Message 3 - The Church - The Day!

Acts 2:1-13

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SPEAKER_00 0:04

You know what? We love our dads. And they come in so many different flavors. There's the gearhead dad, the funny dad, the muscle dad, the sports fanatic dad, the barbecue dad, the car guy dad, the bad joke dad, the bow tie dad, the sox of samples dad, the golf dad, the perfect blonde dad, the fantastic mustache dad, and the you'd better not talk to me before I get my coffee dad. We love their quirkiness, but sometimes we just forget about their total awesomeness. Like the diaper changer dad, the homework helper dad, the bike balancer dad, that coached your awful t-ball team dad, that taught you about the birds and the bees, dad, that took you on your paper route at 5 a.m. dad, that suffered through your fifth-grade band concert, dad, that worked hard to feed his family dad, that sacrificed for years to give you a better life, dad, that helped you learn about Jesus, dad, and that showed you a glimpse of God's love, Dad. There are a million ways to dad, but there's only one dad you'll ever have. So this year, get him another horrible tie. But don't forget to say thanks.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

All that to say thank you, Dads. Happy Father's Day. Good to have you all here this morning. Uh I I read this is gonna be dated, you can tell, but I read years ago that the most uh the most calls, uh long distance phone calls, are were made on Mother's Day, and the most collect calls were on Father's Day. And uh I guess now it's the most cell phone calls paid for by dad are on Father's Day. But uh we really do appreciate you, Dads. We had uh just uh heads up this morning as our study. Uh you're gonna need to put your thinking caps on. We're gonna we're gonna talk just uh I guess I'm gonna do some educating. We're gonna talk about some uh things that uh are uh uh maybe not uh extremely exciting, but uh want to put some things in perspective as we uh continue and dig into this new study we're on. And uh and I think you should be able to handle it because Josh was mentioning uh we had 40 uh young people spend the night at church last night. They're on a mission trip on their way from uh Minnesota to uh Loveland, Colorado, and they're gonna be doing a mission trip up there, I think, for a week, and then about 10, 12 leaders, I guess, and and they slept on our floors last night. These are not comfortable floors. When uh the leader called me a couple months ago and said, you know, this is what's happening, we're coming through town. We could would could we spend the night there? I said, okay, we don't have any showers, we do have bathrooms, we don't have any showers, and uh and our floor, we just have thin carpet, and she said, that's that's okay, we'll be okay. And and I forgot to warn uh Mark and Judy who do the uh donuts and coffee. So they walked in this morning with all kids everywhere. I mean, it's just like, what is going on here? And and uh and this I'm sure they didn't get a good night's sleep, but they were alive and they were having their fun. And and I told them, I said same thing, I said, you know, this is gonna be maybe this is we're gonna, you have to be thinking in this and this uh uh message today. And they all almost all mocked out and said it was a really good message. I they may have been lying to me, but uh they're being polite anyway. So uh but anyway, we're gonna we're gonna learn some things, I hope, and uh, and kind of setting the stage for where we're going next in our series uh on the history of the church. And uh, you know, I was thinking of my dad, and I've I'm sure I've told this story before, but m you've a lot of you have met my dad. He's actually preached here a few times. Dad's not a big man, he never never was stature-wise at his tallest on his tippy toes. He's probably 5'8, and uh uh so he just a uh uh a smaller man, and uh and as a pastor, he was a pastor, uh is a pastor, he uh was always you know gentle. I always saw him as kind of a gentle, as kind of a mild man. And uh and the first time I recognized uh that what my dad that the courage that was there that I just didn't see because what it never uh presented itself was uh we lived in Pearsville, Kansas at the time. And uh in can in the middle of the town of Kansas, there was this, it looked like a haunted house. It I mean, really did. And this uh mother and her adult son lived in the house. The adult son's name was Lehman, and as a little boy, Lehman had been in a real serious house fire, barely escaped it, and and so he'd had he had serious burns, uh, he and uh he had some mental issues, uh, and he was mean. Uh and uh so all the kids in town, we were we were afraid of him. We just he just was a scary guy and he's a mean guy, he just kind of stayed out of his way. Uh, some friends of mine one time, we we found an old shack, and we decided, excuse me, we decided we'd make a fort in the shack. And so we cleaned it all up, and it had been a chicken coop, but cleaned it all out and and uh fixed things up, and and unbeknownst to us, it was owned by Lehman and his mom. And so about the time we were just getting done, he shows up with the with a, I can't remember if it's a bat or uh uh some some kind of sticks, and uh goes after us all, chases us out. We in fact there's a like a six-foot fence, and I think all there's three or four of us, I don't think we we even touched it. We jumped the fence and and and uh it was a small town. So I ran home. Uh my brother and I we ran home and went down hid in our basement. And so everybody knows the preacher. Lehman knew the preacher, and he knew we were his sons, and pretty soon knock on the door, and uh I hear my dad uh answer the door and I hear Lehman's voice, and he is going, Where's your boys and all this stuff? And and my dad's listening, trying to be kind and asking them what happened. Your boys tore up one of my sheds. We didn't tear it up, we actually made it very nice. But go on outside says, So you bring your boys out, and I'm and I am going to teach them a lesson. I'm gonna tan their hides. And by that time, as I was up between my dad, and I'm thinking, are you gonna do that? And as Lehman is saying that, all of a sudden I see my dad walking towards Lehman, this five foot-eight guy. Lehman was probably 6'4. And uh my dad's walking towards Lehman, and then I saw my mom reach up and grab his belt. And then I hear my dad say, uh, listen, I'll take care of my boys, but you don't touch, lay hand on them. And I thought, my dad's pretty tough after all. So there you go. Thanks, dads, for taking care of us, because sometimes we need to be taken care of. Uh at least that was the case for me. So we're studying the history of the church, and uh we're we're walking uh through uh the way God has used us, and uh, you know, and we think of church, and sometimes we think of this. These are all, in fact, all every one of those pictures is the church that in my life at some point I've been involved in, including True North Church right now, and and uh and Mary Lou and I've been involved in, except for one, which is when I was a boy. But some we got you know lots of times we we picture church and we think of the church building, but you know, because we've talked about this before, that the building is not the church. Uh the building is where the church meets and grows and worships, and uh but the people, you are the church. Uh and specifically the people that have responded to God's offer of salvation, uh, have accepted when Jesus died on the cross, have accepted that that was on their behalf, and have accepted the offer of forgiveness that has come because of what Jesus did on the cross. So that's who the church is. I I could I've given my adult life to really two things, uh teaching the word of God and uh and the church, the the family of the church. I I wouldn't have been very enthusiastic about doing that for a building, but for people. Uh and so that that's who the church is. You are the church. On top of that, when you when you really put that in perspective, you realize that uh uh true nart true north isn't the church of Grand Island. We're part of the church. Uh the church is all the believers that are are in in this community that are worshiping right now, and and so every every group that has come together this morning that teaches the the word of God and and the the good news of Jesus Christ, that's the church. And so that's why it's fully sometimes when when churches compete with each other or or get envious with uh each other. We God God uses every church, and uh there's all kinds of people, and because of that, there's all kinds of churches, and uh and then together we we work together to uh hopefully bring as many people or introduce as many people as possible to uh the good news of Jesus Christ. Uh then we can serve together this community as a church. Uh so but what we're gonna do today is we're gonna start looking at the first day, the day that the church came into existence and uh and kind of lay out what's gonna go on for the next few weeks. We'll we'll we're gonna look at this this morning, uh that the first day, in fact, we'll just get into that a little bit. Then for the next two weeks, we're going to set aside uh this time when we come together to uh celebrate and to think about uh what it means as a uh uh country to be here 250 years. Uh and and and and in the process of that, we're going to uh next Sunday you have a message along that lines, and the following Sunday, I'm actually gonna get the elders up there, and we're gonna do a little bit of a discussion. There's a lot going on in our country right now, and uh a lot of a lot of questions, I'm sure you have questions, I do too. Uh there's there's a lot of uh vocabulary and uh uh statements thrown around, and and some of them uh apply directly to us as Christians, as church, or even if they don't, I think we have questions about Lord, you know, or how am I supposed to respond to that? How am I supposed to feel about that? And so we're gonna do a panel uh in two weeks and we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna throw out some of those phrases and talk through them and hopefully bring us back into the scriptures as as the elders and kind of say, here's how I think we're supposed to respond as believers to the things that we see going on in our country right now, especially as they relate to us as Christians. So anyway, I'm excited about that. I think it's gonna be a couple of neat weeks, and then we'll come back and continue uh this series on uh the history of the church. Uh so in as we look at this, the church, uh I want to lay out a timeline. When it comes to the history, not just of the church and not just of our country, but of the world since the beginning uh to where we are now and then on in the future, uh, you can lay out a timeline. Scripture lays out a timeline uh of what has taken place over the different stages of our world history from a biblical perspective. And so I want to look at two to begin with. There's two main thoughts uh when it comes to that, and this may be totally preacher stuff that you're saying, I don't think I need to know that. Uh bear with me, go along with me. So the first main thought, and there, and I'll give you there the titles, the general titles, one is called covenant theology. How many of you ever heard of covenant theology? Okay, so so covenant theology, uh it here's the way it lays out uh world history, biblical history. It lays it out in in stages that the stages of our biblical history of the world are based on covenants that God has made with his people. And you you can kind of look on that. Uh you look and you see it talks about the covenant of works. Well, that's talking about in the very beginning, uh, before the fall, uh, if you go back to that passage in Genesis, you'll see that God's talking to Adam and He says, here's what I'm requiring you to do. Here's our agreement. I want you, uh you have this garden, I want you to work the garden. Uh maybe you've heard this said before. You know, people sometimes look at working and think, well, that's that's the curse, you know. The fact that we have the work is part of the curse. No, the work was established before the curse. What messed the work up is that sin got in and affected it and it became harder. And when when when man sinned, we messed things up. But from the get-go, uh, work was to uh just a worship, a way of worship. In fact, it comes from the word worship, of worshiping God. And Adam and Eve served God and worship God in the garden by by caring for the garden until the curse set in and uh uh and then things began to struggle. And you can so you can kind of look across that. And actually, if you've been going to the adult class, uh right now, just recently, uh Christoph has guiding us. If you look down that you'll see the the Abrahamic covenant. We've been talking about the fact that God came to Abram, uh, who later became Abraham, and he made this covenant. And he and he said to Abraham, he took him out and he said, Look at the stars of the sky. You can't count the stars. This is the way it's gonna be with your people. The Israelites is who that we're talking about there. And then later he looked at him look at the sands and the sea, and he said, Look at the sands by the sea. Can't count them up, so will your people be. Uh, I'm making, I I God's made that covenant. In fact, something was unusual or unusual. Uh, and uh I think the the kids got a kick out of that, because especially teenage boys, they like gross stuff. But if you were at the class, you know that uh when God made this covenant with Abraham, uh, the way they would make an agreement often in those days is they would take animals and they would kill, slaughter the animal, and then they'd split the animal in half and they'd set the halves on each side. And then if you were making an agreement with someone, uh you would walk, you'd say, I'm gonna promise this is our agreement. Uh, and then you would walk up through those uh slaughtered animals and back down, and then the other person, if they agreed, they'd walk up through the slaughtered animals and back down. And what you were saying was, if I don't keep my agreement with you, may this happen to me. And what was really unusual when God made his covenant with Abraham, the animals were there, but only God went up and down. And by that, what he was saying is, I'm making a covenant with you, Abraham, and I'm not asking you to do anything. I'm just telling you, I am going to do this for you. I am going to make your people into a great people. I am going to give you a land someday. And then you follow that time, and so that was another covenant with God. And then you have the Mosaic covenant where God gave the law to the Israelites. And and uh and then you find out later on that the law wasn't given to help so that they could get to God by following the law. It was given to let them realize that they couldn't get to God by trying to keep the law. Uh they were we all need a savior. And then you have the cross and and it's the covenant of grace. We're living in a time right now called the the the covenant of grace or the new covenant. Uh your Bibles are divided by Old Covenant, New Covenant, Old Testament, New Testament. We're in the New Testament, New Covenant time, which is uh it's not by law, not by legalism, not by do's and don'ts. It's by the grace of God. If you accept that gift that Jesus paid for on the cross. So that's that's the the a covenant perspective. And and that's one mindset about how the history of the world is laid out. Uh and uh now, the other one, the other key one, main one, is called uh dispensationalism uh or dispensational theology. Dispensational means ages. Instead of dividing the history of the world up based on covenants that God made, it divides the history of the world based on ages, uh dispensations. And then what it basically says is that these different periods, as you divide them up and see them in scripture, God he worked in different ways in these different dispensations. Uh, some things about God were always the case. He's always eternal, he was always all-knowing, he was always all-powerful. But but in different periods of times, he worked with the people in a in different ways. Uh, and and you'll see a lot of similarity between the two of them. I I personally line up more with the dispensational perspective, uh, and I'll tell you why in a moment. Uh, but you'll see that they're really very similar. And what this is called, you know, is called doctrine. And when we talk about doctrine in scripture, we are not talking, doctrine is not Bible. Hopefully, our doctrine is biblical, uh, but doctrine is just men looking at things and saying, here's the system, here is what I think it's saying. And so you have there there's good doctrine out there, there's bad doctrine out there, uh, and uh, but so so these are doctrinal, doctrinal perspectives on how to lay out the history of the world. I'm gonna I'll tell you tie it together in a moment of why it's I think it's important. Like I say, I line up more with the dispensations, so so that must be the right way. I don't know, but uh uh so but here's here's the big why for me. And and it's you'd say, well, it's not a huge thing. It's pretty important to me, uh, but if you go back to the the covenant theology, you will notice uh when you get what to where the cross is and right after the cross. Uh uh so so what is missing there in that uh framework of biblical of uh the the history of the world for me is the church. Can you go back to the slide before there, Rusty? You notice uh as you follow along that line, you get to the age of uh it's not on there either. I got the wrong slide up. It's not yeah, no, I I didn't even put it up. But we what we are in right now, and I I used the wrong uh dispensation slide that I wanted to show you, but we're in what right now, I believe, is called the church age. Uh and the the church age, this the the time we're in right now begins on what we're gonna look at in just a moment in Acts chapter 2. You can get in your Bibles if you want to too with that. So we're gonna read about that. But so on the day we're gonna read about this morning, the church began. And the beginning of the church was marked by a powerful moment that is still impacting you and I to this very day, over 2,000 years later. And just as I I want so, and in in the church age, then in my mind, is as it alas, we're in the church age now. It goes on, and if you get into the book of Revelation, we studied it uh in our Wednesday night study a while back and years ago, we actually went through it briefly uh during this time. But as you move into the book of Revelation, uh you get into chapter two, uh, if you remember, as we walk through it, and you run into two chapters on called the seven churches. And you walk through these different churches uh that were real historical churches during the time when John writes about that. But what's really interesting, uh, and again, this is just uh theory in biblical theory, uh, but what's really interesting is you look at those churches that John is writing to, each one of them, there's some good things about them, there's some struggling things that he's worried about. But if you take those seven churches and and line them up to the church age, it's really interesting that they seem to show different periods of time during what we're in in the church age. If that's the case, uh you you know, for instance, you get early on, uh you have the church, and and he talks about uh how uh it's it's a it's a really good church, it's doing well, even though it's suffering and uh it's going through hard times, and and uh and we've seen a little bit, and we're gonna see a little bit of that next. So as the church began and first started moving, in fact, one of the things that you know sometimes God does. So the church has just started, uh, where we're gonna read about that in a few moments. And within a very brief time, tremendous persecution starts. And the result of it is Christians have to they have to leave their homes. They get either they scatter all over the place, and and it'd be really it would be really easy at that moment to think, oh God, what are you doing? And we're just it's a young church, we're just getting started, people are coming to Christ. In fact, we'll we won't see it this morning, but uh a couple weeks ago. Just an amazing thing by thousands are coming to Christ, but then they're having to scatter. Uh and but then we look back, now we realize as they were scattering, they were telling, sharing the good news. And so everywhere they went, there'd be a new pocket, a new church get started. And and we we just got finished studying Paul's missionary journeys a little bit ago, and that was Paul going around starting pockets of beliefs. Believers all over the place. So it was really God, God using that time. But that was early church. Later on, you have a couple churches later, you have this church that's very wealthy, very wealthy. Everything seems to be going, you know, they seem to be powerful. In fact, you can read in there that there's their they're actually politically powerful. And then you look at church age and you realize, oh yeah, there was that period of time in church age, especially with the with the Catholic Church, uh, where uh it the Pope and the that they had a tremendous amount of wealth. Uh the the the church in many respects politically called the road called the what they would do and what they wouldn't do. And and uh and then you get, if if you follow it right, we'll it probably were in the last church, I think, of those seven churches, which is the church of Laodicea. And unfortunately that's the one that he says pretty lukewarm. Not not much power, not doing a lot, uh uh not seeing, accomplishing a lot for the for God. And uh and then at the end of that seven-year period, an interesting happening happens. Uh you go into chapter from chapter three to chapter four, and uh, and there's this loud trumpet, and then the church isn't mentioned again in the rest of the book of Revelation. Why? Well, I think it's raptured out. Uh, we talk about the rapture, and uh the church is taken out of the world. Well, we the believers are taken out of the world, and uh uh we move into that tribulation period. Once we're out of the way, uh, especially in light of what we're gonna look at in a few moments here, Satan kind of has a uh his way uh because the power of the Holy Spirit, which has been working through the church through those ages, is taken out of the picture, and now Satan goes crazy and uh terrible things happen as a result. So that's just kind of talking through why the church is so important and why uh I think we are. We are in a period of time now, which I would say is the dispensation or the age of the church. And maybe maybe Christ is gonna return soon. Lots of things say that is the case. And if that is the case before that happens, uh we're gonna go, uh the church will be taken out of the picture and uh we'll move into what's called the tribulation period. All right. So, okay, now we've been we've been sitting and we're kind of around these things and talking through uh, you know, we moving up to Easter. We spent a lot of time looking at uh and the resurrection time. We spent a lot of time, Jesus is talking to his disciples. And even last week we talked a little bit about this, and and as he's talking to them, and he knows the cross is coming, he knows get closer and closer, it's weeks away, and then it days it's days away, and then it's hours away. And so he has some, as you would do as well, uh, some really uh significant, uh, important conversations with his disciples, knowing what is about to happen, the cross, the the uh suffering he's gonna go through leading up to it, uh, and uh his death and burial and his resurrection. So he's he's having these conversations with them. And there's one point in one of those conversations and and where he makes this statement, and we've looked at this statement recently before, but I want to go back to it. He's making this statement and he's been talking to them again about the fact that he's gonna die, he's gonna suffer, and they're they're struggling with this. They they are really, it's that is not sitting well with them. Uh, but in this one conversation, he says this I tell you the truth, it's for your good that I'm going away. Now they're gonna they're gonna struggle with that. How could that be for my good? Uh, you know, we love you, we want to be with you. We've been, you know, you're our leader, you're the one that we depend on. And and he says, No, it it is honestly, it's for your good that I'm going away. Why? Well, because unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. Jesus says, so I need to go away because after I've gone, then the counselor's coming. The whole the the spirit, the Holy Spirit, he's coming. And you're like, well, hasn't he always been around? Yes, he he has. But what Jesus is saying is when this takes place, it's he's coming in a new and a different and and a much more powerful from our perspective way. Uh and so that's what he's trying to help them understand. A little earlier, uh uh, I'm not sure if it was a day or so earlier, but it's part of this ongoing conversation. Uh, in the other verse I read, what I read a moment ago is chapter 16 of John. In John 14, he again is having the same conversation with them. And he says to his disciple, he says, I will ask the father, the father, excuse me, and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever, the spirit of truth. Then he makes this statement the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. Now pay attention to this, but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. Now that may not seem like uh much to us as we're just reading the verse, but something huge is taking place in this conversation with Jesus as he's laying out to them that something soon is going to happen with in regard to them, regarding the Holy Spirit, that is very different than what has ever happened before. Has the Holy Spirit been around? Yeah. I mean, you can we in the Old Testament uh we see him often. He uh when Saul first became king, we're told that for a period of time the Holy Spirit came upon Saul and helped him as the king. Then eventually Saul kind of did his own thing and the Holy Spirit left. Uh same thing happens with King David. Uh you have Samson, Samson, one of the judges, or a little earlier, and and God the Holy Spirit comes on Samson and he does powerful things, unbelievable things, and then Samson goes his own way and the Holy Spirit leads him. And then, if you remember, right before he dies, uh he's in the temple and uh he asks, calls on God to come on him again and give him the strength, and God the Spirit does that and he and he tears down the temple. That happens all the way through the Old Testament. Uh in the tabernacle, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, and Moses was given instructions by God about this tabernacle that they're supposed to build, a tent so that they can worship, and they use that to worship during those 40 years in the wilderness. We're told that the craftsmen, as they began to build this tabernacle, and particularly the articles of worship that they're using, that the Holy Spirit came on the craftsmen and and enhanced their skills so that so that they did uh remarkable work. So, yeah, the Holy Spirit's always been here and always worked, uh, but there's something different. And and it's in this, it's in these last sentence. He's always lived among us and worked among us and and God's followers. He's always uh helped out with things. But Jesus says very soon, he's not just gonna be among you. He's gonna be in you. He's gonna be in you. And if you remember, uh Jesus told his disciples that uh when he left them after this, after the resurrection, after 40 days with them, he said, I'm gonna leave you again, and when after I've left you, I want you to go back to Jerusalem, and I want you to wait. I want you to wait and pray and something's gonna happen. Chapter 2, verse 1. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place, and suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house they were sitting in. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now, there were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. And when they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one of them heard speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked, Aren't these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes. And he walks through the whole list down to verse 13. Both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they ask one another, what does this mean? That day, the first day, the beginning of the church, the sign of the church age in the beginning of the church was from that point on, the Holy Spirit wasn't just around us, with us, as believers, as followers of God. When you invite Christ to be your savior, the Holy Spirit comes and lives within you. I don't know about you. That's a pretty amazing thing. He is in you. God is a spirit that lives in you if you are a follower of Christ. Uh I was talking to these young people this morning, they're heading a mission trip. Talking a little bit about some of the things they may face in this next week. Because when you go out and actively do work for God, uh the enemy opposes. He comes after him. And I said, but here's the thing. Let him, let him, because the Holy Spirit lives in you. God's Spirit lives in you. You're gonna have conversations, and in the beginning of the conversation, you'll probably think, What? I don't know what to say about this. And then suddenly you'll see the Holy Spirit, God, the Spirit, work through your words, help you know what to say, give you wisdom and understanding that you wouldn't have on your on your own. We have God's Spirit living in us. That's the main mark of the church age that we're in, is that the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit lives in us. Now, there's been a lot of confusion, even about the verses that I just read, uh, things that misunderstandings, some bad doctrine, I think. And that's part of why we're doing this study. We're gonna walk and talk through those things in the days ahead as we continue to work through the history of Acts. But we're gonna stop there this morning with that God's Spirit lives in you and me as a follower of Christ. I've told this story before, but as I was preparing for this message and thinking of my dad, frankly, it just seemed like the appropriate story. I remember I remember when the reality of that truth that God's spirit actually lives within me first really sunk in. And uh we were on a trip, I was about 13 years old, and we were going from uh we lived, dad was pastoring in California at the time, and mom's parents lived in Florida, and about every other year we would make that trip. And so we pulled into a gas station, and uh dad was filling the car up with gas, and I went into the store, and I'm looking around. And uh as a 13-year-old, I'm kind of looking around, and all of a sudden my eyes gravitate to this magazine rack. Uh, you know what I'm talking about, and uh so I kind of meandered over that way, and uh and then my eyes gravitated to a particular magazine, uh, and uh I kind of looked around and flipped open the page and and uh so and I'm I'm uh looking uh at the picture in the magazine that I shouldn't have been looking at, and all of a sudden I sensed someone watching me, and I remember I turned around and I looked, and there's my dad looking over. Yeah, yeah. It's just like, but here, you know, it's interesting. You know what my dad said to me? Never forget. He said, Paul, why would you make God look at something like that? And I thought, what? Jesus, God lives in you. Why would you make him look at a picture like that? And it's like, wow, finally got it. So, so you're gonna in case you didn't realize it before, when you walk out of this room today, since the day you invited Christ to be your savior, God's Spirit lives in you. You got nothing to fear. Let's pray. Father, thanks. Uh just as I'm looking forward to continuing this study, and uh, I realize uh a lot of different thinking and in regard to the church and that and and even this uh what it means to have the Holy Spirit living in us, and so I think it's important that we think this through together. Uh but I pray today this morning that man there that should uh get us a little excited. Uh you know, uh the you God, your spirit lives in us. He he has indwelled us. There is nowhere we go that he's not there, there's nothing that we deal with that he's not there. There's no conversation that we have that he's not there. There is nothing that our enemy can try to do to us that the Holy Spirit isn't right there with us, and what amazing thought that is. Thanks for that reminder this morning. Pray these things in your son's will. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

Well, church, we're gonna close with one last course to invite you to stand with me as we sing out.