Fully Dependent on Him! - Galatians 2:16-21 - Episode #006

Fully dependent on Him! Episode #006 Outline 

Galatians 2:16-21

1. Dependency for Salvation.

2. Dependency for Service.

3. Dependency for Separation.

4. Dependency for Steadfastness. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning and welcome to the Keep on the Firing Blind podcast. This is your host, Max Tidwell. I'm thankful to be back this morning. It has been a long break. I did have my second child welcoming my second daughter into the world, so that is where I have been. So I apologize for that, but I'm thankful for the time that I've been able to take to spend with my family these last few weeks. But I am glad to be back. I have missed being on the podcast. I've been doing some things behind the scenes, preparing outlines for the future and getting ready for things to come. And so I'm certainly excited for the future ahead and what lies ahead. Y'all just puts messages on my heart. I believe that can be a great help to the people that are listening. And so I pray that you'd continue to listen. But I do want you to do me a favor right now. I do want you to stop and pray for me. I want you to stop and pray for our town of Palakka, Florida. I want you to pray specifically that we would get some rain. Currently, we are on fire. Our county has got some wildfires going, and we've got about 5,000 acres worth of fire burning, and it is just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. They don't have it very contained at the moment. They're trying to get it contained, and I pray they do. But we really need some rain. We're in a severe drought here in the state of Florida. And so I'd ask that you'd stop and pray wherever you are. Maybe you live in Florida. Pray for us. We need it. Maybe you live outside of Florida. Stop and pray for Florida. We need it right now. We need some rain. And so I'd ask that you would stop and pray for rain either before or after you start this episode. Also, I do want to ask you this. I've never asked anybody to share the podcast or anything like that, but I do ask that you would share this podcast with somebody. We've reached over 300 followers on Facebook, which I'm ecstatic for. We've reached over 400 downloads on the actual podcast. Over eight different countries are listening to this podcast, and it is such a blessing to receive feedback from people and to hear about people and how they love listening to it. And for people to come up and ask me where the episodes are, why am I not uploading, what's going on, they'd want to listen to it, and it just encourages my heart and makes me want to keep preaching on this podcast. And so I'm very thankful for it. But this morning, as I've taken some time these last couple weeks, I've been studying the book of Galatians and the book of Psalms really heavily over these last couple weeks. Really, the book of Galatians has been where I've stuck a lot, and I've been on this thought of being fully dependent on him. In Galatians chapter number two, verse number 16 to verse number 21, the Bible says, might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin. God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God, I am crucified with Christ. Here's a great, great verse of Scripture Paul's writing down here. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And then verse number 21 says, I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we're so thankful for this day. We're thankful for the opportunity to come back and be together, Lord, on the podcast this morning. God, I just ask that you'd use me in a mighty way. God, I pray that you'd be with the listener. Lord, I pray that you'd encourage their heart. Lord, help us to fully depend on you this morning. God, I pray that this would bless their heart. I pray it would convict somebody this morning, Lord. And if there's somebody that's listening across the world this morning, if there's somebody now that's lost, that's listening to my voice this morning. God, I pray that you'd draw them unto yourself. Pray that you'd convict them in such a way that you never had before, Lord, and save them by your good grace before it's everlasting too late. Lord, I pray you'd send rain to this town, send rain to this state, God, send rain to this nation. God, I pray for our nation right now. Lord, we certainly need you, Lord. Lead, guide, and direct us. Lord, we certainly love you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The passage here, it's following Paul's public confrontation of Peter at Antioch. Peter had initially, he'd eaten with Gentile believers, but withdrew when the strict Jewish observers arrived, implying that faith in Christ alone was insufficient without Jewish legal observance. Then Paul wrote this letter as a defense of the gospel against not only legalism, but also refuting the idea that works of the law are needed for salvation. Paul is declaring that grace comes by faith alone and not anything to do with the works of man. Listen, this morning, we must rely on the Lord and understand that we're absolutely nothing without him. It was very hard for me to understand, just a quick personal testimony. When I got called to preach, I surrendered to the call to preach October 10th of 2023, but it was many months before that that the Lord actually called me to preach at Power of Two Youth Camp, Brother Mark Stround's Youth Camp. Brother Justin Cooper was preaching a message out of Psalm chapter number 124 titled, If it had not been the Lord, where would you be? And I began to think about that as he walked up and down the aisles of the Power Two Youth Camp. And many people, I'd never seen people go hit the altar in the middle of preaching before. People are hitting the altar in the middle of preaching. I mean, it started with one person and then floods of people hit the altars in the middle of preaching. It wasn't like it was close to the end. I'm talking, we were smack in the middle of preaching time, and people are hitting the altars. I mean, what it was a great night there at the Power Two Youth Camp. But the Lord was dealing with my heart in a specific way. He began to make me ask the question if it had not been the Lord, where would I be? Where would I have ended up? What would have happened to my life? Where would I have what was going on? I had just recently gotten married to my beautiful wife. And I mean, I was living the dream. We lived in North Carolina. We went to a great church. We had great jobs. I had a wife. I mean, I was like, what is happening? What did I do to deserve this life? And as we got back on the van, we went to Waffle House. It's one of the most holy places you can go after a revival. I believe there's a lot of things good that happen at Waffle House at two o'clock in the morning with a bunch of church folks after we get out of revival. But anyways, we were driving back from this Waffle House and the church camp and going back to Shelby. And as we were on the way back, most people were asleep on the van, and I was kind of just laying there on the seat and kind of just talking with the Lord. I mean, he said, I want you to preach the gospel. I was like, oh Lord, you must be talking about somebody else in this van. It ain't I'm on this van with 15 other people. You must be talking about somebody else. There's certainly more people that are far more qualified than I am. Like, God, you you can't be calling me to this. What are you talking about? Like, I just got saved a year ago. There's there's I I don't know much about the Bible. Like, I'm not a good public speaker. You know, I'm not really that confident. Like, I haven't even shared the gospel with anybody yet. Like, Lord, you must have got the wrong guy. Like, come on, like, let's reevaluate, let's reassess what you're talking about here. Like, let's not go too far. And I struggled with that thought of being called to preach. I I understood it. I understood what it meant and understood how high of a calling it was. And so I didn't, I wanted to make sure it wasn't any of my desire because I really never had a desire to preach until God called me to preach. And then all I wanted to do was preach and God, God put it on my heart. And as I began to pray about it and think about it, that question came up of, I'm so unworthy. I cannot do, I can't, I physically can't do this. Like, how am I supposed to do this? And God would always say, Son, you're right. You're right. You are unworthy. You can't do this. But with me, you can't. And we've come to a day and age where I believe that Christians, people and preachers alike, we've come to the place where a lot of people have gotten to where they can do it on their own, in quotes, where God has taken them far enough or they've been preaching for so long, or whatever the case may be, where they believe, oh, well, I can do this now. And we see a lot of pride creep in and all these different things. But I remember a time when God really broke me down. It was July 4th, shortly after I'd gotten called to preach, and my wife didn't know and nobody knew around me what was going on. And I was asking the Lord to help me share the gospel before before I surrendered to the call to preach, I wanted to be able to share the gospel with somebody. And so I was begging the Lord for an opportunity to share the gospel, not only, but also the confidence to share the gospel. And we were in Ingalls there in North Carolina. We were in the Ingalls and we were walking around, and a man, there was a homeless man in there, and he was walking around and there was a bigger guy come around the corner and just kind of take him out. I mean, shoulder check him and take him out, knock all this stuff in the floor. The homeless man gets up and looks and points at the guy and says, That's a demon. That's a demon, that's a demon. I'm like, okay, what drug are you on tonight? Like, what's going on here? Like, I had no clue what was going on. Anyways, we walk to the checkout, he's checking out in front of us, and he checks out, and then me and my wife check out, and we get to the door, and he's like, Sir, I'm not going out there. And obviously, those of you that know me, I'm six foot eight, so I'm a I'm a relatively large human being. And uh he was like, sir, I'm not going out there. I need you to walk me out and make sure that that demon's not there anymore. I'm like, dude, what are you talking about? Anyway, so I walked my wife, I'm like, oh, hang on, let me get my wife to the car and I'll get her in and get her settled and get her safe, and then I'll come back and I'll get you out to wherever you need to be. So I walk, walk my wife out, get her to the car, come back in, and he's still standing there, sir. I I'm not going out there. I need you to tell me that that demon is not out there anymore. I said, Okay, well, let me walk out there. I walk out there, I'm like, man, he's not here. Like, he's gone. I I don't know if he got his car and left. I don't know if he I don't know where he went. Like, he's not here. So he walks outside, we go our separate ways, and I go and sit down in the car, and I tell my wife, I said, I need to go witness that guy. She's like, What are you talking about? I said, I think I need to go witness that guy. I don't know why, but the Lord has just put it on my heart to go witness to this man. And so I I fought with it. I drove around this parking lot and I drove around the building, and I I just didn't want to do it. I was so scared I'd never done it before. I was like, Lord, I I don't know the scriptures, like, I don't know what to do. And that's the biggest lie of the devil that you don't know the scriptures. Because if you got saved, if you understood how to get saved, you understand how to show somebody how you got saved. And so don't ever let the devil lie to you and tell you you cannot share the gospel with somebody if you're saved this morning. But as I drove around that parking lot and I didn't know really what I was about to do, I told my wife, I've just got to do it. So I threw the car and park and I just took off running to this dude. Because it was like, if I if I don't stop and do it, I'm just never gonna do it. So I threw the car and park, I ran across the parking lot, and I go to him and I say, Hey sir, are you saved? And he said, Yes, I have. I know I'm going to heaven. And I said, Praise God. That was an easy first time asking somebody if they're saved. Praise the Lord. And we began to talk about the Lord and all sorts of different things, and he was homeless. And he pointed at me and he said, You'll see me around here, I'm here all the time. This man's name was Chris, and I've shared this story with many people. And he said, I've I've seen you before, and I'll see you around here. I'm here all the time. Like I'm here every day. And those of you that live in Shelby or have ever been to Shelby, you know, in really any town, you see the same homeless people all the time. I mean, if they're homeless, they're homeless, and you see them pretty much every day. And so this specific spot I drove by every day on the way to work, and I would see the exact same homeless people every single day. I saw that man, that was the first time I'd ever seen him, and I never saw him again. And it was very weird how the Lord used that man in a way where he got my confidence level to be able to say, Lord, I've been trust in you. I can lean back on you, I can be fully dependent on you in these situations, and you will provide every word to say, You will tell me exactly what to do. And if I just trust in you and rely on you and be fully dependent on you, and we can do this. And so ultimately this morning, I've been wrestling with this thought of being fully dependent on him. And so, firstly, this morning I want to look at our dependency for salvation. Number one, our dependency for salvation. Verse number 16 says, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. So there we see that we are not justified by works whatsoever. Then it says, But by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. And then it says in verse number 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, and Christ is dead in vain. It says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. We see Ephesians 2.8:9, for by grace ye say through faith, not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And so we see throughout the whole word of God that God spells out when Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. We see throughout the New Testament, certainly after Christ came and we are under the age of grace now, we see in that age of grace that there is nothing that we can do to gain salvation except for place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. For so long personally, I trusted in baptism, I trusted in good works, I trusted in good deeds, but I did not have that full faith in Jesus Christ to take me to heaven. If somebody would have come up and asked me a question of, hey son, do you know where you're going to heaven and when you die? Do you know that you're saved? I would have said, Well, I hope so. I know so. And they would have said, and then if they would ask the question, well, son, how do you know? I would have said, Well, I I got baptized when I was six. I've been a pretty good person. I've I've done some good things. I feel like I've, you know, lived by the Bible as much as I can. I haven't broken that many of the commandments. Hasn't really, really, really, I haven't really done that much wrong. I've been a pretty good person. I hadn't killed nobody, nothing like that. I I feel like I feel like I'd go to heaven. But then God slapped me up the head one day and finally told me I was a sinner and I needed saving. And thank God I got saved February 27th of 2022. This is that a man is not justified by the works of the law. We're not justified by any works whatsoever, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. As in Galatians 2.21, there at the very end, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law and Christ is dead in vain. Listen this morning, to say that you can do something earn justification is to say that Christ died for absolutely nothing. It's saying that Christ's blood really didn't matter, had no power. If you have to do something, anything alongside, be washed in the blood. It's saying that Christ alone did not have the power to save you. This morning, do not diminish the grace of God. Do not frustrate the grace of God this morning. Understand that his blood is the only way to get to heaven this morning. If you are not covered in Christ's blood, you are not going to heaven. If you have not asked him to forgive you of your sins, if you have not placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ this morning, you are not saved this morning. And you are saying, if you're saying, I need to do this plus get baptized, I need to trust and have works. Like the Mormons, we see those people, they say, Oh, well, you we do believe that salvation comes from Christ alone, but we also believe that you have to keep your salvation by doing X, Y, Z. Ultimately, what they're saying is, oh, well, Christ had the power to save me initially, but he doesn't have the power to keep me. Friend, this morning, he has the power to save you and keep you until that day when he comes back to get us, or you die and go by the grave. It is Christ plus nothing, minus nothing this morning. Absolutely, there's nothing more than Christ, there's nothing less than Christ that can get you to heaven. It says, For by the works of the law shall no man be justified. Let's be clear on what that word definition of justified is. It means to declare, pronounce one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be. You know, John Phillips, I read behind him a lot, and I I really like his commentary. I have this commentary in my office, and I really like to read his commentaries, and I feel like I get a lot out of his commentaries and his notes. I was reading about this in his commentary, and there was a story in there about a man who had a Rolls-Royce, and this was before warranty, this was before all that. I mean, this was way back in the day, and he, very rich man, very wealthy man, and he had a Rolls-Royce, and he was in a different country at the time, and the Rolls-Royce broke down, and somehow he got in contact with the Rolls-Royce company, and they actually flew somebody, flew a mechanic out to him where he was. The car wouldn't start. I mean, they couldn't get it anywhere. It was overseas, and they flew the flew the mechanic out to the car, and the man assessed the car and looked at it and tried to figure out what's wrong with it and did, and then flew back to the shop and got the stuff and then flew back to him and fixed the car. And this man, of course, he's driving a Rolls-Royce. I mean, he's a very wealthy wealthy man. He's in a foreign country, and he's like, Man, this is about to be a big bill right here. And he's like, Well, you know, we'll get that squared away later. I'm just gonna fly back and we'll figure everything out. Well, the man's awaiting, you know, in the mail. He's back home and he's awaiting a bill to come in the mail, and it just never comes. It's been a month, two months, three months, and he's just waiting on this bill to come. Well, finally, he's like, Well, I've got enough money to pay for this bill. I I don't want, you know, this bill to have gone to somebody else, or whatever the case may be. So let me just give them a call and get in contact with them and figure out why. Like, I'm not, I don't have a bill. So he writes them a letter. This is before I know I said phone call, this is way before phone calls, and writes them a letter to the Rolls-Royce Company and says, Hey, so here's my name, here's what happened, where's my bill? First off, if the bill don't come in the mail, I don't know why he's asking for it, but this is part of the story, so I'm gonna tell you anyways. He asks this Rolls-Royce Company for the bill. The Rolls-Royce Company writes him back and says, Sir, we have no bill for you. It in fact, we don't even have record that anything was ever wrong with your car. Like there, we don't have a we don't have parts that were ordered, like we don't have any record that anything ever went wrong with your car. And that's exactly what justification is. Justification oftentimes uh we sing a song that's justify had never sinned. Justify was always cleansed. That word justify sometimes is broken down to justified. And we can say justified never sinned. Listen, Christ, when he applies his blood to your life, it's just as you've never sinned. It's just like you're that Rolls Royce who absolutely had no issues wrong with it before the mechanics showed up and they have absolutely no record of any wrong. Oftentimes the devil likes to remind us, ooh, I feel like preaching this morning. Oftentimes the devil likes to remind us and tell us that, hey, you need to feel guilty about that. You need to worry about that, you need to think, oh, God's mad at you over that situation. Friend, this morning, I'm here to tell you that when you have Christ's blood applied to your life, it's just like you've never sinned. Now, that does not give us opportunity to go and just abuse the grace of God. Romans chapter 5 and chapter number six say, God forbid, but it does say that when we do sin and we come to the Father for forgiveness, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins this morning. That does not mean that he forgives them for a season. That doesn't mean he forgives them for a time. No, friend, this morning. That means that he forgives them forever, past, present, and future, completely forgotten about, just if you'd never sinned. That's exactly how Christ's blood is applied to your life this morning. Is that not an amazing thought of just God sees us just as if we've never sinned? This morning, firstly, I see our dependency for salvation on the Lord, but secondly, I see our dependency for service. Verse number 19 and verse number 20 say this the Bible says, For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God, for I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Paul certainly understands as he's writing this letter to the Church of Galatia, he certainly understands that nothing good is coming out of all Paul. Paul used to be Saul, he used to kill Christians. I mean, we see him consent to the death of Stephen. We see all different times when he crushed when he when he persecuted the early church, and we see all the different times in Paul's life when he's done wrong, and he certainly understands that nothing good is coming from him. Let me ask you this. Have you ever said, Oh my god, OMG, have you ever, maybe when you were a kid, disobeyed your parents? Have you ever lied? Have you ever taken something that wasn't yours? Have you ever wanted something else that someone something that someone else had? Well, friend, I can say this morning that all five of those I've done at least one time in my entire life. That means I've broken five of the Ten Commandments. That means I'm guilty of sin, right? There's not a single person on this earth who's perfect. And if they tell you they are, the Bible says that the truth is not in him. If a man says he has no sin, then the truth is not in him. James chapter number two, verse number ten says, For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. So you can keep the entire law and mess up one time and you're guilty of the whole thing. But that's why Christ came to save us. He knew that we couldn't keep that. I mean, there's there's hundreds of commandments in the Word of God. Hundreds of commandments, not just ten. Ten's a great synopsis and a great condenser that we can go by. And it's honestly, if you're a good moral person, honestly, you probably have you probably try to do not do those things anyways. What we're talking about here this morning is all those commandments Christ knew that we had. So he came so that he could fulfill the law, so that we don't have to live underneath the law anymore. Christ didn't come to destroy the law, he didn't come to take the law away. No, he came to fulfill the law. And that's exactly what happened. He fulfilled the law and fulfilled the love between us and the Father, made a connection between us and the Father, to where we can have access to heaven in the Heavenly Father this morning. So if you've broken any commandment, you're guilty of all. We can do nothing for him without him. We must understand that this morning. We, and yet not I, but through Christ in me, we must understand that there is nothing good that comes from us, but also we can do absolutely nothing for him without him. I can't live for God without him. You can't live for God without him. We have the Holy Spirit of God that lives inside of us. He tells us what we should do, when we should do it, what we should not do, what when we should not do it. Amen. And the Holy Spirit is very good at what he does. And so this morning, when we would just listen to the Holy Spirit of God, we'd be a whole lot better people this morning. But what the point is this morning is we can do absolutely nothing for him without him. You cannot live for God without God. You cannot live according to his standards and according to this book without him living inside of you this morning. We are wicked, we're undone, we're unrighteous without him. Our hearts are desperate above all. I mean, we we have nothing good to offer God this morning without him. I can't do anything without the Lord. I can't preach, I I can't pray, I can't read my Bible, I can't sing, I can't witness. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter number 64, verse number six, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags. That means on your best day, I'm talking the best of the best. I mean, you're thinking, oh, I haven't really done much wrong, you're still a filthy old rag. I think of my dad's shop growing up, my dad's shed growing up, he had a five-gallon bucket with a bunch of old motor oil in it from his lawnmower, and he'd throw his old rags in there. Man, those rags were so dirty. I mean, they were filthy, they were stained black, and the shop, the floor was stained black. You bring one of those rags out, and I mean it was just stained everywhere. And I think of one of those filthy old rags, just filthy old shop rags. That's exactly what we are on our best day. We have absolutely nothing good to offer God without him, and we cannot live for him without him. Firstly, I see our dependence. For salvation. Secondly, our dependency for service. But thirdly, this morning I want to look at our dependency for separation. Verse number 20 at the very end, it says, After I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live yet not Christ, but Christ liveth in me. It says, In the life which I now live, I live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm crucified with Christ. You know, when we get saved, our old man is crucified with Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.17 is my favorite verse in the word of God. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. I'm thankful for that verse this morning. You know why? Because when we get saved, we are crucified with Christ. We are crucified with Christ. Our old man is crucified with Christ. Our old man is supposed to die. Our new man is supposed to rise again. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, that means you're saved. He is a new creature. Old things, they're passed away. All things are become new. The very next verse says, and all things are of God. And so when we look at our life and we say, hey, when I got saved, was there a change? There ought to be a change in our life once we get saved. If you say you got saved and there's no change, you might want to just examine your heart this morning because I believe when something as big as God gets in someone as little as us, there must be some sort of change in our life. This morning, our old life is completely dead, and we have a new life alive in Christ. We are called also to be set apart. The Bible says, come out from among them and be ye separate. The Bible says, be ye holy, for I am holy. We're called to be set apart, but we can't be that way on our own. You know, we live in a day, I call them sissy Christians. We live in a day of sissy Christians, honestly, if I'm being honest with you. This podcast is called Keep on the Firing Line. It's called that for a reason. It's because we live in a day where preaching is talked down. We live in a day where we most preachers today use watered down versions of the Bible. I mean, I'm thankful for the King James Bible this morning, and I do know that I am going to do an episode coming up on why I use, not why we use, why I use the King James Bible. I didn't always use the King James Bible, and the but the Lord revealed truth to me through his word, and the Lord revealed to me why this is the infallible, inherent word of God. And I want to go over that on here, and I will be doing that soon. This morning we live in a day where people don't stand for anything, they don't have a backbone, they don't have any conviction. They walk in on Sunday morning, they get a good feel-good message, a pat on the back, and then they walk out and they are never changed. There's never a separation in their life. But this morning I'm here to tell you we are called to be set apart. Listen, we, it's impossible to stand for truth. This is what Brother James Knox said. I love Brother James Knox. It is impossible to stand for truth without standing against error. This morning, if you say, Well, I I know more about what that person's against than what that person's for, it is impossible to stand for truth without standing against error. You realize that we have churches in in our uh here in St. Austin, just across the way. Me and my wife were driving a few weeks ago and we drove around in right next to Flagler College, where I'm sure a lot of these kids from the university go. It's literally directly across the street. I mean, it's very accessible. United Methodist Church, they've got pride flags hanging from around the cross. Everyone is welcome. This morning, everybody is welcome into the house of God. A drug addict, foolish person, I mean, whatever sin you're dealing with, adulterer, liar, thief, whatever, murderer, rapist, what anybody is welcome into the house of God. I pray that we never turn anyone away from their situation. Ever I pray that we never turn anybody away from their circumstances, the way they look. So this morning, everybody is welcomed into the house of God. But we don't have to portray sin on the front of the house of God. I looked as I looked on the sign and it said, you know, we welcome everyone, everybody is welcome here with all the rainbow flags and everything. And it said, Pastor, I'm not going to say the name, but it was a female's name. And then my wife looked up the church, and the lady's got dyed hair, and her hair's all different colors, and every pastor in quotes on that list is old female. And as I began to think, I began to think of those people who say, Well, we need to watch what we post on Facebook. We need to watch what we're convicted about, we need to watch what we say out in the world because people are going to get offended. They need to. It's come to the point to where this mess is creeping into our churches. It's come to the point to where this mess is creeping into our school systems and into our into what's influencing our children this morning. If we don't take a stand, if we don't separate ourselves, our kids are going to live in a whole lot different world when we get older and we die and we're out of here and our kids and our grandkids are here. I've got two daughters this morning. I tell you, 25 years ago, before before I was born, this world was a whole lot different place. And it's not because of a president, it's not because of anybody, it's not because of anybody in leadership. No, it's because of Christians who are too sissy to stand up and say, hey, no, we're not gonna do this anymore. We're not gonna take this, we're not gonna take these festivals, we're not gonna take these pride walks, we're not gonna do this anymore. You know, if Christians would get out in the street preach as much as the pride people would get out and have festivals and and walks and all those different things, we'd live in a lot different society. But we got a bunch of sissy Christians who want to sit behind keyboards and want to sit behind computers and just say, Oh, God's so good, God's so good. God is great this morning. I'm thankful for that, but we must be separated unto him. We must understand that if we're not against something, not really for anything. It's such a sad life to come into church on Sundays and to live one way and to leave out and go the other. Our generation needs us. My generation, it needs us. I'm 23 years old as at the time of recording this, and our generation needs us to stand up and to keep on the firing line. Our gener the generation after us, my siblings, they need us to stay on the firing line. The generation after them, my kids, I have to stay on the firing line for them. My grandkids, I have to stay on the firing line for them. This morning, don't let it be said of your life, that man was faithful, that woman was faithful, but then something came up, and I don't really know what happened, but they're no longer in church. They don't really read their Bible, they don't ever pray, don't really see them around here anymore. I don't really know what happened. They were so on fire, but I don't know where they went. This morning, let it be said of us that we finished our course. We kept the faith, and we finished all the way to the very end this morning. If you're not standing for something, it is impossible to stand for truth without first standing against error. We're fully dependent on him this morning to see true separation. We're fully dependent on him to see true salvation, to see service, and for separation. But this morning, lastly, we're dependent on him for steadfastness. Verse number 20 at the very end says, I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Paul completely understands his dependency on the Lord. That word steadfastness means the quality of being resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering. This morning we're dependent on him for steadfastness. I'm sure you've been asked the question before if you've been a if you've been saved for any length of time, you've gone through a storm, you've gone through a trial, and there's been a time where you've been happy and someone's asked you, sir, ma'am, how are you happy during this trial in your life? I just watched the funeral of dear pastor friend of ours, and we love him very much, and his son had passed away, and I watched the funeral, and I watched the service from the day of the funeral. That man's dependent on him on the Lord for steadfastness. You can't do what he did without the Lord that day. The grace of God showed up in that service. I mean, I was sitting here just overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit of God and the touch that that service had on it. I'm thankful for men like that. You know, I'm thankful for the one who'd say, I know I'm gonna go through the trial, I know I'm gonna go through the storm, but I'm gonna stay, I'm gonna stand strong, I'm gonna stand firm. This morning, trouble will come. It's not if, but when this morning. I call it the Christian roller coaster. If you've ever been to Universal Studios, there's a roller coaster ride called the Rip Ride Rocket. That thing will turn you upside down, sideways, give you a rattle you, I mean everything. It's got everything. I remember going on that roller coaster in high school, and it's real high ups and really low downs. And it what it creates is a massive momentum swing. I mean, you're way up at the very top, I mean, you're seeing all of Orlando and then all the way down to the bottom. Our Christian life is the exact same way. You know, we get up on the mountain and we begin to celebrate, and well, praise God, we're out of the valley, and then just so later, we're walking down the mountain. We're getting ready to go back in the valley. You know, God, the same God that's on top of the mountain is the same God that's in the valley, and so often what happens is when we're not dependent on Him for our steadfastness, we get in the valley and then we remember who God is and we want to pray and ask God, hey God, help me, help me, help me, sir, ma'am. If we wait to pray and ask God to help us in the valley, it's too late. We must be praying on top of the mountain, saying, God, I know the valley's coming. God, I know that the valley's coming. Make me steadfast. Make me immovable, make me unwavering, God. Help me not to falter, help me not to fail, help me not to give in. God, I know I'm on top of the mountain now. Everything's going good. The cars are running great, every bill is paid, everything's going great right now. Lord, everything is going for me right now. Souls are being saved, the church ministry is going great. Everybody loves me. There's nobody against me. I'm thankful for everything that's going on, but God, I know that the valley's coming. God, I can see the valley. I'm standing on top of the mountain and I can see the valley. And God, you're a God up here, you're a God down there. God, I need you to keep me steadfast through this valley. Often ask people when they go through the hardest times of their life, and people get asked all the time, how do you keep going when you get discouraged, when you get attacked, or when you get tired? I've been through many trials, I've been through many troubles, I've been through hard times. How does Paul respond to King Agrippa? I think myself happy. And he's just gotten out of jail, and these are the words that he's able to say to the king to try to get himself free, and he says, I think myself happy. Paul was happy with what had happened in his life. He knew that he had done everything that he could for the Lord after he had gotten saved, and he was just happy to be free just for a second. This morning, when we're fully dependent on the Lord to be steadfast, we will not waver and we will not be shaken. Nothing else this morning will keep you going. The Lord is the only one who can keep you running when you get into the valley this morning. Money, jobs, friends, family, belongings. Nothing will keep you steadfast like Jesus can. This morning, I'm thankful that we can be fully dependent on Him for our steadfastness. If we're not fully dependent on Him for steadfastness, we will waver. Firstly, this morning I see that we have a dependency for salvation. Secondly, a dependency for service. Thirdly, a dependency for separation, and lastly, a dependency for steadfastness. I'm thankful to be back this morning. I've so enjoyed our time. I know I went a little long. And when you don't preach for a while, get to take a little more time. Because I just enjoy it. This morning I'm thankful for the dependency we have of the Lord. I'm thankful for all he's done in my life. I'm thankful for what he can do in yours if you're not saved. This morning, if you're not saved, trust Jesus Christ. He's the only way. He is the truth and he is the life. I sure do love everybody, and I'm thankful for you. If you would share the podcast, share it with somebody you know. Hopefully it can be a blessing to you this morning. And I'll see you next Wednesday. Have a good week.