Being a Fanatic 6: Your Inside on the Outside and No Quit in Ya'

I could rest you in your arms forever

Cause I know nobody loves me better

Hold on to me

Hold on to me

Hold on to me

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace

Comfort for family

Protection while we sleep

The sermon title today is

Inside Out and No Quit In Ya

Inside Out and No Quit In Ya

I know that's kind of slang and whatever

But I'm hoping it helps us to remember a little bit

We have been working through a series

Of God's creation called

Being a Fanatic

And each week we've talked about

What it takes to become a Fanatic

And then as just a little bit of a snippet at the opening

I've talked about why it is that you might want to become a Fanatic

So I've just got to real quick go down the list

Part one we talked about dying with Christ

We talked about how we had died with Christ

In fact the Bible says that

Jesus died for all of us

And if he died for all of us then all of us have died

That's what the Bible says

And we are now living beyond our own deaths

If you've been saved

Part two we talked about storing up treasures

And how the treasure houses of our family

Of the family of God, our treasure houses are in heaven

And how we store up our treasures

In heaven rather than on earth

Part three we talked about

Seeking first the Kingdom of God

In particular as we talked about

Seeking first the Kingdom of God

We talked about seeking it

In our relationships between us and other people

In our person

Inside us and then is the local church

And we want to see the Kingdom of God come

And I think that when it says in the Lord's Prayer

We pray, thy Kingdom come

That's what it's talking about

We talked about worry and regret

And we talked about the two greatest enemies

In particular we talked about how God cares about us

And he cares about this moment in time

Right now, right here

And what you do with it

Matters to God

Even though as we heard C.S. Lewis say

Earlier

God has no limit

In the amount of time he can have

But if he is present in every single time

It makes sense that he is concerned about

Every single moment in time because he is present there

And that we would use it in a way

That honors him not in worry

Which means thinking about the things of the future

Or in regret, thinking about the things of the past

But living right now in the moment

And then we talked about having an answer for everything

Last week we talked about having an answer for everything

And we essentially summed it up as

That he is the answer for everything

And our faith in him

And scripture provides us

With the right thing at the right time

To deal with what we're facing

And then today we're talking about

Our insides out

And no quit in you

That's the title for today. We are not done

There will be two more sermons in this series

And I can tell you their titles now

But I won't. You'll have to come or listen in

To hear what they are, okay?

And then after that point in time we will be transitioning

Into kind of a new topic

So that's where we're at

I want to talk to you today about

There's a little quote from C.S. Lewis

There is one thing

And only one thing

Now get this, there is one thing and only one thing

In the whole universe which we know more about

Than we can learn

From external observation

And that one thing

Is mankind

We do not merely observe

Men or women if you're a woman

Rather

We are men or women

In this case

We have so to speak

Inside information

You know what it is like to be a person

You've been there, you've experienced it

In fact you have a unique load of information

About what it is like to be you

And so we can say we are in the know

I submit to you then

Because we are in the know, we know

As we've been looking at it for the last several weeks

We know that we were

Created to be like what we've been studying

You can feel in your

Inner most being a need to be

A fanatic, a need to be

About something, a need to be

About purpose and focus

One thing, and God

Made us that way

And as C.S. Lewis

Being a theologian and a teacher

And a famous author of children's stories

And was on the radio

In World War II explaining all the bases of Christianity

All while the war was raging around them

All of that was going on

C.S. Lewis was making the statement

That you kind of get this already

Right? So I don't have to argue

With you or try to convince you

About becoming a fanatic

Solomon said, and I'm very much paraphrasing

But he said, this is the best way to go

Just kind of put one foot in both worlds

One in the kingdom of God and one in the kingdom of men

Because there's a lot of good stuff in the kingdom of men

All kinds of good things to entertain and be a part of

And there's a lot of good stuff in the kingdom of God

And all kinds of good things and an eternity awaiting

Then later he said, oh no

That was a horrible idea

I was being ripped in two

And I submit to you that most men lived their lives ripped in two

Most people

Are struggling with should I do this or should I do that

Should I be like this or should I be like that

And the reason is because we were

Not created to have that

Roaring debate going on all the time

We were created to be going one way

The way, the right way

And going with all that we are

But the world is so tempting

And so full of other things

Even things that will rear up and try to be gods themselves

That we latch onto them

As they're passing by

If you

Get the picture for a moment, a man on a skateboard

He's going about 15 mile an hour

Three times walking, max walking pace

Going down the street and a car

Goes by in the opposite direction

Doing about 35 mile an hour

Now he's thinking to himself

I'm going about 15 mile an hour

I'm doing pretty good, got a pretty good pace on

But that car is going 35 mile an hour

Now if I just reach out

And latch onto that car with all

My might

I'll whip around and I'll be doing 35 mile an hour

In that direction, it's not the direction I really want to go

But I'll whip around and I'll do it

And you know what the results of that are

Right? So at the best you're going to crash

And probably at the worst you're going to be

Ripped apart, your arms are going to be ripped off

Or whatever. One time I was driving

Into Cedar Point and they had all

These cones lined up and we were coming a little bit later

And they didn't have cars lined up or anything

And there was orange cones going by

And I thought it would be the coolest thing to open the door

And reach out and grab an orange cone

We were driving by about 20 mile an hour

I about broke my hand

And I thought, if you're going to go one way

And you should be going the other way

The process of turning is

A process, right?

And we understand that, okay?

If you say for example, like I know I should go to bed

At a reasonable time every night

And you say I'm going to start going to bed at a reasonable time

I'm going to stop staying up late watching movies

And reading books and playing games

Where I'm going to go to bed at a reasonable time every night

And if I want to do any of that kind of stuff

I'll do it in the morning before school or before work

Or when I have, and I'll be more energetic

Than carrying that out and trying to do that

That's another thing, right?

Most of the time when you make a decision about how to change your life

It just doesn't just click

It's not just all of a sudden, I'm going to change this behavior

And maybe if it does

It goes for a while

I remember years ago, Judy wanted to quit smoking so bad

And she went and got hypnotized to quit smoking

And she quit smoking for 60 days

It lasted for 60 days after she got hypnotized

And then one day

She had a frustrating day and she picked up a cigarette

From that moment on, she was smoking every day again

And she was like, I've never smoked before

And so she had that

Moment in time where she made the decision

She got the hypnotism and then for 60 days

She was able to stop and then she was right back at it

I submit to you, you've had all of these experiences

You know what this is like

You know what it's like to tame your doubts

You know what it's like to struggle with your decisions

You know what it's like to make a decision that you think will be good for yourself

And be unable to carry it out

The fact is, we are complex beings

And we have first hand knowledge of this

And some of the things I'm going to say to you

They're going to go by kind of quickly

But part of that reason is because you already have this experience

You already know, as a human being

You already know what I'm talking about

Whether you're lost or saved

I think saved people who have Christ, have wisdom, have the Holy Spirit

They kind of can discern it a little bit

And maybe see when it's one and when it's the other

But everybody can feel it

In Psalm 139

The psalmist writes this

He says in Psalm 139, 13

For you formed by inward parts

You wove me in my mother's womb

So basically he's recognizing

We have inward parts

Notice it doesn't say inward part

We have inward parts

We have outward parts

And we have inward parts

If we didn't have outward parts, there would be no reason to distinguish that we have inward parts

You have parts

But he says, you wove me in my inward parts

God did it, God authored you as a person

And you can say

Well, I went through this, I went through that

All these things changed me

I'm dealing with this lack of self-discipline

Because of the experiences I had when I was a kid

Yes, I get all of that

In fact, the Bible says that God orchestrated

All of those factors so that you might

Search around for him, that's Acts 17

And find him and realize he was never far away

In the first place

But the fact is, God wove your inner parts

He made you while you were still in your mother's womb

To be who you would be

You have inward parts

And God made them

And then in 1 Samuel 16, 7 it says

Now this is the story

I'm going to give you the preface so you understand the story

This is the story where David is being chosen as the next king

And Samuel is coming to anoint the king

And they bring all the brothers of David

He's the smallest, probably least attractive

Least masculine looking

Least physical of all of them, he's young

And they bring all of the older brothers

Who are strong, some of them are handsome

Some of them are kind of regal looking

Look like they make good kings

They bring all of them before Samuel

And God says, nope, nope

Nope, nope, nope

Every single time he says, no that's not the one

And finally David comes

And then

The Lord said to Samuel

Do not judge from his appearance

Or from his lofty stature

Talking about whether he is able to look like a king

Or not, because I have rejected him

That's talking about the other brothers

God does not see

As a mortal who sees the appearance

The Lord looks into the heart

And then he goes on right after that

To choose David

The youngest, least regal, least strong

Least attractive of all of the brothers

Possibly

He may have had some traits that were better than others

The bottom line is

God looks on that inward self

Now you and I both know

That the outer self

While it has its troubles

Is easier to change

Than the inward self

You get a diagnosis and the doctor says

You can't eat that anymore, you can't live that way anymore

Or you're going to die

And you're like, I've got to change it now

And you finally change it after years of trying to

And it's changed, and it doesn't bounce back the other way

Because your life is now at stake

Or your pain goes away

And you realize, hey, I had pain, now I don't have pain

So changing that was the right thing to do

And I'm not going to go back

You were 40 pounds overweight, you worked out, you lost all the weight

Now you're not going to go back to being the person before

That you were

It is easier to change the outward

Than it is to change the inward

And the inner part, he sees the interior

The inward parts then include

Your heart, while the outward appearance

And inward heart condition

Are two different things

So even as you sit here today

You may be coming across

As a pretty good guy or a pretty good girl

You may be, everyone's thinking

Hey, they're in the right place, the right time, doing the right thing

Look how respectful they're being

Look how well they're handling themselves or whatever

I'm so glad for that

But God is not looking only at the outward appearance

In fact, it says he judges

By the inward, the heart

Which then it's two different things

Which is a problem

Because the heart is not good

Our heart is not good

Jeremiah 17, 9-10

Says, the heart is more deceitful

Than all else and is

Desperately wicked

Or desperately sick

Who can understand it?

And then it goes on to say

I the Lord search the heart

I test the mind

Even to give to each man according to his ways

According to the results of his deeds

So there's a couple things to see in there

The first thing is that God, again

Recognizes that your heart is messed up

Or at least outside

Christ is messed up, right? We'll get there in a minute

The heart of man is messed up

And we realize that if you're a Christian

You remember what it was like when you were not

I do, my heart all over the place

One day this, one day that

I want this, I'm going to get it no matter what it takes

Now I really screwed up my life

And I'm going to heal it no matter what it takes

I'm going to go back the other way, I'm going to make everybody think I'm okay

And so on and so on and so on

Because our hearts were wicked

Outside Christ, you can remember

What that was like

God says I search the heart

I test the mind, so you've got two inward parts

You've got the heart and the mind

Those are both inside you

Is your mind outside? You ever hear the old saying

I give you a piece of my mind? What does that mean?

What does it mean when somebody gives you a

piece of their mind?

Hannah, what does it mean?

What would that mean?

I'm going to give you a piece of my mind

What does that mean?

Have you ever heard that saying before?

Yeah, had your mom ever said it?

Put her on the spot

Have you ever said that? Okay Holly, what does it mean?

I'm going to give you a piece of my mind

Yeah

Yeah, so that you dress them down

You yell at them, you tell them why they're wrong

That's what it means to give a piece of your mind

So that's an outward behavior, right?

But your mind is not outward, it's inside

That's what we understand

Human condition, we understand these are inward parts

Your mind, your heart, that's your inward parts

Your actions, the things you do outside, those are your outward parts

When you touch something

With your hand, that is an outward action

Your hand itself is an outward

Action, this is the skin

It's outside all of the other organs

I feel it on the page

The page is clearly outside me

And the skin senses it outside me

It is outside me as well, it is how I connect with the world

My mouth, my actions, these are how I connect with the world

And God is judging my heart

And my mind, it says

Testing my mind and judging my heart

Even to give

Each man according to his ways

According to the results of his deeds

So in other words, what you do

You're going to get it back from God

That's what he's saying

Because he is searching your heart

And testing your mind

Remember, God formed our

Inward parts

He wove us in our womb

You have inward parts, God made them

But the world killed them

Your inward parts

You submitted

Your inward parts

To the world

You submitted your inward parts

To outward actions

Had a little bit of

Altercation

Controversy between me and Ariana

Yesterday, and then as I was explaining

It to her, saying, you know, okay

Our actions

Govern our feelings

Or our feelings

Govern our actions

That's the choice that people tend to make

But notice that your feelings

And your actions, that's

Both pretty outward

Your heart and your mind

Govern your feelings, which then govern your actions

Or your heart and your mind

Govern your actions, which then govern your feelings

People are so

Surface

Everyone's going around, he said to me, she said to me

She behaved a certain way, he looked like

It tasted like

Everything is about the outside

But God's not like that

God's all about the inside

Right?

Some people in this room are wearing

Sweatshirts, somebody in this room

Is wearing a tie, I think I'm the only one

Right?

Neither is more appropriate for worship

God is concerned about the inside

Not the outside

But don't kid yourself, those

Outside actions, they say something about

The inside

You have inward parts, God made those inward parts

But the world killed them

You submitted those inward parts, your heart and your mind

You submitted them to your actions

Your actions are that which

Flows out of a man

Is that which makes a man unclean, Jesus said

And also the wages of sin

Is death, Paul wrote

And so when you engage

In sinful behavior

You submit your insides

Your heart and your mind

To the effect of that sinful behavior

And die, your inside dies

You become separated from God

Those inward parts that were created

To have that perfect union with the Lord of the Universe

To be one with God

Are now separated by the choices

That we have made

Or the ignorance that we have allowed

To persist

That's why Peter writes

This way, 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 3 and 4

1 Peter 3:3

He says, your adornment

Does anybody know what that word means, adornment?

It's like your dress or what's on your outside

What you look like, right? Your jewelry

Your dress, the hair, etc

He said, your adornment

Must not be merely external

So in other words, you shouldn't

Look like a certain thing, only on the outside

It shouldn't be braiding the hair

Wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses

But

Let it be the hidden person

Of the heart

With the imperishable quality of a gentle

And quiet spirit

Which is precious in the sight of God

In other words, you should

Be walking around

Looking like

And hold on, because I submit you will

Whether you like it or not, you should be walking around

Looking like what's on the inside of you

You find a young man who

Looks good, acts good, talks good

And you go, ah, I can have him

I mean, he's alright, I can have him as a friend

Or I can have him as a boyfriend, or I can have him as a husband

Right?

But then you get to know him a little bit

And you find out the inside doesn't look like

That at all, it's dirty, nasty, it's a problem

It's offensive and possibly dangerous

We're supposed to wear our

Quiet, gentle spirit

On the outside

These things are precious in the sight of God

You can wear all the jewelry

Dress up all the fanciest, you can say all the right words

You can do it all perfectly

But God is looking on your heart

And your mind

And if you do it all perfectly and God looks at your heart and mind

He's going to say, you're outside

Don't look like you're inside

I'm judging you not on your outsides

But your insides

In fact, your outsides are causing a break

Between me and you

This thing that I create in your insides

I created that to be a perfect relationship with me

But you're submitting it to your choice of actions

On your outside

And I can't be like that

I will not walk with you

I will not lie with you, I will not steal with you

I will not cheat with you, I will not murder with you

I will not lust with you

And so you choose to do those things

Outside me, away from me

That's how death

Enters in and we become objects

Of wrath, dead in our trespasses

And sin

Rather Peter was saying, you can wear

You can actually wear your heart condition

You can choose to do so

Any amount of good looks that are only

External are sin

Though possibly greatly desirable

In the world, people think, oh he shows up on time

Or he works hard, or he looks good

Or he's got all these different ways that fit

We're going to hire him, we're going to pay him, we're going to bless him

They may even temporarily

Yield wealth and great influence

He always does what he says he'll do

I can trust him

And so then you come and you tell them

What isn't true and they believe you

Because as far as they know, you always do

What you say you'll do

But you can wear your actual heart condition

And I submit to you that a lot of people do

It's written this way

To sum up, all of you be

Harmonious, sympathetic

Brotherly, kind hearted and humble

In spirit, not returning

Evil for evil or insult for insult

But giving a blessing instead

For you were called for the very purpose

That you might inherit a blessing

See, God has a better plan

God's blessings are eternal

And worth more than the world's

Best rewards

The problem is

We bought into as

Non-Christians and even as Christians sometimes

We bought into this idea

That we can get what we want

We can make our insides feel better

By taking the things of the world

Let's be realistic

Chocolate tastes good, produces

Serotonin in your brain

And you will feel better if you eat chocolate

That's a reality

Unless you don't like chocolate

In which case your particular

Thing might be something else

It might be ice cream or pizza

You have something that when you eat it

Makes you feel better

But feeling better is only surface

It's not truly

Affecting your heart and your mind

It's temporary at best

So you can wear your heart condition

But you also can go after

These other things that will

Overcome your feeling bad

About your heart condition

They will make you feel better

God has a better plan

His blessings are eternal and worth more

Than the world's best rewards

There are a lot of people running around

Even right now who are

Putting their outside appearance

Up pretty well

They look pretty good on the outside

It's been like that way for a long time

All the way back to Adam and Eve

Pretty much

See Adam and Eve's insides were messed up

And they knew it

And they knew that as soon as they ran into God

That he would know it

And so they hid

And that's what people are doing

That looks a little bit like what God would want

In Matthew 23

Matthew 23:24

Verses 24 and 28

Jesus is speaking

He says, you blind guides

Restrain out a gnat and swallow a camel

Woe to you

Scribes and Pharisees

Hypocrites

For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish

But inside they are full of robbery

And self-indulgence

You blind Pharisee

First clean the inside of the cup and of the dish

So that the outside of it may become clean also

Woe to you

Scribes and Pharisees

Hypocrites

For you are like white-washed tombs

That means like white-painted with white paint

Which on the outside appear beautiful

But inside they are full of dead men's bones

And all uncleanness

So you too outwardly appear

Righteous to men

But inwardly you are full of hypocrisy

And lawlessness

Hear me now

Nor will I ever call you to be a better person

To look better to the world

Would it be nice that we could look better to the world

And everybody could think that we're honest

And everybody could think that we're true

And hardworking and giving and merciful

And serving and all those kinds of things

Would it be good so that then we could share the truth about Jesus?

Well, sure, that would probably be a wonderful thing

But if that becomes our motivations

If our job is to be better on the outside

Then we've totally missed what God has called us to

You don't become a fanatic by being better

In fact, there's an argument about Christianity in the early Christianity

All of the disciples pretty much died for their faith, all of them

They died because they believed that Jesus died and rose again

And they were willing to die because they knew that if they died

They too would rise again

So then there's an argument that basically says

That they wouldn't have died if they knew what they were dying for was a lie

See, they saw Jesus alive again after his death

At that point in time, what were they going to do?

They saw him die, then they saw him alive again after his death

So what were they going to do? Now you're going to kill me?

So, no, I'm going to recant, I don't believe in Jesus

No, you can't do that because they saw him dead, they saw him alive

So there was no way to go back

They were trapped going forward as fanatics

They were crying out praises to God for him allowing them to suffer like Jesus suffered

For him allowing them to die like Jesus died

They were grateful for the suffering that they experienced

Because they knew that Jesus, who experienced the same suffering

Had come back to life in a divine form

And so the argument goes like this

It says that some men will die and some men will even die for a lie

That's how it works in militant Muslim circles

For example, they die for a lie

But no men will die for a lie that they know to be a lie

Why not just recant and survive? It's a lie

And so that's the argument

And here's what he's saying

He's saying, these are men who lived a lie

They were hypocrites, they cleaned the outside of the cup

And I don't want to be, and I don't want you to be, a hypocrite

I don't want you to clean the outside of the cup and go around looking good

So that people will come to our church or serve in your ministry

Or treat you with respect or pay you more money

None of that matters at all

Cleaning the outside of the cup for all of those purposes

Leaves you where they were at

It makes you a hypocrite

And he says, whoa, and by the way, when God says, whoa to you, that's bad

Whoa is bad

And he says, whoa to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites

Like whitewashed tombs, full of dead bodies, full of dead men's bones

So you too outwardly appear righteous to men

But inwardly you are filled full of hypocrisy and lawlessness

That must not be us

But again, we have a problem, don't we?

We have a problem because our hearts are messed up

They're wicked and nasty

And they need repair

Boy, you know, I bought a watch once

And then after I bought the watch I was like, man, I can't figure out how to

The battery went dead

I'm like, I can't figure out how to get the battery changed

And then I was out and about and I saw a jewelry store

The jewelry store said they could change the battery

I thought, well, I could just pop in there for a moment, get the battery changed

And I thought about it, I'm like, I'm busy today and I won't do it

I put it off a couple of times

And then I thought, you know where I should take the watch back to get the battery changed?

I should take it back to where I bought it

And I went back there and I had a sign that says, if you buy a watch from us

Your watch batteries are free for life

So I had them change the watch battery

I wore that watch for a long time after that

I never put a second battery in it

So had I, I could have got it for free

But my point is this

Who made your innermost parts?

God did

And when your innermost parts are messed up

And they are because they've been submitted to your outward actions

Who are you going to take them to to get them repaired?

God! You go to God to get them repaired because he made them

He wove them, it says

From the beginning he created them

You can wear an outside appearance in keeping with a heart condition

Unlike your own, but it's not going to do you any good in eternity

It's not going to do you any good in your relationship with God

So, hint, don't do it

Don't wear an outside appearance

In other words, if you get all dressed up and go to a meeting and pretend to be honest

And you might get the job

First think about what's really inside you

Is that who you are?

Before you tell somebody, for example, before you begin like this way

As young people are so fun

Let me be honest or I'm going to be honest, right? Comma, like that

We start that way, honestly, going to be honest, right?

And that's the thing that people say comes from the internet

It's proliferated conversation now

If you go into court, by the way, you say that, you know what the opposing lawyer will say

He'll say, so you say you're going to be honest, so what else are you lying about?

Why do you need to say I'm going to be honest with you?

Just be honest, right?

So the point is, if you would say I'm going to be honest

Then before you say I'm going to be honest, ask yourself, are you an honest person?

Is your insides in line with that course of action?

Are you just saying you're going to be honest this time?

Because you're trying to convince the person that you're listening to

That you mean what you say or maybe because you're hesitating to say what you're saying

James writes over in James chapter 1 beginning in verse 19

James 1 · chapter mention

This you know, my beloved brethren, for everyone must be quick to hear

Slow to speak and slow to anger

For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God

Before I go any further, I just want you to know that I have been a person

And I have met many people over the years who have what I call a high sense of justice

They want things to be right

And when they're not right, they get angry and they get them fixed

Except you know what the problem with that is, according to what we just read

The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God

If you get angry and that gets it fixed, even though it is now right

It is still not the righteousness of God

Why do you think that is?

Because that other person is responding in their outward self to your anger

Rather than responding in their inward self

They won't respond in their inward self because they're protecting their inward self from your anger

So they're not going to change because you're misbehaving

They might do what you asked them to do that time because you were mad

But it's not going to bring about the righteousness of God

That's what James says now on in verse 21

Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all the remains of wickedness

In humility, listen to this

Putting aside all filthiness

In humility, receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls

So what is your action?

What is your outward action that has the inward result of saving your inward parts?

The answer is

Receive the word implanted

That's what you do

You take the word of God and you allow it to affect you internally

This is a problem because then when you read a verse that says thou shalt not bear false witness

And you interpret it as you cannot lie

And you become an honest person because you have an instruction not to lie

Not to bear false witness

You have done exactly the opposite of that which will affect your inward parts

If you say I'm not going to steal because I know the Bible tells me I should not steal

And you choose outwardly to never steal again

And so you're never stealing

Because you read a verse that says you should not steal

And you mentally made a choice to follow the commands of the Lord

That is not what the Bible said you were supposed to do

Rather what you were supposed to do was take that word internally

Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee, David wrote

Take that word internally and apply it to the dark areas of your heart

Apply it to the person that is in here

And when you apply the word internally

It is able to save, read, bring back to life into connection with God

Your internal parts

Receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls

Then he says but prove yourself, test yourself

Doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves

In other words if you just hear it and even if you just hear it and do

For a while for example

For if anyone is a hearer and not of the word and not a doer

He is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror

For once he's looked at himself and gone away

He has immediately forgotten what kind of a person he was

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty

And abides by it, that means lives by it

Not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer

That man will be blessed in what he does

The message is in there and the one has been preached so many times

I've personally heard it and I've never exactly preached it

But I've personally heard it preached multiple times

It is if you listen to the word and actually carry it out

You'll be blessed in what you do

You heard that right? You heard that in there

If you listen it and carry it out

You will be blessed in what you do

It's in there

He said but one who looks and abides by it

An effectual doer blessed in what he does

That's one message

But guess what that message is?

If you on the outside, if you submit your outside to the word of God

You'll be blessed in what you do

Hence well, hence prosperity, trustworthiness, etc.

Right?

However, there is a second message in there, isn't there?

The second message was

Putting aside all filthiness in humility

Receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls

It's not good enough to get out of bed today and read

Thou shalt not lie and not lie

That's not good enough

It really never was

Because even while you were not lying

You were doing something else wrong, right?

You had a dirty flesh nature on the inside

What is called the natural man

And it was messed up and it was separate from God

And so it's not good enough to start doing the right things

After you've already done one thing wrong

And it wasn't just one thing

It was many things

And then Jesus said it this way

Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing

But inwardly are ravenous wolves

In other words, their outsides are so much different from their insides

You will know them by their fruits

Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

So every good tree bears good fruit

In other words, the outside comes in line with the inside

But the bad tree bears bad fruit

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit

Nor can a bad tree produce good fruit

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire

So then you will know them by their fruits

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven

But he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter

Your outside appearance is tied to your actions

And your actions are tied to your inside condition

So yes, you can work it from the outside

Say what I look like is going to be tied to what I do

And what I do is supposed to be tied to who I am on the inside

And as a human being, because you understand the human condition

You can make a break with that

You can say I'm not going to do that

I'm going to be this way on the outside

And make everybody think a certain thing about me

While on the inside I'm all dirty and nasty and filthy and not doing it right

Not really walking with the Lord

God is not affecting me internally

I'm doing all this on the outside

That could get you through your whole life

People live that way and show up

And that's why he said

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven

Because there were people who prophesied

They said, we prophesied in your name

We healed in your name

And he didn't say, oh no, you did not

Rather they said they prophesied in his name

They healed in his name

And he said, get away from me

I never knew you

You see, you need an internal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ

That will then drive your actions

Which will create your appearance

When your actions bespeak an inward condition

That does not truly exist

Then that is hypocrisy

And Jesus said, woe to you hypocrites!

So first submit your inward man

And then match your outward man to your inward man

That's how it works

Get real

You as a human know that there are parts inside you that were broken

They were broken by the way people treated you

They were broken by the things that you did

Things that you said

Things that you wanted

They were broken by your desires

Whatever, they were broken

And you needed healing

And you get that healing by going to God

I've recently started playing pickleball

Invited out by one of my sons

Kind of enjoyed it

Then I read an article just recently that said there was a particular day

I think it was a Friday night

In which 13% of all the injuries that came into emergency rooms

Across the entire country were pickleball related

Is that crazy?

So it was a certain evening

13% of everybody that came to the emergency room was pickleball injuries

You know why that is?

Because anybody can play pickleball

It's fun

The rules aren't hard

Anybody can do it

Now, not everybody's going to be great at it

But you go out and play pickleball

And this is what you do

You play a little harder

You play a little faster

Now, you haven't worked out in months

You don't eat right or whatever

But you go and you start playing

Then you play a little harder

And then one moment you slam down

And you tear your Achilles tendon

Or whatever

Strain your back, etc.

And then you're done playing pickleball

And you can't move the next day

And you go to the emergency room

What's happening is people are allowing, wanting, desiring their outward man

To do something that their inward man can't do

This applies to sharing the gospel

You go to try to share the gospel

And you just can't

You're timid

You're afraid

You're like, I don't know how to say this

I don't know what to say to this person

I don't even know

What if they ask me a question?

I have no answers

You are a human

Saved by the God of the universe

With mended insides

You have all that you need

The only problem is you need to bring your insides and your outsides together

And walk like that

Because that's what you were created for

That's what will make you a fanatic

And that's what you were created for

Ezekiel 11.19 says

And I will give them one heart

And put a new spirit with them

And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh

And give them a heart of flesh

That they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances

In other words, follow the rules

And do them

Then they will be my people

And I shall be their God

But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations

And as you go after the things in the world that are not of God

I will bring their conduct down on their heads declares the Lord

So there was a people of God

There was always going to be a people of God

And we can become that people of God

If indeed we submit our hearts to that God

And if on the other hand you submit your actions

And try to work inwardly

I submit to you

You'll just never get there

That's why Jesus was able to say to Nicodemus on that fateful night

You must be born again

Even though Nicodemus fasted

No food or water

Two days a week

Probably Tuesdays and Fridays

Nothing

24 hours

No food or water

The entire book of Genesis

Word for word

We struggle to memorize verses

He had the whole book of Genesis beginning to end memorized

His entire preaching calendar was filled up every week

In a different worship place

Synagogue, temple

All the way around the circuit

Because he was a desirable preacher

And Jesus said to him

You must be born again

Or you will not see the Kingdom of God

Because his inward parts were not on the course that God had set for him

Because his inward parts were not aligning with his outward parts

Yes he was a preacher

Yes he was a faster

Yes he was a teacher

Yes he was desirable

Yes he was growing

But his inward parts were not aligning with his outward parts

And Jesus said

You've got to be born again

It starts that way

Babies don't learn to walk before they come out of the womb

They don't learn to make dietary choices before they come out of the womb

They don't learn to decide whether they're going to take medicine or not

Before they come out of the womb

First you've got to be born

Then those decisions are heaped on you

And it's the same way

If you're trying to live as a Christian

You've not yet become a Christian

Stop now

You're wasting your time

In fact you may get ahead in the world

Your actions may be blessed by following the things that the Lord has led you to do

Except he's not Lord

And he's not actually leading you to do that at all

You're just following the instruction book for life

When in reality what you need to do is submit your inward parts to the Lord of the Universe for healing and correction

And then he says this

36 of the same book

Chapter 36 verse 25

And that's what's been going on since the Garden of Eden

That's how God can say you have no excuse

Because you're a human being

And you can feel your first hand experience to know that your insides were broken, were incorrect

You needed healing, you needed resetting, you needed re-birthing

You knew that

And you kept making rules for yourself and living for them

And then breaking the very same rules that you made for yourself

Or that the world made for you

Or even the ones that you learned from me

Breaking them over and over again because your insides are screwed up

You get your insides healed by bringing them back to the one who created them

Who wove them in the first place

You couldn't fix your heart, you can't even find your heart

It's not the organ that beats in your body

It's the center of your decision making

It's the center of all that you care about and yearn for

It's your heart, it's your inward being

It's a spiritual thing

You can search the entire body from toe to toe

You can do a PET scan and you'll never find it

It's not there

It exists in a spiritual realm but it exists inside you

And God can fix it

And God can heal it

And then you can wear it on the outside

That's what we've read

It's happened a number of times

We're almost ready for that video, Arden

It's happened a number of times that I've seen people get saved

They've given their life over to the Lord

And then they've gone back into the same environment that they lived in before

Where their mom or dad are not Christians

Or the people that live in their neighborhood are not godly

Or whatever

And they go right back into that same environment again

And they really struggle with being who it is they have now come to be in Christ

You know why that is?

Because their outside begins to take such a big priority

Because their outside begins to take such a big priority

They're worried about it again, right?

And you've got to not do that

It seems a little selfish but in the midst of everyone else wanting something from you

There is one thing you must want more

So we're going to have an object lesson and a video at the same time

So first of all I need a volunteer

In fact I'll take two volunteers to do a little craft

There's Arden, I need one more, and Haley

So I'm going to give you these two straws

You guys are going to work together

And while we watch this little video that we're about to watch

I want you to create one single straw out of all four of those straws

That is as long as you can make it

So end to end

No tape allowed, you have to do it by craftiness

And then we're going to watch this video for a few minutes while they do that

And then we'll be in our conclusion

We can't find it

Should be okay

That's pretty close

We don't have to go back

Right where it ended was where we wanted to be

Unless it kept going

It doesn't have to take us in the lump

Okay

Okay

Okay

Okay

That's not bad

That wasn't as good as it ought to have been

The old story

What you are comes out in what you do

A crabapple tree can't produce eating apples

As long as the old self is there

Its taint will be over all we do

We try to be religious and become passive

We try to be kind and become patronizing

Social service ends in red tape and officialdom

Unselfishness becomes all showing off

I don't mean of course that we're to stop crying for the good

We've got to do the best we can

If the soul is just fool enough to go into battle with a dirty rifle

He mustn't run away

But I do mean that the rural cure lies far deeper

Out of ourselves and into Christ we must go

Two things to take away from the video right away

Is that one, this problem that we're dealing with today

Is not new

Ever since there have been Christians

People have said I'm going to do the good thing

I'm going to do the good thing

A Christian is a little Christ

A Christian is a little Jesus

A Christian doesn't do the things that he has done

Rather a Christian is a person like Jesus was

In fact it says we ought to walk as he walked

And that naturally will equate to being honest

Trying hard, showing up, doing the work

Spending your blood, sweat, and tears if necessary

It will equate to letting your insides govern, drive, and show

In the practical we say things like

Does this course of action line up with what God wants me to do?

And we say it all the time, don't we?

What if that is not the right question?

What if the question is does this course of action line up

With who God wants me to be?

And if it does, then you pour yourself into it

Is this what God has shown me to be and to do?

Does God's Word, which I am learning, command my choice

Or disallow a certain option?

There has never in all my life I sat and thought on this

And meditated on this and prayed on this

Been a time at which I could honestly say to you today

That I asked God what I was supposed to do

In a certain circumstance, did that, and regretted it later

Never once.

Now, have there been times in which I asked God what I was supposed to do

Did what he told me to do, and then as far as this world was concerned

It sucked, somebody got mad at me, I got hurt

A young man put out a hit on my life, you know, things like that

Have those things, bad things like that happen?

Yes, bad things sometimes come out of obedience to God in this lifetime

But never have I regretted it because I could always say to myself

I know, I did this, I am this because it's who God made me to be

And in that moment, I felt whole

And I don't know that there's any worse thing

Than to feel like what you're doing is hypocritical

To feel like what you're doing is not real

That it's not who you are

That you're somehow being forced to be something that you're not

Cassandra Clare, I won't forget you, don't worry

Cassandra Clare said, and you're going to go, and right away you're going to go

I have no idea who that is, and that's okay, that's good actually

Says, I believe people are more than one thing

It is one of the great lessons of growing up, learning that people can do both

That's the exact opposite of what I'm saying today

You can search that and find it all over the internet

What I'm saying to you is you couldn't do both, but you're not meant to

What you're meant to do is have a right relationship with God

And then have all of your actions line up with Him

That's what you're meant to do

Then, and we're in our conclusion now

There's no quit in you

There's no quit in you because not only does the eternal God of the universe

Create eternity new in you so that you will go to heaven and live for what we consider to be an eternity

I submit to you it's infinite, it's more than an eternity

But it's infinite that we will live with God once we get there

And He does that in people whose souls He mends

When He saves us internally, we do that

Now you can live like a dirt bag the rest of your life and still go to heaven

But you certainly shouldn't

You should wear your insides that God has now created on your outside and it will lead to all form of action

But it also will bring you into conflict with the world

Sometimes you will not be blessed the way you would like to be blessed

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, He says, and they will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of My name

At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another

Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many

Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold

But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved

If you're living on the outside something different than what's on your inside

I hate to break the news to you but you ain't gonna make it

It's not gonna happen

You're just gonna wind up in the spiritual emergency room trying to figure out why your insides couldn't power your outsides to do what you did

How did I wind up physically broken? How did I wind up not right? How did I wind up not able?

When I thought my outsides were in line with the Lord

Because your outsides in line with the Lord have to be driven by your insides in line with the Lord

You've got to be born again, you've got to submit your internal for God's healing

And then having done so, unified, go forward

Or I would say don't go forward at all

If you're not willing to do the work like stretch, eat right, get a little bit of rest

Don't get a hobby like pickleball

If you're not willing to do a little bit of work, study your Bible, pray, memorize, meditate, share your faith

Serve, give, practice the spiritual disciplines

If you're not willing to do some work, then your hobby of Christianity

A. It's gonna cost you a lot more than you're willing to pay

You're gonna break up, fall apart in the process

It's gonna destroy you physically while your body is not able to pay what your soul could pay

But on the other hand, if you're willing to be a fanatic, you're willing to be born again, start fresh

Submit yourself to the God of the universe and live forward with all that you've got

Then all the rest, all your actions, your heart, your hands, your mind, your mouth, your eyes, everything

All of that will come in line with your interior which has been fixed by Jesus, rewoven to be correct

And you'll be able to stay the course

Apply this same standard to anything we choose to do in life

If you can't stay the course in a thing, if you think about something, you think, okay, like

So if the persecutions truly break out next week

And I don't think I'd still be doing this

Let's say you're playing a game or building something or whatever

And then you say, okay, but if the persecutions break out, I'm gonna be hiding my Christianity

I'm gonna be doing Bible study behind closed doors, I'm gonna be worshiping on my own

I'm not gonna let anybody know that I'm a Christian which means I can't do sports anymore

I can't do choir anymore, I can't do my hobbies anymore, I can't build this anymore

I can't do that anymore because I'm gonna be a different person on that day

Because I know right away, right around the corner is Jesus coming

I'm investing in these things now because it's gonna be a long time before he gets here

But now that I know he's coming like tomorrow or the next day, I'm gonna spend my time focused on God

If that's the way your life is structured right now

Then you need to start cutting out some things that are in your life

That aren't in line with your inward person

And instead build your inward person

Like C.S. Lewis said, why do you think the world thinks Christianity is a little bit selfish?

Because real Christians are concerned about the chief most important thing

Real Christians are concerned about the chief most important thing

And that is that their insides stay in line with the Savior of the universe sent by Jesus who died for that honor

He's in charge of everything now, which means if he's not in charge of your inside

Then something is isolating your insides from him

Ephesians 2, Paul writes that we are saved by grace

That means God will come and do this thing for you if you let Him

He will do the work for you if you let Him

But it also says that we are saved by grace through faith

Now is faith an external thing?

Is it something you can touch, draw, write, eat, wear?

No, it is not, it is an internal thing

But it is an internal thing that by the admission of that very verse

It says we are saved by grace through faith

It is able to create a channel between us and the living God

May I borrow the straw?

No, thank you very much

Here's our finely crafted instrument

Faith acts as a straw and if I had a cup of water here

And enough reverse pressure, it looks like it probably would work

I could suck some water through this straw

Or if I had water pouring down here and I had an empty cup over here

I could stick this straw just barely in the water that's pouring down

And I could watch it drizzle into the cup

I believe it would work

It might fall apart in the process

And it might get shorter

But I guess it would only probably take the smallest little bit of this straw

To redirect the flow of water

You don't need much faith

It exists in your human condition

If you're here and you're not saved, you're not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ

And you understand you have this faith already

You just need to believe in God for this salvation that he offers

And then to live as a fanatic, you just align your insides with your exterior choices

And wear your heart on the outside of your body

Stay the course

The greatest sports players, I can't remember the commentator who said this

But he said, talent's easy to come by

Like there are millions of guys in the US right now who have talent in basketball

Not hundreds, but millions

Talent's easy to come by

And in their neighborhood, it makes them always win

Because they have talent, they win all the time

They're talented and nobody else has their talent

Or a few guys do, but they still

Maybe they mix it up with a couple of them

One guy wins one time, another guy wins the other time

If they're on the same team, they always win because they have talent

So the guys who go pro or the guys who go the distance

They don't go based on talent

Because lots of people have talent

I have talent in basketball and baseball

I just never did anything with it

I'm not a good basketball player or baseball player

But I can do it as talent is when you can do it without really training in it

Lots of guys have talent

But when you add talent to effort

It turns out when you take your talent

And you wear it on the outside

So you get up before everybody else gets up

You show up before everybody else shows up

You do the work that nobody else is willing to do

You shoot a thousand baskets when everybody else shoots ten

You play hours and hours of basketball

When everybody else just plays around a little bit

And you turn talent into something new

Now talent won't get you to heaven

Nor will any other interior traits

Because your insides are messed up

And you need them fixed up

And you got them fixed up from God

So what am I saying?

To become a fanatic, here's what you do

Open everything that's in you

To God

No exclusive rooms or preferences

You're hiding nothing

And you humbly come to God and say

Okay God, everything that's in me

I give it to you

You fix it

You wove it in the first place

Now you fix it

And then once you've done that

You let that fixing of God

That born againness

Affect everything that's on the outside

And now finally, finally

You're moving all in one direction

No longer are you a car or a skateboard

Or going one way with a car going the other

Tempted to go

Maybe I'll just latch on

When the pastor preaches

Or when the Bible speaks

Or when the Holy Spirit convicts

You say, oh maybe I'll just do it

Maybe I'll just repent and turn

And go the other way

Maybe I'll just look to God

Maybe I'll just do it

Maybe I'll just do it

Always, that's the human condition

Always wondering, would this work?

Can I do this?

No longer like that

But now you and you

All that is you

Your mind, your soul, your heart, your body

Your actions, your choices

All that is you

Moving at whatever pace in one direction

That's what it takes to become a fanatic

You gotta have your insides on your outside

And no quick in you

I ask the praise team to come forward at this time

And lead our closing hymn

And if you're here today

And you would say either A, you've never given your life

To the Lord Jesus Christ in earnest

Then you do that

Doesn't matter what people think

Or if people think you have

But if you know you haven't

Then you say to God today

Okay, Lord, fix my insides

Come and live in me and fix my insides

And then let's go forward your direction

If on the other hand you'd say

I'm here and I have

And I've experienced what you're talking about

But I've been putting on airs

Pretending to be somebody I'm not or whatever

Then you turn to God again today

And you say, okay, God, make my insides

Also my outsides

So I can be just one person

So I'll no longer be torn in two

And I can be that fanatic

That I know the only way I'll ever feel whole

Is when it's all of me going one way

And if you respond

The Lord is ready to respond

You just stand with me and sing this song

And if the Lord has spoken to your heart in some way today

Then you respond during this time

You can come forward, take my hand and pray together

Or you can pray right where you are and talk to God

And then let us know what conversation is taking place

However you want to handle it

We are Jesus

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

Is the Lamb

We fall down

We lay our crowns

At the feet of Jesus

The great next-day

Mercy and love at the feet of Jesus

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

Is the Lamb

Holy, holy, holy

Is the Lamb

We fall down

We lay our crowns

At the feet of Jesus

The great next-day

Mercy and love at the feet of Jesus

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

Holy, holy, holy

Is the Lamb

Holy, holy, holy

We fall down

We lay our crowns

At the feet of Jesus

The great next-day

Mercy and love at the feet of Jesus

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

And we cry

Holy, holy, holy

Is the Lamb

Holy, holy, holy

Is the Lamb

Holy, holy, holy

All right, so Aaron came up here today.

Come up here, son.

Sharing with me

kind of the way things have been going.

And just basically saying once I turn back to the Lord,

I'll let you share a little bit your own words.

Yeah.

I haven't lived with the inside.

It's in my heart.

On the outside, exactly the best of my ability.

I haven't been the husband that I want to be.

I want to show the world that what's in my heart is God.

And that's inside and outside.

My heart is in one place, and that's in this place where I'm looking for the Lord,

for the best of my ability.

I've been in prayer and repentance,

so things I've done that have not shown that

align with that that I have in my heart.

I actually would be in prayer for Aaron then, as he's committed himself.

We've already talked to the Lord.

I think the Lord's already done the work here today.

And now there's the living it out.

And you might be in a similar place.

You can be a Christian and be living what you think is right

or doing quote unquote your best.

And it's just not good enough.

It wasn't good enough to get saved.

And it's not going to be good enough going forward.

God can do what we cannot do.

In him, all things are possible.

He is able.

There was a moment in time when Jesus said,

Oh, it's hard for a rich man to come into the kingdom of God.

The truth is, we're all pretty rich.

Not necessarily wealthy rich, money rich, but rich in a lot of ways.

And even though we're here in this building,

I have this opportunity to live in the nation that we live in.

There are a lot of positive things made available to us,

and that would definitely have qualified.

It is hard to come into the kingdom of God when you got a lot going on.

You got a lot going for you when your relationships are pretty good

or your money's pretty good or it's hard.

So then they asked me, so well, then who can?

And God said, what?

So we've got all things are possible.

In other words, even a rich man can come into the kingdom of God.

Anybody can.

They'll take this one step.

And then I'm just I know for a fact, and I have struggled with it myself,

but I know for a fact that there is only one way forward.

You just you just don't get out of bed in the morning and leave your liver in the bed.

You just don't get out, get up from the breakfast table,

leave your feet under the table.

You go wherever you're going all together, all your physically and goes from one place to the next.

And it's the terrible thing to think you'd ever have to have an annotation

or to have a major part of your body removed.

So physically, we understand that.

And yet we want to leave our heart out of this.

Or leave our mind out of it.

What you put in your head will affect your actions.

Your mind is meant to go.

This is the hierarchy.

Your heart regenerated by Christ rules your mind and your mind makes your decisions and your body does the work.

That's the hierarchy.

And until you submit your heart to the Lord like that, you're not all going in the same direction at once.

And we feel skittish, you know, we feel nervous.

We feel frustrated.

We don't. Why is it going the way I want it to go?

You know, if you're safe, your soul will die again.

You won't go to hell.

But you can sure feel like that's going to happen.

You feel like there's a distance, a rift between you and God.

We don't want that.

I don't mean emotional, I mean spiritually.

And as I share with Aaron, since we started talking about these things, words seem to fail.

But this was not one sermon standing alone.

Also, it's the sixth in a series.

We are fanatic for Jesus.

That means all of us go in his way.

Whatever that is, you've got to turn your heart over.

Does anybody else need to say a word?

And then we're going to close in prayer.

All right, to remind you, after a brief break, we will have a membership meeting today with a few very important motions on that meeting and some information that I need.

Everyone is welcome, even if you be here and you're not a member of your welcome state.

That is where you would appeal for membership, if you're not a member.

After you say, yeah, I want to join the church or deal with any membership issues that may arise.

Yes, I'll go quick.

I found out yesterday that my nephew Miguel, my sister's kind son, his dad passed away in a work-related accident.

Oh, Jesus.

Yeah.

OK.

He's not taking it very well at all.

So your prayers are coveted for Miguel, who's going to the loss of his dad, and unexpectedly he's going to work there.

That's very good.

Father, I thank you so much for offering the opportunity, authoring the process, giving your son, Jesus, to make it work and also to make it abundantly evident.

Then writing in the structure of all creation that the God of the universe alone, you alone, our master, creator,

that you desire a personal relationship with us on an individual basis, one on one.

It is a beautiful thing when a man and a woman get married.

They love one another, hopefully, vimically, and they work toward oneness.

But you made it possible for each of them to be one with you, by the death of your son, atonement, repudiation for sins, by loving us.

And in your love, and in our relationship with you, we find peace.

We know that you, he who is in us is greater than me that is in the world.

We find hope, that hope which is in Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose again.

And I can say, and people might have a hard time understanding, but I can say that I have met him personally.

I have been in his presence, he's been in me.

And just the same as James, the brother of Jesus, while he was alive, might have said,

he's crazy, calls himself the son of God, even though they say he does miracles, whatever, but he's crazy.

And then after Jesus died and rose again, James was changed forever knowing that Jesus was indeed who he said he was.

And it would have been the same for me. For 25 years I thought Christianity was nuts, it was hard work,

there were so many things that I didn't want anything to do with.

And then when I met Jesus, everything changed. So there might be somebody in this room who has not met you personally,

not had that personal experience knowing that God has fixed their insides, that God is walking in them now,

that they can walk in him now.

I pray Lord that you'll be patient with that person and keep calling that person to yourself until it is so.

Maybe even right now in this moment if I think, I can do this, I think I can give my life over to the Lord.

And what if I did, what would that look like? And they're afraid because they know that being a fanatic means going forward,

energy going forward, one direction, going forward, serving and giving and loving and living for the Lord God.

And that's crazy until it's the only thing.

And I pray Lord for those of us in this room who can say it's the only thing that we will be united with,

our interior and our exterior. The truth, Lord, is bring our insides to the outsides so that all the world can see the love,

see the mercy, see the service. As your word says, that we might be your light.

In him was life and that life was the light of man. And now we are called the light of the world.

Help us Lord, not contain it, but rather display it.

Thank you for being with us during our service today. Bless each family, each person here as they go about living for you

and discovering the universe. We pray it all in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you very much. This concludes our services, but we will be back in this room in about five minutes for the membership meeting.

So if you've got some business you need to conduct, please do that and then be back.