WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:08.480 I know this Jesus tells us that if we leave the house and home, we leave our mothers and fathers for his name, we'll receive a hundredfold blessing in return. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:16.480 And we and I've held on to that promise many times as the Lord has taken us administry to different assignments, different places, and I know that they're gonna be richly blessed. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:35.439 But what they're not gonna do, what Brick and Aaron's not gonna do, what would be very peculiar, is for them to any of these fixer-uppers that they go to, for them to go and begin to do the renovations and invest the money and start to tear down walls and put paint up and make all the renovation plans without a signed contract. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:38.240 That's not what people normally do. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:42.159 You don't normally start renovating without a signed contract. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:52.240 You heard the great news uh that Liberty shared and I got to share last Sunday that construction begins next this coming week here in multiply for our future home. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:54.399 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.280 But I'll tell you this: we're gonna start construction if we didn't have a contract. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:58.560 We got a contract. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:04.959 We got a contract! You have a signed contract before you do the renovation. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:10.799 You take possession of it before you start to do the fixing up of a place. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:18.480 And in the same way, when you come to Jesus, it's not like you go and get cleaned up before you take a shower. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:20.959 You come to Jesus just as you are. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:27.040 And wherever you start, that starting place, that's where God receives you. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:43.599 He enters into a signed contract, his new covenant with you, of his blood shed on the cross in your place, if you're born again and new life saved in him, and you begin to walk out a process with Jesus of him doing renovation on your life. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:47.200 For his glory and for your betterment. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:52.239 And again, it's not like you uh go and clean up before you get in the shower. 00:01:52.319 --> 00:02:02.400 Instead, you come to Jesus where you are and you allow him to take you to the better version of yourself as you walk in the Spirit of God. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:09.520 Now, here's the thing: it's so easy for us to fall into sin. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:22.240 To fall into things that are gonna destroy us, that are gonna tear us up, that are gonna break us down, gonna rot and destroy our lives, just like a house that needs to be fixed up. 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:26.240 And it's so easy for us to fall into different temptations. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:27.039 And why is that? 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:44.080 It's because when you're when you're new in Christ, when you have been bought with a price, when you have become born again, you have the Spirit of God that's taking residence up inside of your heart, your mind, your life, but you still have what the Bible calls your flesh. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:52.080 The flesh is your earthly mind, who you are, and and all the things of you just being a human and not being perfect. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:54.319 That none of us is per are perfect. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:03.680 We can't earn our way into perfection, we can't earn our way into our salvation, into heaven, but instead we need to receive the Lord's perfection by way of the blood of Jesus. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:16.479 And there's a continual fight between our flesh, our earthly desires, what our mind and heart, what we want, and what the Spirit of God inside of us is driving us forward for his kingdom glory in heaven. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:33.120 And there's a continual battle that we're in because we're on this side of heaven on earth, and we're in a fallen world that's broken, and each one of us, and especially me, each one of us are broken in so many ways and in need of the Holy Spirit's love, guidance, and direction. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:42.159 And for him to fix us as we go, the insights from author Neil T. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:47.199 Anderson, he puts it like this in light of us falling into sin so easily. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:04:03.840 Rest can easily become laziness, profit can become greed, enjoyment becomes addiction, pleasure becomes sensuality, admiring becomes coveting, food becomes gluttony, self-care becomes vanity, self-respect becomes conceit. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:07.120 Communication becomes gossip. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:22.240 Cautiousness becomes unbelief, anger becomes rage, loving kindness becomes overprotection, criticism becomes judgment, sexual freedom becomes immorality, self-protection becomes dishonesty, carefulness becomes fear. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:27.199 It's so easy for us to fall into the trap of sin. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:35.120 Satan wants nothing more than just to take you a little bit farther than what you thought that you would go. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:44.959 And in doing so, try to chip away and destroy the life that God has and his purposes and plans that he has for you. 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:46.480 You have a real enemy. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:52.720 You have a real enemy, the devil, Satan, who wants to kill, steal, and destroy from you. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:05:10.399 Jesus told us quite plainly, and we looked at a passage last Sunday that speaks directly to where this comes from, this flesh and this human nature that we have versus the Spirit of God and what He has and calls us to. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:23.680 This passage we looked at last week that we're we kind of briefly skimmed over, but we're going to deep dive into its implications, is 1 John 2, 15 through 17. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:27.680 The scripture says, Do not love the world or anything in the world. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:32.399 If anyone loves the world, love of the Father is not in them. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:40.079 For everything in this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, comes not from the Father, but from the world. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:43.120 The world and its desires pass away. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:46.000 But whoever does the will of God lives what? 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:47.199 Forever. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:58.399 We skimmed over this passage this last week, and I want you to stick with me as we take this passage and we look at two stories from the scripture. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:06.399 Two stories, first one starting all the way back in the beginning, with all of our ancestors, Adam and Eve. 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:11.279 The first man and woman who were created by God and they were tempted in the Garden of Eden. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:15.120 See, God breathed life into Adam and created Eve. 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:21.199 And the story of God, God creates the heavens and earth, and then he creates man and woman, Adam and Eve. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:24.000 And they're in perfect union with God. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:37.040 They're in this place called the Garden of Eden, that is this utopia, this garden that's set up that them and God, they literally are walking together in harmony and unity with God. 00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:41.040 And God gives them one rule. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:57.199 He says that of all these, all this beautiful garden, all the trees, all the fruit, the trees here, there's just one tree that uh you cannot eat from, or you will surely die. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:06:59.759 The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.680 But Adam and Eve and God were not the only ones that were in the garden. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:07.759 There also was the enemy, the devil Satan, in the form of a serpent. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.279 Adam and Eve just had one rule. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:23.120 I just think about for my great-great-great-great-great grandmother grandmother and grandfather Adam and Eve, I'm like, could y'all not just follow one rule? 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:27.600 This whole world, really, you couldn't just not eat from that tree. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:32.480 And the thing is, is that God wanted to give them a choice of love. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:40.240 They weren't hostages in this garden, but instead they had the option to choose to follow and be in right relationship with God or to disobey him. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:08:04.079 And you all, those who've been in church for some time, know the story that the serpent, the devil, comes to Adam and Eve and begins to lie, begins to tempt Adam and Eve for them to sin and to break this one command, this one law. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.720 We see it come to a head in Genesis 3:6. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:20.800 Speaking of Eve, when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:25.759 And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.480 That first part of verse 6. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:43.360 Eve, the woman, she saw the fruit of the tree that it was good for food. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:52.000 Now God had told her that they could eat from any other place in the garden except for this one tree. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:09:09.600 And Satan, earlier in verse one, had spoken a lie to her and said, the serpent, who is the shrewdest of all the wild animals that God had made, one day he asked the woman, Did God really say you must not eat the fruit of any of the trees in the garden? 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:14.320 Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:25.919 And begins to put a seed of doubt in her mind of, did God really say that you couldn't eat from this one specific tree? 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:37.600 Did God really say that you needed to stay away from this one, that you don't have access to everything that God has given you? 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:46.960 And he continues to lie to her and tells her that God's told her to not eat from this tree because he doesn't want her to become like him. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:50.159 And he feeds these lies into her mind. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:10:00.799 And if you think about what she said or was said of her in verse 6, that she saw the tree and she saw that it was good for food. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.480 Now she she had options of all the other trees. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:17.279 Adam and Eve, both of them had options of every other place in the garden, but of this one, she begins to think, even though God told her that if she ate it, she would die, she begins to think, you know what, that looks really good. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:27.440 And in doing so, she begins to follow her appetites, her cravings. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:29.679 She follows her gut. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:43.440 She follows her gut, which is what the passage of scripture we looked at last week and this week means when it talks about the lust of the flesh. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:50.559 The physical appetites, a seeking of gratification that we have. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:58.080 Now I've been working with a health coach for the last uh few months, and this week was my cheat week. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:11.600 I've been on this strict diet now for months and months and months, but I got a phone call a couple weeks ago from my trainer, and he's like, hey, this week that you have, the last week of July, is going to be a break from your diet. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:12.480 I'm like, say what? 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:13.440 Say it again? 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:15.039 Are you serious? 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:20.879 He's like, Yes, you can, you, you, you're, we're, we're resetting your system, we're getting you into this cycle. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:25.039 My metabolism got messed up in 2021, and so we're going through this with my trainer. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:27.279 He's like, you can eat whatever you want that week. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.639 And I'm like, oh my goodness. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:36.080 So this week, let me tell you, I've had burgers and fries, I've had pizza, I mean, it's just been I've had dessert every day. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:41.279 I mean, I've just gone, oh man, I've had a great week with in that respect. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:43.200 But you know what? 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:45.759 By the end of the week, right now, I feel really sluggish. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:47.679 And I feel weighed down. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:48.559 And you know what? 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:53.360 I'm kind of ready to get back to my healthy food after one week. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:59.279 You know, you can uh you can trust your gut in a lot of things. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:06.960 You can trust your gut decisions and business deals and reading people, and but when it comes to matters of sin, you can't trust your gut. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:30.320 When it comes to matters of the Lord, you can't just trust the appetites and the cravings that you have in your life, because for most of us, all of us, we have cravings and desires that don't line up with what God's call for our life and the Holy Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that should be pouring out from us as we walk in the Spirit. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:38.240 But instead, there's so often times that we get pulled down into our fleshly desires and appetites. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:45.600 Eve looked at this tree and she said, Ooh, it's good for food, even though God had told her it would kill her. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:48.879 You can't trust your gut. 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:52.639 And when I say that, what I'm meaning is you can't always trust your heart. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:00.879 The scripture tells us in Jeremiah 17, 9, the human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:02.720 Who really knows how bad it is? 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:19.840 And then Jesus confirms it in Mark 7, 21 through 23, when he says, For from within, out of a person's heart, comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.240 All these things come from within. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:24.080 They are what defile you. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:25.360 That's the words of Jesus. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:40.799 These words, follow your heart, listen to your heart, have done more damage to people spiritually than we could ever know. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:45.840 That if you feel it, that you should do it. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:50.240 If it's right for you, if it's true for you, well then it's true. 00:13:50.399 --> 00:14:13.360 But instead we know from Jesus that all of us, without the power of God, without a new creation, new being born-again life, being transformed into the image of God, without the Holy Spirit taking residence inside of our heart and mind, we are surely to die. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:27.600 And the things that we crave and the things that we want to go after, if it's not in alignment with God's will for our life, that it will end up destroying us. 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:38.000 Eve says that it's good for food, even though it would bring death to her. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:45.039 And then she says, in Genesis 3, and pleasing to the eye. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:52.559 This fruit that it's good for food, but it's not only that, it's also pleasing to my eye. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.720 And you know what the serpent Satan tells her in verse 4? 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:58.000 Lies to her. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:14:59.519 You won't die. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:02.559 The serpent replies to the woman. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:04.960 You won't die. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.200 We're talking about the eyes. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:15.759 The lust of the eyes is what our passage has called it. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:22.159 Now, when I say the lust of the eyes, what I mean is a self-serving interest. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:24.960 I'm not just talking about sexual lust. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:33.360 I'm I'm talking about us wanting or coveting someone else's life, someone else's income, someone else's athletic ability. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:41.679 You know, it's great for us to have personal goals and to be goal-oriented, and but our goals need to line up with what God's will for our life is. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:44.799 That's unique to you, not someone else's. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:46.320 You know what? 00:15:46.639 --> 00:16:04.159 When we look at other people and we let the lust of our eyes look at other people's lives or what other people have, and you begin to think about and model and maybe even covet and want what they had instead of looking at God's will for your life, you will always be the Dr. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:07.120 Thunder version of somebody else's life. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:10.080 Y'all know what I'm talking about? 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:11.919 Some Dr. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:13.600 Thunder, some mountain lightning. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:15.919 Y'all don't know about Bubba Cola, do you? 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:18.320 Oh, I know about Bubba Cola over in Shelby County. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:20.000 Ooh, right in front of IgA. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:22.399 That Bubba Cola? 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:25.759 You know you're drinking that and it ain't right. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:29.279 It ain't, it's not the real thing. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:32.000 It's not the real thing. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:33.519 Nobody has a Dr. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:34.960 Pepper sitting there and says, you know what? 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:35.840 I'll take the Dr. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:36.559 Thunder. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:46.480 When the lust of our eyes make us want what somebody else's has, what somebody else's has. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:52.799 We're not walking in the will, the perfect will that God has uniquely placed for your life. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:08.319 And again, it's okay for us to desire to have good things and to ask the Lord for them, but is this something that you are asking so that you can bring yourself in alignment with God's will, or are you just looking at the shiny things? 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:13.920 Social media has now taken this to unbelievable heights. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:27.839 You can see every millionaire, billionaire, the cars they drive, the life that they live, the clothes that they have, the lifestyle, the vacations, the yachts, the boats, all the things you can see. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:39.200 It's just being put out there for you to bring into your eyes, into your mind, and to take you off the path that God has for you. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:48.240 Eve looks at the fruit and says and thinks that it's pleasing to the eye, even though God tells her that it's gonna kill her. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:57.599 And then in verse 6 she says, or thinks that it's also desirable for gaining wisdom. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:14.640 See, in verse 5, Satan lies to her again and says, God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you'll be like God, you know both good and evil. 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:21.039 Don't you just want to be more like him? 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:28.079 Don't you want to be out of the fog and know from good and evil, won't you? 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:31.359 Wanna be God? 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:43.039 And so in self-promotion and self-interest, the enemy will attack our mind, which is the pride of life. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.079 Now, I want you guys to follow closely with me now. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:19:00.480 Because I want us to look at the life of Jesus and I want us to see the implications of what we just went through and read and how Jesus walked this out in his earthly ministry. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:12.960 In Matthew 4, we see verse 1, that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:17.279 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:25.279 During that time the devil came and said to him, If you're the Son of God, tell these stones to become loads of bread. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:37.920 But Jesus told him, No, the scripture says, People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:46.640 The enemy Satan comes to Jesus and he says, You have been starving, you've been fasting for 40 phases, 40 nights, you're famished. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:50.000 Just turn these stones into bread. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:52.960 You've got the power to do it and to eat. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:54.799 The gut. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:58.400 The lust of the flesh. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:01.440 Satan tries to tempt Jesus. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:02.960 And what does Jesus say? 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:04.160 He says, no. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:07.839 He says, no. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:10.720 He says, no. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:13.680 Man doesn't live by bread alone. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:21.680 But by the words that come from God and his will for our life. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:27.279 Jesus submits himself to God's will. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:51.359 In the same way for us, when we're tempted, for us to follow the appetites and the cravings in our life, that we need to consciously be able to, in the face of temptation, like Jesus did, say, no, God has a better plan for me. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:55.359 No, God has told me differently about my life. 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:59.599 No, that right there, it's going to kill me. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:04.880 That sin, that habit, that thing that you continue to do and return to? 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:06.640 No. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:11.680 And instead, I want to walk in the will of God. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:15.119 Now I know how easy it is to say that. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:21.519 But when you're in the in the throes of it, when you're in the midst of temptation, how in the world do you say no? 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:25.039 You have to have the word of God in your heart. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:30.000 You have to have the will of God on your mind. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:41.359 You need to be walking in God's way for your life by way of being and taking care of your spiritual health and your spiritual life. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:44.400 You need to be a part of a church or our church. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:47.200 You need to be coming regularly to worship. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:51.759 You need to have God's will in front of you in a small group, but with other people. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:56.720 You need to have other believers that are walking alongside you that can encourage you. 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.759 You need to have a community of people that you are still. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.440 Stepping forward and saying, you know what? 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:04.160 I want God's will more than I want my will. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:07.519 Because I know that my will is going to lead to my destruction. 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:09.680 But instead, let me let me have God. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:12.400 Let me have, let me learn your will from your word. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.000 And then let me walk in it. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:27.039 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the high point of the temple, and said, If you're the son of God, jump off. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:32.480 For the scripture says, He will order his angels to protect you. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:38.160 And they will hold you up with their hands so that you won't even hurt your foot on a stone. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:43.200 And Jesus responded, The Scripture also says, You must not test the Lord your God. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:50.319 The devil takes Jesus up to this high point. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:53.839 And he says, Let everybody see how powerful you are. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:58.720 Let everybody see that the angels will protect you if you jump off. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:08.160 Let everybody look with their eyes and see, and you prove to everyone that you're the Son of God because you're gonna leap off from here and instead. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:14.400 And I just think it's so interesting that Satan quotes scripture. 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:18.000 Twisting it. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:21.599 Trying to manipulate it. 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:35.519 Because for the eyes, the lust of our eyes, we get into a place in our faith sometimes where we say, you know what, I gotta see it to believe it. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:38.000 You know what, God? 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:42.640 I've experienced all these horrible situations. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:51.119 I've had loss, brokenness, most important things in my life, things have fallen apart. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:53.359 And I can't trust you. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:55.039 I can't trust you. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:56.079 I need to see it. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:58.559 I will leave it when I see it. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:01.839 And put the Lord to the test. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:10.720 Satan even goes as far to twist the scripture. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:17.119 And if we're not careful, we can twist the word of God. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:30.079 What we need to do is for us to be firmly planted in God's word so that the enemy himself cannot twist the scripture in our own mind and lead us astray. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:36.000 Get to the place where we think, you know what, is it is it really that bad? 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:39.200 Is this a thing that's happening or I'm participating? 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:40.960 Is it really like I don't know. 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:43.519 Did God really say that in the Bible? 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:45.839 Did he really mean that? 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:48.640 Was it just like a metaphor? 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:57.680 And Satan can twist and can turn our lives if we're not rooted in his word. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.079 Not just rooted in his word by way of reading it for yourself. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:09.119 You need to read it for yourself, but also learn it in a community like this through teaching preaching. 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:29.680 Learn God's word, not just on your own, but with other people, who can help teach you and instruct you and encourage you, who can make sure that what you're seeing and what you're living out and what the word of God says that it's consistent with the life that he's calling you to live. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:43.279 Next, the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:50.480 I will give it all to you, he said, if you kneel down and worship me. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:54.799 Get out of here, Satan, Jesus told him. 00:25:55.119 --> 00:26:01.039 For the scripture says, you must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him. 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:11.039 Then the devil went away and the angels came and took care of Jesus, the mind, the pride of life. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:16.240 Satan says, just bow down to me. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:21.119 Just worship me, and I'll give you everything that you want. 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:25.119 If you just worship me. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:32.559 And Jesus says, You must only worship the Lord our God. 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:35.599 And serve him only. 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:39.279 We need to worship the Lord. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:43.359 And worship him only. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:46.799 And here's the thing, here's the thing. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:59.920 I don't know if you have noticed it or this or not, but it's kind of over this last year, it feels like that Satan has been inviting people into worshiping him, and now it's kind of like on full display. 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:14.480 People who've said, you know what? 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:22.480 Satan's told me that I can have everything that I want, so I'm gonna worship him. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:27.359 But we know it's a lie. 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:29.519 It's a lie. 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:32.000 It's a lie. 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:33.279 You want to know why? 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:36.160 Because Satan didn't own the earth. 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:57.440 He's speaking to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lord, who hung the stars and have come in heaven and in its place and created the world back in Genesis, and he looks at him and says, I can give you all of this, and Jesus looks back and says, I'm created all of this, and look away from me, Satan, I'm from him, I'm a father and him only. 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:04.000 I'm Alpha and the omega and running the Satan, the church running to lie to me. 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:08.160 I'm not gonna listen to the lies, I'm not gonna worship you, Satan. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:12.079 I'm not gonna worship myself in my own will in my own way. 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:18.559 And that's the other way that Satan gets us to worship him by us worshiping ourselves instead of God. 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:21.440 You know what? 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:24.960 I'm just tired of all this God stuff. 00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:28.000 I just, you know what, I'm just gonna do my own thing. 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:35.119 I've been through hurt and I don't understand. 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:41.039 You know, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna do what I think is right. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:50.160 And in doing so, the pride of life wells up in us. 00:28:52.480 --> 00:29:07.359 You know, I make an important distinction here, and it's this there are times in our life where we fall into sin and it happens, and it happens for all of us on a daily basis because we probably sin more than we realize that we sin. 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:16.880 But when we sin, when we recognize it, do we confess it to the Lord? 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:18.400 Do we ask for forgiveness? 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:22.799 Do we feel a godly guilt? 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:26.880 Do we feel from the Holy Spirit a conviction? 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:34.640 Or have you gotten to the place where your sin does not grieve you at all and you no longer hate it? 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:41.440 See, a believer in Jesus is someone that even when they fall into sin, they hate that they did. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:59.920 They recognize the fact that they did, and they confess to the Lord and they ask for forgiveness, but it's possible for you to get so hard-hearted that you no longer feel like that you need forgiveness. 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:07.200 And in doing so, you need to really examine your salvation if you're following Jesus. 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:16.319 The scripture tells us that we should test our salvation, we should test it, that we should examine it to know if we're saved. 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:20.640 Because if you are born again, you will hate your sin. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:33.279 You will hate the fact that you do things that you don't want to do, and you'll ask the Lord to forgive you and you'll confess it. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:43.359 But if that goes away, you need to begin to take an inventory because you may be worshiping yourself. 00:30:44.960 --> 00:31:04.640 Here's the thing when we worship God, when we worship the Lord, it's a blessing to us, and and we receive a blessing, but as we worship the Lord, also that blessing from God or worship from God, it also flows out that we willfully bless other people as well. 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:19.759 Are you living just for yourself, or does the worship of God take you to a place where you're worshiping Him, where you're loving Him so much that the love of God is flowing out from you, that you're caring and loving for other people, that it's flowing through you. 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:23.680 Not that you're gonna be perfect, not that you're gonna get it always right. 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:31.359 Philippians 2, 3 through 4 says, don't be selfish. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:34.079 Don't try to impress others, be humble. 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:37.119 Thinking of others is better than yourselves. 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:42.880 Don't look only to your own interests, but take an interest in others too. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:50.079 Tomorrow, Emily and I, we celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. 00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:52.960 Thanks, appreciate that. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:32:02.640 You know, 13, it feels like a, you know, I'm sure there's plenty of y'all in here who are way longer than that, but you know, 13 years, like our marriage is a teenager now. 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:06.160 A couple of years our marriage could drive a car. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:09.440 So we've been in this for a while. 00:32:10.079 --> 00:32:18.960 And over those 13 years, been able to support Emily in becoming a doctor of pharmacy, getting her doctorate. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:29.200 We have moved five times in the last seven years, following the Lord and his call and will for our life. 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:43.839 We got two beautiful daughters now, and I can confidently say this that I love Emily more now today than I did when we were standing on the altar 13 years ago. 00:32:45.039 --> 00:33:09.519 Not because it's been perfect, not because it's just been rainbows and sunshine the whole time, but because we have loved and stayed committed to one another through all of the ups and downs and the moves of life and the changes, the losses of people and family that we've lost over the years. 00:33:11.279 --> 00:33:18.960 The relationships that have been broken, the crazy things that happened, and the good things that Emily and I've stayed committed to one another. 00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:31.759 And in the same way, God has the Bible word, God has made a covenant with you when you're in Him, when you're born again, when you're saved, when you're walking with Him, when you've been bought with a price. 00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:40.640 When you, your house, when you, the house have been purchased by Jesus, then He'll get to do in the fix there upper. 00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:48.480 That you've been bought with a price, and the price was Jesus' blood on the cross. 00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:52.079 Not that it's gonna be this perfect rainbow and sunshine all the time. 00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:53.839 Instead, Jesus tells the opposite. 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:56.400 In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. 00:33:56.559 --> 00:33:58.240 I have overcome the world. 00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:00.480 Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy. 00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:05.599 He wants to lie to us, he wants to tell us that we can have everything that we want, that we can have this world. 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:09.199 And Jesus looks back to you and says, I've overcome this world. 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:11.599 And I don't want you just to stay at this world. 00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:13.840 I want you to be with me in heaven. 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:19.199 I want you to move from this life, from this earth into eternity in paradise with me. 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:32.880 Not because of your perfection, not because of the works that you did, not because of what you think that you ought to have done, solely because Jesus died on the cross and his blood poured out to you. 00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:45.199 And when you receive his salvation, you receive the blood covenant of Jesus that covers over your sins so that when you stand at the gates of heaven, God looks at you, but he sees you dipped in Jesus' blood. 00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:47.519 Forgiven. 00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:02.159 You may have not yet received the blood of Jesus. 00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:15.519 You've not yet asked Jesus to forgive you, you've not yet received his sacrifice for you on the cross, that you've not given your life over to him, you've not confessed him as Lord and believed in your heart that he's raised from the dead. 00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:18.079 And today is a day that you need to begin. 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:29.519 You need to be born again, you need to begin a new life in him so that you can have the Holy Spirit walking, working through you to be with him one day. 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:33.920 And you may be in the room today, and you've done that a long, long time ago. 00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:48.000 And Satan is at your door trying to confuse you, lie to you, twist things to get you off the path of following God. 00:35:49.440 --> 00:35:59.679 And today you need to say, Okay, okay, God, your will, your word, your way, your worship in my life. 00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:02.800 Let me pray over all of us. 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:22.079 Father, I pray today for every person in this room, folks who are in both of these camps, those that have accepted you as Savior, who have become a believer, who have received your Holy Spirit. 00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:24.559 God, I pray for each one of them right now, God. 00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:41.920 That you would put on their heart and mind right now the conviction for them to open your word, to be in it, to study it, to be in community with other believers that will encourage and hold them up. 00:36:42.880 --> 00:36:49.920 God, that they would be walking with you every day, giving each day to you, God, asking for your forgiveness. 00:36:51.519 --> 00:37:01.119 And God, I pray, Lord, across this room, anybody who's in this place who've not yet given their life to you, has not yet accepted you as Savior. 00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:07.119 As of right now, they're not ready to stand before heaven, but today is the day of their salvation. 00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:09.679 They can receive you. 00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:15.519 The free gift of salvation by giving you their life and their heart. 00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:17.199 God, I pray over this room. 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:23.519 Any person who's in that place today, Lord, that they need to receive you as Savior, that God, they would pray to you right now. 00:37:24.239 --> 00:37:27.599 God, from their heart and their mind, they would pray, Jesus, save me. 00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:37.440 I believe that you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sins, that you were raised to life. 00:37:38.719 --> 00:37:42.320 Forgive me, cleanse me. 00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:53.599 Purchase me so that I can be in heaven one day with you. 00:37:55.920 --> 00:37:58.000 Thank you for saving me, Lord. 00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:00.559 In Jesus' name. 00:38:01.039 --> 00:38:10.000 Nobody looking around, heads bound, you're in the place today, and you prayed that prayer for you to receive Jesus as your Savior. 00:38:10.719 --> 00:38:13.440 For you move from death to life today. 00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:14.800 Don't want to embarrass you. 00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:15.599 I want to pray for you. 00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:21.360 If that was you, I'm gonna ask you to just lift your hand up so I can pray for you on the count of three. 00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:22.559 Nobody's looking around. 00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:24.320 One, two, three. 00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:25.920 Anybody in the place? 00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:31.519 Father, I pray, Lord, right now, across this room, God. 00:38:32.400 --> 00:38:41.199 Lord, for those that in their heart and their minds, God, are calling out to you, that Lord, you would seal it. 00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:45.119 You would save them, transform them. 00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:50.079 God, they would begin a new life in you today. 00:38:50.400 --> 00:38:51.679 We thank you, God. 00:38:51.840 --> 00:38:54.079 We praise you in Jesus' name. 00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:55.039 Amen.