0:00 I believe what I had to share today was something that God's been working on me for this past week or two as I've come to him and I've felt, Lord, what do you want me working on? What is the highest priority you want me fighting right now? I believe God always wants us to fight. Always be watching and praying and fighting because there's always areas of un-Christlikeness inside of ourselves, if we're honest. So I believe there's always an area of un-Christlikeness. God wants me to be fighting at any time. He wants me to be bringing to attention some area to be working on. 0:42 And I shared a question this week with some brothers. How do I know what's that area? How do I know what God wants me to be fighting right now? A lot of times I feel that I can be unaware of what God wants me. I can be so distracted or busy with life that I'm not really thinking about growing or thinking about progressing to Christlikeness. 1:07 And when I get into times like that, I feel that maybe I'm being distracted and I need to get back. I need to see what I need to be fighting again. I need to see my enemy. And so I shared that question with some brothers. What this week, what do, how do I know what, what's the sin in my life that God wants me to focus on fighting on? 1:30 And one of a brother's shared that I was blessed by, he said, I should see what's making me angry or what's making me lose my peace. What's disturbing me. And I like that. Look at, look and see whatever's disturbing me, whatever's making me lose my peace. 1:44 That means there's self on the throne. The self-life is there somewhere. If I'm getting anxious or disturbed or angry, it's causing me to sin, then there's some underlying un-Christlikeness, some area of self that I'm still holding on to. 2:03 And from there I can say, Lord, this is definitely not your will for me. I want to be delivered from this. For example, if somebody is rude to me and I get angry, then that just shows me that my ego is still alive. I have some ego that Jesus didn't have. He, whatever, I mean, for sure, whatever negative things somebody said about me, it can't be as bad as I really am because I deserve hell. 2:26 And so, and I'm a wretch, basically, whatever negative things somebody has done to me or said to me, it's not what I, how bad, it's not how bad I really am in reality. So, if that's the case, then I have some pride there. There's some pride or some ego that I'm holding on to that's putting me in a bad mood. 2:43 If I'm, if somebody has said something or done something to me negatively and I'm being disturbed by it, then I need to, then I can see, yeah, I still have ego I'm holding on to. Or if my car, my car is, starts to make a noise. And so I take it into the mechanic and they hit me with a bill for thousands when I thought it was just going to cost $100 to fix. And now I'm in a bad mood for two days. 3:07 That disturbance is caused by an underlying un-Christlikeness, which is the love of money. And that, that is good that I was made aware of it because now I can fight it. If a soldier is on a field with a sword, um, he doesn't want to be blindfolded. He wants to know who he's fighting. 3:26 And so, um, in the same way it, it can direct me. Now I can pray against this. I can fight this much more. I can study this. I can see what God's word says about the love of money. I can, um, uh, absorb in God's word about 1 Timothy 6, read about the love of money and how bad it is. 3:41 And, um, pray against it and commit to praying for it. Um, it, this car trouble caused me, made me, put me in a bad mood and it cost me thousands of dollars, but it was a small price to pay because now I can see I'm loving money and I need to be delivered from it. 3:57 Or something that was shared, that a sister shared last week that I was, that resonated with me. She said, I want to die to every area of comfort and convenience. And that resonated with me because, uh, I've seen myself in the middle of a break at work or something and then a coworker barges in my office and I get disturbed. 4:13 I was on my, this is my lunch or, um, why am I getting so angry? It's because I, there's something I haven't died to, um, something that I'm holding on for myself. Uh, I'm, uh, or let's say that somebody asked me for a favor at home, my child or my spouse or something, uh, and I get up to do it, but I do it grudgingly. 4:32 Can you do this for me? Uh, I guess so. I guess I don't believe that Jesus, whatever, if Joseph or Mary ever commanded Jesus to do something, I don't think he would ever said, yeah, I guess, I guess I can do that. Like it's saying yes, but it's not really saying yes. It's saying it's complaint. There's a complaint along with the yes. It's saying yes, but I don't want to, I don't want to, but I, but I'll do it. 4:53 It's not doing it cheerfully. So I don't believe Jesus ever used the phrase, I guess I'll do that. Um, so, uh, it's, uh, if, if I do that, then I see it, I could see I'm a slave to comfort and convenience. And I need to die to that. Um, so I was blessed by that word last week, uh, the self-life dying to the self-life. 5:12 And the, if I see the self-life still inside of me, then it's like God says to me, like he said to Israel, do you, what do you think about this enemy? Can you conquer it? Is this land? Can you take this land? And he sends us out like the Israelites. Um, and I hope that I come back like Joshua and Caleb and say, this can be done. I'm going to commit now. I'm going to fight. I'm ready to fight it. Um, and once we see our sin, the question is, are we sick and tired of it? Do we want to fight it that much? 5:43 I guess maybe, uh, the Israelites, they were, a lot of the Israelites were scared and Joshua and Caleb had courage. They had faith. Um, but they also had, they were ready to fight it. Uh, maybe some of the Israelites, maybe they figured, uh, yeah, the enemy's there. I think we can conquer it. I just don't feel like going out to fight. Um, I think I've seen myself in that situation sometimes. 6:07 Yeah, there's just, I think there's a sin in me, but yeah, let's just wait and see, um, what happens. Uh, but I see God wants me to be sick and tired of it. If I see this thing is causing me a bad mood, am I sick and tired of a subpar life? Uh, this, um, Jesus was never like this. He was, uh, his, um, car or his, uh, donkey breaking down would never have caused him to get into a bad mood or, um, him losing some money or something or, um, somebody inconveniencing him and never caused him to be in a bad mood. 6:37 Uh, I can be like that too. Why am I content to stay like that? Why can I, why am I not sick and tired of it? And so that was a word for me is be sick and tired. So sick and tired of it. I'm ready to say, Lord, okay, I'm done with it. I'm, I'm going to this, my life is going to be changed. You can do it. I'm claiming this promise because, um, I'm just, I don't want to be like this anymore. I've, it's been like this for so long and I'm done with it. I'm done. 7:00 And, um, and I believe when we're at that point where we're sick and tired of it, but two, we have faith. We have faith that God will definitely help us. We can be done with it. Then, um, the Lord will definitely do it. He'll surely do it. 7:16 Because I've noticed that I can be like, yes, I don't like the sin. Um, I need to be ready, rid of it, but I can still hang it around. And, um, but I need to, uh, make the decision that I'm going to be violent with it. And I, when I think of violence towards our sin, I think of the best picture I get in the Bible is when in John two, when Jesus, he, uh, was so out of character for what you see. 7:40 It's like, he got so angry and so violent in John chapter two. Uh, you're like, what, what happened to Jesus in this chapter? And I believe this was what, um, what he was doing was he was cleansing out God's house, the temple. 7:54 He had such a zeal for God's temple. But if you read in first Corinthians six, verse 19, it says that, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own. So we can be just like Jesus and John chapter two being violent to drive out the sin. 8:23 And because Jesus drove out the, the, the sin in the temple back then, and we can do the exact same thing now, uh, being violent with the sin that we see in ourselves attacking Jesus. He, he went in there and I see just a look of disgust and shock on his face. And am I shocked when I see sin in myself? I'm like this, this is in me. 8:44 This is something that I didn't see before. And this wretched sin in me, I'm ready to make a whip and drive it out, whatever it takes. I have to be so sick and tired of it. Like it's like last week, we heard the word strive, strive against sins, strive to enter through the narrow, the narrow door, uh, against the self life. Uh, but what does it mean to strive? 9:05 I think one of the main ways that God's teaching me to strive is to commit to, to praying until I'm delivered, commit to pray and say, Lord, this from now on, I'm going to pray about this. Um, if 10 years, I'm still fighting this, at least let it not be because I stopped. 9:22 I didn't, I neglected to pray. Let it be for some other reason, but at least the very first step I can take is commit. I'm going to pray and I'm not going to stop until, um, until you deliver me. And I believe that's exactly what God wants me to do. It's like in, uh, when the, I kind of get the picture of the man knocking on the door at his neighbor's house in the middle of the night. Cause he wants bread. He said, I'm not going to stop knocking. I'm going to be loud. I'm going to disturb everybody. I'm going to wake everybody up because I need this bread. Um, in that case, it was for his, uh, for somebody else. 9:52 But we can pray for, we can pray and knock for other people when we can pray and knock for ourselves. Um, just keep knocking. I'm going to keep knocking and knocking and knocking. And, um, and I believe that's honors God so much. He loves when we do that because it shows him that we're, um, committed to the same commitment that he has for us, which is I'm commit. God's highest desire for me is Christ likeness. And when I commit to pray and not stop, I'm going to pray, uh, and not stop. 10:22 Not routine prayers, but with meaning, I'm going to pour out my heart. I'm not going to just go into it and say, okay, Lord, let me check this prayer off my box again, but I'm going to, um, I'm going to work as hard as I can. Lord, I want to hate this. I want to pray with my whole heart for deliverance. Then it shows that I'm having the same. I'm in, in the fight with God that I'm in God's fighting for me, but I, I need to be fighting with him. The Holy Spirit's called a helper. So it's two, there's two under the yoke that work together. 10:49 And God wants me there, uh, next to him. He's the one that's able to accomplish it, but he wants to see that. I, I, we show him our desire, not just by praying, but, um, but by fight showing, but by committing and fighting to, with all our, our might. 11:06 And then, uh, and then, uh, along with prayer there, I, I believe when we've made the decision, we're sick and tired, we're done with our, whatever it is. That's, uh, whatever sin we see in ourselves, that's causing us to, uh, be not like Jesus. Then I believe he'll show up, give us more light. 11:23 Maybe there's something else there that he wants. He wants me to give up. Maybe there's something I need to surrender or, uh, or fast from, or something I need to do, something I was hanging on to. Maybe I need to forgive somebody or something I was clinging on to. And I think God will sometimes put a suspicion there in our heart. 11:41 He won't tell us clearly for with a voice from heaven. This is what's causing it. Go do this. But it's almost like he'll give us a little suspicion, uh, saying like, we won't be 100% sure. This is what God wants me to do. Like, oh, I need to give up such and such, um, in order for, but it's, I feel it's almost like God saying, are you willing to do it? Because, uh, just to see, are you willing to give this up? 12:07 Are you willing to try this course? Are you willing to surrender this of yourself just to, um, just to, uh, because you suspect that maybe something's wrong there? So much of the time I realized I can be like, oh, maybe I don't need to give it up yet. Um, because I'm not really sure yet. Let me just wait, uh, until God makes it clear. 12:26 But, um, I can't imagine, uh, how Jesus must have, Jesus doing that. Jesus must have been like, if there was any even, uh, hint of something being wrong, he's like, okay, I'm surrendering that right away. Um, and so I think that's, uh, something that the Lord's bringing to my attention to try to be more, um, careful about. 12:49 Not saying, oh, I'm not sure if this, uh, maybe me spending this, this, um, time, uh, right here. I feel like maybe God's telling me to, um, to do this right now, but I'm not really sure. He said he wants, maybe he's telling me to pray, but I'm really sure. 13:04 I really want to do this right now. Um, but God wants me to be willing to let anything go at the drop of a hat. Um, if he thinks, if I even suspect that he's telling me something and it is, uh, sometimes it is hard to give up what we really want. 13:23 We, it's like, uh, if, um, I mean, sometimes let's say that there's, uh, there's, uh, um, something so small, even something that we really were looking forward to some vacation or even something smaller, maybe some meal or some. 13:37 Um, we wanted to watch this thing, this, this basketball game or this, uh, or we wanted to go outside and go, uh, go, even maybe go for fellowship with a brother. But God's saying, oh, you need to be at home with your wife right now. 13:51 Um, and we have to crucify that self-life and it hurts. It's like, oh, I really wanted to do this, but, uh, this is what God's saying. I'm willing to give it up. I believe it's, God will meet us when we were willing to slay that flesh. 14:07 He'll meet us by giving us a rest and a joy that we wouldn't have never had. Um, it's like jumping into a cold swimming pool. It's hurts. It's a shock. If you've ever done it, um, like, especially if you don't like the cold, some people, I don't know how some people do it. 14:22 They can stand outside in 30 degree weather with shorts and a shirt, shorts and a t-shirt on. I have a couple of friends like that, like, I don't know how you do it. Um, but, uh, but some people, um, but like most, if you're like me, you cringe at the thought of a cold swimming pool. 14:37 You have to kind of put your foot in and then two minutes later, put your leg in. And it's so, and like, that's what our flesh wants to do. But God's saying, just jump in, just jump in. And, and once you're, once you're in, like, it's like you scream, uh, but, but after the scream is over, you're like, that's not so bad. 14:59 It's not as bad as I thought. You, um, I feel like, I feel like that's what God does for us when we're willing to surrender and cut that flesh off. That say the self-life, ah, I wasn't able to do this, but God gives me, God put, we, we empty ourself of the, that desire for our, the self-life. 15:18 And he fills us with his joy and his peace. And it's so much better than if we would have tried to kind of juggle the two. Yeah, well, let me, um, keep this for myself. I'll try to do God's will, you know, but let me, let me try to balance the two so I can have a satisfaction on both sides. 15:31 But God is saying, just jump in, just don't be half in the pool and half out, just jump in. Um, so, uh, I'm encouraged that God definitely will meet me every time and he'll help, uh, when I'm sick and tired of myself and say, Lord, I don't want to be like this anymore. 15:48 You've, uh, first of all, I'm encouraged that he's showing me areas that have, um, persisted for a long time and, uh, that now I can have some direction to fight. And second of all, that, um, I'm sick and tired of it. He's, he's made me sick and tired of it. 16:03 Like, I don't want to be like that. And so he's encouraging me. You're on the right path. Now keep going. You're through the gate. You're on the right path. Now keep going, pray and don't stop. And, uh, by God's grace, he'll help. 16:16 I wanted to share briefly about, um, having a, um, a must have attitude towards the promises of God. There's a sense in which we can have a, um, there's these phrases, nice to have. Is it a must have? Or is it a nice to have, right? 16:33 Like if you're getting a car, you know, they're a tactic that a salesman will use is these are must have features. They aren't nice to have features. Right. And, um, and so that's simple kind of language of saying, how serious am I about having something? 16:45 Is it a nice to have? Meaning I don't mind if I don't have it. And I feel the Lord's been showing me how and convicting me there are things which he's promised that I still have a nice to have attitude about. I don't really have a must have attitude about it. 17:03 And so I wanted to share a couple of things about that. So if you would mind, turn to, uh, Colossians one, please. There's one, uh, thing in particular that he really convicted me of and then it kind of just opened up a lot of other things for me. 17:21 And Colossians one in verse nine, if you look there. Here's a question. Is wisdom a nice to have? Or is it a must have? You can think of wisdom as this thing, which, oh, you know, I'll get it someday. I'll be wise someday. 17:39 I can see areas I've seen for myself areas where I'm unwise and, uh, the Lord's convicted me. Wisdom is essential. Spiritual wisdom is not a nice to have. Look at verse nine with me, what Paul prays. He says for this reason, also, since the day we heard of it, we haven't ceased to pray for you and to ask that you will be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects. 18:08 What I see this verse say is that the only way I'll be able to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord is if I'm filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom, meaning without spiritual wisdom, I will not be able to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, if I don't have wisdom, um, and I won't be able to fulfill his purpose for my life. 18:29 And it really made me mourn as I read that. And I saw that Paul prayed that they might have wisdom so that they could walk in a manner worthy of God. And seeing that I can't please the Lord without wisdom, it made me mourn because I've seen a few times recently, I think I even mentioned last week, I need to grow in wisdom. 18:46 But what the Lord convicted me of is just as Bobby was was praying a moment ago, am I desperate? Does that produce a sense of desperation? Or do I see that and go, Oh, you know, in time, you know, in the Lord's time, I'll get it. 18:59 Or do I see it and go, it's unacceptable. It's on my must have list. I don't have wisdom. I can't please the Lord without wisdom. And the Lord really convicted me that I haven't had that attitude. And it should be a non-negotiable with me. If I want to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, I have to be wise. 19:17 And I should not, he mentioned the parable and prayer from Luke 11, I should not stop banging on the door of heaven until I receive. And I believe that God is faithful. He will give good gifts to his children. But the question is, do I want it? Do I treat it as something I have to have? 19:33 Do I see my lack as a moment where when my neighbor comes in the middle of the night and I have no bread? Do I just say, it's okay, we'll eat in the morning. We'll eat whenever food comes. Or am I diligent? I see that as it pertains to wisdom. 19:45 Somebody comes and they ask a question. If I don't have the answer, does it trouble me? Not that I have to have all the answers, but I believe that Jesus Christ, he always had a word. He always had a simple word for people when they came to him. 19:56 And I should be able, I should have the bread of wisdom, spiritual discernment at a moment's notice. And I don't want to think, oh yeah, it'll come with time. I want it to be a non-negotiable. I think there's a real, actually if you turn to Ephesians. 20:18 It says, God, blessed be God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. He's blessed us with every spiritual blessing. 20:39 Here's a question. Does it bother me if I don't practically possess all the benefits that he supposedly put in my account? This verse says that I've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. 2 Peter 1 verse 3 says, His divine power is granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. 20:56 But I know, I mean, just like Bobby was just sharing a moment ago, there are many times in my life that I see I don't have something pertaining to life and godliness. Does it bother me? Does it disturb me when I see that I don't have something that God has promised? 21:11 This verse, he has given us every spiritual blessing. If that's just theory and it's not actually practically true for my life, I should be greatly disturbed. And it's produced a sense of disturbance with me this week that there's a real danger in having a nice-to-have attitude towards any promised blessing of God. 21:30 It's a real danger to think it's okay if I don't possess it, or maybe that's not for me. Maybe that's for advanced Christians or something, advanced in the Lord's service. I was seeing it this week as any blessing that I don't actually possess in my life, 21:45 I'm robbed of my inheritance. Somebody's robbed me of my inheritance. Do I take it seriously? But I take it seriously if, you know, my parents passed away and I had some big inheritance and I go to the, you know, to the bank and they say, 21:58 oh, somebody already picked it up. Would I be bothered by that? I think I would. Am I bothered when I see that I don't practically possess some of the blessings that are mine? You know, when he says, rejoice in the Lord always, 22:08 if I see there's not always rejoicing, he says, in all things give thanks. The joy of the Lord is your strength. If I see that I'm not giving thanks in everything, I'm not joyful in everything, I'm not rejoicing, does that cause me distress? 22:22 Do I see that I've been robbed of my inheritance in some sense? It should bother me tremendously because it brings shame to his name. That's the point. It brings shame to the name of Jesus. Christian Christians when I don't actually possess what he purchased for me on the cross. 22:40 I almost picture the conversation happening in the heavenlies. You know, we see in Job how Satan comes before God and he accuses people on the earth and he's got just cause to accuse many of them. But then God says, hey, have you seen my servant Job? 22:54 And we've talked about that, how much of a blessing it is to think that we could be someone who God could point to Satan. But I was thinking about this conversation as it pertains possessing all of God's promises. And I was thinking about Satan. 23:06 Can he say to God, look, he's living on food stamps. Look, you've put all of this in his bank account and he doesn't know it. He doesn't actually possess any of these blessings. He's living on welfare checks. He's going around begging. 23:23 He's going around without bread when people have needs. He's going around without joy. He's complaining. He's grumbling. It's an embarrassment to the name of Jesus Christ that I don't treat it as a really serious problem 23:39 when I don't actually possess some promise which God has made to me. And I want to take it seriously. I don't want to treat it lightly. And this matter of wisdom is a great example of I want to be disturbed. I want to see it as I have to have it to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. 23:53 And anything which I must have, if God has promised it and I don't have it, I must take it seriously. I don't want to be satisfied. I don't want to bring dishonor to the name of Jesus by settling for anything less than the abundant life which I'm promised in Christ. 24:07 He says, I have come to thee, I have life and have it abundantly. Paul says, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph. If my testimony isn't that I'm always being led in triumph, it's a problem. And it should produce a sense of mourning. 24:21 So whether the lack is in wisdom or rejoicing or thanksgiving or triumph or whatever, I want to see not practically possessing God's promises as bringing reproach on the name of Christ. And mourn that and ask God to give me what he promised and not settle for not having it. 24:42 But it got me thinking also about promises made to the church. You know, we see in John 17, maybe we can turn there really quick. John 17. Bobby talked about working alongside the Lord. In John 17 and verse 22, Jesus says, Lord, I want them to be one, just as we are one. 25:13 I want to be in them and I want you to be in me that they may be perfected in unity. Do I see that that's a promise? Jesus would never pray it if we weren't assured that it was possible, that we could be perfected in unity. 25:27 It was the longing of his heart was to see the church united. Does it bring me a sense of heartache when we're lacking in perfect unity? Do I, will I settle for anything less than the perfect unity, which God desires, which Jesus is praying for? 25:45 Do I see that disunity in the church brings dishonor to the name of Christ? Just like if I don't have wisdom in my own life, if I don't have joy, if I don't have thanksgiving, that it gives the devil a cause for accusation. 25:56 Do I see that disunity in our church or any lack of unity, lack of anything short of perfect unity gives the devil a chance to accuse our church before God? I don't know that he, I know in the Bible, we're obviously given the example that the devil accuses individuals. 26:13 I don't know that the devil necessarily accuses churches before God, but we do know from the letters to the churches in Revelation that there's plenty of attention given to the state of churches and the function of churches. 26:22 So I think there's a sense in which there's definitely attention given to the state of the church. Do I see a lack of unity or a lack of all that God has promised to our church as a cause for accusation that Satan can accuse our church? 26:35 And he's right. He's actually right insofar as we don't have unity. I'm seeing more and more clearly that disunity brings disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ. And we have to take disunity seriously. This is kind of an aside, but a simple test of unity. 26:52 Bobby mentioned, how do I know if there's something wrong? I should see if I'm not at peace anywhere. I think it's also a great test of unity as well. If I think just, I don't think about it in terms of the body corporately. 27:06 Think about individuals. If I think of an individual and I'm at peace with them, peace is a great indicator of unity in the body of Christ. But if I think of someone and I'm irritated or there's some agitation, it's a clear indication I'm not united with them. 27:22 It's an absolute clear indication that I'm not united with them. And as Bobby was saying, if I see that, if I see some irritation, some agitation, do I see that the problem lies with them? The problem doesn't lie with them. 27:38 If I'm agitated with someone, the problem is my capacity to be irritated. I don't need to hope they change. I need to ask God, change me because I haven't died yet. Dead people don't get bothered. It's only people who are alive that get bothered. 27:53 And if I'm irritated with someone, the problem is with me. It shows that I haven't died and I need to die. And I want to long for unity. In Ephesians 3, if you turn there to Ephesians 3, verse 10, it says that God's desire is to display his unfathomable wisdom through the church. 28:18 Ephesians 3, verse 10, that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. God's desire is to display his wisdom through us. 28:42 He can't display his wisdom through us if we're lacking in any promise which he has for us. And we should see it as a, we're keeping God from fulfilling his purpose. It says in verse 11, this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus. 28:57 For eternity past, he longed to make his wisdom known through the church. It's an amazing thing to see. Do I have a longing for that? Am I brokenhearted when his wisdom cannot be manifested through the church because of disunity? 29:10 I should be absolutely brokenhearted because it's thwarting the eternal purpose of God. And I should take any irritation, back to that simple test. If I have any bit of irritation, I should take it really seriously. It's hindering God's purpose. 29:25 And it's a reproach to the name of Jesus Christ because there's a conversation happening in the heavenly places. And God wants to make known his wisdom to Satan through the church. And I have to take God's promises to our church seriously. 29:37 Perfect unity. Anything short of that. I should mourn. I should repent. And I should cry out to God. I was thinking, what should we do? And I was thinking of the same parables that Bobby had mentioned in Luke 11 and Luke 18 in particular, 29:53 where the widow comes to the unrighteous judge and she says, Give me justice against my oppressor. Do I see it? And it reminded me of what Bobby was sharing. As I was listening to him, I was thinking, it's the same thing. 30:05 Will I come and demand justice? It says in Luke 18, she's crying out day and night. That's what is bothering me. Am I so bothered that I'll keep bothering God until he gives me the answer to my prayer? Bobby was talking about persisting until we receive what we ask for. 30:19 Do I just pray one time a casual prayer? Oh, I'm disunited. Help me. And then I forget about it and I move on. Or do I say I will not stop asking until I'm united? I won't quit. I'm going to keep praying. Lord, do it. I know I'm praying in accordance with your will. 30:32 Jesus Christ is, he ever lives to make intercession for us. Not just for me, but for us, for the church. Am I giving up before he does? Have I stopped praying? Because, you know, I prayed about that one time. Or do I see that anywhere there's lack, I got to keep coming to the Lord? 30:49 And, you know, it says in Luke 18, will he delay long over them? He won't. If we continue in prayer. The problem is, Jesus then follows it by saying, but will the son of man find faith when he returns? In a way, what he's saying is, I wonder whether you'll keep praying. 31:03 And I want to keep praying. I want to be found, just like Bobby said, as someone who's continuing to pray and to cry out for God to fulfill that which he's promised. I don't want to accept this nice-to-have attitude towards the promises of God. 31:18 We have to persevere in prayer until we receive what we ask for. And I was thinking, for myself, as it pertains to prayer, and I agree with Bobby, prayer is the primary way that I can bear this burden. It's a primary way that I can bear it. 31:34 If it's not the honest cry of my heart that, Lord, I want to see your church united, I should leave the church. I truly believe that. If I don't long to see the church perfected in unity, this isn't the church for me. Because our church, it's not a church to just come and sit and enjoy and admire and, you know, kind of hold these nice thoughts in our head and say, oh, wow, it's a wonderful painting. 31:54 It has to be reality. We want the fire. We want the warmth and the heat and the purity of the fire. We don't just want to, you know, we've heard that picture of a painting of a fire. That's not what we want. We don't want to come and admire the thought of a fire. 32:07 We want to be burned up. We have to be burned up. And if that's not the honest cry of my heart, I should leave. And I was thinking about that verse that says, he who does not gather with me scatters. We've talked in our personal Christian lives about that we're either making progress or we're backsliding. 32:26 And we've kind of dispelled. And I thank God we have this notion of we can just be in neutral. We can just be plateauing. And we know that that's not a possibility in our Christian lives. Either we're progressing towards Christ likeness or we are backsliding, period. 32:40 But I hadn't thought about the church in this way. But I think it's true. If I'm not building the church, I am hindering the work. There's no such thing as just neutral. If I'm not actively contributing to the building of the body of Christ, I am hindering the work. 32:59 It's like I was talking with Michelle about this. She mentioned this analogy, which I really appreciate it. She said it's like a boat. Have you heard the phrase dead weight? What is dead weight on a boat? Dead weight on a boat is weight that can't paddle for itself. 33:15 And our job, you know the phrase like pulling your own weight? What does that mean? It means someone who's actually rowing commensurate to the weight that they're adding to the boat. And I was thinking, we should all be pulling our own weight. 33:25 What is pulling our own weight to build the body of Christ? It's bearing our cross every single day. We must bear our crosses. It's a non-negotiable. If I'm not bearing my cross every single day, dying to my self-life as we were hearing a moment ago, I am dead weight. 33:40 What does that mean? Other people have to exert more effort to keep the ship moving, so to speak. But if I'm bearing my cross, at least I'm pulling my own weight. But the question is, am I satisfied with only pulling my own weight? 33:53 Or am I eager to contribute to the needs of others? And I start, I want to bear other people's weight too. I want to give people, you know, a chance to rest for a moment. You know, we got to have, if everybody's paddling all the time, not that we should ever stop paddling. 34:07 It's where the metaphor breaks down. But you get the idea. I want to pull more than my own weight. That's my point. And what does the Lord see fit to do if we're all pulling more than our own weight? He can add people to the church who, when people are younger, they can't pull their own weight. 34:22 That's okay. But our hope is to grow up every man, to see every person mature in Jesus Christ, perfect in Jesus Christ, to pull their own weight that the Lord might keep seeing fit to add people to our church. But if I'm not pulling my own weight, that'll never happen. 34:37 If I don't really seek to build the church, I should leave it because otherwise I'm dead weight. And primarily the first thing is I have to be bearing my own cross. And as I'm bearing my own cross, as I'm dying to myself, then as I seek to meet the needs of others, I can even contribute to the Lord seeing, hey, I can bring other people to this church because they're paddling for their life. 34:59 They're continuing to fight. And then the second thing that I should do to fight this attitude of nice to have regarding God's promises is I need to be radical about repentance. I should be persistent in prayer and I should be radical about repentance. 35:22 That verse from Zechariah 6, we were discussing it on Tuesday night in the men's meeting. It really spoke to me in the men's Bible obedience meeting, I should say, not Bible study meeting, but in our Bible obedience meeting, we were talking about that verse in Zechariah 6.15. 35:37 It says, it will take place if you completely obey the Lord. I was thinking, what a wonderful promise that what is the Lord saying? I will fulfill, I will grant all that I have promised you. You will realize all the riches that I put in your bank account. 35:52 You will not walk around like a welfare recipient on food stamps if you completely obey. I will build perfect unity in your church if you completely obey. And so the condition for us to receive the promise is absolute obedience in everything and absolute repentance in any matter where we see we're falling short. 36:12 And as the Lord shines his light on our path and we see something we're falling short, we're radical about repenting and we're radical about obeying. And we trust we can leave the consequences to the Lord. He says, I will do it if you obey in everything. 36:25 And we can say, Lord, I want to obey more than anything. And as I do, I trust you to build what only you can build. I'll contribute the wood. I'll throw myself on the fire, whatever it takes. I'll take up my cross. But I know you have to build it. 36:39 But you promise to build it if we each completely obey. And so we don't want to be lacking in that. We don't want to be lacking in prayer. We don't want to be lacking in repentance. We don't want to be lacking in obedience. 36:49 I don't want to tolerate this nice-to-have attitude towards any promise to God. I want to see it as a reproach on the name of Jesus to not be actually possessing anything that he promises. I want to demand justice from my oppressor, crying out day and night until I receive what he's promised. 37:05 And I want to be radical about repenting of any sin, fully believing that the Lord's promise is true, that it will take place as I obey completely.
