SPEAKER_01: Gospel of Luke chapter six.
SPEAKER_01: Encourage you to turn there in your Bibles just so you'll have it handy as we continue in just a few moments.
SPEAKER_01: But Luke chapter six, beginning in verse one.
SPEAKER_01: We've been walking through the gospel and we have uh it's July.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost beginning of July and six chapters.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh we're gonna we're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Luke chapter six, beginning in verse one.
SPEAKER_01: Now it happened that he was passing through some grain fields on Sabbath, and his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands and eating the grain.
SPEAKER_01: But some of the Pharisees said, Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, answering them, said, Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him?
SPEAKER_01: How he entered the house of God and took and ate the consecrated bread, and which is not lawful for any to eat except the priest alone, and gave it to his companions.
SPEAKER_01: And he was saying to them, The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
SPEAKER_01: The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him, watching him closely to see if he healed on the Sabbath, so that he might they might find reason to accuse him.
SPEAKER_01: But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man with the withered hand, Get up and come forward.
SPEAKER_01: And he got up and came forward.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?
SPEAKER_01: After looking around at them all, he said to them to him, Stretch out your hand, and he did so, and his hand was restored.
SPEAKER_01: But they themselves were filled with rage and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I thank you that you speak.
SPEAKER_01: And I thank you give us the privilege and the joy and the responsibility to listen as you speak.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray for the next few moments that you would be glorified and that we would worship.
SPEAKER_01: In Christ's name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_01: As I mentioned, I hope you have the Bible with you in front of you.
SPEAKER_01: If you didn't bring your own copy, or if you use your phone or whatever it is you do, uh you scroll versus turn, whatever whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: I do hope you have your own.
SPEAKER_01: It isn't just because it's nice to be in uniformity, it's nice all of us to have scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, it'd be easier if we just use the pew Bibles in front of you because they're all the same version, same translation.
SPEAKER_01: But the reason that we do this, the reason that we emphasize this, is that your relationship with Jesus Christ needs the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot grow in your faith.
SPEAKER_01: You can't know your need for salvation.
SPEAKER_01: You can't know what it is to come to Him saving knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: You can't have a relationship with Jesus Christ that is abundant and fruitful and everlasting if you don't have His revelation, if you don't hear it, if you don't apply it, if you don't walk in it, if you don't have the Bible intaking into your life in the myriad of ways that the Scripture talks about, so that you're able to grow in the faith.
SPEAKER_01: So it's it isn't just, hey, let's bring our Bibles to church.
SPEAKER_01: It's let's bring ourselves to the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Let's make sure that we're using it in the place in our life that it needs to happen, it needs to be.
SPEAKER_01: So all of that just to say, hey, read your Bible.
SPEAKER_01: But there's there's a reason for that.
SPEAKER_01: And as we're getting to Luke chapter 6, uh we're we're continuing in the in the episodes of Jesus, his encounter with people as as he is engaging.
SPEAKER_01: And now we get to a very interesting subject, an interesting topic, where Jesus is being confronted, and we've got two vignettes, two scenarios, two circumstances that have to do with the Sabbath, with the seventh day.
SPEAKER_01: Now I didn't take the time in the notes, I didn't take the time in the sermon preparation to go through all of the Old Testament says about the Sabbath and how we as Christians are supposed to engage in the Sabbath, and you're welcome.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because we don't have time for that.
SPEAKER_01: But uh there is so much that we can talk about and so much that we can hit on, and maybe if we have a minute or two in the midst of this, I'll allude to it.
SPEAKER_01: But let's just let's pick it up in the verses and let's let's see where this is going.
SPEAKER_01: What Jesus is encountering with these Pharisees who have been, they've been popping up all along.
SPEAKER_01: We've seen them from the beginning, especially when there is conflict, especially when there's misunderstanding, especially when there are issues.
SPEAKER_01: But take go with me, please, to Luke chapter 6, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Now it happened that he was passing through some grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain.
SPEAKER_01: Now, just to for care clarity and context, in the Old Testament, this is very okay.
SPEAKER_01: As long as you don't bring it in and you have a sickle and you have a bag and you're gonna sell the grain, you are welcome to eat other each other's grain because of the abundance of the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: Not a problem.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: But some of the Pharisees said, Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: So here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'd realize that you came all this way and got dressed up to hear that, but this is it's absolutely true.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the Son of God, fully God, fully man.
SPEAKER_01: He never sinned in the physical human nature.
SPEAKER_01: That is that is something we attest to from beginning to end in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: So to say that Jesus or His disciples broke the law, quote unquote, that they sinned is totally false.
SPEAKER_01: That's not true.
SPEAKER_01: But what we have here are Pharisees who are having an issue with what Jesus and his disciples are doing.
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, you've got, and I wish I could say this as other people, but I I do this.
SPEAKER_01: I think I think we all have a tent of this or a little bit of this.
SPEAKER_01: You've got this looking for a fight mentality where when somebody gets on your wrong side, now I've got the old Westerns and the cowboys and Indians, but anyway, when somebody gets on your wrong side, it doesn't take much to provoke you again.
SPEAKER_01: You have this bitterness, you have this anger, and you you have you have them cast as a villain, you have them cast as the bad guy, and even if they do something completely innocent, you're still gonna think to yourself, oh, their heart wasn't in it, that was wrong, they meant all sorts of bad things.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what the Pharisees are doing.
SPEAKER_01: And I know it's easy to pick on the Pharisees, but I'm just gonna remind you, we all do that.
SPEAKER_01: We all have a thread or a vein or a tendency to have this critical, negative, condescending judgment, like a keep going attitude toward other people.
SPEAKER_01: But they're looking for a fight, they're looking for something to accuse Jesus with.
SPEAKER_01: They are they are in a bad mood.
SPEAKER_01: They woke up in a bad mood, it's been getting worse all day, and now here they are, and they're saying, Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_01: It's not against the rules.
SPEAKER_01: It's not it's not against the law.
SPEAKER_01: They haven't broken any law that is in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where we're going with this.
SPEAKER_01: The wrong view of the Sabbath law.
SPEAKER_01: So this is what they did.
SPEAKER_01: And this this is, and once again, it's easy for us to sit in judgment and let's say, hey, I can't believe they were so naive, I can't believe they were so judgmental, I can't believe they were so condescending.
SPEAKER_01: But this is what they did.
SPEAKER_01: They thought to themselves, and and this is going over hundreds of years, this is not just an easy one-time thing.
SPEAKER_01: They thought to themselves, hey, the law, yeah, man, that's good.
SPEAKER_01: I I so appreciate what Moses did in the Ten Commandments and and and uh to set apart the Sabbath, keep it holy, to observe the Sabbath, because it's right there between uh his name and honoring your father and mother, and all of that is really good, and we need to do that.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, I don't think I don't think that's enough.
SPEAKER_01: I think we should we should add on to it.
SPEAKER_01: We should make it more engaging, we should make it more restrictive.
SPEAKER_01: And so what they did is they took what was written down, the law, the covenant, what Moses did when he came down the mountain, what what God gave us, he they took those rules and they said, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Let's add some more.
SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be fun.
SPEAKER_01: Uh let's let's let's say that not just um observing the Sabbath is what God intended, which in creation He He created for six days, and on the seventh day he rested.
SPEAKER_01: Man, that's that's nice, but let's let's do it where if you do anything that looks like work at all, then you're wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just let's just make sure that we we we cover every base and we make sure that everything that we want to do to make it look as bad as we can.
SPEAKER_01: We gotta we gotta be sure that we get all of it together.
SPEAKER_01: So what they did is they made these rules, and then they made more rules, and they had point one and then a lot of sub rules under point one and point two and sub-rules under those, and they would make sure that that they would cover all of that so that nobody would even come close to breaking the Sabbath law.
SPEAKER_01: So that that meant, just give you a few examples, you couldn't walk so many feet, you couldn't drag a stick because that was too close to plowing.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you've ever been to Israel, uh they have the elevators go automatically on the Sabbath so that you don't have to actually push the button.
SPEAKER_01: Um see, I I know this, and I again even as I thought about this, I was like, okay, I don't want I don't want to get in the weeds on this.
SPEAKER_01: But you know what we do?
SPEAKER_01: We say you have to dress a certain way to worship Jesus, and you have to listen to certain type of music.
SPEAKER_01: And no, no alcohol, no alcohol, no tobacco, uh, don't cuss, drink, chew, or hang out with those who do.
SPEAKER_01: You got you, we got the whole, we got the whole rule book.
SPEAKER_01: We go through and say, hey, hey, hey, hey, I know it doesn't say this in the scripture, but hey, you know, if you don't you dare to wear a hat in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_01: Don't, don't, don't listen to that rock and roll music.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, just go just go on and on.
SPEAKER_01: There is actually this is true, in Scotland, they have a thing about makeup.
SPEAKER_01: Not men wearing makeup, women wearing makeup.
SPEAKER_01: Where if you go into church, if you go into church um and you're wearing makeup as a lady, you may find yourself escorted to the bathroom to wipe all of that that stuff off.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that silly?
SPEAKER_01: The wrong view of the Sabbath law.
SPEAKER_01: So let's now I I mention all of those examples not to say, well, let's just throw it all away.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's still the Sabbath, it's still the commandment, there are still things we need to grapple with and we need to obey.
SPEAKER_01: But what the the Pharisees had done is they had twisted the religious thinking so that they exchanged what God meant as a gift, and they had made it a requirement.
SPEAKER_01: What God had given them to help them to bless us as his creation.
SPEAKER_01: I mean think about it and like I said, you're welcome for me not getting into the the weeds on this.
SPEAKER_01: But you think about what he did.
SPEAKER_01: God, the creator, when he rested on the seventh day, it's not because he was tired, it's because he was setting a precedent that he had completed what he did the first six days.
SPEAKER_01: He could have done it in just a word, you know that, right?
SPEAKER_01: He didn't need six days.
SPEAKER_01: He he could just but and how you like that from that's my that's my grammatical analysis.
SPEAKER_01: Oof.
SPEAKER_01: Um he could have just done it.
SPEAKER_01: But what he did is he was setting he was setting the pattern, and he did it for us.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever tried to work 12 hour days, seven days straight, week after week after week?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever tried to go without sleep?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever tried to not have the rhythm and the pattern of not having rest appropriate times and appropriate ways?
SPEAKER_01: You go crazy.
SPEAKER_01: You you say things you don't mean, you do things you should not be doing.
SPEAKER_01: It it's it's great.
SPEAKER_01: He knows that.
SPEAKER_01: That's the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: It's a gift.
SPEAKER_01: But it's it's more than just a gift, it's it's a it's a way for him to help us so that we can set it apart as holy, where we we we treat it as a time to focus on him, to to to rejuvenate, to center down, to be able to say, hey, this is my God, and I am his child, and this is what I'm supposed to be about.
SPEAKER_01: So it's that break where in the hecticness and the hurriedness, if you've ever thought to yourself, why am I so busy?
SPEAKER_01: Why is my calendar so full?
SPEAKER_01: Why is there so much happening in my world?
SPEAKER_01: God already gave you a solution to that.
SPEAKER_01: It's called the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: It's a way for us to slow down and say, hey, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: I need to get my priorities in check.
SPEAKER_01: I need to make sure that I'm focusing on God, I'm doing what he wants me to do, the way he wants me to do it, so that it becomes a joy, a delight, a treasure to come into the house of the Lord, to spend time with him.
SPEAKER_01: And I know my to-do list isn't getting any shorter, and I don't care because I get to be with my Savior.
SPEAKER_01: That's the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: And what the Pharisees had done, and what Jesus is addressing, is not whether or not we should observe the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: That's still a commandment.
SPEAKER_01: He's addressing how they are abusing the law surrounding the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: So let me let me break this down as we're going through the passage.
SPEAKER_01: I hope I hope you're still with me.
SPEAKER_01: But here it is: the sign of the covenant, the Sabbath law, all that they have done and what they've added to it, he said, that's not what we're dealing with.
SPEAKER_01: So the first part as we get into the weeds in this is the burden of elevated rules.
SPEAKER_01: The burden of elevated rules.
SPEAKER_01: So they had added to, they had abused, they had perverted, they had created their own traditions, their own customs, their own rituals in a way that made it equivalent with the inspired word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And once again, it's easy to look in hindsight and say, I can't believe they would do something like that.
SPEAKER_01: Why would they make rules up so that you had to follow the rules so that you're right with God?
SPEAKER_01: Have you been to church lately?
SPEAKER_01: We do this all the time.
SPEAKER_01: We have an issue when we say that what man says is equivalent, even close to what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: But there are whole denominations that are that are fitted around the idea that when the leader says something, what he says is just as authentic as what God says in his word.
SPEAKER_01: And this elevation of rules and customs and rituals and traditions and laws, that's what Jesus is addressing.
SPEAKER_01: Pick it up with me, please, in Luke chapter 6, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: And he's hitting it right on the head.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Jesus answering them said, Have you not even read?
SPEAKER_01: I love this, you know the Bible that you claim to be experts in.
SPEAKER_01: You know, let me let me just quote it to you.
SPEAKER_01: Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him?
SPEAKER_01: Now David was running away from Saul.
SPEAKER_01: He he had he had been warned that he was about to be killed.
SPEAKER_01: His men were with him, and and they found um the priest and the bread.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4, now he entered the house of God.
SPEAKER_01: This is also where he got the sword from from Goliath of Goliath's sword from the priest.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, you read the story later, the priest is killed by King Saul for claiming the side with David.
SPEAKER_01: It's terrible.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4, now he entered the house of God and took and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for any to eat except the priest alone, and gave it to his companions.
SPEAKER_01: So David eats the bread, the presentation bread.
SPEAKER_01: The priest was supposed to eat all twelve loaves by himself.
SPEAKER_01: David, who is just as anointed as the priests were in a different way, and Jesus, who is even more anointed than David, he is saying, You understand that the priority here was following the will of God and not your man-made traditions, not your regulations, your rituals, your rules.
SPEAKER_01: This is not what it's about.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to do something with this passage, and it won't take but a minute, but I found it helpful.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you will too.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't, don't tell anybody.
SPEAKER_01: But go back with me to Matthew chapter twelve.
SPEAKER_01: And every once in a while, when you come to a scripture, especially in the synoptic gospels, which it means the first three, they have similarities in the way they're formed and what they write about.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it helps to read the parallel passages in another gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And Matthew adds some things to this same episode that I thought would help us to kind of flesh this out a little bit this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 12, and as you start reading the chapter, you'll see it looks very similar because it is.
SPEAKER_01: It's the same story.
SPEAKER_01: It's Matthew's um Matthew's account of it.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm just going to pick up what he adds, which is in verse five.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Or had you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent.
SPEAKER_01: But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.
SPEAKER_01: But if you had known what this means, I desire compassion and not a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: You would not have condemned the innocent.
SPEAKER_01: I desire compassion and not a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: You would not have condemned the innocent.
SPEAKER_01: What he's dealing with, what he's referring to, is Hosea chapter 6, verse 6, where I delight in loyalty rather than a sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
SPEAKER_01: When we understand that our relationship with God, and this is so easy to do, and it's so it's such a it's a it's a trap that we get set and we fall into all the time, our relationship with God is to be one of devotion and not duty.
SPEAKER_01: Now we don't, we still have duty.
SPEAKER_01: We still have things that we in obedience are supposed to do.
SPEAKER_01: But I love the way John Piper talked about this years ago.
SPEAKER_01: He said, What if I I bought a dozen roses and I brought them home and I rang the doorbell and my wife answered the door and I said, Sweetheart, these roses are for you.
SPEAKER_01: And his wife got excited and received the roses, and he said, It's okay, you don't have to thank me because it's my job, it's my duty, I have to give you roses.
SPEAKER_01: That's not devotion, that's not love, that's not compassion, that's not joy.
SPEAKER_01: That's doing it because you have to do it.
SPEAKER_01: When when God gives us these obediences, these commandments, and we are to be obedient, it's not burdensome.
SPEAKER_01: It's a way for us to know him, to walk with him, to grow in our faith.
SPEAKER_01: These are his means of grace.
SPEAKER_01: This is how we engage with him.
SPEAKER_01: We don't earn the salvation, we don't earn the grace, but he gives us these privileges of being able to walk with him.
SPEAKER_01: So in Matthew chapter 12, what he's doing, he's he's elaborating, accentuating what he's talking about with the Sabbath rules.
SPEAKER_01: He says, those rules that you've created are negating the very reason that you're supposed to know me.
SPEAKER_01: You give the sacrifices out of a worshipful heart, not because you're afraid of someone looking over your shoulder and banging you upside the head.
SPEAKER_01: You're doing it because you love me and you want to be with me.
SPEAKER_01: And when we understand that and walk through this, everything changes.
SPEAKER_01: Now, just in case you think this is a one and done, let me, I'm gonna quickly refer to a few other verses.
SPEAKER_01: In Acts chapter 15, Jerusalem Council, whole lot of a mess.
SPEAKER_01: The Jewish people who would who had become Christians, I'm not sure all of them were, but they said you had to be a Jew before you could be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: They had a whole council in Jerusalem, the early church.
SPEAKER_01: They get to this point, and and I love the way that I think it was Peter who said this.
SPEAKER_01: He stands up in verse in chapter 15, verse 10, says, Now therefore, why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have ever been able to bear?
SPEAKER_01: But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they also are.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to add the customs, you don't have to add the rituals.
SPEAKER_01: It's not talking about abandoning the law.
SPEAKER_01: It's saying you don't have to make it a bunch of rules where if you just do all the rules, you just obey all the rules, then you're good with God.
SPEAKER_01: That's not how you're saved.
SPEAKER_01: The verse said in verse chapter 15, verse 11, saved through grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: Another passage in Galatians, a whole nother book that talks about taking the law and perverting it, claiming you have to be saved by obeying the law.
SPEAKER_01: He gets to it in chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: This is a climax for Paul.
SPEAKER_01: He says it was for freedom that Christ set us free.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in case you are mishearing me or you're thinking I'm saying, just throw everything out the window, that's not what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about the use of the law, I'm talking about the abuse of the law.
SPEAKER_01: So now let's keep going.
SPEAKER_01: You've got the burden of elevated rules, and you've got the burden of lowered priorities.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 6, verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: This is the second episode.
SPEAKER_01: On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and there was a man there whose right hand was with him.
SPEAKER_01: That's a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: Not just a hand, but his right hand.
SPEAKER_01: That's the hand of honor.
SPEAKER_01: The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him closely, watching Jesus, to see if Jesus healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse him.
SPEAKER_01: I might have mentioned this, they're looking for a fight.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't stop.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to climax to the point of the crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: They're looking and wanting accusing.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 9 or verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: But he knew that they were what they were thinking.
SPEAKER_01: If you remember months ago now, when I talked about Simeon in Luke chapter 1, chapter 2, how it would reveal the hearts of man, this is being fulfilled now.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew their thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: He said to the man with the withered hand, get up and come forward.
SPEAKER_01: And he got up and came forward.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_01: To save a life or to destroy it?
SPEAKER_01: Now, once again, uh you probably closed it.
SPEAKER_01: I should have warned you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to do it one more time.
SPEAKER_01: Go back to Matthew chapter 12, and let me show you what's added to this.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 12 in verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: Same, same episode, almost the exact same words, but in verse 11, he adds a little more.
SPEAKER_01: He says, he says to him, What?
SPEAKER_01: Man is there among you who is a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not will he not take hold of it and lift it out?
SPEAKER_01: How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep?
SPEAKER_01: So then it is lawful.
SPEAKER_01: It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: What the Pharisees had done, what the custom had said was if it's life threatening, yeah, okay, you can heal.
SPEAKER_01: But if it's not life threatening, so they would have had an inquisition.
SPEAKER_01: They would have they would have gotten together and they would have said, Now, this withered hand, yeah, it's a big deal, but he had a withered hand yesterday, and he'll probably have a withered hand tomorrow if we don't if Jesus doesn't do anything.
SPEAKER_01: So let's just let Jesus wait till tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, this is not a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: It's not it's not life-threatening.
SPEAKER_01: Just and then Jesus comes back and says, I think you're missing what compassion and sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: I think you're missing about how we're made in God's image and the love of God and how the religious rules weren't created, aren't supposed to be created to harm us, but they're supposed to be for our good and for God's glory.
SPEAKER_01: I think you're missing that this is about how God works and how man wasn't made for the Sabbath, but Sabbath was made for man.
SPEAKER_01: I think you're missing how this is supposed to be how we engage with our Savior and we are blessed by being with him.
SPEAKER_01: So someone's hunger in the first, and someone's health handicapped in the second, are both telling us the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: It matters to God how you're doing.
SPEAKER_01: He cares about you.
SPEAKER_01: He is not some sovereign, some king, some authority who's who's way out there on his throne with a little wicked sneer on his face, wondering what you're gonna do next that's gonna you're gonna mess up.
SPEAKER_01: He is absolutely holy, he is absolutely just, he is absolutely gracious, he has all the compassion, he has all of the mercy, he has all of the wrath, all simultaneously, 100%, all the time, all of his attributes.
SPEAKER_01: And in all of that, he is looking upon us, and in his love for you, he wants what's best for you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what happens is that we get that twisted in our sinful, depraved, deprived minds.
SPEAKER_01: We tend to think that that means that what I want for me is what he wants.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what I said.
SPEAKER_01: How we define our needs and our wants and what's good and what's bad, it's not what I said.
SPEAKER_01: He is very, as our creator, as our God, he knows what you need.
SPEAKER_01: I love the theme this week, Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
SPEAKER_01: I love the idea of teaching our children and reminding ourselves as adults that this is a God who is close to us, who knows you.
SPEAKER_01: He knows what you're worried about right now.
SPEAKER_01: He knows your thoughts, he knows your heart, he knows what's going on inside of you, he knows what you need, he knows the burdens that you're bearing.
SPEAKER_01: He knows the pain that you're in.
SPEAKER_01: He knows the struggle.
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, he knows the struggles you haven't even thought about that are coming.
SPEAKER_01: He knows the storm, he knows before the storm, after the storm, in the midst of the storm.
SPEAKER_01: He knows.
SPEAKER_01: And his love, his agape love, is strong, fervent, and secure.
SPEAKER_01: God demonstrated his own love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, he loves us in the despite, even in the midst of the things that we do.
SPEAKER_01: When we we see him for who he is.
SPEAKER_01: See, Jesus could have waited a few hours.
SPEAKER_01: He could have waited till the next day, he could have, he could have done it in private.
SPEAKER_01: This is his party, and he can do what he wants to do at his party.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 6, verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: They themselves were filled with rage and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: When your heart and your mind is wrong, when you're filled with that bitterness and that anger, that madness, that folly, you're going to go the wrong way.
SPEAKER_01: And it's possible this morning, I don't think this is too much of a stretch.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's possible this morning you've already set your heart, maybe a few, maybe more.
SPEAKER_01: You've already set your heart that you don't think God believes, God knows, God cares.
SPEAKER_01: It's possible that you're you're just bitter and you don't want to be healed.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus heals.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus comes, Jesus provides, Jesus does what only Jesus can do.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not bringing you, I'm not asking us as a church, I'm not asking you to come and follow a set of rules, although they have their place.
SPEAKER_01: The law is significant, it is important.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going against the law or dismissing the law, but we're saying that we come to the gospel Jesus Christ and we let him be our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: So Luke chapter 6, verse 5, he was saying to them, The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: So let me let me work this, untangle this a little bit, and then we'll be finished.
SPEAKER_01: You see, instead of the wrong view of the Sabbath law and the burdens that those bring, that we care too much about the rules and not enough about people, about not loving God and loving one another, we need the right view of the Sabbath Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The wrong view of the Sabbath law is what they were doing.
SPEAKER_01: What we need, what we have to have, is the right view of our Jesus, of our Savior, of who he is and what he is about.
SPEAKER_01: Because then when you come to the owner, when you come to the master, when you come to the big, big, big, big authority and director and sovereign, everything else, everything else will fall into place.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: Real quick, the blessings.
SPEAKER_01: You had the burdens, but now we have the blessings.
SPEAKER_01: Turn with me first to the blessing of Christ's glory.
SPEAKER_01: When he says the Son of Man, he's referring to Daniel chapter seven.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to read this really rather quickly, but I want you to see this.
SPEAKER_01: Daniel chapter seven, verse thirteen.
SPEAKER_01: I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming.
SPEAKER_01: And he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him.
SPEAKER_01: And to him, to Jesus, the Son of Man, and to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him.
SPEAKER_01: His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I I know that we're we're moving at a good little trot here, and I know that that's easy to kind of read and say, Well, that's nice.
SPEAKER_01: I want to read it again, because you got to see what he's saying here.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming, and he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him, and to him was given dominion, dominion, everything, glory, everything, a kingdom, everything, that all the peoples, nations, men, of every language might serve him.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not telling you this is an option for debate.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not telling you that this is something you can get a group together and kind of discuss.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if we'll serve Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if he'll have all dominion.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if he'll be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_01: You don't get to decide that.
SPEAKER_01: The issue isn't whether or not you determine the truth.
SPEAKER_01: The question is whether or not you in faith and repentance are gonna believe that Jesus really is who he says he is, but he's not done.
SPEAKER_01: He says, after he says that all peoples, nations, men of every language might serve him, his dominion, the one that was given to him, this dominion, is everlasting.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: It's never going away.
SPEAKER_01: There's not going to be a point where you say, I wonder if we're gonna have a reboot.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if we're gonna have a uh uh impeachment, I wonder if I wonder if he's gonna do something where someone else is gonna have to take his place.
SPEAKER_01: He will always be.
SPEAKER_01: He will never not be who he is, will not pass away.
SPEAKER_01: His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: Now, once again, this is the human, fully got, fully human, standing in front of the Pharisees, talking about I wrote this.
SPEAKER_01: I I created this.
SPEAKER_01: I made you, I made all of this.
SPEAKER_01: And you're trying to manipulate it, abuse it, twist it in a way that gives you power and authority when the authority, the glory belongs to me.
SPEAKER_01: There's one other part, the blessing of Christ's authority.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 6, verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: After looking at them all, he said to him, the man who had the withered hand, stretch out your hand.
SPEAKER_01: And he did so.
SPEAKER_01: And his hand was restored.
SPEAKER_01: Stretch out your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Stretch out your withered hand.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you're catching this.
SPEAKER_01: Because it took me a minute.
SPEAKER_01: And whenever I question whether or not you understand that, it's because 20 times I've already questioned it and I've got figured out.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not an assault at all.
SPEAKER_01: If anything, I'm projecting you got this quicker than I did.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus told a man who was handicapped and could not extend his hand to extend his hand.
SPEAKER_01: His hand was withered.
SPEAKER_01: He told a man who didn't have doing.
SPEAKER_01: He gave a command, and in the midst of the command, he didn't just, his word is life.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't just give the command.
SPEAKER_01: He enabled the man to obey the command in the midst of giving the command.
SPEAKER_01: He healed a man in the process of the man doing something impossible that he couldn't have done if God himself had not said, I'm healing you, and not done what Jesus alone was doing.
SPEAKER_01: It was Christ's authority that didn't just give the word, gave the power and the impetus behind the word.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't just say, thus saith, it's because he thus saith that we are able to, as his children, when he says, follow me, we follow.
SPEAKER_01: When he says repent, we repent.
SPEAKER_01: When he says trust in glory, we trust in his glory.
SPEAKER_01: When he says that we are to die to ourselves, we die to ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: When he says live to Christ, we live to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Not because in and of ourselves we can do this, but because he has the authority, he and he alone, to say, do it and we do it.
SPEAKER_01: And because of that, he's healed.
SPEAKER_01: See, that's that's what this is.
SPEAKER_01: It isn't a bunch of Pharisees on one side and a bunch of religious people in a different denomination or sect or whatever on the other side coming against each other and say, who's right, who's wrong?
SPEAKER_01: This is man and this is God.
SPEAKER_01: And God gets to say what God gets to say.
SPEAKER_01: He gets to give authority.
SPEAKER_01: He wrote the law, he enforces the law.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't break the law.
SPEAKER_01: If anything, he broke the interpretation of the law that was misinterpreted because they didn't understand it.
SPEAKER_01: He gives and he provides and he heals.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: What I want to do for the last few moments is I want to walk through just a uh three verses.
SPEAKER_01: Now, just so you don't feel misled, they're not three sentences, they're three different passages.
SPEAKER_01: But I I want to walk through them with you.
SPEAKER_01: It won't take long, but I need you to do it with me.
SPEAKER_01: Because to see him for who he is takes more than just a mental acknowledgement.
SPEAKER_01: It takes more than just saying, Well, that's nice, preacher.
SPEAKER_01: It sounds good, but I've got a life to live, I've got things going on.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you do.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I know you do.
SPEAKER_01: And so does he.
SPEAKER_01: He knows what you're facing, he knows what's coming, he knows what's been, he knows what's on your heart right now.
SPEAKER_01: And when Jesus demonstrated himself as the Lord of the Sabbath, what he was doing was not negating the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: If anything, he was saying that fourth commandment was in there for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to provide for you in a way that no one else ever could.
SPEAKER_01: So let me let me do this.
SPEAKER_01: The first verse, if you want to turn, you can.
SPEAKER_01: If not, you can look above, but I encourage you to reference them either way.
SPEAKER_01: The first verse is of Matthew chapter 11, verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Come to me.
SPEAKER_01: Now, he's in the context of Pharisees and religious leaders who've perverted the law and the customs, and they don't understand the scriptures, they don't understand the power of God.
SPEAKER_01: Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_01: Rest.
SPEAKER_01: Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: Rest.
SPEAKER_01: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
SPEAKER_01: For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
SPEAKER_01: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
SPEAKER_01: Colossians chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Another context of misinterpreting and abusing and manipulating and twisting.
SPEAKER_01: But now Paul is going to set the record straight.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to say, Therefore, no one is to act as your judge.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: The Pharisees were acting as judges.
SPEAKER_01: The Christians who said you have to do it these certain ways were acting as judges.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: No one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
SPEAKER_01: Now, once again, it wasn't the Sabbath Old Testament covenant, Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying they were creating all sorts of weird rules for the Sabbath day, as well as festival days and new moons and all sorts of silliness.
SPEAKER_01: He says, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: Things which are a mere shadow of what is to come.
SPEAKER_01: And if you haven't remembered or heard anything, I love it when preachers say that.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, if you haven't been paying attention, would you please now pay attention?
SPEAKER_01: The substance, the substance belongs to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what Jesus is doing when he's standing there healing and feeding?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what Jesus is doing when he's talking to the Pharisees?
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, you have the law.
SPEAKER_01: You know what the law is supposed to do?
SPEAKER_01: There are many reasons for it.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not, yeah, at least this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give you a few, not exhaustive, but selective.
SPEAKER_01: One is the law represents and it reflects the character of God, the law.
SPEAKER_01: Because when it talks about him and him alone, first commandment, it talks about no idols, second commandment.
SPEAKER_01: When he goes through, he's reflecting the character, the holiness, the attributes of God.
SPEAKER_01: The law is a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: But it's also used in such a way that it becomes a mirror so that we look in the law and we say, hey, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: I can't be that good.
SPEAKER_01: I can't be that perfect.
SPEAKER_01: I can't that be that perfect.
SPEAKER_01: That's like relative anyway.
SPEAKER_01: I can't be perfect.
SPEAKER_01: And we and God says, I know, because the law exposes your need.
SPEAKER_01: And so when the law comes as a reflection of the attributes of God, reflecting who he is, his character, his love, his compassion, his mercy, his wrath, his justice, all those things that he is.
SPEAKER_01: As it comes to us, it shows us that we can't do this on our own.
SPEAKER_01: And so what the law does is it points us the way.
SPEAKER_01: And he's very clear, you're not saved by following the law.
SPEAKER_01: You're not saved by trusting Christ and then adding some laws to it.
SPEAKER_01: You are saved by grace.
SPEAKER_01: That's the only way.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance and faith.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: No other way.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, as you do that, you're going to realize something.
SPEAKER_01: As you follow the law, as you, as you, as a believer, and you start to read the law again, you're going to see it with new eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Because the substance belongs to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And you're going to realize that the reason that you set aside that Sunday, the Lord's Day, which is another thing about the Sabbath, we we transition from Old Testament covenant Judaism to New Testament, Lord's Day, Resurrection Sunday, completion versus fulfillment, the end versus the beginning, whole lot of story there.
SPEAKER_01: But he says, okay, as you celebrate the Lord's Day, you're celebrating my resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: You're celebrating as a foreshadowing, as a as a looking at who I am as your Savior, as the Lord Jesus Christ, as He is doing that for us, the shadows are the rituals and the traditions and the customs and the smoke and the candles and the incense and all the things that they may have their place, but the substance, Colossians chapter 2, verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: The substance belongs to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Is it possible that we've exchanged the law for the lawgiver?
SPEAKER_01: Is it possible that what he meant as a gift, we have perverted and we've created it as our own little God where we just follow his rules and everything's going to be fine?
SPEAKER_01: Is it possible that this rigid formalism, this legalistic spirit, this Phariseeum, Phariseeal, Pharisee, I don't know, acting like a Pharisee.
SPEAKER_01: Is it possible that that has been more important to us than walking with the one who takes our burdens and we take his yoke?
SPEAKER_01: He takes our struggles and we are able to walk with him and to know rest for our souls?
SPEAKER_01: Because the substance is Christ.
SPEAKER_01: One last passage, and we'll close.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: For the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall through following, will fall through following the same example of disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pause there.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest, that that Sabbath rest.
SPEAKER_01: There's Canaan rest, there's creation rest, there's a lot of rest that he refers to.
SPEAKER_01: But but the the highlight of this, verse 11, let us be diligent to enter that rest.
SPEAKER_01: And what causes distraction is disobedience, unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Hebrews talks about.
SPEAKER_01: He says, so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: So he said, now this is this is what we're called to.
SPEAKER_01: We want to remember Jesus is substance, it belongs to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We remember that we're doing all of this.
SPEAKER_01: It's not because we're saved by coming to church, we're saved by coming to Jesus, and this is the church he wants us to come to.
SPEAKER_01: It's not saved because we do the Lord's Supper, it's we're saved because he saved us, and the Lord's Supper is a symbol or tradition or ritual that we do to help us celebrate his salvation.
SPEAKER_01: So all of those are pointing as arrows, as spotlights, as direction toward who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: But then he says, he he continues, and the thought changes a little bit, but I didn't want to leave it out.
SPEAKER_01: In Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, he says, For the word of God, why would he what?
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about Sabbath rest, and now he's talking about the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: I think there's a connection here.
SPEAKER_01: For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
SPEAKER_01: And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
SPEAKER_01: For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: You can do church.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wants you to do Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You can go through the motions.
SPEAKER_01: Your heart can be a thousand miles away.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wants you to celebrate Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You can stand there and say, How dare you break the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_01: How dare you thresh and and or or uh go through the grain fields and take the seeds and and and eat and act like you're a harvester and all that silly stuff that they interpreted.
SPEAKER_01: How dare you go through all those motions?
SPEAKER_01: He says, You could you could you could get stuck in the weeds, you could spend more time dealing with what you're doing right versus what you're doing wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus in his grace and his mercy, says, How about how about instead of spending so much time worrying about the do's and the don'ts, how about start with me?
SPEAKER_01: Because you know, whenever you seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness, all these things will be added to you.
SPEAKER_01: You know that whenever your heart submits to me in faith and repentance, that those things that you were so uptight about and so twisted about and so furious about and so enraged about, all of a sudden they melt away and you realize I didn't come to church to check it off my list so that people can see how spiritual and holy I am.
SPEAKER_01: I came to church to be with my Jesus and with my Jesus' people, his bride.
SPEAKER_01: I came to celebrate the Sabbath, to worship him, to be used by him, to be engaged with him.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes my heart's not in it, and sometimes I don't want to be here, and sometimes I got a bad attitude.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it could just be me, but I think it's true for many of us.
SPEAKER_01: He says, but I get that.
SPEAKER_01: So you come to the Word of God, living and active, sharp.
SPEAKER_01: Than any two-edged sword.
SPEAKER_01: And you let the word of God by the Spirit of God convict your heart so that you become a willing instrument.
SPEAKER_01: And in that obedience and in that submission, he does what the Bible calls sanctification, makes us more and more like him.
SPEAKER_01: And we celebrate the gift, we delight in the joy.
SPEAKER_01: We celebrate that we can come and say, This is a good day to be in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Not just because you're pretty people and you are, and not because you're nice to be around, and you are, but because we get to be together with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is what he's about.
SPEAKER_01: Now for the next few moments, I'm going to ask the musicians to play quietly.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to ask if a couple of the deacons, the pastors, would come forward.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just going to give you an opportunity to spend some time with your Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It might be that you are here this morning, and this whole idea of exchanging the rules for the relationship is brand new to you.
SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
SPEAKER_01: Because what you're going to get, you're going to get so much out of this.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to realize that your devotion to Jesus is what he's after.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't want lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: He wants hot or cold.
SPEAKER_01: He wants you with him.
SPEAKER_01: And it might be that you could use the altar or deacons or pastors just for the next few moments to be able to come and talk with and pray with.
SPEAKER_01: And I tell you what, it and you don't have to, I'm not asking everybody to stand, but it might be easier if some of you'd like to come forward.
SPEAKER_01: It might be easier if some people around you are standing, or if you have the courage to tap them on the shoulder and say, listen, I need to crawl over you because I've got to go down there.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you what, let's do that.
SPEAKER_01: Let's let everybody stand.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody stand.
SPEAKER_01: You'll be patient with me.
SPEAKER_01: And if you need to sit back down, sit right back down.
SPEAKER_01: This is no Sabbath rule.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not telling you you have to stand up.
SPEAKER_01: We can get a couple of deacons, pastors to come forward.
SPEAKER_01: Just over the next few moments.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to lead us in a time of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to just we're just going to be.
SPEAKER_01: And as we be, you feel free to come.
SPEAKER_01: To pray with or to just come to the altar.
SPEAKER_01: You are so good, and we are so needy.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, where our hearts have become hard, I pray you soften them.
SPEAKER_01: Where we have become entitled and judgmental and condescending, I pray for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: I pray for the individual this morning who doesn't need to leave this building without getting something straight with you.
SPEAKER_01: In whatever context and whatever that means, even now, bring them.
SPEAKER_01: Let them speak with a pastor or deacon.
SPEAKER_01: Let them pray.
SPEAKER_01: But if you don't, would you think about the people standing around you right now?
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray for them?
SPEAKER_01: You might be sitting next to someone you you've never met.
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
SPEAKER_01: God knows them.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know what's going on in their life, but God does.
SPEAKER_01: You might be liv sitting next to someone you live with, someone a family member.
SPEAKER_01: Um, pray for more moments.
SPEAKER_01: The invitation doesn't stop, it's always open.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for your love and for your word.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that we heard your word preached this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your love and your grace.
SPEAKER_00: We recognize Sabbath is a gift.
SPEAKER_00: It's a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: As Pastor reminded, it's a blessing and it's a means of grace in our life.
SPEAKER_00: We recognize your authority.
SPEAKER_00: So as we walk out today, help us to keep our eyes fixed on you.
SPEAKER_00: And remember the importance of you and the church without Jesus is just a formal thing that's empty.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, we rejoice in you, rejoice in your Son.
SPEAKER_00: God and direct as we go our separate ways, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.