For All In The Family – Part 2

0:00 God, we ask you, Lord, that as we get ready to dive into your word, Father, we ask you, I was pausing for a moment, Lord, you already know my thoughts, I'm just gonna share it with the people. Diving into your word, it's a nice day to dive into that which is refreshing. Well, how much more the word of God? We need our souls refreshed. and father we need your perspective we need your direction we need your guidance

0:32 for such a time as this. And we thank you that as we are in the book of Proverbs, it's no decision of man. This has been your leading. You put this book on our hearts as a church and we can see now as it begins to unfold before us the wisdom of having us go through it now at this time. So Father God, we pray that you'd pour out your spirit with all power as we seek to learn the word of God and to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray and all of God's people said, amen. Amen. So let's stand as we read the word of God together. We are in part two of our message titled, for all in the family, for all in the family. Proverbs 3, verses 11 to 18. Last week we started, well not last week, but the week before that, we started the first part of this. We're in the second part today.

1:28 And so I'll read verse 11. If you pick it up in verse 12, nice and loud. So verse 11 begins, my son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest his correction. For whom the Lord loves and directs, just as the Father and the Son, whom He likes. Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. For her her shoes are buried in the pockets of silver, and remain in the final gold. Wow. She, notice she, her, wisdom. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Thank you Jesus, Lord.

2:17 Verse 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness. And all her paths are peace. And all God's people said loudly, amen. You may be seated. The family of God, us trusting Christ, relying upon the merits of Jesus, not our own. The work of God. Far too many people are introduced to Christianity. And they're actually not even meeting Christianity. because they're introduced to some religious setting where it's all based upon your hard work.

3:02 You do this. You roll up your sleeves, and you reform yourself, and you do this, and you do the other, and make yourself good enough. How many times have we heard from people that we love, and we've shared the gospel with, that they've said things like this? Well, yeah, I want to make this decision, but I'm not ready, I got to clean myself up. You ever heard that before? I've heard that more times than I can count. I've got to clean myself up before I can come to Christ. And that's impossible. And I believe that is a pleasantly sounding argument of Satan himself. If the gospel was a gospel that said, reform yourself, clean yourself up, make yourself good enough and then come to Christ, it would actually contradict the very word gospel. The word gospel is the evangel, the good news.

3:59 That's what it means. And the good news is Christ died for us on the cross. Jesus paid what you and I could never pay. You know, listen, you may not realize, well, I don't think I pay, I don't think I owe God anything. You have no idea how much in debt you are. You say, I pay all my bills. Good for you. But there's a bill you cannot pay. And that is the bill that you and I have racked up called sin. And when the moment you and I came to Christ, we were awakened to the reality that we need Christ the Savior. And when you realize that, the beautiful thing of that is, and you know, the Billy Graham crusades were very, very beautiful, powerful, relentless in saying this, come as you are. Billy Graham would say, get up out of your seat and come as you are. Here's the reason why Billy Graham said that.

4:52 He said, you come as you are, read the fine print, because Jesus Christ will not leave you like you are. You come as you are, and then Christ changes you. You don't change you. That would be religion. God, the Holy Spirit changes you by the power and the work of Jesus Christ. And that's where all of this great journey of wisdom begins. And we're reminded of this. and we want to lay the foundation again, church, and the theme of the very book is Proverbs 1, verse 7. If you have any doubts about the book of Proverbs, this one verse sums up the entire book. And that verse says, The fear of the Lord, the reverential awe of God, to meditate on the greatness of God and who he is, is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instructions.

5:47 trinity there. And I'm going to ask you to pick out the trinity of truth here, knowledge, wisdom, and instruction. They're almost inseparable when you look at their Greek and Hebrew definitions. But can you just remember this? If you're taking notes, draw yourself a little picture. Do you know what a three-legged stool looks like? Yeah, listen, you can have a four-legged chair and lose a leg and you can still make it work. If you have a three-legged chair and you lose one of those three legs, it ain't going to work. A three-legged chair. The Bible talks to us about a strand, a rope. What is key for the strength of a rope? Is it having five strands? Six strands? What is it? Three strands. The Bible says a three-strand rope cannot be broken. And in the believer's life, it is God's will that you have his knowledge, his wisdom, and his instruction.

6:45 and I need to know this more than any other time in our Christianity than today, now, and the world in which you and I live in. We need to walk in this knowledge and this wisdom and all of this instruction that God gives us. Church, last time, two weeks ago, we looked at the argument in verses 11 to 12, and that is God's strong hand is provided to us. That the hand of God, verses 11 and 12, is strong for us. And we saw this. We saw it in three ways. We saw that his strong hand of our God is with us as a family. He is our protector, our father. And he has given us his loving discipline. And we learned that we need to embrace the discipline of God. And I said this to you. I hope I said it in this service. I'm sorry, but there's three different churches that meet here on this location on a Sunday morning.

7:39 And I forget what I say to which one. My notes, as you see, are skeletal notes. I'm going off of what I've read and learned. And then I wrote down what I need as a reminder on paper here. And you have those notes. But I trust God to speak to each of those services as he wants to interrupt. And he's been faithful to do that. But one of the things that I said is that God never punishes his children.

8:04 You and I may have been punished growing up by our parents. we should have been corrected, instructed. We should have been disciplined. All in love. That's the standard God has set. God does not punish his children. What God does, maybe you're a child of God and you're far from God. And listen, what God does is that he'll pull his strong, mighty right hand away from you so that you're on your own. And when you fall down and skin up your face or your life, You come crying back to God and he scoops you up and he set you back in the right path. The God of the Bible does not punish the believer, his children. You need to know that. You need to be reminding yourself of that. He will punish the world. He will punish wickedness in judgment. So that was a comforting thing.

9:00 We learned also in the middle part of verse 11 that he gives us precise guidance. The guidance system of God is done by the work of the Holy Spirit. We'll talk about him in a moment again in our study, but God guides you perfectly. Our problem is, church, that we don't often wait long enough to get the proper guidance from God. We get a couple of good indicators, and then we run like the wind thinking that God has put his blessing upon it. And then we obtain whatever that thing is. Because let's be honest, if we want something... Oh, this is scary. Are you sitting down? This is scary. When we want something bad enough, God will often let you have what you want that you want so bad. Remember the children of Israel? They wanted meat. God gave them manna. Remember manna?

9:50 And the people began to complain. Manna. Here it is. Dad, what are we having today? Manna. I think Keith Green sings that song. You ought to check it out later. Check it out. Not now. Later. Check out Keith Green's song about, it's about Egypt. I want to go back to Egypt, I think is the name of the song. And he said the children of Israel were complaining about everything, about this manna. So they began making manna, cadi, b'manna bread. Did you get that? You didn't like b'manna bread?

10:28 And they complained about it. And they complained to God about it. and they said we want meat and they whining and whining and whining and god says all right and god sent them meat he sent them quail and the bible says that they've came in on a wind and all the jews came out of their tents and they're whacking they're hitting all these quail and cooking them up and having quail this quail that and the bible says that they were filled so much that the quail began to come out of their nostrils.

11:06 He said, I gave them what they wanted, but sent leanness into their souls. They had the protein in the flesh. They had no strength of the spirit. They compromised. God will guide you. Church family, children of God, family of God, do not get ahead of God. Let him answer you and confirm to you and have things made clear to you over and over again. But we need the Holy Spirit. John chapter 16, verses 7 to 14 cover it all. But listen to this. I'll touch on the front end and I'll finish it off in a moment. John 16, verse 7 announces, Jesus said, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. How could that possibly be good for the disciples that Jesus would leave them?

11:58 Jesus said, it's better for you that I leave. What could be better than having Jesus right in your midst? Jesus says, the spirit of God. Look at that. For if I do not go away, the helper, and I want to pause right there. Look at the Greek meaning of the word helper. This is a compounded word. Parakletos, parakaleo. Listen, para, you get the word para, parachute, paraglider. That which is alongside you, para. And then kleitos or kleo is the word comforter. The comforter will come alongside you. Jesus, listen, when he was in the flesh, he could only be where he was at. The Holy Spirit is everywhere. And that word means to come alongside of, to come to one's aid and assistance. What a great thing. An advocate who is for you. Do you need a good attorney?

12:52 Jesus says the Holy Spirit will be your protector, your attorney, your advocate. And look, he's going to encourage you. And the word means to appeal to you and to comfort you, the comforter. That's why some of your Bibles have the word helper translated as the word comforter. But that passage goes on to say this. Look at verse 10. It says, or verse 7, the helper will not come, but if I depart, I will send him to you. Hey, how do we know that when Jesus ascended, that he actually made it to the Father's house? You want to know how? There's one word that proves it, Pentecost.

13:36 Jesus said, when I make it to the Father's house, after I ascend, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit to you. And what happened? The church was born on the day of Pentecost, proof positive that Jesus made it back to heaven. If you're looking for some evidence, there you go. I will send them to you, verse eight. will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they do not believe in me of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more and of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Wow. Jesus said this. I love this church. Listen up. Jesus said to his disciples, I still have many more, many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. You won't be able to handle this. Think of this. Jesus wants to say more. He didn't say, you guys, I got to go back. My time's up. I got to go. I would love to have taught you more,

14:36 but you're on your own. No. The better idea is I've got more to say to you, but now's not the time. You guys can't handle it. Oh, but don't worry about it. I'm leaving. Watch what happens. However, when he, the spirit of truth has come, the Holy Spirit, he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak of his own authority on his own authority. But whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me for he will take of what is mine. There it is. And declare it to you. You want to grow? You want to learn? You want to know God more? Jesus has commissioned the Holy Spirit in your life to guide you with such preciseness. And then last week we learned together with great favor, God gives us his affection. We learned that in verse 12. So now we dive in to our study today.

15:29 Verses 13 to 15. And the way of wisdom is for all in this family as believers and that is to recognize God's generous spirit. The generous spirit of God. And we start with this. it is God who wants you to find him. He wants to be found by you.

15:51 And I say that in a blanket statement for all. You may have brought a friend today that's not a Christian. Listen, to your friend who's not a Christian, God wants to be found by you. I text my granddaughter this morning early. She was sleeping, but I texted her this morning. And I said, the Lord says in his word that he will reward anyone who seeks him with all of their heart. So I said, honey, seek the Lord with all of your heart and enjoy his rewards. That's true for all of us. Christian today? You need to become a Christian today. You need to wake up to the realization that, listen to me carefully, the world is getting more spiritual, but that spirituality is darkness. You need Jesus Christ. You don't need church. You don't need a synagogue or a mosque or a temple. You need the Lord Jesus Christ in you. You need the spirit of God in you, in your life, to lead you and to guide you and to love on you with all of his goodness

17:07 because you need him personally. There's a lot of religious people in the world, but the truth of the matter is they haven't opened up their lives allowing God to be found by them. So look at the verse. It says happy. It begins here as we look at this. Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. Can you circle the word happy? We'll talk on this. We briefed on it a few weeks ago. So we'll come back to it in a moment. But notice this.

17:40 The man who finds what? Wisdom. And the man who gains. So one finds, one gains. Hopefully you're the same man, the same woman. To find wisdom and to find understanding. This is something that should be our pursuit. That man, that woman, that child is happy.

18:01 And this is a powerful declaration because you want to ask the question, why happy? I often, and I mentioned this last time before, I almost feel like as a Christian, we always have to apologize for the word happy and we shouldn't. How about this? Our happiness should be based upon the joy of the Lord. If your happiness is fixated upon the stock market, I don't want we don't know there's only certain days of the week that we actually want to know you because if the market's up you're happy if the market's down you're unhappy hey better to be a follower of Jesus Christ and have the joy of the Lord if the market is up and down if the world is up or down it doesn't matter then you'll have happiness because it's rooted in the wisdom and the knowledge of God it's in knowing him well if I just knew what was happening next just read the future, you'd go nuts. You can't handle it. None of us can. God knows the future and he's revealed to us just enough that we would understand and know him more.

19:07 listen when we do not trust god we worry you can't do both it's impossible to do both oh i just praise the lord i trust the lord but boy i'm so anxious about what's going no you no no no no no no you may you may love the lord but you're sideways right now with anxiety

19:27 okay and uh you need to give that up because he's worthy he hasn't let you down yet he's not gonna In Philippians chapter 4, verse 8, the Bible tells us, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, well, that takes out 99% of the internet right there, doesn't it? Think of that. if there is any virtue if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things wow that's a great prescription wouldn't it be great if you could put that in a pill

20:15 wouldn't it be great if you could be a doctor and you put that power of that verse in a pill and you go here take this take it in the morning take it at night call me call me in a week let's see what happens you know what that phone call would be to the doctor hey doctor I don't need you anymore I put my life in the hands of God. And I've been meditating on what God's word is. I've been comforted in what he has said in the word. Doctor, did you know God's word says he'll never leave me or forsake me? Hey doctor, did you know this? That he has sealed my life until the day of redemption by the power of the Holy Spirit. That when Christ died on the cross for me, he thought of my name and my life because it was God on the cross. that makes me happy. And it should make you happy. Why did only 10 of you clap at that? You should have all gone nuts over that because of the goodness of God.

21:10 No, stop. It doesn't. Now it's... Well, clearly we'll have to broadcast second service. Well, I'm just telling you. But the word happy, let's look at the word happy. Ashar in the Hebrew, the word happy, asar. To go watch happy, to go straight to. I like this. To go directly to, to be advancing, guided. The word implies that God wants our lives uncluttered and without distraction or noise. don't you want do you want that come on be honest you want that man it's like oh lord this is great what's so great i can't hear a thing it's so quiet because listen when we're on that belt of anxiety quiet at first is very very hard to deal with i remember years ago uh we went out to somewhere My dad bought some land someplace in the Arizona desert.

22:24 Lake Mead. It was beautiful. Don't get me wrong. Let me tell you something. We got out of the car. We were driving there. I was just a kid, so we got Elvis blasting. And then you get out of the car, and we're standing out there on this property, and I thought something was broken in my head because the silence was so loud, it kind of hurt. Have you ever experienced that?

22:50 Yeah, it sounds like static. And you're looking around and it's like, what's going on? Did you know that it took us, at least it took me, and I was just a little kid, it took me like an entire day for that noise to diminish out of my hearing until I could hear the desert.

23:10 It's a physiological thing, I'm sure, that affects the soul. When God's word floods your life, spiritual thing that floods the soul, but expect the benefits to be physiological. The calm, the peace, and yes, the happiness in God begins to come. Here's a great one. Psalm one. This is good for all of us. It's always good for all of us. Blessed, happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. Stop listening to ungodly people's advice. They don't even look, they tell you? What if they're going to guide you as they're on their way to hell? They can't even get the first thing right.

23:58 nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Stop asking for advice from ungodly people. But his delight, happiness, is in the law of the Lord, God's instruction. And in his law, he meditates day and night. Pause right there, leave it on the screen. It's just us. And this, because of your inaction, we're not gonna view, we're not gonna share this. So it's just us right now. It's just us. I'll tell you something, because no one's watching now.

24:34 Listen, this is what I was doing this morning while I was driving. I want you to start doing the same. I just wish we could all be in the same, like, gigantic bus and do it at the same time. Are you ready for this? When you commute or when you drive, turn off everything. and start speaking out loud to yourself in the car, the verses that you know. So I was driving this morning and I was saying, all those who trust in the Lord shall not be put to shame.

25:06 Acknowledge the Lord in all of my ways, Jack. Acknowledge him and he'll direct my path. For God so loved Jack that he gave his only begotten son If Jack would believe on him, Jack would not perish, but have everlasting life. Greater is the Holy Spirit in my life than the spirit of Satan that is in this world. And I did that for maybe eight minutes.

25:36 And do you know what? I am not kidding. God is my witness. I was happy. I felt like I was getting hugged by God and if if I I wish I could order you to do that but try to remind yourself of that invest in what Psalm 1 is announcing to you here meditate on that day and night verse 3 he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water Wow, that makes me happy. That brings forth its fruit in its season. Happy. Whose leaf also shall not wither. Happy again. And whatever he does shall prosper. Are you happy about that? That is awesome. That's the Bible, folks. That's God's word. Incredible.

26:28 Wonderful. But here's the challenge. And I need to put this gently at the bottom of verse 4 in the notes. I definitely don't care how young or how old you might be. and I lovingly don't care about your life's experience. I mean this lovingly. I lovingly don't care how you're feeling right now. No, I mean, I'm going somewhere to make you happy.

26:55 the question is this will you be willing to apply god's word to your life kind of what i pointed out a moment ago to transcend all of those other things i just mentioned a moment ago where it doesn't matter in the long term how things are going now because what's going on now in my life as a believer

27:21 in the word of God, sets the trajectory for my future. If you let your feelings and other people's feelings dictate today, it's going to affect the altitude.

27:42 The behind the cockpit controls was a jihadist, Muslim, airline pilot. who deliberately signed up for the route from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

28:09 who was going to crash that plane and everybody aboard into the high rises of Tel Aviv. This week, you saw this. and you saw now as time has gone on security has released people's private videos people screaming the plane the plummeting falling 17 or 25 000 feet in 60 seconds i don't even know if that's even i still have doubts that's even true that's insane how'd you like to be on that plane ain't no friendly skies of air dubai

28:47 people were screaming you can imagine and the jihadist stabs the co-pilot, trying to kill him. The co-pilot miraculously gets the door open to let in the passengers, hopefully that they'll take over. The good thing for everybody was that the plane was flying to where? Tel Aviv. So who would be going back home?

29:19 Israelis. All Israelis have to be in the IDF at some point in time of their young life. They're all trained. So guess what they did? They stormed the cockpit. They beat the guy up. They took him out in the aisle. And there were pilots that were flying to Tel Aviv that were sitting in coach. They jumped up. They took the controls. Nobody died.

29:45 Here's my question. How would you have felt on that flight? Thank you. would you have been going maybe maybe we all would have but I promise you this within a matter of a second or two the Holy Spirit would have said to you stand up or fly around the cabin as you guys are getting bumped around and tell them about Jesus I want you to know I did this before I was on a flight Delta Airlines from Orlando to Los Angeles. And I had a dream the night before. I was traveling with a pastor with me here on staff. And I had a dream the night before. I never have dreams. I had a dream the night before that I was in the plane. We were on the plane and the plane blew up from terrorism and we fell into the Gulf of America.

30:41 And no, wait, wait, this is real. And so I said, Lord, if this dream is from you, on the plane. That's how I was thinking. You want to know how I felt as I'm standing there? Lord, if this is not from you, I'm telling you right now. And Lord, if we're not supposed to get on this plane, just don't let the door open. Oh man, there's the door open. Okay, Lord, take it, scan. And God, if I'm not supposed to get on this plane, cause my boarding pass to goof up. Beep, back in my part. No, I'm serious.

31:17 I'm on the plane, I'm ready I am ready I am 100,000% ready to preach the gospel we took off out of Orlando and all you could hear at just past 10,000 feet, all of this, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, people scream. I went like this. I unlatched my seatbelt.

31:47 I turned around. I didn't stand up. I turned around and put my knees on my seat. I was ready to preach the gospel. I should have still did it. Here's what happened. Do you know what it was? Do you know what the explosion was? Everybody's Mylar Mickey Mouse ear balloons, they all started blowing up on the plane. They were blowing up because of the altitude change.

32:11 We flew all the way home. We landed. And then I told the pastor that was with me, I said, you won't believe the dream I had. I told him. and he said but you let me get on the plane in Orlando and I said but you're on staff We do this together.

32:34 Your feelings are like, oh no, the world just hit me in the face. And then you calm down and realize, here's another opportunity to give the world Jesus. This is another opportunity for me to preach to myself the truth of God. This is another opportunity. It's amazing. He's amazing. Distractions will kill us, folks. and Luke chapter 9 or excuse me Luke chapter 10 the Bible tells us now it happened verse 38 now it happened as they went that he Jesus entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha I love we all love her welcomed Jesus into her house that was very normal by the way that they were buddies the whole they were pals they had a great relationship and she said to her sister called Mary Martha and Mary also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.

33:30 But Martha was distracted with much serving. Listen, this is for us. And she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me. Can you imagine telling God that? Excuse me. I'm doing everything around here. My sister's just sitting around listening to you talk about the heaven or something.

34:02 She, I know you would never tell God what to do. But I think the spirit of Martha lives in me. Where it's, excuse me, God, but it seems like I'm carrying everything around here. Don't you care? distractions will cause us to think cock-eyed goofy thoughts because we're not we're not steady in the word so we get distracted and then we start panicking we start having

34:38 you know panic attacks or you need stomach pills or it's eating you up listen you give it to him by the way I know that sounds simplistic you give it to him he has no idea what's going on cancer, finances, whatever it is listen, we hear it all and we live it all sometimes vicariously through you but we're with you in it sometimes personally we have it too here's the deal

35:10 I know it sounds glib just give it to Jesus Yeah, let me add the fine print. Give it to Jesus a hundred times a day. The point is, give it to him. When you don't give it to him, you hold it. And you, oh, this is my problem. It's so big.

35:33 And you nurture it by giving it so much attention. don't do that don't be distracted by that Martha was distracted Jesus is in her house and she's in the kitchen you hear the putts and pans flying around

35:54 and so she tells Jesus, will you tell my sister to help me, and then I'll just give you how it ends, Jesus tells Martha, Martha, in fact, he says this, Martha, Martha, he says it twice, he has to say it twice, because she's distracted, Martha, Martha, you could see her, she's got flower on her face, she's got her apron. She's, what?

36:20 your sister Mary has chosen the better thing to do. Now listen, if you're an anxious person and if you're a Martha, this is what you're thinking. You would never say it, but you would think this, Jesus, how in the world do you think you're going to get dinner tonight with her sitting around and me doing all the work? and then she reminded herself he just got done feeding 5,000 people on the side of a hill. He caused fish and bread to multiply. Fish tacos. He made fish tacos for everybody and they had 12 baskets left over. So you don't need to be anxious.

37:06 He's amazing. Jesus gave us the example of how to handle that himself. it's an unusual passage of scripture it's often overlooked but to set it up

37:28 think now i want you to think just think this through what do you jesus is going now jesus has been going from one of the kangaroo courts to the other from herod to pilot back to herod are you hearing me back and forth all of this stuff falsely accused they the the uh sanhedrin hired false witnesses to testify against Jesus, paid them to do that. It's all falling apart.

37:58 But Jesus knows the scriptures. He is, he's the, he's the word of God walking. What do you think? Listen, he's watching all of this unfold and then he's condemned. and he spread out over that block. In fact, I kid you not, when you guys leave the church this morning, you should go through the main foyer to see that 2,000-pound Jerusalem stone. It's uncut. Go look at it. It's uncut.

38:32 a stone just a little lower than that, but looking just like that. Jesus would have been draped over that stone like this. And they tied their feet and their hands to the ground. And then they would have laid his back wide open. Josephus says that you could see on victims that had gone before Jesus and those after Jesus. So we assume it happened to Jesus too, that those Roman centurions,

39:01 exactly, the Roman cat of nine tails is a brutal, brutal beast of an implement. And Josephus tells us that when they would hit and it would hook into the skin and like the hooks were like cups and then they would pull the flesh away and it was horrific. And Josephus, the eyewitness historian says that you could see the lungs and bone.

39:32 what do you think was in Jesus's mind going to that what was his mind when it's happening and then from there he goes to carry the cross to the top of Golgotha what was what was he thinking friends listen don't don't don't remove yourself from him insert yourself into his sandals what was he thinking when he's going through this I can tell you this

39:59 when you are really, really in the hurt, have you noticed that you find your only solace in the word of God? You quote scripture to you, to yourself. When you're hurting, notice where your spirit takes you. You're born again, spirit of who you are, takes you to the word of God.

40:23 and this may be hurting right now. They may be doing or saying this to you and your family or even if it's a physical thing, you're going through this procedure and you're just focusing on Jesus. Thank you. You suffered for me. The pain I'm going through right now is nothing. Lord, you endured it. And Lord, you'll get me through this. It's either through this or to heaven I go, but Lord, I'm yours and you'll never let me go. Have you ever done that? Have you ever been there? Let me tell you, he never fails. today, though I cannot prove it, I believe Jesus was reminding himself of the word of God.

41:00 there's a messianic prophecy Isaiah chapter 50 it's messianic meaning the Jews understand they know that this belongs to the Messiah ask a Jew today maybe you're a Jew right now and you're here you're watching right now and your rabbis tell you you can't read this verse I want you to know everybody if you're Jewish your rabbis tell you don't read this chapter why do they tell you that? because it's all about the Messiah not read it because you're not going to like what you read because you've been told otherwise. But here's the truth. It's a prophecy about the Messiah. You need to decide who the Messiah is. I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. Sounds like the New Testament, does it not?

41:58 for the Lord God will help me. Listen to him. This is written 743 years before Jesus was born. This is a prophecy of himself. The Lord God will help me. Therefore, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like flint. And I know that I will not be ashamed. He is near who justifies me. Oh, that's awesome.

42:29 this is what he's telling himself. And prophecy said, this is what he's going to be thinking or saying. This is what's going to happen to him for you and I. Therefore, I have set my face like plant, and I know that I will not be ashamed. Verse 8, he is near who justifies me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near me. Surely the Lord God will help me. Who is he who will condemn me? That sounds like Romans chapter 8.

43:08 Do you hear that? This is the word of God and it would have been in the mind of Christ. Wow. Let it be in your mind. He who finds is the one who gains. We're reading in Proverbs. Jeremiah 29, 12. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me and I will listen to you. Isaiah 55, 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found. upon him while he is near. By the way, that Hebrew word implies he may not always be near to you. So call now urgently. Your time may run out. Matthew 6, 33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, not your own, his. And all these things shall be added to you.

44:00 That verse 13 in Proverbs chapter 3 goes on is the man, look at this, who gains. Gains understanding. The word understanding is a powerful word and we need it so much today. By the way, the word understanding is almost inseparable from that great word discernment, but it means having the knowledge of discernment, to have the skill to see what is not readily seen, skillful insight, supernatural. God says, I'm going to give you, listen, you want to be happy? Here's how you're happy. It's not going

44:35 It's not going to be this moment or that moment. It's who you know. How many people? I've said this a thousand times. How many people? How do people? So many people get jobs. How did you get that job? Oh, I knew the owner's son. Have you noticed this stuff? How did you get that job? Oh, my friend works there. He put a good word in for me. It's not what you know.

45:01 It's who you know. And that's never been more true than getting into heaven. I can't quote the entire Bible. Who can? It's not what you know. It's who you know. It's who you know. Romans chapter 8, verse 26. You guys okay? We're not even close to being done. Good. Likewise, the Spirit also. Holy Spirit helps in our weaknesses. I love this. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit himself, makes intercession for us. Really? With groanings. The word groanings means words that cannot be articulated.

45:46 It's not German, it's not Hebrew, it's not English, it's not Russian. This is wild. In fact, the words translated deep, guttural sighs. No words, just a sound that could fill a library.

46:11 the Holy Spirit knows. He makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now, he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. What does that mean? That means many times,

46:31 look, I say this sarcastically. We pray like this. Yeah, I pray. I pray all the time. Lord, thank you for this meal. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, but okay, okay. I don't know if that's a prayer exactly, but at least you're grateful for your food if you're thinking about food when you're praying the prayer.

46:52 But then you might need something more. So Lord, I need you to help me or my child is sick. I pray that you'd heal my baby. Are you with me? Now the situation's elevated the intensity of the prayer. Are you tracking? What do you do as a believer point where there's seemingly no possibility, there's no happiness on the horizon, and you've got to lean upon the joy of God, knowing that the Lord's in control, how do you mitigate all this when you can, you can't stop even crying? Or maybe you've cried yourself out of tears.

47:31 and you're alone, and you don't know what to say anymore. You ever been there? and the spirit within you and your spirit the holy spirit and the spirit within you the born again you you have no words anymore to say there is not an english concocted or language of the world that could help you you don't use words anymore and with groanings and utterances the spirit of God is at work. My friends, family, don't try to figure that out. It's impossible. But when your tears are all gone and you've got nothing more to quote and nothing more to say and nothing more to pray, in Romans chapter eight, verse 26 to 27, turn to him and just absolutely take your heart out and set it into his hands.

48:37 the wind has been knocked out of you. You can't even catch your breath with what's been delivered to you. He knows. You don't need to tell the world. you just need to get alone with him. Look at verse 14. He desires the best for you and I.

49:01 He says in verse 14, for her, that is wisdom, proceeds are better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold. Wow. We won't take long on this. wisdom is better than silver. You see, Jack, are you crazy? You know how much money I'm making investing in silver? Okay, hey, I'm not talking money.

49:31 who do who what are those a great philosopher once said money can't buy you love who said that the beatles yes that's who it was i thought of the other philosopher aristotle plato no it was tina turner what's love got to do with it love's got everything to do with it the love of god for you. The love of God wants and desires for you his very best. You and I think, humanly speaking, need more silver, need more gold. Roslyn Financial. I did not get paid to say that. It just came into my head. I'm not knocking it. Just know this. It's not going to give you peace. it's not going to give you rest it's not going to give you wisdom

50:24 you talk to young kids today who are actually going to work. And what's amazing about them is, I'm, look, I'm flabbergasted. These young kids that are going to work, where do you work? Oh, I work at XYZ. Oh, yeah, what's that? Oh, you know, I get paid this much. It's like, well, that's nice for you. It's like next to nothing. I mean, I'm thinking, well, that's nice. But then the guy drives away in like this car.

50:49 hey, I saw your car last week. Where do you live? Oh, you know, whatever. What? Young kids today, they've got like seven jobs. I'm shocked. That's why I'm cutting back on all the pay for the young people on staff here. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But if you notice the young people today who decide to work, they're making money this online. a young girl the other day. You know what she does? She goes into Goodwill stores and she buys up clothing and she washes them, get them all cleaned up. And then she puts them in some sort of a display that girls like. She puts it in a box and she's got a zillion boxes and girls are buying her stuff and the woman's making tons of money. What's going on? Resourceful, not being lazy, engaging, not sitting around, finding out how they can be used or how can they use other things. They're being productive and you can do that. You'll be happy for a moment.

51:59 it's best to do that knowing first that the joy of the Lord is your strength and your happiness is rooted in the fact that God desires for you his very best. I'm going to run through this and I've got to hurry up really quick. Please either scan the notes. You had an opportunity to do that, but check this out. This would be on the, I think it's page eight we're looking at, top of the page. Watch this. This is fun. And this is just scratching the surface. According to the Bible, the God of the Bible desires love for you, his love for you. It's not a fortune cookie thing here going on. This is Bible truth. The God of the Bible desires repentance for you. Think about that for a moment. If God loves you, God will grant you the grace of repentance. Repentance is that you're not sorry for your sin that you got caught.

52:53 You're sorry for your sin God. That's the only repentance God will accept. And that's a gift from God. The God of the Bible desires forgiveness for you. Did you hear that? You want to be forgiven, do you not? He wants you to be forgiven more, but you got to come the right way. His way. The God of the Bible desires grace for you. The God of the Bible desires mercy for you. Listen to this. Vision for you. Young people committing suicide because they do not believe their life is valuable or worth anything. Why? Because they have no vision. They have no purpose. They've been told by others and by their peers, you're a loser. If you don't wear, look, nothing's changed. I went to school a couple, three, 400 years ago. It's still the same. If you don't have those shoes, that outfit, this jewelry, or this thing, you're a loser.

53:53 It's called peer pressure. And by the way, learn to get over it quick because it never goes away in the world. The world just dresses it up more fancifully. the world cannot answer you in the area of why did God give you life? When you start entertaining thoughts that you're worthless, that's the voice of Satan ganging up on you with your so-called friends.

54:28 And if you don't get rescued by the promises of God and see the vision that God has for your life, is your life. God's got a purpose and a plan for why you're breathing. If you do not know what it is, you're on, listen, you're on the ropes. I don't care if you're 99 or you're nine. If you have not yet found out what your purpose is for being alive, you're on the ropes.

54:57 The God of the Bible desires joy for you. He desires power for you. The Holy Spirit is to be Did you know that? you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Jesus said, that's why he went away.

55:20 don't speak out loud but can you define your christian life as being powerful you should be able to if it's not today recognize that you need the power of the holy spirit and by the way wherever the spirit of the lord is there's not only liberty there's peace the shalom of god that you can't get from this world look the world's going crazy

55:44 what does that tell you it means get ready there's a lot of verses i'm skipping them to end this you can study them if you've downloaded the verses the third and final thing is this and that is he longs he longs for us to be set apart i love this the very thing that people kind of freak out about set apart what does that mean it means separated listen to the verse she wisdom is more precious than rubies rubies and all the things

56:18 desire cannot compare with her. Two things, rubies and things. We already heard about gold and silver, rubies. So not too long ago, Lisa and I were in England and we went to see the crown jewels. Has anyone in the room ever seen the crown jewels? It's crazy because we're walking by. it's just amazing because you have to keep moving. Keep moving! They tell you. And by the way, you know it's a big deal when there's guys standing there with these machine guns as you look at these crown jewels of the kingdom of England which was all over the globe at that time and they got all the crowns from all of the continents where the crown of England ruled and each one is all decked out in its particular type of representation but how many rubies and how big the rubies! I think the biggest ruby in the world is in one of those crowns.

57:11 But you're going like this kept leaning and wanted to get closer. And the way they put the glass at slightly angled so that there's no reflection. And I kept leaving like snot marks because I'm going like this and I'd go, oh, and I'm looking and I'd forget. And it's like, my gosh, look at the colors of that. Look at the diamond. Look at the emerald. Look at that.

57:33 So there's a little snail tracks across the glass. I'm ruining the whole billion priceless display. And then they show images of when the queen or when the king went into this kingdom, be it Australia or New Zealand or India, and there's a crown for each kingdom. Wow. And they've valued those stones that are there as being, yeah, exactly, as being priceless. There's no money on earth that could pay for them.

58:16 have you ever had something that is so precious to you that you're afraid of it going to get stolen so you put it somewhere where nobody can find it including you later It was so pricey. This is so amazing. When we're going to go on a trip, I don't want anybody to break in the house and steal it. I know I'm going to put it in a really safe place. You should write it down or take a picture.

58:45 We're still looking for stuff in our house for years. I think we're going to have a garage sale just so we can find the stuff that we lost. it's set apart. If the world from its material universe can produce what was a crushed chunk of coal into a giant diamond and put it on the crown of a king

59:18 and God says, that's Hebrew for it. Nothing. nothing but but god look at those rubies jack when you're coming i use gold for asphalt what are you talking about

59:42 watch and things i don't have the time we're out of time what in your life and my life is behind the definition forget the rubies i don't have any rubies maybe you do good for you I don't care. Here's the thing. We all have things. Oh, I was so proud this morning. I barely got out of my SUV. I didn't drive my truck here today because it's going to be like 150 degrees. I didn't want it to get hurt.

1:00:21 but I got out of my truck and this guy said, where's your truck? That truck's awesome. And I said, it is, isn't it? I mean, I'm like, yeah, it is. Now, 99% of the people see my truck and they go, that's it? That's what you're talking about? It's a piece of junk.

1:00:46 I have a fixed, right? I have a fixed value to that vehicle. I know it cost me 14,000 bucks, got it from a farmer in Albuquerque. And it's a piece of junk, but it's my piece of junk, you see? And it's my thing. And the Lord says, Jack, now just watch out. Hang on a minute. I'm going to let you drive it. But Jack, it's actually my thing. And oh, by the way, your face is my thing. Your shoes you're wearing are my thing. The nickel in your pocket's my thing. And you need to know this. All these things have been set apart for my purposes. But Jack,

1:01:34 you've been set apart for my purposes. And every child of God has been set aside for his purposes. and there's no greater way to live than to enjoy. What good thing God has for you today? You're smart. It's first service.

1:01:57 You're going to leave in a moment. You're going to go do whatever you do, probably eat breakfast or go somewhere, go down to the beach or whatever you're going to do. You have the whole day to ask God, Lord, show me why you made me and what you bring my way this is you can stand we're done I'm going to give you this admonition which comes from myself

1:02:25 So Jack, go and live today. But make sure, Jack, you don't overthink it. Someone's going to come up to you, come by you today, whatever it is. Something's going to happen in your life today. You'll see something that you're going to have a thought. Hey, I should, whatever that is, do it.

1:02:51 Because you can almost see Satan, not paying attention, picking his nose. I don't know what he's doing, but you caught him off guard. And God says, Hey, Susie, tell that person there that you want to pray for them. And then Satan comes running up. Don't do that. You look like an idiot. Have you ever heard that thought? We've all heard the thought. That's when you say, that's okay. I've been an idiot for a lot of other things. I'm going to be an idiot for a good thing and obey him. Watch what happens. Father God, we give you our lives, rededicating all of us. Everybody's standing. We're standing to rededicate our lives to you right now. Father, today, as these doors open up, people are going to go out of this building. It's going to look like a toothpaste tube getting squeezed and all these people are going to go out of this building and I pray that hell shudders. I pray that demons begin to say, oh no, there they go. God made this building be emptied as the light of each individual leaves to go out into this dark world. Father God, I pray that you'd bless and fill afresh by the power of your Holy Spirit, your saints that are here. And father, for those who do not know you, we pray that you would capture them, tackle them, touch them by your word, and that they would realize that religion is the last thing you'll ever, ever, in fact, you'll never want religion. You want a relationship with them. And may they say yes to you. Yes to the cross. Yes to the empty tomb. Yes to the love of God. Yes to being in the family of God. And all God's people said. Amen. God bless you.