Syncretism Precipitates AND Short Fasting Discipline Lesson Judges 21

So we are in the middle of, we've got a while

yet, we're in the middle of our spiritual discipline

focus on fasting. And I've heard a lot of stories,

and I appreciate that you've shared some of those

with me, and I think we can share them some more

in the next Inspirational Moment time, but there

are two particular pieces about fasting that

I wanted to address. One, because I think it's

something that is just kind of missed. And the

other, because I think it's something really

important if you're going to undertake this task,

which a number of people have. OK, so let's just

think briefly for a moment about the last time

you were in a waiting room, a doctor's office,

dentist's office, somewhere where they had you

waiting, maybe outside a counselor's office,

principal's office or whatever. Within about

10 seconds, we start thinking about, I wonder

what's going on on my phone. Has somebody text

me? Maybe I can look at. Social media right now,

we've got nothing else going on. That's because

in the world that we live in, silence has become

uncomfortable. It seems like there's always something.

We feel busy. We feel like we have a lot to do.

And so when we feel like we're doing nothing,

whether it be shame or guilt or just because

we want to try, right, just don't want to give

up on the things that we need to do, we feel

like we have to reach for something. Fasting

is one of the few practices that asks us, to

sit in that gap between where we have something

to do and where we're doing nothing. Sit in that

gap there on purpose. So you are doing something.

It's a spiritual discipline to draw closer to

God. You are actively doing that. But at the

same time, you are choosing not to do something,

whatever that something is. It might be social

media. It might be food. It might be all food.

It could be as drastic as all food and water.

It could be some form of recreation. Whatever

it is that you think is, or creating an awe on

your life that is outside what God would desire

for you. You fast from it for a time, you get

it under control. We've talked about some of

the other purposes of fasting. Let's say, for

example, a woman starts a fast at 2 o 'clock.

I'm sorry, she starts a fast in the morning,

and then at 2 o 'clock, her hand starts to drift

toward the office snack door. Or she finds herself

driving the car, and she's going a long distance,

and she knows she has snacks in the glove box,

down there, whatever. She's not actually hungry,

right? She's got a tense email or a problem or

she had an argument with somebody or something

and food is what she reaches for when she's stressed.

That's going to happen to anybody, right? The

fast doesn't create the reflex to reach for the

thing to fill the gap. The fast is what gives

you the tool then to control the gap. The real

work of fasting then is not about... food, for

example, it's about noticing what we run to when

we get bored, when we're trying to fill in that

gap. And you know what's supposed to fill in

the gap. Well, it's God. It's your relationship

with Jesus Christ. It might be a word, it might

be prayer, meditation, a spiritual discipline

that you're working on, journaling, something

like that. And so when you try to fill that gap

with something else, rather than the thing that

God has given you to fill it with, You have a

problem. Fasting is designed to deal with that

problem. Matthew 4, verses 2 and 4, it says,

Matthew 4:2

After 40 days stopped food, Jesus is tempted

to turn stones into bread. Satan actually says

to him, What are you doing? What are you going

hungry for? Turn these stones into bread. You

can eat. And Jesus says back to him, Man shall

not live on bread alone, but on every word that

comes from the mouth of God. The words that come

from the mouth of God can sustain you under every

circumstance. There will come a time in which

you can't eat anymore. You'll be on your deathbed,

not have a stomach tube, might have just got

hit by a car, God forbid, or took a bullet, God

forbid, right? There comes a time in which you

can't eat anymore. And in that moment in time,

when that gap exists, beyond food, for example,

that's what we're using as an example, beyond

food, what you need in that moment is God. You

need Jesus Christ as Savior. You need God as

presence in your life and to take you home. That's

what you need in that moment. So the next time

you think you need food more than God, that's

what fasting is for. The next time you think

you need recreation more than God, that's part

of what fasting is for. Whatever it might be,

let us realize there are going to be moments

in life where we need God above all else, and

that fasting helps us to realize. One more thing,

breaking a fast. So you've heard of breakfast,

I imagine. Most of you probably had it in some

way. The term breakfast comes from breaking a

fast, because when you're sleeping at night,

Surprise, you're not eating while you're sleeping,

right? You're asleep or you're bedded down for

the night. So you're not actually taking in food.

And so then when you get up in the morning and

you have your breakfast, you're breaking your

fast tonight. That's where it comes from. So

breaking a fast, then we need to think about

how do we do that? Let's say you decided to fast

for 24 hours from without food. By the end of

that, you might be feeling like, I really wish

I could have a sandwich. I want some pancakes

or whatever it might be. It's something that

you might desire. I was just talking to my wife

last week. I've been fasting for a while. I'm

a Daniel pastor. Fruits and vegetables only.

And some spices and condiments. And that's it.

And I told her, I really want fish and chips.

I love fish and chips. That's one of my favorite

meals. Not my favorite, but it's one of my favorite

meals. And I said, as soon as I get done with

my fast, I'm going to have some fish and chips.

And then later that day, the Lord said to me,

don't you eat too much fish and chips. And here's

the thing. When you come off of a fast, You might

want to gorge yourself. I haven't eaten in 24

hours. I'm so hungry. It's killing me. But the

reality is it's not really like that, right?

After you eat enough to sustain yourself, you're

not really starving to death with you at that

period of time. Obviously, there are nutrients

involved, and you need to take care of yourself.

I'm not saying be unhealthy. But my point is

you don't want to see right after your fast ends

the piece that you built for that day or weeks

or months, depending on how you were fasting.

You don't want to see that suddenly erased. Just

like that. So let's say you're fasting from streaming

TV. And then immediately after you're fasting

from that, you go grab the remote, and you've

got to catch up on all your shows. And you stream

like 10 hours on TV and catch up on all your

shows. All the peace that you gained in that

week or month or whatever it was, and you let

that all fall away, it's all gone. Right? Because

you had to get back to it. I had to. I put God

first for a little while, but I can only do that

for so long. I've got to get back to my stuff.

Does that sound like biblical fasting? Not based

on what we just said about biblical fasting,

right? So how we end our fast reveals whether

we actually learned to do without the thing that

we were doing without for a period of time. Or

did you just kind of grit your teeth until the

clock ran out? Did you just hold your breath

as long as you possibly could by not eating or

by not watching or by not involving yourself

with those things? A healthy fast does not end

with lunging back at the old habits. So if it's

food, for example, the fast immediately after

the meal should be a healthy meal, the kind of

meal that your body needs. Don't run out to IHOP

and grab yourself a giant stack of pancakes and

bacon because you did such a good job fasting

for a day. Instead, get yourself healthy food

in reasonable portions. And then if you want

to have pancakes later, you could probably actually

have them without getting sick. But if you fast

for a day or two and then jump on something like

pancakes right after, you'll probably get sick.

Because your body will not be used to taking

in that amount of sugar and carbs. So I suggest

that fasting is meant to be paced. It's meant

to be disciplined. That's why I call it spiritual

discipline. And then easing back into that thing,

if you're going to at all. You could be fasting

for something that you want to get rid of. And

at the end of it, you might be saying, I'm never

going back to that thing. God has made me able

to be free from it. I'll never go back to it.

Because now I realize it was a controlling part

of my life. And you might do that. But if it's

a thing you're going to go back to, do it in

a paced and gentle and disciplined way, not to

excess. And then realize that fasting was never

the goal. Dependence on God is the goal. The

wind isn't finishing the fast. Don't say, I'm

going to fast for 24 hours and then fight through

it and get to the end of 24 hours and go, yeah,

yeah, look at me. That is no victory whatsoever.

In fact, it should be that at any time that you

struggle throughout your fast, you're turning

to the Lord for strength. And then when you get

to the end of the fast, it should be. Yay, God.

Because every time I needed help, he helped me.

Right? When it isn't finishing the fast, it's

what you did when the craving in the middle of

the fast hits you. And breaking the fast well,

then, is the last rep. It's the one more. You're

curling and you feel like you can't go anymore.

It's the one more rep. It's the one more task,

the one more job that needs to be done. Break

it well. Don't sprint back to what you gave up.

Carry the same open hand. for the rest of your

life. Let's say you fasted for one day, one complete

day without food. At the end of that, you ease

back in. From then on, you now have a testimony

that says, well, if I ever had to do that. I'll

give you an example. I went to go have blood

work the first time when they thought I had bone

marrow cancer. And I had to have blood work done,

and I was getting in fairly frequently. They

were checking me out, trying to figure out if

I had bone marrow cancer. And she said, I know

it's tough. You've got to fast every time you

have to do bone marrow cancer. You can't eat

from like 9 p .m. the night before. I go, we

get the blood test done at like 9 a .m. You have

like 12 hours of fasting, whatever. I'm like,

I mean, two or three hours before bed, a couple

hours in the morning? That's nothing. She's like,

well, so many people complain. It's so hard to

not eat after 9 and not eat until they come get

their test done. I'm like, they must not be Christians.

Or they must not be living with the Lord if they

are. Because it is hard for you to fast for six

hours before you go to bed when you get up in

the morning from food. You are addicted to food.

That is not that much. You get out of bed in

the morning, you didn't feel hungry, right? At

first, it takes a minute. And then your stomach

kind of kicks in. So that first three hours shouldn't

be a struggle. Bottom line is, carry the same

open hands for the rest of your life. Celebrate

the victories that you have in fasting, in Bible

reading. I know people say, I finally finished

reading the whole Bible from beginning to end.

And God helped me discipline myself. That's a

lot. It takes 40 hours of straight reading, which

nobody can do that, right? So it takes 40 hours

spread out over time to read the whole Bible

from beginning to end. But it's only 40 hours.

So if you've never read the whole Bible from

beginning to end, let's say you have like, or

you think, you estimate yourself to have a poor

reading level. So I read half as fast as you

do. So you need 80 hours. And if you haven't

done that in the last five years, you haven't

spent 80 hours reading your Bible in the last

five years, you haven't finished reading the

whole Bible from beginning to end, 80 hours in

five years? Really? You can do it. And then when

you've done it, Look at what God has done. Give

God his glory. So in fasting, it's number one,

don't reach for something to fill the gap right

away. Let the strain drive you back to God. Always

go back to the Lord. And then number two, break

the fast in a godly, God -honored way. Deacon

Tony, would you lead us in prayer at this time?

We're going to translate you from the eyes of

offerings and a little more worship before we

go to the Lord. I'm super excited because the

Lord, I wrote the whole sermon, and the Lord

wrote the whole sermon, and me today is super.

So you can tell probably already since you've

walked through, and I'm stoked for what God is

doing. So, Deacon Tony, would you lead us? We're

praying along with him. there are slides after

this slide, I'm just going to point at you each

time to switch to the next slide, okay? That's

the plan. We didn't rehearse it or nothing, so

let's see how it goes. Today's sermon title is

Syncretism Precipitates, and if I had a hazard

or guess... We may not even know exactly what

those words mean because they're weird words.

They're not words that people even talk like

that, really. So syncretism is when you combine

in your worship, when you worship multiple things,

and one of those things is the primary thing,

which in our case would be God, I hope. And you

worship God, but you also start worshiping some

other things. So this is what the Israelites

have done in the story in the book of Judges.

You'll recall we read last week that... The Israelites

consulted God and that God answered them. And

so that can happen when a person is practicing

syncretism. It can be that they consult God and

say, OK, God, what about this? And then God gives

them the answer and says, yes, no, go, don't

go, whatever. While still they have other gods,

other things that they are paying attention to.

And so sometimes people will. I don't want to

get off on this tangent because it is the sort

of the sermon that God rewrote to be this sermon.

But sometimes people will do that. They will

use that feeling, that leadership of God to then

excuse other bad behaviors and say, well, I'm

worshiping these other things as well as God.

And because God would answer them still, they

say, well, I'm good because I can worship these

other things. I'm still right in my relationship

with God, which is not the case. We've never

meant to be. God alone deserves our worship.

The word worship is the declaration of his worth,

and there is no one and nothing that is worth

what God is worth. So God alone deserves our

worship. Also notice in the Ten Commandments,

for example, when God says, Thou shalt have no

other god before me, which is how it's written

in the King James, and then it slightly changes

to other translations, but it always brings the

same thing, and that is that we are not allowed

to have any other gods, essentially. It's the

King James language, before me, like you would

come before the queen or before the king. to

be in the presence of. It's not to put, like

we say, well, God is my chief God. God is still

most important, most powerful. He's the only

one I really give all my worship to. But I have

all of these other little petty gods and things

that I declare that are of equal worth in certain

ways. At certain times, I really need that feeling,

that flavor, that feeling of recreation or sport

or whatever, and that's what I need. And so God

is still number one, but I have these other things

that are important too. But the King James makes

it very clear we have no other things in the

presence of God. or let no other gods come before

me. So there should be nothing in your life that

you obey, pursue, or declare the worth of, not

just that there should be God as the supreme,

but there should be nothing else. If there is

something good in your life, it's there, it's

meant to be there, it's there because God gave

it to you, and God deserves the glory. So God

deserves the glory for everything that you participate

in. And if you cannot give God the glory for

what you are participating in, then you should

not be participating in it. That would be syncretism.

The second piece in there is precipitate. So

this is kind of a scientific word. You've probably

actually heard it used, the chance of precipitation.

So for something to precipitate is for something

to fall, usually gathering or gaining mass, and

then falling out of something else. So rain precipitates

from the sky. And so when we say syncretism precipitates,

what we're saying is if you have... God in your

life and you have other things that you are declaring

as of worth or value. Let me be clear, they can

be good things. Family is a really good example

for this. A lot of people declare family of great

value and worth and it is, when submitted under

God, it is one of the best things in life. When

not submitted under God but held as a God itself

and you think, well, I have to do this for my

spouse or this for my son or my daughter or my

wife and it precludes me from doing what it is

that God has told me to do, that is nothing but

syncretism. Family has become a god in your life,

even though family is a good thing. So it can

be good things, it can be bad things. When we

say syncretism precipitates, what we're saying

is when it exists in your life under the right

circumstances, syncretism will settle out. It

will take mass. It will become a solid. It will

become a thing that you recognize is now there,

invading everything else. So syncretism precipitates

means it gathers together, gathers mass, and

drops out and becomes clear. God tells us in

Scripture that we are to obey him, not merely

to achieve victories for ourselves or for him.

Even when the cause is right, we have to use

God's prescribed methods, refuse personal benefit,

and remain dependent upon him. Now we're going

to read from the book of Judges in chapter 20,

and we're picking up right where we left off.

Now I surprised you with that so that we wouldn't

hoot and holler on purpose. We usually say amen

or hoot and holler. Okay, I'm beginning to read

in verse 29. That's where we stopped last week.

He said, he told the Israelites, go up for tomorrow.

I will hand them over to you. Verse 29. So Israel

set men in ambush around Gibeah. So they use

a good tactic in being obedient to God. They're

using a good tactic to ambush the men of Gibeah.

And the sons of Israel went up against the sons

of Benjamin on the third day and lined up against

Gibeah as at other times. So in other words,

the people are gathering on both sides of the

battle as they have done, as we've been reading

about. When the sons of Benjamin went out against

the people, they were lured away from the city

and they began to strike and kill some of the

people as at other times on the roads, one of

which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah

and in the field about 30 men of Israel. So basically

there were some folks out in the field and when

they come out to defend Gibeah, When the Benjamites

come out to fight, they kill some Israelites.

There are 30 men who die here. This is a significant

loss. Not as significant as what they've lost

over 40 ,000 men in the last couple of days.

But these men fall down. Their bodies fall down

amongst all those tens of thousands of others

dead. Okay? Verse 32. And the sons of Benjamin

said, they are defeated before us like the first

time. Oh, it's working again, they said, basically.

But the sons of Israel said, Let's flee so that

we may draw them away from the city to the roads.

So in other words, they're trying to draw out

the enemy, create an ambush situation, right?

That's their plan. And the Benjamites are falling

for it, hook, line, and sinker. Then all of the

men of Israel rose from their place and lined

up at Baal Tamar. And the men of Israel, in ambush,

charged from their place, from Merageba, when...

10 ,000 choice men from all Israel came against

Gibeah. The battle became fierce. But Benjamin

did not know what that disaster was close to

them. They didn't figure out, even then. Because

there was a lot of people there before. And they

killed tens of thousands yesterday and the day

before. So even now, they figure they can do

this. They can take it. They can handle it. Right?

And the Lord struck Benjamin before Israel, so

that the sons of Israel destroyed 25 ,100 men

of Benjamin that day, all who draw the sword.

Now those of us who have been studying this passage

know that that leaves 600 men who didn't die.

Of all the Benjamites who came out to fight,

there are only 600 who have survived that. Now

that's a summary, right? And we're going to get

a little bit more here. So the sons of Benjamin

saw that they were defeated. When the men of

Israel gave ground to Benjamin because they relied

on the men in ambush whom they had set against

Gibeah, the men in ambush hurried and rushed

against Gibeah. The men in ambush also deployed

and struck all the city with the edge of the

sword. Notice, they kill all the warriors, but

not all the warriors only. Now they come against

the city. They're killing the women. They're

killing the children. They're killing the animals.

Right? They are killing everyone. Did God say

anything about killing anyone inside the city?

He did not. He said, I will give them into your

hands, meaning the army that they were fighting

against. But now, they've gone into the city

and began to strike all the city with the edge

of the sword. Now, the agreed sign between the

men of Israel and the men in ambush was that

they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from

the city. The men of Israel turned in the battle,

and Benjamin began to strike and kill about 30

men of Israel, for they said, undoubtedly, they

are defeated before us, and this is breaking

down the battle again. as in the first battle.

But when the cloud began to rise from the city

in a column of smoke, Benjamin looked behind

them. Behold, the entire city was going up in

smoke to heaven. Then the men of Israel turned,

and the men of Benjamin were terrified, for they

saw the disaster was closed upon them. That's

a re -summary of what we just read. Therefore

they turned their backs before the men of Israel

to flee in the direction of the wilderness. But

the battle overtook them, while those who attacked

from the cities were annihilating them in the

midst of them. They surrounded Benjamin. pursued

them without rest trampled them down opposite

gibeah toward the east so eighteen thousand men

of benjamin fell all of these were valiant men

the rest turned and fled toward the wilderness

and the rock of ramon but they caught five thousand

of them in the roads and overtook them at gedam

and killed two thousand of them there so all

these of benjamin who fell that day were the

full twenty -five thousand men who drew the sword

all of these were valiant men But six hundred

men turned and fled toward the wilderness to

the rock of Ramon, and they remained at the rock

of Ramon for four months, so they escaped up

into the hills and the wilderness of the rock.

The men of Israel then turned back against the

son of Benjamin, and they struck them with the

edge of the sword, both the entire city with

the cattle, and all that they found, wait for

it, they also set on fire all the cities which

they found. This does not stop with winning the

battle. They exceed or go beyond the commands

of the Lord, what it is that God has told them

to do, to bring victory. Where it started with

Benjamin providing safety for a few really kind

of rotten souls, it now results in almost the

total eradication of a tribe of Israel. The truth

is Israel is fighting a legitimate battle against

sin. Benjamin is defending wickedness that should

have been confronted, but they are right in defending

their brethren to a degree. But the nation has

failed to remain wholly loyal to God. Both groups

have submitted themselves to syncretism and idolatry.

I want you to understand, and we covered this

last week a little bit, a right cause does not

justify everything that you might do. to make

it come true, to defend it, to stand up for it.

A God -authored victory does not belong to us.

So when you take it in your hands then and start

to think about how much further can I take this?

How much more can I do with this? How much more

damage can I deal to the enemy because I've now

had this victory in the Lord? You've made a huge

error. Success can become spiritually dangerous.

when it shifts our dependence from God to whatever

it is we have succeeded with. The first thing

I want you to see in this text, then, is that,

and this may not come as a big surprise to you,

we have a tendency to do wrong. There is, in

the flesh and in the person of a human being,

even a saved human being, a tendency to do wrong.

We want a certain goal, we want a certain thing,

we're addicted to a certain flavor. Or we like

to look on a certain thing with our eyes. Sunsets

are beautiful. Men are handsome. Maybe we like

to look on women and men with our eyes. Initially,

that's not really a problem because they are

creations of God and we recognize the beauty

or the handsomeness. But it's the beginning of

a road that takes us to a place where we cannot

go. We have a tendency to do wrong. Outside Christ,

most of us probably sampled certain abusive substances.

I had tried a number of drugs and alcohol, which

is also a drug, before I got saved. We taste

things. We have a tendency to do that. If somebody

comes against us and they behave in a bad way,

we behave in a bad way back. Maybe the Holy Spirit

leads you as a Christian not to do that, but...

We do have a tendency to do that, don't we? Cut

off in traffic, we behave frustrated. We debate

with ourselves for a second whether there's something

we can do to make that person realize that they

have thought about us. We have a tendency to

do wrong. And that tendency grows whenever we

overlook sin. Whenever we make sin out to be

a small thing, like it's okay for it to be in

our lives. It starts to grow, that tendency.

Benjamin originally overlooked the sin at Gibeah.

Eventually they were defending the sin, and the

truth is they defended it all the way to their

very death. What we tolerate, we eventually accommodate.

That means we make room for it. And be aware

that when you are tolerating something, there's

three regions, and I won't get off on this tangent

either, but there are three regions in which

you do that. One is in yourself. I want to ask

you, what kind of thoughts are you going to tolerate

within yourself? What kind of desires are you

going to tolerate within yourself? You say, well,

inside me, I better get to work because I got

some things. I have a tendency. I have a tendency

to be quiet when I should speak up. I have a

tendency to speak up when I should be quiet.

I have a tendency to use certain words that I

should not use or to indulge in certain pleasures

that I should not. Even though I know those things

are not necessarily sin, I see how that tendency

in me could be a problem in myself. Worse than

that, you have a position to deal with it in

your reach. That is to say, if you're a parent,

you have to deal with it in your children. And

in your reach, in your close friends and in the

church. So that's in your reach. You can turn

the TV off. You know where the remote is located.

You can put the remote far away from you so that

you don't turn the TV on. You can put your phone

in your vehicle instead of in your pocket so

you don't grab it up and start looking at stuff

that you don't need to be looking at. There are

lots of ways that you can control what's within

your reach. And then it goes even further than

that because you have influence. You can speak

with your mouth the things that people need to

hear. You can speak about what people should

do and shouldn't do. Now, you can't make them

do it. We can't even do that with our children

necessarily, right? Or sometimes we have a hard

time doing it inside ourselves. Without God's

help, we couldn't. But you can influence the

world around you. You can speak up against the

idolatry that's becoming common, the syncretism

that's blending itself with Christianity, which

means that's no Christianity at all. So you have

inside yourself and your reach and your influence,

and we go back to asking the question, have you

overlooked sin in any of those places? What we

accommodate, we eventually defend. What we make

room for in our lives, we eventually defend.

James 1, 1 -4, I'm sorry, 14 -15 says that desire

gives birth to sin. Sin, when fully grown, brings

about death. I'm asking you, do you have desires?

You know you do. Are you going to let those desires

then become sin? And then when they become sin,

are you going to make room for them? Are you

going to accommodate them? Maybe cover them up

so nobody knows? Maybe keep them to a minimum.

I only do that for a few seconds a day. I only

have those thoughts when someone provokes me.

Do you accommodate those things? Do you have

reasons and excuses why it's okay for you to

have that behavior? And then, once you've done

that, you understand that sin, once fully grown,

will bring about death. It will have a breaking

relationship with God. Proverbs 28 .13 says,

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,

but the one who confesses and renounces them

finds mercy. Notice that to confess something

is to be open about it, to admit it, right? Publicly.

To confess it. To renounce it is to say, I'm

going to be done with it. It doesn't say anything

about having to be done with it. It's to move

in the direction of being done with it. So you

have a sin and you've been covering it up. You

publicly renounce it. Confess it and renounce

it. Say, I've been struggling with this. I'm

having a hard time. I get into that. I'm accommodating

that. I'm covering that up in my life while I

continue to try to work for the Lord. And when

you do that, you find mercy. God's got mercy

for people who don't want to sin, people who

are fighting back against it. I'm not sure God

has any mercy for people who just continue in

wickedness and don't care one hoot that he even

exists. Lastly, 1 Corinthians 10, I probably

could have had a bunch more on this list. It

says, let anyone who thinks that he stands watch

out lest he fall. It's just, oh, I got this.

Everything that's in my life is relatively small.

I've pretty well progressed where I'm living

for the Lord. I don't really have anything I

would call a sin. You might want to look a little

deeper because you have a human tendency. You

have a tendency to do wrong and that tendency

will grow whenever you overlook sin in your life,

in yourself, in your reach, and in your areas

of influence. So I'm going to use the illustration.

So you know what this is? It's a... Bottle of

water. One gallon. 128 ounces. This happens to

be distilled water, which means it's pretty much

just water. And then there's a deal with that

air up there at the top. It's a gallon. It's

a whole gallon. You ever have one of these in

your car? A gallon of water? I have one of these

in my car. A long time ago, I went to the church,

man. We had a little trouble with the radiator.

I'm like, who's going to keep a gallon of water

in there? No, I'll never be running to the creek

with a rag again, you know, or whatever. Plus,

I have a hard time staying hydrated, so a gallon

of water in my car, especially distilled water,

I can drink at any time. It won't go bad. Now,

once you start drinking, you might get some bacteria

in it from your mouth or whatever, so it's probably

not good for a real long time once you start

drinking. I put this in my car for about 10 years,

and it'd be fine, right? A gallon of water. Give

me that first slide. Let me tell you what really

happens when you dump a gallon of water into

the room. Now, the room that we're talking about

is the size of your car. The size of your car

calculated in square area. And then when you

put a gallon of water in your car, you say, well,

I got a gallon in the seat, or I got a gallon

in the trunk, or I got a gallon in the foot area,

right? So air will hold 1 ,300, I'm sorry, a

gallon of water equals 1 ,336 .8 grams per meter

cubed. That's how much a gallon of water is,

okay? And if this gallon of water, then, were

suspended in your car, this gallon of water was

suspended in the air in your car, 98 .7 % of

this gallon, that's like all the way up to the

very top, would not fix it. 1 .3 % of the water

that's in this gallon could be suspended in the

air in your car. That's if there was no water

in the air in your car to start with, which is

never to fix. Okay? So if it was completely airy,

0 % humidity in your car, then you could suspend

only 1 .3 % of this gallon in air. But beyond

that, the water begins to precipitate out. So

what it does is first it creates a fog, and you

see it as steam or fog, which blocks your visibility.

You can't see through steam or fog with your

eyes, right, because it refracts light. Then

it will gather. and run down like beads on the

wall. But because we're talking about 98 % of

the water, almost 99 % of the water that's in

this jug to do that, it will puddle on your floor.

That's how bad it is. It will puddle on your

floor. I estimated that car at 100 cubic feet,

and that's high. Most cars are nowhere near that.

They're probably 70, right? And so right there,

that tells you if I use 12 or... which would

make my illustration that more potent, right?

Then it would probably be the water that fit

in the cap. And all the rest of the water would

gather on the walls and run down in puddles on

the floor and create a fog so dense that you

couldn't see through it in your car. Can the

air in that room actually hold all of the water

in a gallon as an individual vapor? The answer

is no. Fully vaporized, it becomes a flood of

water down the walls and the windshield and piling

up on the floor because it cannot hold it. Give

me the next slide. So this is the dispersion

mass. You don't need to know it, but I did the

research. There's the water mass. There's the

space volume. There's the total dispersed density.

If it all turned to vapor, the room's air would

carry 1 ,336 .8 grams of water per cubic meter.

But air has a hard ceiling on how much it can

hold. Next slide. So this is the temperature

of the air. So if it was 68 degrees in the car,

it would hold 17 .3 gallons per meter cubed.

If it was much warmer, 86, it would hold 30 .4.

There's the dispersed water. There's the air,

that little box there at 30 degrees Celsius.

So if it's almost 90 degrees in your car, that

little blue box is the amount of water that would

suspend in the air. All the rest of it would

come on the walls and roll down into the foot

wells, right? Or if it was 68 degrees in your

car, that tiny little blue box is the amount

that would suspend in the air. Give me the next

slide. Okay. That means to say that 44, that

one gallon of water would be over 44 times the

capacity of what your air can hold. fold in your

car at 68 degrees or 77 times the capacity at

86 degrees, relative humidity is 100%, would

be reached instantly. Like that. And it would

go, if somebody took a magic wand, like, boom,

water vapor. Your whole car would be filled with

a cloud and water running down, washing your

windows, soaking your seats. Everything in the

car would be suddenly drenched in water because

that tiny little bit of water could be suspended

in the air and everything else would be precipitating

out. 1 .3 % stays airborne. 98 % turns into dense,

visible fog and fine droplets. And the remainder

of it, that 98%, would begin to become liquid

water pooling on the floor and walls. Again.

Slide. The takeaway. Air can only hold so much

water vapor before it's saturated. Push far past

the ceiling. As with a gallon of water in a small,

selected room, And physics settles the difference

immediately. Instant fog. Liquid water left behind

on every surface. This is not a gallon of water

in your car sped in the air. This is a cloud

in a shower. That's your car. That's precipitation.

What am I calling small when I talk about sin?

If you could call it small, would it be like

the drops in the cap versus the full gallon?

Would it be a little white lie or not showing

up on time or not getting enough sleep on a Saturday

night to use prayer for worship or deciding not

to sing one verse of one worship song when the

Lord God is leading you to worship him? One song

during worship because you just got a text? because

your mind drifted to what you're making for lunch?

1 .3%. 1 .3%, I think it was. Yeah. That's very

small. So here's what you do. Here's what you

do. I know what you do. Don't ever try to suspend

a gallon of water in the air in your car. Solves

everything, right? Keep it instead in a plastic

jug, like down under the seat or in the trunk,

and everything will be fine. I'll never have

a cloud. in my car, because I will never try

to suspend that kind of amount of water. I'll

always keep it in a plastic jug. That's what

we're doing with that sinful stuff that's in

our life. We're trying to compartmentalize it

and say, well, keep it in a plastic jug, not

suspended in my life. But let me ask you, what

are you tolerating because confronting it would

become uncomfortable? What if you stopped fighting?

Because you've become accustomed to that thing.

Are you compartmentalizing? And how big could

that thing actually become if you keep feeding

it? Will it actually spread throughout your whole

life? Do you realize that if you go home tonight

and in some intentional way, no matter how small,

sin against God, that from the moment of your

sin, The moment that you do that, your life will

never be the same. That's how important it is.

That's what we're talking about. We're talking

about any intentional sin affecting our lives

for the rest of our lives. Now, can Jesus cleanse

it? Yes, he can. Can he erase the effect? It

says if you're faithful and just and confess

it to him, that he is faithful and just himself

to forgive that sin. and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

Why do you need to be cleansed of all unrighteousness?

Because all unrighteousness, no matter how small,

has a tendency to expand. We have a tendency

to do wrong. You know you have a tendency to

do wrong. I have a tendency to do wrong. And

it will expand and fill the space and then precipitate

as a solid that you're going to have to deal

with. Ask yourself. This thing that I'm sort

of overlooking in my life, this thing that my

spouse does, this thing that I do, things that

my kid do, and I'm kind of like, well, I love

them, and they are doing a pretty good job. Is

it hurting them? Is it hurting you? Are you being

hurt? Is it hurting the kingdom of God? And what

could this become if you continue to feed it?

The second point to see in there then, so the

first one was that we have a tendency to do wrong.

And that tendency grows when we overlook sin.

Even if you, like, compartmentalize it and keep

it away so it's not on the main screen, it's

still true. A success we see in the text breeds

overconfidence. They would not have wiped the

Benjamites out that day. Except that they lost

over 40 ,000 soldiers the day before, and then

God told them to go out again, and God gave them

the victory. And so sometimes you're doing really

well. Things are going pretty good. And you start

to become overconfident. You start to make decisions

about like, you know, I don't really need to

worship God all that hard. So in the book of

Psalms, there's two out of a bunch. There's two

specific words that are used for worshiping God.

One, we raise our hands and salute to God. There's

a word that says praise the Lord, and it's this

kind of praise. And it's a command. It's not

like maybe you should think about it sometime.

It's a command. And sometimes, there are times

when you should raise your hands like this and

praise the Lord. your hands like this because

there is a biblical command. Raise your hands

like this to recognize who God is and surrender.

It's to glorify God because he alone deserves

that kind of glory. Now, I'm going to say this

to you very, just straight up right now. If you've

ever raised your hands like this on a roller

coaster, you've ever raised your hands like this

because somebody scored a crazy foot down and

got a 56, right? And you've never raised your

hands in worship like this, my friends, have

a secret to life. Because you have a command

to worship God like this, and you've never worshipped

God like this, but you'll raise your hand to

worship sports like this, or recreation like

this. That's what we're talking about. And then

there's a command in the Psalms that says, raise

your hand like this to worship God. And that

means, I need help. Fill me up. This is a beckoning.

Let God come up and help me. There's a command

that says, raise, worship God like that. And

if you don't do this, To worship God? Sometimes,

if you say to God, I need something, and guess

what God does? He shows up. And there's a command

to worship God like that. And if you've never

raised your hands like this to worship God, then

you've never finished asking God for whatever

you say. Like, I'm asking God for healing, and

you've never raised your hands to ask God for

healing like this. Then you're not asking God

for healing. You're just sending God side slant

jokes about you think you want to be healed.

When are you going to wait for God to do your

life? When are you going to say to God, God,

I... I owe you so much. Everything you ever gave

me, here's my beckoning to you. And if you raise

your hand like this to catch your small child

jumping off the playground, if you throw your

hands up like this in disgust because you can't

believe what somebody just did, that's bad. I

sort of died out. Our society people don't do

that very much anymore, so maybe you've never

done that. But if you just go, oh! Right? You've

never done that? But not this? You, my friend,

have superstition in your life. Because your

own sense of frustration is more important to

you than whether God shows up and doesn't. Success

breeds overconfidence, and overconfidence makes

dependence on God more difficult. We have people

in this room, we have people in this room who

are very, very intelligent. I'll be honest, pretty

much everybody in this room, very smart people.

People are not coming to Christ because it's

not reasonable, intelligent, or logical. People

are coming to Christ because it is the only thing

that actually makes sense. For six months of

my life, I tried every stupid lie that the enemy

could come up with. I beat my personal brow.

I looked up on the internet, such as it was at

that time. It was a while ago now. I was looking

stuff up on the internet for how could I defeat

what the pastor was saying on Sunday. And I did

that for six months. And what I found was that

there aren't any. There isn't any. The only way

that you can defeat what the Word of God says

is to believe a lie. So after six months, I'm

like, I got nothing left. I have got to give

this over to God. I have to. And then the first

Sunday I did, because I made an excuse about

talking to my wife, I felt horrible. I'd be like,

oh no, what if he doesn't ask again? And then

the next Sunday I didn't for the same reason,

because I never talked to my wife. But I thought,

he's not going to ask me again. I've blown my

two chances ever. He's got a second chance. That

was my second chance. I'm done now, right? Why

do they say second chances anyway? It's kind

of estimating. Well, maybe there's a third chance.

Again, church, God called me again. And I gave

my life to the Lord. After six months of trying

to diffuse the truth with every lie that you

can imagine, most of them I can still do now.

You give me one and I'll beat it for you. Because

I already did. I've been there before I ever

gave my life to the Lord. I lived that deception.

Overconfidence makes dependence on God more difficult.

So you're smart. And you're having victories

because you're smart. You're hardworking and

you're having victories because you're hardworking.

A victory that you have because you're smart

or hardworking. is not even real. There are no

victories for being smart, and there are no victories

for being hardworking. Because who gave you the

smarts in the first place? Who made you hardworking

in the first place? Oh, it was you, right? You

were born in sin with a tendency to sin, but

one day you just decided willfully on your own

that you were going to be a diligent, smart person,

and nothing would hold you back from that moment

in time. No one could tempt you. No one could

get you into anything that you shouldn't do.

Come on. Is that reasonable? We're talking about

God doing something incredible, and we will allow

language to creep in like, I did it because I'm

smart. Overconfidence makes dependence on God

more difficult. They killed 30 people on the

road. Listen to me. Do you not think that Satan,

right, who's kind of at the hierarchy of that

evil schemology that's trying to bring you down,

trying to bring me down, trying to bring all

humans and keep them away from God, do you not

think that he's not willing to take some losses

to get you? You could defeat a hundred. In Matthew

7, when Jesus is talking about, they said, we

cast out demons in your name. We cast out demons

in your name. And he doesn't tell them, no, they

didn't. But then he says, get away from me, I

never need you. Do you think that the devil would

not allow a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand

or a million demons to fall at your word in order

to get you to fall into hell? He sure would.

And those 30 men that died on that road that

day, that gave them confidence to think, oh,

we're going to win again today like we did yesterday

and the day before. And if you keep your thinking,

I'm going to win today like I did yesterday and

the day before by virtue of the fact that I won

the day before, you've bought hook, line, and

sinker, the enemy's manipulation, to make you

think that you are winning for some reason because

of you. That's not how it works. They said, we

are defeating them as before. Proverbs 16, 18

says, pride goes before destruction and a haughty

spirit before a fall. 1 Corinthians 10, 12, those

who think they stand must be aware of falling.

John 15, 5, I am the vine, you are the branches.

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear

much fruit. And then this, could it be any more

clear? Apart from me, you can do. Nothing. That's

pretty clear. 2 Corinthians 3 .5 Such confidence

we have, Paul says about him and the other apostles.

Such confidence we have through Christ toward

God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to

consider anything as coming from ourselves, but

our adequacy is in God. Back to the illustration

for a moment. So, maybe you never carried a gallon

of water in your car. And right now, you can't

connect the picture and I'll make the space in

the car. So let's blow it up for a second. Let's

make this object less than one, shall we? We

need more water. We want to create a cloud in

this room. And we want water running down the

walls of this room. And we want puddles forming

on the floor of this room. So how much water

would it take for the water to expand to the

point at which it's running down the walls, forming

a cloud so you can't see it, and forming puddles

on the floor of this room? Well, fortunately,

I bought some extra water today. I got another

one. And we can go on. Keep stacking them. Except,

guess what? It's actually... Put this one back

down. That's a cloud in this room. The air would

be oversaturated, form a fog so dense that you

could not see, water running down the walls and

puddles forming on the floor. This much water

expanded into this room, the air of this room.

That's it. Remember that it was 77 times too

much for the car. 77 times. You can't put 77

times your car in this room. You understand?

Syncretism precipitates. It settles out. Nebuchadnezzar

was a king of Babylon, and he said, Is this not

the Babylon, the great that I have built? He

took God's provision and claimed personal glory,

and God humbled him. Success should produce gratitude,

not independence. Victory should produce worship.

not self -confidence. Blessing should produce

greater dependence, not less prayer. Experience

should never replace obedience. That brings us

to the third point in this sermon then. Fighting

for God, capital F -O -R, fighting for God, does

not mean we fight for God our way. You are not

God. and you do not determine the tactics. I

am not God, and I do not determine the tactics.

There are things that are acceptable to do when

fighting for God. There are distances that are

acceptable to go. There are ways that you can

overcome the things that come against you when

you are fighting on God's behalf or as part of

God's kingdom. And then there are ways that are

not acceptable. God gave Israel victory, but

Israel's victory did not give Israel unlimited

authority. They killed everybody in town and

then started burning all the towns around, not

just the warriors that came out to fight. Only

600 warriors escaped alive. There were already

40 ,000 bodies on the ground in this region.

Now there are 70 ,000 bodies almost on the ground

in this region. Can you imagine? I can't imagine

it. It's baffling. That would mean if you left

the door of the church building and walked to

Island Variety. you could never for a moment

step on grass because you would be stepping on

a dead body every step of the way. And that wasn't

enough for them. There wasn't dead bodies littering

all the streets of all the cities. And so they

went in there and killed everybody and wiped

out the entire tribe of Benjamin. And we'll see

that it was very successful because in the text

that we're going to read next week, we'll see

that they're going like, oh no, we've wiped out

the entire tribe of Benjamin. How can it be that

one of the 12 tribes has ceased to exist? ceased

to exist. God gave Israel victory. But Israel's

victory did not give Israel unlimited authority.

And when God gives you victory, that in itself

does not give you unlimited authority. There's

no, I told you so. There's no gloating in the

kingdom of God. Because by the time you're right

and somebody has to correct their actions, your

heart should be broken. Because God's heart's

broken. By the time you manage to pull off Matthew

18 accountability right before the business meeting,

you're glorifying God to praise Him that we've

turned a sinner from their wicked way. There's

no glory in it for us. It's all about Him. God's

cause must be pursued by God's commands and God's

methods. We cannot expand God's commission and

do more than what He has told us to do. We can

say, look, Go make disciples of all the nations.

And anybody who won't listen, and you're sure

they won't listen, just kill them. No. No. Bad

mouth them. That way people will be like, I don't

want to be them. So they'll be more likely to

listen to the gospel and just talk bad about

all the bad people in the world doing bad stuff

and say all kinds of nasty, slanderous things

about them. Because they really are wicked and

bad anyway. So they deserve what they get. So

we'll do that. We'll talk all kind of nasty about

them. And now we're like, there's somebody on

the edge. We're like, well, I don't want them

talking nasty about me, so I'll listen to what

they have to say about Jesus. No, that's outside

the commission. The commission is just go ye

therefore and make disciples. That's it. Teaching

them all things that I have taught you. That's

the commission. Baptize them and they will. That's

the commission. We don't go outside that. We

cannot expand the commission. As soon as we do

that, we would be absolutely and utterly wrong.

Participating in secretism, not a faith walk.

The right cause does not make the wrong method

right. In 1 Samuel 15, Saul, the people had been

ordered to destroy all the people and all their

animals and everything, and Saul kept some stuff.

And then when Samuel came and confronted him,

he said, but we just kept this stuff to sacrifice

it to God. That's all. We just wanted him to

have the best. And Samuel said to him, listen,

listen. It is to obey, not better than sacrifice.

And Saul had no answer. an application to our

Christian life, to the life of the church and

the kingdom of God today. God has not called

us to build our personal kingdom. If you would

change your life and do something that God wanted

you to do or not do something that God didn't

want you to do in order to avoid God's wrath,

it will benefit you nothing. Those people who

cry out to God to be saved because they don't

want to go to hell and then haven't truly turned

their hearts over to Him receiving something

like that. It means nothing. They still go to

hell. You can talk them into saying the right

words. People who pray a prayer, God, I need

you right now. My rent is due and I have no money.

Please save me. A miracle happens and they get

the money and they don't accept Jesus Christ

as Lord and Savior. They get to live in their

apartment for no money. They're still going to

hell. Not my word. The Bible. God's word. Enrich

yourselves through ministry success? No. Don't

think about how I can do a little better, how

I can get a little further ahead. Think about

how you can get more. How you can do more. How

you can be more for the Lord in the kingdom.

Turn spiritual victory into worldly status? No.

I'll stand on TV, on WLMB and tell them I am

nothing. I stand before you every week and tell

you I am nothing. I wrote an entire sermon. It's

actually two pages longer than this one. And

then last night, at midnight, God said, no, that's

not the sermon. I'm like, oh, come on, God, I

got to get some sleep. I always tell them they

got to go to bed at a decent time on Saturday

night. It's Sunday morning now. God said, you're

going to write the sermon I tell you to write.

And so you get this sermon. We are called to

make disciples, Matthew 28. Love God and love

people, Matthew 22. Serve rather than be served,

Mark 10. Walk humbly with God, Micah 6. Do good.

Without seeking applause, Matthew 6. One more

point. That was three, I know. So he's keeping

me on a high clock, giving me more. Choose spiritual

disciplines over the trapping of success. So

we talk about doing risky things for God. And

it's true, you should be willing to do risky.

If God says go, go. If God says step in there,

step in there. If God says suffer, suffer. We

talk about doing risky things for God. But it's

not about more money, more entertainment, more

comfort, more recognition, more possessions,

or more influence. And if whatever you choose

to do for God also gives you those things, then

you better do something with those things that

honors God. Otherwise, you're in trouble. None

of those things are automatically sinful. But

let's say tomorrow you do something for God,

and He responds miraculously, and now you have

more comfort. It's time to kick back in the lawn

chair, get me some Arnold Palmer and some ice,

and go, woo, God is good. That's how that works.

God gives you more comfort. You use that comfort

for his glory. You find a way to fill that time.

At the very least, if you're in the lawn chair,

the Bible better be in your hands. At the very

least, you better be having a conversation with

the Lord. Those are the least things. Those things

are all. more money, entertainment, comfort,

recognition, possessions, influence, etc., etc.,

those things become terribly dangerous when they

replace prayer, Scripture, worship, giving, serving,

fellowship, repentance, discipleship, etc. Scripture

says in Matthew 6, Don't store up treasures on

earth, store treasures in heaven. 1 Timothy 6

says, Don't put hope in wealth, but... Be rich

in good works. Romans 12 says, don't be conformed

to this age, but be transformed by the renewing

of your mind. And Galatians 5 says, if we live

by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

When God gives you more, don't simply consume

more. When God wants you to do a few more minutes

or a few more hours, don't find ways to fill

those minutes or hours with something that you've

been wanting to do. You ask God what he wants

you to do with that time. We learned last week,

even being right can become an obstacle to becoming

Christ -like. It's one of the subtler dangers

in this passage. We said Israel was right about

Gibeah's wickedness. We said Benjamin was wrong

to defend the wicked people, but at the same

time right to defend their brothers in general.

But being right did not automatically make everything

Israel did afterwards spiritually right. And

you know the massacring women and children, killing

babies in their cribs, and slicing people's...

Cows, throats, that's not right. It was never

going to be right. But let's remember that the

two sides of the story both had syncretism. They

both were not only worshiping God, they were

still receiving direction from God, at least

in the case of the Israelites, but they were

not only worshiping God, they were also worshiping

other things. And now we come to the moment of

precipitation. When the syncretism comes out.

What's that moment look like for you? Look at

when somebody's cussing you out. Somebody's not

doing what you think they should do. Not enough

to get the syncopism in your life to precipitate

out. So you can't see straight. It's puddling

up on the floor because you're becoming sloppy.

We all want to correct all the wrong theology

that's in the world. But we have a tendency to

do that while ignoring our own heart. And I'm

saying that God is telling us not to do that.

God isn't merely trying to make us right. That's

not his goal. That's far too small. You're one

human being. If God could make you right, that

would be nothing in the grand scheme of things.

It's a miracle that you need. But if he makes

you right, that would be nothing. There are billions

of people on the earth. And if God made every

person right that's alive right now, that would

be far too small of a goal. If whole societies

came online and started living right, that would

be far too small of a goal. What God is actually

trying to do is make Christ -like human beings.

Take risks for God, sure. Not for yourself, sure.

The question is not simply, am I willing to take

a risk? The better question is, am I willing

to take that risk because, specifically, and

only because God called me to do it. Taking risks

for God means these things. It means obeying

his commands rather than inventing your own mission.

It means using his methods rather than justifying

your own methods because the goal is spiritual,

not situational. It means refusing to turn God's

victory into your own personal benefit. It means

choosing obedience over comfort. Choosing spiritual

disciplines over worldly trappings. When there's

time and space in your life, that time and space

is going to testify about what's most important

to you. And if you go, I've been wanting to get

out to the movies. I've been wanting to go bowling.

I've been just waiting to get on the golf course.

If that's what happens as soon as some time develops

in your life, then you have to ask yourself,

what about your Bible? What about prayer and

meditation? What about the things that God has

actually given us to do? We're to choose loving

next steps over self -congratulating celebrations.

Choosing faithfulness when nobody applauds. Choosing

dependence when success makes independence tempting.

So we say, okay, I did good. Now I've got more

space and now there's more temptation. No. Sometimes

the risks that God asks us to take aren't very

spectacular, really. Like it might be forgiving

somebody. Like literally that is the bread and

butter of the kingdom of God. Our job is to forgive

people for their sins against God and their sins

against us. It's our bread and butter. And it

doesn't seem like it's even a big deal. You just

say, look, I realize that you were wrong. I forgive

you. I forgive you for myself and I declare you

forgiven by God. And people just don't seem to

get around to that. It seems kind of risky. They

might get mad at me if I say I forgave them.

They don't want to be forgiven. That kind of

thing. But we just don't seem to get around to

it. Having the difficult conversation. You know,

gently, without yelling or screaming or throwing

things. Having a difficult conversation. Giving

generously. Saying no to something that feeds

our flesh. Turning off the entertainment and

opening the Bible. Praying when we would rather

complain. Serving when nobody notices. Taking

the next step of obedience when we don't know

the outcome. And the deepest work is internal.

We become so concerned about doing something

great for God that we overlook what God wants

us to do. That's syncretism. God wants to do

something in you. He's not looking at the results

that you can achieve. The results that he's trying

to achieve go far beyond your results. God wants

to regenerate your heart, sanctify the believer,

produce the fruit of the Spirit, transform our

desires. That tendency that we talked about,

God wants to make a new tendency in you. And

he wants to make Christ visible through your

character. Last verse of the day, Jennifer Galatians

2 .20. have been crucified with Christ. And it

is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in

me. And the life which I now live in the flesh,

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me

and gave himself up for me. So here's what you

do. In light of all this, boil it down to this.

Ask yourself, not just, how can I do something

great for God? That question is too small. God,

what do you want me to do so that my next choice

naturally, I'm going to be specific about these

words, naturally, logically, reasonably, and

inherently comes from you? Naturally means when

your body says, I need more God. So what I'm

going to do now is going to be something that

is for God. Logically is when your mind says,

this makes the most sense. What can I do now

so that the next step and the next step and the

next step are going to be from God? Reasonably

means you're going to puzzle it out, ask the

questions. Well, if I do this, this will happen.

If I do this, this will happen. Okay, what I

really want is the result where the next thing

I choose to do, I do it for God. So this is the

logical step to get there. This is reasonable.

And inherently, you should find yourself doing

the things that God wants you to do. without

understanding why. Stop worrying about the why.

If God says do it, and you're sure it's God,

then just do it. And that includes reading your

Bible and praying and all those things. Because

the goal isn't merely to win God's battles for

him. It's to become the kind of person who can

be trusted with God's victories. You ever wonder

why sometimes we don't experience victory in

Christ? Maybe it's because the little victories

that God has given us? We're using them for some

other purpose other than his glory and his will

and our relationship with him. If you keep your

little sins in a bottle so that you're safe,

then when your life blows them up and they're

all over the place and you're trying to dodge

that cloud of fog and can't even see straight

to do and people hear that God wants you to be,

you're stepping in puddles and it's running down

the walls because you realize you've made this

situation. That's too late. That's not too late

to repent and turn back to God, but it's too

late to avoid the effect of syncretism because

it will already be going on right there. So don't

overlook sin. Don't overestimate your strength.

Don't expand God's assignment. Don't turn God's

victory into your glory. And don't be afraid

to take risks when obedience requires it. But

when you step forward, you step forward because

God calls you. Not because you think it's a good

idea. Not because you're afraid that people will

figure out that you have hidden sins that you're

not dealing with. Just step forward because God

called you. I'm going to sing the final hymn

of worship. It's our opportunity to praise the

Lord. The Lord has spoken in your heart, in your

heart. And right now you just tell God, I'll

take you out. I get it. I'm with you. I hear

what you're saying. I'm willing. And then if

the Lord comes to you, and you come and share

that with us while we're singing this song, and

you say it out publicly, don't deny what you're

feeling. He said, deny it for now, deny it for

my Father in Heaven. That's not what we want.

Don't deny it. And as you realize there's things

in your compartmentalizing, you're even keeping

them in a plastic bottle in the trunk of your

mind, or in your back pocket. Repent of those

things. No more sin. Because at some point in

time, they'll blow up. And they'll be all over.

And it'll be messy. And there'll be nothing you

can do about it. You want to go to C -Street.

We ought to have nothing to do with it.