WEBVTT 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.080 Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:12.400 I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:16.480 Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.760 Welcome to the Born for War podcast. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:35.039 It's a little bit interesting that we hit one of the most um pointed passages in all of Scripture about the wrath of God right before Christmas. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:43.039 And I had no choice in this as we go through Romans, but turn to Romans 1, and I'm calling this No Excuses. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:45.679 So that's my title is No Excuses. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:52.240 And we are going to begin this section on the wrath of God, which really goes for three chapters. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:01:04.560 And we're going to get about halfway through Romans 1 in this particular sermon, letter, treatise that Paul is writing. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:11.840 And then we're going to pick it up after the new year as it moves into some specific areas. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:15.599 But there's a line of reasoning here. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:24.640 We covered this the last time, not last week, because we had the play, but the two weeks ago. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:34.079 For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:37.920 So it's the power of God to those who believe. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:56.000 So you could argue that if you're not seeing the power of God on a regular basis in your life, it's actually the sin of unbelief that causes that to be a regular part of your life. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:02:08.240 So one of the prayers you should have is, God, increase my belief in your miracle working power in my life, that it might exude out to others. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:16.479 For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:20.879 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:29.120 Circle, underline, highlight, revealed from faith to faith, for as it is written, the just shall live by faith. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:32.319 So two weeks ago I covered this verse extensively. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:35.360 It's the theme of the book of Romans. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:48.879 If you get a hold of Romans 1, 16 and 17, you get a hold of that, and it becomes a part of your heart, it will revolutionize your life. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:50.960 So it is the righteousness of God. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:57.039 When we believe, the righteousness of God is revealed in our hearts to us from faith to faith. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:16.400 And this means that not just in justification, wherein we receive Christ, and the righteousness of God comes into our life and we're born again, but also sanctification, which is the lifelong journey of the adventure of knowing Christ, that the righteousness of God is revealed. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:24.080 So you have the righteousness of God revealed in your life when you get saved, when you give your heart to Christ. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:28.960 That would be most of us, if not virtually all of us in this room, have done that. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:31.039 But it doesn't end there. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:33.439 That's just going up and having the ceremony. 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:34.960 That's the marriage ceremony. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.719 Now you're married. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:37.360 Okay? 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:43.599 How many of you know that marriage is more than a ceremony that you go through that you celebrate every year? 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:48.560 So what happens for a lot of American Christians is it ends there. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:53.919 And they look at Romans 1, 16, and 17 as just justification. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:55.199 Actually, Luther did this. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:02.960 Martin Luther, in writing on Romans 1, 16, and 17, pretty much limited his view to justification. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:06.000 In other words, getting saved, because he needed that. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:16.959 And because of the works righteousness that he had been so accustomed to as an Augustinian monk in the Roman Catholic Church, this was revolutionary to him. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:21.360 But I'm telling you now that the faith to faith is a faith to faith. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:26.319 So it's not just the first faith, it's the ongoing faith that we have in Christ. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:35.120 So then Paul, under the inspiration of Scripture, moves in to a totally different perspective here. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:45.519 And your Bibles, if they're in paragraph form, this would be a new paragraph, but he says in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:50.000 So we just saw that the righteousness of God is revealed in verse 17. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:05:02.560 Verse 18 now, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:10.639 So there's, he's he's about to begin like a soliloquy here that we're gonna cover. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:13.600 It's way too much to cover in just a few weeks. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:21.920 I mean, in just one message, it's gonna take a few weeks, but he's gonna begin to explain to us how it's revealed. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:23.279 How it's unreal. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:28.480 And he says, first of all, it's revealed against all ungodliness. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:32.720 So ungodliness is our relationship with God. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:35.279 That's why I call ungodliness. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:41.920 So there is a wrath of God that is revealed, and that word is apocalypse. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:47.439 It's this idea of unveiling in our hearts against ungodliness. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:53.360 So that means our damaged relationship with God, but he doesn't stop there. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:56.639 He says, and unrighteousness of men. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:08.079 So ungodliness manifests itself most deeply through how we treat other people. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:29.040 So someone can come to church every Sunday, somebody can go through a creed, make a statement, walk the aisle, whatever the tradition of that church is, and say that they're a Christian, but if they go out into the community and they're immoral and they're unethical, the wrath of God is against that. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:33.680 We don't have any of that happening in our culture right now, do we? 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:37.040 But it's revealed against that. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:54.560 In other words, God reveals the wrath of God, not just in ungodliness, not because we don't believe or we're not trusting God, but also it's how we treat other people. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:56.319 It's how we treat each other. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:06.240 Matter of fact, we could argue that the definition of godliness is the righteousness in which or the unrighteousness in which we treat other people. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:11.920 That's why Jesus said, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and spirit, and your neighbor as yourself. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:19.600 So, in a sense, Paul here is defining from a negative side the great commandment. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:29.600 And then he says this, and this is the beginning of a, I'm gonna call it the regress, the regressive nature of sin, which we begin today, we'll pick up the next time I speak. 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:33.360 I'm not gonna do this at Christmas Eve, I promise. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:35.600 We're not doing that at Christmas Eve. 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:41.040 Um, so we'll skip that, but we're gonna pick it up probably on like the 8th of January. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:51.759 And that is that all regret, all of the regressive nature of sin begins with suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:08:10.000 So this word in classical Greek that they use for suppress the truth is a helmsman in a boat trying to maneuver the rudder against the stream of the river. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:18.879 So the picture that Paul's trying to give to the Romans is that they know the truth. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.879 That every man knows the truth. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:35.360 And that the first thing we do is we suppress what we know to be true, and it's like a guy with the rudder, a helmsman, trying to hold the rudder going against the stream of God. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:38.159 That's suppressing the truth. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:43.039 We're holding down something we know is actually true. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:53.679 So big media, big gov, big pharma, and big tech, they love to censor speech right now because they have something to hide. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:59.279 You don't censor something or someone unless you fear what they have to say. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:06.639 So it's a valid picture in our culture right now of suppressing the truth. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:17.679 Doing everything you can to keep from the ears and the eyes of the populace what the truth is so that you can continue to perpetuate your lie. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:20.480 And we do the same thing. 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:40.000 Any of you here that are involved in a sin that is sort of taking over your life, I'm not talking about the casual sin, but you're practicing something, your conscience is pricked because you're suppressing the truth. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:52.240 So the greatest thing you could do is become vulnerable to God and to men, confess your sin to one another and get set free. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:57.600 Because the truth always sets you free. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:00.320 And it doesn't make you popular. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:16.320 But the wrath of God, the wrath of God is being revealed, he says, against all of those who suppress, you hold down the truth, you know what the right thing to do is, and you won't do it. 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:26.960 And what I'm gonna share the next time I speak is that is that Burger King had a great idea, but it didn't start with Burger King. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:30.320 It started with God, and that's have it your way. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:34.080 Because look at verse 24. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:38.399 Verse 24 is therefore God also gave them up to. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:43.120 Verse 26, for this reason, God gave them up to. 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:44.720 Verse 28. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.279 God gave them over to. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:56.879 So in other words, we're leading up to first suppressing the truth, but there's a digression, and God gives you, you can have it your way. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:04.639 You can have the pickles and the cheese and the mayo and hold the special sauce. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:09.279 But you will have it your own way, and God allows that in our lives. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.279 But it starts with suppressing the truth. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:18.159 Verse 19, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:24.399 For since the creation of the world is invisible, attributes are clearly seen. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:26.879 I underline that, I circle that. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:39.840 It's clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.559 So no one's genuinely an atheist. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:50.159 They're suppressing the truth of what they know and what they can see of what God has made. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:55.759 Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:00.879 Day unto day utter speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:05.279 There's no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:14.799 So when we're driving into the road this morning, those mountains declare the glory of God. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:18.000 The design declares a designer. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:27.360 From the telescope to the microscope, there is a design, and there cannot be a design without a designer. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:49.519 So Darwin's Tree of Life, which is in almost every, if not every biology textbook, after three centuries of research in the fossil record, mostly in China, they've never produced missing link evidence. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:54.240 There is no fossil record of any transitional forms. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:13:01.279 Now I look out at some of you and I think, well, there are some transitional forms, but you know, I have to look in the mirror too. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:04.960 So I don't say that because of the implications to my own look. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:12.000 So we have evidence of the upper part of the tree of microevolution. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:20.240 Everybody knows that, but there's no evidence of the bottom part of the tree of macroevolution. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:24.559 It's right there, it's in the tree of life. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:33.120 And we suppress the truth and we censor the Genesis account in our schools. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:37.679 The famous Cambrian explosion. 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:44.960 It actually proves creation, as told in Genesis 1. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:53.919 In the Cambrian explosion, it's believed in a 24-hour period, things were created. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:55.200 Everything was created. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:57.519 The skeletal system was created. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:03.039 The eyes, the structure of all animals, all created beings was created. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:06.080 That's Genesis 1, gang. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:18.480 We look at the balance of the orbits and the magnetic fields, the oxygen on the earth, the perfect distance of the earth to the sun and the moon. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:25.759 One foot in any direction, and we freeze to death or we get cooked. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:28.000 That's a designer. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:30.159 That's his design. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:39.120 The second law of thermodynamics says everything is breaking down, becoming less complex, not more complex. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:43.360 Evolution teaches that we're moving toward the more complex. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:53.279 And yet the entire universe can be scientifically studied, and we can see that we're all moving to the less complex, suppressing the truth. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:54.159 It's evident. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:55.120 We can see it. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:56.399 It's right there. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:07.039 So God is revealing Himself to humankind for anyone to see. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:09.759 And he's saying, No, you don't have an excuse. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.120 You have no excuse to be an atheist. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:17.600 But you can suppress the truth and you can have it your way. 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:20.639 If that's what you want. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:24.879 Ephesians 2.10, Paul writes, we are his workmanship. 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:28.559 That Greek word is poema, where we get the word poem. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:33.759 We are humankind, are his greatest creation. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:35.519 We are his workmanship. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:36.879 We are his poem. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:40.000 Every one of you in this room are his poem. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:52.080 God has written his creative love, kindness, power, and purpose on your DNA. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:57.840 And everybody in this room is completely different from the other, and yet we're all the same. 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:04.960 I mean, in reality, we're more the same than we're different because we're created in the image of God. 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:12.080 And because we're created in the image of God, there's this beauty and this dignity about all of us in this room. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:23.120 And yet, within God's creative genius, He's put unique qualities on each one of you that nobody else has. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:30.799 It's your fingerprint, it's your DNA, it's the way he made you in the image of God. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:35.759 God has made it evident, but we don't want God. 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.360 We don't want his ways because it's intimidating. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:47.120 It's intimidating to scientists, it's intimidating to chemists, it's intimidating to those who've never given their life to Christ. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:51.759 Because if we if we acknowledge that, then there's accountability. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:17:02.720 So I was recently in New York, and I don't want to give away too much because it would, if you look back, you would it would implicate someone who's very, very famous. 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:07.440 The person I'm talking about is not a friend of mine, but the person interviewing was a friend of mine. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:11.680 But it was a it was a a debate of sorts, okay? 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:19.359 It was a debate of sorts in New York, and we were there, and and Liz and I and Charity and Mary were there with us. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:32.880 And the interviewer was kind of pulling on the strings of a of a man who's very famous, he's known worldwide scientist and fellow, really more of a philosopher than a scientist. 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:39.519 And he couldn't get him to answer about God, about the existence of God. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:47.039 And when Liz and I left, we both knew in our heart this has nothing to do with scientific data. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:50.640 This has nothing to do with creation evolution. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:55.119 This has everything to do with accountability to God if you acknowledge that there's a God. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:57.759 So sin is always sin. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:00.880 Truth is always truth. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:04.400 Righteousness is always righteousness, and God is always God. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:07.519 God doesn't change his mind. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:13.440 And I'm so glad because if he changes his mind, the first thing he would do is change his mind about me. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:15.279 And so I'd get to heaven. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:20.079 He'd say, Well, you know, when you first got started, I really have warm thoughts towards you, but now I don't, so go to hell. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:22.480 So I'm glad that God doesn't change. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:36.880 And so God created the heavens and the earth to first of all be the most powerful apologetic for his existence. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:38.559 Well he continues. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:39.920 Verse 21. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:54.640 Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.079 Professing to be wise, they became fools. 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:02.960 So they we don't glorify God. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:31.119 Wilder Smith, one of the 12 most brilliant men in the world, a godly man, tells the story of talking to Carl Sagan, who is getting all this money from the government with the Sadie project, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, SETI project, with the radar telescope and trying to pick up signals from space and what would constitute outside intelligence. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:32.559 So here's what they were looking for. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:42.880 They're looking for a pattern and order in a message being received from outer space, and he wasn't finding anything. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:20:03.920 So Wilder Smith said, Carl, put down your radar telescope, come into my lab and look through the electron microscope, and I'll show you a digital code on the helix of the DNA that is perfectly ordered and proves there is outside intelligence. 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:08.720 But Carl Sagan would not come, would not look. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.880 Willingly ignorant. 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:21.759 And Paul here calls those who suppress the truth and unrighteousness the smartest people in the earth, becoming fools. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:28.079 They quench the testimony of God and they become fools. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:38.160 They profess themselves to be wise, but they become fools, and the Greek word is moros, which is where we get the word moron. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:43.839 So the most intelligent people in the world become morons. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:54.960 Harry Reimer said, quote, most philosophers are like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there, but that's not the problem. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:57.519 The problem is that they find it. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:05.039 Linus Polly, two-time Nobel Prize winner, said science should be the search for truth. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:14.079 Robert Boyle, father of modern-day chemistry, said, quote, from the knowledge of God's work, we shall know him. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:22.240 600 PhD scientists have signed a document, quote, a scientific descent of Darwinism. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:30.160 Scientists from Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley are saying, Darwin, Darwinism is too much of a leap of faith. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:39.200 We are seeing the evidence of a creator, a God in biology, chemistry, physiology, and cosmology. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:46.319 Suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, professing to be wise and becoming morons. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:49.279 Verse 24. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:51.279 Excuse me, verse 23. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:59.519 And changed, professing to be wise, they become fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:08.000 An image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:17.279 And I love the outdoors and I love to hike and I love to hunt and I love to fish, but it's never occurred to me to worship a pine tree. 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:24.480 I could try to renew my mind and think that's what I should worship. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:30.079 That's how stupid you become when you begin to worship images. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:33.279 You've heard of the NFL. 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:41.279 So we worship rock stars and movie stars and football stars and athletes. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:23:04.960 We get on their Instagram and we look at their TikTok stuff that they send out because we're focused on four-footed and two-footed creatures who roam the earth and happen to be really good at throwing an oval ball or putting a round ball into a basket from very, very far away. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:13.920 You see, idolatry is not some guy who's got a bone in his nose and he's worshiping a tiki god. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:19.680 In the West, our worship are those are those images. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:27.279 And so now we find ourselves, and and I have to be careful too, because I really like to watch Georgia football. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:29.440 But I don't worship there. 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:32.079 But I do get pretty excited about it. 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:42.559 So there's a difference between I think the joy that comes with entertainment for brief periods of time in our life versus idolatry, which is that's all we're thinking about. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:50.799 So it can be a car, it can be our 401k, it can be our stocks. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:57.279 And if any of you have been nervous with your stocks over the last year, you deservedly should be. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:23:59.279 That's idolatry. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:08.240 If we overthink and we analyze and we focus to such a degree that it becomes like a God in our life. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:14.880 So let's put our idols on the altar here this morning. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:17.119 Do you have some idols in your life? 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:26.720 Are there some things in your life that you're so fixated on that it gets in the way of the kingdom of God? 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:27.839 I love what Jesus said. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:32.160 Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:46.799 Now, if you look at Matthew 6, that's Matthew 6.33, you note that all the preceding verses are about worry about finances, worrying about the culture, worrying about your clothes, worrying about material things. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:58.640 And then he says, if you'll seek, in other words, if you'll take your eyes off this, put your eyes on me and seek the kingdom first, I will line your life up. 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:00.559 I'll take care of those things. 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:01.599 He understands. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:12.400 God understands, and I think appropriately so, we do have to worry about those things because worry is what actually instills in us the action to work hard. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:14.319 So there's nothing wrong with that. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:18.720 But he's saying, quit worrying about this and start worrying about this. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:21.759 In other words, make me your focus. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:24.000 I'll take care of that. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:46.880 And so as we put the kingdom first, it's amazing with people who put the kingdom first, how much of their finances, how much of the other areas of their life start to line up because you become of the creative order of what God instilled for you to be from the very beginning. 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:52.480 And so as you're a kingdom person, seeking the kingdom first, he adds things up. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:26:04.000 And that's why you can put right next to that, parallel with that, where Jesus says, You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:06.079 So freedom comes from truth. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:08.799 Seeking the kingdom is the first truth. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:13.039 I mean, that's the first truth, is the kingdom of God. 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:15.440 We we make that our focus. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:22.000 Then we start to line ourselves up with truth, which is not just the word, but it's also your conscience. 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:26.160 It's also the word within, it's the logos within. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:28.559 You have a logos within. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:36.880 And that's what I say to the men a lot, at wholehearted men, is become articulate with your words. 00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:41.440 Learn how to speak well, learn how to talk well. 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:44.079 Think about how you use words. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:49.440 Because when you use words well, you line yourself up with truth. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:27:03.680 If your words have truth on them, and I'm trusting that they they do at wholehearted men, we start to, but if you can't articulate yourself well and you're just a bunch of jumbled up thoughts because nobody ever taught you how to speak, start, stop that. 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:06.400 Learn how to talk. 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:15.359 And you men in this room, if I had your wives all stand up and say, What's one thing you wish your husband would do better? 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:17.839 Usually it's I wish they just taught. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:22.720 So we're not good communicators, right? 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:28.720 We, the male side of the Homeo sapien is not a very good communicator sometime. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:34.160 And yet, Jesus is saying, Seek first the kingdom, all these things will be added to you. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:38.559 Seek truth, it'll set you free, and he's the Logos. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:48.720 And so the Logos is within us, and God can make us articulate with the truth, and it sets us free. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:51.200 Go like this if you understand anything I'm saying. 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:52.000 Okay, good. 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:53.599 All right, good church. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:28:02.640 So, what Paul is saying is we suppress the truth and unrighteousness, and the wrath of God is revealed against that. 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:13.599 And then he says we have this tendency to worship at these idols that we create are the things that we can see, when the things that we should see are the things that should be showing us the righteousness of God. 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:16.480 We don't worship the mountains. 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:40.319 We don't worship human beings, but the mountains, according to Psalm 19, are the beauty and the majesty of God, and then every person that we tend to worship at is actually created in the image of God and gives us the beauty and the dignity of God closer than anything else that we have on the earth is another human being created in the image of God. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:47.519 And so when we start lining things up, things start to come together. 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:05.119 To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holt Online.org. 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:05.920 God bless.