0:00 the rest of us. So, can I have a show of hands if anybody any church members here have something to share? Okay, we have Roger and Beth. I know we have Jeremy. Um, George, is there anybody in the back who has 0:20 something to share? So, we have Jeremy, Roger, Beth, and 0:49 George. Is that right? Okay, we can go. We can go in that order. Good morning family. Great to see everyone and to be back in 1:08 the living the land of the living. I mean back in the living. This flu season has been rough on me. I don't know about anybody else. But praise God that uh the rest of the week was a great week and I got healed and church service was wonderful. I was I 1:22 was watching um simultaneously. It was a wonderful service. Um I wanted to share a verse that has um uh challenged me this week. Uh it's in Jeremiah uh chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2 1:41 and verse 13. And it says uh for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters to he for themselves sistns broken sistns that can 1:57 hold no water. And um the the verse has um impacted me and convicted me this week because I um I recently visited a sistern uh and they're really big. I don't know if anybody's seen a sistern. or I guess they can be all different 2:14 sizes, but they're basically for the for those who aren't familiar with sistns, they're underwater or underground kind reservoirs. Like the sister I went to, it was way bigger than this room, probably 10 times the size of this room. 2:28 And it's under the city of Istanbul. And it's just and they didn't even know it was there until like 60 years ago. And um an archaeologist was talking to locals there and they said, "Yeah, I catch fish in my kitchen." And somebody 2:40 and the archaeologist said, "What are you talking about?" And they said, "Yeah, I just dip a bucket down in my underneath my kitchen and there's always fish down there." And they discovered the sistn that had been under the city 2:50 for, you know, it's huge. I mean, 10 times the size of this room. Um, and it's full of water. Um, and anyway, sistns, as far as I understand, I don't know a lot about it, but they basically collect uh runoff water. You know, so if 3:04 there's rain or things like that, a system will collect water for this for a city. Um, but the thing that struck me about this when when the Lord says, "They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters to he for themselves 3:15 sistns, broken sistns that can hold no water." I mean, it's obvious one, the the quality of water is way worse with a sistern. Um, a fountain of living water. That's to me it says something about purity that that that there's pure pure 3:30 water from the Lord. Um, and yet our tendency is to want to carve out a way to to capture and to store. And that ends up always it's always it's pretty filthy water. It grows bacteria. It's really, trust me, it's really gross down 3:44 there. Um, but the the verse struck me and convicted me this week because I think I have uh if I'm really honest with myself, I have kind of a mentality when it comes to uh the things of God. meaning I always want to collect and 4:01 make sure that I um you know I take really good notes and I uh you know dogge ear pages of books that mean something to me and um and I was just thinking about this verse in the context of my life. I mean I think it's true in 4:14 the physical but way more in the spiritual that I have a mentality that I need to collect all the runoff and all of the I need to make sure that I've got it all captured. Um, and and what what that's convicted me of is that I 4:33 I neglect sometimes like if if I'm feeling in a down moment, it's it's easy to pull out it's easy to pull out my journal and look at notes of last week's church, which is which is great by the way. I don't think that's necessarily a 4:44 bad thing, but um pulling out notes and looking at what people shared in the last week is wonderful, but it's not a substitute for going to the fountain himself. It's not a substitute for going directly to the source of pure water. 4:58 And um and no, you know, devotional or study is a substitute either. And I find in myself a tendency, you know, I think of like I don't know if anybody else has experienced this, but there there are things, you know, I'll write down notes 5:11 or like sometimes I've actually done this. I've written down, you know, in 2012 the 10 things I felt like God taught me, you know, and I wrote it all down and I took a picture on my phone and I made a daily reminder. make sure I 5:23 read the top 10 things every day and on on I think it's motivated by a good desire but when it's a replacement for going for the the going to the fountain himself when that becomes I that that water it starts being polluted and it 5:39 starts it reminds me of mana in the Old Testament right it's like every single day God promised that he would provide and you know and I I feel like I was convicted that sometimes my own behavior my own desire to capture all this 5:52 knowledge and make sure I have it. It's just like, you know, grabbing a jar and scooping up as much mana as I can. And and and I think honestly the the thing that God convicted me of is the underlying fear there is what if the 6:06 fountain dries up. I want to make sure I have some water. I want to make sure I've got a a you know, I've got a lot of, you know, a big uh source of water to go to. And I don't I don't ever think that um explicitly. What if the fountain dries up? But as I 6:21 was studying this first this week, that's just what the Lord laid on my heart. Why are you so drawn to collecting and gathering and making sure that you've that you know where what you think about these verses and and what 6:32 and and like I have long lists of cross references and that's all fine, but it's no replacement for going to the fountain himself. And I think as I examine my own heart, the thing that I was convicted of is if if all of that is motivated by a 6:48 fear of maybe what if the fountain doesn't flow tomorrow, I got to have something to go to. And I don't I want to live that it it gets back to I mean um I remember one time Cindy probably a year ago I'm sure many people remember 7:02 it. He held up a big book and he and it was you know cover and he talked about how this book has the answers to all of these questions and you know all of this stuff and I you know I think uh I was falling out of my chair ready to buy a 7:13 copy of just tell me where on Amazon it is. Right. And then it's it's a joke. It's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It's not it's the it's the opposite of the tree of life. tree of life is come to me every single day for 7:25 fresh fruit. Come to me every single day for fresh mana and I'll give it to you and don't don't bother with trying to store up all the mana you can. Um and that I it gets at I think it strikes at the core of our human nature, our desire 7:39 for rules and for knowledge and for um understanding. And it's this sister the sister mentality results in I don't need to depend. I don't need to fully depend for every single fresh drink of water. And the even as I was just standing in 7:55 the back now, I was just thinking about this what I was about to share. And the thing about a fountain is you just get enough water for your thirst, right? Like when you go to a water fountain, it's, you know, I I guess if 8:06 you have an analogene or something, you get more. But you go to a water fountain and you just drink enough for what you need, right? Then, you know, and the thing about a sister, I mean, the sister that's 10 times the size of this room, 8:17 it's enough for, you know, a city for years. Um, but God, I think, you know, is is um rebuking the nation of Israel and rebuking me for being concerned with my thirst beyond the present moment. What God's desire is is to meet my 8:37 present need with the fresh water from his word, from his holy spirit in the present moment. And I don't need to store up all the other water that might be, you know, I have a camel back mentality. You know, it's I'm going on a 8:48 hike. I need to make sure that I got because I don't know where where the next stream is uh spiritually speaking. And it's just it's it gets at the very core of my nature. I think that what God wants is for me every single time I have 9:02 a need to turn to him and say, "You're the fountain of living water. Refresh me right now." Um, and all of the verses that I've tucked away and all of the thing, all of the strategies that I've tucked away to for just this right 9:14 temptation or just this right moment or in just this right trial, what I feel like God is keep stripping away is just come to me. Come to me. Don't it's not a matter of I mean, I'll give you a new verse every single time. I can't tell 9:26 you how many times I've had the experience. I was sharing with a friend yesterday that you know I think hey in this type of trial or this type of struggle this is a really great verse for that and quote and and I found and why did I 9:38 find it to be that way because I was I count I encountered the trial and the fountain of living water kind of bubbled up within me and that and God's word is a sword and I fought and resisted the devil by his word and then instead of I 9:52 think maybe dropping the sword and saying Lord next time the trial comes I'll whatever verse first bubbles up I'll take I say oh I got to make sure that I polished this sword and put it in just the right spot so that next time 10:05 this you know I'm almost thinking in terms of code you know like I'm not a developer but coding right it's like I've coded the situation so if this then that and I know anytime this trial comes then I'll pull that sort out and I' it's 10:18 proven to work and I've been failed so many times in that and I've I found that I fall in a in a trial where I've overcome in the past and I've used the same tactic and I can't figure out why. And it's because it's it's it's mana. 10:32 It's uh what God wants is for me to come to him aresh every single time I have a problem, not a formula. What he wants is a connection, not a code. And it's so much easier to live by a code than by connection. Because by connection is 10:45 dangerous. And it's, you know, it it's it's moment by moment. And yet I I've truly, you know, we talked about the time of prophecy being making statements about what we want to be true in our lives in the future. I desperately want it to be 11:01 true in my life in the future. That and this isn't it doesn't do away with the scriptures, right? I think it makes scriptures even more important because it's as we're reading that God we can encounter temptations or trials or 11:12 challenges or difficulties and whatever word God has been you know we've been meditating in can be available and present and applicable in the time of need. Um but it just it flies in the face of planning. It flies in the face 11:28 of a desire to have a a a plan and a strategy and an approach and a tactic. And I want to I in that sense I want to grow in my and I claim by faith that I will grow in my ability to to turn to the fountain of water and to drink from 11:45 the well and the and the spring which is coming up from within. Not search the the you know database of um tactic or verse that should be applicable and find that it fails. May God help me. Wow. 12:14 True for me, too. Um, missed you guys a lot being gone last week, but um I was just this week sort of lamenting that I like haven't had anything to share for a while. And Lord, what's going on? This morning about 4:30 I woke up with a 12:32 dream and it was really intense. But it and it relates I think to what Jeremy was sharing too but in the dream I had this big trailer and we used to have a travel trailer so it was very personal but I had this big trailer and I wasn't 12:46 able to like back up the truck in front to to um hitch it up. So the the pastors of our first church in the dream were helping me back up. They were driving the truck to get it backed up in the trailer. For some reason, for a moment, 13:02 I turned away to do something else and he missed and backed up into the side of the trailer instead of the front. The whole trailer fell over, buckled, and collapsed. And in the dream, I just like collapsed on the ground and just in in grief and just 13:20 like, oh, this is horrible. And it's just like it felt like I went to an extra depth of sorrow and was just crying. And then I woke up and it's like the Lord spoke to me and said, you know, you you it's okay. Because I felt like a like a healing as 13:36 I went into the depth of the of the loss and the grief. And then I flashed on just a little verse. John 11:35, Jesus wept. And it seemed like I've had a picture of Jesus just sort of shedding a tear and but it's like he wept. He just like wept 13:55 and and there was there was power in that. There was healing in that. And I and my wife can confirm that I often tend to just like sort of buck up and be a man and you know I'll be sad but then I'll get it together and but then it's 14:10 like I've been I'm living with this sort of unresolved pain you know but if I let if I actually go to the depth of that you know where it seems like there's no hope and it's just despair but then there is hope because God is there and 14:24 he can heal and restore and you know do something where my just sort of you know holding it together it's like I can do something but with this you know if I I just you know buck up and be good then I you know I can do something but if I 14:41 just go to the depths and then it has to be God and he can do something and it's kind of the scoop up the mana mentality you know it's like I got to make sure I have enough strength still left to handle the situation and that's not 14:57 his calling. And so I had a lot of sorrow about my kids who were very far from the Lord. And um going to the depth of that pain this morning, I have some hope that there's actually something God can do and bring it back. 15:17 So it's good morning everyone. I had uh this to 15:36 share um uh three weeks ago and then I was sick. So, but the Lord has magnified it and has really driven home the the message and given me victory in this area of of I'm delighted. I didn't know what he was going to share exactly, but it's the 15:55 same thing. It's the having hope where there is no hope for prodals. And um I don't know. I was three weeks ago we were doing the memory verse of Luke 19:10. were reviewing some from last year and it was uh um the Lord came to 16:11 seek and save the lost and um I was listening to Surin sharing about that too and um that week it turned out that I was um in the Lord set up a situation where I led a woman to um pray to let Jesus come in her heart and she was just 16:31 ready. She was just she knew there was no hope in anything. And I had given her some testimony of my life maybe and and my favorite scripture in Isaiah 57 which I'm going to share. But um really God was doing it all. I was just there you 16:47 know and I just gave her some elements of the prayer that she could say and she said the prayer and she changed but she was just she was just completely um ready. And so some of you know that when we go to San Antonio um Texas to see my 17:03 son, he's got children now and I I he's prodigal and um we were very very close in the Lord. And um then when my husband divorced me um he went with him and his way and the Jesus that um they had for a while believed in. Now they're fallen 17:21 away, all of them. But um what what I found was uh I went to that evening couldn't sleep after um the day's work and I went to Isaiah 57:15 which just I just really love this scripture. It it uh is my favorite 17:39 gospel scripture I guess it's um says for and I've I've read it from here before but for thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite 17:56 um and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. And um I I just love that because I can uh boast about a God who is very holy and yet comes down in this dur dirt and dust and 18:13 every day and reveals himself and lives inside our hearts and gives us uh his perspective on sin. And so um and I've always wondered how did Jesus know it was Zakius that he was going to go? I mean, he didn't invite himself to 18:31 everybody's house, but to Zakius, yes, he I'm going to your house today. And I was like, how do you know when someone's ready to come back to the Lord? And um and I I got the answer because I went to Isaiah 57, but it was in verse 10. And 18:48 um I have it um it's a it's a very sobering um scripture. It's it says um I have in the in the column that this is missing the mark of real repentance. It says you were wearied in the length of your way 19:06 yet you did not say there is no hope. You have found the life of your hand. Therefore you were not grieved. And that's the only cost really that God asks us when we um receive him is that we're grieved. we agree with him about 19:22 sin and our condition and that um but if if you miss that if you just like Roger was saying he bucks up but we all know our reactions um and we just say you know there's no hope um 19:40 then we have hope but when you find the life of your hand in other words you find um my son's departure was well mom I just want to enjoy life I'm like, okay, I'm enjoying life and I'm enjoying God. So, this trip though, um, that was 19:57 Lord's first question to me. Were you apprehensive? Was everything, you know, and I I said, no, I was really relaxed and different this time because, um, I'm going to, um, I'm going for Jesus and my son's going to come when there's nothing 20:10 left. And there is tension in his marriage now because the second baby, and there's this and that. And I I just was a servant. I just helped out. I was just there. I just, you know, um came alongside them and um prayed and even 20:25 though he wasn't praying with me, I he gave, you know, the grace to pray and um but I think I want to know like like the Lord did this right before the cross. He he uh you know knew Zakius was the one and he was demonstrating his mission and 20:41 um until my son is nothing uh the Lord can't save him. until my son says there is no hope there there won't be hope. So, he has to come back to that place. And I have to say that has helped me to relax and really just love him. And so, 21:00 praise God, I've had a breakthrough and I want to keep that breakthrough and I want to be alert at the same time. And um so it's just I've seen that my other visits have been, you know, and then Jesus laughed. He said, "This is the son 21:14 of Abraham, you know, and I'm just going to say, "Welcome home, son." You know, and it'll be awesome. Um, but it won't be until he's nothing because the Lord made the creation out of nothing, right? Exilo and but until a man is nothing, 21:31 until he's nothing again because he was nothing at one time. He was walking with the Lord. So, um, and then our mission, our word for this year is 2 Corinthians 7:10, which is to prove yourself in your real repentance, to prove yourself diligent, 21:47 and and really just um that that sorrow that leads to life. And so, Roger and I are um really encouraged with that. And as well as the mission for our church, Isaiah 40:9, which is to proclaim the Lord. And um so there's a newness in the 22:05 um evangelism in my life. It's it's um the fresh um living waters evangelism, not the sister and one. And I I give God all the glory. Thank you. Good morning everyone. 22:35 So yesterday uh I was in a Bible study that we have with a few friends of ours. We meet every once a month and so that was in our home yesterday and and the lesson as today was the person of Jesus Christ and uh I didn't have time to 22:54 prepare. We all come with some notes and questions prepared and then we discussed that's how it goes and so I had some I got some 20 half an hour towards just before the study and took my notes and then started the lesson and it appeared 23:11 that everything was very familiar stuff and uh so the study went on to talk about the the godhood the godhead of Jesus and the manhood of Jesus and and uh we answered everything and then in the process. I mean one sister talked 23:27 about uh you know the earth she said she read somewhere the earth is in this whole universe the earth is like a small small dust or a small speck and then another brother added and on that earth we are even tinier we are we almost 23:45 invisible and one brother said and for us Jesus came and died I mean it it appeared like a very nice conversation but there There was a truth unfolding and and I must confess that it is not something that I have not heard before 24:01 but this came in a very very natural form and then another brother added you know our hope Christ in Christ in us the hope of glory I mean and I happen to say oh that verse is in in Colossians I knew I knew the place but and and and it was 24:18 it was a I thought it was very good I mean good thoughts being shared and then when we were all praying I God gave me some convicting thoughts. I I I was I was spoken to. I should say the Lord said if if if I am such a person, I mean if if I am the God of 24:37 this universe, I am the one who created and and you are you are this so-called teeny mini bit the speck of dust on this earth and for you I came and died. Then why why is it that I was asking myself why is that that we are not more 24:52 wholehearted? Why is that I'm not more humble? Why is that? I mean I have so much of I need to battle about things you know when God tells me do this or do that and why is that there is a there's a struggle in me if I if if if the God 25:06 of this universe can come and die for me who is a nobody who is who is even less than a dust in his eyes. Why are we so special? I I was convicted. I mean and I I was sitting like an expert in that study. I should confess because I I knew the 25:23 things that we were talking about. But then when there was a spirit God wanted to convey and a spirit of conviction as to who God is and who we are. You know often we think and I was I was talking to myself often we think that you know 25:38 we are we are somebody and uh and and and and scriptures all given to us and and so we we indeed in God's eyes we are somebody. But I I I thought the right attitude is adored in my eyes. I should be a nobody all the time. I I should not have any 25:56 any of such thoughts that I am I am somebody who has a right to to do whatever. You know, we were reminded from Philippians 2:7. I mean, we we we also refer to that very often. Yeah. He who is God did not consider anything the 26:11 go the equality with God a thing to be hold held on to. But he gave up and became like a born servant and came and died for us. You know, I I want that remained fresh in my eyes and I want to be reminded of that all the time that 26:25 that I who who had no hope, God came and and he was willing to die. Like someone said, even if we are the only sinner, he would have come. I I pray that that will be very life and 26:52 like Jeremy said it's a mana that we can get every day and and God will give it to us and and only if we remain in that position of lowly position where the water will really reach us and we are we are if we are craving for that water it 27:07 will come and God will speak to us and and in that context I also want to read or refer to something that I I I shared maybe few weeks ago. I mean I I referred in some context from Job 35:7. 27:26 In Job 35:7 uh let me see if that's the correct reference. You know there is a verse which says uh God uh if we are righteous the righteousness is for us and if we are wicked it is it is again for us. I mean, God is not going to be 27:45 less holy or less glorious because of our our sin or he he's not going to become more glorious because of our righteousness. Yeah. Yeah. It is Job 356 and 7. But in a way after I shared that when I got back home and and it it kept coming home 28:04 to coming back to me uh quite regularly and there's some thoughts that God gave me and I I wanted to share that I I think that also ties ties in with what I had just now when I shared you know in 28:21 in in in 2 Samuel uh chapter 11 when David sinned. When David sinned, uh there is this admonition that David gets from prophet Nathan. And there is a a very nice verse that that God reminded me in this 28:40 connection in in in 2 Samuel chapter 12. Uh when Nathan came and and spoke to David, uh uh he said in verse 7, you are the man who sinned. And then verse 13, David said said to Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:13, I have sinned against the Lord. 28:59 And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has taken away your sin, you shall not die. And this is the verse I wanted to share. Verse 14, however, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blasphe, the 29:15 child also that is born to you shall surely die. And that was the consequence of his sin. But uh what came to me is that by what David did Nathan says that you have given rise to you have given a reason for the enemies of the Lord to blasphe. 29:34 When I picture it like this, you know, when when Jesus came and died for me and he has taken he has basically adopted me as his son and today he is my father and he owns up whatever I do you know because I am his 29:51 I am his son and then you know when when a son we I mean most of you who are parents you know when a son or or daughter does something it's the parents you know who will be pointed to this is your son or your daughter doing this and 30:05 this and this. And I I was thinking Lord I mean when when I when I misbehave or when I commit a sin when I fall I mean it is your name that is that is being that is being talked badly by others. God's glory is not affected but but his 30:22 name Satan is get Satan is getting an occasion to point a finger at and say your son the son whom you whom you cherish so much is doing this and and and what a grief that will be to God's heart that that's what I I I mean 30:40 I want to remember that yeah whenever I fall you know it's like it's like that picture of the father in Luke 15 Luke I mean we have heard that when the prodigal son went away from the father, the father didn't send him care 30:55 packages. He didn't send him food packets for him to stay alive, stay healthy and and eat well. But but there was something that the father did and that we can see into in Luke 15 verse verse 20. The son got up and came to his 31:14 father and while he was still a long way off his father saw him felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. Well, while he was still long way off, which means the father heart was father's heart was always pining for his 31:29 son and and and he was looking when will he come back? When will he come back? And and I want to picture that all the time in my in my mind and in my heart that the father is always is always looking for me even if even when I have 31:43 put him down before before my before the other people and and before even even even in front of the Satan because Satan can see what we do and what I mean the how we sin and everything and then each time I fall I'm giving an occasion for 31:58 Satan to point his finger at God because of me and and and and I'm I'm grieving his heart when who who left everything for my sake and came down and died. And I I pray that that picture of the father who is who is grieving over us, who is 32:15 not out after us with a with a with a with a stick to beat us, but always grieving. How will how will you when will you know the the extent of my love for you, my son, my daughter? Now that's a question he has in his he has in his 32:29 heart all the time especially when we fall. If only that our eyes can be opened to the extent of love with which he has loved us and and and and and that love with which he keeps waiting for us all the time to come back to him. 32:47 And I pray that that picture will will remain in our hearts. And and in that connection I also want to say that that even though Job 35:7 says that yeah my sin or my righteousness does not mean anything in terms of the the amount of 33:02 glory of God but I I have also come to understand that God I mean does look up to me as a witness for him among my friends and among among among everyone who come across my path. I mean I know some of them may may never see another 33:21 child of God. I do not know but the moment they see me the moment they interact with me I know God is putting me there putting me there as a witness for him and some to convey something of him to those people who do not know him 33:36 and and if I don't realize that then that's a that's a very very sad thing and I I pray that we will we will always know that we are we are the we are the uh unspoken uh unspoken messages to people with whom we work and with whom 33:54 we interact and and and we are the source. We are the channel, not the source, the channel for them to know this God who died for us. And uh and I do not know how to explain that other other than to read one verse in in 2 34:09 Corinthians 2 Corinthians uh 4. 2 Corinthians 4. Yeah. Verse three. You are our letter written in our hearts 34:29 known and read by all men. Yeah, it's a letter that people are reading and what they are reading out. You know, it is it is easy to it is easy to hide and uh and put on a friend that looks all nice and flowery in the way we 34:47 speak and do everything. But there is a spirit that goes forth and that is a spirit that that Paul is referring to here in the Holy Spirit. there's a letter that is being read. I mean which uh which may not be through words but it 34:58 is I I don't know how but I know that something is being conveyed through my life and uh and and and for that to be the right message from God I have to humble myself. I have to really seek God Lord may you may you find me worthy and 35:12 that Paul addresses later and then he says verse four such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 2 Corinthians 3:4 and not that we are adequate in ourselves. We are we are not adequate. We we don't have the thing that we need 35:26 to be a true letter of God before the people who who who say we don't want anything of your God. But he says our adequacy is from God. Yeah. I I pray that that that adequacy that God gives will be ours and it will remain to be ours because we seek to be 35:45 humble. May God give us grace to be humble reflectors of his glory in in the right spirit in the right form at all the time. Amen. Thank each of you for sharing. 36:17 I have a something to share from Proverbs chapter 19. Verse 36:44 11 says, "A man's discretion makes him slow to anger and it is his glory to overlook a transgression." I shared a little bit earlier about our anniversary trip. We went to Disneyland and people kind of being rude and um things like this. 37:04 And uh one thing I um I felt was that I was getting a little annoyed by things that certain people would do or uh just being disturbed a little bit. And I felt God telling me um it's because you're not yet an expert at overlooking 37:20 transgressions. This verse says right here, it's it's a person's glory to overlook a transgression. I kind of think I kind of associate the word glory with like bright shining. So in in God's eyes, the a light shines really bright in a 37:35 Christian if they're um if they overlook transgressions really easily. But the Christians who take everything to heart and keep account of all these wrongs are very dull and very dim lit um in God's eyes. And um so I felt uh God saying train 37:55 yourself, train yourself to be an expert, a professional at overlooking transgressions in people. Um, and it's not that I wink at sin. Uh, I can't, but there are certain, um, there's only a certain amount of people that I have 38:09 authority over, like my son Isaac. I can't wink at his sin. I can't just overlook all of his transgressions. But, um, kind of like Jesus, he didn't overlook the money, people selling money or trying to make money and selling 38:23 doves inside the temple. He didn't overlook sin all the time. But when he was personally offended, when people spit on him or when people called him demons or when people um reviled him, he always overlooked it cuz he wasn't 38:37 fighting for himself. He was always fighting for his father. And so, um, I I have a, um, an exhortation from God to be an expert at overlooking personal offenses. And, um, uh, making that one of my goals in life, just to be somebody who almost, I know 38:56 some people that can do it kind of naturally, who is like, like, you didn't notice that this person just said that to you. It's like they just, it's almost like it just swept off of their head, like bounced off like they like they had 39:06 earplugs in or something. It's like they just forget about it as soon as it enters their ear. And I want to be like that, not because um I'm occupied with something else, but because I want to honor God and because that's what he 39:18 does for me. And uh so one of the things I learned through this is that um I mean the the greatest command is to love God with all our hearts. And that's pretty easy when we see the truth of what God did for us and the fact that he's 39:29 perfect. But the second greatest command, I think, is a lot harder than the first command because loving people, loving your neighbor as yourself, how can we love people who sin against us, who how can we love our enemies? Loving God is much easier than 39:45 loving people, I think. Um, but uh I so I feel that but when we take their offenses, personal offenses to heart, it makes it almost impossible to love them. And so if I'm not an expert in that, then it's going to be very hard for me 39:59 to obey the second greatest command. And uh it's kind of like I I thought of like when I'm just eating with somebody and there's some like no matter how well-dressed they are or whatever I uh or how well presented they are, if they 40:13 have some big piece of food in their teeth, it's hard for me to carry on any kind of conversation uh or appreciate the fact that they're well-dressed because alls I can focus on is that one thing. And so when I'm focused on if I 40:25 focus on uh people's sins, it's very hard for me to appreciate them. It's like how can we appreciate our spouses if all we focus on is you need to be different. How can how can I wish I could go back to my teenage years and appreciate my parents 40:40 better than I did? Um, I remember when uh one of the hardest rebukes I've ever got in my life is when I was going through my rebellious years and my teenage years and kind of just talking um bad to my mom and my uncle, who was 40:54 one I was really good friend of mine and I really respected, he rebuked me pretty sharply. I'd never heard anything any negative word and that just cut me to the heart so much and I was so thankful that he did that because I felt like 41:06 that was the one time that finally turned me around and said I've got to um you know I love God if I claim to love God I've got to um and I feel like after that day I I finally learned to appreciate my parents a little more 41:18 after it took that one hard rebuke and it was uh pretty hard I was like sad after it like oh he doesn't like me anymore I guess I won't be a but um uh I I feel that we need to uh appreciate people in order to love them and without 41:32 and if we're focusing on their shortcomings all the time, everybody has shortcomings. If we focus on it, it's going to be almost impossible to love them. So, I want to be almost like a um in one sense a a blind blind person. 41:44 Like there's there's this one book I heard I read it was um called God's Smuggler and his prayer he was smuggling Bibles into these uh communist countries and he had a prayer. He said, "Uh, Lord, you once made, um, blind eyes see. 41:58 Please now make seeing eyes blind so that the people who were smuggling Bibles that he wouldn't get caught by all these people." So, I I kind of sense, "Lord, please make my seeing eyes blind in a sense. Help me to be blind to 42:09 people people's wrongs against me, just brush it off." And um, and I I know that it's a it's a work that uh God has to do in my heart. Um uh but if I if I'm consistently getting annoyed with people, then I I have to take that as a 42:25 word that I'm uh I'm not an expert. I don't overlook transgressions like Jesus did. Um so it's up to it's up to God to change my heart, but the the Bible does say that the Holy Spirit's a helpers. There's there's things that I need to 42:39 do, too, because the Holy Spirit helps us. So we we have to do our part. And I think I feel that one of the um the main things I can do to uh that God speaking to me that I can do to overlook transgressions of other people is um if 42:53 I want to be an expert at overlooking transgressions in other people, I need to be an expert at seeing my own transgressions. Um so um I believe there's I have a scripture for this in John 8. John 8 verse7 43:16 uh this everybody knows this story where the people wanted to stone the adulteress and Jesus he um he very quickly got them to overlook her transgression and the way he did it was he said uh he who is without sin among you let him be 43:34 the first to throw a stone at her so that I believe that's God's method of helping us to appreciate and love other people more is seeing our shortcomings and seeing more clearly my sin. Um and uh if if I see the more I dwell on 43:50 my own sin, the more I'll appreciate God, the more I'll be patient with other people. Um I I was uh as I was thinking about this, I was reminded of something we heard a couple of years ago. Most of you probably remember it was when um I 44:01 think Sundep shared it how he was talking to his dad and his dad just woke up in the middle of the night and had one or two hours where he was couldn't go back to sleep. And so um he asked his dad, "What are you what were you praying 44:11 for that whole time? What were you doing?" He said, "Oh, I was praying um I I I figured he'd say, "Oh, I was praying for my my churches, my elders." But he said, "I was praying for myself." I wasn't I wasn't expecting that answer, 44:23 but um he was praying for himself because he was praying to cleanse himself. He's like, "Lord, what's my sin? what's wrong with me? Where can I be cleansed? Where can I do better? Um, and I've I found that so since I've 44:35 heard that, I've found it such a blessing to try to practice that when I remember. Uh, spend some time with the Lord and say, "Lord, I believe this is my shortcomings. Uh, please give me more light on that. Help me to know how I can 44:48 do better." And I believe as God gives us light on our own shortcomings, it's just so it helps us to shine so much brighter and like it we can have we can appreciate people better and um it's just such a blessing. It helps us to 45:01 mourn over our sin. Um the Bible talks about that we should be mourning over our sin. And it's hard to mourn over our sin if we don't really think about it. So um yeah, keep keep two eyes open when looking at myself, keep one eye shut 45:13 when looking at other people. And I think that's a a good um thing to to do. Yes, as you all know, my husband had 45:51 surgery about 12 days ago for a hernia and he had very little pain in the surgery site, but something happened to his back in the process, a pull or a rib out of place or something. So, he had for several days a lot of pain in the 46:05 back. So, we weren't getting a lot of sleep there for a while and going through some pretty stressful times. And it made me really realize how wonderful it is to have people praying for you. I've realized this before, but more than 46:18 ever this time, it's like um if you're too tired to pray or you wake up in the night and you really should pray, but you're too tired, you say, "Oh, you know, my brothers and sisters have my back." So it was such a wonderful experience 46:33 and I just wanted to thank you all so much for your prayers and Dan is doing so much better. So the Lord is really answering the prayers and just thank you so much. Hi, my name is Candace and I know that 46:55 um we've been coming on and off for the last year or so. Um but um and a lot of it had to do with my job and I wanted to uh I brought before um at the end of the year when um Zach was here, I had put in a request that I could have the last 47:14 Sunday off and also the first Sunday of the year off. It was really important to me to end the year in God's presence as well as start the year off. And I was so blessed by that. Um, I brought it before um, death and I shared what had happened 47:32 that day and her and Roger prayed over me in that regards with my job and the situation I was in. And God really worked in my heart and there was a lot of times where I had to die to myself because it was really hard for me to um, 47:46 sacrifice my Sundays. Um I um I went before my manager as well as his manager for the area and I said, "You know what? God is not blessing me because I'm not honoring him in being in 48:04 the presence of other Christians on Sundays and fellowshipping with them. And he's not honoring me in my job. And I'm feeling very um unhappy." and I gave them a notice that by February I would no longer be working on Sundays and then gave them plenty of 48:21 time to find someone else. Well, God um worked on that and um no longer with that company and um and after a lot of hard prayers and um searching scriptures and really searching my heart and finding out where I was in my own 48:40 relationship with Christ because I was using not coming to church as an excuse not to really come draw closer to him. um he worked on me and and I was also asking him to um work in my family and 49:00 as I've shared with some of you that um my children had fallen away from that and it was a huge huge burden on my heart, my kids and my 49:15 family to come to know who God is and it's amazing how God can break us and put us to a point where all we can do is look at him and my situations had been where okay I'm now jobless and but at 49:33 least I can come and fellowship and um that kind of put me in a situation where I was seeking deeper my relationship with Christ and wanted to know who he is to me on a deeper level in in one weekend um after having vacation time with both 49:53 my girls, one flying in from Hawaii, one flying in from down south. On the day that they went home, it was very heart-wrenching for me. We had such a great time, but my prayer request during the time that they were here is that they would see God through 50:09 me and that I would be an example to them and who God is and how much God loves them. And when I hear others in the congregation who are praying for their children, the prodal sons, the prodal daughters, don't give up hope because God hears our 50:27 prayer. And within a couple hours of my daughter getting home, something tragic happened. And um without getting into detail, she called me and I prayed for her and I prayed with her and she said, "Mom, I 50:47 want to come home." And I said, "I'll be there." So I took that drive and on my way home to her, I spent the night with God and I said, "Lord, do your will. Let your will be done, not mine. 51:05 I gave my daughter to him and on our drive back we had some pretty deep conversations and uh as you all know last Sunday was her first time here and here she is again and I'm praising God because she has given her life to 51:22 Christ and you know she's a testimony that your prayers will be answered and after praying with her grandmother the day that she gave her life to Christ. She um she came running up to me as I was coming home from the market and 51:40 she said, "I did it, Mom." I said, "What? What did you do?" And really loud, she says, "I gave my life to Christ." And there was never a better hug that I've ever had from my daughter. And I celebrated with her with tears of joy 51:59 and thanking my Lord and my Savior for the awesomeness that he is because he does love us and he loves our children and he does want us all to come to repentance to him. And I just want to share that with you because it's such a significant time in 52:17 my life to see how God works. And even when we feel like we're not worth it and we're not worthy, God sees that we are. Encouragement. Thank you both so much for sharing. It is really I'm glad that we're starting 52:36 time.
