Commands and Promises: Fasting and Making Peace

When this life is over. Because we are slightly

lower percentage voices than normal, I need you

to help me get through it. I hate to be talking

to myself. That's true. That's right. You will?

I love it. All right. Okay. Continuing with the

series, Commands and Promises. Okay? And the

reference is... is Matthew, and the clues are

there for the numbers. So what's the first number?

Nope. The clue is 6. 6. Yeah, so 6. And then

it says, the next clue is 7th prime. Josh, do

you know the 7th prime off the top of your head?

No mathematicians, we're missing out. Let's count

them up. Is he getting there? 17 is correct.

Good job. And then 2 .9. 18, right. So it's Matthew

6, 17, and 18. So that's the text. And verse

1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, and the big old 17. When

people say prime numbers, like 13 is the very

first number that pops in my head. I don't know

why that is. Seven. I love seven. Seven is like

my favorite number. Almost. Okay. Matthew 6,

17 to 18. Okay. Oh, geez. I left my Bible. Matthew

6. As soon as I start to read it, you're going

to go, oh, I kind of know that verse. It says,

but when you fast, anoint your head and wash

your face so that you may not be seen fasting

by men, but by your Father who is in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay

you. I could have gone a little bit before that,

right? Because it talks a little bit about the

fasting before that. So I broke up the topic.

But the command is here, what we're supposed

to do. So it starts with W. It says when, YF.

When you fast. That's easy, right? And then what?

Perfect. Anoint your head and wash your face.

What does anoint your head mean? Yeah. So back

then that was a thing. So now we have shampoo

and we wash our hair probably way too much. But

a fine oil for your hair to make it look nice

and be able to keep it straight and your skin,

that kind of thing, anoints your head. But there

was also symbolism in it about health and strength

and closeness to God. And anointing, like in

the Old Testament, they would pour oil down over

their head. In fact, there's a really cool image

of it in that series that's out right now, The

House of David. When he anointed David, that

was really cool to see. No, it's a lightweight

oil, like extra virgin olive oil. In fact, if

you ever need to anoint, as a Christian, if you

ever need to anoint anybody, the closest thing

we can get to the oil that they would have used

is extra virgin olive oil. Which is not even

terribly expensive. Hi there! Sarah? Yes. Welcome,

welcome. I know you. You're okay. I know you.

All right. So when you fast, anoint your head

and wash your face. And we know what washing

our faces is, right? And so you wash your face

to look better, to look okay, right? So you won't

look peaked or you won't look sick or weak or

anything like that, right? So Matthew 6, 17 to

18 says, when you fast, anoint your head and

wash your face. That's the command. Okay? And

the purpose of the command then, he says, and

it's also part of the command, I guess now that

I think about it, I didn't realize it was worded

that way, is to appear. You want to take a stab

at it? We're going to appear not too fast. Okay,

so we're going to look like we're not fasting.

That is the command. Jesus says, look like you're

not fasting. And then it says two men. That's

right. So the blanks are two men. So you're going

to appear not to fast to men. So people should

not know. So when you're talking about like,

I gave up food for a day or a week or like that,

you shouldn't be doing that. Jesus was telling

them, when you fast, anoint your head, wash your

face, appear not to fast to men. And he goes

on to say, the next line, only to God in secret.

And then I put in parentheses there, I'll give

it to you, where he alone sees. So there's a

teaching about private prayer space in your house,

like a prayer closet or an internal room that

you go get away from everybody. The war room,

yeah. That's a biblical teaching. And if you

get in there, what goes on in there should be

just between you and God, especially if you are

smart enough not to take your phone in when you

go in. So you pretty much divorce yourself from

the world, and it's just between you and God.

And then when you go out into the world, you

don't have to go, oh, I spent four hours in my

prayer closet today and tell everybody about

that. And it's the same kind of thing. When you

spend time alone with God, what happens there

a lot of times is just between you and God. And

God is working in you and on you and so on. So

Jesus is telling them, when you fast, anoint

your head, wash your face, appear not to fast

to men, only to God. So only God would be the

only one that knows that, if possible, and sometimes

you can't really do that because somebody is

close in your life and you have to kind of give

it up. But otherwise, you're trying to only let

God know. And, and I mean it's all capitals,

A -N -D, and here comes the promise. Did you

catch it? In verse 18, this is what it says.

So that you may not be seen fasting by men, but

by your father who is in secret, and your father

who sees in secret will repay you. Or in other

translations it says will award you openly. And

so that's what I put on the page. So the first

word is God, and it is will award you openly.

God will award you openly. Now that sounds great,

right? And there are a few verses in the Bible

that are like this, that have these blatant and

obvious promises of the Lord. Malachi 3 says,

test me in this one. But here's one. Obviously,

we looked at a couple the last time I was up

here, and RJ did Isaiah 53 last week. So, there

is a problem here, though, because it says, if

you will do this, if you will fast in this way,

So what is the motivation for fasting? There

are several possible motivations for fasting.

But he says, if you will fast and you will do

it where only you and God know, God will repay

you or will award you openly. And so then it

becomes about, and the next two big words are

faithfulness. So the first part is faithfulness

versus sorcery. Now, Christians should never

do sorcery, right? You can nod, yes, Christians

should never do sorcery. Sorcery is not our thing.

We don't have anything to do with sorcery. Now,

somebody will argue, well, sorcery has a word

like where pharmaceuticals come from, and so

Christians should never do drugs. And I agree

with that, generally speaking, but it doesn't

mean you can't take medicine. So they use some

of the drugs they use as medicine, and there's

nothing wrong with medicine as long as it's prescribed

properly and it's for the right reasons, and

you want to do it under the leadership of the

Lord. But sorcery is really about forcing God

or forcing the spiritual realm to do what you

want it to do. So let's look at it backwards.

If we would say, well, I want to be openly rewarded

by God. Therefore, I am going to fast this way.

Keep it a secret. Know it in my head. Wash my

face. No men will know. And then I'll be rewarded

by God. That is sorcery. That is trying to force

God to do what you want him to do. I mean, you

hear it all the time, right? So, well, I'm struggling

with depression, anxiety, whatever. Well, read

your Bible more. If you read your Bible more,

you'll have faith and trust in the Lord. Your

heart will not be distressed. That's not the

way it works. We don't get to do that. You don't

get to wield the disciplines that the Lord has

given us for your own purposes. That's sorcery

if you do that, okay? And we say, well, God says

if you pray and you believe that you have what

you pray for, you shall have it. And we say,

well, I want to have what I pray for, so I'm

going to believe what I pray for. So that's sorcery.

You're twisting the words of the Bible, coming

at it from the backside. You're trying to get

to the good thing that you want by doing the

things that God has told you to do. And that's

not how that works. We do the things of fullness.

We do them because it's what God wants us to

do. Because we love him. Now, he first loved

us. We didn't know love when we were unsaved.

We love him because he first loved us, but we

do it because we love him. And Jesus said, those

who love me will follow my commands. And so we

do it out of faithfulness. But if you do it out

of sorcery, look out. That's going to be a problem.

In fact, it goes so far as to say, the Bible

says that those who practice sorcery will not

inherit the kingdom of heaven. So be careful.

About saying, well, I want this, so I'm going

to do this that God told me to do just so I can

get that, that sorcery. So we can't want to be

rewarded openly by God and then say, okay, we're

going to fast the way that Jesus commanded us

to. It's a command. We have to follow Jesus'

command and faithfulness. And it happens when

we follow Jesus' command and faithfulness that

God will openly reward us, which is what I want.

But I just can't want it before I want being

faithful to the Lord. Does that make sense? Okay.

All right. So the next one, I worded it a little

bit confused, but I will explain. Okay. It says,

if, comma, not, when you fast. And then put a

big old fat question mark right behind that.

Okay. So here's what's happening with Christians

all over the world. I don't know what percentage,

and I'm not trying to slam anybody or anything

like that, but there are lots of people who are

not fasting in any way, shape, or form. I'll

never forget, many years ago, we did the Purpose

Driven Life by Rick Warren. I see this would

be 24 years ago. We did that as a Bible study.

And in there, it talked about fasting. And we

went around the room, and we talked about how

we were going to fast, because we felt... He

taught us from the Bible what it was supposed

to be, and we said, we're going to do it. And

Rick Warren, in the writing, he said, consider

how God will lead you to do this. So we all were

supposed to be, we talked about it, come back

the next week, and how God's going to do this.

And around the room it was, well, I can't fast

because, I can't fast because, I can't fast because.

And I hadn't gone yet. Well, hold up a second.

I said, you know, he even says in the book you

can fast in a light way. Like you can decide

not to watch TV or you can give up caffeine or

you could give up something that entertains you

or makes you feel good for a while. And you're

saying you can't? Well, they were all just thinking

of it as food. And two of the people were on

medication and one of the person had a heart

disorder or whatever. And they're like, well,

I can't do that. I can't starve my body of what

it needs and blah, blah, blah. And by the time

we got done, everybody did agree to fast on something.

But my point is, in America, we're training ourselves

not to give anything up. You don't have to. You

can have it and have it too and have it too and

have it too. You can just keep eating. You can

just keep buying. You can keep shopping. You

can keep getting it. You want something, but

you don't want to go to the store. Well, you

can buy it online. It'll show up at your house

overnight. So we're training ourselves to be

able to have everything that we want. That's

not biblical. It is not biblical to have everything

that you want. In fact, if you're sitting here

right now thinking, I have everything that I

want, you need to fast. Because God has so much

more for us than we can ever have in this lifetime.

What you really want are the things that God

has yet in store for you. You just don't know

what they are yet, so you don't know enough to

want them yet. When you fast and get close to

the Lord, He will show you exactly how good his

presence is. He will show you exactly how good

he is and what's coming in the future. So backing

up on fasting then, he's talking about giving

up food. That's what they were talking about.

They're not talking about giving up sex or caffeine

or nicotine. They're talking about giving up

food for a period of time. In fact, the Pharisees,

they would give up food two days a week and they

would not eat at all. Now, I'm not saying we

should follow that pattern, but this is a pattern

commanded by Jesus that we should follow. You

should find something to fast from as Jesus leads

you to do. If it is food, then it's food. If

it's caffeine, then it's caffeine. As God would

lead you to, you give it up for whatever period

of time. And if it's going to be a discipline,

it has to have a set period of time. So you say,

well, I'm going to give up food until sundown.

I'll give up food for 24 hours. I'm going to

give up caffeine for 40 days. I'm going to give

up sugar for... Whatever period of time. And

you set it in advance. And what you'll find is,

if you set one day or 40 days, it doesn't matter.

Somewhere in there, you're going to struggle

with it. Because the enemy likes to mess with

you, and the flesh gets involved, and whatever.

Somewhere in there, you're going to struggle.

And then you're going to go to God and say, okay,

God, I set a day, but I'm struggling to get through

a day here. And God helps you, shows up in stronger

presence. Now, you don't go around yammering

to all your friends about it, telling them all

how awesome you did. Right? Just between you

and God. And then... God will show you things

that you do not currently know. He will reward

you openly for your doing it alone with him.

So the reason I phrase it that way is because

for most people the question is, if I fast. As

in, will I ever fast? Will I ever give up anything

that I don't have to give up? That's how most

people are thinking. But in reality, it's not

if. Notice the verse. When you fast. It's not

if. It's when. Go ahead, RJ. What's the word

after sorcery? So it goes faithfulness versus

sorcery. That's it. The Y is the Y in sorcery.

That's not a separate blank. The Y is the last

letter in sorcery. And notice that if you take

the Y off, it becomes sorcerer. There's no reason

to be a sorcerer. There's no reason to practice

sorcery. Anyway, so it's not if, it's when. So

we will fast. It's just a question of how will

we fast. That's what Jesus was asking us was

to fast in a certain way. He wasn't commanding

us to fast. He was assuming that we would and

commanding us to do it a certain way. Then we're

moving on. Some will think stories of faithfulness.

I'm just giving it to you for expedience sake.

Will, anybody want to try to finish it from there?

L, P, 2, F. Some will think stories of faithfulness

will what? Lead people to faithfulness. Some

will think stories of faithfulness will lead

people to faithfulness. So we go talking to people

about how we fast, thinking that that will encourage

them to fast. Or we talk to people about how

we give, thinking that that will encourage them

to give. Or how we serve, thinking that that

will encourage them to serve. We even say things

like, I'll never forget, I was a young Christian,

very young. I hadn't been a Christian more than

three months. And they had a service in the church.

They called it a stewardship service. And they

had all the people in the service who were tithing

potentially raise their hand and give a little

testimony about tithing. And one of the deacons

spoke up and he said, well, we always struggle

with tithing. We never did that. And then we

always struggled with money until that time.

And then we started tithing. And then we never

struggled with money after that. We always had

what we needed after we started tithing. And

I was a very young Christian. And that was a

real stumbling block for me because I didn't

even know what tithing was until that day. Like

at that service, that was the first I ever heard

of what a tithe was. And now I'm going, okay,

now I've got to do this. And so what happened

was I'm like, well, I want to never struggle

with my finances, so I'm going to tithe. And

what is that? That's sorcery. So as a young Christian,

I was led into sorcery by hearing the success

that they had had by practicing that discipline.

And all that's true, but you can't do that. You

can't say, I want the results, so I'm going to

do it. And so when you share stories of your

faithfulness with people, that is not necessarily

going to lead them to faithfulness. You can encourage

them to be faithful. And you might use anecdotally

stories from your life to encourage them to be

faithful. But unless you say, please be faithful,

here's what you can do, please do this, this

is what God would want us to do, show them the

Bible verses. I mean, just, I did this, that's

not going to do it. And that's what you'd be

doing if you're going around telling everybody

you're fasting. You'd just be telling them what

you're doing. That's not going to lead them to

be more faithful. Under the scroll now, it says,

a better message is... So right under the scroll

to the right there, SS. A better message is,

and then you see a colon. I've given you a few

examples. There are probably a lot of examples

here. The first one is, if you're talking to

somebody else, you're talking all about God.

So it shouldn't be about you. If you want to

tell somebody that you managed to fast, let's

say. Then when you talk to them, you don't talk

to them about you fasted. You talk to them about

how God was good to you while you were fasting.

You don't have to tell them how long you fasted.

You don't have to tell them what you fasted from,

whatever. But talk about God and how God was

good to you during that time instead of talking

about you. See, that's the difference. Otherwise,

if you're talking about you, you're breaking

what Jesus, the command that he gave. So all

about God. The next one is what we have seen

and heard. So when we talk to people, 1 John

1 .3 says, we proclaim what we have seen and

heard, your personal experience. You can share

your opinions, but your opinions are colored

by your own personality. But what you have seen

and heard is not colored by your personality,

at least not to any great degree. It's what you

saw. You can say, I saw, I heard, this is what

I know about God, right? But when you start to

say, I think, give your opinions, then now, That's

filtered through your whole life experience.

But if you just say, I saw. And we know that

eyewitnesses' testimony can be altered slightly

by people's opinions, experiences, things like

that. It's not always the same. But a lot less

so if you're talking about what you've seen or

heard and the experiences that you've had than

if you're giving your opinions. And then the

next one we should be able to get is JIA with

an exclamation point. Jesus is alive. Two weeks

ago we talked about that. That's the supreme

message that Jesus called us in Matthew 28 to

go out and share. That's what people were authorized

to be witnesses to in Acts 1. Jesus is alive.

These are all better messages than talking about

your faithfulness. And then the last one also

might be a good guessable thing. Say it again.

I like that one, but that's not what I put, but

I do like that one, so you could put that there.

I put salvation is available, but sin also is

abolished, at least the effects of it. Now you

could add more to that list if you go through

your Bible and look at anything that God or Jesus

has told us to say or do, and you could do that

instead, but what you won't find is a command

to talk about how well you did fasting or tell

people that you're currently fasting. Because

those would be contrary to what Jesus just told

us. Yeah, because they did it so that everybody

could see them. And that's the danger here. So

he very well could have called them sorcerers.

Okay, now we're going to take one more. The next

one is in the scroll there. It's rolled down.

And it is a New Testament book beginning with

L, so it's got to be Luke. That's right. And

then the chapter is three squared, it says. Yep,

it's 924. Three squared, two dozen. 924. Luke

924. I'm going to have to come up with a whole

bunch of little creative clues for verses now

that I started doing that because I don't want

to use them over and over again. All right. So

I'll read Luke 924. You might recognize it. In

fact, if I gave you the first word, somebody

might say it from memory. It is this. For whoever

wishes to save his life shall lose it. But whoever

loses his life for my sake, he is the one who

will save it. Okay, that's 24. And then you can

fill in the blanks. For whoever wants to... save

his life, we'll lose it. So that's the summary

of the first part. I guess you'd call that like

924A. Whoever wants to save his life will lose

it. So this is a little bit like what I was talking

about when I was talking about how we have everything

that we want and we're used to the way things

are in this lifetime and we're doing pretty good.

And then we're not even picturing what's coming.

We don't really have a good, there's nowhere

you can, even in Scripture, you can't get a good

foretaste of what heaven's going to be like.

I know that if people, and if people have said

they've had out -of -body experiences and they

died briefly and they experienced heaven and

they came back, and some people said they died

and they experienced hell and they came back,

and they always, always, always say it changed

them forever. Like you don't find a story that

people say, well, I saw heaven, came back, and

eh, wasn't any big deal. So we don't have a foretaste,

really. We have some teaching in Revelation about

New Jerusalem and what it's like. We have some

things where Jesus said what's being done away

with and what will be there. We know that it

will be eternally good, basically. The bottom

line is you don't have a good taste of what it

will be like. So if you think what you're dealing

with, you want to hold real tight to that right

now. Let's say you've become wealthy or you're

doing pretty good financially. Not that you're

rich. but your house is getting paid off or whatever,

your bills are paid and you're feeling really

good. And then God wants you to be generous or

wants you to be a servant and give up some time

at work or whatever. And you're concerned about

keeping control of the things that he's blessed

you with. That's a problem. That means you're

satisfied with this life and you're worried about

saving this life. And then Jesus says, a person

who's in that place will lose their life. So

whoever wants to save his life will lose it.

And then he goes on to say, though, whoever loses

his life for my sake, or for me, for my sake.

And then this is the Billie Jean verse. The musical

people in the room might understand that. It

says, whosoever loses his life for my sake, He

is the one. Remember Billie Jean's Just a Girl

Who Says, I am the one. So whoever loses his

life for my sake, he is the one who will save

it. So now, kind of generically speaking, we're

talking about martyrdom. So if a person dies

for Jesus, they die for Jesus, right? Not they

just die. People die all the time. Even people

who profess to be Christians die all the time,

and some of them go to heaven and some of them

don't. So whether or not their profession is

real or not, remember Matthew 7? He said, not

everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, will enter

the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said that. But those

who follow the commands of my Father who is in

heaven. And so if you're not following Jesus,

if you're not a follower of Jesus and you die,

you're not going to heaven, you're going to hell.

There's only one way to go to heaven. That's

through Jesus. So then, if you're a follower

of Jesus, and you die, whether you die from cancer

or a car accident or a bullet to the head or

whatever, but you're legitimately following the

Lord when you die, then you will have your life

and have it for eternity. Right? And so the truth

is, if you have your life and have it for eternity

and you continue to follow Jesus, in other words,

if you're born again and you're truly following

Jesus from all the way through the end, then

we'll all die for Jesus. How we die will be different.

Some of us are older than others and we die of

old age. Some of us are, I'm standing here, might

have cancer. Some of us might have cancer right

now, and that might be what kills us, right?

But if you live for Jesus through the end, he

says, you will save your life, right? But if

you, on the other hand, are worried about it,

like I've known people who were, I've witnessed

people on their deathbed who were professing

Christians. and who were not professing Christians.

And then in the professing Christian category

and in the not professing Christian category

both, I have witnessed the people on their deathbed

who were screaming and hollering like a wounded

beast did not want to leave this life, even though

they were a professing Christian. And also I

have witnessed people who had the greatest peace,

knew where they were going, and they were perfectly

okay as a professing Christian. Then over here,

I have people who were not a professing Christian,

and they were perfectly content, perfectly peaceful

to die. Because they'd had enough, they were

worn out, and they felt like they had done enough

good in their life. And by that measure of salvation,

they'd done more good than bad. They thought

they were going to go to heaven. Which just isn't

true. That's not what the Bible teaches. And

then also, people were screaming like a wounded

beast, did not want to go out. And I tell you

that whether they're a professing Christian or

not a professing Christian, if they're screaming

like a wounded beast and don't want to go out,

according to this, they're not going to heaven.

Because he who tries to hold on to his life will

lose it. That's what he said. So the trick is

to be willing to give your life, however that

looks on a day -to -day basis. You might have

to take some risks. You might have to give up

some money that you don't feel perfectly comfortable

giving up with, or some time. Or you might have

to listen to somebody that kind of grates on

your nerves. You're like, I don't really want

to deal with them. You might have to expend some

resources to be found living for Jesus. And that's

what Jesus requires of us in order for us to

gain our lives. Okay? Then he gives a four, and

we're into verse 25. Okay? And so we just finished

24, and it says four, what? Yeah, four. What

is a man profited if he gains the whole world

and loses or forfeits himself? Now you said that's

one of your favorite verses, but I wonder, is

it this verse or the one over in Matthew 16 that

you love? You have to decide. Or you like them

both so much that they can both be your favorite

verse. Because over there, it ends not with self,

but soul. It's a little different. So Matthew

said that Jesus said soul. Luke records, after

talking to witnesses, that at least on one occasion,

He said, self. So the question is, world or self?

That's what you have on your page. The question

is, choose, world or self? There seems to be

an awful lot of people that think they'll be

content if they get the world. But I think if

they knew what losing themselves would really

be like, they wouldn't be so content. There's

a lot of stories about men who became super wealthy,

had a lot of resources, whatever like that, and

became very, very alone. Not only that, but if

you take the Matthew version and lose your soul,

that's eternity in hell. And so we have to be

careful about wanting the things of the world,

basically. So I'll just read the verse one more

time. 25, for what is a man profited if he gains

the whole world? That means you get everything.

You get everything you ever wanted and more.

Get the reins of the world. We know some people

that are in popular media that have that now

or seem to have that. They have so much control,

so much power. billions and billions of dollars,

things like that. But what would that really

be worth if you got all that and lost or forfeit

yourself? Which implies all of you. Everything

that you are was gone. And then verse 26, another

for, so it's another because basically, for whoever

is ashamed of me and my words, Of him will the

Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory,

and the glory of the Father, and of the holy

angels. So the rest of that scroll is whoever

is ashamed, then what happens? Jesus will be

ashamed when he comes in glory. So there's going

to be a moment in time coming. Remember Matthew

28, it says that even under the end of the age,

at the moment of the harvest, Jesus is going

to come again. It's going to be a moment where

everything is sorted out. And at that moment,

you do not want Jesus to be ashamed of you. That's

not what we want, obviously. So why would it

be, taking those verses together, 24, 25, and

26, it says, For whoever wishes to save his life

shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for

my sake, he is the one who will save it. But

what is a man profited if he gains the whole

world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever

is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the

Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory

and the glory of the Father of the holy angels.

So what's the problem? What is Jesus warning

us to avoid? Selfishness, your own desires, pursuit

of what you want. What the world could give you.

In the first verse, it's so true that even your

life can't be that important to you. Then it's

about, you could have everything. What if you

had everything? If you had everything, but lost

yourself, that would suck. That would be messed

up. You wouldn't want that. And then in the end,

he's giving us the... The final, if you will,

nail in the coffin, which is, here's how you

know when somebody is concerned about their life,

when somebody is worried about the world, and

the test is what? They're ashamed of Jesus and

his words. So you can go to work all the time,

go to school all the time, and nobody knows.

Say you're a follower of Jesus, but you go wherever

you go, and nobody knows that you're a follower

of Jesus. Then you better ask yourself if you're

ashamed of his words. Because if you're ashamed

of him and his words, then according to what

he says, when he comes again in his glory, he'll

be ashamed of you. So if you would say, well,

yeah, I don't really talk about Jesus. I don't

think I'm ashamed of him, but I don't really

talk about him. Then ask yourself, well, why?

How could you possibly, a follower of the Lord,

have the Great Commission, Acts 1 -8, all of

those commands, and not talk about him? Okay?

And then the reasoning is kind of over in the

right half there. It says, some say, if you totally

dedicate your life to God, good job, Josh, Anybody

want to finish it? RJ, you should be able to

finish this because you tell the youth that it's

not true all the time. The whole saying is, if

you totally dedicate your life to God, you will

miss out on a lot of fun. That's the worldly

version of Christianity, that Christians miss

out on the fun. Because they dedicate their life

to God. And then inside Christianity, or proposed

Christianity, a lot of people don't totally dedicate

their life to God in order to make sure they

don't miss out on the fun that the world is having.

And I submit to you, they're no better off than

the world who thinks that you will miss out on

a lot of fun if you totally dedicate your life

to God. Apparently, they agree. That's why they're

not totally dedicating their life to God. According

to Jesus, and this is where this becomes interactive,

if I do not totally dedicate my life to God,

And then this is for you. We're not going to

talk about what you write there. You write whatever

you feel is true in those blanks based on what

we've studied today. So the first part says,

if I do not totally dedicate my life to God,

what? What does Jesus say will happen? And then

you write in the blank. You don't have to tell

us what you're putting there, but whatever you

want. And then the last part says, so I will

and he will. So next to me, you write what you're

going to do. And next to God, you write what

God's going to do. Ideally, the me would be responding

to some command of God that you know is true,

something that God is telling you to do. And

the God would be some promise of God, something

that he's telling you he'll do. The only lingering

question that didn't make the worksheet that's

in my mind, is how on earth, how can it be that

the teachings of Jesus are so simple and straightforward

and yet people don't get it? There is an answer.

There's a biblical answer to this question. You

can't just go, oh, it doesn't make any sense.

It's not me railing. I'm not just saying, oh,

how can they possibly not get it? There is an

answer. How is it that people do not, sometimes

do not understand these simple commands and promises?

What do you think? What does Scripture say? Say

that again. Yeah, their eyes are closed, they're

blind, they're fooled. There's duplicity, right?

There is a great trick played upon mankind since

the Garden of Eden. And God, Jesus, came to dispel

that and to give freedom, to give an opportunity.

So if that's the reason why people can't see

these basic commands and promises and respond

to them and say, okay, well, I'm going to do

what God's telling me to do. That's the reason.

And what would it take? What does it take for

them to go, oh, my eyes are opened. I see. Somebody

has to go and tell them. How will they know unless

they hear? And how will they hear unless somebody

goes and tells them? I paraphrase that, but that's

Romans 10. And so that's it. That's what Jesus

did. He died to start this process. Really, he

rose again to start this process and spent 40

days with the disciples, teaching them to start

the beginning of the church and the gospel, the

whole thing. So now we can dedicate our lives

to God and tell others that they can too. We

can tell others all about God, what we have seen

and heard, that Jesus is alive and salvation

is available. And it's not about us. It's not

about our church. I can't tell you the number

of times that I've said, if our church isn't

really for you, if it's not really a fit for

you, or you don't want to hang out with people

of all ages, and sometimes people don't like

being around kids, or you don't want to have

upbeat worship music, or you don't want everything

to be straight out of the Bible, you want some

more poetry or things. I'm not saying that it's

good or bad or whatever. I'm saying if they want

it differently, then I'll help them find differently.

As long as they can draw close to God in that.

I'm happy to do that. So it's not about a certain

church. It's not about a certain feeling or a

certain opinion. Or one doctrine. Like at one

point, I just absolutely believe this one thing

is true and I can't get past it. Now if that

doctrine is Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation,

then it is about that. I won't compromise on

that either. But if they would say, for example,

they believe in a doctrine of girls have to wear...

long skirts who can never wear pants and they

have to go to a church where that is, then that's

fine with me. I think it can be saved in a church

like that just the same. They're wrong in my

opinion, but they can be saved in a church like

that just the same. So I'm okay with that. But

what I would say is we've got to get the message

out that salvation is available. We've got to

go and find people. And they say, I just don't

see it. I just don't see it. And you can say

to them, but I am it. You can say it, right,

Jason? You can say, I am it. I can tell you with

absolute certainty about the things that God

has done in me. Right? All right. So we're closing

prayer, and I'll give Jason and our honorary

teenagers candy and stuff afterwards. We do have

donuts and snack cakes and Kool -Aid and fruit

in the cafeteria. And my guess is the kids will

probably have beaten us there, which is okay

because there's plenty by the time we get there.

because they were doing crafts, and then I don't

know if they were going to games, so I'm not

sure what they were doing. Okay, so they may

not be in there when we get there. All right.

Any questions? Anyone want to add a personal

little snippet of testimony to anything that

I said? Do you think this needs to be known?

God's speaking in your heart and like that. All

right. Well, let's pray together, and then we'll

be through. And I will be lifting up a number

of names as I pray, and you may not know all

of them, but we are missing quite a host of individuals

who are sick or hurting in some way. And I'll

try to name as many as I can, and then I'll just

blanket pray for those that are... Yes, sir?

Okay. That's why they're missing today. Inside

their family? Yes, within their family. They

are having a bunch of problems. I don't know

any of the logistics. I don't want to know. We

would want to know that anyway. So, okay, good,

good. We'll do that. And I was going to break

down. Caleb, yep, I was going to break down too.

Just had his consults and had noise out yesterday.

Well, it was bad news. Oh, they didn't take their

consults. Oh, okay, well, there you go. But,

you know, so I couldn't say anything. I was struggling

really bad within the morning here. It hurts

really bad. Well, it's drained. It's the prophet.

It was full for months. She said the one here

didn't have anything in it, but the other one

was pretty bad. And that's the one that has hurt

him a lot. Father in heaven, we do praise you

for the good things of this life. By no means

are we becoming monks in a monastery somewhere

or giving up all of the good things that you've

blessed us with for no reason at all. We're not.

starting a convent -style community where everybody

puts all their money in one kind of generic pot

and then we just pay all the bills that way.

We know that you have made us stewards of a variety

of resources. There is first our time, 24 hours

in a day to be used, we hope, in ways to honor

you. There is our finances. whatever money that's

been earned or whatever money that you've blessed

us with. And we know that it is far more than

we deserve. And I know that in America, it seems

like everybody thinks that money equates to lifestyle

or whatever, and it doesn't have to be that way.

We can live normal, happy, healthy, kingdom -focused

lives without acting like we're rich. And I know

people who have done so and passed away. And

then everybody went, wow, they were that rich?

That's just crazy. And it's not about the money.

And then, Lord, there's our strength, our creativity,

our mental processing ability, intelligence and

wisdom and keen thought. Lord, there's our presence,

being around people, being willing to invest

in them, just to be present, to let them know

that we care. There's our mouths. And we can

talk about a lot of different things, and a lot

of things that we talk about probably aren't

worth the time, but we can certainly talk about

you and all the things that you're doing. Lord,

even this is an example of that, that we can

pray together and lift up verbally the concerns

that we have. You have blessed us immeasurably.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made, each of

us individually, and then this group as a corporate

whole, the church, the church at large in the

world, all people who truly profess to be Christians.

truly are following you, Lord. The kingdom is

vast and powerful, and the fields are wide unto

the harvest. And so we pray, Lord, that you would

forgive us where in past days, weeks, months,

years, decades, our childhood, whatever, where

we failed to use the resources that you've blessed

us with in a way that would honor you. We pray

that as we go forward, we will regularly encounter

opportunities to do just the opposite, that we

will be able to glorify you, we will be able

to serve you, we will be able to give. Let somebody

look at us and say, why are you doing that? And

we'll say, well, because God. Because salvation.

Because Jesus. And we'll be found faithful. Forgive

us for we failed you. Thank you that that forgiveness

is available through Jesus. We thank you for

every person who did make it here this evening.

We thank you for those who are healing. The healing

has been incredible. That Sherry did so well

after her surgery. Caleb is doing well. We pray,

Lord, that he will do even better. But it's already

a huge blessing. And we pray for those who are

struggling in their families. We don't know the

full details. We pray for their response to the

Macquarie family, Lord, that you just lift them

up, pull them together, help them be clear and

clean and strong and your people faithfully bound.

We pray for healing for Sherry, healing for Kayla.

We pray for healing physically and mentally for

Mike Smith and for Tiffany. Lord, we pray for

the new believers that came on Sunday and that

are talking about joining the church. and trying

to find their way. Lord, we pray that they'll

not be scared off by what it means to dedicate

your life to you, but rather be super excited

about the things that you can do in their lives.

Lord, we pray for Erin as an eye infection, and

I guess it's contagious. And so we pray for Caitlin,

that you gird her up and give her strength and

keep her clean and help her to not follow the

path that he's marching down right now, and that

his healing would be quick. and he's had a lot

of school work going on and screen time and stuff

like that, but most of his school work is screen

time, and so that's not good. His eye can't be

messed up for long, Lord. You've got to fix it

right away. We thank you that medicine and doctors

are available, and we trust in them in as much

as that you lead in that way. Lord, we pray for

Tim Hundley, who's just getting better. He's

been sick for all week, and he's just getting

better. We pray for Jamie. for the thing that's

going on with the imbalance and the pressure

in her head and that she would, that they would

get to the bottom of it, get it solved once and

for all. At least now they know part of what

the problem is and whether they know exactly

a solution, I don't know. Lord, pray for healing

there. Thank you, Lord, for the way that you've

healed Michael. He's back to work. He's working

full time. I pray that he would be healed once

and for all permanently. Lord, we pray for Chris

Mitchell. Just got over kind of a nasty yuck,

and she's back to work, and she's feeling stronger.

We pray that it'll be like that ongoing. Thank

you for the good report Ron had. He doesn't have

cancer in his colon. It was a real fear, and

now he's cleared, and that's awesome. Thank you

that Josh is here tonight. He was sick on Sunday,

and the head stuff that he has, Lord, especially

in allergy season and whatever, we just pray

that you'll clear it completely. We pray for

Devin. with the anxiety that he's facing, and

a lot of that has to do with his baby Mavis,

and they had a massive senior, and they hadn't

figured out exactly why. So we pray for the doctors

to be at the bottom of it and provide healing.

I know there are names I'm not mentioning. That's

okay, because you know every one of these situations.

You love these people. There is no love like

the love you have for us. You are almighty and

all worthy. You are holy. We commend ourselves

with your hands. Go with us as we go. Help us

represent you well and take the gospel wherever

we are. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you very much. This concludes our Bible

study. Praise ye the Lord.