:56,060 --> 00:42:57,360
or I want to have babies

562
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:00,620
are you crazy

563
00:43:02,599 --> 00:43:03,680
my wife

564
00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:06,180
just told me this morning

565
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:07,540
she goes last night

566
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:10,640
was having like having a newborn child

567
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:12,080
I says why is that

568
00:43:12,660 --> 00:43:14,160
because her little dog got up and pooped

569
00:43:14,240 --> 00:43:15,380
every hour on the hour

570
00:43:17,860 --> 00:43:20,300
we think she might have parvo i don't pray for bonnie

571
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:28,700
compared to jesus coming back no you don't want to have children

572
00:43:32,540 --> 00:43:38,900
colosians three four when christ who is our life amen and glory hallelujah appears

573
00:43:39,580 --> 00:43:42,180
then you also will appear with him in glory

574
00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:54,820
what better thing is there to focus on to keep us in the right place, right, mentally, spiritually, even physically, knowing that our Lord is going to come.

575
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:58,720
What do you want to present to him in your life?

576
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,220
What kind of life do you want to present to him?

577
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:10,260
Years ago, you know, I try to stay halfway in physical good shape, right?

578
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:13,220
because I know that I get tired as I get older,

579
00:44:13,380 --> 00:44:15,760
so I'm in better shape that I don't get as tired as easy,

580
00:44:15,770 --> 00:44:16,980
and I'm hopefully more effective.

581
00:44:17,900 --> 00:44:22,400
But years ago, there was a college wrestler

582
00:44:23,700 --> 00:44:27,860
who many of you know in Christendom as an incredible missionary

583
00:44:28,220 --> 00:44:30,620
to the Aca Indians that was killed.

584
00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:31,500
His name was Jim Elliott.

585
00:44:32,500 --> 00:44:35,320
Jim wrestled at Wheaton College and was a national champion.

586
00:44:35,350 --> 00:44:38,800
He was NCAA national champion wrestler.

587
00:44:39,500 --> 00:44:41,320
That's quite a feat.

588
00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:46,340
And Elliot said, I didn't wrestle to gain accolades.

589
00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:51,400
I wrestled that I might present a better physical specimen to the Lord.

590
00:44:53,220 --> 00:44:54,460
And she said, what an attitude.

591
00:44:55,740 --> 00:44:56,600
God forgive me.

592
00:44:58,880 --> 00:44:59,020
Right?

593
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:00,060
What a great attitude.

594
00:45:02,140 --> 00:45:05,240
But more than that is a faithful heart.

595
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:08,580
That's what I want to present because Jesus,

596
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:14,080
says, he says, when the son of man returns, will he find faith on the earth? Will he find faith in you?

597
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:22,260
Will he find faith in us? Or we just can be in our, you know, just doing our thing?

598
00:45:26,620 --> 00:45:35,460
There's five crowns mentioned in heaven. Five crowns. The one that I'm most concerned about,

599
00:45:35,660 --> 00:45:39,240
and the one I think that keeps us on the right track is the crown of righteousness.

600
00:45:40,220 --> 00:45:41,120
And it's, it's,

601
00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:45,260
it's presented to those who loves Christ's return.

602
00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:50,340
The crown of righteousness is those who love Christ's return.

603
00:45:53,580 --> 00:45:54,760
I think any of them would do.

604
00:45:56,760 --> 00:45:58,160
Just to get there is going to do.

605
00:46:00,240 --> 00:46:01,780
Just to be in his presence.

606
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:05,460
And so this,

607
00:46:05,500 --> 00:46:12,440
This doctrine of eminence is really important because it truly does affect how we live our lives.

608
00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:16,840
If we truly believe that he's going to come like a thief.

609
00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:23,840
In the scripture several times it says that Jesus is coming is like a thief when you least expect it.

610
00:46:24,460 --> 00:46:28,260
Revelation 1615, behold, I am coming as a thief.

611
00:46:28,820 --> 00:46:35,020
Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame.

612
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:36,880
who's they?

613
00:46:39,180 --> 00:46:39,940
The holy angels?

614
00:46:42,220 --> 00:46:42,860
I don't know.

615
00:46:44,300 --> 00:46:50,300
Maybe it's all the righteous dead who have gone before us and see our shame if we haven't kept ourselves.

616
00:46:53,720 --> 00:47:00,700
So we can't live in a place where there's still some things that need to happen before Jesus can come.

617
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:04,020
A lot of people right now watching the world's scene.

618
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:17,980
Oh, as soon as Iran and Russia come together, then the Lord's, but that's Iran, Russia, Libya, Turkey, Sudan, Ethiopia, all these people have to come together before Jesus can come.

619
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:18,780
Not.

620
00:47:20,720 --> 00:47:20,920
Right?

621
00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:25,160
That is Ezekiel 38 and 39, but that doesn't have to happen before the raptor of the church.

622
00:47:30,740 --> 00:47:32,540
It is important for us.

623
00:47:34,240 --> 00:47:37,960
to live in a moment by moment expectation of his return.

624
00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:41,020
It's the best way to live life.

625
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:47,060
He says here, keep your waist girded, right?

626
00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:50,960
And what they would do is be ready to go, be ready to move,

627
00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:52,980
be ready to do what God's called you to do, right?

628
00:47:53,300 --> 00:47:59,280
So that what they would do is because back then, men wore dresses, okay, robes.

629
00:47:59,900 --> 00:48:02,540
But what they would do is they'd pull their robe up and they would tuck,

630
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:09,840
in their belt so they could get high knees, right? So they could be on the move, go to battle,

631
00:48:11,340 --> 00:48:17,840
go to work, whatever they had to do, they were ready. Keep your waist girded, he's saying,

632
00:48:18,100 --> 00:48:23,160
and, right, what? Keep your lamp burning. Well, what's the lamp? Well, in the Old Testament,

633
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:28,520
the lamp is the word of God. Jesus talked about the eye here a few chapters ago,

634
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:33,300
that the eye is the lamp of the soul or the lamp of the body.

635
00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:35,920
What do you want coming in?

636
00:48:37,660 --> 00:48:38,320
It's the Word of God.

637
00:48:40,020 --> 00:48:41,620
Stay tight to the Word of God.

638
00:48:42,260 --> 00:48:42,920
Read it daily.

639
00:48:43,900 --> 00:48:46,200
I'm a scumbag pastor because I didn't read this morning.

640
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:52,160
I read this, getting ready for this message,

641
00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:54,260
but I didn't do my daily reading today.

642
00:48:54,820 --> 00:48:57,440
That doesn't always happen, but it does happen sometimes on Sunday.

643
00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:02,860
I get busy. Sunday's not over. I can do it tonight. So I'm just repenting in advance, okay?

644
00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:14,160
But keep the lamp burning. Keep the Word of God coming into your heart. What does it do? It stirs you up, right?

645
00:49:14,780 --> 00:49:19,860
It reminds you of the greatness of God. It reminds you of your depraved condition without him.

646
00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:27,760
Right? It keeps you just in that good, that sweet spot being in the word. Keep your lamp burning and

647
00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:33,220
your waist girded, be ready for the Lord's sake to do whatever he calls you to do.

648
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:41,400
I, I'm getting excited.

649
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:46,520
The Lord's coming, right?

650
00:49:46,640 --> 00:49:47,200
We know that.

651
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:51,360
And it's getting, it's getting wild, right?

652
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:52,280
To watch.

653
00:49:52,960 --> 00:49:54,440
You know, because Jesus said, watch.

654
00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:55,560
Are you watching?

655
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:57,420
Are you watching all this stuff?

656
00:49:57,720 --> 00:49:59,380
Have you been watching the winter in Idaho?

657
00:50:02,700 --> 00:50:06,000
My wife just heard of a little report from Phoenix, Arizona.

658
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:14,980
They're going to be 105 degrees this week, and it's the first time they've been that hot in March in 137 years.

659
00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:18,260
So what is that?

660
00:50:18,620 --> 00:50:25,800
Is that climate change, global warming, signs of the time, or just a weather cycle?

661
00:50:27,940 --> 00:50:29,980
because Atlanta, Georgia is going to be 22 degrees.

662
00:50:32,640 --> 00:50:33,160
Go figure.

663
00:50:33,700 --> 00:50:35,240
But it's cool to watch things, right?

664
00:50:36,200 --> 00:50:41,360
And even if it isn't necessarily a sign of the time, at least, listen, you're watching.

665
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:43,840
And that's what he's called us to do.

666
00:50:44,620 --> 00:50:44,740
Amen?

667
00:50:46,620 --> 00:50:48,000
We're going to enter into communion.

668
00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:52,860
So if you have the elements, go ahead and take that out.

669
00:50:53,020 --> 00:50:56,520
If not, these guys have some coming around.

670
00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:01,880
And we're just going to remember the Lord.

671
00:51:04,580 --> 00:51:07,280
He tells us on the night that he was betrayed,

672
00:51:08,580 --> 00:51:13,300
that he took the bread and the cup.

673
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:16,860
And he said he's never going to drink this thing

674
00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:18,680
until he drinks in the kingdom.

675
00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:22,680
And so I've, of course, as a pastor,

676
00:51:22,700 --> 00:51:31,820
you got to watch that. I'm a teetotaler. I know Rob McCoy kind of shocked some people last year when he came and said,

677
00:51:31,960 --> 00:51:43,080
oh, I drink a little bit. And I think he got that look that I'm getting right now. And at lunch, he asked me,

678
00:51:43,080 --> 00:51:51,680
he said, are those people teetotlers? I said, well, I am. I'm a teetotaler. I ain't going to drink the fruit of the vine until I'm with Jesus.

679
00:51:53,100 --> 00:51:55,440
and because number one, it's not a good witness.

680
00:51:55,700 --> 00:51:58,120
Number two, I'm a terrible drunk.

681
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:03,200
But he said, as often as you do this, what?

682
00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:04,520
Do it in remembrance of me.

683
00:52:05,500 --> 00:52:08,800
There's a reason to take this little bit of juice

684
00:52:08,940 --> 00:52:10,400
and this little bit of bread

685
00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:14,800
and remember this incredible king that we have

686
00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:18,100
that was willing to humble himself.

687
00:52:20,100 --> 00:52:21,680
And how disgusting.

688
00:52:21,720 --> 00:52:23,660
it was for him to become like us.

689
00:52:25,380 --> 00:52:26,060
That's disgusting.

690
00:52:27,700 --> 00:52:29,720
For the God of heaven, the king of glory,

691
00:52:30,060 --> 00:52:31,100
to become like us?

692
00:52:37,340 --> 00:52:38,540
That gives a whole new meeting

693
00:52:38,740 --> 00:52:40,400
to get manure on your boots.

694
00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:42,240
Right?

695
00:52:44,680 --> 00:52:48,620
Actually, I was driving by a facility one day,

696
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:50,520
and it says free manure.

697
00:52:51,520 --> 00:52:51,680
But they're not.

698
00:52:51,700 --> 00:52:53,280
The URE had fallen off.

699
00:52:57,160 --> 00:52:58,480
I said, oh, that's all we are.

700
00:52:58,620 --> 00:52:59,920
Free man is what it said.

701
00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:01,400
But it was green.

702
00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:07,560
The first three letters of manure spells man.

703
00:53:08,700 --> 00:53:09,300
Here we are.

704
00:53:17,380 --> 00:53:18,660
Let's hold the bread before the Lord.

705
00:53:19,100 --> 00:53:19,840
Lord, we thank you.

706
00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:26,020
that you were not so disgusted that you wouldn't become like us, but you did.

707
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:30,420
And then you are willing to be ripped to shreds.

708
00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:33,440
Your body beaten and broken.

709
00:53:36,620 --> 00:53:43,540
Your flesh torn, your hair and whiskers torn out, Lord, and you did it all for us.

710
00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:46,700
And so, Lord, we just want to remember that.

711
00:53:47,340 --> 00:53:50,480
And, Lord, I pray that it would bring a humility to our lives.

712
00:53:51,180 --> 00:53:54,400
Lord, as we remember you on that cross,

713
00:53:56,860 --> 00:53:58,380
unrecognizable as a human being.

714
00:54:02,080 --> 00:54:03,240
And you said it's finished,

715
00:54:04,300 --> 00:54:07,720
that that sacrifice was enough to satisfy

716
00:54:08,620 --> 00:54:11,280
the wrath of a righteous and a holy God.

717
00:54:12,780 --> 00:54:15,060
And so, Lord, we just want to thank you for that.

718
00:54:15,620 --> 00:54:17,420
And right now, as we partake of this bread,

719
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:18,900
I pray that you would bless it

720
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:21,840
and that it would sink deep into our hearts,

721
00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:23,980
Lord, not just into our stomach,

722
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:25,700
but into our minds and our souls.

723
00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:28,540
As we remember your body that was broken for us.

724
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:30,580
Bless it, we pray in Jesus' name.

725
00:54:30,680 --> 00:54:31,180
Let's partake.

726
00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:38,920
And then as he takes the cup,

727
00:54:41,200 --> 00:54:44,240
saying this is the new covenant of my blood that was shed for you.

728
00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:48,860
The cleansing power,

729
00:54:48,900 --> 00:54:50,960
of the blood of Christ Jesus

730
00:54:53,120 --> 00:54:54,780
that washes our sins away

731
00:54:56,340 --> 00:54:57,640
and they never return.

732
00:54:58,660 --> 00:54:59,920
They don't even leave a stain.

733
00:55:01,500 --> 00:55:02,860
And so Lord, we just praise you

734
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:04,280
that you are willing to do that.

735
00:55:05,660 --> 00:55:09,040
Lord, to be that drink offering poured out for your people.

736
00:55:10,820 --> 00:55:12,780
And so Lord, we just pray that you would

737
00:55:16,240 --> 00:55:17,820
remind us of the weight

738
00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:18,860
of this side.

739
00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:26,360
sacrifice. Lord, as that blood flowed and the water flowed, symbolic of our cleansing,

740
00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:36,220
Lord, that we're washed and past, present and future, thank you for your faithfulness to go to

741
00:55:36,300 --> 00:55:46,740
that cross, Lord, and to endure and to even give up your ghost for us. Lord, that you became

742
00:55:46,860 --> 00:55:50,520
the conqueror of death, hell, and the grave, and sin.

743
00:55:51,600 --> 00:55:52,660
And so we remember that.

744
00:55:53,480 --> 00:55:55,900
And we thank you for it now in Jesus' holy name.

745
00:55:56,420 --> 00:55:57,060
Bless the cup.

746
00:55:57,280 --> 00:55:57,780
Let's partake.

747
00:56:02,720 --> 00:56:03,660
Let's all stand, shall we?

748
00:56:05,300 --> 00:56:07,240
If you need prayer, the prayer team's going to come up here.

749
00:56:08,560 --> 00:56:11,640
Please feel free to come and be prayed for.

750
00:56:14,480 --> 00:56:16,720
Have a quick counseling session with some.

751
00:56:16,760 --> 00:56:18,700
some people that have been there and done that.

752
00:56:20,300 --> 00:56:21,100
And would you pray with me?

753
00:56:21,240 --> 00:56:24,600
Lord, we give you this week that is in front of us, Lord,

754
00:56:24,740 --> 00:56:27,240
and there's so much going on in our world, Lord,

755
00:56:27,340 --> 00:56:28,560
that we need to bring before you.

756
00:56:28,720 --> 00:56:30,620
Lord, we just want to bring our families before you.

757
00:56:31,300 --> 00:56:34,420
Bring our marriages and our children, our grandchildren, Lord.

758
00:56:35,279 --> 00:56:37,880
Our communities, Lord, help us to be salt and light.

759
00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:41,720
Lord, help us to not be a stick in the mud in the places which we live, Lord,

760
00:56:41,820 --> 00:56:43,960
but that we would, in our neighborhoods, Lord,

761
00:56:44,040 --> 00:56:46,420
that we would be full of the joy of the Lord,

762
00:56:46,720 --> 00:56:47,840
and the love of the Lord.

763
00:56:48,300 --> 00:56:49,640
Lord, not that we have to compromise,

764
00:56:50,020 --> 00:56:54,020
but that we would truly be a, Lord, just palatable

765
00:56:54,740 --> 00:56:57,360
for the world around us that is looking for hope.

766
00:56:57,900 --> 00:57:00,420
And may we be your mouthpiece, Lord,

767
00:57:00,620 --> 00:57:02,980
to encourage people that it's found in none other

768
00:57:03,120 --> 00:57:03,860
than the Lord Jesus.

769
00:57:04,640 --> 00:57:06,620
And so would you go before us this week

770
00:57:06,780 --> 00:57:08,000
and help us in that manner?

771
00:57:08,200 --> 00:57:10,100
Lord, we lifted up our soldiers overseas,

772
00:57:10,500 --> 00:57:12,160
Lord, this conflict in Iran.

773
00:57:12,440 --> 00:57:13,940
Lord, we pray for the Iranian people,

774
00:57:15,079 --> 00:57:16,460
the families of,

775
00:57:16,900 --> 00:57:21,520
U.S. servicemen that have lost their lives, Lord, be with them, be their comfort for the nation

776
00:57:21,640 --> 00:57:28,100
of Israel, the peace of Jerusalem, Lord, all these things that, Lord, in of ourselves, we have no power,

777
00:57:28,380 --> 00:57:33,900
Lord, but that we can petition you and pray that you would intervene, Lord, on the behalf of

778
00:57:34,260 --> 00:57:39,080
your people. Lord, and you would show yourself strong, even to those who don't believe,

779
00:57:39,600 --> 00:57:44,180
that they might turn to you. And so, Father, we give you this week. Pray that you would bless your

780
00:57:44,220 --> 00:57:51,260
people. And we all agree. And we say in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. God bless you guys. Have a great week in Jesus.