WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:04.559 Well, we're continuing our series on the journey of faith. 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:07.440 And today is part four of that series. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:10.720 And I'm calling this one the straight path. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:16.480 So let's look at our kind of key verse here. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:18.879 Matthew 7 13. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:29.120 It says, Enter in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:38.719 Verse 14, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leads to life, and few there be that find it. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:47.359 You know, growing up, how many of you have moms or dads that said, hey, don't just do what the crowd's doing. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:48.640 Don't grow with the majority. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:56.799 Don't go with the crowd because sometimes the crowd is wrong, and sometimes just because everybody else is doing it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. 00:00:58.079 --> 00:00:59.840 You know, I know my dad. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:06.640 But as a kid, and honestly, it doesn't really stop as a kid, but you have to learn to overcome it as a kid. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:12.879 Peer pressure, that pressure of doing what everybody else is doing is high. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:31.439 And I think even today's society with social media, the perception of that that's the majority of what everybody's doing, because that's all you see either in the media or social media, becomes a pressure of, well, that must be what's right, or that must be what everybody else is doing. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:54.480 You know, it and it takes dedication, it takes discipline as parents to train our kids and as adults to train ourselves to learn to understand our individuality and to learn how to walk that straight and narrow way when the wide way is a lot more populated and a lot more crowd. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:58.400 I mean, gosh, we do everything by what's the most popular. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:00.719 Hey, let's look, let's watch a movie tonight. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:02.400 Well, what's what's popular right now? 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:09.039 What's what's trending, or what's what's good on Rotten Tomatoes, what's got a good score, what's what's everybody else saying about this? 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:11.120 Not just what am I looking at? 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:12.240 Let's go to Amazon. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:13.919 I've got to buy a product on Amazon. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.759 Let me see which has the most reviews. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:18.319 Because I've got three products I can pick. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:22.800 Let me just pick what the majority of the people are picking because it must be right. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:25.439 We just we make a lot of decisions by that. 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:38.800 I'm not saying don't do that with Amazon, but I'm saying it's something that we just have built into our psyche that we just tend to go with, let's just see what everybody else is doing, and we'll go that way as well. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:57.599 You know, we've all we've all observed a group of kids, sometimes our own, uh, you know, just one starts a little disruption or a little, you know, getting off, and then all of a sudden everybody else is doing it, and the more and this it kind of grows and grows and grows. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.479 So we have to be trained out of that nature. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:02.000 We have to be trained out of that. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:13.840 Uh and as mature adults, it really comes down to having good judgment and an understanding of our individuality to make the right decision even when others are not. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:22.479 If we look at these verses in the in the New Living, it says, You can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:28.319 The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:37.520 Verse 14 says, But the gateway to life is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:54.479 You know, I think it's become kind of popular in Christendom to be a lot more tolerant, to be a lot more, yeah, well, God's really not gonna do, he's not really gonna send people to hell. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:58.479 God's really more, yeah, you can get to God in a number of ways. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:01.280 And not not every religion is is wrong. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:12.400 So it's be kind of become a a way of, well, yeah, it's not quite as narrow to how to get to God as as what has been taught in the past. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:14.639 But that's not the case. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:16.800 That's not what the word says. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:22.639 The words here in the original language describe the kingdom path as narrow. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:32.959 And that that word straight or narrow, both of those actually are translated the same or from the same word, it's it really kind of indicates a closely confined path. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:42.639 In other words, I picture I'm walking through the woods, and there's, you know, I have to kind of I have to kind of move around to get there. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:48.639 It's not that it's um narrow because I'm walking on a you know a tight precipice. 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:52.319 It's narrow because I'm I'm I'm crowded in, I'm pressed in. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:58.399 Um in fact, the word it kind of has that connotation of being pressed. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:05.040 Um in fact, that same word of narrow is translated a few different ways. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:21.920 In Mark 3.9, it says, So he told his disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for him because of the multitude, lest they should crush him, lest they should press him in, lest they should make him a lot more narrow, his way narrow is that same word. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:26.319 In 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians 4 8, it says, we are pressed. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:33.839 We are made narrow, we are made straight, we are pressed in on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.800 We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:44.879 So even Paul saying, I'm on this straight and narrow, this pressed pathway, but yet we're not crushed by it. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:06:07.519 We're kind of having to cut our way through this narrow path and the pressures of life and the pressures of the enemy and the pressures of being on a path that not everybody else is on is making it a little bit more difficult, but yet we have the ability to overcome it. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:13.279 So when we talk about the straight path, this is what we're talking about. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:20.959 A path that is more um more narrow, more pressed in, a little bit more difficult to navigate. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:23.279 So where are we going with this? 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:33.360 Throughout Scripture, the the imagery of that straight path means being on the right path, and the crooked path means you're on the wrong path. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:43.759 Um Hebrews 12, 13 says, Mark out a straight path for your feet, so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:48.399 But contrast that with Isaiah 59, verse 8. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:53.519 It says, the way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways. 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:57.279 They have made themselves crooked paths. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:00.240 Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:09.120 There's a number I I've almost kept all the verses that talk about the crooked path, because Proverbs has a lot to say about it. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:13.600 Um, but I decided to condense the number of scriptures I was using. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:21.120 But throughout Scripture, the straight path is the one that's in indicating this is the right path, this is the just path. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:29.759 And the crooked path meant that it's the path of the wicked, the path that is not uh the right one to go. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:50.079 One of the first things that uh um John the Baptist did when he was proclaiming before Jesus came, he quoted a verse in Isaiah that said, make straight the path, declare the way of the Lord, make straight his what you know, make straight the path for him. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:54.000 In other words, let's let's make this path the right path. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:57.439 Let's get off this crooked path and make the right path. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:05.839 The journey of faith is the straightest, narrowest path that we can follow. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:10.079 But it requires focus, very deliberate steps. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:12.800 How many of you have been hiking before? 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:22.480 And if you've been hiking on a trail that's well worn or even paved, I can say I've been hiking and I was on the swamp rabbit, and well, that's a five-foot paved walkway. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:26.480 I'm not really having to navigate it very difficult, I just walk on it. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:33.519 But I've been on trails before up in the Smoky Mountains where, you know, every step I'm having to really watch where I go. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:39.600 Not because I'm about to fall off a cliff, but the path is uneven and I have to watch my feet. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:42.240 I have to watch where I'm going. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:49.600 I have to watch every little, every little move lest I fall or lest I get pressed on by something that might be in my way. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:53.279 I can't keep my head down because there could be a tree branch right in the way. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:09:01.600 Those are the that's what we're talking about when we're talking about that, those deliberate steps that we have to take on the journey of faith. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:08.399 And as we read in Matthew, the majority of people don't find this path. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:18.000 The majority of people are following the broader path, the easier path, the seemingly easier path. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:28.879 Peter describes this kind of faith, the faith that follows this path as precious, as rare. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:35.440 And you've heard me, you know, if you've been on Bible study, I may have even mentioned it last time I taught. 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:48.240 But in recent church studies, the numbers are just showing that even in America, the majority of people are not following that straight and narrow path. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:59.279 Um right now it says 5% of Americans attend church regularly, and regularly means at least three times a month. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:06.399 So 5%, five out of a hundred people are attending church regularly. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:12.240 Um and that doesn't mean, well, I'll just I'll leave it at that. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:24.320 I mean, that just shows that whatever we say we're we're doing as a as a Christian nation or as we we believe in God, we're not even going to God's house as a majority. 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:29.600 95% are saying, nah, I got better things to do on a Sunday morning or a Saturday. 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:36.879 I mean, and that's actually, I mean, that stat is actually all church, all religions, synagogues, mosques, everything. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:40.720 So attendance of any religion is actually 5%. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:46.639 So if you look at Bible-believing Christians, it's even a subset of that percentage. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:52.080 60% of Americans, this one was so interesting, I put it on this, I put it on the screen. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:58.720 60 cent of Americans, this is a study this year, don't even believe God exists. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:06.799 60% and the majority of Americans don't believe God exists or that he has any impact in people's lives. 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:24.720 So when we say we're a Christian nation, or we historically have thought that, I think our I think our I think what we see going on in the nation, and when we see a stat like this, it kind of goes, ah. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:41.360 So our because of the 40% who are who do believe that God exists, so of this 40% blue, only 38% of that 40% says God is the most important thing in their life. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:49.679 So even if I say in America that I believe that God exists, I'm more likely to not even do anything about it. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:52.240 I just know that God exists. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:12:03.840 And of the people that believe God exists, only 34% believe that there's a responsibility that I have toward God. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:09.039 And that there's things that I can, that there's things I need to do because God exists. 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:12.639 There's things I need to, I need to be serving God, I need to be doing things. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:14.879 And I put so I put these numbers here. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:31.279 That means 13, so the the percentages works out to 13.6 people out of a hundred feel a responsibility toward God in America, and 15.2 people out of a hundred feel like God is the most important thing in their life. 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:35.519 And we've already seen that 60%, only 5% attend church. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:39.440 So why am I saying that? 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:43.279 The straight and narrow, the few there be that find it. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:48.720 The journey of faith isn't just saying I believe in God. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.559 The journey of faith is I believe in God. 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:54.080 God is the most important. 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:58.159 I have a responsibility, I talk to God, God talks to me. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:02.320 There's all parts of that that have to go into what this journey is. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:14.799 Because if I'm on that straight and narrow path, that path that feels pressed in, and I have to watch every step and be deliberate about it, I need to be listening to the Lord to go, am I on the right path? 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:18.960 Number one, and are there things I need to watch out for, Lord? 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:22.240 What are what are what do you want me to do on this path? 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:25.919 I gotta check my map, make sure I'm going on the right way. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:35.200 I gotta, you know, um, you know, I've I've done when I used to live in Tennessee, I used to do a lot of hiking in the mountains. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:43.679 And you know, I'd just pick a trail on a Saturday and I'd go hike a trail, um, you know, young, single, not much, nothing else to do. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:59.200 Um and regularly I'd I'd find myself one time, or I was with actually a group of friends in this one, and we found ourselves we had taken the wrong turn, you know, because you know, this is we're not using GPS, we're not using anything else, and we've realized we are on the wrong path. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:03.039 We had to backtrack a whole lot to get back onto the right path. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:08.480 And again, we're young and energetic, so it didn't really cost much other than time. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:25.440 You know, but as us, as Christians, as people who are believing God exists and that God is the most important and that we're responsible, we don't have time to be getting off track and then having to backtrack just to get back on the right path. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:34.080 But if we look at what the majority of people are doing, the majority of people don't believe in God. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:38.559 Because largely because they don't want responsibility. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:45.039 If I believe in God, then I have to start thinking, well, do I have a responsibility to a God that I believe in? 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:54.000 And that's an easy easy out for most people, is I'll just not believe there is a God, and therefore I'm not responsible. 00:14:55.120 --> 00:15:01.360 And we see a lot of fruits of not being responsible in the world today, not just America. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:10.720 We are pressed in by the pressures of those who don't believe. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.360 Because that now that's the majority. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:33.279 The world is more and more heading toward ungodliness, just like the days of Noah, just like Peter and the apostles experienced in the in the book of Acts, just like Jesus experienced with when he came on the scene. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:44.559 When Jesus came on the scene, one, there hadn't been any prophets or any word from God for 400 years, so tradition had really taken over the nation. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:51.919 And that's why the religious leaders had really become the people that the rest of the people looked to. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:16:03.919 So when Jesus came in going, hey, what you're saying and doing is wrong, they didn't like it because now all of a sudden their little power struggle is truly a struggle. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:11.519 And someone's coming in, walking that straight and narrow path, saying, this isn't the right way. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:14.080 You've all been going this wide way. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:19.279 Now you're gonna have to start following a different, very narrow way. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:25.360 Very straightway, very pressed in way, because it's gonna be a different way than you've been going before. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:37.440 You know, as in Noah, both both Jesus and Peter referred to Noah, and it's a it's a good analogy for what we're seeing today. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:17:05.440 Uh 2 Peter 2, 4, it says, For if God did not save, or excuse me, for if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them to chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly. 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:09.759 And Jesus likened the end times to the times of Noah. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:21.440 He said, As in the days of Noah, people are gonna be going about their business, they're gonna be marrying and giving and marrying, they're gonna be doing the things that they normally do, and all of a sudden it's gonna come to the end. 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:23.440 It's gonna be just like that. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:29.279 And just like the days of Noah, it's gonna be a few that get saved. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:34.319 Noah was one of eight people on the entire planet that got saved. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:37.759 That's a few. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:50.720 Because he was the only few that believed in God that had enough faith and humility to believe God and to be obedient to what God said. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:53.519 Noah, I'm gonna send a flood. 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:56.880 Go build a boat out in the middle of a desert. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:00.880 You're gonna look crazy, people are gonna laugh at you and scoff at you. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:11.599 If you read Genesis, it looks like it took about 120 years for him to build that ark, which makes sense for the tools they would have had back then and the size that he built it. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:15.440 So for 120 years, he preached righteousness. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:19.119 He tried to get people to say, hey, there's a flood coming. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:20.240 It's gonna rain. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:28.799 I know it's never rained before on this in the world, but it's gonna rain, and you got you guys gonna get in the boat, and not one person listened. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:36.319 Not one person believed had the same amount of faith that he did to say, okay, let's do this. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:41.839 Let's let's let's take action on what I hear, which is what faith is doing. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:50.480 Now this all sounds very depressing to say the world's going to hell in a handbasket. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:59.119 It kind of is, but in the sense that we have the ability like Noah to be saved. 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:04.160 And I'm this is not a we're the only right ones, everybody else is wrong message. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:09.920 There are churches everywhere preaching the gospel, preaching the true faith. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:26.000 But if we look at the stats again and say, yes, there are churches everywhere preaching the right, but at the same time, only 40% of all of people in America believe God even exists, let alone take any action on it. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:31.279 And 95% of America doesn't even go to church on three times a month. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:39.359 Well, then even if a church is preaching the gospel, there's not enough people showing up to hear it. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:41.279 So why am I saying all this? 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:48.960 That when we talk about a journey of faith, this is not, we're not talking about this giant crowd of people that we're taking this journey with. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:57.200 It's gonna feel sometimes like we're lonely, like we're the only ones, that we're out on our own, which is why we need to be so encouraging to each other. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:19:59.200 Because that path will feel pressed in. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:01.759 I feel like I'm on this path. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:04.319 I'm trusting God for my kids. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:05.839 I'm trusting God for healing. 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:08.559 I'm trusting God to meet my needs. 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:12.720 And it just feels like I'm being bounced around all the time. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.319 Because I feel like I'm being pressed in. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:33.039 You know, the American, I mentioned this earlier, but the American Christian mindset has really turned from repentance to tolerance. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:34.640 Eh, it's okay. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:44.799 God will forgive me, or God's grace is sufficient, or there's not even a God to be responsible to, even if I believe in God. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:49.039 It's turned from compassion to divisiveness. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:52.400 But not here, not us. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:21:06.160 Just as Noah was just and walked with God in his day, we can be just and walk with God in our day, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of what the majority is doing. 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:18.880 What Jesus taught and lived while he was on this earth was heard by a lot of people, but only a few actually followed him. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:27.680 You know, at the time, at times a path of doing right will seem like the lonely path. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:29.359 But don't fear. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:22:00.400 One of the verses I love to hear, in fact, in light of what we're talking about today, Hebrews 12, 1, it says, Therefore, since we are surrounded now by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, other people who have gone before us who have walked that same path, walked that narrow path, gone through that straight gate, and said, okay, I'm going to do this path. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.160 I'm not going to go with the crowd. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:04.319 They're all cheering for us. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:06.880 They're all going, come on, you can do it. 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:08.160 We did it. 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:09.599 We pressed through. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:10.400 You can do it. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:14.559 There's a crowd of witnesses saying, Let's do this. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:25.200 Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:39.440 You know, in Hebrews 12 comes after Hebrews 11, where they talk about all the people who, by faith, Noah built an ark, by faith, Abraham left his country, by faith, all these other people did these things. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:46.720 And there's a whole lot more, in fact, the writer of Hebrews says, you know, there's there's so much more, too many to be named. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:52.799 And this is that cloud, that the crowd of witnesses that went before us. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:23:02.480 So yeah, it may seem like you're out on your own sometimes in this life of faith, in this journey of faith, but there's a whole bunch of people cheering us on to get there. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:18.000 So our part, as this verse says, is to we have to get rid of all the weights that slow us down, and especially the sin that so easily trips us up. 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:19.119 We do this. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:28.799 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:35.119 Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:38.079 Now he is seated in the place of honor besides God's throne. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:40.240 But I love this first part. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:41.920 We do this. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:44.400 We get on this narrow path. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:56.480 We get to our end by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the one who initiates, who gave us the faith in the first place, and the one who perfects it or matures it as we go. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:00.640 You know, but I started thinking about keeping our eyes on Jesus. 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:04.960 We can sing about it, turn your eyes upon Jesus. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:11.119 And we can tell, you know, we can say, I think about a question Louisa asked one time. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:15.039 You know, she said, how do you how do you look to God? 00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:23.039 Or how do you something to this effect of how do I see Jesus or God when I can't see Jesus or God? 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:29.519 You know, I think I think a lot of adults and even Christians, we say, yeah, I'm keeping my eyes on Jesus. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.880 What is that, practically, what does that mean? 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:34.960 You know, what do we what are we doing? 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:37.359 We can say, yeah, Jesus is the word. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:43.599 Um, but I wanted to look at some some practical actions that we can take. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:46.400 All the all and all this comes from Proverbs. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:48.240 So turn to Proverbs 2. 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:50.319 We're going to read a few verses here. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:25:01.359 This will be kind of our this is a how to stay on the straight and narrow path chapter in Proverbs. 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:12.240 We don't want to be on the crooked path, we want to be on the on the on the straight path. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:14.319 Proverbs 2, we'll start with verse 1. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:15.759 I'm reading from New Living. 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:21.680 It says, My child, listen to what I say and treasure my commands. 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:27.279 Tune your ears to wisdom and concentrate on understanding. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:32.160 Cry out for insight and ask for understanding. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.680 Search for them as you would for silver. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:38.880 Seek them like hidden treasures. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.400 Verse 5 starts with the word then. 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:52.079 So those first four verses are all, if you do these things, then something else will come into and happen. 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:55.599 So let's go back and look at what we should be doing. 00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:57.440 Listen, verse one. 00:25:58.319 --> 00:25:59.200 Treasure. 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:08.000 Regard as highly valuable, which is what treasure means. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:14.160 Verse two, tune, tune your ears, concentrate. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:16.720 This takes effort. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:23.039 This takes some dedication to tune in and tune out. 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:29.119 Verse three, cry out for insight and ask for understanding. 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:33.200 Verse four, search and seek. 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:42.400 Listen, treasure, tune, concentrate, cry out, ask, search and seek. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:47.119 Verse five, then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:49.359 Then you will gain the knowledge of God. 00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:51.599 I'll keep reading. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:54.880 Verse six, for the Lord grants wisdom. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:57.759 From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:01.599 He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:03.680 I love that translation. 00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:08.079 He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:13.119 That's one thing that really feels like it's missing these days in society is common sense. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:14.400 It's like, really? 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:15.920 Really? 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:20.960 You think that from this, or you, I mean, it's like, really? 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:25.519 He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:28.960 He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:36.160 He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:45.920 So we've got four verses of things for us to do, and then it turns around and gives us four verses of things that God will do. 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:51.119 God will give you a gain in knowledge. 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:53.039 God will grant wisdom. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:57.279 He'll grant you a treasure of common sense. 00:27:57.519 --> 00:27:58.960 He's a shield. 00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:02.880 He guards your path, and he protects those who are faithful to him. 00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:06.880 So there's things for us to do. 00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:09.359 We have to be responsible. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:14.559 And then there's things that God is responsible for once we do those things. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:18.000 Because notice, he doesn't say he's going to guard everyone's path. 00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:22.480 He doesn't guard the wide path that everybody's going on that's not the right path. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:23.920 He doesn't guard that path. 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:26.799 He guards the straight and narrow path. 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:32.799 He protects those not who are on the path that everybody else is going on, the wide gate. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:36.000 He protects those who are faithful to him. 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:38.240 I'm on the straight and narrow. 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:48.559 There's a responsibility that we have to do first, and then God is obligated to fulfill his word and to be true to his word. 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:54.160 He will protect us, he will guard us when we're on the right path. 00:28:55.440 --> 00:29:03.680 He's not obligated to protect the people who don't even want to listen to him and reject him while they're following that other path. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:08.880 The good news is that we can change paths anytime. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:12.000 We can turn around and say, Lord, I'm sorry, forgive me. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:19.599 I've been walking down that wide path because it seemed like it was the easy one, seemed like that was the way everybody else was going. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.799 I need to get back on the path that you have for me. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:25.839 As lonely as it may feel sometimes. 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:38.880 Verse 9, still in Proverbs 2, then you will understand what is right, just and fair, and you will find the right way to go. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:54.880 So if you listen, treasure, tune in, concentrate, seek, search, God's going to do some things, but then it says, then you, you're going to understand what's right and just and fair. 00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:56.799 You're going to be able to find that right way. 00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:04.559 You're going to know what the right way is, even when it may not seem that clear or may not seem that easy to do and make that decision. 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:10.880 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:14.480 Wise choices will watch over you. 00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:17.680 Understanding will keep you safe. 00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:24.000 Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted. 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:33.759 And it for time's sake, I won't go into the uh, well, actually, let me look at this real quick. 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:34.880 Verse 13. 00:30:35.119 --> 00:30:40.079 Because it starts to talk, it gives two different examples of things that it will save you from. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:45.759 One of it's men, these men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths. 00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:52.960 In other words, there are people who were walking down the right path, that narrow one, then they said, nope, let's go down this other one. 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:56.400 It may seem darker, but yeah, there's a whole lot more people on it. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:57.759 It's a lot wider. 00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:00.640 I don't have to, I don't have to watch my step as much. 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:10.000 I don't have to worry about branches in the way, or I I it's a little bit, I can just follow the person in front of me, or the person next to me. 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:15.119 They take pleasure in doing wrong and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil. 00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:20.240 Their actions are crooked, and their ways are wrong. 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:30.000 And then the second example, verse 16, wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:34.799 She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God. 00:31:35.119 --> 00:31:37.119 Entering her house leads to death. 00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:39.119 It is the road to the grave. 00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:43.839 The man who visits her is doomed, and he will never reach the paths of life. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:55.119 So it gives us the example of men who have turned from the right path to wickedness, and women who are also trying to lead people down the right path. 00:31:55.440 --> 00:32:04.880 So, verse 20, it concludes, it says, So follow the steps of the good, and stay on the path of the right the paths of the righteous. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:14.960 The journey of faith is the right path, but it's also the path that feels like it's the hardest one sometimes. 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:22.400 But in the end, it becomes the one that has less pain, less heartache, less frustration. 00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:34.319 But in order for us, in order to listen, in order for us to get there, we have to listen, treasure, tune, and concentrate. 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:37.680 And to do that, we have to put distractions aside. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:51.279 And for us in today's society, that's a big part of that pressure that we face is well, if I don't touch my device for a while, I might miss something. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.279 That fear of missing out, FOMO. 00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:58.720 Um we have to just turn it off sometimes. 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:03.920 And we have to stay off that broader, the broader path of the unbeliever. 00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:10.880 It might look easier, and it might look easier because the majority of people are doing it. 00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:14.640 And the majority of people are voicing it. 00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:22.799 And the majority of people are now saying it's not the cool thing to be the church-going Christian. 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:24.960 It's the uncool thing. 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:35.119 And I, you know, I'm just from scripture and reading the word, I don't think that's going to get any better in the world. 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:41.680 I think it's going to get more and more antagonistic against Christians. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:44.720 But that shouldn't be something for us to fear. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:34:00.880 That's what the apostles faced, that's what the disciples faced in the book of Acts, but yet at the same time, the Word of God grew more and more because people saw more and more of the difference of the light and the dark. 00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:20.079 Right now it feels like there's a lot of gray, but that light and dark is going to become more obvious because the path of the just and the path of the broad and wide way is going to become a lot more distinct, I believe, throughout not just the United States, but through the world. 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:26.079 But our responsibility isn't to kind of go, well, what's going to happen in the future? 00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:48.000 Our responsibility right now for us is to not be, is to first of all believe God exists and trust that he is with us and for us, and that he will do the things that we just read in Proverbs when we do the things that we have to do in Proverbs, when we set aside the time to listen and treasure and concentrate. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:57.039 The path of the unbeliever is full of harm. 00:34:57.280 --> 00:35:02.639 It leads to death, spiritual death initially, and then ultimately physical death. 00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:06.159 The path of faith is narrow. 00:35:06.880 --> 00:35:08.079 But I love the scripture. 00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:10.159 That's one reason I sang this song this morning. 00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:14.320 Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:25.519 When that path may seem kind of the way that you have to really watch every step that you're going on, the Bible says his word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. 00:35:25.760 --> 00:35:31.440 I remember one time I was asking the Lord, Lord, what is why why are the two different words, lamp and light? 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:36.159 And not too long afterward, I was taking, I was walking at night. 00:35:36.320 --> 00:35:44.000 Um, this is a long time ago when I lived in Tennessee, and I was on the side of the road, um, and for a little bit there wasn't a sidewalk. 00:35:44.079 --> 00:35:46.960 So I was walking in the grass, and it was dark. 00:35:47.519 --> 00:36:03.440 And I realized that every time I got underneath a street lamp, um I could see that it was, it was it was removing the shadows because I could see where the pits were, the rocks were, but the car lights that were coming were shining the way forward for me. 00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:09.280 So the street lamp was shining down so I could see the terrain and get that that you know, get a bit of all the shadows. 00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:13.440 Because if I just had the car lights going forward, I was getting a lot of shadow. 00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:16.159 Couldn't tell the terra and unevenness. 00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:20.000 But that was telling me, that was kind of giving me what was coming ahead. 00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:21.360 That's what the word does. 00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:25.519 It shows you what's coming ahead, but it also shows you what's here right now. 00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:36.960 The word is a lamp unto your feet, shows you what's going on right now, so that you know where exactly to take that next step, but it also shows you where the path is going and where you need to turn next. 00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:42.159 Your word is a lamp unto your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 00:36:42.320 --> 00:36:45.360 It is a word for now and a word for where I'm going. 00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:48.400 That's keeping your eyes on Jesus. 00:36:48.719 --> 00:36:49.360 Amen? 00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:57.280 Keeping your eyes on the word and trusting in him that he is going to lead you on every step of the way. 00:36:57.519 --> 00:36:59.599 That is the path that is protected. 00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:01.760 That is the path that is safe. 00:37:02.480 --> 00:37:06.559 That is the path, as Proverbs says too, it grows brighter and brighter. 00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:13.280 The path of the just goes brighter and brighter until the end, the full day, when we just we end up in heaven. 00:37:13.519 --> 00:37:17.280 And we either end up in heaven through death or we end up in heaven through Jesus coming back. 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:18.239 It doesn't matter. 00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:21.119 As soon as we get there, that path becomes super bright. 00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:23.119 We're on streets of gold. 00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:33.280 We're on a place that there is no darkness, there is no shadow, there is no sun or moon because God Himself is the light. 00:37:33.599 --> 00:37:35.679 That is the path we are aiming for. 00:37:35.920 --> 00:37:36.559 Amen. 00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:37.840 Amen.