Ed & Lisa Young’s Response to The State of The Church Today

0:05 I hold in my hand a cell phone. I'm sure we're all familiar with these puppies. This thing is a source of frustration. I mean, it doesn't always work. Updates and all sorts of nonsense. And I try to sync it up to my car. Works about half the time.

0:29 Here's what I figured out, though. And I learned this from really smart people. people who are a lot smarter than me, which there's a lot. I turn it off, I power down, and then it has this ability to kind of reset, reboot, they tell me. Turn it back on, bam, it begins to work. And it starts really doing what I want it to do. it resets. So you power off, power up, I guess you could say power down, and turn the power on. So I thought today, Lisa, against the backdrop of what's happening in our city with so many notable churches, not only in our city, but also in America, and then even internationally, I thought collectively we would sort of power down to reset and recalibrate who we are and what we are.

1:42 And then prayerfully at the end of our session, we can power up and discover the greatness that God has for us. Because when we bow the knee to Jesus, we're saying, Jesus, my desires are yours. And he has this ability, does he not? By the Holy Spirit, he invades our lives. The Holy Spirit works and gives us these godly desires. Because after all, God is pro-desire. There are a lot of questions being asked today about church leaders, churches in general. That's the truth. Yes. We're talking about the bride of Christ. So, yes, there are flawed leaders. There are people who make mistakes because all of us are sinners saved by grace if we bowed the knee to Christ. But Ed and I can really only speak to Fellowship Church.

2:41 And I will just tell you that we take very seriously the Scripture, the Word of God, what he says to us about how to live in purity and in holiness. Too often, perhaps we bow the knee to Christ because we see that as a ticket to heaven, a way to avoid hell, and yet we forget that bowing the knee to Christ is the beginning of a process called sanctification, where Jesus infiltrates our lives, and from that moment on, Our number one goal, our number one desire is to please him. That's it. That's it. And we are commanded to obey to become more like him. So as a church, the word of God is our truth text.

3:43 It's what we live by. It is given to us. It is not something we worship. We don't worship the word of God. We worship the God who breathed life into every word of this book. And I will tell you also that as speakers and leaders, as the musicians are on this stage, and perhaps even testimonies, if we do not rightly teach the Scripture, the Word of God, cover to cover, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and believe me, there's some ugly stuff in here, because we're going to talk today about sin and the consequences of it. But there's also forgiveness and there's grace, but there's a balance. And we have to tell the whole story. Often people will say to me or to Ed, I've heard them ask Ed a lot, do you get nervous before you speak?

4:35 You've been doing this for a long time. You seem comfortable. And they'll ask me the same thing. And I will tell you, our answer is always the same. we're scared to death. Literally, we're scared to death. Not because we might mess up, fall down, trip. I mean, we've pretty much, I know I've tripped on this stage. It's because we are standing here on a privileged platform to divide and discern and to teach the holy word of God. And if anybody takes that lightly, they do not need to stand on this stage. Yes. And I'm not, Ed and I, we are not even trying to say at all that we've got this 100% dialed in because we're human. But we have taken great steps to live in a manner that is pleasing to God, but also honoring and pure to one another. And I think that word, Lisa, you just said purity, That's where it's at.

5:42 Because when you said sanctification, that simply means the process of being set apart. And we're not at all talking about legalism. You know, I tell people all the time, Christianity is not a legalistic trip. It's a relationship. But as Lisa and I have been married now 42 years, I love her with all my heart. And I'm gonna talk about the fact, we're gonna bring up the fact that God is above us. He is our authority. We love God more than each other. Yet the marriage is compared to God's relationship with his people. It's the only human relationship that is analogous to God's relationship with his people. I have lived, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so is Lisa, a pure life in our marriage. I'm not bragging to say that. I'm fallen infallible like all of you.

6:48 Yet from the platform, from being a preacher to the pew, those of us who go by the label in the name of Jesus, we're called to live a holy life. So Lisa doesn't force me to live a pure life in marriage. She doesn't say, okay, here are these rules and you better obey those rules. No, I do it. We do it because of our love for one another. And because of that love, you have the purity. And I'm so thankful for purity. Lisa is the only woman I've ever been with. And I'm the only man that she has ever been with. And I say been with in a biblical sense. I think you understand that. We don't have to worry about any sexual skeletons in our closet coming back from the past or here or there.

7:44 There's great freedom in that. And I'm simply bragging and giving glory to the God of the universe. God's way, Lisa, is the way of purity. God is pro-desire. and when we say, okay, God, it's not my desire, but yours, that's when we discover what life is all about. But because of our sin nature, we have this struggle. So sin is fun. It's enjoyable. If it wasn't, we wouldn't do it. but I'm gonna tell you the consequences of sin overshadow the thrills and chills of being disobedient to God and that's very important for us to understand.

8:44 I'm also gonna say too, Lisa, and this is, again, straight from God's word, we like to talk about forgiveness. Oh, that's the gospel, forgiveness, and that's true. Mercy, grace, yes, that's right. Forgiveness, mercy, grace, grace, mercy, forgiveness, forgiveness. Man, that's under the blood. I'm forgiven, period, we say.

9:10 No, let's put a comma after forgiveness because you have the consequences of sin. obviously those of us who are followers of Christ we process and deal with those consequences yet God will not remove the consequences of our sin I could rob Waffle House right now I'd get arrested they would frog march me into the jail house wherever that is I think there's one in Grapevine.

9:54 I can hit my knees on that cement floor. It's like, God, forgive me. I'm sorry, God. I messed up. I failed. I sinned. Question, will God forgive me? Yes. Question, will I still be in jail? Yes.

10:17 We don't like to talk about, Lisa, the consequences of sin, but we're seeing this in real time. And let me also say this. There are over 300,000 senior pastors and wives in the U.S. Sadly, we only hear about four or five who've gone over the edge and the ledge, which is a tragedy, which should not happen. It's not God's will. Yet, in these situations, they're facing the consequences. And some situations are actually criminal. So, you cannot take this platform or the office of being a pastor flippantly lightly, casually.

11:16 This is the real deal here. And I'm so thrilled about Fellowship Church, about our pastors, about our leadership, about you guys. Because friends, so many here are living again, not a perfect life. We serve a perfect Savior, but many of us are living this sanctified, holy, and pure life, which is the great life. And for Ed and I, it's interesting. We've actually had conversations about a phrase that you'll see in Scripture, and that's not really comfortable, but basically it's this, fear of the Lord. There is a lack of fear of the Lord in our culture today. God is convenient. God is touchy-feely. God is there to work for us. No, no, that's not true.

12:22 We as Christ followers should have a healthy fear of the Lord. It says in Psalm 111.10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 16.6, through the fear of the Lord, a man avoids evil. My father led our home. He was a wonderful man. You know, he wasn't a harsh person. He was a disciplinarian, but not overly so. I had a healthy fear of my dad. Why? Because I knew that we had some rules in place in our family, some agendas in place in our family, And they weren't rules to keep me from having fun. They were rules to keep me and my sister protected. So God, the fear of the Lord is a respect. It's an understanding that God has given us his word so that we can live in a way that's safe for us. It's the best for us.

13:18 It's not a killjoy. It's like a life full of joy when we walk with him. For example, if... If I committed adultery, I'm afraid God would take me out. And again, the Bible talks about this. You just don't see those verses on coffee mugs. I'm also afraid, not just that, I'm afraid and fear God of what it would do to the person I love more than anything, anyone on planet Earth who's not God, of course.

14:05 And another thing that I contemplate, committing adultery, what would it do to our precious kids, our grandkids? And then what would it do to the church that I love? So I think about those things, and I know Lisa does as well. And I understand. I understand the temptation. I get it. The Bible says when we're tempted. And pastors and leaders are tempted. But I'm gonna tell you, we are called to a higher standard because of this office God's given us. But I'm not belittling at all. I'm not saying that we're here and you're there. I'm not saying that. It's a calling. You, though, as followers of Christ, are called to this pure and holy life.

15:02 And as we've been saying, it's the best life possible. That's why it's so important, Lisa, to be under the authority of the Bible, the word of God, and to understand systematic theology. You can look the definition up later. We are people that definitely look at theology, the study of God, in a systematic format. Too many churches, even those around us, and I'm not gonna mention names, are basically theological dumpster fires.

15:37 What they say sounds sexy and good. You know? God told me. Huh? When someone says that, I don't believe it. God impresses things in my life and in your life. God told me? One day someone told me that out in the lobby. I go, God told you? Well, I talked to him just a second ago. He didn't tell me. And then you have people blaming, excuse-making their sin. I'm talking about pastors, blaming it on the spirit of Jezebel. What in the heck is that? That's not in the Bible. They're blaming it on ancestry curses. And it's like the old, brilliant comic, Flip Wilson. Very few people even know who he is, but I'm old enough.

16:33 He used to always say, the devil made me do it. And a lot of churches, if you listen critically, they say that. And then churches will go, okay, you can be delivered. You can experience your breakthrough. Oh, that's fine, easy believism. I'll just pray a little prayer or have someone anoint me with oil or you see people fall down and all that. I guess I don't deal with lust anymore. I guess I don't deal with pride anymore. I guess I don't deal with greed anymore because someone prayed for me and it's gone. Sorry. Sorry, that does not hold biblical water, friends.

17:15 It's cool. It'd be great if it was that quick. Do I believe in breakthroughs? Yes. Do I believe God delivers? Yes. Do I believe that certain people are oppressed by the demonic and those things can be dealt with? Yes, but it's a day-by-day issue. It's taking up your cross daily and walking with the Lord Jesus Christ. So we need to understand these things and we need to understand the power and the glory of God. Following the Lord Jesus, even going to church, you're not always gonna feel it. I mean, this might be a shocker, but Lisa doesn't always feel it in our marriage.

18:10 You know what I'm saying? Oh man, I've not worshiped unless I feel a quiver in my liver and a spring in my step. And that's not a reality. And it's time the church got back to the Bible. It's time the church began to preach and teach the gospel. It's time the church began to call sin what it is, and we try to psychologicalize sin. How about that? Isn't that true? And psychology's great, but basically it's a bunch of man-made words that pretty much tries to unpack our depravity. That's what psychology is.

19:04 So we, instead of saying, oh, I'm a sinner, I need to repent before a holy God will throw in psychology. It's my family of origin. My diapers were put on too tight. My mother yelled at me. My father one time, I think, even threatened me. And all those things. And I understand that. It's great to process that. However, sin is sin. And we're called to repent. and there's something the Bible says called the fruits of repentance. If you repent, if I repent, you'll see the fruit of it. One of the characters, Lisa, I'm gonna give you just the basic cliff notes of this guy, and I want you, obviously, you know this story as well as I do, is a guy named David in the Bible.

19:59 David's always talked about, isn't he? Like he's talked about, well, look at David. God forgave him. Look at David, man. That's grace and mercy. And it is, but that's not quite the whole story, is it? No. David was a great warrior. In fact, West Point still studies the military strategies of King David. He was brilliant, probably had a photographic memory. God brought him from the fields as a shepherd to the palace. He anointed him as king. He was called a man after God's own heart. And so David, we see, had this unbelievable position and power. The first time that we notice that David does not go into battle with his army is right at this juncture where he has a major encounter with sin. And it is found in 2 Samuel 11.

20:56 If you think about it, I want to interrupt real quick and tell you this. That's fine. Just so they'll know the context real quick, I have the sin of interruption. It happens all the time. No, we both do. I'm going to repent. We do all the time. It's either me interrupting him or me. Yeah, we do. And you've been married 42 years. It's like. But David's at the top of his game, as Lisa said. Israel is hitting on all cylinders politically, financially, militarily. You're talking about a businessman, the way we say in Texas. David was a multibillionaire. I mean, the guy was an amazing warrior, poet, musician. He had it all. And Lisa, he should have been out there on the battlefield. But he chose to stay home. He was in the wrong place. Or let's just say David was not in the right place. And so he stayed home, went to the rooftop. It says as the evening was approaching.

21:50 And the palace was the tallest place in the city. So it was at the top of a hill. All the other homes were below. So from the palace rooftop, you could see everything. And David goes up and he knows, you know, this is pretty much the time where the women bathe on top of their roofs. Because the afternoon sun, right? It would warm the water. Yeah. And so David goes to the rooftop and he's not supposed to be at the rooftop. He's supposed to be in battle. And then not only does David go to the rooftop, he doesn't just stand in the center of the rooftop soaking up the sun for himself. No, he walks to the edge and the ledge of his roof. I'll walk because you have heels. I'll walk on this edge. I'm pretty gifted in these things. You are. But he goes to the edge and the ledge where he can see Bathsheba. He sees her bathing. What a name, Bathsheba. And so he sent.

22:41 Taking a bath. That's interesting. He sent her a direct message. In fact, it's the first DM ever recorded. But it was a direct message from a direct messenger of David who went to Bathsheba, told her she needed to report to the king. If she had not reported to the king, she could have been put to death. And so she goes to the king. They have their time. She sends the king a direct message. Oh, David, I'm pregnant. So David figures out, oh, this is not good. Now, let me stop here. David, let me interrupt you again. David right there, Lisa, he had a choice. All right, he's a man after God's own heart. He's contemplated sin. Now he has consummated this act of sin. He has a choice. He could either come clean. Confess. Confess or cover up. And so he covers it up.

23:34 He makes sure that her husband is sent into battle and killed on the front lines. Her husband should not have been on the front lines, but David positions him there. He's killed in battle. and then David, out of sympathy, brings Bathsheba into his household so that the pregnancy could be covered. It was months, if not a year later, that the prophet Nathan confronted David. Tells him a story, and the story is the story that relates to the situation with David, but a little bit different. And David says, oh, that man should be killed. That man should be punished. That man should be this. And Nathan says, David, it is you. So he's found out. Wow. So not only does he contemplate this and then he consummates it, but then he suffers the consequences. And Lisa, too, Nathan... I was going to say that it says that when the consequences fell, Nathan said to him that the sword will never leave your home.

24:38 And that sounds so harsh. That's not a coffee mug verse either. But it says, now therefore the sword will never depart from your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. And David's family was never the same. Did David get forgiveness, receive forgiveness? Yes. Did God use him in ways? Yes. But he never lived to the full potential of what God had in store for him. So sin is something that all of us participate in, but the various levels have their consequences, and the consequences are at various levels, and this was a very extreme consequence for David. His household was totally affected by it. And his kids ended up... Behaving the same way he did. Now, can I say something real quick? Yeah, I'll give you a question. I want to talk about Nathan right quick, just to kind of go back a little bit.

25:34 Nathan, the prophet of God, he and David were very close. You always hear about accountability. Accountability. Where's the accountability? Accountability is great. However, accountability must flow from affinity. You don't just walk up to someone and go, hey, you be accountable to me. I mean, you see what I'm saying to you? So they had that kind of relationship where they could talk. And that's where, again, the church comes in. We have these men and women we can do life with, these couples we can do life with, and we can share and talk. And I hear so many wonderful stories about affinity, accountability, going on right here at Fellowship Church. And we have to think about this, because people always think about board of directors, board of directors.

26:26 Do you have a personal board of directors who can speak into your life. Do you have Nathans? That's good. So Ed and I have to work at purity. Yes. If you think that it's just gonna happen, you're setting yourself up for failure. We work really hard at setting parameters and boundaries to keep us from the ledge. I would say we build even, this rhymes, but I can't help it. we build a hedge that keeps us from the ledge. I'm not saying we can ever break through this hedge, but if you do that and if you make these ledge lessons back here, if you mess up or fall or fumble, it's back here. Not on the edge.

27:20 And it's not on the edge and the ledge. Does that make sense? And we've shared these many, many times. And I, even when we were talking about sharing today, I was like, gosh, we've talked about this so much. But obviously you cannot talk about it enough. And people need to come up with their own boundaries and what we call our 10 commandments of purity. And we're gonna post them on our app. We're gonna fly through them really quick. Number one. I shall have no other human relationships before Lisa. That's Ed speaking. And I will have no other human relationships before Ed. Like, he's the most important person in my life, and I'm the most important person in his life. God first, this second, and then everything else flows from there. Number two, remember the date night, my date night. I personalized it, and keep it holy. Yeah, set a time where you're spending good time together. I like number three, honor Lisa on anniversaries and special days so that you may live long in the land the Lord has given you.

28:17 Now, I've made mistakes there, and I'm still feeling the consequences. I have such a desire. Man, do women have incredible memories? I forget stuff, but Lisa can just. I have a really good illustration, but I'm not going to share it. Okay, number five. Oh, number four. What? You want me to tell it? Roll the dice? No, one day it was Mother's Day, and it's hard, because Mother's Day, you know, it's a church day. And he came in, and I guess I was drinking my coffee, and he goes, hey, you know, it's Mother's Day. What would you like for me to get you? I didn't say anything but he did not get a real pleasant look but you came through in the end how about the Valentine's Day that was one of your best that's one of the best Valentine's story ever and he was the hero so I'm just going to leave it at that and there's some things that you just don't share but you give a tease okay so number four go I shall not take the covenant of marriage in vain.

29:29 It's a covenant. Yeah. Okay. A marriage is not just a time where you get dressed up and you go in a decorated space and you, you know, party with your friends and take a lot of pictures. That is not what a wedding or a marriage is supposed to be. It is a covenant. A covenant, so much so that God uses the marriage covenant as a correlation between his covenant with his people. Don't take that lightly. Don't take it in vain. Lisa, think about, too, the impact a strong marriage has on kids. You know, at Fellowship Church, we're all about protecting children. And building up children. Yes. And marriage, having a strong marriage, there's nothing like that. Yeah, and speaking of protecting children, James Dobson has a great thing on the Focus on the Family website about how to protect children or some guidelines for conversations with your children about inappropriate touch, inappropriate relationships.

30:34 Keep the conversations open. Talk about body image and appropriate touch, all of those different things. But check that out on their website. I shall not ride in a car or eat in a restaurant alone with a member of the opposite sex. Okay, I want to tell y'all something. We posted this several years ago on Instagram. You would not believe the hate that this one got. Is that crazy? Because they were like, well, there's no way we can do this. Look, we want you to come up with your own, but be smart. One of the comments came from a youth pastor who said, that's just far-fetched. I have to have lunch or whatever. And I'm like, you are an idiot. But I didn't comment. Whoa! I did not comment. I did not comment. Well, I mean, really. No, that's good. That's good. I like that. Really? You're a youth pastor, but you need to have conversations and time in a restaurant with just that other person of the opposite sex? No way.

31:27 That's not right. And let me just say while we're at it, this is something that is practiced from the top down here with the staff of Fellowship Church. If we see something like that happen, it will be called out, unashamedly called out. And if we don't know about it, you better tell us because we will call it out. Okay? That's right. So you do your part. We're going to do our part. Well, something else too, Lisa, where we can get into trouble. And our therapist has told us this in marriage. She said that many, many marital difficulties and sins happen through texting. So Ed and I texting, usually it's involving work. And if I'm texting someone else on staff at Fellowship Church, I include Ed. We're talking the opposite sex.

32:19 Yeah, the opposite sex. I include Ed in the text thread. Or he includes me in the text thread. Or I include someone of, you know, another female in the work situation. I hope that makes sense. Number six, I shall not travel alone. Ed and I are given a lot of opportunities to speak. Either I go with him, he goes with me, or someone else goes with us. We do not travel alone. Number seven, I shall revolve my life around the church.

32:50 Why? It's the body of Christ. It's the only thing Jesus ever constructed. It is where our social life should orbit. and we are a part of the body of Christ. We're literally members of the body of Christ. That's why Hebrews 10.25 says, don't diss the gathering together of believers. We have a great online audience. That's cool and all that, but it's not like being here. It's a substitute if you're traveling or sick, but it does not take the place of being here. Something supernatural takes place when we gather together with other believers and we revolve ourselves around the house.

33:48 Because if I say, man, I love the Lord, I'm a follower of Christ, and I'm not a part, a living, breathing part of a church, that's a contradiction. Now, you can live like hell and be a part of the church. You can. You can. But you're going to be more likely to live like heaven if you're a part of the church. This is a place where you can rub shoulders with people who will help you become more like Christ. Number eight, I shall not share the details of my marriage with others. You know, no locker room talk about dissing your spouse or at the tennis club or at work. This is a holy relationship. Number nine, I shall not watch, read, or expose myself to sexually explicit shows, books, and websites. It used to be we had to work to get porn.

34:43 Now we have to work to stay away from it. And then number 10, I shall remember the implications of committing adultery. What it does to my relationship with God, what it does to my relationship with my spouse, what it does for my family, what it does for my church. so now we're going to run through just some questions you know kind of that we should ask ourselves about purity just just quick questions this is this is the five okay this is one yeah okay and this is fun this is fun what we wear okay sometimes I look around it and and I'm thinking to myself when she walked out of her closet what was she thinking And I know that everybody, you know, we want to look nice. Women want to look nice and everything. But you must be careful that you're not a walking pornographic scene. Okay?

35:35 And I'm not trying to be prudish. I'm not saying you walk around with sackcloth and burlap on. I will give you burlap if you're inappropriately dressed. But I'm just saying, I mean, let's just think about it. And parents, come on. I mean, you're the first line of defense for your child. It's not about being, again, the killjoy is about protecting them because what they show is what they're going to attract. I remember vividly, I'm going to tell this really quick. My mom, you know, she was, I was coming out for school, and I walked down that hallway, and my mom had her hands in that soapy dishwater, and I was getting ready to go to school. You know, my lunch is right there on the counter. and I walked through the door and I had on a midriff, you know, back in the 70s with the midriff and the bell bottoms and there was a gap and, you know, big gap. And my mother just turned and looked as I came through that door and she took her hand out of that soapy water and she went.

36:36 Wow. I didn't even have to ask a question. There was no confusion. It was get back to your room, put a shirt on. Elva didn't play, did she? No, my mama didn't play. And so I just knew. And you know what? It was all good. It was for my benefit. Okay, what we watch. What we watch. What we watch. Be careful about what you are viewing because once that image is in your eyes, it is forever in your brain. You know, illicit scenes can feed lust for a long, long time. Number three, what we listen to. And I grew up, I grew up listening to a lot of secular music And I made a change a while back, a shift to Christian music. If I listen to secular music, I am listening to songs that I know have some sort of value, scriptural value in them.

37:35 And I'm not saying that all secular music is of the devil. I'm not saying that. But look at lyrics. But look at the lyrics. If you look at some of the lyrics from Megan Thee Stallion to Eminem, even from Morgan Wallen to Metallica,

37:57 does this line honor the transcendent values talked about in Scripture or not? You have a constant diet, a steady diet of that. It will influence you. Number four, what we say. What are the words that come out of our mouths? Because what comes out of our mouth is a reflection of what is in our heart. Frankly, profanity, GD, the F-bomb, it's just everywhere. I want to tell a funny story about an F-bomb. We, well... I hope my friends aren't watching this, but I took a trip a couple years ago with some friends, and these men are not followers of Christ.

38:45 Now, my best friends are, but I went on this little trip with some people who were far away from God. Well, they dropped the F-bomb a lot. You know, I've been F-bombed by the best, you know, playing sports and schools I went to. I heard it all, but these guys took it to another level. I mean, verb, adverb, pronoun, adjective, everything was the F-bomb. And isn't that funny? Because if you really explain the F-bomb, you go, man, you're sexually intercoursed up. we hit a shot and there's a slice sexual intercourse it's kind of weird isn't it so after a couple of days i i just kind of had enough of the f-bombs that don't do this kids don't do this i thought to myself you know what after breakfast i'm gonna drop f-bombs like they've never heard so i just kind of walk we're walking together and all of a sudden i'm like What?

39:46 They were like, oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. And I go, that's what you sound like. I really believe it was of God I said that. I do. No, I'm just glad because it's got the point. It's a serious problem. Don't do that, though. I did it. It's probably wrong. I don't know. Probably is. I'm sure we'll get negative comments and all that. I don't even read stuff anyway. I mean, really. Surely you can expand your brain and come up with a vocabulary that is honoring to God. Is it not worth it? Is it not? Yeah, I probably did that out of anger. I'm starting to think about it. Okay. We'll talk about it later. Number five, who you spend time with. Again, this is why the local church is so important.

40:40 And speaking of the local church, the saddest element, well, there's a lot of sad things, but one of the saddest things is that the devil is rejoicing when someone of leadership sins and has immoral affair or, heaven forbid, immoral behavior with a child. the church is what really takes the hit. That's right. And this is the bride of Christ. We're the mess, you know, we the people are the messed up ones. The bride of Christ is the bride of Christ. The church is a holy place. And by God's grace, he's allowed us to be a part of it. And I just pray, and we need to pray as a church, for leaders everywhere.

41:33 Yes. and for churches everywhere that can really adopt the practice of holiness and walking in a fear of the Lord so that the church will be the church that God intends it to be. And Lisa, we need to pray also for those who have fallen off the edge and the ledge. Also, what about the victims? We need to pray for the victims as well. Obviously, we forgive. We're about forgiveness. No question about it. Hopefully, though, you understand there are consequences for sin. And the Bible says that we reap what we sow. and when we sow sin, we're going to reap the consequences.

42:32 Is there forgiveness? Yes. Does forgiveness overshadow everything? Yes. But we will face that. And Lisa, I am just so proud to be a part of Fellowship Church. I'm so proud to be a part of what God is doing here. It's only by his mighty hand that we're standing here. It's only by his grace. And we're just so thankful to share this. So it's my prayer that you have, that's a cool picture. It's my prayer that this has rebooted your life, that it's helped you in some way, shape, or form, that it's helped you reset and think about the best that God has for you. God's desires are the best desires.

43:28 Give the totality of who you are, your desires to God, and watch him do things you can't believe. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this message. We thank you for this great church, and I thank you for the purity of your gospel and the opportunity that we have to walk in purity. Thank you for giving us your power and your grace and may we continue day by day to walk in this. I pray for every child. I pray for every student, every single adult, every single parent, every marriage, every grandparent here. Father, we give everything. to you. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.