Patience 18" Bubble Head

So we're going to be in James I, I made it through six more

verses. So you know, well, we will get

through it before Christmas and we'll do a Christmas study, the

Christmas Eve study. I encourage everybody to come.

The reason I encourage everybody to come where Christmas falls on

a midweek this year. So we won't see each other

Christmas Sunday because I mean, we'll be here Sunday, but it'll

be three days after Christmas. So it was a little different.

So everybody come on Christmas Eve and we'll get you out of

here. You know, we'll start at 4:00.

We'll be, we'll be done, done by 5:30, but hopefully before that.

And so come and just have that fellowship and sing some songs

together and laugh with a fun, fun drama.

There was some improvisation. So you know, we get with Aunt

Sherry and have that it's I'm looking forward to it.

Looking forward to just the fun and the fellowship of it.

So well, like I said, we're going to be in in James 5 again

and starting verse 7. Be patient, therefore, brothers,

until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the

precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it

receives the early and the late rains.

You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the

coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one

another, brothers, so that you may not be judged.

Behold, the judge is standing at the door as an example of

suffering and patience. Brothers, take the prophets who

spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those

blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard this of the

steadfastness of Job. You have seen the purpose of the

Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

But above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by

earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no

be known, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

And Lord, I just lift up. I lift up just today, Lord, that

you would speak, that you would fill this room with your

presence. Lord, I thank you for everybody

that's been able to make it. And Lord, that you would just

keep everybody safe through this season of slick roads and

driving distances and stuff. Lord, and I thank you for just

that we're here and we're not driving back and forth.

And I thank you that you, the weather held off until we're

we're here, Lord. And or that you would just speak

to hearts today? Or do you speak to mind that you

would let us see what you have planned for us.

And I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.

So my, my funny title today is, and you guys are going to get a

kick out of it. And then I'm going to have to

explain it. Patience, 18 inch bubble head.

So in, in my in my, in my life, there's a story in Uganda.

I was, I was riding my motorcycle and I had my

headphones in and I was listening to podcast or

something and you like the little bubble head.

And they were talking about Seattle was very proud of

themselves. They had they had they had

outlawed plastic straws. They were going to save the

turtles. I just saved the turtles.

No more plastic straws. Turtles are safe and I got to

listen to a lady talk about that for about 5 minutes about how

good they did because they outlawed plastic straws.

I'm in Uganda and I'm following a bus and we call them land

trains. They they they boogie right

along. But as I'm following this bus,

about every kilometer, maybe 2A bottle flies out the window in

Uganda. They don't really understand.

And I mean, and it, it is, it is really they just don't, they

don't understand that that bottles go on in the ditch.

The ditch goes to the Creek, the Creek goes to the river, the

river goes to the ocean or the Mediterranean.

The Mediterranean goes to the ocean.

And that plastic mat in the middle of the Pacific is from

that bottle they threw out the window.

They don't understand that right?

It's not not something that they and that Lady in Seattle, the 18

inches around her head, she was making a difference.

She's making a difference because she was.

So all the straws in Seattle, you guys didn't know in

garbages, they go to landfills. That's just that's just what

happens to them. They don't end up in the Pacific

Ocean. So now the bottle that's flying

out the window in Uganda and Kenya and Egypt and pick the

country, it is probably ending up in the ocean, right?

So when we worry about the 18 inches around our own head, it's

when we're focusing on the things that I see, right?

This is look, I can fix it. So that's the when I say 18 inch

bubble head, that's what it is. And that's all.

And I mean, as much as I'm going to pick on that girl for the

whole conversation about straws that I thought was epically

stupid and I hate paper straws, but I understand her.

I do understand where she was coming from because that's what

we do. We worry about the 18 inches

around her own head, right? How is this going to affect me?

And, or how is this going to affect my, my family, or how is

this going to affect our church or how is this going to affect

our city or how there's going to affect our state?

And we, we don't, we don't look at the big picture, right?

And James starts off with be patient.

Therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord, right?

And in the Christian life, it's about perspective.

If we rest in the fact that God is in complete control, then the

world can do nothing to me. I don't have to worry about how

it affects me because I know God has it in his charge.

He is, he is in control of it. When you think about children,

when I was when I was a young man, I did not worry about

whether or not when I hit the light switch, it was going to

come on. Never crossed my mind that the

lights wouldn't come on. It didn't cross my mind that

when I turned the faucet on there would be water.

It, it never crossed my mind. Now there was a my mom.

I had a single mom and I'm sure in, in my younger years, there

were large chunks of time that she spent a lot of time worrying

about that. But I don't worry about that

because there was always, there was always electricity, there

was always water, there was always food in the fridge.

She worried about it, I didn't. So we serve the God of the

universe. What does he not have the

ability to give us if we need it?

And when we have that perspective and we're waiting on

the coming of the Lord and that waiting on the coming of the

Lord. And I like that he says, see how

the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,

being patient about it until until it receives the early and

the late rains. And for you guys, I would say,

Are you ready? So how do you prepare for winter

in Sandpoint? Do you prepare for winter like

they prepare for winter in Hawaii?

I don't think in Hawaii they have snow blowers and snow

shovels. So I'm going to use my Uncle Pat

for an example. So he's got a loader, He's got a

loader. He's got a tractor with a snow

blower on it. They used to have a plow truck

and coming into the fall, you see the chains go on the loader.

You see the the snow blower get mounted on the tractor, right?

He's preparing and it's, and, and when he's preparing, there's

sun in the sky. It's 60°, it's a nice day, but

he's preparing because what's coming and he knows it's coming.

It isn't, you know, do you know the snow is coming, right?

That's, that's the, that's the know we have that the Lord is

coming, right? And farmers in Uganda, they

prepare for rain, right? So they prepare for rain.

But it's all trusting the Lord in that because there is the

first rain and then the next. So the first rain, they go out

and they can plow their fields, they can break it up and then

and then the next they can plant it and then they're waiting for

the rain that's going to grow the field, right.

And so it's, it's always that understanding that you're in his

control. I mean, that's The thing is when

I they're, you know, they're the when we were worried and we, we,

we think about that 18 inches around our own head.

There's nothing I can do about that 18 inches around my own

head, right? I, I can't worry anything into,

into a better situation. I there we, when we, when we

worry about things, we, we lose sight of the Lord.

We're, we're not being that patient.

But then you go on to verse 8 and it says you also be patient

and establish which is just set or fix your heart for the coming

of the Lord is at hand. And do we believe that?

Do we believe that before this service is over, Jesus could be

here, we could be there, right? And that is that is the the time

and time we live in. And guess what?

James lived in that time and Paul lived in that time.

Peter lived in that time. There are many prophecies about

Jesus and, and what it takes for him to come back.

But what it takes is for the father to say go.

That's what it takes. And Mark 13 verses 3 through 10

Mark 13:3–10

says, and he set on the Mount of Mount of Olives opposite the

temple. Peter and James and John and

Andrew asked him privately tell us when will all these things

be? And what will be the sign when

all these things are coming are about to be accomplished?

And Jesus began to say to them, see that no one mislead, no one

leads you astray. Many will come in my name and I

am and say I am he and they will lead many astray.

So before we go on, there's a side note that I it's one of

those ones that I look at and go God is just good.

Does anybody know the two largest what what the two

largest Christian cults in the world?

Does anybody know what they are and Mormons.

So Jehovah's Witness in Mormons. OK, so if you go to Matthew

2426, it says therefore, if if they say to you, look, he's in

the desert, do not go out there or look, he's in an inner rooms.

Do not, do not believe it. So Joseph Smith found tablets in

a desert and was guided through what they said in the desert.

Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus appeared to them in an inner

room. So I just love the fact that he

actually just calls them out like Nope, Nope, right.

And so, and that's completely a side note to what I'm talking

about. But it is many will come in my

name saying I am he right. But Matthew, that's Matthew 2426

where where he calls out those two going on in verse 7.

And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be

alarmed. This must take place.

But the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation

and Kingdom against Kingdom. There will be earthquakes in

various places. There will be famines There are,

but these are but the beginning of birth pain.

So Jesus says no one knows the day or the hour he goes on in

here and he'll say that but like the farmer waiting for the rain,

we need to stay awake. We need to be ready right.

We, we don't, we don't put our I had a had a Kia Soul for many

years and it had when we bought it, it was fancy little car.

It had 18, it had eighteens and they were like, I think they

were 70 series tires. So they were, I don't remember

the series, but they were not, they weren't 70.

They were, they look like rubber bands, right?

They were there was and that car couldn't get out of a parking

lot with those tires on it in a snowstorm like it.

I mean it come up against a come up against a ramp out and it's

stuck right there. So it in the sun in the as soon

as it turned probably I think we by November, I had said with

snow tires on it, different rims, different tires right.

And I live in the tri-cities. It very well might not snow, but

but we would not have got out of the parking lot had I not put

the tires on right. Being prepared, not being caught

unprepared. Back in Mark in 13 Jesus goes on

and says, but concerning that day or that hour, no one knows,

not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father, but

only the Father be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know

when the time will come. Is like a man going on a journey

when he leaves home and puts his servant in charge, each with his

work and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.

So Jesus, it's really simple to serve Jesus.

He just wants 100% of your attention.

He wants 100% of your life, not not Jesus.

When you gave your life to Jesus you, you agreed He gets it all,

not he, he didn't. It's not like I have, I have my

family box. I have my work box, I have my

sports box, and I have a Jesus box.

When you gave your life to Jesus, He became your box.

You are now, you are now in his box, right?

You're now He wants 100% of your life.

And coasting through life is not part of the deal, right?

We're supposed to be patient and established in our heart.

We're supposed to be fixed and set in the direction that we go.

Paul in First Thessalonians 5 gets into it and this is I've

used this in the past, but is it really one of my favorite

conversations about the second coming, but about how we are

supposed to be ready and it says now concerning the times and the

season. Brothers, you have no need to

have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully

aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the

night, while people are saying there is peace and security.

Then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains

come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to to

surprise you like you are not in sorry.

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to

surprise you like a thief, for you are all children of light,

children of the day. We are not of the night or of

the darkness. So then let not, let us not

sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

For those who sleep, sleep at night, or those who get drunk,

get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day,

let us be sober, having put on the breath breastplate of faith

and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

For God has not disdained us for wrath or destined to us for

wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And as believers, we're supposed to be in the light, right?

We're supposed to be not hidden under a bushel, right?

We are. We're supposed to be salt in the

world, which means we're supposed to be out in the world

sharing what we know and and caring for people we are.

We are to be at work for him and his work is easy, easy for me to

stand up here and say, but it is to rest in his grace and do the

work he has made us for. And and that will take the rest

of your life to get it right, right.

But that is that rest and it's Romans 12/1.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God

to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to

God, which is our reasonable service, not our not our extreme

service to sacrifice my life for the God of the universe isn't

extreme. It's reasonable because of what

he's done for us and Colossians 323 is do everything as under

the Lord and not the men. And if I'm doing that, then then

I'm given that 100% and I'm doing I'm doing all that can be

done. And that isn't a works mentality

of I have to do these things in order to have a relationship or

in order to be saved. It is, Lord, you've done so much

for me. You've done so much for me.

I want to help you. I want to do what you want me to

do it. I think of my grandfather and my

grandfather is somebody that I just wanted to make happy.

I wanted him to be I if there is anybody that has ever walked the

earth that I just wanted to say well done, it would it would

have been him, right is that I was doing it right and not

because he would love me any less.

There was a whole lot of times that he loved me.

He loved me a lot and I was a complete moron.

And that's why we serve the Lord.

That's why we give him 100%. Not because there is a work

mentality that says if I don't do this, I'm not saved.

If I don't do this, I don't get this.

That isn't it. We're we're 100% awake and we're

100% focused on his work because we love him that much.

And our perspective is he is living and is coming back to

judge those who won't turn. So we should be out about his

business telling as many people as can be told that that there's

a God that loves them so much that he wants that relationship

with him. In verse 9, it goes on and says

do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you

may not be judged. And behold, the judge is

standing at the door. James is just reminding us to

lead with love and not grumbling, you know, and Paul

Philippians says do not sorry Philippians 214 and 15 do all

things without complaining and disputing.

That you may become blameless and harmless children of God

without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,

among whom you shine as lights in the world.

Jesus in John 1334 and 35 says this.

A new commandment I give you, that you love one another just

as I have loved you. You also are to love one another

by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you

have love for one another. So how important it is, how

important is it that we in the in the body of Christ love one

another, right. I mean, Jesus did not say if you

feel like it. He said a new commandment I give

you to love one another and if our eyes and heart stay focused

on Christ and I don't get into my fields, you know, and and

start thinking that a brother or sister is in sin and I don't

like them because they're in sin and I get mad at them.

Do you understand when somebody's in sin, especially in

the body. If you if you see somebody that

that is is backslidden, falling away, doing something that is

leading them away from the Lord, your job is to confront them,

but not confront them in a I'm right, you're wrong, you

stinking rotten Sinner. It is to confront them hat in

hand, like Jesus going after the lost sheep.

All right, you know, we've talked about Matthew 18 before

that that that isn't that that church discipline is not a I'm

going to beat you over the head with the Bible.

It's it's dude or or friend, you're you're going the wrong

way, you're off, you're off track.

And and I see this in your life and and this is not a

conversation to have. Hey, I saw so and so and they're

doing this wrong. No, this is a conversation

between you and them, right? And and having that having

enough love to confront right? Do you love your children that

much? I would tell you, I would say

good parents love their children that much, right.

When you see your children doing things that they shouldn't be

doing, you know, and, and it's not out of you.

You don't hate your children when they're doing it wrong.

You want to correct them. You, you stay up night worried

about them. Do we have that heart for the

for this body, but also for other, for other congregations

Guys, this is this is a body, right?

This is the body of Christ in British Sandpoint.

But all over, all over Sandpoint, North Idaho, America

and the world, there is a body of Christ.

And do we love them enough to to lovingly confront when needed,

but love them and not and not get stuck on our way of

thinking, but but being the word, you know, that's, that's

that that story about my pastors in Uganda and us all getting

together and, and really hashing out what the, you know,

everybody has a bent. Whether we like it or not, we

all are bent because we have the way when I'm reading, when I'm

reading the word, what I see, but that doesn't mean that I am

why it's really important. You guys are taking the, the

word of God that's being taught, not Nick's words, right?

You want you want to, you want to be brilliant and digging into

it and seeing what it says, right?

You want to, you want to be about his word and we can always

agree on his word if we're honest about it, right?

We can come to an agreement and then you go on in in Philippians

and it says or actually you go back.

That's verses one and three one through 3.

Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any

comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any

affection and mercy fulfill my joy by being like minded, having

the same love being of 1 accord and of one mind.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition, conceit, but

in loneliness of mind. Let each esteem others better

than themselves. So that is the epitome of

getting outside the 18 inch bubble around your head, right?

Seeing things from other people's point of view.

You know what Pastor Steven in the tri-cities talks about

someone getting their feelings hurt by somebody else and now

they have a big rift. Well, this you, you have those

conversations and, and the guy that got his feelings hurt, the

guy who hurt his feelings didn't even know that he did anything

right. He was he, he didn't hear him.

He had, you know, he had an upset stomach, something he was

in a bad mood. And now there's a rift because

they're not willing to talk to, you know, the, the guy with a

hurt feeling isn't talking to him.

And those are that's, that's the 18 inches around her own head,

right? How does it affect me?

How you know know everybody in this room, guys, everybody in

this room, including Faye and I, have stuff going on in our

lives, right? And you say our lives are much

bigger than the two hours that we spend together on Sunday.

Now as a body, we can love each other, but understand that we

should be, we should be having real conversations with each

other so that we can love each other through the sucks of life,

right? So life has hard things in it.

And especially this time of year with, with the holidays, there's

family drama and there's past drama and all that stuff that

comes up around the holidays. And as a body, we should be

loving on each other and not just in my own head about my own

stuff, right? And and to remember that The

funny thing when it says the judge is standing at the door,

when I get in my fields and start thinking I got some, I got

some standing to judge somebody else.

It is. I always picture the angels and

their thoughts of us. Adam was made out of dirt.

And so we're just dirt walking around, right?

And so when I get judgey, I'm just judging dirt, but I'm dirt.

So dirt, judging dirt. It's kind of funny, right?

And but that's really, that's our standing right there.

There is one judge and he is so much bigger than me and you.

And so when we recognize that that I don't have to judge,

right? I, I don't have to be the, the

end all. I can just love people into the

Kingdom and not in a mushy way, right?

Love is love is not the the current definition of love is

just affirm everybody and tell everybody that what they're

doing is great. Well, if if my son or daughter

or best friend is in the dark and running for a Cliff that's

300 feet deep, 300 feet down, the loving thing is not to

affirm their choice. The loving thing is to tackle

them right and stop them from running that way.

That so so love is not the, the, the the mushy.

It is doing the best for the other person, right?

Not the best for me, not not what makes me happy, but doing

the best for the other person and caring for them.

So that isn't a judging thing. That is a being being a

community with each each other and and knowing the people that

you do like with and being willing to have those hard

conversations if they're necessary, but also the the

encouraging conversations when they're necessary.

Verse 10 and 11 as an example of suffering and patience.

Brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast.

You have heard of the steadfastness of Job and you

have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is

compassionate and merciful. So we'll get, we'll get to Job

here in a minute. But I'm, I'm thinking of Elijah

and how much how much he is like us.

And it's Elijah at the end of this.

I'll read a passage but it but before we get there Elijah at

this point has held back the rain been fed by Ravens, then by

a widow with a forever full jar of flour and a bottle of oil.

He then raised her son from the dead challenged aid had the king

called down fire from heaven. He then executed all the

prophets of Baal prayed for the rain to return and it did.

Then the queen threatened him. He he loses hearts and runs off

that sound like anybody you know God does amazing things, amazing

things, amazing things, amazing things.

Lord, how am I going to pay my bills?

That is that's us. But then then it goes on.

He was fed by an Angel and that food sustained him for 40 days

and nights. The journey that he took and we

catch up to him in a cave in first Kings 19 starting verse

11, it says then he said go out and stand.

This is Lord, stop talking. Go out and stand on the mountain

before the Lord. And behold the Lord passed by,

and a great and strong wind tore into the mountain, and broke the

rocks into pieces before the Lord.

But the Lord was not in the wind.

And after the wind was an earthquake, But the Lord was not

in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, the

fire a fire. But the Lord was not in the

fire. And after the fire a still small

voice. So it was when Elijah heard it

that he that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and

stood in the entrance of The Cave.

Suddenly a voice came to him and said, What are you doing here

Elijah And Elijah, why this picture you have in this

conversation? I have been very zealous for

you, Lord God of hosts, because of the children of Israel have

forsaken your covenant and tore down your altars and killed your

prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to

take my life. Can you hear the, can you hear

the whining in that right now? What I love is the Lord does

not, does not respond to the complaint.

He just tells him to get up and go to work.

Then the Lord said to him, go, return on your way to the

wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazel as king

over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the

son of Nahum as king over Israel, and Elisha the son of

Shaphith of Abel Mahon you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

It shall be that over whoever escapes the sword of Hazel, Jehu

will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will

kill. And then verse 18 God says And

by the way, yet I have reserved 7000 in Israel, all whose knees

have not bowed to bail and every mouth that has not kissed him.

Oh, and by the way, you are not by yourself.

I've got 7 other 7000 others you know.

And this is just the Lord going and I mean Elijah has done

amazing things and he has faith that I could I could pray for.

And then like, not unlike I get right, but I've done all this

stuff. Lord, no, you haven't.

I have right. That's the thing.

God does the work. We just we are, we are the

gloves that he fills up to do the work.

I mean, do your is your have your gloves ever bragged at you

about all the all the wood they chopped right or or the cars

they fixed? You know now that the glove is

is necessary in some cases, but without the hand in it, there is

no nothing's getting done. So Elijah's just a, a fact that,

like I said, dirt acts like dirt and has since since he made

Adam. If we go on to Job, and this is

so if you think of Job, everybody, whenever anybody

brings up Job, you, everybody gets a little nervous.

So we're going to study Job. That's nerve wracking.

But Job is God's champion, like God bet on him.

You know, Satan showed up and said, I'm, I'm walking around

seeing who I can mess with. And God says, have you

considered my servant Job because he can beat you up now,

he didn't say it that way. He's just said, can you have you

considered my servant Job? And then when we we get all

through it, you can imagine the day that Satan went down to

attack Job, all of the heavens is watching because God said Job

can win. And we've seen we've seen Satan

do all kinds of things. So we got to see how's this

going to work out. And how it worked out is after

Satan attacked him at first he said, and he said naked, I come

from the from my mother's room and naked shall I return.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord in all this Job did not sin or

charge God with any wrong and then then he gets really sick.

It's covered in tumors. After another conversation

because Satan's like, well, you cheated because you kept a hedge

around his hell. So he said, no, go do that.

And then Job's wife and everybody picks on her.

But I want you to remember that before I read this, that Job's

wife also in this lost all of her children.

You know, we, we talk about Job, but in this she lost everything.

Job. This is, you know, I mean,

there's a there's a comic comedian out there.

That's like, who would want Job's wife?

I would tell you that Job's wife is just broken and I wouldn't, I

wouldn't judge her too harshly. Then his wife said to him, do

you still hold fast to your integrity, curse God and die?

Verse 10 But he said to her, you speak as one of the foolish

women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from

God and shall we not accept adversity in all this?

Job did not sin with his lips. Now when you go through the book

of Job, if you go through it, he will get to whining.

It will happen. So I'm not holding him up there.

But this is at the end in verse 42 after after some reckoning

with the Lord and the Lord saying do you do you remember

who I am and Job like I can just imagine the being Job in that

and and hiding under a rock. But verse 42 or sorry, chapter

42, verse 10 and the Lord restored the fortune of Job and

then he had and when he had prayed for his friends and the

Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

And at the at the end, Job did get twice as much as he had at

the beginning. But I want you to understand

that in God's story, Job didn't get his kids back.

Now he may have had more kids, but he didn't get those kids.

Those kids were those kids were with God, right?

So he did suffer loss. It wasn't God didn't say, oh,

redo and and back up to the beginning and say that was just

a where we were out of time. So now we're going to go back

and you just get to live the life you had.

He lost those servants, those men and women died, right.

So that was that all really happened and it really affected

Job. And then God's plan is, is for

the best, but have confidence in his plan.

His plan is not for me to live a life of sunshine and rainbows.

His plan is, and I, I say this every week, is that as many as

can go to heaven, go to heaven and spend eternity with him.

And he will get the most out of the life that I have, right?

It is it is if I give my 100%, if I give all I've got for him,

He will get the most out of it. I won't it that that doesn't

mean that my life it. Like I said, there's a song out

there that I'm sure Brandon has nose and I can't remember all of

the verses, but it it says he works everything together for my

good. I hate that song.

Like like, like I mute the because it is it is as 18 inches

around my own head a song as you can come up with right the the

starving children in Africa. God can work everything for my

good. Can you please tell me how

that's for my good, right. Do you see how that that it's.

He works everything together for my good.

No, that is a selfish statement. He works everything together for

the good, for those who love him, right.

And what is the good right that he's coming back and he is going

and he is a a righteous and fair judge.

Yeah, just and last, and I like this because those are some

serious stuff that James has said.

But verse 12 says, but above all, my brothers, do not swear

either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your

yes be yes and your no no. So that you may not fall under

condemnation. And the the reason I like that

because James does put that emphasis on it, but all he's

doing is repeating words that came out of Jesus's mouth.

In Matthew 5 it says, but I say to you, do not take an oath at

all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth,

for it is it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the

city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your

head. For you cannot make one hair

white or black. Let what you say be simply yes

or no. Anything more than that comes

from evil couple of oaths that we should remember in the Bible

that are that are that went badly.

I'm sure Acts 2312 is the men that were going to kill Paul and

it says and when it was drought, when it was day, some of the

Jewish Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath

saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had

killed Paul. Now a couple things could have

happened. Either they starved to death or

they or actually three days, they probably ran out of water,

but they didn't kill Paul. And that was a rash oath because

Paul got taken off to jail and they couldn't get to him even if

they wanted to. But for Samuel 1424 it's Saul

and we know about him and his rash oaths and different things

he did and the men of Israel. Sorry verse 14 or chapter 14

verse 24 and the men of Israel were distressed that day for

Saul had placed the people under an oath saying cursed is the man

who eats food until evening before I have taken vengeance on

my enemy. So none of the people tasted

food. Anybody remember what happened?

Actually, because his son Jonathan didn't hear the didn't

hear the oath. So he ate honey.

So then the Lord was serious, right?

That's the part about oaths that you have to be careful with.

And I'll get into one that you guys are going to remember.

But when you when you make an oath and you stamp his name on

it, he expects you to listen. You, you said it, you're bound

by it. So you want to be careful on

what you're saying God said, right?

So Joshua 9 and this is a example of that because, oh,

back, sorry, back in the, the Saul and Jonathan.

So it, it came to a head that somebody had broke this oath and

Saul had to figure out who had done it.

And it got all the way to Jonathan and he's like, Oh no.

And then he was going to kill Jonathan.

And because he had made an oath. There's there's another one in

Judges where a dad kills his first born daughter because he

made an oath. Oaths are not things that the

Lord is a big, big fan of it. When you when you go through all

the oaths in the Bible, they're usually more of a that kind of

picture is guys saying things that you don't have control of,

right. I don't have the, I don't have

the power to make things come true.

So anyway, in Joshua 9, the con was on.

And this is Gibeon, right? You know, if you guys haven't

read Joshua and you don't know what I'm talking about, what

kind of go through really quick, but Gibeonites were very crafty.

They came up with all kinds of ways to con the Israelites.

They they made it look like they were coming from a long ways.

They didn't want to die, so they came up with a plan to make it

look like they weren't from Canaan, they were from somewhere

else, and then they were going to make.

Then Joshua would make an oath with them and they'd be safe.

Now, what was Joshua's defense about being conned?

It'd be the same one we have. He could always ask the Lord.

But we'll, we'll see how they did in 9/14.

It says. So the men took some of their

provisions. So they checked out what they

were doing. You know, their clothes are old,

their food's rotten. They must be.

But it says, but they did not ask counsel from the Lord.

So they, they then make an oath and it says 1st 15 says.

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 and they swore in the name of the

Lord, which we'll get into, but they didn't ask the Lord first.

They didn't have, they didn't have marching orders from from

the Lord. And it goes on verse 18.

But the people of Israel did not attack them because sorry, when

they found out that they were only three days away in Canaan,

it says. 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 murmured against them, against

the leaders, but 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. Did you guys remember that?

They were sent to Canaan to wipe everybody out?

And then they made, then they made a covenant in the name of

the Lord that they wouldn't wipe these people out.

And now the Lord's like, well, you screwed that up because you

can't wipe them out now, because if you do, you're going against,

you're going against me. And it, you know, and, and

that's where we as people want to do this.

Well, but Lord, we didn't mean it.

But Lord, when they, when they say they, they lied, right?

So I get, I get a pass, right? So you get a pass because you're

you need to pray before, not after.

You know, some of the things that we do, you know, we say,

well, the Lord told me or the Spirit said I should do this or

the spirit said you should do this, that that's a good one,

right? I for years I've been going to

Uganda and the thing I don't do and you can it to the point of

sometimes probably fault I do. I will not put words in the

Lord's mouth that he didn't say, you know, I am completely

confident 100% that I am where I'm supposed to be doing what

I'm supposed to be doing. God called me to Sandpoint.

He called me to this church. I can say that because me and

him had lengthy conversations and, and I have the verses to

back it up. I have the notes to back it up.

Idiot. I know that I know I'm where I'm

supposed to be doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

And I can say that, but I, I have bunches of plans for

bridges. I have bunches of ideas for

outreaches and ministry. Now, I'm not saying the Lord

told me all those things. They're just ideas.

So I'm not going to put his stamp of approval on every one

of my ideas. Do we do that right?

Like that's, that's something you want to be very careful of.

When I started going to Uganda and spending time there and we

were doing 2 and we're doing about two trips a year.

And the answer when I was getting ready to, you know, we

were planning a trip was the answer was yes, unless there was

a reason for it to be no. But I didn't tell people that I

was called to go to Uganda in six months.

You know, when I came, when, when we came here, had I told

everybody in the Tri-cities and in Uganda and everything the

Lord told me that we are going to travel and do outages and we

are going to be in Uganda 3 to 6 months a year.

Now have I shared that that was my plan?

Yes. Did I ever put God's stamp that

this is what you're going to do? No.

And that's, that's that because if I had, if I had said, well,

the Lord told me that I'm going to go.

So I'm going to spend 6 months in Uganda and I'm going to work

for six months. And that's his plan for my life.

So as of today, what does that make the Lord or me?

A liar, right. And so don't, don't stamp his

name on it as, as he said, unless he said, right?

I mean, because there are times in Joshua in the story Joshua

that God absolutely said. And at those moments you want to

stand for that. Like I, I can stand up here and

tell you that I was called to stand up here.

And if I wasn't called, I wouldn't be here, right?

So I, I have that confidence. But how do we get out of the 18

inches around our own head? I mean, closing is we need to be

patient, focusing on the fact that the Lord is coming, right?

We establish our hearts in that because the Lord is at hand.

He could be here at any moment. And he's a living God who wants

to speak to us. Don't grumble against one

another. The judge is standing at the

door. So any judge, any grumbling we

have, we can talk to the Lord and he can take care of it.

We need to remain steadfast and just be fixed and settled in

that I've I've seen the purpose of the Lord and that the purpose

of the Lord we we talk about it is to shine his light into our

community. And that's just by reflecting

him. And then let your yes be yes and

your no be no. So that my funny title of

patience 18 inch bubble head. Tell yourself that patience God

is coming. Patience.

Don't worry about yourself. God is coming.

He God is the author. I am a bit player.

He has a story and I'm in it now.

His bubble is the universe and eternity.

My bubble at best is at the horizon.

And today, right now, and if I'm focused on only my bubble, I

will trip through life because I can't see what he sees.

If I lean into the hill and trust his plan and let him lead.

There is absolutely nothing this world can do to us.

Flores, thank you for everybody here.

Thank you for this time. I thank you.

I thank you that your bubble is that big, that you are the God

of everything and that you watch over each and every one of us

Lord, and that you would you would use this body in this

town, that you would use it not only in just Sam Point proper,

but in all the surrounding areas, or you would just be

speaking into people's lives. Guide and direct us Lord, and I

pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.