Will You Please Come With Me · Part 2

0:00 Open up the Bibles that you have or look to the screens to Romans chapter 15 verses 30 to 33 and we are in what should be, I pray, our last study in chapter 15. And you say, yeah, but there's still chapter 16 and how many years will that be? Chapter 16 is going to go really quick, I promise. I'll read verse 30 if you pick it up nice and loud in verse 31 and so on. Paul says, now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me. That I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. That I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you.

1:01 And may the peace be with you all. Amen. Father, we come before you today, and Lord, we're asking you to not only hear our prayer that you might be very present in our learning of the Word of God, but in this day and age, Father, when so much is being said and not much is true, I pray that you'd give us that great gift to all of us, the spirit of discernment, to know what is true, what is not true. And in this age where deception is so perfected and yet it's going to become more perfected every day, Lord, down deep inside, lead us and guide us into all truth, just as you said the Holy Spirit would do in the last days. But not only that, Lord, collectively as a church right now, we pray. We pray right now, Lord, for all of our military personnel that are dispatched to various parts of the world and predominantly right now the Middle East.

2:03 Many of our children are there. God, we pray that you would give this nation guidance from above. Lord, we've got our problems and we've got our issues, but Father, we're asking you to be merciful. And not only merciful to us, Let's go. but God, very few people recognize that what is gathered together in the Middle East right now is all happening right now because of a worldview by a handful of leaders in Iran that they believe that a world on fire will bring in the Islamic Messiah.

2:49 I don't know if our government realizes that or not, but that makes it a spiritual issue. And God, we know that Persia or Elam in the book of Jeremiah, your word says that you will set up someday a spiritual throne there. That's shocking to us to hear. Somehow you are going to rule and reign in the land of Elam. Well, Lord, we pray right now that the tens of millions of Persians, many of them Lord have already sacrificed their lives in the last few weeks for freedom and liberty we pray Lord God that there would be an outpouring of your Holy Spirit happening now that there would be so many Iranians so many Persians coming to faith in Jesus that we would see Islam Lord collapse in Iran Lord that it would just completely implode because there's no salvation there's no hope there's no forgiveness there's no redemption only tyranny and this is as we stand here today we are living in a very prophetic moment in time so God we pray that in the days ahead that you give our nation's leaders wisdom and father that you would bring down a death cult that has even seen fit in this last several weeks to kill over 50,000 of their own people this is an amazing time may we walk before you in the spirit worshiping you in truth and giving you all the glory with our lives we pray in Jesus name and all God's people said amen thank you for that prayer everybody you may be seated and so we're looking at today in the closing as you saw last week will you please come with me the apostle Paul is saying farewell to not only the believers in Corinth, because that's where the book of Romans has been written and concluding from, but he's saying to them, will you come with me?

4:52 Because you remember the announcement is that I'm going to come to see you in Rome pretty soon, but I'm going to be leaving Corinth and I'm going to be going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints there. But he issues to us a very precious invitation. And we got onto it last week and we didn't finish it, but we will today, and that is he's inviting us. And listen, there's no time gap over these last 2,000 years because the Spirit of God is at work in the earth. Listen, he has been. He's been using the church for these last 2,000 years all around the world. For those of you who are Christians, God has somehow used the church to reach you with the gospel of Jesus Christ in some way, shape or form. I was staying at a hotel this week, as was many of the team, and that particular hotel chain, which you know, the Marriott hotel chain, owns this particular resort. And you know, in every Marriott hotel, they have the Book of Mormon in it. You know that. But they have a Bible.

5:56 And then I also have a QR code that I take with me everywhere I go, and it's the gospel. And you can't tell. It's just an unmarked QR code. And so I make it a point to put those in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible and in bathrooms. By the way, it's unmarked. It works really well. If I'm ever trafficking some reason through Vegas, if you put an unmarked QR code in the men's bathroom, they think it's something else. And when they scan it, boy, do they get a surprise. and it's all about the gospel. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and it just gives them the Romans road and it's, and again, it's great, but here's the thing, the gospel, how did you get the gospel? How did it come to you when you first heard the word of God and you responded? And it's a beautiful thing because for the last 2,000 years, God has been inviting his people to come with him in spiritual outreaches, wherever that might be.

7:04 It could be just sitting down, reading the Bible with somebody else. It could be preaching the gospel on the mission field. It could be at work. You know what has happened in your own life, that God has been reaching people through you, and you yourself, you were reached by someone else, as I. And that will continue on until Christ catches the church up. Listen up. He'll catch the church up, And then we know from the book of Revelation, he is going to then turn and use the born-again Jewish believers to reach the earth in his name. He's used the church first and is going to use the believing remnant last. And that's thrilling to realize. And so as we looked last time together, very quickly we saw this with that beautiful request, Will you come along with me? We saw in verse 30 that it happens this way.

7:57 as we continue on together, that what you and I do, we do together. And we saw three things about that, or really we saw two and we ended at the third one. And that is that we're to be confident enough to be transparent. In verse 30, Paul is very vulnerable. And I love that. He is just saying to them, listen, I need you. I want you to come with me. And I love that part of confidence. And yet he's transparent. He knows what he's called to do. He knows he's going to be leaving Corinth to preach the gospel, not only in Rome, but he told us a few weeks ago that he's heading in this chapter, he says, to Spain. But in that confidence, he's transparent because he's saying, I need you to come with me in prayer, in spirit. And then we saw in verse 30 also at the latter end, that he was secure, secure enough to be loved. Meaning this, that Paul had no problem calling them brethren and looking forward to being with them and asking of them, will you help me help the church in Jerusalem, which you remember had gotten into without God's request. They did it on their own, probably very good intentions, but they adopted socialism, honestly. Let's have all things in common. Let's sell everything we have, put it all in the pot, and you can pull from it and everybody will be happy. And the church in Jerusalem went bankrupt, which by the way, socialism. What did Margaret Thatcher say? It's fantastic. She said, socialism works great until you run out of other people's money. All of your college kids, you know, hope you feel good about this. You're paying tens of thousands, if not more, hundreds of thousands to send your kid college. And, you know, that's what they're learning. You see, not my kid. My kid's there learning engineering. My kid's going to be a doctor. Yeah, yeah. On the side, the school's teaching them socialism. And don't worry about it. You're paying for it.

10:05 And I got a dirty letter. I mentioned this a few weeks ago. And I basically said the same thing I'm saying now, and somebody wrote me a whopper. I said, you know, socialistic professors love getting paid $300,000 a year by all the capitalists who send their kids to school. And that was so true that it struck somebody right between the eyes, and they didn't appreciate that. I had to laugh when I read it. It didn't work in the church either, and so the church in Jerusalem was hurting. And so Paul was going to go there with an offering of love and support for them. And then also this, and this is where he picked it up, church. We'll dive into it. It's still that latter end of verse 30. Will you please come with me? And that is, will we continue on together eager enough to change the world? Eager enough to change the world. Listen, please, you know me. I'm not saying this to be some sort of a motivational speaker.

11:09 But when we have the gospel operational within our hearts, we can open up our mouth and share the gospel with a child, with somebody. It doesn't matter. Maybe somebody in passing. And God, has he not, over the millennia of time, have proven that one person sharing the gospel with another person literally affects the world? One man got saved by the name of Paul the Apostle. And he's changed the world. What about people like Billy Graham? One person led Billy Graham to Christ. And how did that go?

11:48 Our small groups are going to be taught by Dr. Ed Hindson, who told us when he was alive from this pulpit that his parents, to get rid of him, sent him to VBS during the summer so they could have a week off and he would be at VBS. And little did they know in a non-believing home that their son would get saved and become one of the greatest modern-day communicators of the gospel. And, of course, you know the president and dean of Liberty University. Remarkable. I had the high honor of traveling to several countries in the world to speak with him. and he was such a humble man, but God called him out of humble beginnings to bring him into an illustrious world of very highly educated people. I forget how many doctorates that man had earned. All because he went to one VBS as a kid and got saved. Yeah, that's good news. By the way, don't ever underestimate the power of a vacation Bible school. My goodness. By the way, we were praying hard. We've been praying hard this weekend. How many of you have teenagers or grandkids up on the mountain right now? Raise your hand. Your kids up there? One of you? Two of us. Okay.

13:08 Third service. They're all going to come to third service. That's when they're going to pick the kids up. The kids are coming down the mountain covered in snow. I don't know if you saw the videos, but it's just beautiful. But here's what we've been praying. Oh, God in heaven, get a hold of these kids on the mountain. Your team, our grandchildren, God reached them. Caused them to have a faith crisis. Do whatever you need to do to bring them into a saving relationship with Jesus. Why? Because one of them can change the world. What about five of them? What about 12 of them? You know where I'm going. There's enough people in this first service today, honestly to change the entire complexion of California itself.

13:54 Think about it. If we just decided I'm going to get up and I'm going to conduct myself under the power of the Holy Spirit, I'm going to be loving and winsome, but I am not going to sacrifice the truth. And I'm going to speak and I'm going to do in all the areas of my life, from work to the... home to the civic square itself.

14:19 It's amazing. And so we learned this in verse 30 down at the latter end. He says that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me. I love that. Here comes that transparency again. Will you pray for me? But look at the word strive. It's a powerful word. To come along with me. That's where we get the title of this message, this little two-week miniseries, To Endure With Me, Together, Doing and To Do. All that can be done. It will be done together. Nobody does this on their own. come with me, strive with me to do that. Listen, church, can I announce this? I should announce this. That I've recently found out this last week, talking to some people who are monitoring what's going on in the young world of so-called converts.

15:17 You know, we're all reading about how many, so many thousands of young men and young women are going to church these days. And it turns out, it turns out, they are predominantly becoming very spiritual, but they're going to churches not for the word of God. Yeah. You know, I think we kind of saw this coming. They're going to places that have structure. When asked by, I think it was the Barna group, why are you now going to church? Their answer was, I want structure in my life. That was their answer. they didn't say anything about having their sins forgiven they didn't say anything about Jesus and the cross and the empty tomb and God's atonement for our sinful world but they want structure and they, listen, next thing was we want morality look, morality is great but you can't go to heaven with morality that said, look, I'm glad people are being more dedicated to a morality and structure.

16:26 But if that is something that is standing in the way of the true gospel, that's a problem, folks. Well, I go to church now on Sundays, whereas I didn't before, so thus I must be good with God, is not an answer. The life has to be changed. And Paul is saying, strive with me in prayer, So he's asking other believers to come alongside him. And this word prayers, I think you know what this means. By the way, the word prayer here and worship, very close, Ken, to service, is rooted in the word proskuneo, which means to kiss or lick. Actually, it means to lick the hand. You say, I don't really like the way that sounds. I understand that. Come, come to worship and lick the hand. And the word means to lick the hand as a dog licks its master's hands. Now, that's a little sweet, right?

17:25 That's sweet. Because you know your dog, he just loves you. And you can go to the mailbox and come back. He thinks you've been gone for a thousand years. He greets you like you've been gone forever. And yet, that's the word that describes how the believer should be about Jesus. we want to be near his hand we want to be that word worship, service, prayer speaks of nearness to worship by way of prayer and dialogue with another, to kiss the hand of a sovereign with devotional love. Paul says, pray for me. Will you come along with me in the journey to reach others for Christ? And together, as we do this together in the spirit, we will unite in our devotion to God, which speaks of this intimate devotional life with him. It's very beautiful.

18:20 And then, of course, God, that you might strive together with me in prayers to God. And this is the very generic word, theos, of course, but God, this is important, a title of what is the object of being worship or meaning. God, a lot of people have gods, all kinds of gods, but I should say not a lot of people. In my old age, I've concluded everyone has a god, maybe several. it's the thing you worship could be made out of metal it could be some deities and there's all kinds of religions in the world that boast their deity or deities Satan doesn't care as long as you don't get on the right track just stay off the right track because the right track will tell you who God is and he is Yahweh the Lord in psalm chapter 8 verse 1 and this is the english standard version oh lord our lord how majestic is your name in all the earth you have set your glory above the heavens folks you ought to write that down because there's only one god that has claimed to ever do such a thing and that is the god of the bible the god of abraham isaac and jacob is how he addresses himself what about this what about Isaiah 45 verse 18? Are you guys okay? For thus says the Lord who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is no other. And the word Lord is Yahweh.

20:08 You guys know this now. Remember, every time you see that Lord in capital letters, that's his name. If you're reading the Hebrew Bible, you see his name, and it's Yah. That's his name. Yah is our God. He's the Lord. And this is a great, great unifier of what we do for the Lord Jesus Christ in our prayers to God. This is the God that we're praying to. When we pray, listen, when we pray, we're not beggars. How do I say this without being, I don't know, too blunt? But we somehow, and I get it, we are to revere God, but we tiptoe as though he doesn't want to hear from us, and we kind of talk to him and then get out of his way. he's not like that the bible says by the blood of christ a broad or big door is opened up for you and i to enter into his presence how about that folks that god is waiting to hear from you listen sometimes i think that god allows us to step on a lego in the middle of the night so that we would call out to god i bet he's saying oh it's so good to hear from you again we need to go to him more often we need to go to him consistently open up that door think about it open up that door of communication and never shut it well when should I pray Pastor Jack thank you Lee all the time all the time why shut the door if the door is open keep it open keep running to him at all times it's a beautiful thing to realize that only in the realm of the spirit can the christian in his life the life that he's living i'll read it to you in the realm of the spirit where the christian lives is the statement of reality the aged apostle writes to the believers in rome and he invites them to join with him in the journey and that happens through prayer one

22:17 for another. The Bible tells us, and it's not in my notes, Galatians chapter 5 tells us that we need to bear the load of our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Colossians chapter 2 verse 5, this is precious. I snuck this in. I'll be very honest with you. This wasn't in my notes until earlier this morning. I was texting someone in Jerusalem, and they text back, and they said, Listen, I want you to know that I'm so far from the church here in Chino Hills, but I'm with you guys in spirit. And I immediately text this verse back saying, amen to that. But you don't have to be in Jerusalem or Chino Hills for this verse to be true. Listen to this. This is awesome.

23:09 The question is, is it true in your life? I hope so. for though I am absent in the flesh this is Paul speaking to the church at Colossae yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ isn't that beautiful? the church of Jesus Christ is one but we are divided up physically throughout the entire world and yet by spirit we're together and Paul is saying pray for me strive in prayers for me as you pray to God because we're in this together?

23:49 United. There's no difference. There's no space. The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18, he does it again. Speaking to the Ephesian believers, you know, the preceding verses starting at verse 10, he gives all these great great weaponry and warfare implements that the Christian is supposed to wear. but the bottom line is this. How do we keep all of that stuff on? The helmet of salvation and so on. Here it is. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. That is the Holy Spirit. That means, listen everybody, praying in the Spirit is something that every believer is supposed to do. Every believer praying in the Spirit. You see, Pastor Jack, what does that mean? Listen, some people have confused the gift of tongues with praying in the Spirit. It's not the same.

24:46 There's the gift of tongues that God has given to the church, but the gift of tongues is to always be operated when someone else has the gift of interpretation so that all might be blessed by what is said. But to pray in the Spirit is totally different. every one of us and I know that this message is being translated in various languages that's another thing we thought I didn't even know this this week somebody came up to me and said pastor Jack we want to take a picture we are your voice in um I think it's Arabic I'm not sure if it was Arabic, but certainly in Ukraine. And I was shocked. I don't speak Ukrainian. I don't look, I don't even speak English. I speak American. But here's the thing. It doesn't matter what language you speak. And it doesn't matter what country you're in. Are you a believer?

25:44 You can pray in your language and then you can go alone and get alone with God. and you can pray in the Spirit. It's a completely different experience. If you've never done it, go do it. It's not tongues. It is not tongues. It's prayer language that God has given to us. It's referred to in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. Read it in context. But you can pray and it's alone. It's always alone because it requires no interpreter or translation. The gift of tongues, that's completely different. That said, watch this. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. So we just prayed for the saints in Iran. And for me, Paul says, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel.

26:46 I'm going to ask you wouldn't that be your prayer request? that's my prayer request God open my mouth with your power so that people might know the mysteries of the gospel the truth of the gospel how fun is that? to be possessed by the spirit of God in fact I want to give you this what a beautiful humble man Paul was wise enough to say I need prayer I need support I need your covering I need air support which is prayer itself coming down upon him at all times as I make my way to and through an unbelieving world tomorrow morning you're going to get up and you're going to go to work and do an unbelieving world or you're going to go home to an unbelieving husband or wife listen for some of you who don't know there's people here seated around you this is their relief they come here, they get refueled, and then they got to go home after service is over to either a husband or a wife or a family that mocks and ridicules every week they go to church.

27:58 Oh, here you come. What did you learn today about God? How would you fend in that environment like that? And yet a lot of people suffer with that. Unbelieving person in their life. That's a rough road. Listen, any young people in here, you know, the Bible tells you to marry a believer. Did you know that? Look, when believers get married, that's what God says to do. How can you be unequally yoked? You say, what does that mean? Well, I'll tell you, listen, it means that when two believers get married, that they have a way of settling their problems. To me, that's a very important thing. It doesn't mean that two Christians come together and because they get married, everything is just rosy. No troubles.

28:50 You'll never have any communication problems. Finances, not a problem. Health, no. Are you kidding me? Listen, if two Christians come together, I think, number one, their target gets illuminated in hell. But the other thing is this. God blesses that union because that's the will of God. But listen, that couple moves forward to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in their life. I'm not a big fan of couples who serve the Lord, or I should say individuals who serve the Lord, and then they get married, and then they roll off the horizon of Christian ministry. I think God brought them together to double up the influence, not take it away. But boy, I tell you, when two people come together in Christ, everything's different because there's a victory is there warfare yes but there's victory and it's a great thing before we go into this next part verse 31 i want you to see this quote by pastor ray steadman who's long gone wish wish he were back wonderful man of god prayer is born of the Spirit of God within us, awakening the desire to help, a sense of the need to love and to show compassion. We pray to honor the Lord Jesus Christ, Edmund says. This is what will stir people to pray more than anything else. I love that. Why do we pray? Ultimately, to honor the Lord Jesus Christ.

30:28 Is that not true? Think about it. Do we pray to get a bigger house or more money or a faster car? no, we are to pray in such a way that it brings Christ honor and glory, a life yielded, it doesn't, listen, if you have all those things, that's not a problem, as long as your life is giving Christ glory and honor, amen, amazing, number two to this is in verse 31, and that is to be humble, humble enough to need others. It says in verse 31 here, as he says, that I may be delivered from, I'm going to stop right at that, that I might be delivered from. He's going to describe to us what that means. So we're looking at this, number two, as we press on in this fight, as believers, we are in a fight. Any one of us, all of us, listen, if you're going to stand up for what is right, you are going to enter into a fight. You're going to enter into a war. Please, I'm telling you this to encourage you. In my opinion, time's up. Time has expired for any one of us as Christians to play it safe. It's over. Look around the world. It's over. It's time for us to not only be united and to do the work of God together by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be praying for one another, but we must also recognize that it is a fight, and we must keep this in mind, that we must be humble.

31:59 It is important. Humble as we go into the fight. Now, I know that if any of you, many of you, this is a church that has a lot of veterans and are active military personnel, I know that your commanders and your officers will tell you to, you know, hoot and yell and roar and you're going to get out there and you're going to do it. And I get all that.

32:31 But I'd rather be more like David or Joshua who knew that not one of their arrows could have landed anywhere, or in David's case, arrows and a stone, could land anywhere, but with the power of God, land in the right spot. We're at war. And I'll prove it to you. Remember we just talked about prayer a moment ago? If you determine today, I'm going to pray tonight at 8 o'clock. You pick a time. That's it. I've been exhorted today at church. I'm going to do it. I'm going to go up against the kingdom of hell. And I'm going to pray at 8 o'clock tonight.

33:12 I promise you at about 7.55, your grandmother will call. Your mother-in-law will call. The kids down the hallway will call. every and any kind of disruption will call will happen because you have determined to get into the battle you say well why would i do that then because you're going to get in the battle Never works to play it safe.

33:45 I made a post this week, and I had to do it because I saw the news. I was away at the time when this broke on the news. Maybe you saw it. But there's a new law coming to New York City. I mean, there's a lot of new laws coming to New York City all of a sudden. And one of them is a dog tax. You can have a cat all you want. But a dog must be taxed in New York City. Why? Because dogs are unclean in Islam. I'm sorry. I had to make a post, and I just said, well done, all of you in New York City who didn't vote.

34:44 Oh, the Christians stayed home because they didn't want to get dirty by voting. and there's an estimated eight or five million jews in new york city you know new york city i think it's 13 million people total wow five million jews and guess what they did in this last election they didn't vote so guess who did vote all the imams told the muslims to go out and vote, and they didn't, by the way, they didn't have an option. And they voted. And now they have a Muslim mayor, and now you can go to Times Square in the evening and you can, they shut it all down and pray, and Arabic, and the prayer call is broadcast all over Times Square. But you can't take your dog there. A dog tax.

35:37 And I just had to say, well done, New Yorkers. idleness apathy Listen, when we're apathetic, we don't get engaged in praying for our children, then we wonder why our kids turn out to be like animals. We need to intercede. We need to fight, spiritually speaking. I say spiritually speaking, but my goodness, maybe this is for something on the podcast, but there's a lot of things. There's a lot of things coming out that in our own life, in our own life, the intelligence community is warning us.

36:24 There's a lot of great and terrible threats that have happened since these four years or eight years of, four years of open borders. and that the cells and the numbers of these people that are armed and equipped in our own neighborhoods waiting, waiting. Some believe, there's some CIA retired analysts that are telling us the moment, if Trump gives the go-ahead on Iran, that that is their announcement to hit the streets. What if it's true? We pray it's not true. But let me ask you this. we have to be people of prayer, to pray, and to be humble enough to bow our knee to Almighty God.

37:18 The Bible tells us in Colossians 2, verse 13, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, listen to this, everybody, he has made alive together with him, that's Jesus, having forgiven you all your trespasses, Can someone say amen? God, through Christ Jesus, has forgiven you of your trespasses. Trespasses. Somebody might say, what is that trespass? The word trespass is actually a word that means worse than sin.

37:48 Sinning is to miss the mark. Trespass is to see the mark and know it and to step over it intentionally. those things in our old life when we said well I know God says not to do this but I'm going to do it anyway because after all isn't it all about me that's trespass and the Bible says Christ died for not only our sins but our trespasses having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us hallelujah which was contrary to us he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross having disarmed here it is principalities and powers Jesus Christ has disarmed demonic powers. When they show up in your life and they go, boo, you need to say, boo, back in the name of Jesus Christ. You have no authority here.

38:41 You have no power over my children, over my life. This home belongs to God. You're simply but a liar. You're a manifestation of the father of lies, which is Satan. And this home has been bought by the blood of Christ. And I have prayed the blood of Jesus over my home and over my children and my grandchildren and the church. What if we rose up and prayed? God, take your blood and spread it over the state of California. God knows. Listen, we all know, we should know by now, politics is not the answer. It doesn't mean we leave that area open. We fight and we get engaged, but we know this. The answer comes from above. The answer comes from God. It's not going to come from the White House or the State House? It's going to come from this house. When we pray, God will move.

39:32 Very important. And we need to remember that. That God gave us that gospel we read a moment ago. To wash away sins, to remove it. And I wrote this down to myself. If it doesn't matter to you, that's okay. But I said, let's remember why there even is a gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ answers the shame question. Christian, you no longer need to live in shame. shake that off today in the name of Jesus the enemy is just playing with you The gospel of Jesus Christ answers the sin question, obviously. It answers the guilt question. Guilt removed.

40:18 It certainly answers the death question. This week, like a church this size, we get texts and phone calls, so-and-so just had a baby. Yay! Next phone call, so-and-so just died. Now watch. If we went as a church, so-and-so just had a baby. Yay! And so-and-so just died. Aww. No, you know what we're supposed to do as a church? So-and-so just had a baby. Okay. No, that's great.

40:54 That's wonderful. No, I'm kidding. That's wonderful. Hey, so-and-so just died. Hey, praise the Lord. Really? Oh, no, they died. really they've been plugged into a machine and getting poked and needled for the last six years and emaciated away down to 50 pounds and you're bummed that they went to glory? We got that all wrong man. It's better where we're going than it's ever been here. And of course, it goes without saying that the gospel answers the hell question. Oh, I read this morning. Someone sent me this this morning. Maybe it was somebody in here sent me this. A little girl was in her public classroom and the teacher said, Anybody in here a Christian? And the little girl says, I'm a Christian. Oh, you are, huh? Well, do you believe that a big fish swallowed Jonah?

41:49 and the little girl said I do believe that a big fish swallowed Jonah because God can do that he can do anything he wants oh yeah well everybody knows that there's no fish mouth that that's big that can swallow a person the little girl I don't know how big fish are but Jonah got swallowed by a great fish and the teacher is making fun of this little girl and then the teacher said well what if Jonah is in hell I know and the little girl goes well you know what I'll ask Jesus in heaven about the fish and how big it was and you can ask Jonah and and and the teacher asked her no more questions for the rest of the year isn't that great that's the wisdom of God coming out of the mouth of babes But when we talk about this and the power, we want to be humble enough and lean upon others and to know others.

42:57 The body of Christ works that way, and Paul is doing that by great example here. It's reminiscent of this beautiful fact, and it kind of stings everybody if you listen carefully. In Proverbs 26, verse 20, the Bible says, where there is no wood, the fire goes out. We all get that, right? You get that? Where there's no wood, the fire goes out. Where there is no tailbearer, strife ceases. That should be on every internet at the top of the page. Think about that for a moment. A tailbearer. You know what a tailbearer is? A person that runs around. Yes, gossip. A person that runs around telling other people about other people's business. They repeat a matter. The Bible says they repeat a matter. we talk about these things that Paul is speaking of, the power and the spirit and God moving and God using us and being at war.

44:01 But like Pastor Chuck Smith used to say, we need to keep ourselves usable. That is that we need to make sure that in our lives, we've washed away those things that have kept us back and we set a course. Those young people who want structure, I understand where they're coming from. But there's something that is beyond structure by choice. And that is structure by love. When the love of God arrests your heart, there's a beautiful surrender. You want structure? God will give you structure. And I don't know how he does it. But it's like he's holding you in velvet. let God be the one that tells you now's the time to pray. Now's the time to do this. Now's the time to do the other. But listen, what I'm saying is not popular because people, listen, you don't need faith if you're going to be told what to do. Let's be honest. If we had, welcome to church. These are 10 rules for you every day. You know, people love that because they're involved and they're checking off the boxes. And there's no intimate relationship to that. But if God says, I'm here, talk to me. Now it's a choice of your own volition to engage with God or not.

45:27 A.W. Tozer called that intercourse with God when you pray and speak to him in spirit. And it's choice. It's not routine. Well, it's five o'clock. choice, prayer, relationship. 1 Timothy 5 verse 13 says, and besides, they learn to be idle. He's talking about those that are wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies saying things which they ought not. The Bible is announcing to us that this kind of division destroys the power of God and the life or the community of believers. Very important. And then look at verse 31. We're called, Paul is called, we're called enough to run the risk. To run the risk means, he says in verse 31, that my service for Jerusalem and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. And we don't need to spend time on this. You guys I already know we studied it last week that he's taking to Jerusalem money to deliver them from the poverty that engulfed them because of their well-intended socialism and having all things in common the church went bankrupt and they were hurting and Paul was saying they must be ministered to but that the gift would be accepted and I touched on this last week but I'll move on from it in a second why in the world would the saints in Jerusalem not accept this offering?

47:02 Why is Paul concerned about that? They were in need and he was bringing to them actual money so that they might be able to live. And do you guys remember what the answer was? It's only one word answer. It's pride. pride. And I mentioned last week that one of the things that, if you and I struggle with receiving a gift, it's pride. Look, let me take that back. I'm throwing myself under the bus. I have a hard time accepting a gift. Most gifts I give back.

47:36 That's okay. No, I'm sorry. Nope. But it's pride. Here's what's in my head. If I accept the gift, what am I going to give them? Are you hearing what I'm saying? if I accept the gift now I'm obligated clearly I'm the only one who thinks this way by the response but you know that's pride because have you ever given something to somebody just out of sheer love for them because you don't care if you get anything back oh we get to do it but we can't receive it that's pride think of that for a moment Paul is about to show up to the church in Jerusalem with a bunch of money that the other churches had given to help them out and then you say well no that's okay thank you Paul tell them thank you for us but that's okay as the kids are tugging on dad's robe are you nuts we're hungry here and then third and finally it's verses 32 to 33 and we'll make it it's this will you come along with me as we move on by faith.

49:05 I'm not going to pull any punches with this one, friends, as we wrap this up. Faith, don't answer out loud. How do you know you have faith? How do you know you have faith in God and faith in his word? How do you know that you have faith that God will do what he said? How do you know? in verse 32 he says here that I may come to you with joy by the will of God that's the key by the will of God question what is the will of God? answer it's revealed in the Bible okay so what? make it your pursuit make what? the will of God doesn't matter how young or old you are every single one of us, make the will of God your pursuit.

49:57 We would say, God, what is your will for my life? And you know what? It's going to be for mine, it's going to be different for yours, different for yours, different for yours. That's how the church works. You know, we're all supposed to be different, you know. With differing gifts and differing involvements. But faith, a verb, it's inaction. And he says to us, it's joy. He says that I might come to you with joy. I love this. You guys, can you imagine when Paul was like 10 miles out? You know, there's people reporting. This is very common throughout the ancient world. He's 10 miles away. Paul is coming. And word would get to the city. They'd get all excited and they would... well Paul is thinking in his mind I'm 10 miles closer I'm 5 miles closer he's getting so joyful we should be like that by the way when we're coming to church we should be like oh I can't wait to go to sleep it's Saturday night tomorrow's church can you imagine I hope so I hope it's like that joy joy is amazing the word joy here in the Greek language you know already but it's delight, rejoicing the expectation of seeing someone and being with them Jesus said I leave my joy with you not the joy the world gives because the joy the world gives evaporates it's not even joy Jesus said our joy cannot be taken from us did you know that?

51:31 death, cancer, accidents, whatever here. joy to do the will of God to walk with him in joy we as Christians in this day and age I believe and I think that you are shining brighter against the dark background than ever right now this is a great time people this is a great time people are scared people are nervous

52:08 Joel Rosenberg, I think it was Joel Rosenberg is reporting that since the Iranians have been gunned down by their own military, many of them Christians, what do you think would be the result? That people would stop being Christians? That in light of that event, there's been a huge explosion of converts to Christ in Iran. Wow, think of that for a moment. that's amazing, that's awesome, unity, verse 32, enough to want to be together, unity, unity is a fun thing, he says, and I may be refreshed together with you, unity is fun this way, because unity has to be worked at, you have to, you have to work at that, it shouldn't shock anybody. No, no, you just wave some pixie dust and we'll all be unified. Nope, doesn't work that way.

53:16 There's only unity around truth. And we have to, listen, we have to strive and maintain and abide in Christ, John 15, as we walk in the truth. And what's beautiful about a family of God, and I know many of you are involved in ministry and our small groups, is that you're accountable to each other in a beautiful way to where, hey, I was just thinking about this. And your friend who knows the word more than you would say, yeah, that's crazy. Here's the reason why it's crazy. It says right here, you don't have to do that. I didn't know that. Thank you. That's actual unity.

53:53 It's so practical in the Bible. It's not like, do you feel it? I feel it. Aren't you feeling it? I'm not denying feelings, but they can't be your guide. the truth says this and we go on together and he says to be refreshed together that word refreshed is awesome it means to lie down or to rest it means to be renewed in body and soul and spirit that sounds nice you know you can go on a vacation and you can't wait to get home to get some rest you ever done that before that's a disaster you know listen uh i we're moving ahead we're we're talking to the israeli government but in a few weeks 500 of us are leaving to israel and if god doesn't want us to go then he'll shut down the airspace but we're going but here's the deal you're going to go to Israel you're going to be almost 12 hour time zone upside down when your body says it's time to go to sleep the schedule says it's time to wake up and everything is upside down but here you are with a group of people I don't want to be with a group of people I understand that but I don't know how God does this but this is my I think 23rd trip coming up tour and I'm telling you How does a bus, there's a lot of buses, but it doesn't matter because you're only on one bus, so that's the only bus that matters.

55:26 Honestly. But there's 10 buses. Listen, nine of them don't care. It's only your bus. It doesn't matter if there's a thousand buses. You're only on your bus, and it works beautifully, but here's the thing. How is it that you're in an opposite time zone on the other side of the world, And you're eating different foods, and you're doing all these things, and you're not on exactly vacation because it's a working thing, and yet at the end of the tour, you are somehow radically refreshed because it's all about God. I can't explain it. I've never been able to explain it. yes we we sense and feel we'll never make it i could never sign up or i could never do this that or the other thing cheer up none of us can he gives us that strength to do that so united enough that we work together like that god will do that in our lives of course i cannot leave this until we uh give you this verse isaiah 40 verses 30 to 33 uh i remember the first time i ever bought the most expensive pair of shoes I'd ever seen in my life. Nobody had ever heard about this company before. I'm not joking. Nobody had ever heard about it. I think they were like 25 bucks, which was like 25 bucks for a pair of tennis shoes. What kind of a fool am I? And it was a company called Reebok. Have you ever heard of that company? And nobody had heard of them and nobody was buying their junk. And so, but I like the way they look. Even if I wasn't running fast, I'm talking like 18, 19 years old. Even if I wasn't running fast, I looked like I was running fast.

57:15 And I remember taking a marker pen and I put this on those shoes. Even then the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint that's the promise of the Lord to you and I as we serve him and love on one another and then finally it is this peace. Now the God of peace be with you all, he says, amen.

57:54 Peace. The word peace in Greek is Irene. If your name, by the way, is Irene, it's the same meaning. It's beautiful. To welfare or to farewell. That's what it means. Not bye-bye, but to be well. Be well, he says. To be undisturbed. Isn't that beautiful? Unshaken. Unshakeable. Wow.

58:30 Right now I'm working on a book called Manhunt. It's not going to be released for a while, but it's Manhunt. What every man should be and what every woman wants in a man. Manhunt. And part of the book has got the story of Louis Zamperini. Anybody remember Louis Zamperini? unshakable that man stood there in that World War II prison camp you'll have to buy the book to read it remarkable only in Christ Jesus are we able to be unshakable look that's the meaning of course in the Greek but you know the Hebrew word for peace is shalom and look at the meaning of that you combine these two together completeness soundness to be at ease well being shalom or Pastor Bruce would say something like shaloa or something right in Hawaii you say something like that I like that better actually.

59:34 It sounds pretty cool. But the Bible says, listen, you're going to want to write this down if you don't have the notes. It's Isaiah 26, verses 3 and 4. you will keep him, that is God will keep you in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you, the Lord, because he trusts you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord is everlasting strength. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that awesome?

1:00:06 So for whatever this is worth, as we end this here, it doesn't mean you leave. I know people want to, It's like, I gotta leave. You don't have to leave. if you had a chance would you hang out with Paul today if Paul was around I want to be I want to be able to say I would I I hope I would have the smarts enough to say I'm going with he's going with Jesus I'm going with him Right.

1:00:36 But have you realized in life you're going, someone's influencing you in this life. Someone's influencing you. In what direction? Number two, for what reasons? And the third thing is, how does this all end?

1:00:56 If I listen to you who are influencing me, and I allow that to happen, and I go with you, how does it end? Jesus said did he not say come and follow me will you come along with me you know church when Jesus came up to Matthew's Roman toll station toll office along that roadway there in Galilee you know Jesus didn't say hey Matthew come and follow me and then put him in a headlock twist his ear poke his eyes out he just simply said come and follow me It almost feels like he didn't even slow down when you read it. He's just coming through. I'm sure Jesus paid the toll tax. Maybe he didn't. I don't know.

1:01:47 Maybe he went like this and flicked it and it landed in the bag. Whatever it was. Because he kept the rules. Matthew got up and left his lucrative career to follow Jesus. Paul abandoned his high office in Judaism to follow Jesus. it's amazing that God reached down and he woke you up and he pulled you up and said follow me and he makes that call to you today and I'm wondering if you're listening to him I can say in my life, I thought I was living young, stupid, selfish. but I thought I was living.

1:02:52 And then Jesus simply with the most organic words, follow me. And all of a sudden it starts shaking all of those, well, I mean, it feels like an empire, but it's actually a house of cards, you know? They start wobbling. And how he says what he says is so attractive. Come and follow me. And all along the way, hold your hand. sometimes it doesn't feel like he's holding your hand and in those moments that's when the word says to you I said I will never leave you or forsake you we don't always feel his presence or his hand. but by faith in him and him alone, we have the peace of God that passes all understanding.

1:03:56 Let's all stand. I want to leave you with this picture. This... You know, two weeks ago it was summer. And then we were freezing. And then it was springtime for about three days and then the snow came to the mountains and it's just that time of the year. It's always doing that here at this time of the year.

1:04:28 But I tell you what, there were two, do you guys know what a red-tailed hawk looks like? California red-tailed hawks are larger. They can be, the female can be as large as a bald eagle. They're huge. When you see one, you're going to know it. Not the little hawks that you see around, but the red-tailed hawk. You'll think it's an eagle.

1:04:59 And so we have trees at our house, and they like our trees. So I walked out in the backyard. I haven't ever heard this, but when it's springtime, they make this screeching sound that's quite awesome. I mean, you've heard it in all kinds of movies. They actually use that sound. Like when Kevin Costner is walking across the Yellowstone, you'll hear this screech. That's fake. They usually put in that soundtrack. An eagle doesn't even sound that awesome. but this one's going And then the other one goes, And I'm going, wow, that's amazing, what's going on? So I'm standing in the backyard, and it's obvious it's springtime. They're making little red-tailed hawks. I felt very privileged that that was happening in my yard.

1:06:01 But it was awesome because as they flew away, they flew like this. Well, from over the head view, they flew like this and up, up. Maybe some of you have seen this. If not, be watching for it. They'll soar really high and then they come screaming down together, locked in their talons with each other, screaming as they fall. And they're mating. See, the first part in our tree was, hey, I think you're cute. What's your number? You know, are you available? And at some point they got married. They said, God, this. and then they went up there and then they locked talons and fell screaming as they were making little eagles or little hogs And how many of you thought in life, man, I wish I could fly like that.

1:07:09 I have dreams about flying. the saddest thing in the world is to see a bird that can soar that walks on the ground that it won't fly Christian whenever you pray and serve the Lord and call out to him and love on him you're flying when we don't we're walking we were designed for the heavens the more we represent his kingdom here, the more hope we give people who come in contact with us. Father God, you are awesome and altogether lovely. Great are your works, O Lord, and worthy is your name. Who among all the gods of the earth are like you? For you alone are God. The heavens declare your glory, and we praise you, we thank you that your word tells us that you sent us your only glorified son that whosoever would believe on him would not perish but have everlasting life.

1:08:23 that if we would repent of our sins, bring you our sins, you would forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness and that you would impart to us eternal life. Hallelujah, Lord, we thank you and praise you. We pray it in Jesus' name and all God's people said, Amen. God bless you, church.