Knowing Them by Their Fruit: Identifying and Handling False Prophets

Father in heaven, we thank you for this Tuesday

evening. Lord, we thank you for the warmth of

fellowship. We ask you to be with those who are

still on their way here. Lord, we ask you to

take over this time. We're going to do something

a little different, a little exciting, a little

fun. Somebody might think it's not their preference

of how it's done. But Lord, we just ask you to

watch over us and guide us and show us the way.

In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so I passed out a

paper. You have a paper like this. It says, 570

on one side and 565 on the other side. We are

on the 565 side. It's the narrow side. Looks

like this. So flip it over. It has that, okay?

Because that's the way I did it. Why are you

worried about it? He thinks thou dost protest

too much. It's Shakespeare for you. Okay, so

y 'all are going to read the... Ooh, it's kind

of hard to tell the difference. You guys are

going to read the dark part, okay? The bold.

When I say bold. So it starts with in. If you

look at it, you see the bold starts with in.

And then it starts again with I am the way. Everyone's

listening? Not talking right now, Caleb? Thank

you. And then you start again with even the spirit.

And then that's it. Got it? So I have the first

line. It looks a little dark. I apologize for

that. And then you start with in my Father's

house, and then you stop and you go again with

I am the way, and you start again at even the

spirit of truth. Got it? All together. It's worship.

The idea is all together. By the way, then after

this we're going to have a whacked out simple

stuff. Okay? All right. So here we go. Let not

your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe

also in me. My Father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have sold you. I go

to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare

a place for you, I will come again and receive

you unto myself, that where I am, there you may

be also. And whither I go, you know, and the

way you know. I am the way, the truth, and the

life. No man comes unto the Father but by me.

And I will pray the Father. And he shall give

you another comforter, that he may abide with

you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the

world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,

neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he

dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. Peace

I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not

as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not

your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Whacked out simple stuff. In the early, early,

early days of the church. Not the earliest days,

but in the early days of the church. The church

would get together and they would do essentially

what we just read. They would read a little scripture

and then somebody else would read a little scripture.

Or they would ask a question and then somebody

would read a little scripture to answer it. And

then somebody else would ask a question and they

would read a little scripture to answer it. They're

back and forth. Now, there was a persecution

that broke out, and the Roman government and

governors ordered that they go and observe the

Christian church and determine whether or not

all of the Christians should be put to death.

When the report came back to the governor, they

said, this is what the Christians do. They get

together. They chant back and forth, some asking

questions, some answering. And they read out

of their holy scriptures what they call worshiping

their God. Now we know that the church has developed

a little more structure over the years. And so

our worship a lot of times has songs, instruments.

We have a set prayer time, like we'll pray at

a certain time before we transition from offering

into something else. We pray when we first open

the service, right? Or we pray at the end. But

they didn't do that. And there's nothing that

requires us to do that in a certain order or

in a certain way. We can take that bulletin.

I don't have one. Yes, I do. We can take this

bulletin that's right here on Sunday morning,

and we prayerfully consider the order of our

worship for Sunday morning. But we can start

here, and it says, when we all get to heaven,

and it says, welcome and opening prayer. And

then we go on to the next song. It says, you

lift me up. And we can be just about to do you

lift me up. And the Lord can speak to my heart

or to the heart of the worship leaders up here.

And God might say, do you lift me up again? Do

it twice. Or do the chorus three times instead

of once. Or you can say, go on and do the Revelation

song. And then we're supposed to do spiritual

discipline focus next. And the Lord could say.

I want you to do this spiritual discipline focus

right then. So the people that are serving the

congregation to lead as worship leaders or to

lead as the pastor are trying to be obedient

to the Lord, and if God changes the order, we

change the order. But here's what we're not going

to do. We're never going to cut out worship.

We're never going to cut out service. We're never

going to cut out prayer. We're never going to

cut out the ministry of the Word. Why is that?

Why is it that those things always have to remain?

Regardless of what they look like, why do they

always have to be there? Go ahead. Because it's

what God wants. You can actually see throughout

the New Testament, in fact, in Colossians, it

gives a very specific list of things that are

supposed to be part of what we do when we come

together. And so those things will always be

there. But you could come to church on a Sunday,

and if the Lord so led, we did this a long time,

it's been a long time ago now. But you can come

in here and the chairs can be laid out in a completely

different way. And you might go, oh my gosh,

my chair that I normally sit in isn't even there.

Or it's facing a completely different way. Or

all the chairs are facing the back of the room

instead of the front. Whatever are we going to

do? We can't have church like this. And is that

true? It's not true. You can come in and there

could be no chairs. There could be pillows on

the floor. Or no pillows. You've just got to

stand around. But you know that until Constantinople

was built, which was the second, what happened

was they moved the capital of Rome to Constantinople.

The Roman emperor became a Christian. And he

declared that the entirety of the empire of Rome

would follow God through Christ. Emperor Constantine.

First his grandmother and then him. And he won

being the emperor. By praying to God. So he believed

in God. And then he supposedly, I mean, he had

a weird kind of version of Christianity, but

he was supposedly following God. And so he declared

that the whole empire would be Christian. And

to do that, they built a new city, Constantinople.

And in Constantinople, they built church buildings.

It was like the first time church buildings existed.

They built them there so Christians could come

there and have a place to worship. And in the

church buildings, there were no chairs. There

were no pews, there were no pulpits, there were

no instruments, and there were no choirs. They

were just big rooms for people to come together

and worship God and listen to the Word. That's

all they really needed, right? That's all they

had ever had. But guess what else they built

in Constantinople? Temples. To false gods. Why

would they do that, do you think? Because there

were people who worshipped false gods. And who

do you want to win to Christ? People who worship

false gods, right? So you know people in your

school, on your job, or whatever, that don't

follow God, they follow something else or someone

else, right? It could be a demon. If it's a false

god, it's probably a demon. That kind of thing.

And so they follow something else. And you want

to win those people to Jesus. And those people

would not move into Constantinople because there

were no temples. So they built temples. And then

when they built the temples, guess what happened

in the temples? They put in chairs or pews. So

now, people who don't know God, they're going

to decide to go to worship here where there are

chairs or here where there are not. Oh, I guess

we'll go where there are chairs so we can sit

down while we're worshiping. That's more comfortable,

right? Okay, well, you know what? The temples

had choirs that had music. And you go down Temple

Row, temples are on the right -hand side, church

buildings are on the left -hand side, and out

of the Temple Row buildings come beautiful singing

and voices, four -part harmony. Some instruments,

right? And you're going to hear that. Over here,

you just hear people chanting back and forth.

So we're going to go with just chanting back

and forth, or we're going to go with this beautiful

music. So they started going to the temples with

beautiful music. The people at church said, well,

they've got chairs. Is there any reason why we

can't have chairs? So then they put in chairs.

There's no reason they couldn't have chairs.

God doesn't say you can't have chairs. You can

have chairs. They said, well, couldn't we have

a choir? Well, yeah, you can have a choir. They

had a choir in the Old Testament. Of course we

can have a choir. Could we leave worship with

music? Well, sure we could. So here's the thing.

The most important part of the chairs, the most

important part of the choir, the most important

part of the music is that it's focused on God.

And as long as it's that, then we can have it

all. But whenever it's not that, whenever the

chairs become a problem, like you're too busy

talking to your buddy, Liam. Too busy talking

to your buddy because you're sitting in a chair

next to you? You could be standing up. Then you

could be focusing on God. Right? Where you see

the little kids get down and they play with their

cars on the chair instead of paying attention?

That happens sometimes, right, Tyson? The chairs

could be gone. If it's keeping us from following

the Lord, it should be gone. But at the same

time, realize if they're lost people and they

come in here, y 'all are standing around with

no chairs to sit down in, they're probably not

going to come back. especially if they're not

healthy or whatever, right? And they can't stand

up the whole time. So we have chairs. It's fine.

We can have chairs. But all of those things have

to be about God. And this reading that we just

did was all God's word. All you did was read

verses from the Bible. And if you look down at

the bottom, you can see the references from John

14, 1 to 6, 1 to 4, 6, 16 to 17, and 27. And

that's what they did. And then they added music

and a lot of other ways to honor God. And in

the Old Testament, they did music. David did.

In fact, the Bible commands us to sing praises

to the Lord. And the New Testament tells us as

a church we should have music. So, I just wanted

to share that with you. That's our whacked out

simple stuff about the order of worship and the

way it is and the why it is. But it does not

have to be what it is. Do not let yourself get

stuck in the mud. Because if you ever come in

here on Sundays and something doesn't fit the

way you think it should be, Don't be surprised

because we're going to follow God, not the way

you think it should be. Does that make sense?

All right. Another brief prayer. Josh has a song

that we're going to sing to worship the Lord,

and then we'll release the children. Father in

heaven, we do praise you. We do want to praise

you. We do seek to praise you. We work to praise

you. We would pay to praise you. We would bleed

to praise you. And that's hard for someone to

say. We would go out of our way to praise you.

If our choice was between breathing and praising

you, we would praise you. If it was between eating

and praising you, we would praise you. Because

everything that's ever been, that's ever been

good, every good gift comes from you. Ask you,

Lord, to help us praise you this song. Help us

sing in a way that honors you. In Jesus' name,

amen. If you can't sit together, then sit apart.

All right, let's go ahead and stand for this

one. Stand it up. Let's go. Stand up when asked,

please. All right. You ready? I'm so glad you're

in my life. I'm so glad you came to save us.

You came from heaven to earth to show the way

from the earth to the cross. My debt is paid

from the cross to the grave, from the grave to

the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord,

I lift your name on high. Lord, I love to sing

your praises. I'm so glad you're in my life.

I'm so glad you came to save us, Jesus. You came

from heaven to earth to show the way. From the

earth to the cross, my debt is paid. From the

cross to the... to the sky. Lord, I lift your

name on high. Alrighty. At this time, we will

release the children and their leaders to the

classroom. Behave, have fun, learn something.

Okay, so we have some readings that we're going

to do. The first one, Jason has. Then we're going

to do... 570, the big one on the back of your

page. And then after that is Tommy, and then

after that's RJ. Okay? So 570, I have the bold

print, you have the light print. 570. Am I on

still? Nope, I turned it off. I never can remember

whether I pushed a button or not, but I did now.

Okay? God is light, and in him, no darkness at

all. If we say that we have fellowship with him

and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

Your turn. But if we walk in the light as he

is in the light, we have fellowship one with

the another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his

son, cleanses us from all sins. If we say that

we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the

truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he

is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and

to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we

say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar

and his word is not in us. If any man sin, we

have an advocate, the Father, Jesus Christ, the

righteous. And he is the propitiation for our

sins and not for ours only, but also for the

sins of the whole world. Jason. One ship drives

east, another west, with the selfsame winds that

blow. Tis the set of the sails, and not the gales,

which decide the way to go. Like the winds of

the sea are the waves of fate, as the voyage

along thou through life, tis the will of the

soul, that decides its goal, and not the calm

or the strife. Kingdom. The kingdom of God is

a society of the best men, working for the best

ends, according to the best methods. Its law

is one word, loyalty. Its gospel, one message,

love. If you know anything better, live for it.

If not, in the name of God and of humanity, carry

out Christ's plan. After a party, after... A

party of engineers became lost in a forest in

Africa. Their supply of food was exhausted. They

found some berries, which seemed to perfectly

satisfy the appetite. They ate them for several

days, but became weaker and weaker, and one after

another died until help came. There was only

one left to tell the sad story. They still had

some of the berries. When they were analyzed,

they were found to be absolutely worthless as

food. While their appetites were satisfied, they

were actually starving to death. Many people

are like that, perfectly satisfied to starve

their nature on food and which is no value while

they might feast on the true bread from heaven.

Thank you very much. We have really more. Okay.

All right. For the moment, continuing our series

on commands and promises. All right. So we have

two today. The first one is short, and the second

one is a little longer. They both come from the

book of Matthew. That first one on top up there,

it is Matthew. So that's a sink. You see the

sink under the line there? That's a sink. So

what chapter do you think it is? Any puzzle makers

in the house? Sync -O. What chapter is that?

5. That's correct. It's 5. Synco. Goodbye. Get

with the program. I'm just kidding. Yes, Matthew

5. And the chapter is 44. I gave you 2 squared

times 11. Yeah, it's a little hard to see. It's

2 squared times 11. So 44, Matthew 5, 44. I don't

know how to say 44. So if this is a command,

here you go, test your knowledge. If this is

a command from Matthew chapter 5, then it is

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

toward the beginning of Matthew's record of what

great speech? Beatitudes are in Matthew chapter

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

5, but what is the great speech of Jesus that

Matthew begins talking about in chapter 5? Sermon

on the Mount. That's right. So the Beatitudes

also are toward the beginning of the Sermon on

the Mount. In fact, they are before. They're

the first thing. So some people might even call

the Sermon on the Mount the Beatitudes, but they

would kind of be cutting a little short because

it goes on all the way through chapter 9, and

he covers a lot. But the Beatitudes are the first

thing in chapter 5, and we're a little later

in chapter 5. So it's 544. Okay, so I'm going

to read the verse. And then we'll see how you

can do on filling in the blanks. It says, but

I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those

who persecute you. So that's the command, pretty

much, right? Someone is pounding on the door.

Then it says, so that you may be children of

your Father in heaven, for he causes his Son

to rise in the evil and the good and sends a

rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Does

anyone have a King James Bible? You need to check

something. There's one. Let's check this real

quick. Yeah, I got King James here. Because it

feels to me like there's something missing from

when I read it before. Yeah, it does. Okay, so

this is, now you'll love this. This is King James

5, 44. It says, but I say unto you, love your

enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to

them that hate you, pray for them which despisefully

use you and persecute you. That's 44. Then in

44. Yeah, that's a good question. And I left

my phone in the car. So I can't really answer

that question for you right this second. Yeah,

the New American Standard does not have it either.

Would be one of those knights. I will come back

to you with the answer to that question, okay?

But I don't have it right now. Okay, so we're

going to work off the King James Version. Because

that's the one that I wrote the lesson off of.

So, what do you got for L -Y -E? It's pretty

easy. Love your enemies. One of probably the

most challenging commands in the Bible. Love

your enemies. But he goes on. He doesn't stop

there. He says what? Bless them or those that

curse you. Perfect. Good job. And then this is

where it starts to get into the... More controversial

text, apparently. Did you catch it when I read

it out of there? Yep. Do good to them that hate

you. A lot of blanks there. So we've got love

your enemies, bless those that curse you, do

good to them that hate you. Say it again. Correct.

Pray for them or those that despitefully use

you and persecute you is the whole verse. Okay.

Now we will look at 45 because it's kind of like

the continuation of the thought, but not yet.

Okay. So we're right next to the scroll. Go to

your right. Go over to the right. Over to the

right. Love. So based on this verse, give me

a simple definition of what it means to love

based on this verse. When it says love your enemies,

what is Jesus telling them to do? I have no idea

what that was. Something fall over? Yep, I see

it. We'll just leave it. Okay. Okay. Kind of.

Yeah, that's an example. Could be help them.

So there are three Greek words for love. Okay.

And one of them is the Christian word, if you

will, is our Christian word for love. And it

is agapao. And what does it mean? We've talked

about this before at least once. Agapao. What

does that kind of love mean? Say it again. Yeah,

you're really nailing it pretty much. You say

unconditional. So what it means is you choose

to love them regardless. And that is the word

that's here. So he is telling them to choose

to be for them regardless of the fact that they

are enemies. That's problematic, isn't it? We

think like in terms of football, you got the

guys on the one team and the guys on the other

team and they're going to drive it down over

top of them, right? Or you got war. Guys on that

side fight the guys on this side, and they're

going to kill each other to take the land, to

win the oil rights, to prove their country is

better, whatever. So that's what we think of

when we think of enemies. That is not the idea

of what God has when he thinks of enemies. Another

idea might be the Duke boys. Remember the Duke

boys? I picked them on purpose because they were

not Christians. That show is nothing about Christianity.

Almost didn't really exist in the show. So the

Duke boys were enemies sometimes, weren't they?

Duke getting out, throwing each other through

the wall, punching each other in the face, trying

to run each other over the car. Sometimes they

were enemies, right? But really they were brothers.

And when old Jesse got involved, what happened?

Shut it all down. And that's the idea that God

has between us and our human enemies. These are

human enemies that we're talking about. We're

not talking about loving demons or loving Satan.

That's nothing like that. Or even loving the

world system. Those are different kinds of enemies.

This word enemies means people that are against

you. And so what we're being commanded to do

is to choose to be for them. Choose to be, if

you will, on their side. So if you have an enemy,

let's say they're punching you in the face. You

have an enemy, hates you, punching you in the

face. Maybe punching you in the face specifically

because you're a Christian. What is the best

thing for them? Say it again. To come to know

Christ. To come to know Christ. To get saved.

That is the best thing for them. So if you kill

them while they're punching you in the face,

will they come to know Christ? Not in the biblical,

not in the way they want to. They'll meet him

face to face for a second. or for however long

it takes, but they will not know him. They will

not be saved, right? And so that goes back to

Nate Saint. I don't know if you know this story

or not, but the Ecuadorian missionaries down

in Central America, they carried rifles in their

plane, and they found one day they were dropping

gifts to the natives that don't speak English,

and they were able to land their plane on a dry

stretch of, like a gulch right next to the river.

It normally would have water in it. And they

were able to land their plane there. And they

were giving away gifts and preaching about Jesus

to the natives, even though they couldn't speak

their language. And the natives murdered them.

And everybody was like, they had repeating rifles.

How did the natives with spears? The tree line

was over 50 yards away. So there's no way they

threw spears at them from a distance. They charged

up and murdered them. And not one native was

shot or killed or hurt, as far as anybody knew.

So how could that possibly be? Well, the week

before, Nate Saint, and that's the only reason

he's the most famous, right? He wasn't even the

more missionary -minded necessarily, or he didn't

lead the mission or anything like that. But a

week before he was interviewed and he was asked,

he said, you carry rifles? Then they said, yes,

we carry rifles. And they said, well, what would

you do with the rifles if the natives attacked

you? And he said, nothing. He said, if the natives

attacked us and they killed us. we would die

and go straight to heaven. If we killed them,

they would die and go straight to hell. And I

could never send a man to hell. And then a week

later, they were attacked by the natives and

the rifles were never fired. Now, whether they

were never fired because they were ambushed or

surprised, we don't know. But the point is, God

sees your enemy as somebody who could be saved

and go to heaven. And he is commanding us to

choose to be for them, even in that state where

they would be coming against us. Yes, sir. And

you can defend yourself, you can disarm opponents,

you can even wound if necessary to protect yourself,

right? but you'd never want to escalate beyond

what's necessary. Because if you kill them while

they're punching you in the face, they go straight

to hell. But if you punch them, for example,

or you restrain them, or you take their weapon

away, things like that, that's all acceptable.

Because that's actually also what's best for

them, because they're going to get judged for

the sin of persecuting you, so it would be good

if you stopped them from doing that. So they're

going to pay for that. So it would be good if

you can stop them from hurting you, but at the

same time you're stopping them, you want to show

love, which means you don't go beyond that. I

always teach my kids growing up, I taught them

all, I said, if you've got to fight, fight. And

the rules are, if they're trying to hurt you,

you stop them from hurting you, but it is not

whatever it takes. Now let's say it comes to

a point where they're going to hurt you so badly

that you might be paralyzed for life, or they

might put your eye out, or they might kill you.

At that point in time, it's no holds barred.

If it's kill or be killed, then you do what you

have to do. But it shouldn't be. When you're

dealing with kids, it should never be like that.

And that's how I always taught them growing up,

and it worked for them, and I wish I had known

that when I was a kid. I hurt some people pretty

bad when I was a kid, when I was a kid and a

teenager. I got just about as bad as I gave,

but there were a few cases where I hurt people

pretty bad. I wasn't saved, and I didn't have

the restraint that I should have had. All right,

I digress. So love in this context means to choose

to be for them even while they are your enemy.

Okay? Then bless. What does it mean when it says

bless them? And you've got letters if you want

to work with the letters. S -W. You have an F,

but it's the last letter in the word. No, you

have an O. I'm sorry. I gave it to you. Of. So

you have S -W of them. So what is it? To bless

someone is to... Nope. Although it will succeed

in doing that, I think, but that's not the target.

Say it again? Yes. Literally, every time you

see the word blessed in the New Testament, it

means to speak well of someone. And it's based

on the idea that when God speaks well of us,

we do well. God brought all creation into being.

All creation is a blessing, right? That kind

of thing. So it means to speak well of them.

So in other words, you want to, even though you

see them doing something conniving or whatever,

you want to try not to judge in your head and

say, I'm either not going to make a decision

or I'm going to pronounce something good about

that person. And you can't lie. So you can't

say, for example, they did it out of a good motive

and not knowing whether it's true or things like

that. But you can say, here's a person who's

creative when they're actually being crafty and

trying to trick you. Or here's a person who's

determined. You can speak good things about them,

and then you can pronounce blessings for them

even when they don't deserve them. Like Jesus

said, forgive them for they know not what they

do. Did they really not know what they were doing?

Maybe, maybe not. But yeah, kind of they didn't

know. Should God forgive them for killing him?

He's not going to unless they're willing to be

forgiven, but Jesus still pronounced them forgiven

or tried to. So we want to follow that model.

And then also under blessing is to what? Because

Sean started off with this idea, I think. Pray

God's goodwill. That's right. You want to pray

God's goodwill for them. So the greatest will

of them, as Josh already told us, would be that

they would get saved. We pray that they would

get saved. Or whatever. Whatever they need. Maybe

they need clarity of mind. Maybe they need freed

from a demon. Whatever. You pray health, sustenance.

Pray God's good will for them. And then the next

one is DG. It's also in the verse. Do good. And

I gave you a list. I'll just rattle them off

in the interest of time. So you might help. You

might serve. Care. See how this is kind of contrary

to the way the world normally thinks about enemies?

Jesus is pushing the envelope here. And the overall

goal when you're trying to do good to someone

or for someone is to what? M -T -L -B. Make their

lives better. Now, we know that Scripture says

that if you're good to someone, if you show love

to them when they're persecuting you, then it'll

be like you heap coals on their head. But that's

their problem. It's not your problem. Your job

is to do good for them as commanded by Jesus.

Therefore, make their lives better if you can.

Okay, so note. Goodness. Somebody finish it.

Goodness is a... What? F? Fruit of the Spirit.

Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. So where will

the goodness come from that you're going to need

to practice to these people? Because it's not

going to come from your human nature. You're

going to feel vengeful, angry, hurt. You might

have psychological stuff that goes on like somebody

hurt you in that way before and now your mind

is freezing up and unable to act in a positive

way. Not that. Okay. And so the outcome, the

goal, which now we're verging into verse 45.

says that you may be children of your Father

which is in heaven. And so there it is. Be the

children of the Father. But we've got to ask

ourselves a couple quick questions. So what is

the promise? If we will follow the command, love

your enemies and bless those that curse you,

do good to them that hate you, pray for them

that despitefully use you and persecute you,

if we follow that command, What do we get? What

is the promise that he is saying we get? That's

V -L -H. Simple. Right? So right under where

it says, does it mean you would be disowned or

not saved? You know, the answer to that is no.

So if you choose not to love your enemies, do

good to those that hate you, pray for those that

spitefully please you, what will you get? Say

it again. I didn't hear what he said. I didn't

hear what he said anyway. Was it something funny?

Must have been. Okay. We're going to be like

him. That's our goal, isn't it? To be like him.

And that's what it says. You will be a child

as a child of the father. You'll be like him.

How so or why do we know if we would do this

that we would be like him? So if you do goodness

to people who are your enemies, how do you know

that that would be like the way God is? Well,

he gives us his example. And in the verses, it

talks about the rain and the sun, which I'll

read to you now. It says that you may be the

children of your father, which is in heaven,

where he make his son to rise on the evil and

on the good and sendeth rain on the just and

on the unjust. All right? So we want to be like

him, and we have his example of the rain and

the sun. So we're staying on the left for a minute

there. Stay with me on the left. And it says,

R -A -R -E, we becoming a, what do you think?

R -O, capital G, G. See a capital G in the middle

of the sentence, it's almost always God. Or in

this case, it's, yes, revealer of God's grace.

Okay, so the question is, are you becoming a

revealer of God's grace? Remember the mission

of God, what is the mission of God? What does

God desire to do more than anything else? Bring

people into relationship with him. So if you

are in a situation where someone's hurting you,

what does God desire to do more than anything

else? Oh, it just changed. Just changed. God

doesn't want to bring people into relationship

with anymore, right? No, it didn't change. He

still wants to bring people into relationship

with him. So if you're in a situation where God's

hurting you, his grand purpose, your purpose

for still being here on the earth, right, is

to reveal God's grace, to let people know that

God wants to come into relationship with them.

And you see that throughout history, throughout

scripture, everywhere. When they do that, that's

what Stephen did as he was being stoned. That's

what Paul did every time he was being stoned,

whipped. It goes on and on and on. There are

lots of examples. All the disciples except for

one died martyr's death as a revealer of God's

grace. And what is the supreme act by which God

revealed his grace to mankind? It was the supreme

act. The one thing that he did. S .S. What if

I make it a capital S? Okay. The Savior was sent.

He sent a Savior. A Savior sent. Okay. And Jesus

was the Savior of the world. He's not. I don't

mean to burst your bubble. Jesus is not the Savior

of the church. Jesus is not the savior of Christians.

We do not own him. He is the savior of the world.

God sent his son to be the savior of the world.

And so the lost folks who do not know Jesus,

and that's why Jesus could say to some that the

tax collectors and whoremongers would come and

sit down in the kingdom of God before they would,

even though they were pretty holy men, because

they weren't believing in Jesus the way they

were supposed to. He could say that tax collectors

who were hated and whoremongers who were especially

hated, would come and sit down in the kingdom

of God before them because he is the savior of

the world. Which means in pertaining to the enemy,

is he the savior of your enemy? If anyone is,

he's the savior of your enemy. Otherwise, your

enemy has no savior. Does that make sense? It's

Jesus or nobody. There is no other name given

among men under heaven by which we must be saved.

Okay. So now flip over to the right side before

we go any lower. And by the way, there are a

couple of verses there in support Romans 5 .8.

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,

right? Okay, over to the right side, you'll see

a P and a G. I'm going to introduce you to a

deep doctrine of the faith. If you remember these

words, the next time you're in a good, and you

can understand what they mean, then the next

time you're in a doctrinal discussion with somebody,

you can whip these bad boys out, and it'll make

you sound really intelligent. I wouldn't suggest

you be really intelligent rather than just sounding

really intelligent, but here we go. So it's a

P and a G. Does anybody know what this doctrine

is just off the top of your head? Nope. Prayer

is a spiritual discipline, and there is a doctrine

of prayer. This is a doctrine of, it's called

prevenient. Prevenient grace. It's the doctrine

of prevenient grace. It's P -R -E -V -E -N -I

-E -N -T. Prevenient. Pre -V -N -I -E -N -T.

Prevenient grace. Does anybody know, without

looking it up, what the definition of the word

prevenient means? Josh is close. He's got his

wheels are spinning. Okay. So, say it again.

Comes before. Yeah, specifically before what?

Say again. Yeah, before the need. Before the

need or the request. So, prevenient means it's

something that comes before it's needed or requested.

Okay. And prevenient grace, then, is the doctrine

of everything that came before you, wanted it,

needed it, requested it, deserved it, whatever.

So there's some lines here. I gave you blank

lines, two, four, six, eight of them. And I'd

like you to write a few things on those lines

that God gave you before you ever knew you needed

to be saved. Okay, so like one could be breath,

right? Whatever. So sun, if you like the sun,

if you enjoy sunshine. Or shade if you don't

like the sun. But those are things that are prevenient

grace. So write a list of things that God gave

you before you ever knew you needed to be saved,

got saved, before you met Jesus. And it would

be personal just for you. And while you're doing

that, I'll just talk about it just to make sure

we understand clearly. And that is that... Provenient

grace is the doctrine that there are things that

God gives to everybody before they are saved.

In fact, they would have them even if they are

never saved. Example, rain and sun in the verses

that we read. God makes the rain to fall on the

good man and the evil. He makes the sun to shine

on the evil man or unjust man and the just alike.

We all get that. Which means there are farmers

who know the Lord, they get rain. There are farmers

who don't know the Lord, they get rain too. Now

God can take away rain. God can control the weather.

He can do that if he wants to. It has caused

many droughts in his day. Or he can take away

your food supply, cause a famine. So there are

lots of things like that. But all of it was given

by God in the first place. So it was all given

by God in the first place. And the nature of

grace is that it is undeserved. So then you cannot

argue that when God takes it away, he has stolen

something from you because he gave it to you

in the first place. I understand for being at

grace now. So if God gave me everything I have,

even if I didn't get saved, if he gave it to

me and I didn't deserve it, then do I have the

right to have it taken away? Yes, he could take

it away from me, and he would not be stealing

anything from me because I don't own it. He still

continued to own it. He only lets us use it,

if you will, for a time. So the doctrine of prevenient

grace is everybody gets the same stuff. Everybody

should have the same. There are these certain

inalienable rights given by God to all men from

the Declaration of Independence. That is not

a Christian doctrine. per se, it's the doctrine

of provenient grace, that everybody should have

those rights. It's a Judeo -Christian doctrine,

right, in that God gives everybody those rights,

not in particular Christians. Okay, now we're

going to move on to the second command. Okay,

and it comes out of Matthew. Yep, it is 7. Yeah,

it's actually 15. It goes 15 through 20. Yeah,

that's where we'll get 20. Okay, so go right

in the middle, though, in the scroll in the middle.

And this is what Matthew 7 .15 says. Beware of

false prophets. which come to you in sheep's

clothings, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Okay, so that's the command. Beware of false

prophets. That's the top of the scroll right

there. Beware of false prophets. And then the

next line says, sheep's clothing. And then there's

the reference, Matthew 7, 15. And then the next

line tells us about the false prophets, and it

says that they are IRV. Got it? The verse said,

beware of false prophets. Yep, inwardly ravenous

or ravening wolves. Technically, it should be

ravenous if you're naming their state, but ravening

is the verb form or ongoing verb form of that.

And ravenous means two words that start with

an H. It means H and H. Hungry. Yep, hungry.

That's how we usually use it now. And... Nope.

Say it again. No, not violence. Hunting. Their

state is that they are hungry and hunting. And

the command is that we, or statement is that

we will, let me read a little more, beware of

false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing,

but in reality they are ravenous, or ravening

wolves. And verse 16 says, ye shall know them

by their fruits. And so the next two words are,

Know them. Okay, I'll go a little further. It

says, do men gather grapes of thorns or figs

of thistles? Do you see it? Grapes of thorns,

figs of thistles. The answer to that question

is what, by the way? If we ask the question,

do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles,

the answer is no. You do not do that. That's

not where they come from. Grapes don't come from

thorn plants and figs don't come from thistle

plants. Okay, then 17 says, even so every good

tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt

tree bringeth forth evil fruit. So the next line,

every good tree, good fruit. Corrupt tree. Evil

fruit. Do you notice the kind of poetic justice

of the change there? So we have every good tree

makes good fruit and every evil tree makes evil

fruit, right? No, that's not what it says. It

says corrupt tree. What's the difference between

an evil tree and a corrupt tree? Surely true.

In fact, I submit to you, you can be good. and

be corrupted, right? So when God looked at Adam

and Eve when he created them, were they bad?

Why did they eat of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil? Wasn't that a horrible thing

to do? They sinned against God? Why did they

do that? Because they were corrupted, right?

They bought into the lie, they looked in, they

lusted, etc. So I think what he's implying there,

and it's not much of a stretch, is to say that

in some sense, every tree is a good tree, but

it's corrupted, so now it produces evil fruit.

But boy, if we could save it, if we could make

it clean, if we could make it good, then it would

be different. So it's like you can hear the heart

of God. This is Jesus speaking, by the way, so

you can hear the heart of God wanting to save

those trees. Corrupt tree, evil fruit. And so

you cannot, the corrupt tree cannot produce good

fruit. It's not possible. And you cannot not,

which is to say that the corrupt tree cannot

not produce evil fruit. That's what they do.

So the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. It cannot

produce good fruit, and it cannot not produce

evil fruit. How about the good tree? Can somebody

do that same sentence for the good tree? Describe,

how about the good tree cannot? Cannot what?

Produce what? Yeah. Right. Right, so the cannot

for the good tree is the good tree cannot produce

evil fruit. And also, the good tree cannot not

produce good fruit. That's part of its nature.

Right? So the nature of the trees are that they

will produce the fruit that they produce. Okay?

Then it says, the fate of the not good tree,

if you will. And this is what it says. I lost

my spot. Every good tree bringeth forth good

fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil

fruit. 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil

fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth

good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth

good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

Again, we've only got one verse left. So here's

what we've got. After the cannot and the cannot

not, we've got... The not good equals what? Hewn

down. Perfect. So if the tree does not produce

good fruit, it will produce evil fruit because

it is a corrupt tree. And it will then be hewn

down and cast into the fire. And then verse 20

says, Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know

them. And so then our scroll ends with so you

will know them. Now we've got to break it down

and make sure we understand. That first word,

so if you look up under the castle wall on the

left, you'll see a little castle wall, kind of

like cannot. The first line is cannot, and then

it says and cannot not. So the good tree cannot

produce evil fruit, and it cannot not. produce

good fruit. So let's take that to the extreme.

Let's say you have a Christian, they're in the

church, they're serving God, supposedly, right?

And then something happens and they become disgruntled

or whatever and they stop serving God. Or somebody

stops paying their tithe because they don't like

the way the pastor preaches. Or somebody said

something that hurt their feelings and so from

now on they're just going to clam up. They're

still going to come because this is their church,

this is where they belong, but they're not going

to help anybody. They're not going to sing praises.

They're not going to serve. They're not going

to get money. They're not going to do any work.

They're not going to show up to their ministry

meetings. They're just going to be there. Is

that possible? Based on what we just read, is

it possible? Are they a good tree that's now

not producing good fruit? That's not possible,

right? So that is an untenuous situation. It

cannot last. They will either begin to produce

good fruit, like they'll go, you know what, whatever.

They hurt my feelings, but I'm over it. I'm just

going to start doing stuff. I can't sit back.

I want to praise God. I want to serve. I want

to give. But I can't stop. I can't stop. I can't.

Or they'll say, well, I'm going to go over here

to this other church. Right? And they're going

to abandon the church that God called them to,

go over here to this other church, and then they're

going to get there, and they're going to start

trying to produce good fruit in that other church.

And if they can produce good fruit in that other

church, then it may be a good tree. It's possible.

If they produce good fruit, that sounds likely.

Okay? But probably, remember, they were in a

situation, somebody hurt them, and they're pretty

venomous, they're pretty upset. So they're feeling

vengeful, they're feeling disgruntled, they're

unforgiving. Well, what are those things? Those

are bad fruits, right? Those are fruits you shouldn't

be producing if you're a good tree. And what

do we say about good trees producing bad fruits?

That's not possible. Right? So actually they've

become, I'm not saying they've lost their salvation,

but they've become a corrupted tree which can

now only produce bad fruit. See? And has to produce

bad fruit. And there's only one way to get back

to being a good tree, and that's to repent and

turn back to the Lord. If someone has hurt you,

repent and turn back to the Lord. You say, well,

you also have to forgive them. Yes, that's part

of it. You have to forgive them for what they've

done. You might have to forgive them 15 times.

But in the meantime, you've got to turn back

to the Lord. Otherwise, you're a corrupted tree

and you will not be able to produce good fruit.

Okay. Now we're over under the castle wall. So

we read the verses. The word says, beware. That

was the very first one. Beware. Verse 15, the

first word of... Verse 15, beware. And here's

what to beware means. It means to pay attention.

To apply oneself. It means there's a job you

have to do. You have to do that. You have to

beware, pay attention. You have to do it. It's

not somebody else does it, you do it. Give heed.

It means you have to... Act accordingly to the

stimulus, whatever it is. For example, if someone

hurts you, you forgive them. Not you mouth off

to them or snap at them or punch them in the

face, but you forgive them. Give heed. Pay attention.

Take care. Apply yourself. And then the last

one is to have regard. The easiest way to explain

to have regard would be you don't turn your back.

You don't close your eyes. Right? And that's

what people think. They're really disciplined

because they know that somebody's a butthead

and they're going to turn their back on them,

close their eyes, and I'm going to walk away

from them. I'm not going to have anything to

do with them anymore. That is not what Scripture

commands us to. Okay, there was the phrase in

there, sheep's clothes. The next line is sheep's

clothes. And sheep's clothes. The sheep's clothes

is defined as what? LG. What do you think? If

someone's in sheep's clothes, what about them?

So what are we supposed to be, wolves or sheep?

I know it sounds terrible to say it that way,

but what are we supposed to be, wolves or sheep?

Sheep. Right. So if they're in sheep's clothes,

they look good, right? They look like us. They

look like they belong. At least on the surface,

anyway. Only on the surface, really. Okay? So

then, to know them, this is that next line, to

know them is to contrast appearances to fruit.

Not appearances to actuality. It's not our job

to sort out that they're lost or saved. Right?

That's not what we're trying to do. But to contrast

the appearances, they look good, to the fruit,

what they're producing. It's to know them is

to contrast appearances to fruit. So, an example.

Caleb brings a friend to church who talks a lot

about God. Caleb went, finally, I got something

I can hang out with. I don't have to hang out

with my brother all the time. This guy, Bob,

he talks a lot about God. I'm bringing him to

church. He starts coming to church. He dresses

like we dress. He talks the part. He's got the

language. Everything is good. But then Bob starts

talking to Caleb when nobody else is around,

suggesting maybe they can smoke pot out behind

the trailer or something, right? Can Bob be a

good tree under those circumstances? If he is

a good tree, can he produce evil fruit? No. He

can't produce evil fruit and be a good tree.

Can he be a Christian? Yes. But if he is a Christian,

then what is our problem? Yeah. So he's corrupted.

So he could be a Christian, but he's corrupted

by evil desires, temptation, or as RJ said, sin.

Right? So he wouldn't be doing that if he wasn't

corrupted. And your fruit, the person's fruit

then, we detect the corruption. We're not detecting

whether they're saved or not. That's not our

job. We look at the appearance. They look like

they're saved. They say they're saved, but the

fruit says they're corrupted. Not that they're

unsaved. Be careful. You have to draw a line

there. Why? Because Matthew 7, 1 says, judge

not lest you be judged. We talked about that

last week. Right? So you have to draw a line.

You can't judge them as unsaved, but you can

judge their fruit as evil, which means they are

corrupt. Okay? Get it? Okay. I think we got it.

All right. So then we can trust that, capital

G -W -S, God will, we don't know for sure that

he'll save. They may elect not to be saved. He

will sort them. And that's what it said. It said

those trees that do not produce good fruit, they

do not bring forth good fruit, will be hewn down

and cast into the fire. So now we've got some

yes or no questions. I'll ask the question and

the whole team will answer. Should we burn them?

No. And that can be both literal and metaphorical.

You shouldn't burn them. And also, you shouldn't

burn them. Right? So, in other words, don't hurt

their emotions, don't attack them psychologically

or whatever just because you know they're corrupt.

Should we punch them? No, we should definitely

not punch them. So the first one was, should

we burn them? The answer is no. Should we punch

them? The answer is no. The next one's all blanks.

Are you keeping up okay? It's a lot of writing.

We're almost done. This one's a little trickier.

And actually, I think a lot of people do this.

Should we ignore them? Correct. Kishan had nailed

it. We should not ignore them. So when a false

prophet comes into your life, you don't want

to get wrapped up in their teachings, right?

You don't want to produce the kind of fruit that

they produce. In fact, you should not be able

to unless you are corrupted, right? But you also

are told not to ignore them. Ignoring them would

be the opposite of everything that we were just

told. Beware, pay attention, apply oneself, give

heed, have regard. There's no ignoring them in

there. Okay? Should we ignore them? No. Are they

lost without hope? No, they are not lost without

hope. No one is lost without hope until one of

two things is true. And one is that they die

and go to hell. That's the most clear one. And

the other is that they are adamant in themselves

and purposefully so that they cannot be saved.

They will not be saved. They'll have nothing

to do with God. They know that God exists, usually,

and they just refuse to accept him. That person

cannot be saved. Now, if something would happen

that would change their heart, change their mind,

then they could still be saved. Right? So lost

without hope is when there's no chance of a person

being saved through Jesus Christ. So, this is

the last line on that bottom there. So, what

must we do? And then we're going to answer it

with a B -A -B -L -T. What must we do? Bacon,

lettuce, tomato. No. Even though it fits. No.

B -A. B -A looks a lot like... So it's B -E,

be aware. Be aware, which looks a lot like beware.

In fact, in the Greek you would use the same

word to say it. So be aware. But now we're being

aware of more than just them. We're being aware

of what we do about them, what our response needs

to be, what God has commanded us, and what the

outcome is, right? So be aware, but love them,

right? And that's how these two verses, these

two commands tie together, right? So be aware,

but love them. So are false prophets your enemy?

And they would teach you bad things are false

prophets, your enemy. Yeah, they are. They would

take you where you don't want to go. They'll

bring you down from where you do want to go.

Okay? Then inside that little box to the right,

and then we're finishing through to the end,

the first word is assumptions. I gave you that.

The second word is are, and the last word starts

with a D. What do you think? Assumptions are...

No. Assumptions are... I can think of two words

you could actually put there. The one I put was

deadly. Assumptions are deadly. Remember, we're

talking about... Wolves in sheep's clothing.

They're ravenous wolves. They're hungry and hunting.

That's how the Bible describes them. To assume

that they're a sheep and safe means you're in

trouble before you know it. Right? You could

be deadly. Or you could just put dangerous. Because

you won't necessarily lose your salvation. You'll

just become a corrupted tree like them. And then

we have H -I -A -E. So this has all been about

being aware of false prophets and loving them.

And so I'm going to just say, is an enemy. So

what do you think that H is? There we go. That

H. Say it again. Nope. Well, that could be true

if you talk about the right he, but... Hatred.

Hatred is an enemy. And not a fruit that we produce.

That's why when you have your young teens or

young preteens and they say, I hate this, I hate

that, you really should just say, you don't want

to hate. You don't want to feel that strongly

about that. There is a thing to hate. Sin. That's

it. That's basically the only thing that hate

is for. Okay. Then the false prophets are coming

and they're teaching us, and I'm going to kind

of whisk through this in the interest of time

because we still have questions and we're done.

The doctrine of demons is what goes next. We

have a reference there. It's 1 Timothy. The chapter

is two times two. And the verse is only one.

Correct. So it's 1 Timothy 4 .1. It talks about

the doctrine of demons. And it basically says,

without going there and reading the exact verse,

it says that in the latter days, some will fall

away from following God because they will buy

into or believe the doctrine of demons. And so

the next line says, some will fall away. And

then if you're falling away, you're giving. Faithfulness.

You're losing or giving up faithfulness. Probably

should have been two blanks there, I apologize.

Give up faithfulness. And by the way, just as

an interesting correlation, faithfulness is also,

if goodness is a fruit of the Spirit, faithfulness

is also a fruit of the Spirit. And it is a good

fruit. All right? So instead of that, instead

of buying into the doctrine of demons, falling

away like they do, instead, there's that B again,

beware. Here's your plan. Beware. Produce good

fruit. And in particular, love and faithfulness.

I submit to you that every martyr that ever won

an entire society by dying used the good fruits

of love and faithfulness to do it. They said,

wow, he stayed true even while they were burning

him alive? He cried out for their forgiveness

even while he was crucified? He never recanted

being a follower of Christ even though they draw

and quarter him? So love and faithfulness. And

then it's not always mentioned, but at crucifixions,

people would come out, the whole town would come

out, and they would come out because while people

were being crucified, they would cuss and scream

like a sailor or worse, and they would tell everyone's

secrets. So they would look down into the crowd

and see somebody in the crowd, and they would

tell that person's deepest, darkest secret, whatever

they knew about them, and they would make up

stories, and they would try to cause all the

trouble that they could for everyone that was

in the crowd and everyone that they knew while

they were being crucified. So it was like watching

the Jerry Springer show. And so everyone would

come out to see crucifixions, not because they

wanted to see a thief die on the cross, but because

they wanted to see the show. Exactly. And when

Jesus didn't do that, the Roman soldier looked

at him and said, this man surely was a son of

God. Because he didn't die the way everybody

else died. And he had love and he had faithfulness.

Okay, I'm going to ask a few questions. Are we

through? All right. Okay, I'm not giving away

Tide Pods. Nope, sure not doing it. Okay. A couple

of hard questions here. Let's see. All right.

Okay. We are commanded. Are we ready? We are

commanded to love, bless, and do good. Because

in this way, we will be what? Haley. Nope. Although,

those things are good. Fruit of the Spirit. Kashan.

Yes, be children of the Father. Do you like meat?

Here you go. Here's dessert to go with the meat.

Alright. Here we go. Come on. Okay. I defined

the word ravenous as these two words. Jason.

Okay, do you like meat? Coming at you. Okay.

I said that this one action set the example for

us. It was the most extreme example of God being

like this. What was it? Haley? Say it again?

No, those are two examples, but this one's more

extreme than that. May I also take a stab at

it? Jason? Nope. Good try. Anybody? Hannah, what

is the most extreme example of God's grace? You

don't even need the paper. Go ahead. Yep, that's

right. Do you like me? Okay, coming at you. Okay.

All right. Listen, listen. False prophets are

probably most dangerous because they don these.

Caleb. Say it again. Evil fruit? Nope. They produce

evil fruit. That's true. Haley, can you do it?

I'll give you three seconds. Don these. Two,

one, and Josh. Sheep's clothing. Do you like

meat? You can't have chocolate. Oops, sorry.

A little high. Okay. Alright. Give me the first

and third definitions that I gave you of the

word beware. Caleb. Do you know how to pronounce

that word? Is that what you said? No, it's pay

attention and give. Heed. Okay. You didn't give

me yet, right? I didn't give you meat yet, did

I? No. Do you like meat? Yes. Okay. I guess everybody

likes meat, huh? Yay! Okay. All right. Complete

this sentence. A good tree cannot not. Complete

this sentence. It's kind of a weird sentence,

but a good tree cannot not, Haley. Correct. That

is correct. Okay. Do you like meat? Okay. She's

like, I'm waiting for meat. I have a whole other

bag, so I'm not out. Okay. That was loud, sorry.

Okay. All right. Natalie, are you ready? Okay.

According to this lesson, assumptions are what?

Yep. Do you like meat? Okay. Just let her have

the meat. Jeez, guys. All right open to anybody

According to this lesson When dealing with a

false prophet, we must beware and... Hannah?

No, that's part of beware. Josh? Okay, treat

them like an enemy, i .e. love them. I'll give

it to you. Okay, pick someone... Not yourself

because you already got a prize. It's an adult

that's in the room because no other adults got

prizes. Tim Hundley, would you like meat or chocolate?

Say again? Okay, coming at you. Oh, Chris, that

was a lousy throw. Okay, we're almost done. Here

we go. List three things that you personally

received as prevenient grace. Tommy. I put good

slash lucky help, church family creation. Okay.

Do you like me? Who doesn't like me? There you

go. According to this lesson. Finishing up. According

to this lesson. Tell me where you will not find

grapes and where you will not find figs. Jason.

Thorns and what? Thistles. Okay, thistles. All

right. And for the bonus question, which character

from Winnie the Pooh likes to eat thistles? Nope.

Nope. I'm going to make you guys go look it up.

I think the only adult that didn't give me that

one. I'm going to say I won. I'll take it for

him. You sure? Or do you want this? I'll take

that. That was the non -meat prize. Your only

eats thistles. Maybe. But guess who, not yet,

maybe another time. What character tried to eat

thistles but decided they were too hot? Higger.

Everybody else had a favorite food, and he tried

everybody else's favorite food. Don't have a

beard? I have no idea. That's a good question.

Drumpy? Dopey? Because he's the youngest looking

one. All right. We're going to pray and be done.

Thank you. Have fun. Stay tuned. There may be

some interesting things, changes, exciting stuff

going on Tuesday night. Not sure what that'll

look like in the next couple weeks. We'll see.

It might happen before you know it. Pretty interesting

stuff. There is a softball practice going to

be on Saturday. For sure, I don't know that we'll

get one sooner. If there is somebody that wants

to, listen up. If you want to practice softball

sooner and just kind of put the word out and

tell people, I just don't, I mean, we have adult

Bible study Thursday. I just don't really have

time to do it before then. But if somebody else

wants to just kind of get out. Do stuff you can.

The 17th, it is happening, no doubt about it.

I know, it was last night. The tentative schedule

is written. We just got to proof it and make

sure. And we'll have doubleheaders and we won't

have any games during BDS week, so that's really

cool. We're going to have three nights where

we'll have two softball games. And there will

be some games on Wednesdays and Thursdays, not

only Mondays, but there's too many games. Not

a lot. Okay? So let's pray together, and then

we'll hit the roadies. Do you know how many games

we had last year when we took a bike in the front?

We have one, for sure. As of right now, but it's

only an attendant schedule, so. Father in heaven,

we praise you and thank you for setting a standard

for us that is somewhat higher than what it means

to be a normal human. That we are to achieve

love and stay there. A love that lasts. A love

that changes the world. A love that makes all

the difference in decision making. A love that

might even win an enemy to you. I don't know

why it works that way, except that they have

to be in such darkness and looking for a light

of any kind. And then when we show up as a light,

even in the middle of being persecuted or whatever,

if they latch on, they just might find you. Lord,

I don't want to be persecuted, but I also know

that your word says that we kind of should want

to be persecuted. And that's just, that's hard.

But at the same time, Lord, I want to be faithful

to the bitter end, however long that is. And

if Jesus comes again before I die, I want to

come straight to be with you. I definitely don't

want anything other than that. And so I want

to be found faithful. Because I want to chase

away the doctrine of demons and just be found

faithful. And that means loving others. Stay

in the course. I pray that every person in this

room will do that. And we have a lot of fun here,

but the reality is, Lord, you're what's most

important. Not the way we do it or when we do

it, but who gives us the ability for being at

grace. And then through grace, for sure, once

we're saved, thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name,

amen.