Make No Oaths Matthew 5:34

Who temperature this?

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Don't we care for a land so blue, single, brown?

A bring you more than a song, for a song in its hill

Is not what you have required

You're such much deeper within, you're the way things appear

Floating into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship

And it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus

I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made

And it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus

I'm coming back to the heart of worship

And it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus

I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made

And it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus

I'm coming back to the heart of worship

And it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus

I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made

And it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus

I'm bringing you more than a song, for a song in its hill

Is not what you have required

You're such much deeper within, you're the way things appear

Floating into my heart

Worthy is the Lamb of God said

Holy, holy is he

Sing the new song, till heaven shifts off

With his mercy to sing

Worthy is the Lamb of God said

Holy, holy is he

Sing the new song, till heaven shifts off

With his mercy to sing

Holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty

Who was, that is, and is to come

With all creation I stand

Rest through the king case

Who are by the bed

And tower of the Dorian homes

I stand by

I stand by

Golden-grey walls of living color

Freshest of iron, rose of gold

Blessing and God has strengthened, through you come with me

To you the only wise King

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty

Who was, that is, and is to come

With all creation I stand

Rest through the king of kings

Who are by the bed

And tower of the Dorian homes

Fill with wonder, O struck wonder

At the mention of your name

Jesus, your name is power

Love of the living water

Such a marvelous mystery

Holy, holy, holy Almighty

Who was, that is, and is to come

With all creation I stand

Rest through the king of kings

Who are by the bed

And tower of the Dorian homes

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty

Who was, that is, and is to come

With all creation I stand

Rest through the king of kings

Who are by the bed

And tower of the Dorian homes

A little bit of color

A little bit of color

A splash of color, a hint of color

A bit

I have all the answers

I take my answers

I take my answers

Okay, so the worksheet works

Goes from upper left to lower right

That's how it works

We're going to go all the way down

The left hand side to the box

Then we're going to go to the

Lightning bolt in the middle

And then we're going to go all the way

Down the right hand side

Kind of like three rows, if you will

And it's going to go quick

So be ready

It's going to go by kind of fast

All right

So if you'll look right in the top

Of your lightning bolt

On the top, on the upper part

Right there, there should be

A little space sideways

Should be a line

Line space sideways

You see a space?

It's right on the top there

Got green lines right there

Oh, in that box

Lightning bolt box

In the top of the lightning bolt

Not the black lines

Green lines up here

Going up and down the vertical

So I'm going to give you the

Reference that goes right there

Okay, yep

On the side, sideways

Sideways

Okay, the reference is

Matthew 5.34

Matthew 5.34

Okay

All right

So I'm going to read

Matthew 5.33 through 34

And then we're going to go down

The left hand side

And look at the verses

On the left hand side

Okay, so this is what it says

This is taking place

If you're wondering what my

Geography in the background here

You got water coming up

From the left hand side

Like a shoreline

You got like a big cliff edge there

Because this takes place

During the Sermon on the Mount

Jesus standing up high

Talking to thousands of people

On the shoreline

Okay

And it says this

Again, you have heard

That the ancients were told

You shall not make false vows

But shall fulfill your vows

To the Lord

But I say to you

Make no vow at all

Either by heaven

Or for it is the throne of God

Or by the earth

Or by the footstool of his feet

Or by Jerusalem

Or by the city of the great king

We'll stop there for a minute

Okay, so notice it says

Again, you have heard

That the ancients were told

All right, so who were the ancients?

If you're talking about

Matthew

This book of the Bible, by the way

The book of Matthew was written

Probably in Hebrew

Written by a man who was

Testifying to Jews

Okay, so people who were of

Jesus' nationality

All right

And so their ancients

Who do you think they would be

Talking about?

Give me some ancient Jews

Moses, perfect, right?

So Moses is the one I was

Looking for, that's easy

But you could have said Noah

Right, Noah goes back

Abraham, Jacob, Lot, Isaac

All of them, right?

So Jacob would be a really good one

Because he's kind of the

Founder of the nation

Jacob's name was changed to Israel

And then if you were in Israelite

That means you came out of Jacob

Okay, but we're really looking

For Moses right at this moment

And so we're going to go back

To some of those books

So the first one

I'll read it to you first

Then you can summarize it

In the verses and in the blanks

And then put the reference, okay?

So the first one

Is in Leviticus 1912

Okay, and this is what it says

It says

I'm in the wrong book

Hold on

Leviticus, there we go

19 and 12, all right

It says, you shall

And you shall not swear falsely

By my name

So as to profane the name

Of your God

I am the Lord

So just as he said

The ancients were told

I'll get you in one second, Haley

Just as he said

The ancients were told

Don't swear falsely by my name

All right, so on the black blanks

On the left-hand side on the top

Are you with me now?

That way you're going to ask me

Where I'm at?

Okay, yep

On the upper left-hand side

You should see three blanks

And the three blanks says

Don't swear falsely by my name

Six words

And then the reference

Leviticus 19 and 12

Get it?

On the upper left-hand side

Six blanks

Don't swear falsely by my name

The six black lines

And then right under that

Leviticus 19 and 12

That's what I just read

And who wrote the book of Leviticus?

It was Moses, that's right

He's the one who put it down on paper

Or whatever they had

Probably more like papyrus

Really dense material

Okay, so don't swear falsely by my name

Was a command that they had gotten from Moses

And they were living by

Remember that by this

Before the New Testament

That's all they had to live by

Was the Old Testament, right?

Now they're in the New Testament

And Jesus is saying

You heard from the ancients

Don't swear falsely by my name

Leviticus 19 and 12

Then also

It sort of repeats

But is a little bit different

In the book of Numbers

And who wrote the book of Numbers?

Anybody know?

Moses, that's right

Still Moses

Still a very long time ago

And what they would consider

The leader of their nation

In his era for sure

He's the one who led them out of Egypt

Lived right up to the edge of the promised land

And so on

And so in Numbers 30 and verse 2

It says

If a man makes a vow to the Lord

Or takes an oath to bind himself

With a binding obligation

He shall not violate his word

He shall do according to all

That proceeds out of his mouth

And so

Moses was saying

Do or fulfill your vows

That's the next three blanks

So right there

You can put fulfill

If you like that word

Because it's bigger

And it kind of has to do with vows

Or you can just put do

Because that's the word that Moses uses

Kind of cool

Do your vows

Okay

And the reference was Numbers 30 verse 2

Numbers 30:2

So it's do your vows

Or fulfill your vows

Numbers 32

30 colon 2

Okay

And we got one more

So this is all what they would have been thinking

Yeah, we've heard it

We've heard it

This is where we heard it

Okay

And now we got Deuteronomy

And who wrote the book of Deuteronomy?

We know it by now, don't we?

Moses

Okay, so can anybody tell me

This would be a big one for somebody to get

Can anybody tell me what the book of Deuteronomy is made up of?

Oh

Why is it called Deuteronomy?

Does anybody know?

Deut

It's two

It's the two final speeches of Moses

Okay

So we actually taught through this entire book as a church

Right

So the two final speeches of Moses are in the book of Deuteronomy

That's what they are

And so part of the last words that Moses gave Israel to live by

Is what I'm about to read to you

Deuteronomy 23

And it says this

When you take a vow to the Lord your God

You shall not delay to pay it

For it would be sin in you

And the Lord your God will surely require it of you

I'm going to skip 22

Then it says in 23

You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips

Just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God

What you have promised

Okay

So there's kind of like three things in there

The first is the next three blanks

And he said do not delay

Do not delay

He also said voluntarily vowed

That was your choice

You made a choice to make that vow

You didn't have to do that

Do not delay

Then voluntarily vowed

And then voluntarily pay

Okay

Electro candy

Alright

At the very top in the lightning bolt

The reference for that one was Deuteronomy 23

Versus 21 and 23

Okay

So at the very top in the lightning bolt

The first thing I said I read you a verse from Matthew

Jason did you write it down?

What was it?

One out of two

One out of two I knew that

That was good good catch

Alright

The first three blanks on the left hand side

Natalie did you write it down?

What you got?

Perfect

Coming back

One out of two

No zero out of two

But she's going to eat them anyway

Okay

Let's see

Three blanks above numbers

Numbers 30:2

Chapter 30 verse 2

Kashan did you get it?

Yep

That was fun

Okay

Alright

So what we've got is Jesus

Making reference to how they've been taught this

Notice the word ancient there

He said since ancient times

You have been taught this

Under the word ancient

Next time goes much

If something is ancient

Then that means there has been much time

From when it started being taught to now

Okay

He said you heard this since ancient times

So much time

Also next to the word times

As you can imagine

Many times

So understand these are

Jewish men primarily

Not only right

But primarily Jewish men who are hearing this

There were also women and children

The children five to nine years old

Had already heard dozens of times

That if they made a vow

They should not swear falsely

They should do their vows

They should not delay

They voluntarily vowed

So they should voluntarily pay

They have heard that

Dozens of times already

But by the time they are 30 years old

And becoming a responsible man in their society

They have heard it hundreds of times

In fact the Pharisees that were present

Memorized the whole book of Deuteronomy

From the first word to the last word

Memorized

They could recite the whole thing

Which meant they could recite

Deuteronomy 23, 21, and 23

And it was common for them to do that

When they were preaching or teaching

Which meant that everybody that was there

Had much time to hear the verses

And had been in their literature and stories

Right?

You think of pre-Christian literature now

If somebody read something then

These commands would have been in it

You follow?

Also every time they went to the synagogue

Various verses were read

And it would be common to have almost

Every single Sabbath day

Which for them was Saturday at that time

For some verse of these three to be read

You follow?

So they had heard it 52 times a year

If they are 40 years old

They had heard it maybe

Let's say 50 times a year for 40 years

That's 2000 times one of those three verses

I just read to you

That's many times

Okay?

So then if you look in between those two triangles

There's some little blanks there

And the question that goes in there is

What would you do?

Okay?

And then on the bottom

It says I

And you're going to write in there

Had you heard this many times

And for much time

What would you do?

So then you write in the box

What you would do

If you were like them

And you could say

Well you had heard

Don't swear falsely

By His name

Do your vows

Do not delay

Voluntarily vowed

Voluntarily pay

If you do

That's been taught to you

Thousands of times

I would

What? What would you do?

Put it in there

Yours is going to be different

Than anybody else's

Because you've got to have something in the box

To get the object lesson out of the whole story here

What would

Had you heard it many times

And for much time

What would I do?

That's right

This is what the crowd was thinking

As Jesus was saying that

He says you have heard it said

Right?

I'll read the verse

Again you have heard that the ancients were told

You shall not make false vows

But shall fulfill your vows to the Lord

So they said yeah

We have heard that

Thousands of times

In fact most of them went yeah

That's in Deuteronomy

He's quoting Deuteronomy 23

Yeah he's quoting Numbers 30

Yeah he's quoting Leviticus 19

Right?

And they said well based on that I know what I have to do

Okay?

Now we're moving to the lightning bolt in the middle

It divides the page

And you'll see there are blank black lines on the top

Jesus said but I say to you

That's what goes on the blank black lines

But I say to you

Now the but I say to you is important

Because this is a teaching method that Jesus was using

If you have your Bibles open

And you look back

You'll see that he did this several times

In the Sermon on the Mount

So it's been said but I say to you

It's been said but I say to you

For example back in verse 28

You have heard in 27

You have heard that it was said

You shall not commit adultery

But I say to you

And then he goes on to teach on it

Right?

In verse 22

You have heard that the ancients were told

You shall not commit murder

And whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court

But I say to you

That everyone who is angry with his brother and so on

So this formula of Jesus is saying

You know all this and you could even say

And because of that you would do

And whatever you put in the box

But Jesus is saying but I say to you

Something more

Right?

When he said it was about adultery

It was a man angry in his heart with his brother

Is guilty before the court

Right?

For committing murder

And he said

But I say to you

A man committing adultery

But a man who lost in his own heart toward another

Is guilty of adultery

So basically every time it's more extreme

He's taking the next step

He's saying you've got to go further

Than you've ever gone before

But I say to you means you've got to go further

And then over on the right hand side

Where there's blanks

There's a big blank, a little blank

Then a big blank, two little blanks

You see it there

It's kind of on the cliff space

Yeah, kind of looks like that

Okay

Verse 34

But I say to you

Make no oath at all

That's what goes in the blanks

Make no oath at all

That's what Jesus said

Now is that the natural or logical outflow of these verses?

If you were living a

Is that what you put in the box?

Did you put I would make no oath at all?

Or did you put I would keep my oaths?

See the difference?

And somebody might put I would make no oath at all

That's a possibility, right?

But the verses were correcting them in the way of saying

If you're going to make an oath, make it right

Now he goes on a little further

He says

But I say to you make no oaths at all

Either by heaven, for it is the throne of God

Or by earth, for it is the footstool of his feet

Or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king

And you see a big knot circle there

And there's the head with a little mullet

And the heaven and earth

So you don't make any oaths or promises

Based on anything else

Right?

So you don't say

On my dead mother's grave

Or if I don't do this, I'll give you money

Right?

You don't make oaths

Jesus said make no oaths at all

But does that sound like a step up?

Jason, if I say to you

If you make an oath, you've got to keep it

And then I come back later and I say

Make no oaths at all

Does that sound like a step up?

Right?

If I haven't written this before

And you come up to me and say

Keep your oaths

And then I come back in the Bible and say

Make no oaths at all

It feels like you're going against your word

Right, it's almost like a contradiction, right?

So what is he saying?

And that's where we get it, okay?

And it goes a little further

Verse 36

Nor shall you make an oath by your head

For you cannot make one hair white or black

And notice your head with your mullets in the circle there

Then 37

But let your statement be

Yes, yes

Or no, no

And anything beyond these is of evil

Alright, and so you see two boxes there

And yes goes in both boxes

Yes equals yes

And the next box, no equals no

And then the final equation

Anybody want to take a stab at it and guess it?

Anything else or anything more equals evil

Very good

And in the word it actually says anything beyond these

So anything different, anything going beyond that

So it seems like if I said to you

If you make an oath you've got to keep it

Then I sound like I don't trust you, right?

Like what are you saying exactly?

I'm not going to keep my word?

I said I was going to do it

I said I made a promise, right?

So then I say well I'm going to keep it

And I'm like okay, you've got to keep it

Well I'm going to keep it

Okay, I really want you to believe I'm going to keep it

I believe you but I'm saying you're going to keep it

And there's a contrast, there's a struggle

So then what you do is you say well I'm going to keep it

Or else I'll do this, right?

This can be my penalty if I don't keep what I say

And then you go oh man if that's your penalty

And it's enforceable by law

So you're going to sacrifice your deposit

Or you're going to have to pay money

Or you're going to have to give up something

No TV for a month or whatever

Then you're like well yeah

Now I really believe you're saying what you're saying, right?

Jesus is saying you can't do it that way anymore

You cannot decide whether or not you're going to keep your oath

By what it's going to cost you

You cannot decide whether or not you're going to keep your word

By what it's going to cost you

You can't say well I know I promised I would be there at seven

But something came up and now I'm not

In the back of your mind you know

The person that you promised you were going to be there at seven

They may not think you're going to be there

They might be sad that you're not going to be there

They may think well next time he promises me he'll be there at seven

They might not trust you

But you're willing to risk that

Because you think something important came up

See, Jesus said you can't do that

Whatever you say, that's it

Now I want you to think about who God is

Remember our lesson from last week

Proverbs chapter 8

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

The first thing on the list to wisdom

Does anybody remember what it was?

The first thing on the list

I happen to have the paper right here

Psalms, it was Proverbs 8.32

But this one's blank

But fortunately I remember what it was

Does anybody remember?

They have their paper stuffed in their Bible

Blessed are you if you keep my ways

So if you do what God does, you'll be blessed

God will take care of it

So when God speaks, what happens?

God said let there be light, what happened?

There was light, right?

Technically God said light be

That's what it actually says in the Hebrew language

It says light be and light sprung into existence

As if it was waiting there to do exactly what God said

Waiting just outside existence

And it started, it began

It became

God is a creator and He creates with His voice

And if you say I'll be there at seven

Then you have created with your voice a condition

Which means you will be there at seven

Not you might be, not you will be if you can

Right?

That's why we did a lesson months ago about willfulness, right?

That's why you say if the Lord so wills

Meaning I could be wrong

I'm saying I'm going to be there at seven

But I could be wrong and God could be saying something different

Bless you, I think

Anyway, so God could be doing something different

So God could not let me be there at seven

Or Jesus could come again before then

I wouldn't be there at seven

So you say if the Lord wills, I'll be there at seven

But if there's nothing else

If the Lord doesn't cause a miraculous intervention to stop me from being there

Then you're there

Or the alternative

Don't say you'll be there

It says let your yes be yes and your no be no

God's ways are like this

Has God ever made a promise that He didn't keep?

No

Never been a promise that God didn't keep

Now there are promises He hasn't kept yet

Right?

They're still in the works

But God doesn't make promises and not keep them

So we're like God

You're made in the image of God initially

But you're flawed because of your sin

But now you've been reborn

You're following the Lord

When you say you're going to do something

You do it

To what extent?

How far does it go?

What does it have to cost me?

What if it costs me my life?

What if I have to die or risk death

In order to be there like I said I would

Or show up for that person like I said I would?

Then you die or risk death

Or in the first place

You don't say you're going to do it

Why?

Because you're created in the image of God

And you belong to Him

And you're following His example

Blessed are you if you keep His ways

One of His ways is He does what He says

He keeps His promises

He creates with His voice

And the list goes on

So on the left side you have the commands

By the time Jesus was preaching in this day

That had been changed to

If a man said I'll pay you 50 gold on payday

Which was never gold because that's worth way too much

If a man said I'll pay you 50 minas

Like small copper coins on payday

And he couldn't or he didn't

Then there was a fine or a penalty or interest

Like a late fee was built in

But otherwise no big deal

But if a man said I'll pay you 50 minas on payday

Or on the house of God

Or on the altar

Or in the name of God

Or on my head

Then if he didn't do it

It was punishable under law

He could be put in debtors prison

He could be killed

For blaspheme

That's the day they were living in

I ask you are we living in the same kind of a day?

There are so many people today that say they'll do whatever

And they don't do it

You can't

You can't be like that

You must be like Jesus commanded us to be

Which is your yes is yes

Your no is no

Somebody says can you do this?

You say no

That settles it

Or you shouldn't have said no in the first place

They say can you do this?

You say yes

That settles it

You do it

If you have to get help from others

If you have to get a third job

If you have to bleed, sweat

If you have to wake up late, go without sleep

Go without eating

If you can't be that firm about what you say

Then don't say it

And that's what Jesus was teaching

It is a step up from

Well if I don't do it I'll take a penalty

If I don't do it people will mistrust me

Or whatever

You keep your promises

I find it interesting that in the Christian world

We see some men and women who will go the distance

They'll do what it is that God called them to do

No matter what it takes

And they say I'll be there and I'll do it

Alicia's here tonight leading worship with congestion in her chest

Feels like crap, rather be home sleeping

Right?

Fighting it off

I'm here teaching

And I've taught a number of times when I've been sick

RJ's had to preach for the first

I don't know

20 times he preached

It seemed like the enemy was after him

And a lot of times he would get sick right before

And yet he did it anyway

Right?

But you get sick working a Pizza Hut job or whatever

And you call off

While you're serving the Lord you said I would be there

Right?

And in fact most employers have emergency time off planned

So you can call off a certain number of times

When I was at Pizza Hut

If you missed three times in six months you lost your job

Met a lot of minimum wage employees

And the rules were if you missed three times

And you're like but I called off but I had a doctor's note

But what it doesn't matter

We need people who actually can and want to work

And the restaurant doesn't run if the people don't show up

And everybody was like freaked out by that

I had a person had a doctor's note twice

The third time they called off because they want to play football in their backyard

And then they lost their job

And they're like what?

I can't believe I lost my job I had a doctor's note twice

And yet the restaurant has to run and we can't hold your spot for you

Because you said you would be here and you're not here

But I was sick

Yeah I understand that

Two times you were sick and one time you were playing football

And I get that I feel bad about that

But you knew the rules you understand

Voluntarily took the job knowing the rules

Now you don't have the job you can get a job somewhere else

And the next job you get I suggest you show up on time

Every day in uniform

Don't take time off

It's not back then

Sometimes now I think it is and things are changing

But back then it wasn't reasonable to be sick three times and miss work in six months

And now with COVID things have changed

Right?

But people can work when they're sick

They just can't work when they're contagious

Or they shouldn't

And some jobs you can if you don't work with people

Bottom line is Jesus was taking it a step further

He was not backing it down

The one verse I didn't read to you and I'll close on this

Deuteronomy 23, 22

Which is in between 21 and 23 which I did read to you

Deuteronomy 23, 22

I'll read it right out of the Bible

This is the last thing we're going to close on

23, 22 says this

21 you'll recall says

When you make a vow to the Lord your God you shall not delay to pay it

For it would be sin in you

And the Lord your God will surely require it of you

22 says, however if you refrain from vowing

It would not be sin in you

You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips

Just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God

What you have promised

Notice that the second part of that it says

You shall

Be careful to perform what goes out from your lips

Just as you have voluntarily vowed

Just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God

In other words, you should be careful to perform whatever goes out from your lips

Is the let your yes be yes and your no be no

But they had let that go

And the question is do we live in a time where people have let it go

You know that there was a time a couple hundred years ago

That nobody ever signed a contract

It wasn't cell phones or even telephones

Two hundred years ago it wasn't even telephones

Right, what year was that invented? Maybe

Now, two hundred years ago we didn't have telephones

Right, telegram

Right, so it wasn't somebody in California providing something for

So you went down to the store to buy what you needed

And you couldn't pay for it and you told them you'd pay for it when you had the money

There was no contract

There was no sign on the dotted line, you said you'd pay

Everybody knew you'd pay

But now, two hundred years later

You're thinking, always thinking about how they can get out of their commitments

And that's not how it works

In the kingdom of God, you do what you said you would do

Or otherwise you don't say you would do it

You say, but I messed up, I forgot, I didn't put on my calendar

Or I didn't know I had another commitment

You're responsible for that, you have to know if you had another commitment

Right, so you shouldn't say yes without first checking your calendar

Or if you don't keep your own calendar with your parents, your grandparents, or your wife or your husband

First checking to make sure

And if you're a man in the room and you didn't check your calendar or check with your wife first

And you made a commitment and now you have to go back to your wife and say, I'm sorry, now I'm double booked

And when I do that, I either find a way to make sure both works

Or I take the hardest road

Right, because that's what you do, that's what men do

And if you're an adult female, you understand that when the appointment comes

When the calendar is scheduled, when it's on there

You have to be there, or you have to reschedule it

Right, you said you'd be there

And by the way, doctor's office is now charging fees when you miss your appointment

And you don't renew your license plates until you get a ticket

And the list just goes on and on

Keep your commitments, let your yes be yes, your no be no, that's what he was talking about

And anything other than that

Like for example, if you would say, I know I should do this

But I don't want to have to do it, so I'm not going to keep my commitment

Anything other than that is considered as evil

Okay, I'm pulling all these out here

Let's see

I'm going to get a bunch out because I'm going to use these up so I can buy new candy bars next week

There we go

That'll be enough

Okay, so if your paper is at least half filled out, I'm bringing you candy

So show me your paper

Okay

Okay

All right, so we're going to close in prayer

And then there are cookies and snack cakes and lemonade and cafeteria

And I'll meet you there, let's pray together

Father in heaven, this road that you set us on

If we were to try to walk it without Jesus

Would be virtually impossible

We would get it right sometimes and wrong sometimes

And when we got it wrong, the price to be paid would be too high

When we got it wrong, we'd be too alone, we'd be too trapped outside

We'd be too stuck in the darkness

But Lord, now when we walk this road and do what it is

That we try to do what it is that we're supposed to try to be the person we're supposed to be

Make our yes, yes and our no, no

When we screw that up, you're there with us

You're in us and you can help us keep our promises

And make it turn out the way it's supposed to

And even correct us in the moment

I think about the times where I said to myself

Well, I'm going to say I'll do this

And you said, don't do that

And I couldn't think of any reason at all why I shouldn't say so

But in my spirit, you were correcting me and saying don't

And then when the time comes, there was something going on at that time

That was completely outside my control and there was no way I could do it

I thank you Lord that you protect godly men and women to try to follow you

I also know that we get it wrong sometimes

We're going to make commitments

Sometimes we do it quick and we're not quite ready

Whatever, we jump on ahead of you

And I also know that Jesus' blood on the cross pays for that

It covers it

And so it's an impossible thing for a human being to say and do everything that they say

And then it's an impossible thing for a human being to not say

Because this life runs on commitments

It runs on I'm taking care of my wife, I'm taking care of my kids, I'm taking care of my job, I'm paying my bills

I'm following the law, following the rules

It runs on commitment in a lot of ways

And that's because without that, we would have a hard time relating with other people

Because they want from us all the time and we have to know when to say no

And they want from us and we have to know when it's right and we say yes

And we need that wisdom

And just as we talked about the wisdom from Proverbs 8

And one of the things is following the ways that you've set before us

And one of the ways that you've set before us is this way

That our yes be yes and our no be no and anything more than that is evil

We love you Lord

We ask you to help us stand firm and do what's right and keep our commitments

And we pray all this in Jesus' name

Amen