No Pride Before God

In this week's 'Words of Life' message in lieu of eternity...

Pride doesn’t always 'look like...' arrogance. Sometimes it 'sounds like...'  harmless sentences that starts with “I” and ends with us taking the credit. Within our this week's podcast / broadcast, Pastor walks us through a message that refuses to let ego survive in God’s presence: understand, there will be no pride before God.

The sermon opens with David’s public prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:10–13, where David names the truth we forget on our best days and certainly our worst ones: greatness, power, glory, honor, and strength all belong to the Lord. From there we follow a trail of Scriptures that expose pride for what it is. Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 show self-exaltation and corrupted wisdom. Jeremiah 9 confronts boasting in wisdom, strength, and wealth. Proverbs warns that pride fuels strife and that God opposes the proud in heart. Then we bring it home with practical application, including a clear gut-check for the “me, my, and I” language that can creep into our work, our gifting, and even ministry.

Finally, the message lands where it must: eternal salvation. Ephesians 2 reminds us that grace is a gift, not a paycheck for our efforts, so nobody gets to boast. 1 Corinthians 1 points our boasting back to the Lord alone, because Jesus is our righteousness and redemption. If you’ve been trying to approach God on your own terms, allow the direct invitation to trust Jesus Christ as the only way, with a simple prayer you can activate today.

Feel free to subscribe for each podcast episode or even share this with a friend to engage this week's challenge with you: What part of 'your' life most needs to move from “me”... back to God’s glory (and story) through us?

In lieu of eternity, sermons and musical artists are featured to extol JESUS CHRIST as the sole hope for the eternal souls of humanity.

Transcript

Welcome And Mission Statement

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We thank you for joining our Words of Life broadcast or podcast, where our mission is making God known for extolling Jesus the Christ as the sole hope for the eternal souls of humanity. We now join Pastor Mark for this week's Words of Life message.

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Hey there again to you, Words of Life listeners and viewers. I am Pastor Mark D. Ingram, and in this week's episode of Words of Life, we're going to be talking about pride because there just will be none before God. That's one of the first things that we need to understand. God hates pride, and there will be no one that stands before God. And so before we get rolling in this week's Words of Life, I try to take care of this early, right off the bat. I'd like to thank you. My wife and I, we're really grateful for you because the truth of the matter is, you could have been doing anything else. You could have been watching anybody else. Uh, but you have allowed God's Spirit to lead you to this ministry to hear a word from his word of life, the Bible. And for that, we're grateful for you and we we appreciate

David’s Prayer From Chronicles

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you. Now let's jump right into our words of life for the week. I'm gonna ask you to join us in the book of First Chronicles. We're gonna read in chapter 29, and I do believe we're gonna read um starting at verse 10. I'll add live a little bit longer so you can get there. 1 Chronicles chapter 29. Again, beginning at verse 29, or should I say chapter 29? Let's start at verse 10, and I'm gonna read down to verse 13 and a little backstory. Uh, these verses cover David's prayer of blessing in front of all the people. He blesses the name of God and sets a great example for the people then, as well as setting a great example for us right now. Uh, so I've added up enough. Uh, first Chronicles chapter 29, beginning at verse 10. And our reading is as follows. Then David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly and said, May you be blessed, O Lord, God of our Father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to you. Yo, O Lord, is the kingdom, and you are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you are the ruler over all. In your hands are power and might to exalt and give strength to all. Now, therefore, our God, we give you thanks, and we praise your glorious name. May the Lord add a blessing to the hearers, the readers, but most importantly, those that intend to do with God's help his holy word. Again, the title of this week's message that I want us to consider as we're going through it There will be no pride before God. And in my initial thoughts, I said it before we got to the opening scripture. There will not be one person that stands before God. Period.

Defining Pride Through Scripture

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Facts. So the question beckoning and answer right now is what is pride? Since nobody's going to be standing before God and their own abilities, their own powers, their own idea, their own work. What is pride by God's definition that we must always be alert for lest God deals with us, just as he dealt with Satan. What's pride? Let's begin referencing God's word before we get to our exegesis of our primary scripture to begin connecting these dots metaphorically speaking. And regarding the downfall of the king of Babylon in Isaiah chapter 14, I do believe, symbolically speaking of Satan, the verses state, your pomp in Hebrew, your arrogance, your self-exaltation has been brought down. Verse 12 says, How you have fallen from heaven, O daystar, son of the dawn, you have been cut down. In the Hebrew, you've been chopped down, cut through, destroyed to the ground, O destroyer of nations. Just as you would cut through and chop down a tree, you've been brought to the ground. Verse 13 says, You said, as if you're in control of your next breath or step, and that's infant's mind. We don't even control our next breath. We don't control our next step. Verse 13 said, You said in your heart, I will ascend, I will raise myself up to the heavens, the highest of heights. I will raid, there we go again, that raise exaltation. I will lift my throne above the stars of God. And here again, emphasis mine, yet we need to understand earth just serves as a footstool for God. And so far, we've confirmed by God's word that pride involves, you hear, pomp or self-exaltation, um, the masquerade of being in control when we're really not. Um, pride involves seeking heights and power that God alone dictates and decides, and it's still for his glory and his story. And yet, about pride, we're just getting started. So back to God's word with a lament over the king of Tyree. Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 17 states, Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty, your wisdom was corrupted. In the Hebrew, corrupted meaning in this verse, decayed. Your wisdom was spoiled, it was waste, it was ruined by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings. Wait, there's more. Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23. This is what the Lord says let not the wise boast of their wisdom, or the strong boast of their strength, or the rich boast of their riches. In the Hebrew, it simply means boasting is to shine, it is to self-glorify, it is to make a show of, to commend or to celebrate oneself. Here's another verse. The 16th Proverb, that chapter, Proverbs 16, verses 4 and 5. The Lord has made everything for his purpose. Watch this, even the wicked for the day of disaster. Everyone who is proud in heart, in the Hebrew, within this verse, everyone who is haughty, powerful, arrogant, lofty, high officials, that's what that means in the Hebrew in this verse. Everyone who's proud is detestable to the Lord. Be assured, the verse concludes, verse 5, that he or she will not go unpunished. Proverbs chapter 13, verse 10. Where there is strife in the Hebrew, where there is debate, arguing, contention, the refusal to simply listen with the need to be right all the time, there is pride, the verse says.

The Backstory Behind Chronicles

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So within our exegesis of our primary text, what was going on around that time and context, David realizes that his time on earth is approaching, uh, his end, his death. It is approaching that his time on earth. Okay, I'm about to get out of here. And so he prays for wisdom to be given to his son, Solomon, the next king, as he, Solomon, undertakes the work of rebuilding God's sanctuary. Now, the backstory that is required here is God's people at that time were exiled and they were now returning back to their homeland, but it was as if they were returning to a land of squatters, inhabiting what used to be theirs. And so the chronicler begins the book of 1 Chronicles by offering a genealogical account of Israel's rich, familiar, familial, not familiar, familial, family heritage. And it was written to inspire a turning back to God as they got back or returned from being displaced or exiled. Now, here's a quick side note if we're honest. It can be difficult to stay alert or invested in biblical books or chapters or verses that list historical accounts, genealogies, descendants, rulers, so on and so forth. And y'all, it can be tedious and boring, but we have to be careful because absolutely nothing is wasted in God's word, not one detail. And so, in context, the chronicler gives us the story, the history of Israel's lineage to show them. That's why he wrote it to them. He gave them a backstory. Here is your history, your lineage to show you all, Israel, how faithful God has been to us, even though we've been exiled and we haven't been faithful to him. That's amazing. Through generations, we've been unfaithful, we've made God angry, and yet let me chronicle how faithful he's been going all the way back in your lineage. We can go from Noah to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. I'm gonna just paint this picture of Israel's lineage to show how faithful God has been to us through generations, despite the lack of Israel's faithfulness to God. And so, in providing this reminder, this chronicle, this lineage review to Israel within 1 Chronicles, by the time we reach chapter 29, David is not only preparing God's people for his death and the transfer of kingship to his son, David shows them and us the humility and understanding that God's inexhaustible mercy, grace, and faithfulness still followed after their lives. And so David opens chapter 29 with a praise, a blessing, which brings us full circle to our opening text. And now let's go back to it in context now, since we've gotten that review and backstory of what's going on in the chroniclers' life right then. The the author writes this lineage for Israel to look at. And so by the time we hit verse 29, the verses state, starting at verse 10, our opening text. Then David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly, and said, May you be blessed, O Lord, God of our Father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to you. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, and you are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you are the ruler over all. In your hands are power and might to exalt and give strength to all. Now, therefore, our God, we give you thanks, and we praise your glorious name. And so now that we've covered our opening text and we've gone back and we've gone back and we reviewed in context what the chronicler gave that lineage for, and then it brings us all the way up to chapter 29. We can start transitioning from the text to our here and now for application to start considering what we should gather from what we've read so far. Let's think about our first application point

Spotting “Me, My, I”

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that we should look at. Here's point number one: we must be aware of me, my, and I in our lives when God alone deserves all praise. I'm gonna say that one more time because it's easy to get off track. I'm not even talking about anybody, I'm talking about me. We must be aware of me, my, and I in our lives when God alone deserves all praise. You know, there are times that I'm just afraid of the result. If I simply press record, then put my phone in my pocket just to evaluate how many times did I utter, excuse me, me, mine, and I. Because I know that I'm a competitive person. And there are times that I let that cloud my judgment. And the truth is, competition in a sense, if we let it, that can be prideful. You know, as a as a bivocational pastor, uh, my wife and I, we're also educators. Uh, but I'm a nurse as well. I'm an army nurse. I've been a nurse for about 34 some odd years. So I get a chance now as an educator. I teach my candidates, my high school students, how to perform venipunctures or how to draw blood in the natural vernacular. You know, but being a nurse, sometimes, now that I'm a teacher, you know, you're you're you're concerned about results. And sometimes I can get overconcerned about my certification passing rate amongst my candidates. And, you know, sometimes I glory in the fact that I have taught hundreds, literally over a few thousand, the skills that they will need in the medical field because of my knowledge and my experiences. And I'm just being honest. Sometimes I can get sidetracked explaining that, you know, I might not have a building as a pastor, but I have a broadcast. Get this. I have a broadcast and a podcast that reaches all over the world. And then clarity has to come to me when God's Holy Spirit reminds me, um, you're only able to do, you're only able to go, you're only able to be, to have, to influence, to teach. You're only able to possess anything because I, the Lord your God, I enable you to do so. Yep, Lord, I am so sorry, and that's when I have to admit, Lord, I'm guilty. That's been me at times. I cannot work to impress humanity. My work has to be done unto you because it's always about your story and your glory. It doesn't matter who I teach, it doesn't matter who I help learn the skill of drawing blood, it doesn't matter what they learn through me. If they learn, if they do, if they're successful, even in ministry, if somebody receives this word today and says, Oh my God, Lord, thank you for that word, it has nothing to do with me, it has everything to do with God because all things are about his story and his glory. And we gotta start correcting that. We gotta start checking ourselves for the me, the my, and the I in our conversations and our work and anything that we do or have. You know, my dearly departed dad, Bishop Mac E. Ingram, you know, he taught me early in my now 25 years of ministry. He there's a phrase he would always tell me as we sat around and we played dominoes all day. Mark, you get to your mess first and you confess it before God deals with it. That's how you can stay in his grace. You get to your mess first, confess it, and then you're good before God deals with it. And you know, I want us to understand that this message, any message that comes across from me, it is not being preached at you because I, the preacher, have to always take the medicine first. Because pride, God will not tolerate. And God is so patient with us, and he doesn't throw us out with the dirty bath water that we've symbolically immersed ourselves within when we're prideful. Now, he doesn't deal with it if we catch it first. And King David understood this premise well. You know, King David wasn't perfect, but he was purposed to stay close to God and always give God the glory that he alone deserves. And we would do well to emulate David and blessing the Lord with our praise, with our mouths, for who, for what he's done, for why he's done it, for the when, where, the how, absolutely everything that God alone has done for our good. Everything that God called good, it emanates from him because God is good and he does not know how to be anything but who he is: good, holy. And so David responds like we should. And I'm paraphrasing right now: yours, O Lord, not mine, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty for everything in heaven and on earth. Everything that I've been blessed with, everything that I have, Lord, it is yours. It's you, not me. Yours, O Lord, not mine, is the kingdom. You are exalted. I shouldn't be trying to exalt myself. You are exalted. You determine who rises and falls. You are head over all. Both riches, both honor, they come from you. It's not by my might that I have a job or anything, it's not by my wisdom that I have any gift or any talent. Riches and honor, it all comes from you. You rule over it all. You determine the success of it, you determine whether the door is open, whether the door is closed. You are the ruler over all, including me. In your hands, not mine, are power and might to exalt and to give strength to all, to do, to go forth, to have jobs, to be whatever. Now, therefore, our God, we give you, and I will stop giving me, my, and I. It is not me, my and I. I will give you thanks. And we praise your name, Lord, not me, not my, not I. We praise and we bless your glorious name. And so as we close application point number one, let's ask ourselves how are we doing evaluating me, my, and my language in our lives when God alone is the source of every good thing that we encounter.

Living For God’s Glory

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Let's connect this thought with applicable point number two. Everything, everyone, they are for God's story and God's glory. We need to get that understood. We exist for a reason. We didn't. Just populate the earth on our own like we got here. No, we are the created, he is the creator. Everything and everyone are for God's story. We are for his glory. Let's go back to verse 11, which plainly states 1 Chronicles 29, verse 11: everything in heaven, everything on earth belongs to you. Both riches and honor come from you. Verse 12. And you are the ruler over all. In your hands are power and might to exalt and give strength to all. Now, therefore, our God, we give you thanks, and we praise your holy name. I want to kind of go back to those descriptive phrases. Everything in heaven belongs to, on earth to. Riches and honor come from you, not us. You are over all the ruler. Power and might, they are in your hands, not ours, regardless of what we think. Even politics, it's not in your hands. And even when all seems like it's going to hell in a handbasket, it's still for God's glory and story, and he's going to bring down the prideful, and everybody will see it. And you will know that he alone is God. So that's why we should give God thanks, not ourselves. We haven't solved anything, we haven't done anything, we haven't won or we haven't been successful in our own inherent abilities. It is God and God alone who sets up and takes down, and we need to start giving him thanks and praising his glorious name, not ours. Again, David gets it right by providing an example before the people of the praise God deserves for all that he'd done for Israel. And we're under no less of an example. You know, God does not gift, God does not bestow, God does not endow or bless for us to lavish his goodness upon ourselves alone. You know, it's fine to partake of what God blesses us with, but God blesses for the purpose of being a blessing. God bestows for us to give to others that can't repay. God endues us with gifts and talents to serve others. And when we do the aforementioned with the right mode of intent and intent, God, not us, but God receives glory, honor, and praise for that which we could never, we could never do that inherently. Nobody, understand, nobody is naturally gifted or talented to do anything like we say. Nope, that's God too. If it's all good, it's all God. Nobody's family inherited or built up their wealth, no matter how unfair that I think it is, or how crooked it might appear to be. God alone made these decisions, and he again will even use what seems to be unjust or unfair in our eyes, it's going to be used for his purposes, and he somehow is going to get glory in the end, and everybody's gonna know who's really running it. It is God's show, not ours. It is his story, not ours. It is his glory, not ours. Proverbs chapter 16, verses 4 and 5 state the Lord has made everything. You may as well throw in everyone for his purpose, even the wicked for the day of disaster. Everyone who is proud in heart is detestable to the Lord. Be assured that he or she will not go unpunished. Pride. This is what Mima and I think. Pride thinks I manipulate, I dictate, my control, I rule, I take. Just because it's me and I have the right to do so, no matter who or what impact it has on others. Better be careful. That is not God. That's pride that God will deal with in front of everybody if it is not addressed. And so there's never a need for us to fret over the pride of the wicked or the evildoer, no matter what it appears to look like to us. You know, our focus has to be, Lord, help me to focus on giving, even when it looks bad, even when it's in the midst of God, can't be happy with it. We still need to give our focus and glory, not to the prideful. Put some focus back to God who's running it all, and he's gonna bring it all to a good end on our behalf. Let's give God focus, let's give God glory, let's give God praise instead of focusing on or even comparing our lives, our gifts, our talent, our employment, our whatever with someone else's. Quick challenge, quick thought. What can you stop right now and give God a praise for right now, like David did for everything that he's done for you? And I'll pause right here for just a second, because all of us have plenty to be thankful for and bless God for if we just stop and think like, Lord, thank you. I made it to work on time. Lord, thank you. Lord, if I could help that person on the side of the road, but that's not me. Lord, thank you. Um, my wife and I, we know that scripture tells us to never make an oath to God because that's very serious, and the recording angel takes note of such promises, and so we've pledged to one another to give God thanks for every time we depart our garage at home. Lord, thank you. Every time we make it safely to our campuses, Lord, thank you. Lord, every time that you take us safely to and fro, we travel abroad, you bring us back home safe. Lord, thank you. Lord, every time that plane takes off and lands safely, Lord, thank you. Lord, I give you glory, thank you for the gift that you've given the pilot to fly the plane. Lord, thank you. That knowledge and that wisdom that you give to the physician that I recently visited. Lord, thank you. What can you stop right now and give God a praise for? Like David did, for all that he's done for you. God is faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to him, and that alone deserves a praise. Everything unto us comes from his hands, and we can only give back to him or to somebody else that which he has given us. Are we at least giving God a praise of testimony to somebody else that sees and knows? Ooh, they are blessed. Are we at least extolling God? My wife and I, I think one of my co-workers, he made a sign for me. I asked him to make a sign for me, you know, and anybody that walks in our home, my wife and I, one of the first things you see is this is our God home uh before we head to heaven. Because we know we couldn't have done it. In no kind of way, God just did it, and we know it was nobody but him that did it, but our realtor knew it was nobody that God that did it. Um, the the home builder knew they knew it was nobody but God that did it, and if they didn't, we testified and told them who did it, and there's a sign up in our house that says just that. When do we give God a praise, like David did? A testimony to somebody else that can they at least see. Man, y'all are blessed. And we're not just talking about material things. You have your health, you are blessed, you have your strength, you are blessed. Even if we're a little sick and don't feel the best, if you're still living and you can listen to a message of the gospel, you are blessed. If you haven't accepted Jesus as Savior yet, whether you believe or not, and you can hear my word, you are blessed. Not because they're my words, but because they are God's and God's alone. And that allows me to go right into our final applicable point to think about before we close this

Salvation Leaves No Room For Pride

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message. Here's point number three we need to think about. There's no room for pride in God's invitation to salvation. I want us to get this clearly. This is the most important part of every sermon. Any other way or name to God that does not end in Jesus the Christ as the only way to God, that is the ultimate prideful soul. It is. Pride says, and I'm not being dogmatic, I'm speaking God's word. Pride says, Well, I know better than the one that made me. He said Jesus is the only way to him. But I think there are other ways to God. Viewer or listener, there are not. God knows the wickedness and the proclivities of the human heart. He knows that there's a tendency to take credit for things that he alone has gifted or allowed us to do or partake in. And so guess what? Salvation is no different. God knows best, but we tolerate when we hear there are many ways to God as to not be offensive to anybody. But when God has called you to preach or teach, God says plainly that there are not. So every preacher, every teacher, every Christian, Christian that trusts in Jesus alone, we have an obligation to state what God has simply stated. There are not many ways to Him. We can correct pride while we yet live. But get this, it is not happening when we have to go before God once our earthly time expires and our eternal existence begins. There'll be no pride when God announces to every human before his throne individually. We're not going corporately, we're not going with mama, we're not going with daddy, granny, pop. You are going before God as an individual. And we either address this now, praise him, glorify him now, while we yet live, or God is going to take care of it eternally, but even then you will still bless his name. We're gonna hear one of two things. Well done, my good and faithful servant. You accepted the invitation of my son, Jesus. He completely covered your sinfulness. Well done, you are mine, my good and faithful servant, and you went forth extolling to everybody else with the gifts that I placed in you that same message. Or we're going to hear, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. You pridefully relied on you again to approach me, but in doing so, death and hell shall now cast you into the lake of fire, which is the second eternal death and separation from God. There'll be, I want to reiterate this before we close. It's always been about his glory, and Jesus alone has been set up to receive that for everything he endured for you and for me. And so, therefore, we have so much to praise him for, and yet God reminds us every day of the need to stay on guard for pride, even with this offer of salvation unto us. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 7 and 9. The verses read In order that in the coming ages he, God, might display the surpassing riches of his, not ours, his grace, demonstrated by his, not mine, not yours, not ours, demonstrated by his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this salvation is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. He alone did it, and it's not by works anything that we can do. It's not by works, it's the gift of God. He did it so that, here we go, so that no one can boast, no one can brag, nobody can glory in or take pride. We need to stop this in church. Well, yeah, I got this many saved, this many came down. I you didn't do anything. God did it all. We can't take God's glory. The Holy Spirit can only change and convict the sinful heart. We didn't do anything, he deserves praise just for using sinful us. We got to get it together. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 30 through 31. It is because of him, not us, it is because of him that you, us too, we are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from our God. So our righteousness, our holiness, our redemption, Jesus did that for us. And watch how the verse concludes in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 31. Therefore, as it is written, let him who boast boast in the Lord. There'll be no pride before the Lord. There'll be nobody standing before the Lord, and there certainly will be no pride before him at his offer of salvation, which is the main reason that God has given preachers to preach and teach. And so here's an offering of an invitation that I offer you. Can you, with confidence, boast in the fact that God alone, through Jesus Christ, has reconciled you back to Him? And are you confident and assured that you are prepared for this eternal meeting that will commence at our passing from earth to eternity? God is willing to do this for you at this very moment. That's if you're not 100% assured of your eternal reservation before His throne. We can take care of that right now, if that's you. Uh tomorrow is too late. Your tomorrow might be today, a song the whining sings. And so, how would I make sure that I can secure, Pastor, that I've been reconciled safely. I don't have to go forth with condemnation, guilt, worry, anxiety. How can I do that? Here's how.

The ABC Prayer To Believe

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I want you to pray this short prayer with me, and we call these the ABCs of the gospel. He, Father God, in the name of Jesus, I admit, Lord, I'm a lost sinner and I can think of, I don't have to think long. I'm admitting pride has been in my life. I've talked about me, my and I. But right now, Lord, I'm going to be. I'm going to believe in what Jesus accomplished and what you said Calvary grants me. Jesus did that for me. He's my savior. I will not be approaching you in my own power, strength, and goodness. I'm doing it through Jesus. I believe he's my savior. And now I will see. I will confess with my mouth, my mouth, boasting in all that you have done in my salvation and in my life. I can just think back and now think of how great your grace and mercy and how it's just followed me. I will confess with my mouth. I will go forth and tell everybody about Lord what you've done, what Jesus has done concerning my salvation. And now that you have done, it's you that will continue to do it. And you will do it for me in the future and my family. From here and forevermore, because it is all about your story, it is all about your glory, especially in my life. I'm going to confess that from here on out. It is in the name of Jesus the Christ, the Savior, the only one that we pray and believe. Father, thank you. Thank you, Holy Spirit. And so we close and say, Amen. Well, in Jesus' name alone, we trust and believe. If there's any boasting to be done, uh viewer or listener, me included, let it be all about extolling and blessing the Father, God, Jesus, our Savior, and what Holy Spirit is doing in us right now to reach others.

Resources, Projects, Where To Listen

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And so, in wrapping up this week's message, we're always excited as I get ready to close and I start getting these hints and from our producer. Uh, we're always excited to share with you our various projects. Project number one, uh, the recent release of our book, Navigating Life. Uh, you can Google the title and the availability uh populates at your favorite retailer, Barnes and Noble Press, Google, uh, Amazon, navigating life. Uh, speaking of the many different ways that eh, we're just here on earth and we need to navigate life among people en route to eternity. Our second project that I'm excited about, One Way. Uh, that's a music project extolling Jesus in the various genres. Maybe one is your favorite. I loved writing uh just in various genres. I love songs, uh, music, should I say, but I love songwriting. That's uh a talent that God has given me. So to be able to write uh in CCM, reggae, gospel, rap, drill, country, uh, acoustic, it was just a great project that I'm blessed to be a part of. And God be willing, uh, that next project, I do believe, is the summer of 2026, but uh one way just dropped in November of 2025. And then last but not least, if you have missed uh this broadcast and you want to go back and re-watch it, or you want to download the podcast, uh our Roku channel is connected to our webpage, which is wordsoflife with pastormark.com. Again, words of life with pastormark.com. And you can watch this message or download the podcast if you've missed it uh through your favorite digital uh subscriber. And I am so grateful as I get ready to close. I'm so thankful, and so I bless, I praise the name of God for allowing a sinner like me to espouse his words of life to a world in need of the salvation that Jesus alone provides humanity. Let us make it a habit. God deserves our praise. Let's offer it up to him, all right? Here's the song of the week as we enclose. Is it in it is entitled, got it? Boy, that'd be distracting me. Roll it up, finish it up. Our song of the week is called Your Hand, and God bless you and I. Until next time. Remember, if there's any boasting, let's make sure we're blessing and praising God for all that He does and not anything that we think we're doing inherently or on our own. All right, we're out until next time. We love you dearly. Bye-bye.

Closing Song And Final Reminder

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Before you, Lord God, no one will stand. Everything belongs to the world. Your hand we praise and we bless you. Before you we raise hands, we bless you. Splendor and honor Exalted your story All things to you belong Ruler of all you elevate and separate when some rise and some fall It's from your head from your head Nobody can nobody can take me from you from you wearing your head in your head from your head Nobody can take me from you from you wearing your head Before you Lord God No one will stand everything belongs to the worker your hand we praise and we bless you before you with raised hands we testify and magnify what comes from your head I belong to you no body be from you me from you there's nobody there's nobody there's nobody