SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, don't miss that.
SPEAKER_01: It is through Jesus that all the promises and covenants of God are fulfilled and guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you love that?
SPEAKER_01: It is through Jesus that all the promises and covenants of God are fulfilled and guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01: All of the Old Testament promises of forgiveness, mercy, loving kindness are wrapped up in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Today, Pastor Steve continues his series on the Book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you guys, we're in the book of Revelation, and we've been going through the book of Revelation for the last three months, and we've been looking at the seven churches, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And the seven churches are found in Revelation 3 and 4.
SPEAKER_01: We're on the seventh church.
SPEAKER_01: Recently we've been in the church at Philadelphia, and that's the passage that says, I've put before you an open door that no man can shut.
SPEAKER_01: And so I did a series of three weeks in a row called The Law of the Open Door and How God Opens Doors in Our Lives.
SPEAKER_01: And it was a remarkable study, and many of you share the impact that that's had in your life as it relates to work situations, marriage situations, dating situations, and things like that.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what I love about the word.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have this thing called PBJ, Prayer Bible Journal.
SPEAKER_01: And we give you a book mark.
SPEAKER_01: And that book mark is for like three or four months where we're going through, and it just tells you the passage that we're going through.
SPEAKER_01: We're in the Psalms right now in the summer.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you wake up in the morning, and I'm not saying everybody has to do it in the morning, but I'm going to just use that as an example because that's when I've always done it.
SPEAKER_01: But you wake up in the morning and you can't remember sometimes, you know, where am I at?
SPEAKER_01: We've got it right there.
SPEAKER_01: And you might have missed three days or something.
SPEAKER_01: And you can go in there and you can pray and you can read the word and you can uh journal, prayer Bible journal, PB and J.
SPEAKER_01: We journal what God's teaching us and what he's speaking to us right now about.
SPEAKER_01: And God speaks to you.
SPEAKER_01: He speaks to you.
SPEAKER_01: And you don't have to have a pastor, you know, that's been theologically trained.
SPEAKER_01: God speaks to you, and he opens the word to you.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's one of the things we're talking about is, you know, here we are, you know, you could do one study on the church at Philadelphia, and then we dive in and we go, whoa, there's a lot more here that we can grow and learn from.
SPEAKER_01: And so isn't that exciting about the Word of God?
SPEAKER_01: That it is so deep and wide, and He speaks to us in unique ways.
SPEAKER_01: If you recall, in these seven churches we've been looking at, and the seventh is tonight, we keep finding that there's criticisms and there's commendations to each one.
SPEAKER_01: And he's pretty critical on four out of the six.
SPEAKER_01: Two, Smyrna in Philadelphia has nothing but positive things to say about.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to remember what the outline of Revelation was.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the outline of Revelation?
SPEAKER_01: It's Revelation 1, 19.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your first chapter of your Bible there in Revelation, the last book of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Write the things which you have seen.
SPEAKER_01: That's chapter 1, that's section one, and the things which are, that's chapters 2 and 3, and the things which will take place, which we start into next week, which is the end times, and that's 4 through 22.
SPEAKER_01: So from this point soon, starting next week, well, actually not next week, because I'm gonna do this this one twice.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna do the Laodicean church twice.
SPEAKER_01: I started to study and went, okay, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna move into chapter four next week, and then I started digging in and I went, there's no way.
SPEAKER_01: There's so much here on Laodicea.
SPEAKER_01: So this is part one of part two, and then in two weeks we start moving into the last days and the coming of the Lord and the great tribulation period.
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about the rapture, things like that.
SPEAKER_01: A little simple, simple little stuff like that, you know, that everybody, everybody already knows that stuff, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it will be like, quite frankly, it will be like picking up your newspaper.
SPEAKER_01: We get the Wall Street Journal, so you got the Wall Street Journal on one hand, you got the Bible in the other.
SPEAKER_01: And it's seriously, if I didn't have the Bible in this one, I would be flipping out over this one.
SPEAKER_01: How about you?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we have got a really first-class mess on our hands in this country and around the world, and it's just a great comfort and a great joy to know that God is not in heaven wringing his hands, going, I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: I just I'm just really confused about this not working out the way I'd planned.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, what a bummer.
SPEAKER_01: No, but God's actually orchestrating and he's working out a great global plan for the coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He's setting things up, and it's really an exciting time to be alive.
SPEAKER_01: So we're in Revelation chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, this is part one.
SPEAKER_01: I hate to tell you guys that here on the 4th of July, I'm gonna give you the problem tonight, but I'm not gonna give you the solution because uh that's the second half of the passage, and there's too much in the problem to get to the solution, and there's too much good stuff in the solution to do it all in one message, so I'm doing two.
SPEAKER_01: So bear with me.
SPEAKER_01: To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans.
SPEAKER_01: Laodicea, men and women, was south of Philadelphia, not far from Colossus.
SPEAKER_01: It was large and prosperous as a city on the banks of the Lycus River, the wealthiest, most prosperous city in the region, because it was strategically located at the junction of two important roads.
SPEAKER_01: Laodicea was a very wealthy trade route city on the way to China.
SPEAKER_01: So you may have heard of China Road, the China Road.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it came right through Laodicea.
SPEAKER_01: Thus, it was very well known in its banking and textile industry.
SPEAKER_01: Now, all of that's gonna be play a part in how we read these verses, uh, not just tonight, but also next week, because the wording that Jesus uses in speaking his apocalypse, his revelation to John, alludes to all these things.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I'm giving you the background.
SPEAKER_01: A great earthquake had leveled the city, and they had said to the Romans, listen to this, they, the Laodicean city had been leveled by an earthquake, and they rebuilt the city themselves.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: An earthquake.
SPEAKER_01: It hit the Laodicean city and leveled it.
SPEAKER_01: It was such a beautiful and strategic city that the Romans said that they wanted to send them the funds to rebuild the city, and the Laodiceans said, and I quote, We have no need of anything.
SPEAKER_01: There's two thoughts to that if you're if you're getting my drift.
SPEAKER_01: Number one is that that's gonna be one of the verses we're gonna look at.
SPEAKER_01: They have no need of anything.
SPEAKER_01: That's a direct quote from what they said to the Romans uh a hundred years before.
SPEAKER_01: But um but do you remember 9-11?
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember the response at 9-11 in America?
SPEAKER_01: We have no need of anything, we're gonna rebuild America.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I think it's neat that the Congress were all on the steps singing, I think it was God bless America.
SPEAKER_01: But there was not a national humility.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, our churches were packed for three weeks, but we're gonna show them.
SPEAKER_01: So the Laodiceans were very much like that.
SPEAKER_01: It's the most dismal of all the letters that we read about.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing good is said of this church.
SPEAKER_01: This church represents the last and the worst of all the other churches.
SPEAKER_01: It's lost its passion for the lost, it's lost its passion for worship, it's lost its passion for prayer.
SPEAKER_01: So now that's the setup.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus now says to John, these things says the amen, the faithful and true witness, and the beginning of the creation of God.
SPEAKER_01: Remarkable verse.
SPEAKER_01: Four titles given to Jesus right there in this one verse.
SPEAKER_01: The amen, the faithful, the true witness, and the beginning of the creation of God.
SPEAKER_01: When we think of Jesus being the Amen, there's no other place in the Bible where it says this.
SPEAKER_01: The only place where it says Jesus is the amen.
SPEAKER_01: Used only here for a title of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, this is important.
SPEAKER_01: Amen is the transliteration of the Hebrew for truth or certainty, or we might say, so be it.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you ever heard that?
SPEAKER_01: Like, so be it for amen.
SPEAKER_01: That means so be it.
SPEAKER_01: It's the idea, though, you guys, of truth and certainty.
SPEAKER_01: That he's unchanging, that Jesus is unchanging, and it actually refers to a God who's not mixed, not changing, not unsure of himself.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the amen in that he is the unchanging truth incarnate.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is so important because we're looking at a church that's lost all objective truth.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, when you take away from a church objective truth from the word of God, man, it's just everything subjective.
SPEAKER_01: It becomes a hodgepodge of doctrines and theologies that are so confusing to the people.
SPEAKER_01: And it usually starts with the pastor.
SPEAKER_01: He starts getting confused.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen so many pastors over the years who begin to have a dim view, a lighthearted view of the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And at first it's kind of funny because he makes jokes and things like that and everything.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, he's oh, Pastor Sam is finally loosening up.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to be loose as far as your own perspective of yourself, but it's not okay to be loose about the perspective of God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: And so what happens then is he begins to lose his way, then his church loses its way, and then a denomination loses way.
SPEAKER_01: Right now we have a country that's lost its way.
SPEAKER_01: Because we've lost the amen.
SPEAKER_01: We've lost the Jesus, the amen, the certitude that comes with the unchangeableness of the beauty of the majestic love and word of God through Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Corinthians 1.20 says, For all the promises of God in him are yes.
SPEAKER_01: One of the first verses I memorized when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_01: For all the promises of God are in him are yes, and in him, amen, to the glory of God through us.
SPEAKER_01: You hear what that's saying?
SPEAKER_01: It's saying that the amen, the certitude and the unchangeableness of God flows through the amen of the certitude and the unchangeableness of the promises of God through us.
SPEAKER_01: We experience his certitude through claiming and believing and seeing God answer the promises of God that he's given us.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: It is through Jesus that all the promises and covenants of God are fulfilled and guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you love that?
SPEAKER_01: It is through Jesus that all the promises and covenants of God are fulfilled and guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01: All of the Old Testament promises of forgiveness, mercy, loving kindness are wrapped up in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You can go to the Word of God in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: God can speak to you.
SPEAKER_01: God spoke to me today in my prayer walk from the Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: But it's from God.
SPEAKER_01: And He's the Amen in the Old Testament, He's the Amen of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: And so He spoke that.
SPEAKER_01: It was something that He needed to say to me.
SPEAKER_01: Which someone came up to me during the worship and said, I had this dream about you.
SPEAKER_01: And she told me the dream.
SPEAKER_01: And the dream relates to what God said to me a few hours ago on that prayer walk.
SPEAKER_01: The promises of God or Amen through us.
SPEAKER_01: So God's going to speak to you, men and women.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to be the amen in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of us need an amen in our life, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
SPEAKER_01: See?
SPEAKER_01: I told you.
SPEAKER_01: You're believing it.
SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01: Then he's our faithful and true witness.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus also identifies himself as the faithful and true witness, which further elucidates the thought expressed in the first title.
SPEAKER_01: So he's the amen, but he's also the faithful and true witness.
SPEAKER_01: Because everything he speaks is truth, whatever he promises, he fulfills.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: Because everything he speaks is truth, whatever he promises, he fulfills.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's not on our timetable, only like 99% of the time.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It's hard.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you get a promise from God.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't happen the next day.
SPEAKER_01: He's working things out.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever noticed that some of our prayers are not just about us and one thing?
SPEAKER_01: There's like an entity of so many different things involved about something we're praying about.
SPEAKER_01: Someone's praying about their wayward son who's into drugs and stuff, and they want him to come back.
SPEAKER_01: Well, there's a whole issue with that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's issues with his friends, there's issues with his influence.
SPEAKER_01: And so God's working that out.
SPEAKER_01: So you're praying that prayer, and God starts to move.
SPEAKER_01: I believe he sends angels.
SPEAKER_01: And he starts to move on that, but then we don't see it though.
SPEAKER_01: We don't see anything happening.
SPEAKER_01: We give up and we quit.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why he says, seek and you shall find, knock and you shall, and the door shall be open to you.
SPEAKER_01: Ask and it shall you shall receive.
SPEAKER_01: And the actual grammar there is seeking, asking, knocking.
SPEAKER_01: And so we knock and we seek, and we think God's not doing anything, but he's moving because there's more parts, there's more moving parts than we know about for him to answer that prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Don't give up.
SPEAKER_01: Don't quit.
SPEAKER_01: He's the faithful and the true witness.
SPEAKER_01: He's the beginning of all creation.
SPEAKER_01: The Jehovah's Witnesses love this.
SPEAKER_01: They always jump on this verse.
SPEAKER_01: I always know if I talk to a Jehovah's Witness at the door, we're going to go to this passage because it is ambiguous.
SPEAKER_01: It's ambiguous in the Greek.
SPEAKER_01: And it's led to some false teachers seeking to deny Jesus' deity.
SPEAKER_01: Because what they say is, oh, okay, he's the beginning of all creation.
SPEAKER_01: And that translation, the way Jehovah's Witnesses do it, is to say that he was the first created one.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not what it means, because we always judge any verse by the whole of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: So there's no ambiguity in the Greek text.
SPEAKER_01: R.
SPEAKER_01: K, beginning, does not mean that Christ was the first person God created, but listen, rather that Christ Himself is the source of the origin of creation.
SPEAKER_01: That's really important.
SPEAKER_01: You can get off in some major heresy if you don't get this.
SPEAKER_01: So let's just take John chapter 1, 1 through 3.
SPEAKER_01: In the beginning was a word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
SPEAKER_01: He was in the beginning with God.
SPEAKER_01: All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus, don't try to wrap your mind around it, it's too hard.
SPEAKER_01: You have to take it by faith, but Jesus was there with the Father in the beginning, creating through him and for him, and by him and in him.
SPEAKER_01: He's not the first creature of creation.
SPEAKER_01: He was a part of the first creation.
SPEAKER_01: So Colossians 1.
SPEAKER_01: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by him all by him all things were created that are in heaven and are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things consist.
SPEAKER_01: So, heads up, little hint.
SPEAKER_01: Jehovah's Witness knocks on your door.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and it's usually two ladies, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: They don't have many men because they eject them.
SPEAKER_01: But you get these two ladies that come in there and they and they want to share with you from the Jehovah's Witness Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It's spurious at best.
SPEAKER_01: And so always pull out your own Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Those are the two verses you want to use, because that's the first place they're going to go.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Jesus is, he's he's just he's one of creation.
SPEAKER_01: He was the first thing created.
SPEAKER_01: We think Jesus is really cool, but he was created.
SPEAKER_01: He said, No, he wasn't created.
SPEAKER_01: He's the one who created.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you can't prove that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't look at their Bible because it's all messed up in the Greek.
SPEAKER_01: Every theologue I know of says, you know, it's a joke as far as the actual translation.
SPEAKER_01: So use your new King James Version, your new American standard, whatever you have, living Bible, whatever, and uh take them to these verses.
SPEAKER_01: So that's the setup.
SPEAKER_01: All of this is just a setup now for the rebuke that's coming to the Laodicean church.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what he says: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.
SPEAKER_01: I could wish you were cold or hot.
SPEAKER_01: So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm gonna give you my thesis tonight.
SPEAKER_01: My thesis tonight is the vexation of the church in Laodicea is the vexation of the American church today.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying everybody in the American church under the rubric of the American church is lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that.
SPEAKER_01: I believe if we go through the seven churches, we find elements, well, I mean, we'll see elements of the road in every one of them, both positive and negative.
SPEAKER_01: So no church is perfect, not saying every church is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that there's ever gonna be this perfect church.
SPEAKER_01: But I will say this: as we move toward the coming of the Lord, God is going to empower his church like never before in history.
SPEAKER_01: We are gonna see more healings happen.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna see more people getting saved, we're gonna see more demonic deliverance.
SPEAKER_01: I can just say from my own experience that in the last few years I've seen more power encounters with the demonic in America.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not like, I'm not like in uh uh Malaysia or something or some jungle environment, which I believe is actually more prevalent for various reasons.
SPEAKER_01: That's a whole nother mythological discussion we can have.
SPEAKER_01: But the reality is, even in America, we are seeing more demonization.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you looked at TV, I mean, we have direct TV on our TV, and I mean, there's so much supernatural stuff now.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the the media is just fixated on ghosts and demons and dead people that walk around and stuff and uh haunted houses.
SPEAKER_01: Some movie just came out, I was watching it's a true story.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and I was looking at it, I'm like, whoa.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, you know, they just freak you out, you know, because people are fascinated with it, and you know why they're fascinated?
SPEAKER_01: It's because it brings glory to Satan.
SPEAKER_01: And don't be fascinated with that stuff, but also realize this book, the Bible is way more supernatural than that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, because I mean, most of us grew up in churches where it was kind of like if you heard anything that was even remotely supernatural, it was the missionary.
SPEAKER_01: And they were always kind of weird.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I remember.
SPEAKER_01: They always had clothes that were like 20 years out of date, and you kind of go, uh, you know, oh, I guess if you become a missionary, you have to buy clothes at thrift stores and stuff that are 20 years out of date.
SPEAKER_01: And they show slideshows, and there's a guy with a bone in his nose, you know, and a pit helmet and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, hey, I do not want to do that.
SPEAKER_01: That's like so weird.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'll be Indiana Jones, but not that.
SPEAKER_01: He's cool.
SPEAKER_01: But then what happens is that we think it's out there.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's right here, gang.
SPEAKER_01: There's so much spiritual stuff going on right now.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, some of you in this room, I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands, but I mean, probably fully a third in this room, or maybe half of you, have felt demons.
SPEAKER_01: You have felt the darkness before, and you've seen God set you free.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, in spite of some of you are still, you know, packing some growlers of your own that you need to get rid of.
SPEAKER_01: But the reality is that demons are here.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus can set you free.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna see greater demonic activity and we're gonna see greater Jesus activity.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that hot?
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is not gonna lead us down some dark alley and just say, see ya.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna move us into areas of darkness, but he's coming with us, gang, and he's gonna empower you.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we build wholehearted disciples here because we're gonna train and equip you as the years go by and how to deal with that stuff and not freak out, but um.
SPEAKER_01: But watch God show up in a mighty way.
SPEAKER_01: So this is a struggle.
SPEAKER_01: I believe the Laodicean church is the closest of the seven to where the American church is today.
SPEAKER_01: I hate to say that, but that's what I really believe.
SPEAKER_01: Deeds always reveal the condition of our heart.
SPEAKER_01: Deeds always reveal our spiritual condition.
SPEAKER_01: Christ rebukes them for being neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm for being compromised in their faith.
SPEAKER_01: Now listen, this is important.
SPEAKER_01: The metaphor of hot and cold and lukewarm comes from the water supply that was near Laodicea.
SPEAKER_01: Laodicea was part of a triad of cities with Heropolis and Colossae.
SPEAKER_01: Colossae was known for its cold, refreshing stream.
SPEAKER_01: Still there today.
SPEAKER_01: A cold, refreshing stream came through Colossae.
SPEAKER_01: Laodicea had a twin city called Heropolis.
SPEAKER_01: Heropolis was six miles away, and it was known for its hot springs.
SPEAKER_01: And what the Romans had done is they had built an aqueduct from Heropolis to Laodicea to catch the hot springs, an open aqueduct to carry the hot springs to Laodicea, six miles, so that by the time those waters arrived in Laodicea, they were lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: So it tasted awful.
SPEAKER_01: And those who wanted to get into the hot springs had to go to Heropolis.
SPEAKER_01: Those who wanted cold, refreshing water had to go to Colossae.
SPEAKER_01: And he's making a metaphor.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I live in Black Forest, and we have a well.
SPEAKER_01: And I different people tell me different things, but one time we had to do this thing on the well, and I watched how many pipes came up.
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's the Denver aquifer is 225 feet down, and that's evidently what I'm tapped into.
SPEAKER_01: But we have a filter system and all this stuff that our water goes through.
SPEAKER_01: But so by the time the water from the well down in the spring down below on the Denver aquifer gets to us, it's it's pretty much lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: But on our spigot outside, that's a true picture of the temperature, and it's cold.
SPEAKER_01: It's really cold.
SPEAKER_01: Because water from springs is always hot or cold.
SPEAKER_01: It's never lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: From the spring, like if you go to Manitou and you get into hot springs there, if you go to um Glenwood Springs or you go to Princeton Hot Springs, that water is hot.
SPEAKER_01: And so people go there for medicinal purposes to relax.
SPEAKER_01: Glenwood Springs is always packed, probably really packed, and probably Princeton Hot Springs is really packed right now because of the hot springs.
SPEAKER_01: And I used to love in Japan, every summer I went with my best friend and we would go to these islands down below Tokyo.
SPEAKER_01: We'd take a ship out, and it was the coolest thing.
SPEAKER_01: I think it'd be cool to go back to someday, but not that cool to spend that much money to go there.
SPEAKER_01: But if anybody wants to give me the money, I'd probably use it for something else.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, it was really cool then.
SPEAKER_01: So we would go there and we'd go to the hot springs and we'd go out there, and the hot springs were right next to the ocean.
SPEAKER_01: It's really cool.
SPEAKER_01: So here we'd go snorkeling in the cool, frigid Pacific Ocean, and then we'd take off our scuba gear and everything, and we'd lay it down a rock, and we could go into a hot spring.
SPEAKER_01: It's really cool, man.
SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
SPEAKER_01: So we ah, you know, it's like it's back when you're single and you have no responsibilities, and all you that are single, man, you got the easy life.
SPEAKER_01: But, well, not really.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you got your own set of problems.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm glad I'm married and don't want to be single.
SPEAKER_01: It's always better to be married and not want to be single than to be single and want to be married.
SPEAKER_01: But I know some people that are married and wish they were single.
SPEAKER_01: So anyway.
SPEAKER_01: But you you get in there and it's the hot springs and the cold, you know, and everything.
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, if you go to the South Platte River like I did this week to um spend time with the Lord, and I was on the South Platte River and with my Bible and just spending time with the Lord, that's cold.
SPEAKER_01: Like that's really cold.
SPEAKER_01: And there's trout and there's crayfish and there's living stuff everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: This deer came cruising through, you know.
SPEAKER_01: It's living because it's a spring of cold water, and it's and it's refreshing.
SPEAKER_01: And so it got really hot, and I wanted to like jump in, but it didn't bring stuff to do it.
SPEAKER_01: But, you know, hot or cold.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way God made it.
SPEAKER_01: Springs of hot water, springs of cold water.
SPEAKER_01: Lukewarm is no good for anything.
SPEAKER_01: It's yucky.
SPEAKER_01: And um, and I know because I carry a water bottle, and I sometimes leave that water bottle in my truck.
SPEAKER_01: And then I come and I drink it, and it's like, ugh, gross.
SPEAKER_01: And so you want ice, right?
SPEAKER_01: You want to get that thing cold again, you want to get it frigid again.
SPEAKER_01: Or you just want to do like I usually do, and I just kind of dump it.
SPEAKER_01: I always wonder about people who are driving really close behind me.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you hate people who like like ride on your rear?
SPEAKER_01: Don't you just wish you like you had a can of paint or something?
SPEAKER_01: You just kind of throw it out.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I was coming in today, I was I was going down powers today, and I'm going to do a wedding.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I'm dressed really nice.
SPEAKER_01: For you that are guests, this is very abnormal, unless I'm doing a funeral or something, or a wedding.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm driving and I'm trying to get in, and there's nobody on the highway on powers.
SPEAKER_01: There's nobody in the left lane, and there's this one guy in the right lane, and I'm just trying to get on.
SPEAKER_01: And he won't let me in.
SPEAKER_01: And then all he has to do is move over.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's nobody, you know, and so I'm like, I'm gonna get him.
SPEAKER_01: No, I said, bless him, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He just pray a blessing, or I pray that he would know the Lord and be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: He must have been lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: So water like that is lukewarm in its yucky, and and you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Lukewarm people aren't flowing.
SPEAKER_01: They're kind of spiritually dead.
SPEAKER_01: You know, um the Dead Sea doesn't flow.
SPEAKER_01: It has water flowing in, but none flowing out, and it's dead and it's salty.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've ever been to the south where I'm from, you know, we have a lot of ponds around, and every pond you see most of the time is from a spring.
SPEAKER_01: And usually you can find out an outlet somewhere where there's a little stream coming out, because everybody on that farm or whoever knows that if they don't have some stream and some outlet, everything dies.
SPEAKER_01: It becomes lukewarm, it becomes dead.
SPEAKER_01: And people who are lukewarm aren't going anywhere spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: They're the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_01: And and they're and they, you know, you know, you say, well, I don't know if I'm lukewarm or not.
SPEAKER_01: I feel I don't know if I'm lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: Well, look around you.
SPEAKER_01: Are you hanging out with lukewarm people?
SPEAKER_01: You're probably lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: And when you get around people who are sort of fired up, it kind of you're kind of like, ah.
SPEAKER_01: That's not a good sign, gang.
SPEAKER_01: That's not a good sign that when you get around fired up people or people who love you and they want to see you grow and you don't like that, you're lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: You're lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: Lukewarm people most often once walked closely with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: There was a time in their life where they were fired up.
SPEAKER_01: He's not talking about non-Christians here, gang.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about people who know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They have a relationship with the Lord, and they've just gotten into a rut.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us in this room has been lukewarm at times.
SPEAKER_01: So, so it's not a bad thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's actually a normal thing, but it's a bad thing when you stay there.
SPEAKER_01: When you just stay there.
SPEAKER_01: And you stay in your lukewarmness, you're tepid, you're too comfortable, you're you're not even worried about your condition.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't bother you anymore.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Ah, you know, I we do our we do our giving thing, we do our church thing every once in a while.
SPEAKER_01: That's good enough.
SPEAKER_01: But there's no joy.
SPEAKER_01: There's no anointing, there's no power.
SPEAKER_01: You're not excited to share your faith at work.
SPEAKER_01: You're not excited to share what God's been teaching you in the Word.
SPEAKER_01: It's just business as usual.
SPEAKER_01: And guys, that's the hardest people to reach.
SPEAKER_01: I get, I don't like being around Luke.
SPEAKER_01: I thought I could never, I can't be a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: When God was calling me to be a pastor, I'm like, ah, I gotta hang out with American Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Because I was used to Asia.
SPEAKER_01: I was used to people who grew up Buddhist and Shinto and into idolatry and into weird stuff, shamans and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01: And when they got saved, it was like really easy because they did not want to go back to that.
SPEAKER_01: It was too much enslavement.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, I'm gonna go back to American Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
SPEAKER_01: The thing that bugged me about it was that we're so darn comfortable.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we have everything we need here.
SPEAKER_01: We think.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll talk more about that next week because there's actually that's what he says here about the uh Laodiceans.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to this, this is interesting.
SPEAKER_01: 87% of Americans believe that God helps those who help themselves.
SPEAKER_01: 87% of Americans survey believe God helps those who help themselves.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you are going, what's wrong with that?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's what I believe.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: But then listen to this.
SPEAKER_01: 53% of that 87% think that's in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And then we're taking our Christianity to the rest of the world?
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: 63% of Americans believe that you can pray to Buddha or Muhammad.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter, all roads lead to God.
SPEAKER_01: That's 63% of Americans.
SPEAKER_01: And they're offended if you say otherwise.
SPEAKER_01: So, what are the reasons for a tepid form of Christianity?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna use the term half-hearted Christians.
SPEAKER_01: So, what are uh what are the reasons?
SPEAKER_01: I want to give you four tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Four reasons I think we get half-hearted.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, all of you have been half-hearted, some of you are half-hearted right now, and I'm half-hearted, and I'm a pastor, and I get paid to be a professional Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And so I know the struggle there of being half-hearted, and this is what I observe.
SPEAKER_01: And this everything I'm saying here is is um is a bibliography of my life.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I struggle with this too, but I'll tell you one thing, man.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be hot.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be fired up.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is all stuff I've had to learn in the trenches.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, I'm gonna call it emotion-based faith.
SPEAKER_01: Emotion-based faith.
SPEAKER_01: A big term might be unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: It's a flimsy emotional faith versus a firm conviction-based faith.
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean by emotion-based faith?
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say this.
SPEAKER_01: If you're feeling the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of God tonight during worship or during this message, or during in your walk with God this week, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about feeling God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about that your faith is built on feelings.
SPEAKER_01: I think more Christians need to feel the love and the forgiveness and the power of God.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not against emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I exhort you to go after it.
SPEAKER_01: I believe loving God with all your heart means you have an emotional faith.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying an emotional faith as the primary uh foundation that you're guiding your life on.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're gonna just go through stuff in life that is super hard.
SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna get beat up sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are gonna go through nasty divorces.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are gonna see your favorite son or daughter get into drugs and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are gonna get are gonna be fired from your job for no good reason.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's life, that's hardship.
SPEAKER_01: And if you have an emotion-based faith instead of a word-based, conviction-based faith, you're gonna be, you're gonna be a mess.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna go with your emotions instead of going to the word.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: That leads to lukewarmness.
SPEAKER_01: Bitterness leads to lukewarmness.
SPEAKER_01: Getting frustrated at God and blaming God leads to lukewarmness.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, let me give you another, I think, form of lukewarmness or half-heartedness, armchair Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Armchair Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Comfortable, and I like I like this phrase that I think God gave me, just good enough walk with God.
SPEAKER_01: It's just good enough.
SPEAKER_01: You know, what we've always done is we take our kids to Sunday school.
SPEAKER_01: We give, you know, whatever's in the wallet, you know, a few bucks to God, and uh do our little church thing about once a month, you know, just to make sure that we're still going to heaven and everything.
SPEAKER_01: And then we go watch NFL football and uh in the College World Series, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Fortunately, the College World Series wasn't didn't conflict with any church services, or it would have been a struggle for me.
SPEAKER_01: But you don't want to be challenged.
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to change anything.
SPEAKER_01: It sounds counterintuitive, but the comfortable are the most uncomfortable in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: This is true.
SPEAKER_01: The counterintuitive is that what you think is gonna make you comfortable actually makes you uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: Like you think, well, I just man, I don't want to do that, I'm not gonna do that springs initiative stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, on Saturday, we got, you know, we got a picnic planned.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to go help those poor people.
SPEAKER_01: Why can't they paint their own house?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what's their problem?
SPEAKER_01: How hard is it to paint a house?
SPEAKER_01: You know, or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: And so you start thinking that way, and then what it happens is that you go and have a lousy time at your stupid picnic, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because the reality is everybody who went and painted that house comes back just full of joy, and they're well, I'm not going to church that night.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm going to hear their testimonies, and they're all going to be fired up, and you're going to be sitting there, and you're just bloated from all the hot dogs you ate, you know.
SPEAKER_01: So that the irony is that the joy of the Lord is those who serve.
SPEAKER_01: It's true.
SPEAKER_01: I've tried it, it works.
SPEAKER_01: You want joy in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Give your life away to others.
SPEAKER_01: It's so cool.
SPEAKER_01: It's so fun.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, untrained civilian mentality.
SPEAKER_01: Number three, an untrained civilian mentality.
SPEAKER_01: An ignorance from experience.
SPEAKER_01: You've never learned to fight.
SPEAKER_01: These are believers that don't know how to fight.
SPEAKER_01: They don't know how to battle in the spirit, they don't know how to pray until God answers.
SPEAKER_01: They don't know how to hear from God.
SPEAKER_01: They've never been trained.
SPEAKER_01: And so they're kind of living the Christian life like it's a big luxury liner.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Queen Elizabeth or something, and they're going through life, and they're getting bombed.
SPEAKER_01: They're getting strafed.
SPEAKER_01: They're getting torpedoed, but they don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: I read my Bible.
SPEAKER_01: I read my Bible and nothing happened.
SPEAKER_01: You need to get trained.
SPEAKER_01: You got to get equipped to know how to fight in the spirit, to not quit, not give up, learn to be a battler.
SPEAKER_01: You're, guys, as we go into the last days, we're on a battleship, not a luxury liner.
SPEAKER_01: Has anybody figured that out?
SPEAKER_01: Because if you think you're on a luxury liner, you're going to get torpedoed big time.
SPEAKER_01: And you will not be here next year.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm going to promise you, in 90% of the case out here, things are not going to go your way this year.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't know how to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and retroactively and proactively and intentionally walk in God's word through the power of the Spirit and say no to sin and yes to obedience, you're going to get torpedoed.
SPEAKER_01: Because demonic powers are rising, as we know in 1st and 2 Thessalonians, the restrainer in the last days is being lifted.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to see more terror attacks, we're going to see more stuff happening.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to see some more shootings at schools.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not the little gun that walks in and shoots people.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, seriously, has anybody thought that maybe our politicians have absolutely no common sense?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I look at this stuff and I read this stuff and I'm like, this is third, a third grader knows this better than you guys.
SPEAKER_01: And we elected you?
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: And so we're becoming idiots in our thinking.
SPEAKER_01: Because guess what?
SPEAKER_01: That's what the scriptures say.
SPEAKER_01: That those who do not follow the spiritual ways of the Lord become fools.
SPEAKER_01: We become foolish in our thinking.
SPEAKER_01: Read 1 Corinthians 3.
SPEAKER_01: I want to get wiser.
SPEAKER_01: How about you?
SPEAKER_01: I want to get smarter.
SPEAKER_01: I want to get wiser.
SPEAKER_01: I want to anticipate it's going to be hard.
SPEAKER_01: So one of my sons and I were talking the other day and he said, you know, one of the things you've taught me, Dad, is you've taught me that it's going to be always hard.
SPEAKER_01: And it really helps to think it's going to be hard.
SPEAKER_01: And then if it's not as hard as I thought it was going to be, then it feels easy.
SPEAKER_01: But, you know, we don't, you can't think it's going to be easy.
SPEAKER_01: Just plan.
SPEAKER_01: If you're getting married anytime soon, some of you, just think hard.
SPEAKER_01: Gonna have kids?
SPEAKER_01: Really hard.
SPEAKER_01: More kids?
SPEAKER_01: Really, really hard.
SPEAKER_01: So get trained.
SPEAKER_01: When we start having classes and we're doing training classes, get in those classes, learn how to walk in the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And then fourthly, distracted, distracted and busy-minded.
SPEAKER_01: Distracted and busy minded.
SPEAKER_01: Just no time for God.
SPEAKER_01: We filled our lives with good things to the degree that we've lost the best thing.
SPEAKER_01: No time for church, no time for youth group, no time for devotional life.
SPEAKER_01: And so divorce is on the rise, drug and alcohol abuse is on the rise, suicides are on the rise.
SPEAKER_01: Interesting, Time magazine, I shared with you like three weeks ago in that message I gave on the whole hearted family, and I was quoting from Time magazine about marriage.
SPEAKER_01: This is interesting.
SPEAKER_01: In the 20-year-old group, the 30-year-old group, and the 40-year-old group, actually divorce is declining in the last 15 years.
SPEAKER_01: It's declining.
SPEAKER_01: The only group it's rising, and it's rising precipitously, are those over 50.
SPEAKER_01: What that says to me is that somebody's been planning to have a divorce for a long time, and then they finally got their opportunity when it became empty nest.
SPEAKER_01: So we become distracted, right?
SPEAKER_01: We become busy-minded.
SPEAKER_01: We don't really have time to zero in on a D group.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have time to zero in on a C group.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have time to serve in children's ministry because we're just so busy.
SPEAKER_01: And we're distracted, and so it doesn't happen overnight, but gradually we become lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: Lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus says, I will vomit you out of my mouth.
SPEAKER_01: That means puke or hurl.
SPEAKER_01: I hate that.
SPEAKER_01: We have seven kids.
SPEAKER_01: It's the worst.
SPEAKER_01: Because they all catch it from the others.
SPEAKER_01: And so you got one kid hurling upstairs, and you got another guy puking downstairs.
SPEAKER_01: And he got it from him.
SPEAKER_01: We said, Don't drink out of the same glasses.
SPEAKER_01: I don't feel good, Dad.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna take a little bit of theological and spiritual liberty here, and I'm gonna reframe this verse.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what I'm gonna say Jesus gets the stomach flu with lukewarm Christians.
SPEAKER_01: So when you walk in lukewarmness, you're giving Jesus a stomach flu.
SPEAKER_01: He pukes.
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty strong language, gang, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be a church that's lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: Because I want the blessing of God, not his retribution.
SPEAKER_01: Because of not walking with him.
SPEAKER_01: So the half-hearted, the half-hearted, the lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting, the name of the church is Laodicea.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone heard the word lay, lay members or laity?
SPEAKER_01: That means the people.
SPEAKER_01: Laodicea is two Greek words coming together, and it means the democracy of the people.
SPEAKER_01: It means the democracy of the people.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Laodicea thought it was all up for a vote.
SPEAKER_01: If you realize the kingdom of God is not a democracy, the kingdom of God has one king and one ruler.
SPEAKER_01: He rules over all, and he doesn't get voted out every four years or eight years.
SPEAKER_01: You can't vote him out.
SPEAKER_01: He's still king.
SPEAKER_01: You may not be following him.
SPEAKER_01: We may not be being led by him.
SPEAKER_01: We may not be guided by him, but there's no vote for who's supreme commander of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: And our nation is in trouble because we've lost all objectivity.
SPEAKER_01: And our piece of the pie becomes more important than the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: Because you say I am rich, I've become wealthy and have need of nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Remember that phrase?
SPEAKER_01: Need of nothing?
SPEAKER_01: That's what the Laodiceans had said to the Romans.
SPEAKER_01: Do you not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked?
SPEAKER_01: The Laodiceans were equating their spiritual condition with their material blessings.
SPEAKER_01: That's called Old Testament thinking, gang.
SPEAKER_01: This idea that with the nation of Israel, they equated their material blessings as being the blessings of God, and they were the blessings of God.
SPEAKER_01: But in the New Testament, we actually see Jesus equating blessing with how much we give, not how much we get.
SPEAKER_01: And so Americans really struggle with this because we have been bountifully blessed.
SPEAKER_01: We have been bountifully blessed.
SPEAKER_01: And so as long as we have our stuff, we think we're just fine.
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is that right here, Jesus says, no, you are wealthy, but and you say you have no need of anything, and then Jesus calls them wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
SPEAKER_01: I found over the years, both raising support as a missionary and then being as a pastor, is that the wealthiest people are all are often the poorest people spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: And some of the poorest people are some of the most wealthy people.
SPEAKER_01: I've never been around so many people as those in this body, especially, who you give so sacrificially.
SPEAKER_01: It's just unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: The reason we're here, the reason that we can talk about the idea of maybe two churches coming together and partnering with Chapel Hills Church and the road is because of the generosity of y'all's giving.
SPEAKER_01: That we can be here.
SPEAKER_01: That we can be in this, I mean, isn't this amazing?
SPEAKER_01: We're, you know, we're two years old, and look what God's done.
SPEAKER_01: It's been phenomenal.
SPEAKER_01: And um, it's because of the giving of each one of you.
SPEAKER_01: And and and it's just, I mean, sometimes when I hear about what people have given, it's just it blows my mind.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you find a wealthy person who's generous, it's it's an awesome thing.
SPEAKER_01: But what happens is when we it almost seems like the more we have, the more we hoard.
SPEAKER_01: We always say, you know, well, I'll start tithing when I get to this.
SPEAKER_01: If I had this, then I would start to tithe 10%.
SPEAKER_01: Never works.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm sure it's worse.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it never works.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's probably happened to two people in the country.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it's happened to somebody, you know, if I get to this.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're not a tither, if you haven't learned the power of the love and the awesomeness of the generosity of giving, then you'll be poor and wretched and blind in your in a part of your life.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody's like, I don't like this part of his sermon very much.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like this guy.
SPEAKER_01: We're not coming back to the road anymore.
SPEAKER_01: He's mean.
SPEAKER_01: He's he wants my money.
SPEAKER_01: No, God wants your money.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want your money, God wants your money.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what's exciting is that you can break that.
SPEAKER_01: You can break that through the power of the Holy Spirit by learning generosity.
SPEAKER_01: Trust God.
SPEAKER_01: It's part of getting hot.
SPEAKER_01: It's a part of getting hot for God is that nobody possesses you.
SPEAKER_01: You possess your possessions.
SPEAKER_01: When your possessions possess you, then you have an idol in your life.
SPEAKER_01: When you possess your possessions, you have freedom in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Do you want an idol or do you want freedom?
SPEAKER_01: Pretty simple to me.
SPEAKER_01: And it's exciting.
SPEAKER_01: So verse 18, listen to the look at the first three words.
SPEAKER_01: I counsel you.
SPEAKER_01: That's next week.
SPEAKER_01: So next week, Jesus, the counselor, comes in and he tells us what to do to break the power of being lukewarm and come into being hot and cold.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, I've heard teaching over the years saying cold is those who don't know the Lord, and hot are those who don't know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what the passage is saying.
SPEAKER_01: Hot and cold are of similitude of the same thing of refreshment and joy in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So next week we're going to talk about what is the counsel of God for we that struggle with being lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01: And don't you want to be hot?
SPEAKER_01: I do.
SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.