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 Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

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 If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

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 Thank you for joining us today.

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 All right, we had some difficulty with the slide presentation or the PowerPoint,

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 and I think we got it ironed out. But if I start to talk about things that you know not of,

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 and they're not up there, you'll know that there's a lead and a lag. But I think George

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 and Justin got it ironed out. And we are going to be talking about not a new subject,

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 the subject of following God, falling away from God, repenting and coming back to God.

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 And that chapter goes over and over in the book of Judges. So we'll be at chapter 10 tonight,

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 and we're going to be talking about some of the elements. And I'm going to make some

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 suppositions that may help you understand why the Israelites were the way they were.

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 So we're going to talk about idolatry and the human heart. And everybody knows without God,

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 our hearts are dark. So we're going to give you a brief outline where Israel turns from God,

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 God disciplines, and Israel cries out for deliverance and comes back.

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 So in this brief one-page outline, Tola, which is now a leader, and you know we have no kings,

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 and it says that he rises as a Godly judge after Abimelech, and we understand what Abimelech did.

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 He tried to make himself king. And Tola judges for about 23 years. And then Jair,

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 he leads Israel, and he judges for about 22 years. And he has 30 sons who ride 30 donkeys

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 and govern 30 towns. And if you notice this subtlety of what's happening here,

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 they are becoming more unified in what they're doing. They're not just a tribal

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 gathering together. They are being unified as time goes on, and we'll talk about that.

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 So Israel returns to idolatry, and we wonder why that happens. And I think that if some of you

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 remember when I was talking about Jacob and his attitudes about who he was and the aspect of

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 his noncompliance and the family traditions that he had, and they were arguing and fighting

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 and deceiving one another, and we said that that may be part of what was in the lineage of people

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 that were the Israelites. And we kind of linked that to the idea of them being rebellious and

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 then falling away. So we'll leave that, but we'll develop a new theme along these lines.

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 So Israel returns to idolatry. They forsake the Lord. They serve Gods of surrounding nations,

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 and they really did do that. And you'll see selectively what they did. And then God

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 allows the Philistines and the Amorites to oppress them for about 18 years. And then

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 Israel confesses its sin. And how many times have we done that? And we have sinned against you,

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 it says, in the Word. And God reminds them how repeatedly he had delivered them again and again

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 and again. And they remove foreign Gods and return to serving the Lord. And it says in verse 16,

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 and his Saul was grieved for the misery of Israel, meaning God's thoughts about Israel.

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 And then Abimelech's, the Ammonites' threat, I'm not going to go into that because that's

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 part of another chapter. So what we're going to do is begin to break down some of these things that

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 have been ruminating in my mind for quite some time. So Tawla rises, and he judges.

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 And here's an interesting contrast with Abimelech, which is Gideon's son. Abimelech judges

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 he wanted power. He killed his brothers, as you remember that. He made himself king,

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 and he brought destruction to the land. That was early in the wanting of power

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 from those that were following God. And then Tawla, which these verses talk about,

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 arose to save Israel. He judged Israel for 23 years, then he died. And it doesn't say

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 hardly anything about this man. The Bible gives us almost no drama from Tawla, which may actually

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 be the point. Think about this. For 23 years, they had peace, and they dwelled in the land.

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 Tawla's greatness really may have been what he did not allow to happen, and it was a quiet

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 season in Israel to this point. There was no recorded rebellion, no recorded oppression,

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 no recorded national crisis, and no attempt to make himself king. And sometimes we think of kings

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 like David being the man of valor and the warrior that he was. Here was a man,

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 not being said anything. And I looked on a lot of different references,

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 even some of the antiquities. And this is about all that was brought forth. But he did bring

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 organization. He brought peace to the land. Some scholars call Tawla one of the minor judges

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 because the biblical record preserves very few details about his activities. So he may not have

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 been great in the eyes of conquering, but he was great in the eyes of bringing stability

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 to the people. And not every leader is remembered for a great battle. Some are remembered simply

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 because they faithfully led, they preserved order, and they served their generation. And think about

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 that with regard to us. We don't seek, at least I would hope not, position in the church.

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 If it is given us, we respond, we take our ministries seriously. We give of ourselves to those

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 ministries, whatever they may be. And that's the reward in itself. And if there is a reward,

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 it's in heaven. That's what space basically is. That's our time to rejoice.

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 So here is a man that did what he needed to do to bring 23 years of organized relationship

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 between the people and God in the tabernacle and doing the things that were essential.

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 And then we have another one, Jair. And he leads Israel for about 22 years. And he has 30 sons,

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 and they ride 30 donkeys, and they govern 30 towns. Now think about the expansion of that.

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 It doesn't say anything wrong with this, but it's the idea that the governance or the

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 organization or the liability of having people just come and go and whatever being

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 disorganized is being put down so that they can live a societal life. And it's the beginnings of

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 normalcy. Remember when they battled, they tried to take those nations captive, kill them.

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 God said destroy them. And obviously they didn't do all that. And they failed.

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 But that was the warring time. Now is the time of settlement and organization, as we will see.

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 So he appears to have experienced leadership through an extended family network.

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 So we have those things that are in an operational way going to present in 22 years

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 a system of organization, his son carrying out his edict and his control. And rather than a

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 single dramatic military battle, he again was one that brought stability to the land.

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 That is important. The nation, if you will, is growing up.

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 And then the combination of 30 sons, 30 donkeys, and 30 towns indicates, again,

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 a level of wealth, status, and political influence because he had to have some finances to run this

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 whole thing with regard to the 30 locations. So riding donkeys as a parenthesis was associated

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 with people of rank during this period of time. Usually you walked. Remember Jesus walked from

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 town to town to town to town. He only had a donkey when he came into Jerusalem for the last

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 time. And the book of Judges repeatedly shows judges accumulating substantial family power

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 and money. Gideon, he had 70 sons. You remember the story about that? Abimelech,

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 he wanted to be king. He attempts to turn the family connection into a personal kingship.

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 And Jair, he has 30 sons connected to 30 towns. Jephthah, he later becomes a regional leader.

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 And Samson, of course, is another type of judge that as we get into that, you can see that it

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 is a bit different than the normal judge that we had. And remember, in all this time,

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 there was no king. Did God want Israel to have a king? Not at all. He established what the priesthood

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 was. The priesthood educated. He was part of a doctoring theory. He was part of a teaching

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 theory. And all the important issues were supposed to come from the priests as they served.

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 But again, eventually we understand that there was a king installed.

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 So now we have passed some 23 and 22 is 45, 46 years of stability and organization. And now Israel

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 returns to idolatry. Israel forsakes the Lord and they serve the Gods of surrounding nations.

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 So God allows the Philistines and the Amorites to oppress them for 18 years. So they had 43,

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 45 years good. Now they have 18 years of oppression. Now, Judges 10 gives us evidence

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 of this increasing local abundance property that they have. They were given and a broader class

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 of regional leaders. So you see they're just not tribal people warring as they were. They're

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 beginning to create a society. And Jair's family appears to represent an emerging regional elite

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 class. So now you start to see classes and people begin to develop. And a growing class

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 of local landowners, clan leaders, and community officials, and all these things that kind of

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 lean out of many resources and it kind of begins to paint a picture where we're going.

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 And it seems not to show us that Israel is becoming increasingly settled, organized,

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 and locally governed rather than simply being a loose collection of tribes. And that was God's

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 policy all the way through, except that they withstood his guidance and his leadership.

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 So now here's my speculation. And I give you that. I got this from a lot of different sources. I

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 want to paint a picture for you. This is some of the reasons why we see them falling away.

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 And I want you to apply this to your own life as God deals with you. Israel now has completed

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 all the conquering of the Promised Land, is now focused on settlement. And

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 you just made settlement on your house there. And just in a quick, the advantage of moving

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 to a new house was? Okay. More safe. Bigger house. All right. Okay. All right.

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 And you feel good about that, right? Okay. That's good.

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 Development. A lot of us that have been in the church have had jobs that develop our own

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 businesses. And we move forward. We can get consumed in that if we're not careful.

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 And we have the balance between what God is saying to us and what our desires are

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 to advance our family, to advance our profession. They built homes, although they did receive a lot

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 of homes and vineyards, as the word says. They established permanent towns and communities.

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 So this is coming together. They see it. They see the vision. And families were

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 cultivating their lands, growing grapes that, you know, you know the stories how big the grapes

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 were in the land of milk and honey. They created generational wealth. They traded.

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 They not only had cattle. They not only had sheep. They not only had goats. They had commerce

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 that they were beginning to relate to one another and also throughout the land that

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 they didn't conquer. So in creating that wealth, they increasingly had possessions

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 and local leaders were now emerging. Cities, states, towns, and so forth.

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 They enjoyed the social, economic, and political structures that enabled them to become more

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 settled and comfortable. How many people when they look in their life way back when,

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 let's say 20 years ago, feel more comfortable now than you did 20 years ago?

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 Okay, so that's natural. Then that should be. But the irony of that is

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 they were accommodating their neighbors all the time. Remember, they didn't wipe them out.

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 They accommodated them. Now, this is an important irony that you take a look at.

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 As Israel's society became more stable, they began drifting away from God who cared for them.

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 And that's the issue that we face all the time in our life. The danger was not that Israel was

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 becoming established. It was that they were becoming established without remaining faithful

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 to God who established them. And that's the lesson for today. We can become more secure

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 in our circumstances while becoming less dependent upon God. And I don't know whether you can testify

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 to this or not, or even if you want to. But there are different times in my life that I was

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 doing the Lord's work and I got sidetracked because of great interests.

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 And to me, it was business. And the idea of opening up another aspect of my business. And

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 I got sidetracked for a couple years and brought that back. And then, as some of you know,

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 because of the business grew so fast and I had some 37 people working for me, things got

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 overweighted and I had to declare personal bankruptcy because the leverage was so much

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 and the downturn in business caused everything to disappear. So be that as another story.

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 But it's the idea that in that experience, I learned simplicity of life and appreciation

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 of the things that I had in the Lord. So now my question is to you, as God establishes

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 us in our life, how do we keep from gradually learning to live as though we no longer need

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 him as much? See, that's the question that we have to ask. Are we comfortable? You know,

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 all is good. We have this. We have good jobs. We have good home. And what does that look like to

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 you? How do we stop that? How do we come against that? And I'll fall on my face if I don't watch

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 myself here with the cords. How do we not get caught up in the comforts? And, you know, we

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 know what the United States is. It's the greatest comfort in the entire world.

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 You know, yes, we have divisions. And yes, we have issues. But you look at some of the things

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 that are going on in Europe. Some of the other issues of life were very fortunate people.

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 So how do we combat that? How do you personally combat that idea that, oh, life is good

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 and moved into a new home. I'm not putting it on you. I'm glad that you did. You know,

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 I got a good job. The Lord blessed me. My kids are following the Lord. Ah, it's all good.

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 Yes. Now let's see if I can get there. All right. There you go.

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 Oh, okay. No, I think the thing that really helps me is, you know, I have a grateful heart

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 that what I have is really, he's given. And at any time it can be taken away. And I mean,

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 our government could just wipe us out any time. And, you know, but our God never will.

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 He takes care of his own. And my faith is in him. So what are you saying about the possessions

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 that you have? They're gifts. They're gifts from him. Okay. And just hold them loosely.

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 Yes, that's it. They're not ours. They're gifts. They are. Definitely, definitely.

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 And if they leave, so. Hasta la vista.

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 All right. Okay, that's good. All right. It's easy to say, Roger, she doesn't pay the bills. You do,

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 right? Good. What else? What other thoughts? How do you deal with this?

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 I would say in the last 10 years, the Lord has helped me to learn to refocus

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 my attention on him and make him a priority in my life. But it's something that I have to work at.

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 Yeah. Because it doesn't come naturally. And it's something that I have to pray about and ask for

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 help with. And I have to keep getting knocked down in a little bit to remember, you know,

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 where I am and where I need to be. Yeah. From a fleshly point of view, the priority is usually

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 me. And that's what we have to fight. I mean, that's not an easy thing. Any other thoughts?

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 Just recently, though, it just happened with me. Can you take the mics?

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 Yes, you do. Okay, I'll do that. Recently, I just discovered that God put it in my heart,

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 just like in the past four months, that I had a lot of shoes, a lot of things. And I said

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 why do I have all this? And I felt this interest come upon me to get rid of him and give him the

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 care and share. And even now, when I look at my closet, I go, I can get rid of more. He's

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 taken my heart away from what's in the world. Yeah, that's wonderful to hear. Yeah. When you

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 did that, how did you feel? Wonderful. Yeah. And it's funny, years ago, I would have said,

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 oh, I'm going to keep these. And then I look back, I go, I look now and I go,

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 there's someone who could use them now. Yeah, it's a wonderful feeling.

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 Always more in need than ours. Took pictures off the walls and he goes,

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 are you doing a major cleaning or what? And I'm like, it's not necessary. Right?

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 I'm ready to leave, right? No, that's good. I mean, that's a realization that when you come to it,

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 and I find, unlike when I was younger, this, this, this, this, and this, there's not much in life

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 other than God that's important. You don't need a new lawn mower every year, right?

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 Oh, okay. All right, you get somebody who moves your lawn. Anybody else? Jenny,

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 thoughts? No? Okay. Yes. We've been studying the Old Testament and we go through this,

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 you'll see that when they cross the Jordan, it's like pile up a bunch of rocks, right? And so when

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 you pass by there, tell your kids, yeah, remember. And he established festivals, right? And feasts and

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 stuff. And it's to remember. And so I know a guy that does give them 15 every morning. Yes.

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 Likewise. Exactly. We do that. So John and I do that. It's given 15 minutes every morning.

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 And to me, that's, it's something I do before I even get out of bed. And it's to start my day

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 thinking about God, communicating with God. And then I try all day and everything that I'm doing,

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 I talk to him. You don't always get answers. He's not like, yeah, do that or don't do that

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 or whatever. But I just try and stay in touch with him all day long, try and be in his presence

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 all day long and know that nothing I have is mine. I'm just a steward of it. It's all his.

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 And he gives us, he wants and it tells me what to do with it. So yeah. That's wonderful.

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 I think I'm a little more thick-headed than everyone else. And so what I have to do is,

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 um, it's going to sound crazy, but I have to be financially generous because it's easy for me to,

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 let's go sound dumb. It's easy for me to give away things that I'm not attached to,

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 but I am attached to, you know, money. I am. And it's like, I like buying my things. I like

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 going out to dinner. I like doing these things, but you know, it's important to me every month to

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 be generous financially somewhere. And it's, it can be challenging, but I force myself to do it.

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 So anyway. What blessing have you seen out of that? You've been able to force yourself.

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 You know, the, really the blessing is knowing that I'm participating with God in things.

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 And that's really what it comes down to is like, even when it's hard, I'm like, wow,

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 I know this is something that God would want me to do. And I feel thankful to be able to have

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 done it, you know, and, um, yeah. So anyway, it's a little, little hard at the beginning, but,

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 I mean, you know, we're battling flesh and, you know, and that's, that's not easy. I mean,

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 you know, to, to, to have that old man want to rise up and push him down and ask the Lord to,

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 you know, conquer every room in my life and every, you know, in my, in my, the house of my heart.

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 That's not particularly easy. So yes. Ron.

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 Well, I think I found out that it's not bad to have things because the Lord gives them to us,

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 but the problem occurs when we put them things before God. And just the other day, I had to

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 give 30 pair of pants away. The good will. I hate it doing it. I mean, I've had these pants for

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 30, 40 years. Never wear them. Never wear, never wear them, but I still have about 50 pants.

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 Yeah, she motivated me because I would never even work on some other things.

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 I think I better get rid of this.

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 Well, you know, not that not, not that you should be alone. I have this red Robin shirt

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 that I bought 20 years ago. I love this thing. And every time I put it on my wife says, are you

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 wearing, you know, it's kind of raggedy around here, but it's like tie worn and it looks nice.

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 So I do it every time I'm with another guy, I say, well, what about this shirt? Do you think

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 I should get rid of it? No, that's a nice shirt. So I come home and I keep my wife

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 informed that so-and-so said that I should keep the shirt. Yeah. Yeah, right. It looks

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 good because it's worn. Any other thoughts? Yeah.

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 Being a female and being on my own and being in that situation, it's very easy to want to hoard

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 and hang on to money for a sense of security. And it's really painful when I'm paying the bills or

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 I have to spend money because I'm like, ouch. And, you know, it's like, I don't buy clothes

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 often only if I need them and going out to eat is few and far between. And, you know,

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 so it's, it's hard for me. And I have to remind myself when I do donate to a charity that

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 it is God's money and I didn't get it by myself. Yeah. Now, in looking at your finances and having

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 the Lord say, okay, you hear, how do you feel? How do I feel when I give? Better. I feel better

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 about myself as a human being. And even when I didn't have an income and was pending disability

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 about almost two years, yeah, a year and a half ago or so when I first got on the disability,

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 I didn't have an income for six months and was trying for my savings account and still was like,

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 it's not mine. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Good. Good. Good. Hey, John, I just had this thought.

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 There's a, I think there's a proverb that says, he who lends to the poor, no, he who gives to the

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 poor lends to the Lord. And I was thinking about that one day and I'd say, wow, just think about

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 that. Every time when you give to the poor, that's like the Lord is saying, Hey, listen,

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 Dottie, I gave you so much. Now I need some of it back because I need it over here

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 because it's all his anyway. So it doesn't matter because it gets back to you somehow.

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 It may not be dollar for dollar. It may be dollar for something else. Yeah. Really, really.

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 You just may have a spiritual blessing, not necessarily a financial one.

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 That's why I was asking a question. How do you feel? I mean, in that that's even a reward

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 when the Lord just speaks to you. Well done. Good and faithful servant. Yeah, really.

243
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 Okay. Okay. So they are in the midst of idolatry. And here are some interesting pieces of evidence

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 of Israel slipping into sin as they became more comfortable. And, you know, again, the takeaway

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 message is that all this us applies to us. We don't have tents. We have houses. We still have

246
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 food. We still have needs. And all these things are still applicable. So look at the progression

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 here. And they should prove to us and demonstrate to us that they didn't maintain the covenant

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 separation unto God that God wanted for them. So in Judges one, I'm just going to do a couple

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 word review. Israel didn't drive them out. And remember, those of you that have not been here,

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 they were asked to what annihilate every individual in the land that they were taking.

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 And they did not do that. So there was residents that were already there that they lived with.

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 And that's the danger that can be compromised. And they didn't realize that.

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 So they didn't accomplish that goal. Judges two, Israel lived among them.

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 And if you're not, and if you're equivocal about serving God, living among other people,

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 what does that do to the influences in your life begins to draw you to their way of life? Because

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 we all want to be wanted. We all want to be friends. We all want to have interesting

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 relationships. Judges three, five, and six, Israel intermarried with them. And that was

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 one of the big sins that he said that I do not want you. You're not my children. And they started

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 to intermarry. And then lastly, in Judges three, Israel served other Gods. And we're going to

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 talk about that. They just didn't take one God. They took several, and we'll show you. Israel

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 what's that look like? And I'll go over this with you. Israel gradually accumulated, gradually

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 accumulated Gods of the surrounding nations, adopting the religious practices of virtually

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 every other people around them, not just some, but all of them. Let's look at the various things

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 that happened. I know you can't read this, so I'll read it. So number two is they contacted

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 with other nations. And they wouldn't have done that if they would have annihilated

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 the surrounding people. So they had that contact. So compromise begins instead of removing the

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 foreign influences, Israel tolerated and adopted the religious practices of the surrounding nations.

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 Now look at all this down here. From Canaan, Baal and Asherah represented storms, rain, fertility,

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 and abundance. And those are the things that they needed. Abundance, fertility, rain for their

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 lands and for their crops, for their animals. From Aram, they received the rain, agricultural,

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 and power of nature. Those Gods they took. So they're getting all these various things. It's

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 a hodgepodge of religious reality, I would guess, and ritual. And from Sidon, fertility and healing

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 and property and prosperity was part of what they wanted to do. So they took some from them.

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 And from Moab, they took national identity and military fortresses. And from Ammon,

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 they took national identity and interests. In other words, not spiritual interests. And Felicia,

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 they took agriculture, prosperity, and power. They took a little bit from all these different

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 nations and assimilated them in. Remember that scripture that we used some longer weeks ago

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 God said that these, my chosen people, were worse than the pagan nations. Because they

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 took everything, they took a little bit of everything and assimilated all this in.

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 So now the question that we ask, what can living among the unsaved do to the Christian ethos?

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 That's the thing. Ethos meaning values and character that shape how we live.

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 But what can happen? Not necessarily in your life, but what can happen? Can we be influenced?

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 Yes. Do you want to say something, Glory? Are you just okay? Just scratching your head. Okay.

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 All right. All right. So that influence comes. Now living among the unsaved is not

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 automatically weaken us as Christians, but it can create a constant pressure on us.

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 You know, like when you have, we lived in one apartment complex before we bought our first

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 house and they had block parties there. And you know, well, John and John, why aren't you coming?

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 Well, we're going to church. Church? Man, we're having a good time. Come on on after church. Well,

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 you know, all of a sudden we realize that we're living a different life,

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 you know, in kind of the wrong environment. So it was nice to get our own place.

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 The pressure to adapt to values and attitudes and behaviors

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 of the surrounding culture that we're in. Anybody ever get caught in that?

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 Isaiah, give me example.

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 I was expecting call on.

295
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 Pardon. Getting caught in that. I guess, yeah, when I was younger, just, you know,

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 hanging out with the wrong crowds and the wrong people, even though knowing deep down in my heart

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 that I didn't necessarily share the same values as them, just beginning to compromise my own,

298
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 like, just to get my values, attitudes, and behaviors in my earlier years in life. So that's

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 definitely something that I see as dangerous for sure. And then I try to keep alert for now,

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 even in the workplace conversation I'm having, working on TV still, you know, trying to watch,

301
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 you know, but just everything affects you. And it all goes into your mind.

302
00:35:27,860 --> 00:35:29,460
 Exactly. And sometimes it can...

303
00:35:29,460 --> 00:35:37,039
 When you talked about hanging with the crowd, did we all, I think, and I won't answer the question

304
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 for you. I'll ask it. Did we want to be accepted? Is that what we were looking for?

305
00:35:43,859 --> 00:35:47,659
 Maybe unconsciously in the, when I was younger, but...

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 Part of something?

307
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:53,900
 Yeah. Not, I don't think consciously though. Just kind of like, just kind of rubbing off on you,

308
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 you know, like foul language, right? Like you hang out with people like, I know my workplace

309
00:35:57,639 --> 00:36:02,239
 curse words fly all day. So it's easy to kind of like slip up and be like,

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 start talking like that. So that's an example of that. So not consciously wanting to do it

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 to fit in, but just it rubbing off on you, just because you're around it all the time.

312
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 So again, I'm not trying to grill you. When did you realize that you just can't do those things?

313
00:36:18,199 --> 00:36:23,000
 I guess I've always known it. I guess it just came to a point where I had to really...

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 Yeah. And by no means am I perfect at that now, right? Because, you know,

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00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:31,019
 but it's difficult. You just got to be, you have to have discernment and be mindful of your

316
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 surroundings. And I try to explain this to people too, just like you said about

317
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 hanging out with people in the environments, but they see it as though I'm coming off as

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 better than. Yes.

319
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 But when really I'm trying to communicate to them that it's about rubbing off on you

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 and making you compromise in your values. So I don't know. So I stopped trying to explain it.

321
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:55,019
 You know, when we got married,

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 my wife, bless her heart. She's such an innocent person. I just love her to death.

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 We got talking about this one time. I said, the next time that we may happen,

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 I forget the word. We may play switcheroo. She says, what's that? I said, well,

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 if you would go to bed with somebody else and meet with somebody else, I mean,

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 that's what people do. I mean, you know, that's a lot of what in my growing up,

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 they had block parties. And then you ended up sleeping with a different person,

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 which was neat. And, you know, we never accepted that, but was the idea of my wife. She said,

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 I didn't even, I can't even understand all that, you know, and it's interesting to see.

330
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 Now she's a preacher's kid, so you can take understanding on that. All right. Yes, Roger.

331
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:51,619
 Now you're not going to tell us any bad stories, are you?

332
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 I won't tell you the stories, but I remember as a teenager, there's a lot of times I didn't know

333
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 what was right. And other older kids or even kids my age that were very positive in certain things,

334
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 I accepted their guidance because I wasn't getting it from anywhere else.

335
00:38:12,579 --> 00:38:17,659
 So when you're talking about living among the unsaved, particularly the children are vulnerable,

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 unless the parents are very strong in, you know, indoctrinating them. And in my situation,

337
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 that wasn't so. So I did a lot of foolish things.

338
00:38:29,300 --> 00:38:32,099
 So you didn't have a Godly environment?

339
00:38:32,619 --> 00:38:36,639
 That's right. I mean, I went to church, but it wasn't that. Actually, that was,

340
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 even among some of the men going to church, it was kind of a joke.

341
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 Did you have a Godly environment, parents?

342
00:38:46,940 --> 00:38:54,280
 Okay. Well, grandmothers do. Man, they're on their knees for their grandkids. Yeah, good.

343
00:38:54,280 --> 00:39:00,800
 But to his point, yes, that can be tough as well. So with my son, really, I guess for me,

344
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 it's a balance of letting him kind of make his mistakes. But yeah, right. Don't get crazy,

345
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 everybody. But yeah, within reason, but also at the same time, as far as who he's around,

346
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 not necessarily being like, well, those kids are bad. More, I try to focus on telling him,

347
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 life is full of choices. And there's consequences for your choices. So if you're hanging out with

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 these people, and they get in trouble, by default, you're in with them. You know what I mean? So I

349
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 just try to really explain that to them. And it's a mix.

350
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 I got to say something, don't say too much. Okay, that's right. I grew up in a rough situation.

351
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 Let's just say that. And then I met her and I said, let's go out. And she's looking good.

352
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 I said, take you out. We'll go nightclub it. She don't drink. You don't smoke, you don't drink.

353
00:40:03,380 --> 00:40:07,619
 What do you do? I run Bible studies. Well, now you got me, because I don't know what you're

354
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 talking about. I had no idea. So, you know, bingo. Now she's the boss and I'm the slave

355
00:40:14,300 --> 00:40:20,219
 husband. That's what it comes down to. Yes, ma'am. But you know, when it comes down to also,

356
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:26,159
 when you say where people draw you in, I felt recently in the past couple of years where God

357
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 is isolating me to get to know him more. And yeah, and the people around me, there's no friends.

358
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:43,000
 And I'm even finding that being with family, they're unsaved. There's a slightest taste,

359
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 not a love. There's love there, but a distaste of where the isolation of spending time with God

360
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 is greater than everything else. Yeah, it's different. And so when we go home at night

361
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 or on the weekends where people are having fun, I'm reading the Bible. So it's…

362
00:41:04,599 --> 00:41:08,599
 That's a safe place to be. Yeah. Good, good, good. All right.

363
00:41:11,879 --> 00:41:21,539
 So they are being annihilated by all these various things. And the DNA that we had talked about way

364
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 back with Jacob, the idea of living in a comfortable land begins to let us understand what decisions

365
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 they decided to make. So now, how does all these things or how do all these things

366
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 affect our Christian ethos? All right. It desensitizes us as we begin to be amongst

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 the things we've been talking about. What once seemed sinful can now gradually begin to seem

368
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 normal. That's so bad. I mean, they're good people. You know, and it is an 80% good,

369
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 a 20% bad, and so forth. We can diagnose that, but we'll go on. We compromise our convictions.

370
00:42:14,019 --> 00:42:19,960
 You know, if we write our convictions down today, will they look like these convictions

371
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 two years from now? If you look back maybe in your life 10 years and you had convictions

372
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:32,000
 compared to what your convictions are now, we'll see a difference because all of you're here on

373
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 Wednesday night and you're not in the nightclub. So, you know, there are convictions that have

374
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 developed over the last 10 or 20 years that bring a desire for you to find God, like you said,

375
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 rather than fit in and be part of the gang. We can distort our priorities.

376
00:42:51,799 --> 00:42:57,699
 Well, you know, I used to go to Wednesday night, you know, John, he's boring and, you know,

377
00:42:57,739 --> 00:43:01,480
 he doesn't have PowerPoint anymore. We almost didn't have PowerPoint tonight, by the way.

378
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:06,420
 You know, it wasn't working. And I keep telling the guys in the back,

379
00:43:06,579 --> 00:43:10,980
 if you take my computer away, I can't talk. You know, I've got nothing to say.

380
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:15,239
 At 702, I would have given you a benediction and you've all gone home.

381
00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:22,119
 So, we distort our priorities by material success, pleasure, status,

382
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 and self becomes increasingly important. Gail covered that.

383
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 Influence our speech and behavior. Isaiah, you talked about that.

384
00:43:33,199 --> 00:43:40,780
 Worldly attitudes can slowly replace Christian-like character. And then we normalize our sin.

385
00:43:40,780 --> 00:43:47,460
 Oh, it's not so bad. I still love the Lord. Repeated exposure can reduce our sense

386
00:43:48,060 --> 00:43:53,599
 of its seriousness. These things are serious. Think about this. They were told,

387
00:43:53,619 --> 00:44:01,119
 you're a nation by yourself, and here they go out and marry across the way, across the land,

388
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:11,460
 unsaved, not Israelis. They create spiritual drift within us. And this is a subtlety, drifting.

389
00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:17,659
 You ever see us pond and a small stream and things come in, leaves float down slowly.

390
00:44:18,079 --> 00:44:24,340
 It can begin to happen. Without intentional fellowship with God and other believers,

391
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:30,219
 faith can become passive. I mean, think about the people that you know

392
00:44:30,780 --> 00:44:34,820
 that go to church that are satisfied being there because of the liturgy.

393
00:44:36,139 --> 00:44:42,199
 Oh, you know, the cross, nothing wrong with it. But there you see, I mean, that's not what we

394
00:44:42,199 --> 00:44:46,619
 worship. We worship the cross. We're cognizant of what it is, what it has done for us,

395
00:44:46,679 --> 00:44:54,719
 but we worship the living Jesus. And all the robes and all the songs, you know, like I had told you,

396
00:44:54,719 --> 00:45:02,599
 I had ministered a few times in the ecumenical church at Meadowood. And boy, I tell you,

397
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:09,539
 I went in there and what was interesting, I'll say a quick aside. And the pastor always stands

398
00:45:09,539 --> 00:45:16,539
 up here. Well, I came around the mic and the microphone like this, and people's eyes are like,

399
00:45:16,980 --> 00:45:23,039
 oh, what are you doing? You know, it's different. So I walked up and down the aisle a couple of

400
00:45:23,039 --> 00:45:28,219
 times and said, okay, I got their attention now. So, you know, it's just what you're used to and

401
00:45:28,219 --> 00:45:34,840
 what you think is spiritual, I would guess. These can become very passive things. And then

402
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:41,780
 we weaken our witness. Well, look at you. You're a Christian. You do these things. What's wrong

403
00:45:41,780 --> 00:45:48,159
 with me? When Christians begin looking and living like everyone else, their distinctiveness is

404
00:45:51,639 --> 00:46:00,880
 diminished. It's what we do, what we say. My middle son, he and I had various disagreements

405
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:05,800
 in life to the point in time when he was about 17, I had to tell him to leave home

406
00:46:06,860 --> 00:46:15,400
 because he just didn't... That was a story for another day. But after he came back to the Lord,

407
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:21,239
 I said, Jared, I said, you know, what did you learn when you were growing up? He said,

408
00:46:21,300 --> 00:46:24,599
 I didn't learn anything. I didn't listen to what you said. I just watched you.

409
00:46:25,639 --> 00:46:33,360
 I looked at you, how you conducted yourself to mom and to other people and to people in the church.

410
00:46:34,239 --> 00:46:38,179
 And so if he is a witness of what people do, they look at your life.

411
00:46:39,579 --> 00:46:44,420
 They hear the words, but they look at your life. Okay. Now, let me give you the other

412
00:46:44,420 --> 00:46:50,900
 side of the story. There's another side to this now. And we're equating what happened to Israel,

413
00:46:51,059 --> 00:46:56,980
 could happen to us. Jesus did not call his followers to withdraw from unbelievers

414
00:46:56,980 --> 00:47:05,179
 as he himself fellowshiped with the unsaved. He called us to live among them without becoming

415
00:47:05,179 --> 00:47:13,539
 like them. And that's important. Matthew 5.14, you are the light of the world.

416
00:47:14,639 --> 00:47:21,699
 Jesus did not ask the father to remove his followers from society. He asked that they

417
00:47:21,699 --> 00:47:29,239
 would be protected. And the verse for that is John 17.15, I pray not that you should be taken

418
00:47:29,239 --> 00:47:37,239
 out of the world, but that you should keep them from evil. In other words, our position is here

419
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:45,539
 in the concourse of life. And so the question that we ask is, so if Israel could not live

420
00:47:45,539 --> 00:47:53,320
 among the pagans without falling away, what makes us so different in that we are called to

421
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:58,519
 influence our surroundings? How can we do that today when they couldn't do that

422
00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:00,920
 thousands of years ago?

423
00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:07,719
 Well, the real difference obviously is the Holy Spirit within us,

424
00:48:08,079 --> 00:48:13,579
 because we couldn't do it any more than they could without his help. We couldn't change

425
00:48:13,579 --> 00:48:17,119
 anything that we, any of our behaviors, any of our thought processes,

426
00:48:17,699 --> 00:48:20,360
 none of that would change if it weren't for the Holy Spirit within us.

427
00:48:20,820 --> 00:48:27,079
 You mean self-help books aren't right? Oh my gosh. When this came out, I said,

428
00:48:27,079 --> 00:48:31,159
 and I read a couple of them and I said, oh my word, you know, you could do this and,

429
00:48:31,179 --> 00:48:36,840
 you know, think positive. I said, oh my gosh, where's all this going? Any other thoughts?

430
00:48:38,460 --> 00:48:44,599
 All right. Yeah, go ahead. Another side to that is not only is it the Holy Spirit within us,

431
00:48:44,599 --> 00:48:50,559
 but we have to stay yielded to him or he can't do that work. We have to yield ourselves to him.

432
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:53,119
 And with yielding comes humility.

433
00:48:57,079 --> 00:49:03,320
 You know, this is hidden close to home because I walked here, you know, with the Smalls,

434
00:49:04,019 --> 00:49:11,659
 you know, I met them in the alleyway and about a block over the church that's been defiled and

435
00:49:11,659 --> 00:49:18,039
 turned into a Hindu temple. They're romping and stomping and beating drums. And

436
00:49:19,880 --> 00:49:24,599
 yes, at first I was like, oh boy, where's the party? And then I thought, whoa,

437
00:49:24,599 --> 00:49:30,179
 wait a minute, this isn't good. So, I mean, you know, I was like, blood of Jesus,

438
00:49:30,820 --> 00:49:35,539
 poor fire on him. And I'm like, no, maybe just get them out of here.

439
00:49:37,099 --> 00:49:42,239
 Or if they were pan, you know, I was like, I prayed out loud, blood of Jesus, you know.

440
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:44,480
 Come against the adversaries.

441
00:49:44,699 --> 00:49:51,719
 Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was walking and we really need to pray because this shouldn't be in our town.

442
00:49:52,360 --> 00:50:00,179
 It shouldn't be. It really shouldn't be. However, this is the mission field that God called us to.

443
00:50:00,679 --> 00:50:07,079
 So, we will labor on to do those things that God puts on our heart to do to influence the

444
00:50:07,079 --> 00:50:17,360
 hearts of men. All right. The danger of living among the unsaved is not that we will be around

445
00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:24,639
 them, but it is that without guarding our hearts, and this comes back to what a couple of you said,

446
00:50:25,059 --> 00:50:30,719
 we can gradually become like them. And this is the tension that we all live in

447
00:50:31,519 --> 00:50:39,099
 as we live for Christ. Close enough to reach them, but different enough to show them Christ.

448
00:50:39,619 --> 00:50:46,780
 That's what our message is. So, let's take a look at some issues that will help us.

449
00:50:46,780 --> 00:50:53,400
 The question then becomes, how do we guard our hearts? What can we do? It's not self-help. Like

450
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:59,340
 you said, it's the Holy Spirit. We must intentionally protect what shapes our thoughts,

451
00:51:00,240 --> 00:51:07,699
 desires, convictions, attitudes, and actions so that the world does not slowly replace God's

452
00:51:07,699 --> 00:51:14,039
 truth in us. Proverbs 4, 23, above all else, guard your hearts. So, what's that look like?

453
00:51:14,039 --> 00:51:23,559
 We're going to talk about that. For everything that you do flows from it. Guarding what we take in,

454
00:51:24,659 --> 00:51:30,880
 what we listen to. Being discerning about what we watch. There's the TV thing.

455
00:51:33,940 --> 00:51:37,480
 Yeah, I know. You raised your hand. We'll see you at the altar later. No, I'm just kidding.

456
00:51:38,679 --> 00:51:46,519
 What we listen to, what we read, and what we allow to influence us. What are those things?

457
00:51:47,059 --> 00:51:56,500
 They're subtleties. And then guarding what we believe. Measuring the ideas and cultural messages

458
00:51:56,500 --> 00:52:02,280
 against the scripture, because that's the basis of understanding, rather than automatically

459
00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:08,880
 accepting, like Roger said, he just accepted his friends and their guidance. He didn't have

460
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:18,639
 any spiritual input. Roger, you turned out pretty good. Guarding our desires. Boy, this is one

461
00:52:18,639 --> 00:52:26,360
 that I deal with. Recognizing when something is pulling our hearts away from God. What are

462
00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:34,860
 your interests? That was funny, anecdotally. I've always had a garden over at Meadowood.

463
00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:39,260
 You raise vegetables, do all those things, and there's a camaraderie with people there.

464
00:52:39,500 --> 00:52:43,820
 It's a beautiful place. I mean, it's the most manicured place I've ever seen for a garden.

465
00:52:44,219 --> 00:52:49,639
 And you get a plot. It's four feet by 20, and I had two of them. Then I downsized. So,

466
00:52:49,699 --> 00:52:55,840
 this year I thought, you know, Lord, I can't fit all that in anymore. And then I just talked

467
00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:59,500
 with somebody in our prayer meeting this morning. He said, oh, you're going to give up all your

468
00:52:59,500 --> 00:53:03,980
 berries and all your fruits and things. I said, yeah, I said, Bob, I said, I just can't do it.

469
00:53:04,099 --> 00:53:09,739
 I said, you know, it doesn't interest me like it used to. So, one of those things you kind of,

470
00:53:09,780 --> 00:53:15,380
 okay, well, let's put that aside and move forward. Guarding our relationships. Choosing

471
00:53:15,380 --> 00:53:22,619
 close relationships that strengthen us rather than erode our faith. And, you know, when I,

472
00:53:22,619 --> 00:53:27,019
 and some of you know that I was a car guy, and I had friends in the car industry,

473
00:53:27,539 --> 00:53:32,420
 in the car clubs, and so forth. And, you know, we used to get together, and everybody was drinking

474
00:53:32,420 --> 00:53:37,039
 beer. And, of course, I didn't drink beer, but I was part of just being there when we had our

475
00:53:37,039 --> 00:53:41,760
 club meetings and so forth. And, you know, when I finally gave that up after I moved to Meadowwood,

476
00:53:41,860 --> 00:53:46,860
 it was like, oh, okay, that's not so bad. I can do this. So, you know, you don't want those

477
00:53:46,860 --> 00:53:53,679
 things to erode your faith. Guarding our speech, refusing to let attitudes and language around us,

478
00:53:53,920 --> 00:54:01,920
 and Isaiah covered that, to become our own. And then, guarding our priorities. What's important?

479
00:54:02,760 --> 00:54:06,900
 And I will confess the older you get, there's only one important thing that's

480
00:54:06,900 --> 00:54:15,280
 being with the Lord. In His presence, no less. Continually asking, is Christ still first in

481
00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:21,860
 my life? Then guarding against compromise, recognizing that small compromises can gradually

482
00:54:21,860 --> 00:54:28,579
 reshape our convictions, unfortunately. And then the last one, guarding comes through prayer

483
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:36,980
 and Scripture, regularly allowing God's Word to correct, renew, and strengthen each one of us.

484
00:54:38,599 --> 00:54:45,000
 And I will wait until Kiel gets her picture. Okay. And then the last thing is here, and

485
00:54:45,639 --> 00:54:52,679
 it's almost time, so I'll get to the bottom red. And His soul, meaning God's soul was grieved for

486
00:54:52,679 --> 00:55:00,320
 the misery of Israel. As much as He told them what their sins were, and He disliked them,

487
00:55:00,460 --> 00:55:06,019
 He grieved for them. And look at what it says here. The statement reveals something about God's

488
00:55:06,019 --> 00:55:11,460
 heart toward people that have repeatedly turned away from Him. And think of the things, the people

489
00:55:11,460 --> 00:55:16,179
 that we pray for. I mean, if you multiply the number of people and the number of people here

490
00:55:16,179 --> 00:55:21,260
 that we pray for, must be hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand people. That is, we spend time with

491
00:55:21,260 --> 00:55:30,019
 the Lord interceding for them. Again, His statement is important. The point is not that

492
00:55:30,019 --> 00:55:35,119
 God has a human soul, and exactly the same we do, but it communicates something much more

493
00:55:35,119 --> 00:55:44,440
 personal. Israel's suffering affected Him. Their misery mattered to Him, as we pray for those that

494
00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:50,840
 are slidden away, those that don't know the Lord. God's mercy is there, and He wants everyone

495
00:55:51,839 --> 00:55:59,579
 to come to Him. His soul was grieved. The even stronger words may imply. The English standard

496
00:55:59,579 --> 00:56:09,000
 version reads, His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel. The new international version

497
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:17,079
 says He could no longer bear Israel's misery. And the new American standard Bible says His soul

498
00:56:17,079 --> 00:56:26,260
 could no longer tolerate the misery of Israel. So we understand that as we make decisions that

499
00:56:26,260 --> 00:56:32,920
 are not in the best interest of ourself and our relationship with the Lord, He labors over

500
00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:39,920
 these things. He feels bad for us. It's not that He is the Almighty God with no love in His heart.

501
00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:49,800
 He loves so much. Yes, Gail. In the last year, I realized that this goes without saying that

502
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:57,380
 God's holy, and He can't abide sin. However, one of the reasons that He hates sin is because

503
00:56:57,380 --> 00:57:02,920
 it separates us from Him. That's why He hates it, because He wants to have that relationship,

504
00:57:03,039 --> 00:57:10,920
 and we in our sin keep us from having that. Why did He make the creation come about? He wanted

505
00:57:10,940 --> 00:57:19,659
 children. He wanted relationship. He wanted a kingdom that would glorify Him. All right.

506
00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:27,840
 Tonight's take away three things to remember. The prosperity can create a false sense of

507
00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:34,539
 independence, and it is a false sense. Our financial security, influence, and comfort,

508
00:57:35,759 --> 00:57:45,420
 as it increases, we can gradually begin trusting in our own resources and our abilities. Number two,

509
00:57:46,159 --> 00:57:51,820
 what we tolerate around us could eventually influence what we believe within us. Israel moved

510
00:57:51,820 --> 00:57:57,980
 from living among the foreign nations to adopting their practices and worshiping their Gods and

511
00:57:57,980 --> 00:58:05,019
 marrying their daughters. What a tragedy. And last, even when God's people turn away,

512
00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:12,480
 God still cares about our sufferings. Judges 10, 16 says it all. He tells us that God was

513
00:58:12,480 --> 00:58:24,079
 grieved by Israel's misery. His response reveals that His dealings with His people involve both His

514
00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:31,739
 opposition to sin, first of all. We got that. And His deep concern for their suffering.

515
00:58:32,460 --> 00:58:40,019
 So Lord, we ask tonight that as we close, it is a sober word to think about your people

516
00:58:40,639 --> 00:58:46,500
 and how they failed. But Lord, more than that, we want to see in our relationship

517
00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:55,380
 giving you joy because we are followers of you, bending our knee, giving ourselves to you,

518
00:58:56,179 --> 00:59:02,320
 that you can declare to each one of us that well done, the good and faithful servant.

519
00:59:03,420 --> 00:59:07,199
 And Father, we thank you for the desire in our hearts and all these things that have been

520
00:59:07,199 --> 00:59:14,880
 expressed tonight through the people that you love, that they love you, that they've given up,

521
00:59:15,519 --> 00:59:20,840
 not that they're now worthy because we don't work on works of righteousness.

522
00:59:21,880 --> 00:59:25,820
 But they've given up things, Lord, because they want you, they want your presence,

523
00:59:26,639 --> 00:59:33,679
 just to be abiding with us in the things that we do. Being with us during the day like Ken says,

524
00:59:34,519 --> 00:59:41,800
 talking to Him, conversing, being blessed, interceding for people that come to our mind.

525
00:59:42,440 --> 00:59:48,159
 Lord, we thank you for the diligence that we have in you, because you have given us that.

526
00:59:48,659 --> 00:59:54,019
 And so we pray these things in your name. Bless each one here tonight in Jesus' name.

527
00:59:54,559 --> 00:59:57,239
 And everyone said, amen. All right.

528
01:00:01,059 --> 01:00:06,420
 Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word.

529
01:00:06,980 --> 01:00:12,599
 Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

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01:00:13,639 --> 01:00:15,719
 Be blessed and have a great day!