Don't Be Deceived

This Sunday in our Moving Forward series, we will walk through Joshua 9 and discover how easy it is to make decisions based on appearances instead of God’s direction. Israel’s greatest mistake was not weakness, but prayerlessness. Join us as we learn how discernment, dependence on God, and His grace protect us from compromise and remind us that even our failures are not bigger than His mercy.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Look at all those kids. You're gonna have to pray for the kids' ministry leaders out there. They got their hands full today. Oh, praise the Lord. Well, church, I just wanted to share this morning. We had one sinner repent and came to Christ. Can we praise God this morning for that? And the Bible says that all heaven rejoices when one sinner comes to repentance. In Luke 15, 7, just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and over 99 righteous persons who needs no repentance. God leaves the 99 to go and find the one every single time. And I want you all to know this morning that's God using all of you. Whether you're serving in kids' ministry like we just saw on the worship team tech ministry, uh different security ministry we have here, maybe it's one of the most important ministries, cookie time after services and hosting. Whatever ministry you're involved in is serving, I want to let you know this morning you're a part of that salvation. And sometimes it gets discouraged. You're outside and you're trying to till the soil, you're trying to get ready and trying to see what God's gonna do. And look what God did. All heaven rejoices over that one person who came to Jesus. And so, church, that is something to celebrate. I want us to celebrate salvation to your FBC. So can we give God glory one more time? Amen. Well, today's title, today's message is Don't Be Deceived. Don't be deceived. And we're gonna be continuing in our series of moving forward, and we're gonna be looking at Joshua chapter 9. So if you have your Bibles and you want to open up to Joshua chapter 9, and I wanted to ask you guys this morning, have you ever been deceived? Thinking back in your life, have you ever been deceived? You know, in this week of writing this message, I was thinking through things. My wife came to me, she said, You and Hudson need to go for a run. We try to around five times a week run three miles a day. And so Hudson and I looked at each other and I was like, You ready to run? He's like, Nope. I'm like, I'm not either. I I kind of want to take a little nap. And so I was like, hey, how about we run in the next half hour? He's like, okay, that almost sounds good. So I went to sleep. He comes in the room, wakes me up. He's like, hey, you know, we got to run. I'm like, yeah, I know about that. Give me five more minutes just to kind of sleep. I'm a little tired today. And he comes back in and I said, All right, Hudson, you ready? He's like, No, I really don't want to run either. I was like, what are you thinking of doing? He's like, Well, I'm kind of hungry. I am too. You know, I've been thinking about this sandwich I had right before they closed. House of Flavors has this bacon sandwich. It's like five pieces of bacon. I'm like, I've just been craving that for such a long time. He's like, Dad, let's do that. So we go to House of Flavors, we're sitting there having a good time, eating our sandwich and our fries, and I look over. My wife's on the village green with the kids for soccer practice, and she caught us, but Hudson didn't know it. He's like, Dad, she thinks we're running. I was like, I know, son. He's like, Can we deceive her somehow? Like, maybe we could throw some water on her shirts to make it look like we're sweaty. I didn't even teach him that. He already knew deception. He already knows. But we ended up going to mom and she understood. She's like, Yeah, I know you weren't feeling it today. But we, you know, told him the story about Hudson. She's like, I knew he was trying to deceive me on this one. But maybe you've never been deceived like that. But maybe you've brought something you thought was gonna be amazing. You start doing the assembly, you start putting things together, and you're looking at this and like, why do I have three extra pieces? Or maybe I'm missing a couple screws to put this thing together, or maybe you got someone who comes in your life and says, Hey, you gotta have this. I do? Yes, you gotta have this. Your life's not complete unless you have this. They sell it to you, and you're thinking later, why did I buy this? I had I did not need this at all. I had everything I needed. Why did I end up buying this? And that's where they're at in Joshua chapter 9. It's a story about deception. They're being deceived. Not because Israel was weak, not because they lacked power, but because they stopped seeking God. One of the greatest dangers in a Christian life is not open rebellion, it's this compromise and spiritual deception. Satan rarely shows up to your life and says, you know, if you do this, this massive destruction is gonna come in your life. If anything, he gives you some sort of half-truth. He's kind of saying, you know what, go ahead and do this. It's okay. No one's gonna know. It's gonna be okay. You deserve this. And Joshua chapter 9 teaches us if we're not prayerful, if we're not discerning, we can make decisions based on appearance instead of God's direction. And we're looking at the story moving forward where we see that the Israelites, they conquered Jericho. The walls have fallen, there's a high. Then we get to Joshua chapter 7. That's when I told you all, we're all sinners, right? And you keep coming back, which I'm thankful for. And we're looking at this, and they were Achan sinned, and they burned Achan and his family because of the sin. And the sin was confessed, and then Joshua and the leaders, they're just overwhelmed. They're just overwhelmed by that defeat, and they ended up putting dust on their heads, and Joshua's falling prostrate before the Lord, is not sure what to do. God tells Joshua, get up, get up. I'm gonna help you take over the city now that the sin has been conve uh has been repentative. And so we look at this, and Joshua chapter 9, it's another test. They just set up the stones of remembrance so they can remember. They gotta stay focused on God, and the next chapter, boom, another test. And so if you're taking notes this morning, the first point of today's message is this appearances can be deceiving. Appearances can be deceiving. And we'll continue the story in verse 3. But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard that Joshua had done to Jericho and to I, they on their part acted with cunning and made ready provisions, and took worn out sacks for their donkeys and wineskins, and worn out and torn and mended, with worn out patched sandals on their feet, and worn out clothes, and all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp of Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us. But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you live among us? Then how can we make a covenant with you? They said to Joshua, We are your servants. And Joshua said to them, Who are you? And where did you come from? They said to him, From a very distant country. Your servants have come because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard the report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, and Shinem of the king of Heshbon, and Og of the king of Bashan, and who lived in Ashroth. And so our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go meet them and say to them, We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us. Here is our bread. It is still warm when we took it from our houses as food for the journey, and on the day we set to come to you, and now behold, it's dry and crumbly. These are the wineskins were new when we were filled with them, but behold, they are burst. These garments and the sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey. So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. So the Gibbonites, they they knew, they knew that they could not defeat Israel. I think they're kind of brilliant in some ways, and you're looking at the story, they're probably listing off all the people before they crossed the Jordan to make sure that they knew that they weren't in a near country next to them, right where they were at. And so they're listing off all the victories they had before the Jordan, but I'm sure they knew the victories be after the Jordan as well. And they're going through this, and they had these worn clothes, these worn sandals, this dry bread, cracked wineskins. I mean, these guys are brilliant actors, and they're deceiving them outwardly. The story looked completely believable. I guess they are from the outside, and they're coming all the way. The story makes sense, but appearance can be deceiving. One of Satan's greatest tools is deception. Rarely does temptation show up looking dangerous. But sin usually arrives dressed up as something reasonable, something attractive, something harmless. Even at times, sometimes it's even spiritual. The enemy understands something. If he can't destroy you through attack, he's gonna distract you through deception. And Israel had just defeated Jericho and I. And I'm sure the momentum in the camp was pretty high. And the confidence was growing, and often the greatest danger comes after a victory. We get overconfident in our lives, and I think that's what's going on here. Sometimes we become less discerning after success. We stop and we stop slowing down, we stop praying carefully. Should we do this? Should we go there? We assume everything is fine because things look right. But then we get to verse 14, the story. And it's one of the saddest verses in the chapter. So the men took from their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. I mean, this is a real issue. The problem was not merely that the Gibeonites lied, the problem was that Joshua and Israel they stopped depending on God and discerning. After just building a monument that will never forget God, we're gonna keep on going back to Him, let us never forget again. And the next chapter, they forget again. They've been deceived. They inspected the bread, they examined the sandals, they listened to the story, but they never went back to the one they made the monument for, saying we're gonna remember him, we're gonna follow after him. And there's things in life all around us that look good. Maybe it's a relationship or opportunity or friendship, but not that looks good spiritually. Not everything that feels right is actually right. Not everything popular is actually biblical. In Proverbs 14, 12, it says, there is a way that seems right to a man, but it ends is the way of death. There's many things that are like, I gotta do this, I have to have this in my life, but oftentimes it leads to death. Or 2 Corinthians 11, 14, it says, and no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as the angel of light. You're thinking about that. He is going around, he's acting like he is God. In fact, Satan is jealous that he is not God, and that's why he is where he is today. He wasn't God, and he got mad about that. And so he wants to disguise himself as the angel of light and deceive us. The animal still, he is walking around trying to deceive us with these half-truths, maybe emotional decisions, and say he knows if he can get believers to stop seeking God for wisdom, he'll win. We will begin making decisions based on our feelings and appearances and pressure. You know, it made me think about pilots. A lot of you have been asking, I got this jet pilot, and I made jokes, you know, that this is basically where I find my jet when I come here to Pentwater. I don't have a jet. But my dad, he worked at Halmet. He designed uh airplane parts and different things like that for jets, and he would bring these home when I was a kid. I would play with them all the time, and he finally gave me one, and it's super special to me, so I put it on my jacket when I wear it. But looking at this, there's times where I wait at the airport, and I'm looking at the airplane, I'm like, why do I have to wait another hour and another hour and another hour? It's because my dad probably failed on one of the parts for the jet. So I'll text him, I'll say, Dad, you messed up on a jet part again. You know, I'm waiting here at the airport. But even with pilots with 20,000 flight hours, okay, they can become complacent. They can become overconfident because experience can make you overconfident. And confidence can make you at times careless. And uh they happen, these airplane crashes don't happen because the pilot doesn't have experience. They happen because a lot of times they maybe overlook something that they're used to doing, but like, oh, we don't really have to do this. And Joshua had just conquered Jericho and I. I'm sure he had overconfidence and the people, overconfidence. And we've got this, we know what we're doing, we've seen this before, but the greatest danger is after a victory and assuming that you no longer need God's guidance. Because you do. Joshua didn't fail because he was weak or because he didn't know how to lead. He failed because he didn't look to God, he looked to the situation at hand. Confidence without prayer is dangerous. When we hang up that thing called prayer and we don't pray, it's dangerous. And Joshua examined the bread, he examined the wineskins and the story, but he never stopped and thought, you know what? I just built this monument here to remember God, and I need to pursue him. He didn't do it in the next chapter. The problem wasn't a lack of evidence, the problem was a lack of dependence. I think God was showing this to the Israelites time and time again. Even as I go through the story, I'm like, you guys failed again. It's just like every single chapter, there's something that comes up. You just won, you just learned, and boom, the next chapter, you fail. Because they don't pray before you decide. And Joshua's greatest mistake here was a prayerlessness. Big victories do not remove the need for dependence on God. We have to depend on God. Some people only pray when life falls apart. Mature believers pray before the decision. They're proactive rather than reactive. Before I date this person, I'm gonna spend my knees before the Lord and ask, should I date this person? Before I marry this person, I'm gonna spend some time on my knees and ask God, is this really the best person for me to be with? Or maybe it's a business deal. You pray, you go down before your knees before the Lord. Is this the best business deal before I accept this? And the enemy often uses compromise. And the Gibeonites did not arrive with swords, nothing. In fact, they had very little. They didn't arrive with any of that, they arrived with a compelling story. And deception often enters quietly. Small compromise matters. It's only just one time, it's okay. Everybody else is doing it, that's the obvious one. But Satan rarely asks for destruction immediately. He usually starts with something small. And discernment comes from walking with God daily, not just once. I made that one decision. No, every morning before you wake up. God, help me discern the things that you have for my life today. Help me to choose option A rather than B, C, and D, and the list goes on and on and on. Help me stay in your will today. Help me not live for myself, but live for you. It's a daily decision. People who spend time with God become more sensitive to deception. And prayer sharpens spiritual vision. The closer you walk with Jesus, the easier it becomes to recognize what is false. So therefore, we should spend time with our Father. Hebrews 5 14 says, But solid food is for the mature. For those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. If we're not spending time with God in His Word, how are we going to do this? We got to make it a priority in our lives. And Joshua 9 reminds us, not everything is as it appears. The enemy is deceptive. Not every opportunity is actually from God. Not every relationship is actually healthy. Not every open door should be walked through. Does this align with Scripture? Does this decision actually draw me closer to Christ? Is this producing holiness in my life or is it bringing compromise in my life? Appearances can be deceiving. Appearances can be deceiving, and we gotta spend time in God's word and with the Father to know what is deceiving and what is not. Number two, prayerlessness. Prayerless decisions lead to compromise. Prayerless decisions will lead to compromise. We'll look in the story in verse 14. So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them. So verse 14 gives us this turning point in the whole chapter. They did not seek the counsel of the Lord. So that one sentence explains the entire failure. Joshua and the leaders examined the evidence, they looked at everything, they elevated the appearance, but they never prayed before the Lord. This is not a military failure, it was a spiritual failure on their end. Israel saw God before Jericho, they saw him after they had confessed the sin for I, but now things seem simple. Things looked obvious, and they moved forward without seeking God. And sometimes the most dangerous moments spiritually are not during a crisis, but during that overconfidence we had mentioned. Success can create this self-reliance. I got this, I got everything figured out, everything's straightforward. But we're seeing that prayerlessness always leads to a compromise. Notice what happened. They stopped praying. They stopped, they made peace with their enemy, and they entered a covenant with what God told them to avoid. Prayerlessness is rarely neutral. When we stop seeking God, we start leaning on our own selves. I got this. And self-reliance always weakens the spiritual discernment in our lives. In James 1, 5, it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let them ask God. He's right there. It's a perfect Wi-Fi signal, perfect signal in general. He's right there. It's a quick prayer. God, should I do this? Help me follow your spirit. Help guide me, Lord. Help me follow you on that path that you have for me. It's if anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask God. God never intended believers to navigate life without his wisdom. And prayer is not just a religious ritual where you just kind of go there and you do your now. I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. It's not one of those things. It's a daily decision to say, Lord, I need your help on this. Should I buy this candy bar or should I buy this candy bar? You know, even the little things, right? We need to ask God and consult with him on those things. And one of the clear signs of spiritual drift is decreasing in our prayers. Thinking about your life right now, if your kids were to follow your example of your prayer life, would you be excited or would you be devastated? It's convicting to think about. Or maybe your grandkids, if they follow your prayer journey, your prayer life, would you be excited or would you be convicted? I got the awesome privilege to go to the cove where the Billy Graham family is, and Jim Simbla was there. It's talking about him. He wrote this amazing book. Some of you have read it and told me about it. It's amazing. It's fresh wind, fresh fire. It's totally changed my life. Because in this book, it talks about the power of prayer. Going before the Lord and praying. And it talked about in this book the story when him and his wife started the Brooklyn Tabernacle. It's this awesome choir, if you haven't seen it. And they were going through things, they're going through trials. The church started to grow. And they were really excited to see the growth, but they had a problem. They couldn't pay the bills. Every single month came, they couldn't pay that bill, they couldn't pay this bill. And Jim was so frustrated. He's like, I'm in New Jersey, which is a very depressing place to live, and we can't pay the bills. What do you do? He called a prayer meeting. The whole church got together, they started praying. God, would you provide what we need? Would you provide the needs for this church? Will you help us be able to pay the bills that we have not been able to pay? And then a guy comes out in the front, and Jim's up in the front, and the guy comes up and he said, I just want to let you know, I've been stealing the offering every week. Thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. He came up, confessed, and they prayed over him and they forgave him. He gave all the money back and they were able to pay their bills. Now, if Jim and his wife tried to do things in their own strength, I don't think that would have happened. But when things were getting rough, when things were getting difficult, they went down on their knees and they prayed, said, God, would you please bring us the answer? What do you want us to do? We think your will is to be here, but we can't pay the bills. And that's what God did. He convicted hearts and he brought that before them. And that's what's changed my life. Prayer will change your life. I promise you, it will change your life. And a prayerless life leads to a powerless life. How many Christians are walking around powerless because they never pray? They just do the prayers before meals. If that's all it is, you're a baby Christian. You gotta be walking with Him daily and talking with Him. He hears every word. Walk and talk with Him. Throughout Joshua, victory always came when they depended on God. The same is true for us. We need God. Prayer is not weakness, prayer is spiritual wisdom. We need to pray. And Joshua 9 warns us smart people can still make foolish decisions. You can have all the experience, all the money in the world, but if you're not on your knees, you're not going to make good decisions. We've got to make prayer a priority in our lives. Strong believers can still compromise, and victorious Christians can still drift because prayerlessness opens a door for compromise. One prayerless decision can create consequences that last for eternity. But the opposite is also true. One moment of dependence on God can save you from years of regret. The safest words a believer can pray, Lord, what do you want me to do? This just came to me today, God. What do you want me to do with this? Before major decisions, we gotta pray. We gotta wait. We gotta seek scripture. We gotta ask wise counsel. We gotta slow down. Some of the greatest spiritual damage happens when we rush ahead without God. Don't confuse confidence with discernment. A decision can feel logical and still be outside of God's will. We gotta be a church on our knees. He says this needs to be a place of prayer. My house should be a house of prayer. We gotta make prayer not only here, but all throughout our lives. Because prayerless decisions lead to compromise. We see it right in front of our eyes in Joshua chapter 9. They didn't seek God. They forgot about Him, even after making that monument. Last but not least, number three, God's grace is bigger than our failures. I can't tell you how much blood I have seen in this story of conquering enemies and defeating different people, and how much failure I've seen from other people they're conquering, and Joshua's leader and the elders. So much failure through this book. But look what happened at verse 16. At the end of the three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and they lived among them. And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Sheriff, and Bareth, and Kerith Jerem. But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation they murmured against the leaders. But all the leaders said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. This we will do to them. Let them live, lest wrath be lest the wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them. And the leader said to them, Let them live. And so they became cutters of wood, drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said to them, and Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, Why did you deceive us, saying that we are very far from you when you dwell among us? Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. They answered Joshua, because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. And so we feared greatly for our lies, because of you we did this thing. And now, behold, we are in your hand, whatever seems good and right in your sight do to us. So he did this to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood, drawers of water for the congregation, and the altar of the Lord to this day is in the place that he chose. So Israel discovers the truth. What? You're not from a distant land, you're just right here. You we thought you were telling the truth. We've been deceived. The Gibeonites were not from there at all. The covenant had been built on deception. Imagine the frustration from a leader. I messed up again. I didn't seek God on this, and I got deceived. I'm deceived from this. And we made the wrong decision. This could have been avoided, and the congregation begins to complain against the leaders, and rightfully so. Look what you did. We're following you, and you didn't seek after God, and now we have this issue and this mess before us. And I'm sure the leaders got discouraged because compromise always creates consequences. But here is what is remarkable: even after Israel's failure, God still works. Joshua and the leaders chose to honor their word. They refused to break this covenant they made with them because the name of the Lord was attached to it. Their failure did not remove their responsibility to honor God. And sometimes obedience becomes hardest after a failure. But Israel could have responded with anger, revenge, and bitterness, but instead they chose integrity. And this becomes one of the greatest pictures of grace in this chapter. I mean, the Gibeonites they deserved judgment, yet they were spared. Not because they were innocent, but because mercy was extended. And in many ways, this points us towards the gospel of Jesus Christ. We were enemies of God because of sin and guilt, deserving judgment, yet through grace, God made peace with us through Jesus Christ. I love this verse, Romans 5 in verse 8, it says, But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Imagine the worst sin you've ever done, that's when Christ died for you. The sin, while you were still in your sin, the worst sin possible, he died for you. Notice this too. The Gibeonites did not just become rulers of uh become rulers in Israel, but they were bought brought near. They became servants connected to the house of God. In verse 27, Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation for the altar of the Lord. So you may say, the Gibeonites, they deceived us. They saw the power of God, though. They saw God working through all throughout, and they're like, there's absolutely no way we're gonna be able to defeat him. So in some ways, it was brilliant. One mistake did not make God abandon his people, and Joshua, this leader, made bad decisions, but God still brought redemption out of it. Aren't you thankful that God can redeem failures? Bad decisions that we make. Some of the greatest testimonies are built on I failed. And God uses that in such a mighty way. And the enemy wants our failure to produce shame and isolation, but God wants repentance to produce restoration. Failure is not the end when grace is involved. I love this passage in Psalm 103. It says, He does not deal with us according to our sin. As far as the east is to the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. You see, all throughout scripture, this is what God does. He removes our sin. As far as the east is to the west, it is nowhere to be found. But there's still consequences, there's still scars that remain. And one of the things I have found, kids ask the best questions. I was once asked, if God forgives my sins, why do I still have consequences? And at the time my son and I were working on a deck, and I took a board and I started pulling, I started pounding nails in that. I said, look at this board, it's perfect, right? He's like, Yeah. Now I pound a bunch of nails into it, and then I pull the nails out. What do you see? A bunch of holes and scrapes on that piece of wood. Exactly. That's what sin does. You can remove the sin, which would be the nails in this case, but there's still scars that still remain. But that piece of wood is still valuable, it still could be used for this deck. It can still be used. And Joshua's forgiven. Israel wanted to move forward. The covenant remained, but the holes remain. The Gibbonites were there serving now. Yeah, here's the beautiful part that board was still useful. The scars didn't stop God's purpose. In fact, God used those very Gibbonites in his plan. The point isn't that grace erases every consequence. The point is that grace allows God to keep using you despite them. The greatest miracle in Joshua chapter 9 is that God overlooked the mistake. The greatest miracle is that God took a mistake, he turned it into a ministry. And he did that. And we can see all throughout the story that God takes failures and he uses them for his glory. The Gibbonites failed, Joshua failed, the elders made mistakes. There's all kinds of mistakes all throughout the story. And yet God worked through that. In Romans 8 28, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. God can bring growth from pain, wisdom from failure. Grace should change how we treat others. Israel received mercy from God repeatedly, one time after another. Therefore, they were called to act differently. If people who understand grace become more gracious, less harsh, never forget we are recipients of grace. Joshua 9 is not just about deception, it's about grace, greater than our failure. Israel failed, Joshua failed, the leadership failed, and on top of that, the Gibbonites, who are pagans, they failed as well. But they lived and surrendered towards God and He forgave them. Joshua 6. Remember, God spared a prostitute and her family. The worst of the worst, he spared them because they were repentant. No one in this story deserves grace, yet God still worked and gives grace. None of us this morning deserved grace. But God still works and gives us grace. The cross proves grace always has the final word. So maybe today you realize I've made decisions without God. I've compromised in my life, or I've ignored discernment. I believe deception. The answer is not hopelessness. The answer is repentance, return back to God. God can redeem bad decisions, He can redeem compromise moments. His grace is still available to this day. And Joshua 9 reminds us appearance can deceive. A prayerless decision can lead to compromise, and God's grace is bigger than our failures. Remember, appearances, they can be deceiving. A prayerless decision leads to compromise, and God's grace is bigger than our failures. What does that mean for us today? What's your life application before you make your next big decision? Pray. Get on your knees. Seek God first. Slow down long enough to hear his voice. There's so much we can learn. And you know, it'd be interesting if we all had a book just like this and they were reading your story in your life. What would it look like? Would it be, yes, I'm gonna follow you, God, then boom, the next chapter, now I'm not. And then, yes, God, I'm gonna follow you, and boom, the next chapter, now we're not. Or would it be, wow, look at every single time when something came up, they went down on their knees and they sought God first, and they slowed down long enough to hear his voice. We gotta do that. We gotta do that in our lives. And so I wanted to close in a song and invite my wife to come forward. And uh it's a song called Run to the Father. I think there's times in our lives we don't run to him enough. We get busy, and we start doing all these things in our life, and we're thinking this is gonna be the right thing to do when we really should slow down. And so I want to give you time in the service to run to the Father. Talk to him, have a conversation with him. Take time and sit, meditate on the lyrics of the song, spend time with your father, and just ask him, what's some things of compromise in my life that I've not given to you that I should give to you? And just spend some time with him, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

I was in created I give your invitation, to let it all go. I see it now I'm laid it down. I don't have a contact for that kind of love. I can't comprehend all I don't do the floor.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

If you could please stand with me. We've heard in this message that we need to run to you, that we need to seek you. I pray, Father, that we won't be deceived this week, that we will seek your counsel. You say in your word, call to me, and I will answer you. You're right there. So I pray, Lord, that as we leave this place, as we go out to do whatever we do today and the rest of this week, that Lord, we will seek your face first. Help us to honor you in everything that we do. Lord, open our eyes to see what you're doing in this community, in our families, in our own lives, and to join you in that. We love you, we thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. You're dismissed. Have a great week. Don't forget the potluck, right outside those doors. Right outside those doors.