Podcasts about satan satan

Evil is not just a struggle with greed or lust; this is a spiritual struggle with spiritual forces at play. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, to undo what God has done. We see this with Job and we see this in so many ways in our own lives. However, no matter what Satan throws at us: loss, death, pain, etc. we know it is all temporary because Christ has ultimate victory.Job 1:6-12  (ESV)Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.John 10:7-11 (ESV)So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Satan is a creature and ultimately has no power. He is powerless in the presence of Christ but he isn't something to be toyed with or underestimated. The name of Christ isn't something to be used for fame, recognition, or some demonstration of  “magic”.Acts 19: 11-20 (ESV)The Sons of ScevaAnd God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.Mark 5:1-20 (ESV)Jesus Heals a Man with a DemonThey came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Evil is not just a struggle with greed or lust; this is a spiritual struggle with spiritual forces at play. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, to undo what God has done. We see this with Job and we see this in so many ways in our own lives. However, no matter what Satan throws at us: loss, death, pain, etc. we know it is all temporary because Christ has ultimate victory. Job 1:6-12 (ESV)Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.John 10:7-11 (ESV)So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

One quick announcement, an update on the life of the church. The Lord has led us, as a church, to take a step of faith to purchase, to acquire, a worship space, a 24/7 location that we can use to build the glory of God. In the history of Mosaic, 12 and a half years, we have never had our own location. We only rent this space just on Sundays. So the Lord has... Miracle of miracles that we're even in this position. Praise be to God. If you know anything about real estate in Austin, the property is right down the street on Kent Street. If you take a right here and a left on Longwood, you'll see three towers on a hill, and within the hill there's the entrance to the lobby and then there's a left wing and a right wing. We signed the purchase and sale agreement on the left wing, and as a step of faith, we are praying for the Lord to send resources for the right wing as well.We are closing in September. We have seven months to raise $5 million and it's a lot of money, but we learned from the Gospel of Mark that even crumbs from the King's table are more than enough. So Lord, we need some crumbs. So we're asking you to pray, pray with faith, pray boldly, audaciously on a daily basis for the Lord to send the funds. From now on until the funds come in, if anyone asks, "Pastor Jan, what's your prayer request?" This is it. This is the only one to the glory of God. So pray for the Lord to send the funds. Second, pray how the Lord might use you in raising the funds or giving and then pray as well. If you know any connections for the Lord to bring to mind, maybe a great uncle who wants to invest in the kingdom of God. Our church, a home, church, foundations, etc, please connect us with them.And we do believe the Lord will provide. I'll share one story. My wife and her family immigrated here over 20 years ago from Ukraine. The parents had six children. They come here and they worked hard and they said, "The Lord is leading us to buy a house." It was a town home and they were missing $5,000 to close on the deal. And they prayed, "Lord, send us $5,000. Lord send us $5,000." And then Tanya's mom went for a walk on the street, comes up to garbage containers, and next to it is something wrapped in newspaper. And she kicks it and it's hard and she opens it up little by little, layer by layer and it's a nugget of gold. Yeah, true story. And then they go to the place where you can sell nuggets of gold, and the guy said "$5,000." And then they end up purchasing the house and Tanya's sister still lives there. Praise be to God.So I am praying that the Lord sends you nuggets. I am praying that in your fishing endeavors, so to speak, you catch one fish, you open it up and there's a gold coin inside. That's how I'm praying. So it's a very exciting season of the church, a lot of faith. We need a lot of prayer, a lot of hard work. So we are going to pray and believe for the Lord to raise the funding and for the next season of the church's life. With that said, would you at least pray with me over this need and for the preaching of God's holy word.Heavenly Father, we're so thankful that you have saved us. What a great gift. This is the greatest gift, that you give yourself to us on account of your son Jesus Christ. And Lord Jesus, we thank you that because of your great love for us, you lay down your life. And we thank you that you didn't stay on the cross, you didn't stay dead, that you rose on the third day vanquishing Satan, sin, and death. And we thank you that you give us the power of the Holy Spirit. And when you call us to yourself, you call us to life of service to the kingdom. And Lord, we as a church, we long to continue serving you.And we thank you for providing every step of the way these 12 and a half years. And we thank you for leading us to this juncture. And we do pray, Lord, that you provide the necessary resources to acquire both the spaces, the left and the right wing from which we pray the truth of your Holy word will be proclaimed to the nations. And I pray, Lord, that you do send us people that understand the importance of a church like Mosaic being rooted and grounded and planted in a place like Boston. Lord, we do believe that Boston is of incredible importance to your kingdom work.This is a city of ideas and many of the ideas are evil. So we are countering those demonic ideas with the truth of your word. Boston is pound for pound, the most influential city in the world. We are at the intersection of the nations and we pray, Lord, continue to establish your kingdom here, continue build up this church. And we pray, Lord, that you provide the resources. We thank you in advance for how you're going to do that. And we pray that you anoint those spaces even now with your Holy Spirit. We pray that thousands and tens of thousands hear your word there, are converted follow Jesus. We pray lives are transformed, pray families are formed. We pray children are born and raised in the faith, and we pray all this for the glory of your holy name and use us in the process. And we thank you in advance. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.We're continue our sermon series through the Gospel of Mark. Today, the sermon is entitled God or Hell. And over the years I've found that truth is always simple. And the most honest people speak with the greatest clarity. There's no obfuscation, there's no word salads, there's nothing to hide. And when God speaks, it's true, and you know it's true because of how clear it is. God speaks and Satan obfuscates. Satan questions. Satan undermines the truth. God speaks and Satan complicates, and he does it with lies. And the worst lies are half-truths. Thanks be to God, Jesus Christ did not speak in half-truths. He spoke the truth, the full truth. He told people that there are only two options. There's only two ways. There's only two paths. There's only two destinies, God or Hell. You either choose God and spend eternity in His glory or you choose hell and spend eternity in His wrath.And we're so fortunate to be alive today here and now and still have a chance to choose. We're so blessed to even be offered the choice. Many don't make the choice or don't think about the choice because we don't understand the gravity, the importance of the choice that eternity is at stake. Many people today plan their vacation destinations with more detail than they think about their eternal destination. We all deserve God's wrath. He created us, He designed us. He gave us laws by which to glorify Him and enjoy His glory here on earth. And that's what Eden was. It was heaven on earth. He designed life to be lived like heaven on earth. And that's what the kingdom of God is. You begin to experience the glory of God here by living for His glory, by glorifying Him with your obedience of faith. But we all rebelled, every single one of us. We all rejected His law, we transgressed it. We became outlaws. We became sinners.And in rejecting God's law, we rejected God Himself. Well, what is the absence of God's glory? It's hell. By rejecting God, we choose hell here on earth and we start living that out. And what does that create? More hell on earth. Therefore, Jesus came to rescue us from hell and to destine us for heaven here on earth. Eternal life begins here and now. He came to rescue you from the hell inside your soul, to plant the seeds of the kingdom in your soul, to give you a taste of heaven. And this radically changes the course of your life. Now you're not your own. You exist to glorify God, to live for His name, to serve Him, love Him, fear and praise Him. And this kind of life of obeying God, submitting to Him, it's a life that demands sacrifice. Why? Because when you really start fighting hell on earth, when you really start fighting the sin within mortifying it, well what happens?You're bound to feel the flames of hell. You're bound to get burned. So what do we do? We keep fighting. We fight the lies of the enemy with the truth by knowing the truth, loving it, living it and speaking it. And that's what Jesus is talking about today. We're in Mark 9:30-50. Would you look at the text with me? "They went on from there and passed through Galilee and He did not want anyone to know, for He was teaching His disciples saying to them, 'The son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him. And when he is killed after three days he will rise.' But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, 'What were you discussing on the way?'But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And He sat down and called the 12 and He said to them, 'If anyone would be put first, he must be last of all and servant of all.' And he took a child and put him in the midst of them and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me but Him who sent me.' John said to him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.' But Jesus said, 'Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water or drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another."This is the reading of God's holy and errant, fallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Four points to frame up our time. First life through death. Second, greatness through service. Third, power through loyalty. And fourth, God or hell.First, life through death. In the first half of chapter nine, King Jesus takes his big three disciples, Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain. And there He transfigured himself. He revealed His divine glory and they bask in it. They were satisfied with it, mesmerized by the glorious king. So much so that Peter said, "No, no, no." Excuse me, I get excited about the glory of God. He said, "We're not going down. We're not going down the mountain. We're not descending. This is too good. We're staying here forever."And no, they had to leave. Descend, they must, down from the glorious mountaintop experience after they have tasted heaven on earth. Why do they have to go down? Well, why did Jesus come down? Jesus Christ came down from heaven to earth and he does it to save people from hell, from eternal damnation. The kingdom of God must be established. And to do this, the King must first take on Satan's sin and death. After vanquishing the stubborn demon that his disciples were unable to conquer, Jesus continues to instruct his disciples. Chapter 8, chapter 9, and chapter 10 are about discipleship. This is what it means to follow Jesus Christ. And Jesus spends significant time with them before embarking on His mission. In verse 30, it says, "They went on from there and passed through Galilee and He did not want anyone to know."The phrases like this, we see often where Jesus is sovereign over the truth. He's sovereign in regulating the truth. He reveals the truth to whomever He chooses. Who gets how much revelation? Well, who decides this? Does the seeker himself decide? No, because scripture clearly teaches that no one searches after God not on their own. So if you are searching for God, if you're asking questions about God, if you're interested in God, in the divine and eternity in Holy Scripture, well friend, let me tell you, that's already a sign of the Holy Spirit working on you and working in your heart.Look at Romans 3:9, "What then, are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks are under sin. As it is written, no one is righteous. No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There's no fear of God before their eyes."Well, the disciples were just like this. The disciples were chosen by Jesus. Jesus chooses to reveal to His disciples the truth and the truths of God's kingdom. How does one become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Well, Jesus is the one that approached them and Jesus is the one that told them, "Follow me.: And then he communicates to them in John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you."Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? Are you a follower of Christ? Well, if you are, praise be to God. It's because He chose you. Salvation is bestowed on you. It's never earned. He appointed you and for what? For work, for service, for sacrifice. Bearing fruit comes through, bearing a cross and bearing it daily. And He promises to resource you. He says, "Ask whatever you will in my name to become more fruitful." But this usually includes a heavier cross and a steeper more narrow path to climb. My third daughter turned nine recently and I told her, I said, "Nine is, I think that's the perfect age. It's just what are your worries in life? You're in third grade," and I didn't want to say it's all downhill from here because that's kind of a terrible thing to say to a nine-year-old. So I said the opposite. I said, "It's all uphill from here," and I don't think that's much better.But that's kind of what Christianity is. If you want to level up, if you want to grow in faithfulness, if you want to grow in obedience, if you want to grow in fruitfulness, it's all uphill from here. But that's what we were chosen for. We were chosen for service, for sacrifice because we were chosen by the one who came to sacrifice Himself. He says, "The son of man is going to be delivered." That's the conversation turned over, handed over, betrayed. And part of the background to this prophecy lies in Isaiah 53. The same terminology is used in Isaiah 53 as in our text, the language of being turned over, handed over, betrayed. And Isaiah 53 was written centuries before Jesus Christ was even born. The Lord promised in Isaiah 53 that the Messiah would come as a suffering servant. Jews to this day reject the clear true reading of Isaiah 53.But the ones who read Isaiah 53 with open hearts are converted to Christ immediately. And that's who the early church was. Jews who read Isaiah 53 and said, "We witnessed it happen. We watched it happen. He predicted that He was going to die. He predicted that He was going to be betrayed. He predicted that He's going to be crucified and He predicted that He would come back from the dead. We saw Christ crucified and He did that for us." That was the testimony of the earliest church and He did it to save us from hell on earth and from hell for all of eternity. And even more than that, He did it to save us from our sins. So now the chasm between us and God will be removed. So He offers himself to us for eternity. I'm going to read Isaiah 53, and as I read, just think about the fact centuries before Christ was born, this was written.It's as if Isaiah is sitting at the foot of the cross watching it being done. "Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with His wounds we are healed.All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. And like a sheep that before its sheers is silent. So He opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, He was taken away. And as for His generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man and his death, although He had done no violence and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put Him to grief. When His soul makes an offering for guilt, He will see his offspring. He will prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.Out of the anguish of His soul, He shall see and be satisfied. By His knowledge, shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide Him a portion with the many and He shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out His soul to death. And was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressions."Mark 9:31, "For he was teaching His disciples saying to them, ''The son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill Him. And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.' But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask Him." Well, of course they didn't understand. Jesus had already proven that He's God. They have believed him that He's God. Well, you're God. You've come to take over everything. You've come to take the place back from Satan. You've come to destroy the kingdom of Satan. So Jesus, do it, die. What happens to our cause if you die? Why would you need to rise again? How's this for an idea? Let's not die. Let's use the powers that you have. We know you God, you changed the weather, we watched you. You've walked through hostile crowds before we know you've done it. What do you mean you're going to be delivered? As in you're going to give yourself over, you're going to let them take you.And Jesus' answer of course is, "Yes. I didn't come just to save you from hell on earth. I didn't come just to save you from the hell of the Romans, or the hell of the Pharisees, or even the hell of your own sin-infected bodies. I've come to save your soul from eternal hell. And I've come to offer eternal life," which only comes through the death of the eternal son of God who chose to become son of man. So yes, life comes only through death and eternal life comes only through the death of the eternal one, Jesus Christ.And since life comes through death, of course, point two, greatness comes through service. The disciples didn't get this yet. How could they? It's so counterintuitive. Greatness is through rank, and greatness is through degrees and greatness is through accomplishments, and greatness is through a position. What do you mean greatness is through service? It's counterintuitive. Well, it's counterintuitive because our intuition is clouded with sin and we need washing with the word. In verse 33, they came to Capernaum and when He was in the house He asked them, "What were you discussing?" Capernaum is the Galilean village from which Peter James and John came.And whenever Jesus was in Capernaum, he would stay at Peter's house. Peter had a home there. He was married, he had a mother-in-law and perhaps he even had children. And perhaps that's the child that Jesus puts front and center. And Jesus in His outward ministry, He had encounters with over enemies, the scribes and the Pharisees. But now he's engaged with the enemy inside the hearts of his own disciples, the enemy that will rear its ugly head throughout church history. It's this desire to jostle for greatness. That's what they're doing. He asked them, "What were you arguing about?" And verse 34, "They kept silent for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest." As soon as Jesus asks the question, they realize just with the question, "Oh, we were way off. They don't even want to share. They don't want talk about what are... They're embarrassed.They realize just a question from Jesus reveals how embarrassing this is to talk about who's the greatest. They argued with one... who's the greatest. This was after Jesus just talked about self-denial, the hard-hitting instruction of taking up your cross and following Him daily. And here they're having a senseless argument about their relative greatness, and they've confused greatness because they don't really understand what Jesus is coming to do. They don't understand that how humble you have to be. They saw a glimpse of His glory and then He veils that glory and then He descends, but they don't really understand the distance between the glory of heaven and the humiliation of the cross. And these two are interconnected. If you don't understand the vast difference between Jesus glory and His humiliation, you'll never understand how much He had to humble Himself in order to save us. And this was part of the process of transforming and saving humanity.Why? Because Jesus did not just come to deal with the consequences of sin. He came to deal with the very root itself. And what is the root of all sin? It's pride. Pride is the fuel that fires all of hell. Pride is what made Satan Satan, where Satan goes out of his rank and says, "No God, I am greater than you are, therefore you serve me. You worship me. Therefore, the way..." And that inclination's in every single heart, that pride. The pride of, "No, I don't want to submit to God." The pride of, "Who is God to tell me what to do." The pride that starts the rebellion of us against God.Look at Philippians 2:1-10 and see this distance, this humility as the way that Jesus saves us from our pride. Philippians 2:1, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father."In verse 35, "He sat down and He called the 12." This is how Jesus often taught. He would sit down, but here perhaps He's exasperated and He wants to draw their attention, sits down. And He said to them, "If anyone would be first, He must be last of all and servant of all." Matthew 23:11, the parallel passage, "The greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." First, I want to point out what Jesus does not say. He does not say there is no greatness in the kingdom of God. Jesus' view of the kingdom of God is not just some egalitarian view where everyone is of the same greatness, of the same rank, of the same hierarchy. No, that's not what He's saying. He's assuming that there is a hierarchy, there is a path to greatness.There is a path to greater usefulness and fruitfulness, but that path to greatness is counter to the path of greatness in the world. The path of greatness in the world is make your name great. The path of greatness in the kingdom of God is seek first the name of Jesus Christ to exalt him. And the way that you grow in greatness is service, humble service to the King, and to his servants, and to people. So we can rack up stats, so to speak in the kingdom of God, and we do it through service. And the greatest disciple is the greatest servant and the one who sacrifices the most is the greatest in the kingdom of God. That's the one that serves the most. The more you sacrifice, the more you serve, the more you are like your master who is great. Humility is the best policy. Jesus is teaching.Self aggrandizement always leads to humiliation. But what is humility? The opposite of humility is pride. And the first encounter of pride we see is with Satan, where Satan is not content with his place. Humility is knowing your place. It's knowing your role. It's knowing what God has called you to do and what God has called you to be. As we serve the Lord, as we grow in the faith, there are promotions, so to speak, but it's all for Him. He's the one that does it. All the talents that He gives us, all the opportunities that He gives us, the health and strength, it's all from Him and it's all for Him and service to Him. We're called to be servants. And here it's the Greek word diakonos from which the English word deacon comes from. And in Greek literature, it just means someone who's not afraid of the menial work, such as a waiter at a table, humble service. We're here.At Chick-fil-A, they say, "It's my pleasure." It's my pleasure to serve you. That should be the sentiment of every Christian. It's my pleasure to serve because that's my role. And that's really the heartbeat of humility. I know my role, I know my place, I know what God has called me to do. And sometimes things get hard and you start wondering if the sacrifice worth it. No one really notices or you don't get accolades in the world. But Luke 17 puts everything in its place. I love this passage. It's one of these passages very jarring as you read it for the first time. But as you walk in the faith, you realize this is exactly the posture of heart that the Lord calls us to.Luke 17:7, "Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table?' Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink. And afterward you'll eat and drink.' Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you are commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty.'"And that's really the posture of heart, that He's the master, He's the Lord. We're the servants. He saves us, he saves us for service. So of course we're going to do it. It is our duty. Mark 9:36, "Jesus took a child and put him in the midst of them and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. And whoever receives me receives not me but Him who sent me.'" This word for child can refer anywhere from a newborn infant to an older child. Perhaps this is Peter's child. We know that Peter was married, he had a mother-in-law, and perhaps it was his son or daughter. And Jesus takes the child, embraces the child, hugs the child, and reveals that He loves the child. I love this image that Jesus loves children.In chapter 10, Jesus loves children. Jesus, the God, man loves kids. He's hugging kids, blessing kids, praying for kids. Why does Jesus love children? Because God, Jesus loves humanity and He cares about the next generation. So we as believers, we are to be people marked by a love for children. John the Baptist who came in the spirit of Elijah, it says that He will come and one of His jobs is going to be turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. And yes, it assumes fathers who are already fathers, they love their children. We are to love our children. It also assumes those who are not yet fathers. And the Lord puts this fatherly desire in your heart and the world does not know of this.It's kind of popular not to like kids. It's kind of popular to complain about kids, especially on planes. I remember when my kids were little, I'd carry my kid into the plane with one of my kids and just look around at the unhappy faces. Come on, we were all this at some point, can everyone relax? And so why does Jesus take a child? He takes a child and He says, "This right here, you want the epitome of how you grow in greatness in the kingdom of God is through service. Service to whom those who need it the most." Why a child? Because it's the most helpless stage of being a human. Children need to be served. Kids are wonderful, praise be to God. And they are also a lot of work, a lot of time, energy, money, resources, lost sleep, REM cycles that you will never get back.And it's ministry. That's how you have to view children. It's ministry, it's service, it's service to the King in the name of Jesus Christ. And by serving kids in Jesus' name, you're not just serving the child, you're serving Jesus. So he says, "Receive children, receive them into your life. Serve them, and by serving them, you're serving the King." And he continues, "Whoever receives me receives not me, but Him who sent me." By receiving children in Jesus' name, you're receiving Jesus, you're receiving God the Father. And this is important because God, the Father loves children, especially... He loves His children, especially when they are children."Point three is power through loyalty. A service of course takes energy and it takes power. And where do we draw that power? From the source of power, and that's Jesus Christ. And the more loyal you are to Him, the more loyal you are to His cause, the more useful you are to Him, the more power He gives you.The disciples thought they were the only ones with access to the power of God because of their proximity to Jesus. So they're blown away by the fact that there's someone else casting out demons in Jesus' name, someone other than the 12. Verse 38, "John said to Him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. And we tried to stop him because he was following, and he was not following us.'" He said, "Someone's casting out demons in your name, by the power of Jesus." They're invoking the power of Jesus by using His name. The would-be exorcist, pronounces Jesus name in order to bring His spiritual force to bear on demons, and the disciples don't like this. "The people aren't following us, Jesus," and that's really the emphasis. They don't say, "They're not following you." They say, "They're not following us." And Jesus' response in verse 39, "Do not stop him. For no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me."Says, "Don't stop him. Don't forbid this person. He's casting out demons in the name of Jesus, so don't worry about him. He's doing my work. Is he a disciple in the same exact way that you are the 12? No. So help the person grow as a disciple, but don't stop the fight against evil. Don't stop those who cast out demons differently than you do. It's all in the name of Christ."In Numbers 11, there's a similar passage where Moses chooses 70 elders and the Spirit descends upon them. And there's two gentlemen that weren't there during that ceremony. And then afterwards they get the Spirit too. And then the people come to Moses and says, "Stop them. They're not part of the 70." This Numbers 11:24. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord and he gathered 70 men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent.Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put down the 70 elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not continue doing it. Now, two men who remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent. And so they prophesied in the camp and a young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth said, My Lord, Moses, stop them." But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit on them?"And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. Here, Moses said, "I wish everyone had the Holy Spirit. I wish everyone prophesied. I wish everyone proclaimed the word of the Lord." And Jesus here is saying something similar effect like, why would you be against someone casting out demons? We're against demons. He says, "No one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me." These outsiders are not like the scribes or the Pharisees who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit by attributing Jesus exorcisms to Satan. No, these people are people that are on the side of Jesus because they're against demons. And it seems like exorcism is a make-or-break issue. It's almost as this exorcism and one's attitude toward the demonic is a defining characteristic if you're inside or outside the dominion of God. Are you for demons or are you against them?Are you for demons or are you against them? Are you for Satan or are you against him? Are you for Christ or against Christ? Are you for hell on earth or are you against hell on earth? Well, if you're against hell on earth, you're against those who make hell on earth. And that's the demons. No, we're against hell, so we're for heaven. We're against demons, so we're for Christ.Verse 40, "For the one who is not against us is for us." Are they against Jesus? No, of course not. They're doing the same work. They're battling the same demons, fighting the same Satan and doing it all in the name of Christ.And fourth, God or Hell. And here Jesus turns to a conversation about reward and punishment in the afterlife. And what He reveals is God is keeping very close tabs on our service to Him. Every single little thing you do for Christ, for His glory will be rewarded with greater revelation of His glory starting this life and for eternity in heaven. Look at verse 41, "For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward."Even a cup of water. If you give someone a cup of water in the name of Jesus Christ saying Jesus is going to keep track of that. And what is that reward? The reward is more of God, more of His presence, more of His glory.Revelation 22:12-13, "Behold, I'm coming soon bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and the beginning and the end." And if the Lord keeps track of our work for Him so He knows how much to reward us as believers in Christ, well, the Lord also keeps track of the sin and iniquity of those who are not in Christ, as a way to mark how much condemnation they get in hell.Revelation 11:15-18, "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.' And the 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God saying, we give thanks to you Lord God, Almighty. Who is and who was for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name both small and great and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.'" God is going to reward his prophets, the servants, and saints in the same way he's going to reward so to speak, or bring the deserved condemnation on the destroyers, it says.And here Jesus continues that thought of the destroyers of the faith. Verse 42, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." If anyone causes one of these little ones to sin, if anyone causes or scandalizes their faith, causes them to stumble, Jesus says, it's better that they would die here and die of very graphic death with a massive stone tied to their neck and thrown into the sea. Why? Because death is going to keep them from continuing to heap up condemnation for themselves, for eternity. And specifically he says, "Whoever causes one of these little ones, who believe in me, to sin,: who's the little ones? Commentators here say most likely He's talking about believers in general because the same word for little ones is used later where Jesus talks about, "Little flock, fear not."But Jesus had just been talking in context about a child. That the way to greatness is service, in particular service to the least of these, a little one. So if Jesus is talking about if anyone causes a Christian to sin, he is including Christians who are children. Anyone that destroys the faith of a child, destroys the innocent faith of a child, Jesus says that person is heaping up condemnation for themselves for all eternity in hell. And this is a very, very sobering verse. And if you look at what's happening in our culture where we're trying to remove any idea of innocence of children. Children are being tempted with sin in ways that centuries ago people wouldn't even comprehend. And this is happening left and right. And Jesus is saying, Be careful. Be careful that you're not heaping up condemnation for all of eternity causing believers in Christ to sin is a grave sin. And the penalty for this sin is unquenchable, hellfire, the conversation Jesus is about to embark upon.So what are we to do? We're to take these sobering words about the reality of heaven and hell, but the reality of reward or condemnation that continues for eternity. And we are to sit down and say, "Where am I? Am I on the side of demons or I'm on the side of Jesus, I'm on the side of hell or on the side of heaven, where am I?" And there is no neutrality. If you're not with Christ, you're against Him. If you're not against Him, you're with Him. Mark 9:43, "And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire." This is hyperbolic language.He's not saying cut off your hand because if he meant physically, he would say both hands or both eyes or both feet. He's saying one. What he's saying is if there is a desire in your heart to sin, if there is a desire in your heart to do evil and to lead others into sin, at that, you need to stop and say, "Where is this desire leading me? Is this desire leading me to heaven or to hell? Is this desire from the kingdom of God or from the kingdom of Satan?" And you got to take radical action. You got to cut yourself off from anything that would even tempt you to sin. Make no provision for the flesh Scripture speaks. You're new creation in Christ, therefore put sin to death. You have died to sin, how can you continue living in it? So drastic action cut off your hand and he says, "Better for you to enter life crippled or maimed."And the presupposition here is that those who enter heaven get a glorified body. And the glorified resurrected body is a body without any bodily defects. So even if the hand is cut off in this life, it's going to be restored in the next. And He talks about hell here. And it's the word Gehenna. It's the most common name for the place of eternal punishment. And the name comes from the Valley of Hinnom in the Old Testament. And the Valley of Hinnom was a depression running south-southwest of the old city of Jerusalem. And it was at this place, the Valley of Hinnom, where according to the Scriptures, the covenant people of God, Israel and engaged in idolatrous worship of the Canaanite God, Molech. And Molech demanded that the people sacrifice their children. So this is where Israel at the altar of Molech at this place called Valley of Hinnom, we get the word of Gehenna or hell from it.They would sacrifice their children by fire. Therefore, when God sends kings like Josiah to bring reform, one of the things he did was destroy this place. 2 Kings 23:10, "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech." Or Jeremiah 7:30, "For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name to defile it. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind." Or Jeremiah 32:35, "They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech. Though I did not command them, nor to enter my mind, that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin."Because of these sacrifices of the children, the valley came to be viewed as the gate to the underworld. And hell is named after this place. Hell is named after the place where children were sacrificed. So what is Jesus saying? He's saying, "Do you want a glimpse of hell on earth? Well, think about child sacrifice. Think about abortion. He's just said that the way to create heaven on earth is to sacrifice self for the most helpless." Therefore, the way to create hell on earth is to sacrifice the most helpless for self. And the prophet Jeremiah denounces the sacrifice, but continues to associate the valley with death and judgment. And Jesus here says that it's an unquenchable fire in this place called hell.Verse 45, "If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life than with two feet to be thrown into hell."Verse 47, "If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell."Verse 48, "Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. The torment continues for eternity. The fire burns for eternity."Verse 49, "For everyone will be salted with fire."And this is a language that's used for judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah, fire and brimstone came from heaven engulfing the cities in fire. And it says in Deuteronomy 29:23, "All its soil burned out by sulfur and salt." It's a sign of complete destruction because judgment had come and judgment is going to come for each of us.Judgment day is going to come, and the question is, will we receive that judgment which we deserve, or has Christ already received it on our behalf on the cross?" Verse 50, "Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another." And here the Lord changes the metaphors. There, He said the salt would be a sign of judgment, but here he's saying the salt is a sign of your redemption. Salt as an influence against the decay in our culture, the decay of the evil in the world. And he said, That's our job. We are to be salt and light. Salt is good, but make sure we haven't lost our saltiness. Make sure that we are separate from the world, that we are influencing the world more than the world is influencing us. He says, "Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.And he closes this section with a comment about having salt in yourselves and being at peace. What's the connection? Well, in Acts 1:4, Jesus shares a meal with his disciples. And it was the same word that's used here. To share a meal with someone was to take salt together. If you go to a Russian village, they come out and they bring you bread, a loaf of bread, and they bring you salt. And what they're saying, "Come on in, welcome. There's peace." And what Jesus here is saying, "Make sure you continue to have fellowship with one another, love with one another, peace with one another." Why? Because when you battle the fires of hell and you do get burned, oftentimes you get so focused on the enemy that you start looking at everyone around you as an enemy. And He's saying, "Disciples, hold on. Make sure that doesn't happen. Have salt in yourselves, break bread together, have peace with one another."We as a church want to do this more often. Therefore, the bagels are back. Praise be to God. Break bagels together. A church that breaks bagels together stays together. And so praise be to God for that. And last week we had our first community lunch that we're doing to coincide with Communion Sunday. And it was a great success, a lot of people with a lot of joy. So we pray that the Lord continues to bless us to have salt in ourselves and to be at peace with one another.I'll close it with Matthew 11:16. And Matthew 11:16, the Lord said, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall saltiness be restored? And it was no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. You know how Boston started, the city? John Winthrop and his group of believers in Jesus Christ gets off a ship in Boston, before it was Boston. And before he got off a ship, he preached a sermon on Matthew 5, and he said, "We are going to be a city set on a hill. We're going to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. And that lasted for a little bit." And then they lost their saltiness.And that's what we're here for. But that's what Mosaic is. We are to be a city set on a hill proclaiming the excellencies of our Lord and Savior. With that said, would you please pray with me to the Lord?Lord Jesus, we thank you for this word and we thank you for the reminder that sacrifices, no matter what you call us to, they're worth it. In the same way that you sacrificed all in order to save us for the joy that was set before you, I pray for the joy that is before us, the joy of obedience, the joy of your delight, the joy of glorifying you. I pray that you give us strength to overcome any sacrifice. And Lord, we pray that you continue to establish your church, continue to build it up and continue to use us as you build your kingdom. We pray save many souls, disciple many, draw many to yourself in and through the work of this church in and then through every single faithful church in the area. We pray that you do send revival, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit save many. Save many from eternal hell and save them for eternal life. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

One quick announcement, an update on the life of the church. The Lord has led us, as a church, to take a step of faith to purchase, to acquire, a worship space, a 24/7 location that we can use to build the glory of God. In the history of Mosaic, 12 and a half years, we have never had our own location. We only rent this space just on Sundays. So the Lord has... Miracle of miracles that we're even in this position. Praise be to God. If you know anything about real estate in Austin, the property is right down the street on Kent Street. If you take a right here and a left on Longwood, you'll see three towers on a hill, and within the hill there's the entrance to the lobby and then there's a left wing and a right wing. We signed the purchase and sale agreement on the left wing, and as a step of faith, we are praying for the Lord to send resources for the right wing as well.We are closing in September. We have seven months to raise $5 million and it's a lot of money, but we learned from the Gospel of Mark that even crumbs from the King's table are more than enough. So Lord, we need some crumbs. So we're asking you to pray, pray with faith, pray boldly, audaciously on a daily basis for the Lord to send the funds. From now on until the funds come in, if anyone asks, "Pastor Jan, what's your prayer request?" This is it. This is the only one to the glory of God. So pray for the Lord to send the funds. Second, pray how the Lord might use you in raising the funds or giving and then pray as well. If you know any connections for the Lord to bring to mind, maybe a great uncle who wants to invest in the kingdom of God. Our church, a home, church, foundations, etc, please connect us with them.And we do believe the Lord will provide. I'll share one story. My wife and her family immigrated here over 20 years ago from Ukraine. The parents had six children. They come here and they worked hard and they said, "The Lord is leading us to buy a house." It was a town home and they were missing $5,000 to close on the deal. And they prayed, "Lord, send us $5,000. Lord send us $5,000." And then Tanya's mom went for a walk on the street, comes up to garbage containers, and next to it is something wrapped in newspaper. And she kicks it and it's hard and she opens it up little by little, layer by layer and it's a nugget of gold. Yeah, true story. And then they go to the place where you can sell nuggets of gold, and the guy said "$5,000." And then they end up purchasing the house and Tanya's sister still lives there. Praise be to God.So I am praying that the Lord sends you nuggets. I am praying that in your fishing endeavors, so to speak, you catch one fish, you open it up and there's a gold coin inside. That's how I'm praying. So it's a very exciting season of the church, a lot of faith. We need a lot of prayer, a lot of hard work. So we are going to pray and believe for the Lord to raise the funding and for the next season of the church's life. With that said, would you at least pray with me over this need and for the preaching of God's holy word.Heavenly Father, we're so thankful that you have saved us. What a great gift. This is the greatest gift, that you give yourself to us on account of your son Jesus Christ. And Lord Jesus, we thank you that because of your great love for us, you lay down your life. And we thank you that you didn't stay on the cross, you didn't stay dead, that you rose on the third day vanquishing Satan, sin, and death. And we thank you that you give us the power of the Holy Spirit. And when you call us to yourself, you call us to life of service to the kingdom. And Lord, we as a church, we long to continue serving you.And we thank you for providing every step of the way these 12 and a half years. And we thank you for leading us to this juncture. And we do pray, Lord, that you provide the necessary resources to acquire both the spaces, the left and the right wing from which we pray the truth of your Holy word will be proclaimed to the nations. And I pray, Lord, that you do send us people that understand the importance of a church like Mosaic being rooted and grounded and planted in a place like Boston. Lord, we do believe that Boston is of incredible importance to your kingdom work.This is a city of ideas and many of the ideas are evil. So we are countering those demonic ideas with the truth of your word. Boston is pound for pound, the most influential city in the world. We are at the intersection of the nations and we pray, Lord, continue to establish your kingdom here, continue build up this church. And we pray, Lord, that you provide the resources. We thank you in advance for how you're going to do that. And we pray that you anoint those spaces even now with your Holy Spirit. We pray that thousands and tens of thousands hear your word there, are converted follow Jesus. We pray lives are transformed, pray families are formed. We pray children are born and raised in the faith, and we pray all this for the glory of your holy name and use us in the process. And we thank you in advance. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.We're continue our sermon series through the Gospel of Mark. Today, the sermon is entitled God or Hell. And over the years I've found that truth is always simple. And the most honest people speak with the greatest clarity. There's no obfuscation, there's no word salads, there's nothing to hide. And when God speaks, it's true, and you know it's true because of how clear it is. God speaks and Satan obfuscates. Satan questions. Satan undermines the truth. God speaks and Satan complicates, and he does it with lies. And the worst lies are half-truths. Thanks be to God, Jesus Christ did not speak in half-truths. He spoke the truth, the full truth. He told people that there are only two options. There's only two ways. There's only two paths. There's only two destinies, God or Hell. You either choose God and spend eternity in His glory or you choose hell and spend eternity in His wrath.And we're so fortunate to be alive today here and now and still have a chance to choose. We're so blessed to even be offered the choice. Many don't make the choice or don't think about the choice because we don't understand the gravity, the importance of the choice that eternity is at stake. Many people today plan their vacation destinations with more detail than they think about their eternal destination. We all deserve God's wrath. He created us, He designed us. He gave us laws by which to glorify Him and enjoy His glory here on earth. And that's what Eden was. It was heaven on earth. He designed life to be lived like heaven on earth. And that's what the kingdom of God is. You begin to experience the glory of God here by living for His glory, by glorifying Him with your obedience of faith. But we all rebelled, every single one of us. We all rejected His law, we transgressed it. We became outlaws. We became sinners.And in rejecting God's law, we rejected God Himself. Well, what is the absence of God's glory? It's hell. By rejecting God, we choose hell here on earth and we start living that out. And what does that create? More hell on earth. Therefore, Jesus came to rescue us from hell and to destine us for heaven here on earth. Eternal life begins here and now. He came to rescue you from the hell inside your soul, to plant the seeds of the kingdom in your soul, to give you a taste of heaven. And this radically changes the course of your life. Now you're not your own. You exist to glorify God, to live for His name, to serve Him, love Him, fear and praise Him. And this kind of life of obeying God, submitting to Him, it's a life that demands sacrifice. Why? Because when you really start fighting hell on earth, when you really start fighting the sin within mortifying it, well what happens?You're bound to feel the flames of hell. You're bound to get burned. So what do we do? We keep fighting. We fight the lies of the enemy with the truth by knowing the truth, loving it, living it and speaking it. And that's what Jesus is talking about today. We're in Mark 9:30-50. Would you look at the text with me? "They went on from there and passed through Galilee and He did not want anyone to know, for He was teaching His disciples saying to them, 'The son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him. And when he is killed after three days he will rise.' But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, 'What were you discussing on the way?'But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And He sat down and called the 12 and He said to them, 'If anyone would be put first, he must be last of all and servant of all.' And he took a child and put him in the midst of them and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me but Him who sent me.' John said to him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.' But Jesus said, 'Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water or drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another."This is the reading of God's holy and errant, fallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Four points to frame up our time. First life through death. Second, greatness through service. Third, power through loyalty. And fourth, God or hell.First, life through death. In the first half of chapter nine, King Jesus takes his big three disciples, Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain. And there He transfigured himself. He revealed His divine glory and they bask in it. They were satisfied with it, mesmerized by the glorious king. So much so that Peter said, "No, no, no." Excuse me, I get excited about the glory of God. He said, "We're not going down. We're not going down the mountain. We're not descending. This is too good. We're staying here forever."And no, they had to leave. Descend, they must, down from the glorious mountaintop experience after they have tasted heaven on earth. Why do they have to go down? Well, why did Jesus come down? Jesus Christ came down from heaven to earth and he does it to save people from hell, from eternal damnation. The kingdom of God must be established. And to do this, the King must first take on Satan's sin and death. After vanquishing the stubborn demon that his disciples were unable to conquer, Jesus continues to instruct his disciples. Chapter 8, chapter 9, and chapter 10 are about discipleship. This is what it means to follow Jesus Christ. And Jesus spends significant time with them before embarking on His mission. In verse 30, it says, "They went on from there and passed through Galilee and He did not want anyone to know."The phrases like this, we see often where Jesus is sovereign over the truth. He's sovereign in regulating the truth. He reveals the truth to whomever He chooses. Who gets how much revelation? Well, who decides this? Does the seeker himself decide? No, because scripture clearly teaches that no one searches after God not on their own. So if you are searching for God, if you're asking questions about God, if you're interested in God, in the divine and eternity in Holy Scripture, well friend, let me tell you, that's already a sign of the Holy Spirit working on you and working in your heart.Look at Romans 3:9, "What then, are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks are under sin. As it is written, no one is righteous. No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There's no fear of God before their eyes."Well, the disciples were just like this. The disciples were chosen by Jesus. Jesus chooses to reveal to His disciples the truth and the truths of God's kingdom. How does one become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Well, Jesus is the one that approached them and Jesus is the one that told them, "Follow me.: And then he communicates to them in John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you."Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? Are you a follower of Christ? Well, if you are, praise be to God. It's because He chose you. Salvation is bestowed on you. It's never earned. He appointed you and for what? For work, for service, for sacrifice. Bearing fruit comes through, bearing a cross and bearing it daily. And He promises to resource you. He says, "Ask whatever you will in my name to become more fruitful." But this usually includes a heavier cross and a steeper more narrow path to climb. My third daughter turned nine recently and I told her, I said, "Nine is, I think that's the perfect age. It's just what are your worries in life? You're in third grade," and I didn't want to say it's all downhill from here because that's kind of a terrible thing to say to a nine-year-old. So I said the opposite. I said, "It's all uphill from here," and I don't think that's much better.But that's kind of what Christianity is. If you want to level up, if you want to grow in faithfulness, if you want to grow in obedience, if you want to grow in fruitfulness, it's all uphill from here. But that's what we were chosen for. We were chosen for service, for sacrifice because we were chosen by the one who came to sacrifice Himself. He says, "The son of man is going to be delivered." That's the conversation turned over, handed over, betrayed. And part of the background to this prophecy lies in Isaiah 53. The same terminology is used in Isaiah 53 as in our text, the language of being turned over, handed over, betrayed. And Isaiah 53 was written centuries before Jesus Christ was even born. The Lord promised in Isaiah 53 that the Messiah would come as a suffering servant. Jews to this day reject the clear true reading of Isaiah 53.But the ones who read Isaiah 53 with open hearts are converted to Christ immediately. And that's who the early church was. Jews who read Isaiah 53 and said, "We witnessed it happen. We watched it happen. He predicted that He was going to die. He predicted that He was going to be betrayed. He predicted that He's going to be crucified and He predicted that He would come back from the dead. We saw Christ crucified and He did that for us." That was the testimony of the earliest church and He did it to save us from hell on earth and from hell for all of eternity. And even more than that, He did it to save us from our sins. So now the chasm between us and God will be removed. So He offers himself to us for eternity. I'm going to read Isaiah 53, and as I read, just think about the fact centuries before Christ was born, this was written.It's as if Isaiah is sitting at the foot of the cross watching it being done. "Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with His wounds we are healed.All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. And like a sheep that before its sheers is silent. So He opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, He was taken away. And as for His generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man and his death, although He had done no violence and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put Him to grief. When His soul makes an offering for guilt, He will see his offspring. He will prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.Out of the anguish of His soul, He shall see and be satisfied. By His knowledge, shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide Him a portion with the many and He shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out His soul to death. And was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressions."Mark 9:31, "For he was teaching His disciples saying to them, ''The son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill Him. And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.' But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask Him." Well, of course they didn't understand. Jesus had already proven that He's God. They have believed him that He's God. Well, you're God. You've come to take over everything. You've come to take the place back from Satan. You've come to destroy the kingdom of Satan. So Jesus, do it, die. What happens to our cause if you die? Why would you need to rise again? How's this for an idea? Let's not die. Let's use the powers that you have. We know you God, you changed the weather, we watched you. You've walked through hostile crowds before we know you've done it. What do you mean you're going to be delivered? As in you're going to give yourself over, you're going to let them take you.And Jesus' answer of course is, "Yes. I didn't come just to save you from hell on earth. I didn't come just to save you from the hell of the Romans, or the hell of the Pharisees, or even the hell of your own sin-infected bodies. I've come to save your soul from eternal hell. And I've come to offer eternal life," which only comes through the death of the eternal son of God who chose to become son of man. So yes, life comes only through death and eternal life comes only through the death of the eternal one, Jesus Christ.And since life comes through death, of course, point two, greatness comes through service. The disciples didn't get this yet. How could they? It's so counterintuitive. Greatness is through rank, and greatness is through degrees and greatness is through accomplishments, and greatness is through a position. What do you mean greatness is through service? It's counterintuitive. Well, it's counterintuitive because our intuition is clouded with sin and we need washing with the word. In verse 33, they came to Capernaum and when He was in the house He asked them, "What were you discussing?" Capernaum is the Galilean village from which Peter James and John came.And whenever Jesus was in Capernaum, he would stay at Peter's house. Peter had a home there. He was married, he had a mother-in-law and perhaps he even had children. And perhaps that's the child that Jesus puts front and center. And Jesus in His outward ministry, He had encounters with over enemies, the scribes and the Pharisees. But now he's engaged with the enemy inside the hearts of his own disciples, the enemy that will rear its ugly head throughout church history. It's this desire to jostle for greatness. That's what they're doing. He asked them, "What were you arguing about?" And verse 34, "They kept silent for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest." As soon as Jesus asks the question, they realize just with the question, "Oh, we were way off. They don't even want to share. They don't want talk about what are... They're embarrassed.They realize just a question from Jesus reveals how embarrassing this is to talk about who's the greatest. They argued with one... who's the greatest. This was after Jesus just talked about self-denial, the hard-hitting instruction of taking up your cross and following Him daily. And here they're having a senseless argument about their relative greatness, and they've confused greatness because they don't really understand what Jesus is coming to do. They don't understand that how humble you have to be. They saw a glimpse of His glory and then He veils that glory and then He descends, but they don't really understand the distance between the glory of heaven and the humiliation of the cross. And these two are interconnected. If you don't understand the vast difference between Jesus glory and His humiliation, you'll never understand how much He had to humble Himself in order to save us. And this was part of the process of transforming and saving humanity.Why? Because Jesus did not just come to deal with the consequences of sin. He came to deal with the very root itself. And what is the root of all sin? It's pride. Pride is the fuel that fires all of hell. Pride is what made Satan Satan, where Satan goes out of his rank and says, "No God, I am greater than you are, therefore you serve me. You worship me. Therefore, the way..." And that inclination's in every single heart, that pride. The pride of, "No, I don't want to submit to God." The pride of, "Who is God to tell me what to do." The pride that starts the rebellion of us against God.Look at Philippians 2:1-10 and see this distance, this humility as the way that Jesus saves us from our pride. Philippians 2:1, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father."In verse 35, "He sat down and He called the 12." This is how Jesus often taught. He would sit down, but here perhaps He's exasperated and He wants to draw their attention, sits down. And He said to them, "If anyone would be first, He must be last of all and servant of all." Matthew 23:11, the parallel passage, "The greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." First, I want to point out what Jesus does not say. He does not say there is no greatness in the kingdom of God. Jesus' view of the kingdom of God is not just some egalitarian view where everyone is of the same greatness, of the same rank, of the same hierarchy. No, that's not what He's saying. He's assuming that there is a hierarchy, there is a path to greatness.There is a path to greater usefulness and fruitfulness, but that path to greatness is counter to the path of greatness in the world. The path of greatness in the world is make your name great. The path of greatness in the kingdom of God is seek first the name of Jesus Christ to exalt him. And the way that you grow in greatness is service, humble service to the King, and to his servants, and to people. So we can rack up stats, so to speak in the kingdom of God, and we do it through service. And the greatest disciple is the greatest servant and the one who sacrifices the most is the greatest in the kingdom of God. That's the one that serves the most. The more you sacrifice, the more you serve, the more you are like your master who is great. Humility is the best policy. Jesus is teaching.Self aggrandizement always leads to humiliation. But what is humility? The opposite of humility is pride. And the first encounter of pride we see is with Satan, where Satan is not content with his place. Humility is knowing your place. It's knowing your role. It's knowing what God has called you to do and what God has called you to be. As we serve the Lord, as we grow in the faith, there are promotions, so to speak, but it's all for Him. He's the one that does it. All the talents that He gives us, all the opportunities that He gives us, the health and strength, it's all from Him and it's all for Him and service to Him. We're called to be servants. And here it's the Greek word diakonos from which the English word deacon comes from. And in Greek literature, it just means someone who's not afraid of the menial work, such as a waiter at a table, humble service. We're here.At Chick-fil-A, they say, "It's my pleasure." It's my pleasure to serve you. That should be the sentiment of every Christian. It's my pleasure to serve because that's my role. And that's really the heartbeat of humility. I know my role, I know my place, I know what God has called me to do. And sometimes things get hard and you start wondering if the sacrifice worth it. No one really notices or you don't get accolades in the world. But Luke 17 puts everything in its place. I love this passage. It's one of these passages very jarring as you read it for the first time. But as you walk in the faith, you realize this is exactly the posture of heart that the Lord calls us to.Luke 17:7, "Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table?' Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink. And afterward you'll eat and drink.' Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you are commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty.'"And that's really the posture of heart, that He's the master, He's the Lord. We're the servants. He saves us, he saves us for service. So of course we're going to do it. It is our duty. Mark 9:36, "Jesus took a child and put him in the midst of them and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. And whoever receives me receives not me but Him who sent me.'" This word for child can refer anywhere from a newborn infant to an older child. Perhaps this is Peter's child. We know that Peter was married, he had a mother-in-law, and perhaps it was his son or daughter. And Jesus takes the child, embraces the child, hugs the child, and reveals that He loves the child. I love this image that Jesus loves children.In chapter 10, Jesus loves children. Jesus, the God, man loves kids. He's hugging kids, blessing kids, praying for kids. Why does Jesus love children? Because God, Jesus loves humanity and He cares about the next generation. So we as believers, we are to be people marked by a love for children. John the Baptist who came in the spirit of Elijah, it says that He will come and one of His jobs is going to be turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. And yes, it assumes fathers who are already fathers, they love their children. We are to love our children. It also assumes those who are not yet fathers. And the Lord puts this fatherly desire in your heart and the world does not know of this.It's kind of popular not to like kids. It's kind of popular to complain about kids, especially on planes. I remember when my kids were little, I'd carry my kid into the plane with one of my kids and just look around at the unhappy faces. Come on, we were all this at some point, can everyone relax? And so why does Jesus take a child? He takes a child and He says, "This right here, you want the epitome of how you grow in greatness in the kingdom of God is through service. Service to whom those who need it the most." Why a child? Because it's the most helpless stage of being a human. Children need to be served. Kids are wonderful, praise be to God. And they are also a lot of work, a lot of time, energy, money, resources, lost sleep, REM cycles that you will never get back.And it's ministry. That's how you have to view children. It's ministry, it's service, it's service to the King in the name of Jesus Christ. And by serving kids in Jesus' name, you're not just serving the child, you're serving Jesus. So he says, "Receive children, receive them into your life. Serve them, and by serving them, you're serving the King." And he continues, "Whoever receives me receives not me, but Him who sent me." By receiving children in Jesus' name, you're receiving Jesus, you're receiving God the Father. And this is important because God, the Father loves children, especially... He loves His children, especially when they are children."Point three is power through loyalty. A service of course takes energy and it takes power. And where do we draw that power? From the source of power, and that's Jesus Christ. And the more loyal you are to Him, the more loyal you are to His cause, the more useful you are to Him, the more power He gives you.The disciples thought they were the only ones with access to the power of God because of their proximity to Jesus. So they're blown away by the fact that there's someone else casting out demons in Jesus' name, someone other than the 12. Verse 38, "John said to Him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. And we tried to stop him because he was following, and he was not following us.'" He said, "Someone's casting out demons in your name, by the power of Jesus." They're invoking the power of Jesus by using His name. The would-be exorcist, pronounces Jesus name in order to bring His spiritual force to bear on demons, and the disciples don't like this. "The people aren't following us, Jesus," and that's really the emphasis. They don't say, "They're not following you." They say, "They're not following us." And Jesus' response in verse 39, "Do not stop him. For no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me."Says, "Don't stop him. Don't forbid this person. He's casting out demons in the name of Jesus, so don't worry about him. He's doing my work. Is he a disciple in the same exact way that you are the 12? No. So help the person grow as a disciple, but don't stop the fight against evil. Don't stop those who cast out demons differently than you do. It's all in the name of Christ."In Numbers 11, there's a similar passage where Moses chooses 70 elders and the Spirit descends upon them. And there's two gentlemen that weren't there during that ceremony. And then afterwards they get the Spirit too. And then the people come to Moses and says, "Stop them. They're not part of the 70." This Numbers 11:24. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord and he gathered 70 men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent.Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put down the 70 elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not continue doing it. Now, two men who remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent. And so they prophesied in the camp and a young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth said, My Lord, Moses, stop them." But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit on them?"And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. Here, Moses said, "I wish everyone had the Holy Spirit. I wish everyone prophesied. I wish everyone proclaimed the word of the Lord." And Jesus here is saying something similar effect like, why would you be against someone casting out demons? We're against demons. He says, "No one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me." These outsiders are not like the scribes or the Pharisees who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit by attributing Jesus exorcisms to Satan. No, these people are people that are on the side of Jesus because they're against demons. And it seems like exorcism is a make-or-break issue. It's almost as this exorcism and one's attitude toward the demonic is a defining characteristic if you're inside or outside the dominion of God. Are you for demons or are you against them?Are you for demons or are you against them? Are you for Satan or are you against him? Are you for Christ or against Christ? Are you for hell on earth or are you against hell on earth? Well, if you're against hell on earth, you're against those who make hell on earth. And that's the demons. No, we're against hell, so we're for heaven. We're against demons, so we're for Christ.Verse 40, "For the one who is not against us is for us." Are they against Jesus? No, of course not. They're doing the same work. They're battling the same demons, fighting the same Satan and doing it all in the name of Christ.And fourth, God or Hell. And here Jesus turns to a conversation about reward and punishment in the afterlife. And what He reveals is God is keeping very close tabs on our service to Him. Every single little thing you do for Christ, for His glory will be rewarded with greater revelation of His glory starting this life and for eternity in heaven. Look at verse 41, "For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward."Even a cup of water. If you give someone a cup of water in the name of Jesus Christ saying Jesus is going to keep track of that. And what is that reward? The reward is more of God, more of His presence, more of His glory.Revelation 22:12-13, "Behold, I'm coming soon bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and the beginning and the end." And if the Lord keeps track of our work for Him so He knows how much to reward us as believers in Christ, well, the Lord also keeps track of the sin and iniquity of those who are not in Christ, as a way to mark how much condemnation they get in hell.Revelation 11:15-18, "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.' And the 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God saying, we give thanks to you Lord God, Almighty. Who is and who was for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name both small and great and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.'" God is going to reward his prophets, the servants, and saints in the same way he's going to reward so to speak, or bring the deserved condemnation on the destroyers, it says.And here Jesus continues that thought of the destroyers of the faith. Verse 42, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." If anyone causes one of these little ones to sin, if anyone causes or scandalizes their faith, causes them to stumble, Jesus says, it's better that they would die here and die of very graphic death with a massive stone tied to their neck and thrown into the sea. Why? Because death is going to keep them from continuing to heap up condemnation for themselves, for eternity. And specifically he says, "Whoever causes one of these little ones, who believe in me, to sin,: who's the little ones? Commentators here say most likely He's talking about believers in general because the same word for little ones is used later where Jesus talks about, "Little flock, fear not."But Jesus had just been talking in context about a child. That the way to greatness is service, in particular service to the least of these, a little one. So if Jesus is talking about if anyone causes a Christian to sin, he is including Christians who are children. Anyone that destroys the faith of a child, destroys the innocent faith of a child, Jesus says that person is heaping up condemnation for themselves for all eternity in hell. And this is a very, very sobering verse. And if you look at what's happening in our culture where we're trying to remove any idea of innocence of children. Children are being tempted with sin in ways that centuries ago people wouldn't even comprehend. And this is happening left and right. And Jesus is saying, Be careful. Be careful that you're not heaping up condemnation for all of eternity causing believers in Christ to sin is a grave sin. And the penalty for this sin is unquenchable, hellfire, the conversation Jesus is about to embark upon.So what are we to do? We're to take these sobering words about the reality of heaven and hell, but the reality of reward or condemnation that continues for eternity. And we are to sit down and say, "Where am I? Am I on the side of demons or I'm on the side of Jesus, I'm on the side of hell or on the side of heaven, where am I?" And there is no neutrality. If you're not with Christ, you're against Him. If you're not against Him, you're with Him. Mark 9:43, "And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire." This is hyperbolic language.He's not saying cut off your hand because if he meant physically, he would say both hands or both eyes or both feet. He's saying one. What he's saying is if there is a desire in your heart to sin, if there is a desire in your heart to do evil and to lead others into sin, at that, you need to stop and say, "Where is this desire leading me? Is this desire leading me to heaven or to hell? Is this desire from the kingdom of God or from the kingdom of Satan?" And you got to take radical action. You got to cut yourself off from anything that would even tempt you to sin. Make no provision for the flesh Scripture speaks. You're new creation in Christ, therefore put sin to death. You have died to sin, how can you continue living in it? So drastic action cut off your hand and he says, "Better for you to enter life crippled or maimed."And the presupposition here is that those who enter heaven get a glorified body. And the glorified resurrected body is a body without any bodily defects. So even if the hand is cut off in this life, it's going to be restored in the next. And He talks about hell here. And it's the word Gehenna. It's the most common name for the place of eternal punishment. And the name comes from the Valley of Hinnom in the Old Testament. And the Valley of Hinnom was a depression running south-southwest of the old city of Jerusalem. And it was at this place, the Valley of Hinnom, where according to the Scriptures, the covenant people of God, Israel and engaged in idolatrous worship of the Canaanite God, Molech. And Molech demanded that the people sacrifice their children. So this is where Israel at the altar of Molech at this place called Valley of Hinnom, we get the word of Gehenna or hell from it.They would sacrifice their children by fire. Therefore, when God sends kings like Josiah to bring reform, one of the things he did was destroy this place. 2 Kings 23:10, "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech." Or Jeremiah 7:30, "For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name to defile it. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind." Or Jeremiah 32:35, "They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech. Though I did not command them, nor to enter my mind, that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin."Because of these sacrifices of the children, the valley came to be viewed as the gate to the underworld. And hell is named after this place. Hell is named after the place where children were sacrificed. So what is Jesus saying? He's saying, "Do you want a glimpse of hell on earth? Well, think about child sacrifice. Think about abortion. He's just said that the way to create heaven on earth is to sacrifice self for the most helpless." Therefore, the way to create hell on earth is to sacrifice the most helpless for self. And the prophet Jeremiah denounces the sacrifice, but continues to associate the valley with death and judgment. And Jesus here says that it's an unquenchable fire in this place called hell.Verse 45, "If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life than with two feet to be thrown into hell."Verse 47, "If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell."Verse 48, "Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. The torment continues for eternity. The fire burns for eternity."Verse 49, "For everyone will be salted with fire."And this is a language that's used for judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah, fire and brimstone came from heaven engulfing the cities in fire. And it says in Deuteronomy 29:23, "All its soil burned out by sulfur and salt." It's a sign of complete destruction because judgment had come and judgment is going to come for each of us.Judgment day is going to come, and the question is, will we receive that judgment which we deserve, or has Christ already received it on our behalf on the cross?" Verse 50, "Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another." And here the Lord changes the metaphors. There, He said the salt would be a sign of judgment, but here he's saying the salt is a sign of your redemption. Salt as an influence against the decay in our culture, the decay of the evil in the world. And he said, That's our job. We are to be salt and light. Salt is good, but make sure we haven't lost our saltiness. Make sure that we are separate from the world, that we are influencing the world more than the world is influencing us. He says, "Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.And he closes this section with a comment about having salt in yourselves and being at peace. What's the connection? Well, in Acts 1:4, Jesus shares a meal with his disciples. And it was the same word that's used here. To share a meal with someone was to take salt together. If you go to a Russian village, they come out and they bring you bread, a loaf of bread, and they bring you salt. And what they're saying, "Come on in, welcome. There's peace." And what Jesus here is saying, "Make sure you continue to have fellowship with one another, love with one another, peace with one another." Why? Because when you battle the fires of hell and you do get burned, oftentimes you get so focused on the enemy that you start looking at everyone around you as an enemy. And He's saying, "Disciples, hold on. Make sure that doesn't happen. Have salt in yourselves, break bread together, have peace with one another."We as a church want to do this more often. Therefore, the bagels are back. Praise be to God. Break bagels together. A church that breaks bagels together stays together. And so praise be to God for that. And last week we had our first community lunch that we're doing to coincide with Communion Sunday. And it was a great success, a lot of people with a lot of joy. So we pray that the Lord continues to bless us to have salt in ourselves and to be at peace with one another.I'll close it with Matthew 11:16. And Matthew 11:16, the Lord said, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall saltiness be restored? And it was no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. You know how Boston started, the city? John Winthrop and his group of believers in Jesus Christ gets off a ship in Boston, before it was Boston. And before he got off a ship, he preached a sermon on Matthew 5, and he said, "We are going to be a city set on a hill. We're going to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. And that lasted for a little bit." And then they lost their saltiness.And that's what we're here for. But that's what Mosaic is. We are to be a city set on a hill proclaiming the excellencies of our Lord and Savior. With that said, would you please pray with me to the Lord?Lord Jesus, we thank you for this word and we thank you for the reminder that sacrifices, no matter what you call us to, they're worth it. In the same way that you sacrificed all in order to save us for the joy that was set before you, I pray for the joy that is before us, the joy of obedience, the joy of your delight, the joy of glorifying you. I pray that you give us strength to overcome any sacrifice. And Lord, we pray that you continue to establish your church, continue to build it up and continue to use us as you build your kingdom. We pray save many souls, disciple many, draw many to yourself in and through the work of this church in and then through every single faithful church in the area. We pray that you do send revival, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit save many. Save many from eternal hell and save them for eternal life. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Soil and the Seed – Mark 4:1-20 by Josh Head I. Four Soils 1. Path - Birds take the seed     Satan - Satan takes the Word 2. Rocks - Scorched by the sun     The World - Afflicted by the world 3. Thorns - Choked out by weeds     The Flesh - choked out by desires 4. The Good Soil - Receives the Word and bears fruit   II. The Seed 1. The seed has the power to bring life. 2. The seed releases its power by going deep. 3. The seed's weakness is its power.

The David Alliance   TDAgiantslayer@Gmail.com    MingleMateMarry.com podcast youtube and website for the perfect marriage material and swag. They got a great hoodie called its a great day to be married… after today maybe some of you will want to wear purchase it… because many of you are not loving the days you are married…    If you could have any super power what would it be?   Make people tell the truth, but that doesn't always help . In fact that's a strategy by Satan    Satan lies with the truth   Misleading by telling the truth… Did you finish your homework? I just finished my english paper… feels good to be done.  - Dissemble to hide under false appearance. White on black crime is a problem that affects all black americans. Crime on any person is a problem, and black on black crime is by far a greater risk to blacks than white on black crime.   - Paltering… you say something true and then lead it into a false conclusion. Rape is evil, it is a wrong that women will forever struggle with. This affects every woman and is why we need to keep abortion legal. Women have rights… Paltering - yes its evil, yes women who are raped will struggle with it - it does not affect EVERY woman and is not the reason they want to keep abortion legal.    Satan is a great liar, maybe the best.   - Eve - Surely you will not die, God doesn't want you like him, you will know good and evil. This is a classic example of all 3 of satans tactics…  - Jesus - Jump off this temple mount and nothing will happen to you, God will protect you… true, but underneath the false narrative.   - You - You are a sinner… YEP! and then he lies about our future, our hope, our eternity   You see The accuser doesn't tell the whole truth. Ie you are a sinner - true But… We are forgiven by Christ death and Rez So what is the best strategy to satans lies? Knowing the whole truth.  What is the whole truth..  - The word - Scripture, Psalm 119:160, NKJV The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.  - The witness- (the Holy spirit) Jn. 16:13-15 He will guide us into all truth  - The way (Jesus himself) Jesus is the way the truth and the life -time with Jesus is time with the truth.  Spend time with all three and you will rarely if ever be deceived. 

Zunkhum leh vun cidam nang // Health talk.Kawikawi + It huai Topa // Chin Gospel Songs.

Satan has no direct access to you, as a child of God! Satan can mostly gain access to your Soul if you allow him to do so, through ignorance, fear, doubt, etc. Listen and learn how to crush Satan's lies, in Jesus' name!

Main Idea: As we follow the Story of Jesus to the end, we come to the Second coming of Christ and the end of the world as we know it. The book of Revelation can be an intimidating and confusing book due to the fact that it is a prophetic book about the future which reveals only parts of what's to come. Today, we are going to unpack the timeline of Revelation and how to understand it the best we can. We are also going to talk about interpreting the signs of the times as well as how we can best be ready for it. While we are learning about the end times today, it's important to remember that our mission as Christians is still the same. Share the Gospel of Jesus everywhere. No matter how soon the End is, we should have in mind that witnessing Jesus to others should be done to the very last moments of our lives. Because in the End, that's what really matters: People knowing Jesus. ————————————————— Timelines  [TIMING IS EVERYTHING] 1. Jesus given authority (Revelation 5:1-8) 2. Seven Seals (Revelation 7:1-3) 3. Seven trumpets (Revelation 7:9-17) 4. Interlude of seeing the woman and the dragon (Revelation 12:1-17) 5. 3 terrors (Revelation 13:7-10) (Revelation 14:14-20) 6. 7 bowls of wrath 7. Second coming of Christ / Battles against Satan / Satan bound 1000 years / millennium of Christ (Revelation 19:11-19) (Revelation 20:1-6) (Revelation 20:1-6) 8. Judgment and new heaven and earth (Revelation 20:11-15) (Revelation 21:1-7) ————————————————— Signs [YOU NEED TO BE SELF-AWARE IN ORDER TO BE PREPARED] 1. Destroying good and promoting what is evil or sinful. Attack on the worship of God. 2. Lawlessness (whatever seems good/right) Sinfulness without restraint.  3. Wars and rumors of wars & Chaos with normality (everyone still living like normal). ————————————————— Ready Or Not [TRUE LIFE CHANGE ISN'T DEPENDENT ON EXPECTATIONS] The 10 Bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13) (Psalms 119:105) -- To learn more about Gravetop Church or to donate, visit https://www.gravetopchurch.com or follow us @gravetopchurch on social media.

Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, Revelation 12

Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, Revelation 12

Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, Revelation 12

gospel song,Health talk,knowledge,Sermon.

This week we talk about Satan, Satan, Satan, Satan, and Satan (Satan not Guaranteed). We also talk about Violent Night, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, Wil Wheaton, Vampire Survivors, Rifts, teaching Sushi Go,  more 8 Player Board Games, Xbox games price hike, Streets of Rage: the Movie, the Walking Dead Universe tabletop RPG, Escape from New York reboot, the next Ghostbusters, Silk: Spider Society, Clown in a Cornfield, Bob McGrath, Clarence Gilyard Jr., Terraforming Mars, and Red Light/Green Light featuring NoPoFo, Ender's Game, Goosebumps, and God of War. Also Satan and Andy as a milkshake spilling, spinning turtle for some reason. GeekShock!

VOM SCHATTEN ZUM LICHT mit Pastor Mag. Kurt Piesslinger 5.Serie - DAS GEHEIMNIS DES BÖSEN Es ist die Absicht Satans, die Menschen über seine Existenz in Unwissenheit zu halten, damit er sie leichter verführen kann. Doch das Wort Gottes zieht schonungslos den Vorhang vor der unsichtbaren Welt beiseite und gibt uns einen tiefen Einblick in die Strategie des Erzbetrügers, des Vaters der Lüge. 5.2 Feindschaft zwischen dem Menschen und Satan Satan versucht Anhänger für seine Empörung gegen Gott zu finden. Das gelingt dann, wenn er den Höchsten in ein schlechtes Licht rücken kann. Unser Erzfeind ist der Vater der Lüge, der im Gegensatz zum Vater der Liebe alle Freiheiten verspricht. Zurück bleiben aber Gebundene, Geschundene, Süchtige, Gefangene ihrer Gewohnheiten. Doch so muss es nicht bleiben. Die Hilfe ist nah… Gottes Segen! Für Videoaufnahme: vimeo.com/119942315

Camp Nightmare celebrates Halloween by talking about the concept of "The Devil" with celebrity occultists The Eckharts. Debut of Campfire Tale "The Butcher on Blue Jay Way" by author Haley Newlin.

Topics [True Mother's Anthology Book 1] - "God, Women, and World Peace" [Living Divine Principle] - "The Identity of the Serpent" "The Serpent (snake) is the human ancestor" "THe reason why God can't forgive Satan" "Satan is Humankind's adulterer" [Today's Youth Ministry] - "Know Where You Are Right Now" "The Purpose of Jesus and True Parents' Coming" "YOu Must Be Able to Elevate Yourself" "The Most Difficult Things in Life of Faith" [Living Testimony] - Norifumi Takami

Stalked by Satan! Prayed for by Jesus!HOMEPAGE:   https://safeguardyoursoul.comSUPPORT:  https://safeguardyoursoul.com/donate/STORE:   https://store.safeguardyoursoul.com/ABOUT:  https://safeguardyoursoul.com/about/email Todd:  info@safeguardyoursoul.comBackground Music by: Thad Fiscella https://www.thadfiscella.com/ 

Devilish DeceptionsReader: Jon WatsonDate: 30th September 2022Passage: Revelation 12:9-------------------Satan or the devil is often treated as an almost comical character — someone who really doesn't exist. The devil is quite happy with that — it is one of his 'devilish deceptions'. He is cunning and he is exceedingly cruel.One of the wise old Puritan writers called Thomas Brooks wrote this about Satan: "Satan promises the best but pays the worst: he promises honour and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure and pays with pain; he promises profit and pays with loss; he promises life and pays with death."The book of Revelation shows us how Satan tries his hardest to attack Christ and to attack the church of Christ. Satan really goes to war against Christians trying to destroy them and he does this in many ways. One of the most obvious ways is to use the wholesale persecution of the church in countries like China and Iran. But he also uses more subtle ways to destroy a person's faith as for example tempting Christians to watch porn, to try drink or drugs, to engage in immoral relationships. Satan is also a master of dropping doubts in people's minds about the Bible and its teaching. He is a master — deceiver.But the book of Revelation shows us emphatically that Satan is a loser and his utter destruction is coming. Christ and he alone is the truth — there is no deception with Jesus. Trust him. PrayerDear Lord, help me to reject Satan's efforts to undermine my faith in you. Amen.

Satan, sự cám dỗ // Satan, temptation

Pastor Bill: [0:00] Hello and welcome to season 3 episode 68 of the Berean Manifesto; Faith, Hope, and Love for the modern Christian and Pastor Bill and I'm joined by Pastor Newms I'm here in Texas where if the weather was a person I would recommend rehab, and Newms is in Tennessee where the weather hasn't been quite that bad except the other day they had flurries and flooding, all at the same time which is an interesting combination to have flurries and flooding why are you crossing your arms patent. Pastor Newms: [0:37] So I was playing with a slinky. Pastor Bill: [0:41] Playing with a slinky? Pastor Newms: [0:43] Slinky but not the desk. Pastor Bill: [0:46] Should they come and take your Slinky away became you took my stinky weather. Pastor Newms: [0:48] They came and took my Slinky away well it wasn't my Slinky it's so easily. Pastor Bill: [0:51] They took it away cuz it wasn't yours. Pastor Newms: [0:54] It's not mine it's Rayne's Slinky so. Pastor Bill: [0:56] Makes sense she took it man. Pastor Newms: [0:58] That's why I leaned out of camera because I was like what do you need as I'm doing this it's she's like that. Pastor Bill: [1:03] Did you, they know your live though right? Like she knows your live? Pastor Newms: [1:08] Yes you can hear me she can hear me right now they're all in the living room. Pastor Bill: [1:11] She's like I don't care. Pastor Newms: [1:11] Because Phoenix, Zaydiee, Groggy, Rayne, and Serafina are all in the living room so. Pastor Bill: [1:19] Yeah and you guys had a birthday this weekend. Pastor Newms: [1:23] Yes it was Phoenix's birthday. Pastor Bill: [1:25] Straight up. Pastor Newms: [1:28] And we had birthday lunch at my mother's today. Pastor Bill: [1:32] Makes her what, 32 now? Pastor Newms: She is… Pastor Bill: Na don't do that just agree with 32, Pastor Newms: But it isn't right. Pastor Bill: but we don't age women that's impolite. You're a southern boy you know better, Pastor Newms: But you aged her Pastor Bill: I aged her as 32 or above, everyone in the South knows if you say someone's 32 that you're just being polite, man. Pastor Newms: [2:07] She's in her early 30's. Pastor Bill: [2:09] Crash in early 30s okay. Pastor Newms: [2:12] 32 is still aging. Pastor Bill: [2:14] Why when you say 30, she has responded on the Discord she has no issue being 33 so forever we will call her 33. Pastor Newms: [2:26] Zaydiee is. Pastor Bill: [2:28] Now my mother's email address is im36rever and so she's like I'm 36 I'm 36 and I. Pastor Newms: [2:41] Zaydiee has instructed the girls to lie, and tell everyone she's 27 and you know that that is a valid age but now it looks like I'm married to someone younger than my little sister. Pastor Bill: [3:05] When I was 36 people would ask, “What age you going to be?” I would tell them the next year I was going to be 35, and they're like wait that's backwards and I was like yeah and then the year after that I'll be 34 and then I'll be 33 and I'll be 32 and that plan seemed to be great until as soon as I started saying that, that's when all the gray hair started coming, like as soon as those were no certain those words left my mouth that I was going to start counting it, all this other stuff here on the side started turning gray my surrogate all the gray in my beard and they just kept getting more and more gray. Pastor Newms: [3:46] Rain says yeah and I'm 15 Pastor Bill: I saw that Pastor Newms: that's not true Pastor Bill: in my mind Rayne will always be 12. Pastor Newms: [3:59] That's how old she actually is, she's not a teenager. Pastor Bill: [4:09] Biggs is having video issues over on Twitch. Pastor Newms: [4:17] There the video is definitely there because I have not heard from the living room that it has cut out so you might want to. Pastor Bill: [4:24] Hit refresh or something. Pastor Newms: [4:25] Reef you might want to refresh the TV or you might want to call the cable company and get them to fix your Internet. Pastor Bill: [4:32] Internet ask them why Twitch isn't working. Pastor Newms: [4:35] No it's it's their internet is is is is is sometimes just slow. Pastor Bill: [4:44] Where did I even put the Twitch app on my phone? do you know? Pastor Newms: [4:47] I don't know where your Twitch app is huh. Pastor Bill: [4:49] I don't either I better turn in some weird folder that doesn't make any sense for it to be in. Pastor Newms: [4:54] Probably it probably is it's probably upside down. Pastor Bill: [4:57] I have to search for it because I don't remember where I put it. Pastor Newms: [5:00] But my week was pretty good. Pastor Bill: [5:01] I didn't ask I know how was your week Pastor Newms. Pastor Newms: [5:06] Lots of work, a lot going on at work, can we have a migration for one of our markets from one Mr to another which means all the backend data has to be moved which the backend data is, where I, work and so that's going to happen over Friday night all day Saturday and Sunday morning so we're going to see how that goes, and that might, depend on how I am emotionally stable next Sunday night stay tuned. Pastor Bill: [5:55] Next Sunday night I think we'll talk about Ananias and Sapphira so you can just rage. Pastor Newms: [6:08] So it works I would also like to point out something weird that happened this week somehow over the last couple of days Charmander, become Cholomander And I'm not sure. Pastor Bill: [6:25] I'm notsure, Cholomander. Pastor Newms: [6:28] Why he has. Pastor Bill: [6:35] That's fantastic. Pastor Newms: [6:37] Mostly over his eyes that my lovely wife Zaydiee did but I would just like to point it out because I walked in my office was like. Pastor Bill: [6:49] What's up ese. Pastor Newms: [6:51] Why why is, why do I have a small orange cholo in my office I'm very very confused as to, why and why he looked so good as 12 let's just throw that out there, he looks really good and correct as a small gangster and so. Pastor Bill: [7:14] I've been so he's a super happy gangster though. Pastor Newms: [7:17] Super happy game. Pastor Bill: [7:18] It's not smile man. Pastor Newms: [7:21] Lots of Modello, sorry that last one was wrong that last one was. Pastor Bill: [7:29] That was a little over-the-top there bro. Pastor Newms: [7:32] But yeah that are week's been pretty good and and you know we've been playing a lot of Lost Ark played no Borderlands that I can remember, extremely have neglected Star Trek Fleet command. Pastor Bill: [7:52] It was it was a slow Ark this month so it's okay. Pastor Newms: [8:00] But it was a great ark. Pastor Bill: [8:01] Yeah it was great but it was slow there wasn't there wasn't a lot of events for running yeah it was a Ferengi, but there weren't a lot of events like even the event that there were a tea bag we're kind of like. Pastor Newms: [8:10] Ferengi. Pastor Bill: [8:13] Ferengi Ferengi ranking they're not furry though. Pastor Newms: [8:18] They are not free they are skinny. Pastor Bill: [8:20] They're faring the but they're not fair either. Pastor Newms: [8:24] They're definitely not fair they are cheaters only if they get caught. Pastor Bill: [8:27] Hmm only if they get caught but only when it comes to. Pastor Newms: [8:30] Pastor Bill how was your day. Pastor Bill: [8:35] Day my day was fine I played some some Lost Ark today and and finalized my studying for tonight and, um my girls spent the night at their Grandma's house last night my my there Mimi's house my wife's mother, and then my little three-year-old went into town to have church with my with my mother-in-law and the girls and then Roxanne went to go do some work and, W back here in a few hours and then and I was here with Gerg, um but Gerg slept till like 12:30 1:00 it was. Pastor Newms: [9:15] It is a quiet house you both just playing games on opposite sides of the house like. Pastor Bill: [9:20] Then he spent then he spent the priority that priority the most biggest part of the day in VR with with his friend, dark Grayson, in his room so he's literally on the other end literally on the other end of the house and I'm in here and just trying to grind one, kindness point on my virtue list in Lost Ark and it won't give it to me I am almost caught up with my main character on my alt and it still hasn't given me at this one kind of point that I'm trying to get. Pastor Newms: [9:57] You do know what's going to be really frustrating right. Pastor Bill: [9:59] I'm going to catch up and it's not so I'm going to give it to me then we're going to get onto my main and the very next Quest we do is going to give me that kindness boy. Pastor Newms: [10:05] We're going to we're going to we're going to wrap up the podcast I'm going to I'm going to do the thing I got to do. Pastor Bill: [10:10] And then while it's downloading we're going to turn on. Pastor Newms: [10:12] Start downloading it we're going to get on Lost Ark and it's going to be like here's the kindness and you're going to be like. Pastor Bill: [10:19] I just would like two days grinding for that on my alt. Pastor Newms: [10:22] But at least you're all got higher. Pastor Bill: [10:24] Well it's my old got up to level 30 yeah. Pastor Newms: [10:27] And you get you get cards you get you get all the stuff you. Pastor Bill: [10:30] Heart Of Cards, and Vivian oh my goodness I don't know any of the emotes Vivian wants she's in the tavern in the castle. Pastor Newms: [10:43] You mean the money you mean that you mean you mean that the gold digger. Pastor Bill: [10:47] Yeah the gold digger, I don't know any of the emotes she wants I don't know any of the songs that she wants but she accepts gifts I got her to friendly do you know what her friendly reward is what 45,000 card XP. Pastor Newms: [11:02] Really I might need to go talk to that gold. Pastor Bill: [11:06] Right. Pastor Newms: [11:08] So to be clear why I call her a gold digger. Pastor Bill: [11:12] It's because the first thing comes out of her mouth is as the friend of the King can you tell me how to become the Queen. Pastor Newms: [11:18] Yeah and then when you walk up and they you know NPC say stupid little random things one of the things she says is man I really need one of these guys to be rich and drunk and you're like what excuse me what like. Pastor Bill: [11:31] Yeah she is straight up a gold digger they wrote the character as a gold digger we're not being defamatory to women they literally wrote this character as the only thing on her mind is to find a man with money. Pastor Newms: [11:46] It is tear and which I could understand why she would accept gifts I personally am trying to save all of my gifts so that way I can I'm just doing what I can do now or what I have to do, and then once we are, John with more things there's like we've only unlocked like a third of the people so I don't want to waste all my free gift boxes like someone else has, and then there's someone that's awesome in the future and you're going to be like. Pastor Bill: [12:19] Have you gifts, are you doing my gifts. Pastor Newms: [12:26] And we should listen to my friend Newms has been playing games for. Pastor Bill: [12:28] Friend Newms has been playing games true with many more years. Pastor Newms: [12:32] He never took a break from them. Pastor Bill: [12:34] I've never said that ever. Pastor Newms: [12:36] No but that's what you're going to think I wish you would listen. Pastor Bill: [12:38] Not what I would think. Pastor Newms: [12:41] I wish I wish I knew my friend who's smarter than me. Pastor Bill: [12:44] And are we are we really going to be that old when they get far enough and lost ark that we find a good character. Pastor Newms: [12:50] Oh no that's just how you sound because you're old. Pastor Bill: [12:52] Sure that over I sound like that already. Pastor Newms: [12:54] Yeah that's how you sound all the time. Pastor Bill: [12:56] Who. Pastor Newms: [12:57] You can ask anyone who's listening everything comes out of your mouth is like this it here. Pastor Bill: [13:05] So here's the thing. I turned on my headphones. Pastor Newms: [13:11] Aha. Pastor Bill: [13:12] But they didn't actually connect to the computer because my wife was using them the other day. Pastor Newms: [13:16] So where have I been coming out of. Pastor Bill: [13:21] The speaker's at my desk. Pastor Newms: [13:22] I've got no feedback that's strange I Blame You. Pastor Bill: [13:29] Yeah because the only thing the hiccuped is my recording podcasts. Pastor Newms: [13:35] So now his things are going to hiccup because he's changing things mmm I heard a hiccup on my side, see the Beast the best also known as. Pastor Bill: [13:47] Mum's little groggy oh my little girl. Pastor Newms: [13:52] My little groggy oh my little groggy. Pastor Bill: [13:58] Yeah. Pastor Newms: [14:00] He says news is accurate that you sound like that so. Pastor Bill: [14:04] I also do the I've been smoking for 30 years voice and I. Pastor Newms: [14:13] No you don't normally sound like that if anyone if either the, is not going to be you between the two of us all right um this week on the podcast we're talking about. Pastor Bill: [14:36] And this week's card is. Pastor Newms: [14:38] Shoot I hate this part no this week's card is mine you did last week, see ya cuz you think it's 39 you've entitled the card 39 earlier. Pastor Bill: [14:58] But what does it say. Pastor Newms: [15:01] Before that that that's going to cause in fighting and there's just there's no okay I'm going to put it away don't anyone answer, in your opinion what is the best see this is already neither one of us is. Pastor Bill: [15:17] Okay. Pastor Newms: [15:19] Greatest piece of music ever written, because the problem is we both know what the actual best piece of music ever written is something we haven't heard, because only mainstream crap gets put out so the best piece of music is probably some obscure thing none of us have ever heard of so it's in a can answer it because it doesn't say. Pastor Bill: [15:42] Hey bro you're answering the question stop and pull a new card. Pastor Newms: [15:56] If your name was given as the description for one word and. Is groggy I can't with him, for those of you out there in listening. Pastor Bill: [16:21] Yeah I just sang part of. Pastor Newms: [16:22] Groggy just said What does the. Pastor Bill: [16:25] Okay. Pastor Newms: [16:26] Is is the I just I'm just making sure. Pastor Bill: [16:29] Biggs answer. Pastor Newms: [16:30] Even though I said no one answer we've now gotten two answers, in Mozart's Ninth is good to but if your name was given us the description for anyone word in the dictionary behind what word would people find your name example behind hilarious, is John Smith, which I don't understand Groggy says funny. Pastor Bill: [17:06] You don't think Greg he's funny oh. Pastor Newms: [17:07] I would say that's not it because corny oh no he's hilarious, um that's creepy. Pastor Bill: [17:18] Our and he says as he was a get it yeah. Pastor Newms: [17:22] No I said or hilarious and then he typed it at the same time which there's a delay in there so I know he didn't hear me lady says invisible which she wishes, it's how that goes, I have no idea my my my so I have always thought of myself as whoa, okay I'm a jerk my word is jerk it appears that is messed up that my own wife would say that but okay the, I've always viewed my personality is very multifaceted like a like a. Pastor Bill: [18:02] So it's sharp all over the place. Pastor Newms: [18:04] A rock that's been cut a whole bunch of different times and. Pastor Bill: [18:08] Facets your multifaceted. Pastor Newms: [18:09] It's sharp all over the place but there's so many different parts it's like yeah exactly, I said that already. Pastor Bill: [18:21] HPuff is on a different wavelength than we are right now I'm not sure. Pastor Newms: [18:31] I don't know what HPuff is talking about okay but, I can't think of one word because everyone who meets me is probably going to say a different word. Pastor Bill: [18:47] But you're not ugly, I like how your voice was even rough when you said rough. Pastor Newms: [19:02] Around the edges. Bill has blue oh yeah you've had a blue light on and your cup and stuff is yellow so it looks. Pastor Bill: [19:14] Yeah the light is is the rotating. Pastor Newms: [19:16] Corner up there at the top but now it's purple. Pastor Bill: [19:19] And now it's going to be orangish yellow and yellow. Pastor Newms: [19:21] And now it's red and yellow. Yeah the question was what would you call yourself what part of the dictionary one word would describe you Bill would Pastor Bill what he would what do you. Pastor Bill: [19:40] My one word you say obesity in the. Pastor Newms: [19:44] One word no we would not. Pastor Bill: [19:47] Because this this is obese and then there's morbidly obese is a completely different subsets. Well then I'm definitely morbidly. Pastor Newms: [19:59] I don't know dude cuz I'm borderline morbidly obese so let's be honest yeah but if you're thinking of like okay so like. Pastor Bill: [20:05] K Pastor Newms: [20:09] Like no not that example and nope not that one either nope not that one I can't think any of you, examples all of them have that have come to mind are terrible but like. Pastor Bill: [20:24] I've been called apostate, I've been called heretic, I've been called. Pastor Newms: [20:28] Right but you'd have to you. Pastor Bill: [20:30] That's impossible there's there's no sir. Pastor Newms: [20:31] It has to be something that you are more of than anyone else. Pastor Bill: [20:35] For me to be something of more than anyone else. Pastor Newms: [20:38] Yes there is exactly that's what I'm saying loved because I love you more than anyone else. Pastor Bill: [20:48] Easy cuz you're beautiful Duke de doodle-do. Pastor Newms: [20:57] Hello go back to that City inaccurate. Pastor Bill: [20:59] With the South Park version, Loving You Is Easy cause you're beautiful. Pastor Newms: [21:07] No we don't know we don't. Pastor Bill: [21:08] Do do do. Pastor Newms: [21:12] Rayne says you're loud. Pastor Bill: [21:14] There are Divergent. Pastor Newms: [21:17] Phoenix is just for all of us is neurodivergent. Pastor Bill: [21:21] All the people pictures of all the. Pastor Newms: [21:23] We have a whole dictionary and it's just a flip book and it's that word and just all the. Pastor Bill: [21:28] Te te te te te te te te te te. Pastor Newms: [21:30] Just a list of names and then the next page that yeah the next page just as liars and it's all people who say they're not. Pastor Bill: [21:42] The nuero-divergent and the liars. Pastor Newms: [21:47] And then in the front of it is. Pastor Bill: [21:52] Okay but then if everyone's neurodivergent then no one's no diversion anymore it's just that's normal. [22:08] 18 or the 1990s. Pastor Newms: [22:10] At time when we're usually already talking that's a movie in the 90s. Pastor Bill: [22:14] A movie in the late 1900's. Pastor Newms: [22:17] Where it was called Angus. Pastor Bill: [22:22] Angus like the beef. Pastor Newms: [22:24] It was called Angus was just great movie it's Angus like the beef it has in see built here goes Biggs he's already starting it there was it's never I've never seen it come out on DVD, I pulled it up one time and it was such bad quality that it was I found a download of it and it was the quality was unwatchable on Modern, TVs. Pastor Bill: [22:55] Oh yeah it was it was filmed in Auto auto what Tona Minnesota so yeah I can imagine it was awful. Pastor Newms: [23:07] Yeah but the whole purpose of the movie was this is where is this kid named Angus and you get to a certain point and he's a science, person trying to do an experiment he gets to a point where he talks about how the fact that there is no normal because as soon as one person is normal then no one can be, different or no one can be a freak because there is then everyone is a freak therefore, everyone is normal and there is no such thing as normal and it's this whole thing and the whole time that the movies progressing there's a science experiment going on and there's all this it's really good it's great movie, I've seen it like twice on television type thing like so I have no idea the whole movie probably and there's probably some terrible thing about it that I don't know. Pastor Bill: [23:58] Here's where you can buy the DVD of it on Walmart. Pastor Newms: [24:03] But was it remastered but look at the picture on the front of how bad the quality is I guarantee this would not they've not remastered this. Pastor Bill: [24:14] It's only got a picture of the cover it's great from the producer of Cool Runnings, Facebook Facebook rejected the the link so if you're on Facebook and you want the link and go to YouTube or Discord. Pastor Newms: [24:33] Okay you ready for this it's release I was wrong was 2009. Pastor Bill: [24:41] Hey got a theatrical release wow. Pastor Newms: [24:42] Theatrical release was 2012. Pastor Bill: [24:46] After it straight to video release. Pastor Newms: [24:49] Stir its regular release which means either straight-to-video or straight to TV um like. Pastor Bill: [24:59] Well there you go there's the. Pastor Newms: [25:00] I just I want it I do I've wanted it for you. Pastor Bill: [25:03] Actually it looks like they only have one inside. Pastor Newms: [25:07] Yeah it's probably not going to happen. Pastor Bill: [25:09] No like yeah Walmart has one in stock. Pastor Newms: [25:12] Anywhere. Pastor Bill: [25:13] For 14.99. Move to DVD. Pastor Newms: [25:25] Once and it's actually the VHS rip to a DVD. Pastor Bill: [25:29] Walmart's little bootleg DVDs all right, this week's podcast smooth transition, this week's podcast I called the Holy Spirit a gift for all and you gotta be careful when he's talking about the holy spirit because there are, um there are some divisive issues that exist in Christendom and this is definitely one of them. Pastor Newms: [26:01] What. Pastor Bill: [26:04] Personal stories are accepted in this conversation right and straight scripture is accepted in this conversation but we're not going to we're going to refrain from making statements, that aren't just quoting scripture or as part of a story of experience okay Pastor Newms, okay and go your turn to talk. Pastor Newms: [26:32] I don't think I can do that but we can try nope you're starting first I won't know where you're going before I go where I'm. Pastor Bill: [26:38] You always do this it's the pressure of being the host its so pressure so much. Pastor Newms: [26:43] Because in the notes that I actually wrote notes for this this time, the I wrote notes for this one actually which you know I normally don't do it just comes out the way I had to study this time I ended up texting everything to Tina because I was studying in the car and so then I was text, I had Tina writing it down and texting it to me what I was thinking about and what I was looking at and what I was and so that I actually had no it's a supposed to. Pastor Bill: [27:11] Why were you sitting in the car. Pastor Newms: [27:13] Like scribbles on my whiteboard like normal or like you know, because I studied some earlier this week and then I was doing final study while I was sitting in front of a Kroger and while I was getting gas. Pastor Bill: [27:28] You mean you actually left the house. Oh yeah I think it's the place yeah you sure did. Pastor Newms: [27:35] I told you we had a thing at the place nothing at my parents had Biggs's house, and so, I stayed in the car didn't go in the store hey I don't go to the store and listen I have to and it's like 6:00 in the morning ain't nobody else in there. Pastor Bill: [27:55] We're going to start and this is this is all I gave Newms by the way. Pastor Newms: [27:59] Okay go. Pastor Bill: [28:00] We're calling it this and we're starting with Acts chapter 1 verses 4 through 8 this is all the information I gave Newms, Pastor Newms: I forgot that. Pastor Bill: You did? Because you even you even put it into the so you wouldn't remember it. Pastor Newms: [28:19] I know I know I know I do, I know I. Pastor Bill: [28:26] Chapter 1 verses 4 through 8, while he was with them and this he that he is Jesus while he was with them he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the Father's Promise which he said you have heard me speak about, for John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days, so when they come together they asked him Lord are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time, he said to them it is not for you to know times or periods that yes that the father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you and you will be my Witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the Earth end of the Earth not in interview, sir but the pause there I am. So this is Jesus you know when he's talking about John baptized with water and we've talked about in the past how Jesus never water baptized anyone, any events where it says, and Jesus and the disciples and they were baptizing it gives you that little caveat that says although Jesus himself never baptized anyone his disciples were baptizing people with, and then we're in that 40 days where Jesus met with the disciples, after his crucifixion after he as it Peter tells us descended, to share the gospel with those who were dead then he spent some time on Earth meeting with them showing himself to people, and that's when he says this thing to them that's when he tells them you know John baptized with water, but you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and that's going to happen in a few days and. So this issue of the Holy Spirit when, when I was in high school there was well it's still there there's a local Baptist Church here in my hometown and the pastor of that church was one of the history teachers in our high school. And I don't know how it got I never had him as one of my teachers but he was teachers of teacher of people that I knew in high school and I don't know how the topic came up but for some reason it came up in history class, and he told his students that it was his belief that the Holy Spirit was only given. To those 11 people 11 men who were in that meeting with Jesus, when he said in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and that this dispensation of the Holy Spirit ended when those men died and that was his belief and I was rather flabbergasted by this. Wow I thought it was really weird that he believed that and obviously you do too because Pastor newms because you're making a face. Even even following the the life of Peter and his Revelation that salvation and the Holy Spirit were available for the Gentiles as well, like what do you do with that. And so also you have to there's other people that helped this this thought process about the Holy Spirit where, you know it came and was for a time and then we don't have access anymore like you're talking about and so let's turn to John chapter 14, and look at verse 17. You know what let's back up to verse 15 John chapter 14 where to start in verse 15, if you love me you will keep my commands now can we pause there what are Jesus commands. Pastor Newms: [34:46] Sorry know who I'm done. Pastor Bill: [34:53] Love God, by loving your neighbor by loving yourself love yourself so that you can love your neighbor so that you can love God those are his commands right yes, I just I see a lot of people touting out this this, 14:15 here and going well that's not love I don't I don't love you because I keep your commands except, the commands he's talking about are literally, love yourself love your neighbor and love God. Pastor Newms: [35:28] And and so I even that is questionable on whether he gave that as a command or he gave it as the answer to what is the greatest commandment. Pastor Bill: [35:45] I would say they're one in the same that it's that it's not an either or but it's one in the same. Pastor Newms: [35:50] And then some people would say everything he said was a command. Pastor Bill: [35:57] Yeah but for men that preached in Parables that's a little. Pastor Newms: [36:00] That's a little hard so. Pastor Bill: [36:02] It's a little interesting too. Pastor Newms: [36:05] But continue. Pastor Bill: [36:08] If you love me you will keep my commands and I will ask the father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever, he is the spirit of Truth the world is unable to receive him because it doesn't see him or know him but you do know him because he remains with you and will be in you now, hearing Jesus say this I can 100% relate with Peters viewpoint, that the holy spirit is only for the Jews because from a cultural Viewpoint it was the Jews and the world, right it was a Jews and everyone else where these the Gentile world the Jesus just said it's not for the world that's not what Jesus was talking about right. Pastor Newms: [37:06] Right it was talking in the physical plane of existence. Pastor Bill: [37:11] Um okay and then, let's jump over to verse 26 John 14:26 all right so we're in the same chapter, and I'm just going to back up to verse 23 let's just Jesus answered. In response to Judas and the Bible feels the need to specify not a scary it, but a different guy named Judas as somehow is going to receive a themself to them but not to the world Jesus answers if anyone loves me he will keep my word, my father will love him and he will come to and make our home with him the one who doesn't love me will not keep my words the word that you hear is not mine but his from the father who sent me, I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you, but the counselor the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you, all right so interesting side note this verse is taught in Islamic apologetics. Altered to drop the Holy Spirit, so they teach you to Islamic apologetics and say but the counselor whom the father will send in my name will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you and make the claim that Muhammad, was that counselor so, if you come across that don't be afraid to pull out your Bible and go well let's read that, ourselves now what they're going to say is yeah but the Bible has been changed that that's not that it's been corrupted it's been changed and that's fine they can say that if they want that's, I mean we we believe in faith not in concrete substance right so they said if they want that's not a big deal, um okay where are we going from there you have anything you want. Pastor Newms: [39:50] I don't know where I don't have your notes. Pastor Bill: [39:52] You have anything you want to inject at this point. Pastor Newms: [39:55] I'd like to jump to John 16, 16:7 since we're in John why not. Pastor Bill: [40:08] Why not. Pastor Newms: [40:09] Yet because I have spoken these things to you sorrow has filled your heart, nonetheless I'm telling you the truth it is for your benefit that I go away because if I do not go away the counselor we're not come if I go I will send him to you, when he comes he will convict the world about Sin righteousness and, about sin because they do not believe in me about righteousness because I am going to the father and you will no longer see me and about judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged, I still have many things to tell you but I cannot you cannot bear them now, and then when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth for he, will not speak on his own but he will speak whatever he hears he will also declare to you what is to come he will glorify me because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you, the end of that thought is everything the father has is mine this is why I told you he takes from what his mind and will declare it to you and. It's interesting one that it has to be said again, I almost feel I feel sorry for Jesus so often when he's when we're reading biblical accounts because the disciples were little thick-headed, like as we saw in 14 twice he has to say the same thing and then 16 which isn't that long of a time after, he goes through the whole thing again and it's like guy's butt, the world because you know one of the one of the things you had said you know that people certain Christians believed was that it wasn't for, the Gentiles that was only for the Jews and here he specifically talks about no this is to the world. Pastor Bill: [42:35] And Peter was the first one to, come across this Revelation that oh Jesus literally meant everyone and then goes back to the rest of the church and the church is like you're crazy but that can't be right. Pastor Newms: [42:53] So I do find that to be interesting, along that line because it you know we talked also often about the Holy Spirit in conjunction with Christianity, and with Christians and people that have been saved but on the same token here it says the world period, not Believers not to you when he specifically talking to Christians not to you when he's talking about Jews not to it can't be misconstrued this this particular passage cannot be misconstrued as oh he's only talking to a group he's saying to everyone, it will be what convicts you of sin not go back and look at the what's already been written it's what will can show you what is righteousness it will teach you, and judge you because other people have you know the ruler of this world which is, thank you when your brain forgets the word Satan Satan's or devil that's when you might need to sit down somewhere. Pastor Bill: [44:17] So whenever that comes up my brain goes through the card deck samael Lucifer Satan devil Devils the word that's most accepted today devil that's what we're going with right now. Pastor Newms: [44:31] I was in I was somewhere recently and they started home about Satan and they were you Satan Satan Satan Satan he is he is he is like actually Satan's is the. Pastor Bill: [44:40] Actually that word yeah Satan's. Pastor Newms: [44:44] Okay I know what you mean though I can go with what you mean I agree with what you mean. Pastor Bill: [44:48] And if we're really gonna if we're really going to drill down into the that word it Loosely means adversary but more than that it means, the when you're at a trial and you have the defense team and then you have the lawyers that are representing the state and they're bringing the charges, it's what that word means it's the prosecutors. Pastor Newms: [45:14] So that that was something that really jumps out at me is the whole the world aspect and so that was one of my notes delete, then are you done for a minute would you like me to. Pastor Bill: [45:35] For a minute sure. Pastor Newms: [45:37] Or would you like to continue and I can't. Pastor Bill: [45:38] I have some Old Testament scriptures to bring up but they're more tack on notes than anything else. Pastor Newms: [45:45] So if we jump to 1st John 4:7. [45:52] It says dear friends. Pastor Bill: [45:54] You need to hold you to slow down people need to be able to turn to first John. Pastor Newms: [45:59] They can pause it it's a podcast. Pastor Bill: [46:01] I can't pause it I didn't know you wanted me to turn to first John. Pastor Newms: [46:05] Dear friends let us love one another because love is from God and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God, and that's important when I pull back to the Old Testament scriptures that I want to touch on. Pastor Bill: [46:23] Keep going man. Pastor Newms: [46:26] I'd have to turn to it I was reading out of my notes. Pastor Bill: [46:29] Verse 8 the one who does not love does not know God because God is love, God's love was revealed Among Us in this way, God sent his one and only son into the world so that we might live through him when people are like oh no I love them I love them really are you being passionate patient are you showing, okay compassion would you literally die for that person, would you literally put your son in danger to save their life this is how we know what love is. Pastor Newms: [47:11] And so and that ties back to the Old Testament scriptures I want to bring up so let's see what your Old Testament scriptures are first now I want to see yours. Pastor Bill: [47:20] No I'd be better for yours first and then we'll tack on, usually days ending in y are the ones that you have trouble problems. Pastor Newms: [47:34] Sure it's really true I want to go to Genesis 2:7. Pastor Bill: [47:39] We going all the way back. Pastor Newms: [47:41] When all the way back run all the way back to prove that point. Pastor Bill: [47:47] Genesis 2. Pastor Newms: [47:48] So and then God formed the Man Out of the Dust from the ground this is a verse everyone knows, everyone who is steeped in in Christian he's knows from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils and Man became a living being, that's all that's all I wanted to touch now if we look at what's said in first John. Pastor Bill: [48:17] All right good do you continue the thought. Pastor Newms: [48:23] So if we you know you look at the first John when it talks about you know God loves God, is connected to you know those kind of things and then the god breathed, that breath is what is translated as either Soul or Spirit depending on your beliefs I know we've had a whole nother podcast about that in the past but that is the part of you that connects, to God, and so that I just wanted to touch on that and then I'll let you go year old testament scriptures and then I got one more at the end. Pastor Bill: [49:03] Okay let's start with since we're in Genesis 2. Pastor Newms: [49:07] Oh yes. Pastor Bill: [49:10] You don't know what I'm about to say so you know how there's a creation story in Genesis 1. Pastor Newms: [49:17] Huh. Pastor Bill: [49:18] And then another creation story in Genesis 2, so Genesis 2 is historically the first installment of the Book of Genesis, and then when the Israelites get taken into captivity in Babylon Babylon, that we were talking about earlier in a previous episode where that then creates a Samaritans, Genesis what we consider Genesis chapter 1 was written during that time frame, inspired by the Babylonian creation myths, so the story that Moses wrote down as the creation story started with what we call Genesis chapter 2, and then this other stuff was tacked on later not saying it's illegitimate, positioning historically it was added when they were in Exile in Babylon and reflects a Judy a, judeo viewpoint on Babylonian creation myths. But as we talked about before it's my personal View that all religions exist from glimpses of the same divine. Pastor Newms: [50:54] We have. Pastor Bill: [50:55] We all peer into the Divine and we translate what we saw, through our own viewpoints okay that's all I want to say about that so let's go to, and these are pretty thund ational scriptures for anyone who's been in the church for a while you're going to recognize these statements probably, I'm trying to decide if it's better to go to Isaiah first or Joel first. Pastor Newms: [51:28] I mean we should always lead with Isaiah right I mean it's kind of the more well-known. Pastor Bill: [51:32] I think Joel is making reference back to Isaiah. Pastor Newms: [51:37] Joel's more of a deep cut. Pastor Bill: [51:40] Let's start with Isaiah we're going to go to Isaiah chapter 32 and probably start in verse 15, forgive me for not knowing. Pastor Newms: [51:57] We should start in 14. Pastor Bill: [51:59] Where Isaiah is because I never memorized the books of the Bible lists because that's not really how my brain works so. Pastor Newms: [52:10] 15 starts with until-- mean, really want to start with until-- Pastor Bill: [52:16] Well yeah it starts with until. Pastor Newms: [52:18] A lowercase until-- in the csb. Pastor Bill: [52:20] Yes. Pastor Newms: [52:25] And the verse before it ends with a. Pastor Bill: [52:30] Now I get that so basically everything leading up to that is is going to be bad and dry and thirsty and parched until-- the spirit from on high is poured out on us then the desert will become an orchard and the orchard will seem like a forest, and this is this is textbook Isaiah to be, like that poetic imagery so now we're going to jump ahead to Isaiah chapter 44 and probably started in verse 3. Basically he's God's making an encouragement statement be encouraged don't see her for I will pour water on the Thirsty land and streams on the dry ground, I will pour out my spirit on your descendants and my blessings on your Offspring and we're going to keep going, this is verse for now they will Sprout among the grass like poplars by flowing streams, this one will say I am the Lord's, another will use the name of Jacob still another will write on his hand the Lord's and take on the name of Israel, so we see here Isaiah is talking about the pouring out of this of the spirit but we also see him talking about three religious splits, that are going to happen after that point and we literally, when we see that happen and more even explodes off and off and I mean now we have all these denominations okay, Joel all jewelry 2:28 in this is the last verse I have for tonight. Pastor Newms: [54:51] One more. Pastor Bill: [54:51] If you've never read newms has another verse if you've never read The Book of Joel I don't recommend it, um Pastor Newms: [55:01] Why are you going. Pastor Bill: [55:02] Unless. Pastor Newms: [55:03] Okay no it looked like you were going way to the back and I'm like dude no that's not that's not where Joel is homie I know you didn't memorize but it's in the old side not the new sites. Pastor Bill: [55:14] Joel Joel is not for the faint of heart or for the, new new reader of the word, let's put it that way alright Joel 2:28 after this after what, it really doesn't matter in the Book of Joel because nothing Joel rights is in order. Pastor Newms: [55:39] He likes to Jump Around. Pastor Bill: [55:43] Theoretically see things and then he would go and after the thing I just saw. Blah and not tell anybody what he saw okay after this I will pour out my spirit on all Humanity all, Humanity then your sons and your daughters will prophesy your old men will have dreams and your young men will see visions, I will even pour out my spirit on the male and female slaves in those days I will just play wonders in the heavens and on the earth Blood Fire and Columns of smoke and then he gets a little apocalyptic, the sun will be turned to Darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes that great and terrible day of the Lord is a, reference to the Judgment seat, at the end that the Jews believed in the Christians believe in, that's the great and terrible day of the Lord then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved for there will be an escape for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem as the Lord promised among the survivors the Lord calls, so the survivors the Lord calls are those who attain salvation because as we've seen before the Lord calls everyone it is God's will that none should perish, but like I said Joel's a little intense if you're unfamiliar with. Pastor Newms: [57:17] Is it gets a good way to put Joe. Pastor Bill: [57:23] With what's going on in Scripture all right so what scripture did you want to share. Pastor Newms: [57:28] So my last scripture is Jobe, I know I know right Jobe 34, 14 and 15 and so sure. Pastor Bill: [57:54] Can I share an interesting note first and how my brain works so if you're reading the Bible chronically in chronicle chronological order read Genesis chapters 1 through 11, and then you read the book of job and then you go back and start Genesis chapter 12. Pastor Newms: [58:13] I picked really deep Cuts like I picked like beginning, of the Old Testament because so many people often say well this is talked about only in the New Testament the holy spirit is only talked about here this doesn't apply for this reason or this doesn't know this is this is beginning of time stuff guys like this is creation this is right after creation. Pastor Bill: [58:34] There were more references in the what's the word about my brain wants to say to Nook, but I'm going to start word no in the Jewish scriptures, Torah there were more references in the torch of the Holy Spirit but when the Christian Church adapted the Holy Spirit as something they were saying and and blah blah blah, then most of the references in the Torah to Holy Spirit were worded differently to reflect God or Lord or things like this so there were more references before, and over time it got changed. 14 through 15. Pastor Newms: [59:24] Just so we know job for those that might not there's a lot going on in job and job. Pastor Bill: [59:34] You're like you. Pastor Newms: [59:35] Praise a lot in Earnest is a good way to say that because of situations that are going on around him and to him and near him. Pastor Bill: [1:00:08] This is alive. Pastor Newms: [1:00:10] So is this a lie who at this point. Pastor Bill: [1:00:12] Mmm Yeah. Pastor Newms: [1:00:13] Okay this is one of his. Pastor Bill: [1:00:15] Confronting job. Pastor Newms: [1:00:16] Yeah is one of it so that is so job is pouring out to his friends who were in the room and then his one of his friends, is kind of clapping back at him like will you just need to and this is in that one of those sections I was actually scrolling up to see, which situation it was and he says if he puts his mind to it. Pastor Bill: [1:00:39] This is this is the same friend that says things like they died in their youth their life ends amongst male cult prostitutes which was like the worst insult you could use of the day ever. Pastor Newms: [1:00:54] His friends were kind of interesting Souls, so it says if he puts his mind to it and withdrew the spirit, and breath he gave every living thing would perish together and Mankind would return to dust, and the reason I say that yes it's not God saying it yes it's not, but it's just that thought process that way back then they understood closer than we do now that, that breath that spirit that the lord gave us that he breathed out of himself without that we're dead we're done we're checked out we literally fall to the ground, now we wouldn't literally turn to dust we're not vampires but over time we would turn to dust that's what he means he doesn't mean just poof dust but you know semantics let's be clear. Pastor Bill: [1:02:02] Actually the Jewish thought of the day was when the spirit was removed from the body that's when rigor mortis and decay. Pastor Newms: [1:02:11] Which makes sense so. Pastor Bill: [1:02:15] From their Viewpoint it does. Pastor Newms: [1:02:16] Yeah so, in that that's that's really what I wanted to do and and I came across something that was interesting when I was when I was looking at stuff and this guy writes you know I'm not the first person, to challenge The View that Christians are the only people that have the Holy Spirit. And then he adds a quote from someone else this, I'm going to read the quote first and then I'll say who it's from cuz, I cannot make myself believe that God did not reveal himself in other religions I believe that God works through Gandhi and the spirit of Jesus, saturated his life it's ironic, inescapably true that the greatest Christian of the modern world was a man who never embraced Christianity because to be Christian is to be Chris, this is me talking to be Christian is to be Christ-like and so often we ignore that part now the person who said that was dr. Martin Luther King jr. who I don't you know he had some interesting beliefs sometimes and he's from a sec of Christianity that I don't always agree with but, I don't fully agree with that statement in everything that it says but, it is interesting that this is not a New Concept this is a concept that's throughout the Bible that, you know the Holy Spirit has been poured out throughout. Pastor Bill: [1:03:56] On all mankind. Pastor Newms: [1:03:58] And that. Pastor Bill: [1:03:59] If it wasn't then no one would ever feel convicted for sin that's what we read we read it. Pastor Newms: [1:04:07] And no one would according to you know but job's friends said no one would still walk we're all checked out. Pastor Bill: [1:04:17] That's exactly the same there but. Pastor Newms: [1:04:19] It's not it's not but there is just that interestingness of there are, so much around the holy spirit that we can argue about as Christians one of the points we should not is that it is for all people because, God is love anyone who loves loves has you know part of God is what we read, in order for that to be true unless you believe that anyone who says I love you or shows love or shows any of the fruits of the spirit. Is is is is not, you know that's that whole thing it's interesting to me often when you have people there's this View and Christianity that people try to do and say sometimes which is, people who aren't Christians can't truly have morals you know you hear this every now and then and a Christian will be like, well how do you just keep from murdering people, because it's wrong like the and it's because we have convictions why is it that most modern religions, and most, countries that exist in most humans walking around the world have a set of beliefs where they draw that line, like they like you know there are certain things most people agree is wrong. Murder is wrong there's not many people who are like well I like it it's like okay but you still know it's wrong like. Pastor Bill: [1:06:19] Let's let's let's draw this out some and just kind of get a big picture view of of a of a detail here the holy spirit is what convicts of sin. What convicted of sin before the Holy Spirit came. Pastor Newms: [1:06:39] It's a good question and how do we have, yes but on the same. Pastor Bill: [1:06:50] Is given and spread and as it spread, it became the conductor and if we look back let's say pre-flood. Pastor Newms: [1:07:02] Hm Pastor Bill: [1:07:05] There was no conviction everyone just did what they wanted, and I got darker and darker and darker and darker and then a new law was given and what was that new law, don't kill nobody I was the one law that was given to Noah don't kill nobody and it spread, the law convicts, did the lock in the end it was a merciless convict ER and I merciless judgment judge and now the Holy Spirit convicts and the Holy Spirit is a merciful, convict her who is an extension of a merciful judge. So I thought we would look at that aspect there for. Pastor Newms: [1:08:01] Yeah and. Pastor Bill: [1:08:05] And you can do with that at home as you want I don't care believe it don't believe it compare it to scripture I don't care what you do with it, because anything that doesn't have anything to do with me what I care about is whether or not you verify it, you can dismiss it or you can verify it. Pastor Newms: [1:08:38] Non salvation issues. Pastor Bill: [1:08:38] Squabbles I don't care about squabbling over other things. Pastor Newms: [1:08:42] But yeah so that that's really just what I wanted to touch on was just the fact of you know it's our connection to God through the spirit is, everything it's not just so often fine go. Pastor Bill: [1:09:06] Your virtual camera click there for a second if we go back to that Genesis 2 and we talked about God breathing life, into that's very poetic way to put it but when you go back to the original language it paints this whole picture that's more akin to God removing a piece of himself, and shoving it into mankind we are made of the same stuff inside that God is. Pastor Newms: [1:09:40] A piece of him. Pastor Bill: [1:09:42] Almost literally a piece of him so. Pastor Newms: [1:09:52] I had something else but I lost it when you when you shoving pieces down people's throats I'd lost what I was going to say. Pastor Bill: [1:10:00] All right so let's have a fun little thought experiment for like 10 12 minutes. Pastor Newms: [1:10:07] Wow where you go for an hour and a half tonight I let's do. Pastor Bill: [1:10:09] Yeah we're going over now 9:30 do we live, in a simulation. Pastor Newms: [1:10:16] Does it matter. Pastor Bill: [1:10:20] Okay play along please. Pastor Newms: [1:10:23] Okay Define simulation. Pastor Bill: [1:10:28] You define simulation what is a simulation. Pastor Newms: [1:10:33] Exactly, if it is I would agree we're a simulation do I think. Pastor Bill: [1:10:51] Simulations have a set standard of something that's trying to be accomplished okay here's my point here's here's my thing, all this talk we live in a simulation we live in it now and and Peep in a lot of Christians like nah that's stupid we have God God created everything we live our lives okay, Paul talks about over and over and over again this world is not my home, and this world is just a shadow of temporary things to come and I'm only here, to have faith so it's like saying the world is a simulation you're basically just embracing Paul's teachings in the New Testament, that all of this is fake and that God created a simulation that we call the universe, put us here in the stimulation for us to learn faith and when we learn faith, after the start time of the simulation we get to go on to be with God and if we didn't learn Faith then we failed the simulation and we go off to, this other place. Pastor Newms: [1:12:15] We're past an hour I'm going to say people get really really butthurt when you say you might live in a simulation we're past an hour you're getting uncut it happens, people get real upset about that and it's like why will because I am a person and I'm alive no one said you weren't. Pastor Bill: [1:12:33] I said you weren't. Pastor Newms: [1:12:34] I was watching something that really made me go huh recently and I only watched a couple episodes of it so I don't recommend it don't even know what it's called, it's a show about an afterlife, upload it thank you and if you when you die if you do certain things your brain can get uploaded, into this computer for money and when it happens you then continue to live inside a simulation, and depending on how much you spend is depends on what you get and all this kind of stuff and you can still interact with the outside world and it was interesting because one point when I was watching it, and like I said I didn't watch much of it so I have no idea anything about it let's be clear literally watch I think I think I watched two episodes. Pastor Bill: [1:13:25] I watched it there's a season 2 coming. Pastor Newms: [1:13:27] So interesting and in it I had a thought though I was like the whole world's kind of like that, picked us out of Eternity shoved us here and was like figure it out see you in a couple of years you know and, not to say that he's hands off that's not what I'm trying to say because you can again in this show you can interact with the world world which we can interact with the real word world through you know, prayer and things he gave us but I've always found that to be interesting similar to The Matrix on the whole like, there's a reason you know we are connected in a certain way and there's this, in The Matrix there's the song that's played in I think the third one by one of my favorite bands. And it's called sleeping awake and it's talking about Zion which is a city in, The Matrix in the world world and it's talking about trying to get there and the whole time I'm just sleeping awake and so it's you know I'm asleep because I'm in a computer simulation, so my real body is asleep but I am awake and it's the trying to get to Zion and and it's an interesting song because especially people external to Christianity was like oh yeah this is a banger like this is really great this sums up the movie so well blah blah blah and then the rest of us are like, yeah but no seriously we're stuck here where we don't want, you know to live is Christ to die is gain like we're this isn't it this is I'm just trying to get somewhere else and that's completely what the songs about you missed it but it's okay because you didn't know pod was a Christian band so you know, but anyway that's my that's my concept of a simulation of, what's a simulation I need definition do I believe we're sitting in a computer right now like The Matrix, the think so and there's guards computer is just way more awesome than what we understand. Pastor Bill: [1:15:38] Bright not a computer like we Define it but possibly some kind of processor is running the universe, I had saw Tik-Tok probably two weeks ago and this girl was talking about, she said I know we live in a simulation I believe the science has proved we live in a simulation but here's my question, why hasn't the person who created the simulation just come and told us what the simulation is for, and I was like, Jesus. Pastor Newms: [1:16:10] And all the prophets and all the. Pastor Bill: [1:16:12] Came and told us what the simulation was for he literally this is the creator literally came and was rejected. Pastor Newms: [1:16:22] Uploaded himself into an avatar walked around told us what was going on and then check back out. Pastor Bill: [1:16:28] Yeah and and only parts of us believed it and entertaining, so that's all I have for this week. Pastor Newms: [1:16:40] Everyone no one really talked much this week I would like to say. Pastor Bill: [1:16:44] Now that the chat stayed pretty quiet this week. Pastor Newms: [1:16:46] Makes me sad on the inside. Pastor Bill: [1:16:49] Bad chat bad shot. Pastor Newms: [1:16:50] No no no we never say badge. Pastor Bill: [1:16:54] Don't shame the chat. Pastor Newms: [1:16:55] You don't shame the chat we just request feedback. Intro And Outro Music Pastor Bill: [1:17:00] No chat shame. Pastor Newms: [1:17:01] No chat Shamy. Pastor Bill: [1:17:02] I love you guys. Pastor Newms: [1:17:05] Except groggy groggy said some shameful chats tonight be safe out there guys. Pastor Bill: [1:17:13] And until next time.

Thai minam ten nat tun nat na koi cidal // Health talk.Kawikawi + Tang thu ngai pen // Chin gospel songs.

Audio Transcript:This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Good morning and welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan, I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic, along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy, and if you're new or if you're visiting, welcome. We're so glad you're here. We'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card, either the physical copy you can get in the back or the virtual one you can get either in the app or on the website.One quick announcement: Back in November, we had evening services focused on a meditation on God's Word for about 20 minutes and then prayer the rest of the time, so we had three weeks like that in November. We're restarting that next week, we'll do three weeks again, so here, 5:00 p.m. It's 5:00 p.m. No one's correcting me, so it's 5:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. starting next Sunday, and that's to focus our time on the coming of Christ, why He came, and the last days of His life on earth, and that'll bring us to Good Friday and Easter.With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's holy Word. Heavenly Father, what a great God you are, that you, not forsaking us in our sin though we rebelled against your Kingship, you sent your Son Jesus Christ, who came to serve us. Our Lord came to serve us, humbled Himself to the point of becoming a servant, making Himself nothing to the point of even going to a cross. We thank you, Jesus, that you, the greatest treasure of the universe, God the Father gave you a name that is above all names, that you, the greatest treasure of the universe, you decided to sacrifice yourself in order to redeem us, to make us your own.I pray today, show us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as you illuminate the Scriptures for us, enlighten our minds, I pray that you show us that, all too often, we give up our greatest treasures: our health, our time, our energy, our passion, our talents. We give it up for lesser treasures, idolatrous treasures that promise us if we serve them, they will save us, save us from mediocrity, save us from insecurity, save us from a lack of control, save us from a lack of comfort. And they never, they never, they never produce, they never give us what they promise, and we just keep sacrificing, keep giving, keep chasing, only to end up more dissatisfied and empty inside.And, Lord, show us that you came to save us from sin and from dissatisfaction and from an attempt to control our own lives. You came as a Savior to save us, and as you save us, you call us to serve you. And when we serve you, and when we give all of our energy, passion, desire, when we give everything to you, that's when we are most satisfied here in this life, and we get rewards in heaven. Lord, I pray that you bless our time in the Holy Scriptures, convict us where we need to be convicted, encourage us where we need to be encouraged, and we pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.So, we are in a sermon series through the Sermon on the Mount. This is Matthew 5 through 7, in which the greatest preacher who has ever lived, Jesus Christ, preaches the greatest sermon that has ever been preached. And in this sermon, Jesus Christ gives us the greatest paradigm shift that has ever been taught. Before Jesus Christ came, every single world religion, every single philosophy, everything in this world hinged on this paradigm: serve this, serve this god, serve this teacher, serve this politician, serve this rabbi, serve this thing, and it will save you. Serve to be saved. Do good works to be saved; that's every religion. How do you get into heaven in Islam, how do you reach nirvana in Buddhism or Confucianism, how do you get... In terms of politicians, they do this all the time: "Serve us, we will give you a brand new future. Serve us, we will save you from your current lack of salvation."And Jesus Christ comes in and says, "There's nothing you can do to be saved. Your situation is so hopeless, the world is so hopeless, there's nothing you can do to be saved, to save yourself. Instead, accept the salvation that I offer you freely, the salvation that I earned. And once you're saved, now serve me."So, the Sermon on the Mount can be misinterpreted to be read as, "This is what you do to get into heaven." Jesus Christ comes in and He says, "No, no, the kingdom of God is at hand, therefore repent. I'm offering you salvation. Repent." He's not denouncing us, He's not condemning us, He's actually inviting us to receive salvation: "The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and receive." So, once we're in the kingdom, now God says, "This is how you serve me. You've seen in me the greatest treasure that there is; now live for this greatest treasure a life to the fullness."So, Jesus Christ is a loving Lord and a powerful Savior, and what happens is, even as believers, we forget about this paradigm shift, that we serve because we have been saved, we serve because Jesus is already our Savior and Lord, so we need to be reminded that everything else is an overbearing lord and an impotent savior. And in particular, Jesus Christ wants to talk about money today. He wants to talk about treasures, that treasures and money themselves, it works on the old paradigm shift, that if you serve money, it will save you. It will save you from mediocrity, it will save you from discomfort, it will save you from a lack of security. "Serve me, serve me, sacrifice to get me, sacrifice your life, your power, your energy, everything you have. Delight in this treasure, and then, if you delight enough, then you get it." And Jesus Christ wants to show us it's a false idol. It never satisfies, it never delivers on what it promises.One of the things I say about Christianity is, a lot of people, when they're new to Christianity, they think Christianity is just something you add to your life. So, you tell someone, "Yeah, I'm a Christian, I go to church on Sunday," and they're like, "Oh, cool, you go to church on Sundays, I go to yoga on Sundays. You go to church on Sundays, I go play golf on Sundays. That's great." It's just an addition to your life. And I tell people, Christianity isn't like yoga or golf, where you add it to your life. It's like oxygen or gravity; it affects every part of your life.And this is why Jesus wants us to focus on money today, and He often focuses on money, because money is just the thing that's always around; it impacts every single aspect of our lives, and in particular, in a city like this, in a region like this, where the prices on everything are ridiculous. Prices on housing are ridiculous, prices... Just to exist here costs like three times more than anywhere else. I look at the housing prices here, and I look at the housing prices in Texas, and I'm like, "Oh my, what in the world is keeping me here?" It's the call of God, that's why we're still here.So, Jesus Christ talked about money more than faith, more than He talked about prayer, more than He talked about heaven or hell combined. That's how often He talked about money. Over 25% of the recorded words of Jesus in the Gospels are devoted to money. There's 28 passages. There's over 800 verses in Scripture discussing money. And the big idea of what Jesus wants to say to us today is, we either worship money or we worship with money. We either love money or we love with money and both God and neighbor.So, today we are in Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 6:19-24. Would you look at the text with me? "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Where your treasure is... "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, the whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts.Three points to frame up our time. Look at the power of money over the heart, the powerlessness of money in satisfying the heart, and the power of the gospel over money by satisfying the heart. So, first, the power of money over the heart. If you read the whole metanarrative of Scripture, the whole council of God, in terms of looking at its teaching about money, one of the things you walk away with is almost the bipolar nature of the teaching on Scripture on money. On the one hand, there's Scriptures that clearly denounce money in terms of its hold on us, it warns about the dangers of wealth. And then you read passages where you become convinced that wealth ought to be pursued. It extols the virtues of wealth.I'll give you just an example. If you look at Solomon's Proverbs, the book of Proverbs, one of my favorite books in all of Scripture, 10 times, the word "wealth" is used in the Hebrew, 10 times. Half of the uses of the word "wealth" prize it, that we are to pursue it, and then half, the other half, are about how we are not to trust it. The issue isn't money, and this is what Jesus is getting at, the issue is the heart. Where is our heart in terms of wealth and materialism?Matthew 6:21, He says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Did the treasure follow the heart, or does the heart follow the treasure? The answer is yes. It's interconnected, and that's why it's so dangerous. Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."So, Jesus says money attempts to present itself as a savior on par with Jesus Christ, a savior who is Lord, and He says that's why it's so dangerous. Jesus is saying, "Be careful of money's sway over your heart. Be careful of its siren song, its mesmerizing." When you imagine having wealth... And I think it's funny in a day like this, where people are getting rich off of stonks and off of cryptocurrency, and you're like, "Oh, did I miss the boat?" And then all of a sudden, stock market drops, and then it's back, and it's like, "Oh," and you see people just all over social media, just sharing their wealth, "Oh, yeah, I own this Ferrari outright, yeah, just made in bitcoin last week," and you're like, "Oh, wow." It just so mesmerizes that realities can just change, your life can change so radically if you had X dollars, and so easy to just imagine "If I had this..." It is mesmerizing.And Jesus here, He's not just talking about money, He's talking about treasure in general. And what does it mean to treasure something? It means to fill your heart with it, fill your imagination with it, that this is of value. This is worthy of me. It's worthy of my life, so I'm going to pursue it, and it is going to add worth to me. It's going to make me somebody.Now we're getting into identity issues, that this is going to make me human, it's going to make me the person that I want to be, and this is why it's so powerful. And Jesus says, and this is the teaching of Scripture, whatever you ultimately treasure, that this is essential, that this is basic to reality, that this is the core of why I exist, whatever you treasure more than anything, you'll be enslaved by. Whatever you serve more than anything because it promises you salvation, it becomes a master over your life. So, you're willing to pay whatever price it takes to get X, Y, and Z, and you're willing to sacrifice whatever needs to be sacrificed, even if that means a relationship with God, even if that means a relationship with family, a relationship with friends, et cetera.And you might say, "Money's not really an issue. I have defeated greed in my life." Okay, first of all, you're probably struggling with pride and lying, that's number one. Number two, look at where your money goes freely, because it exposes your other idols. This is what money is so... It has such a powerful effect on us, because it promises other things. It promises experiences, perhaps sinful experiences. It promises a lifestyle, it promises significance and comfort and security, like, "If I have this, then I can control everything." It promises freedom. Freedom to do with my time whatever I want.This is what you've got to be careful of. That's why it's a parallel lord, it's a competing lord, because Jesus Christ, He offers us freedom, He offers us salvation, He offers us the most important things in life. So, look at your money, where it goes most freely, because often, we spend effortlessly and easily on things that are truly at the center of our existence. It might be clothing, it might be experiences, it might be an image that you want to create on social media, et cetera. It might be having people view you as having achieved things, et cetera. Now you're getting into acceptance. So, these are all the heart issues. For some people, they want money to control their world; therefore, they don't spend. Other people want money to get things that give them acceptance from people; therefore, they do spend, perhaps, on clothing or on their beauty or on attractiveness, et cetera.What is it about money that makes it so dangerous? Well, it's because it promises us things at the heart level that are so seductive, like security, power, comfort, and approval, beauty, purpose. It has a power to seduce the human heart because it has a power to seduce our desires, our dreams, our imagination. So, Jesus doesn't treat money as just neutral, though it is. Money is just neutral. But He knows that the power is so powerful over us, He treats it as benign so that we start asking ourselves not just "Am I greedy?" or "Am I materialistic?" but we are to ask ourselves, "How greedy am I? How materialistic am I?" That's the position from where Jesus starts.So, Matthew 5:22 and 23, there's kind of two verses that seem like they're out of context. He's talking about "Don't lay up treasures on earth, lay up treasures in heaven, you can't serve two masters, God and mammon," but in the center, He says this: "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"What's the connection between eyes and light and your body and money and treasures? What's going on here? He's saying, in the same way that eye health helps you understand the world around you, helps you understand the reality around you, He says in the same way, there's an eye of your heart that, if it is darkened, you begin to misunderstand life and the reality of life. And you can call that heart eye, you can call it devotion, or you can call it ambition. In the same way that our eyes help us see through vision and perspective everything around us, so ambition affects our entire life.And what He's saying is, a single-minded ambition to God helps us really see the world as it is, helps us see what really matters, helps us see what to devote our life to. And a single-minded ambition to serve self with money, all of a sudden, it blinds us, it distorts the way reality is, it distorts our understanding of the things around us.We know at the end, anybody at the end of their life on the hospital bed, they never say, "I wish I had earned more money. I wish I had spent more time on my career." What do they always say? "I wish I had spent more on my relationships and invested more." It's like, at the end of their life, they begin to see life clearly, but during your life, you did not. And this is really the eye and the vision, the spiritual vision that Jesus Christ is talking about, and the reason why the mind's eye gets clouded, gets fogged up is because of pride.And this is really why money is so dangerous and nefarious. What made Satan Satan? What made Satan Satan was pride. He all of a sudden thought that he was so great that God should worship him, that God should serve him. It was pride. So, Satan then tempts Adam and Eve with the same thing, with pride: "You will be as gods." And then Satan comes to us with money, and this is the temptation that every single one of us is susceptible to. He says, "If you have money, you will be like a god. You will have everything. You will have control, you will have security, you will live the life that you want to live. You will be in charge of your own destiny."And when you get money, the pride is fed, and you think, all of a sudden, "You know what, I am self-reliant, I am independent of God," perhaps, and you become overconfident in your own powers. Bernard of Clairvaux said, "To see a man humble in the midst of prosperity is the greatest rarity in the world." New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg calls stewardship of material possessions "the most important test case of one's profession of discipleship." He says, "Materialism is the single biggest competitor with authentic Christianity for the hearts and souls of millions in our world today."So, we talked about the power of money over the heart, and now I want to talk about the powerlessness of money in satisfying the heart. Everyone knows that the love of money is the root of all evil. There's even memes out there like, "No, it's not money that's the root of all evil, it's the love of money." We all know that. Everyone will say that money can't buy true happiness. Every religion teaches its adherents that you can't buy with money what you're really looking for. Every philosophy of any consequence taught the same thing. Seneca in the first century, a Stoic philosopher and moralist, he said, "It's not the one who has too little but the one who desires more who is poor."In Luke 16:14, talking about the Pharisees, it says, "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed Him," Jesus. The Son of God is before them, and the Son of God is teaching about the way of life, and they're so blinded by their love of money that they ridicule Him. Does money satisfy, does it give peace and tranquility? No, of course not, because you always think about, like, "I just need a little more, a little more, a little more." And then, if you start getting into investing, and then you start thinking about opportunity costs, like, "If I buy this thing, then I can't invest the money, and I can't make interest on the money," so then, all of a sudden, you're like, "No..." And you're just thinking about more, more, more, "I could make more"; it has power over you.Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So, now Jesus is giving us two perspectives on life. The first perspective is that the material is all there is, this life is all there is, and life is short, so you should make the most of it and get the most out of life. And Jesus says, "No, no, no, this life isn't all there is. There's an eternity before us in two places, either heaven or hell, and what we do here in this life impacts our eternity, and not just our eternity but the eternity of others, so we should lay up treasures there, not on earth."The pronouns in verses 19 and 20, where He says "for yourselves" and "you" and "your," those are plural, so, we as a community need to remind ourselves of this truth. And then, in verse 21, it's singular: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." It's very direct, it's very personal. He's just asking, "What about you? Is your heart wrapped up in earthly treasure and the pursuit of it and laying it up," that's the emphasis here, "and storing it up and gathering and hoarding? And how do you know that this is a problem? Because you just want to accumulate more and more and more for this life and for yourself." That's the emphasis here.He talked about moth and rust, that they impact our treasures, and He is talking about the impermanence of wealth, it comes and goes, the insecurity of it. The rust, it's not the ordinary word for rust, it's more like decay or rot. If it's not used, it rots, and there's all kinds of examples of this now. Apparently we're printing another $1.9 trillion, and we just printed $1.9 trillion; I think we're up to around four, so what's that going to do to inflation? I don't know. Gas prices are up, grocery prices are up, real estate prices are... I have no idea. That's moth and rust.And thieves from the government, that's the other thing here. It's in the Greek. Back then, there weren't banks, there was no FDIC, so the way you stored money was in strongboxes you bury in your floor in the ground of your home. Excavation of large homes in Pompeii uncovered strongboxes, small fortunes. But what Jesus here is saying is, when you put your trust in impermanent things, that trust is fickle, it's not going to deliver.That's what Jesus is saying; what Jesus isn't saying, He isn't saying "Don't work and don't save." He's not saying that. We see in other passages that if you don't work, you shouldn't eat, and that if we are to work... So, there's a passage in Thessalonians that a thief comes to salvation, and St. Paul writes to him and says, "Hey, let the thief no longer steal. Let him work so that he may share with others." So, we are called not just to provide for our own needs, but work in such a way where we have an excess to be generous with others.And Jesus isn't forbidding accumulation of wealth; Deuteronomy 8:10, "You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day." And Christ also isn't forbidding saving for the future of you and your family. St. Paul talks about, it's parents that need to save for their children. Proverbs talks about, the wise man doesn't just save for his children but his children's children. Proverbs 6:6-8 says, "Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest."So, He's talking about this industrious nature that every single person should have, every single Christ in particular, where we wake up to work, not because of our manager or our boss, we wake up to work because we have a greater boss, and we're going to work for Him from the heart, not as for men. So, we're taught to provide for self, for others, we're taught to provide for relatives. So, if you start a family, or even before marriage and children, parents and extended family, Scripture says whoever doesn't provide for his relatives is worse than an unbeliever. They're saying, "How can you say you love God and you love neighbor when you aren't caring for your closest neighbor?" And our closest neighbor is our family members.And Jesus isn't condemning enjoying things. He's not calling us to asceticism, as was taught in the early church and the Catholic Church as well. 1 Timothy 6:7, "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy." So God is a good God, and He's a Father, and He does give good gives to His children, sometimes just because. "Just because you're my kids."Yesterday, my wife and my daughters and I, we went to Crane Beach, one of my favorite places in all of New England, if you haven't been, you got to go, and then walked to the mansion. And then after, you know what, we stopped at Nick's Pizza and Subs in Beverly. Why? Because they have the best calzone in the North Shore. It's not even up for debate. Why do we like calzones? I don't know they're just... It's a glorious food. It's terrible for you. But we talked about fasting last week, so you fast, and then you go to Nick's. But why did I buy them calzones? Just because. Because I like watching their little pudgy... My youngest I can say that about. Little pudgy face down a calzone, because it brings me joy, that's why. God loves to give good gifts to His children. You see that all throughout holy Scripture.So, it's not about... He's not condemning work, He's not condemning making money, He's not condemning wealth, He's not condemning savings. He's condemning trusting in those things. He's condemning making those things central, because the core of why you exist, the basic reason of why you do everything you do, it's not about wealth, it's about loyalty. It's about devotion. And a wealthy person can be devoted to the Lord's cause, while a poor man can be utterly indifferent. It's not about money, it's about our heart.And Proverbs 30:7-9 says, "Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' and lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God." The question is, "Does this pull me away from God," and that could be either poverty or riches that pull you away from God, "or does this life situation I'm given to steward by the Lord, do I use that in order to deepen my affections for God?"Sometimes when you have wealth and you give to the Lord, to the Lord's work, you give to the needy, there's such a blessing that fills your heart, and that's why Jesus Christ said it's more blessed to give than to receive. Just thankfulness, Lord, thank you for giving me this opportunity to give, and thank you for giving me this opportunity to bless another person, and it just reminds me of how much you have blessed me.Psalm 62:10, "Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them." Scripture does not forbid that we seek the kingdom of God. We are to seek the kingdom of God. It does forbid that we seek the kingdom of us, where we build a kingdom for ourselves, where we are the king and we do as we please.Ecclesiastes 5:10, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity." So, money's value, it's limited. It can't stop death, it can't stop tragedy, it can't stop heartache. It's not God. Money can't buy... It can buy medicine, but it can't buy health. It can buy a house but not a home. It can buy companionship but not friends. It can buy entertainment but not happiness, it can buy food but not an appetite, it can buy a bed but not sleep, it can buy a crucifix but not a Savior. Money can buy the good life but not eternal life.And Jesus is speaking about treasure from this perspective. Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth primarily, but use your treasures on earth to lay up treasures in heaven, either financially or other treasures that we have, like health and time and our talents, for the kingdom of God, because ultimately, that's what lasts. Jesus is saying, in view of eternity, in view of judgment day, in view of two different destinies in the world to come, view Scripture, view treasure like that.Bernard of Clairvaux, who spent a lot of time meditating on riches and treasure, he said, "There are no greater miseries than false joys." And what he's talking about is loving things that aren't going to love you back, and giving your life to temporal things of no ultimate consequence. Joys that don't last and also distract you from eternity are the most false joys of all. The greater problem isn't that you can't take your money with you. That's what a lot of people say: "Invest in relationship because you can't take your money with you." That's not the greatest problem. The greatest problem is, when you devote yourself to money and to the things that are temporary, the material, without repenting of the sin of making that central, you are incurring the wrath of God. That's really the biggest danger of money, is that it sets you on a path away from God, and that path leads to an eternity away from God, a place called hell.That's why Jesus, in a parallel passage on treasures, Luke 12:15-23, talks about the rich fool. "And he," Jesus, "said to them, 'Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.' And he told them a parable, saying, 'The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, "What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?" And he said, "I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'" But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.' And he said to his disciples, 'Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.'"He was rich toward himself but not rich to God. God blesses him with an abundant harvest, and instead of building greater barns, destroying the old ones, building greater barns, he should've thought, "What can I do to further the cause of God, the kingdom of God? With whom can I be generous with this excess that I do not need?" That's what it means to be generous toward God, rich toward God, by taking surplus that God gives us and just knowing that God gives us not just for ourselves, not just to increase our standard of living, but to increase our standard of giving.1 Timothy 6:9-10, "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." 1 Timothy 6... And by the way, this is a test of... Many of you are very successful in our careers, and you will only become more successful in your careers. So, really, the question here is, "How does this impact, how does my career, how does my job, how does my wealth impact my relationship with God? Does it draw me closer to Him? Does it make me more devoted to Him? Do I want to participate even more wholeheartedly in what He is doing, in the building of His kingdom, and furthering the common good?" That's the emphasis there in verse 10, that they walked away, wandered away.1 Timothy 6:17-19, "As for the rich in the present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasures for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." So, money is temporary, vulnerable, it rots and rusts and disappears; it doesn't satisfy the heart.And then, point three is the power of the gospel over money by satisfying the heart. So, when God does bless us with wealth, how can we make sure that that is a blessing to us and blessing to those around us? It's by seeking heart satisfaction in the gospel, in the Lord. Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Doesn't say "Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for blessing." It doesn't say "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for satisfaction." It doesn't say "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for money or wealth." "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." So, when we hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Jesus Christ that He gives freely, and then hunger and thirst to live out that righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit, that's where satisfaction comes.Matthew 6:31-33, a text we're going to look at next week, dealing with anxiety, in particular about physical things: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Seek God first, primarily, with everything that you got.And by the way, this... Practically, seek God with your first fruit of your energy of the day. First thing that you should be doing isn't checking Robinhood or your Coinbase when you wake up, or Twitter, whatever, or your bank account. First thing you should be doing is seeking the face of God. And by that, that just reminds you that God is primary, the kingdom of God is primary, and then you set your heart on God through Scripture and prayer, and you say, "God, how can I seek your kingdom today in everything that I do? In my job, how can I be a blessing to my employer and the people I work with? How can I be a blessing to them? How can I further the common good? How can I do this to the glory of God? How can I be faithful in discipling people? How can I be faithful in evangelism?"Seek first the kingdom of God, to glorify God and His righteousness, and He says, "All these things will be added to you." What things? The physical things. God knows what you need before you even ask, and God does provide, as a good Father, all of your needs. And by needs, He's talking about our basic needs of food and clothing. In Hebrews, it says, "Keep yourself free from the love of money." "Keep yourself free from the love of money, for God says, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" God the Father will always provide when we rely on Him, seek the kingdom of God first.And that's really the conversation here, is how do we overcome the love of money? How do we overcome the consuming power of consumption? You do that by recognizing that Jesus is King, and I am not. Jesus is King, and I am not. I cannot build a kingdom here on earth when Jesus calls me to submit to Him and enter His kingdom. So, this is the first thing about becoming a Christian, if you're not a Christian, if this is new. You need to recognize that I have sinned against a holy King, I have sought treasures that are above Him as the greatest treasure. I'm not in the family, I've sinned against Him. I have coveted, I have been greedy. This stuff has consumed me.And this is what Jesus says: "Accept my salvation. Repent of your sin. The kingdom of God is here. Accept my salvation." We do that by repenting of sin. And then Jesus, once we're saved, He gives us entrance into the kingdom of God, and now He says, "Now serve me," and this service is what gives you the deep satisfaction that you're looking for. This is the way that we enter the family, and Jesus tells us how we are to grow in the family.Matthew 6:27-30, "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" It's about faith. Are we rich in faith? If we're rich in faith, we'll be rich in everything that matters, we'll be rich in satisfaction. If we're poor in faith, then we'll never be content.So, how do we break the power of money? We worship God, that's how. We worship God, He fills our heart with love for Him, love for people, and now we don't have to use God to get money, we don't have to use people to get money. We use money to love God and to love people, and that's what He gets at in verse 24: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."Jesus offers us two options, very categorical. There's one way to heaven; all the other, the rest of the ways lead to hell. One way to have your sins forgiven, to have eternal security; that's by repenting of sin and loving God as your King, as your Savior. Therefore, He says, are you devoted to God, or do you despise Him? And if you're like, "I'm indifferent to God," or you're like, "Yeah, I'm not really sure," then you're in the despising category. It's one or the other; He gives us two options. If you don't love Him, you hate Him; you're either devoted to God or you despise Him. Devotion given to either money, ultimately, or God in this context.I'll give you two test cases from Scripture, two test cases about the hold of money on people and how that hold can be broken. The first test case is the story of Judas. At the Last Supper, Jesus says, "One of you is going to betray me," and the disciples don't all point to Judas and say, "Yeah, he's the one," although they spent three years with him. You ever find that fascinating, that they had no idea? And Judas, the guy who sold Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, he was the treasurer. You ever find that funny, that Jesus Christ allowed this guy to be the treasurer? Why did Jesus allow that?I think Jesus allowed that as a test. "Judas, I'm going to test your heart. Do you really love me above treasure? Am I a greater treasure than treasure for you?" Jesus puts a thief in charge of the money bag. He could've put Nathanael in charge of the money bag, Jesus called him "an Israelite indeed in whom there was no deceit"; or John, the disciple whom Jesus loved; or Levi, who had extensive financial experience. It was Judas. He put Judas in charge of it, who then, Judas, after the Last Supper, goes and sells Jesus Christ, betrays Him and shows us the heart-hardening, the heart-blinding, the heartbreaking effect of treasuring the wrong thing. He was in the presence of the Son of God for three years, and the Son of God was less of a treasure for him than what the Son of God could give him, and ended up leading to his destruction and his suicide.The other example is the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was an arch tax collector. He was a tax collector above all the tax collectors in Israel. Israel was oppressed by the Roman Empire; the Roman Empire siphon off wealth from Israel, tax them heavily, and they did that by selling licenses to be a tax collector to the people of Israel. People in Israel could buy these licenses for an exorbitant amount of money, and then whoever bought this as a tax collector could go and force people of Israel, his own brothers and sisters, his own people, to pay exorbitant taxes, and they had the full power of the military to do it.And, by the way, it was a business opportunity; they didn't just go and say, "You know, I bought this license to collect taxes for 100 grand; I'm going to get 110 grand." No, he would go and collect 400 grand, four times more than what he paid for. So, Zacchaeus was hated by his people, he wasn't satisfied with what he had, and then he hears about Jesus Christ in Luke 19:1-10.It says, "He entered Jericho," Jesus entered Jericho, "was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up on a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way." And by the way, this was extremely humbling, humiliating for a man in Israel to climb a tree.So he climbs a tree, "And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.' So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled," that's the Pharisees, "'He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.' Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.'"Zacchaeus was lost. He was lost because he had followed the siren song of wealth, and he was willing to sin in any way possible to get as much as possible, realized that he did not get from wealth what it promised. Wealth told him, "Serve me and I'll save you." Zacchaeus realized it did not save him. Jesus Christ comes and says, "I'm offering you salvation. I came to seek and save that which was lost." He offers him salvation, offers him forgiveness of all sins. That changes Zacchaeus' live, it changes his heart, and now he becomes generous, exorbitantly generous, promised to give away 50% of his income, four times what he had stolen, incredible generosity. Zacchaeus did not... He wasn't generous to get salvation. This isn't how he earned salvation. Jesus comes into Zacchaeus' life, He says, "Now you're saved. I've forgiven you. I see your heart, I see your repentance," and that leads to service of Jesus Christ.How can Jesus just save us? How can He just forgive our sins? Well, you can't just do that. This is why Jesus Christ came, and He died on the cross for our sins. The greatest treasure of heaven comes down, and He dies for us because He treasured us. He realized that there is one sure investment. There's one sure investment, and that investment is into eternity, and Jesus invested all of Himself into eternity in order to give us access to eternity by dying on the cross for our sins.If you make anything other than Jesus your greatest treasure, it will drive you, it will control you, it will demand that you sacrifice and die for it. But Jesus is the only treasure that dies for you. He died to get you, and when you see that, you will be transformed, and He becomes the greatest treasure in your life.Romans 8:31-32, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" And 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." Jesus Christ's grace breaks our love for the material world, for things, so money can be a vehicle to love God, to build His kingdom, and love the people around us.That said, we are going to transition to celebrating Communion. We celebrate Communion at Mosaic the first Sunday of every month. For whom is Communion? Communion is for repentant believers in Jesus Christ. So, if you are not a Christian, if you have not repented of your sins and trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service; it'll do nothing for you. Unless you do today repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ and follow Him, then you're welcome to partake. And then, repentant Christians, so if you are a Christian who is repentant of sin, you're welcome to partake. If there's sin in your life that you have not repented of, that you have not decided to leave, that you're still clinging on to, we ask that you refrain from Communion; instead, focus on repentance. But if you do repent, you're welcome to partake.The way that we take part in Communion is we have this little cup with the little bread on top. If you have not received one and you would like to partake, raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. At this point, as you open up the top, take the bread, and open up the other top, I'll pray, and then we'll partake in Holy Communion.Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have loved us so much that you gave your greatest treasure, your Son Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. One of those sins that you died for is our greed and our covetousness, our desire to build our own kingdom, our idolatry, and often when we treasure things above you. We repent of that. We repent of how susceptible we've been to the lie of Satan, that if we pursue finances, we can create a reality where we are free from you, independent from you and gods ourselves. We repent of that.And we ask, Jesus Christ, that you forgive us, and we thank you for offering us a way of forgiveness by dying on the cross for our sins. You experienced the wrath of God on behalf of us, and this is why you cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus, you were forsaken by the Father so that we would never have to be, because all we have to do is trust in you and our sins are forgiven. You save us. As you save us, you call us to serve you. We don't do it perfectly, and when we fall, you offer us more grace, and you pick us up and say, "Follow me." Holy Spirit, we thank you that you are with us today and bless our time in Holy Communion. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus took the bread, and after breaking it, He said, "This is my body, broken for you. Take, eat, and do this in remembrance of me." He then proceeded to take the cup, and He said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for the sins of many. Take, drink, and do this in remembrance of me."Jesus, we thank you that you are our greatest treasure. We pray that you continue, by the power of the Spirit, to remind us over and over and over that there's nothing in this world that will satisfy other than you. And make our heart's eye focus on you, be devoted to you, so that we take everything that you've given us and every single day, full tilt, live to the glory of God and the joy of all people. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.

Coronavirus thu part 2 na // Health talk.Kawikawi + Samaria tui khuk + zing sang khat ciang // chin gospel songs.

The Editors sit down to begin the book of Satan with Dave Outlandish, a nonsectarian Satanist Priest. Get ready this shit gets heavy.The Editors are initiated into the Esoteric Order of the Black Crescent.  Still pumped on the intro // Satanist are cool //Walter was right // Theistic Satanist vs Non // More Chaos Magick // Church of Satan vs The Satanic Temple // Politics and Satan // Wizards don’t want to work // Necromancy stuff // When do we learn to cast out demons // Satanism is questioning authority // Millennials got shit on and now they are Satanist // God’s not gunna kick your ass for talking to Satan // Satan is a big fan of book clubs // All I know how to be is a wizard // Slime molds // Hyper Organisms // Capitalism is a cancer of the Gods //  What is Free Will? // Chaos Theory // Is Chaos an illusion // Based as hell // looking demons in the face //  New Verse Dismantle all authorities that don’t serve you. Chaos Challenge Follow Dave’s instructions and open the gates of hell. Dave Outlandish https://instagram.com/daveoutlandish?igshid=10symyhe13l63DaveOutlandish@gmail.com

Session 10, part two - chapter 20 Prophecy is not history written in advance The visions in Ch 19-22 are a picture of complete restoration and recreation Jesus is the Eschaton (End). Everything in history is resolved by how it relates to Him Like Ch 19, the focus shifts to different key relations (Church, Israel, nations, spiritual enemies of KOG). Pictures return to same events previously described (eg Final battle) Question of churches in Asia Minor in the C1st AD – Why are we suffering? Wasn't Satan defeated? Answer involves visions that explain Jesus relation to the great enemy, Satan Satan bound v2 Satan freed v7 Satan judged v10 Satan bound To keep from deceiving the nations Isa 24.21-22 Matt 12.18-30 Jesus understands his work as binding the strongman (removing Satan's power) and then plundering his house (release of captives). The binding of Satan is a work of Jesus when he is on the earth Satan is rendered powerless with respect to the Church and the Kingdom of God by Jesus work (Cross) Jesus understands his task is to gather from among the nations (work of gospel proclamation through the Church) This is about the age of grace we live in now – the gospel is going out among the nations and God is gathering His people into the Church That Christians are being gathered from among the nations is a reassuring sign to Christians that Satan has been stripped of power and bound 1000 years (Psalm 90.4 / 2 Peter 3.8) not literal. Indicates the quality of time (not quantity) - Perfect period for ingathering highlights the completeness of Jesus victory contrasts “a short time” of Satan's release (speaks of limited authority and power) Reign with Christ for 1000 years Key OT text is Ezekiel 37-48 Dan 7. 22, 26-27 Picture of the rule of suffering Church in heaven now Resolution of cry of martyrs in Rev 6.9-11 – They will judge!' Rom 8.17/2 Tim 2.12 First resurrection – Jesus relation to Church is that they will be alive to God and share His rule from heaven (1 Peter 2.5-9) Satan freed After the 1000 years = at the end of the period of grace (gospel proclamation) Satan freed to deceive nations for a short time (=limited authority) (Ez 38-39) Returns to events of Ch 19 Surround camp of God's people = God's people in wilderness (faithless Israel) Deliverance of Israel will be national (in relation to nations) Nations will be judged by the way they relate to Israel (Gen 12 / Matt 25.31) Satan judged In the end, enemies of God will be abolished (Satan, Death, Hades) Relational death = permanent relational separation (will not share a relation to the one who is the end – Jesus). No place in new creation Final judgment General resurrection Opening of 2 books (Dan 7.9-10 & Dan 12.1-2) “Rejoice your name is written in the Book of Life” (Luke 10.20-21) = to have a relationship with Jesus Judgment according to what he has done (individual and based on actions) Encouragement – Jesus reigns and his mercy will surprise us (2 Peter 3.3-13) Questions 1. What does Jesus' analogy in Matthew 12 about tying up the strong man reveal about how he understands his work on the earth? 2. How does an understanding of Jesus as the end person help to make sense of the end times? 3. How do the parallel pictures of the binding of Satan and the reign of the saints provide encouragement to the Church now?

Satan Satan wants to bait you in order to kill and destroy you from succeeding in the Kingdom

Hola ¿como vas?, lamento mucho la ausencia de un podcast la semana pasada, pero oye, hoy te voy a compartir una de las películas favoritas personales, ya que tiene mucho la onda del Rock y saca mi rockstar interior. Instagram: @byfranramos Musica: TimeCop1983 - On the run The Relentless - Me against the devil --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/francisco-ramos44/message

www.zionhebraiccongregation.com SHABBT 02 22 20 | ENTER SATAN Genesis 3 1. Intro 2.Characteristics of Satan 3.Conclusion 1. Intro -"one of Us" Gen. 1:26, 3:23, 11:7, John 1:1-4 -History of creation Gen. 1:-2:3; History of mankind Gen. 2:4- -Broken fellowship Gen 3:8 2. Characteristics of Satan -Satan questions the Word of God through the avenue of food with the first Adam. Gen 3:8 -Satan challenges the living word of God using food with the second/ last Adam (Yeshua). Matt 4:2-4 -Satan doesn't want us to believe, read, or absorb the word of God. -Characteristics of Satan: Serpent like/ Subtle - Death Slander - Slanders God Seduce - "ye shall be..." Sorrow - in labor and childbearing Sword - Flaming sword 3. Conclusion -Satan is alive and real. -Attempt to neuter God -Don't engage Satan. Flee from him. Resist him. -Doubting God's ds word is of Satanic origin. -Man's failure to lead and protect his wife started the breakdown of society. Music by: Evan Shaw www.evanshawmusic.com

Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio for Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Heavenly Father, on communion Sunday today, we just want to take a moment to confess that we are sinners, that we are selfish, that all too often our own self-interests dominate our thoughts, dominate our imaginations, and take up our energy. Lord, I pray today that you focus our gaze from ourselves and refocus it on you. We are not glorious. We are not infinite. You are glorious, and you are infinite, and you are love. We thank you, Lord, that you showed us with true love is, that you, the Father, gave your Son, your beloved, the one in whom you delight, and, Jesus, that you showed us what love is, that you gave yourself for us on the cross, that you through the gospel defined for us that true love is action, that true love is sacrifice of self for the benefit of others and that sin is diametrically opposed. It's seeking self-interest even at the sacrifice of the interest of others.I pray, Holy Spirit, show us that deep inside our hearts, we're still struggling with hate. Even as your children, as your beloved, there's still this darkness, this streak of Cain within each one of us. I pray, little by little, incrementally, remove it and transform us into the image of your Son. Holy Spirit, we pray that you come and speak to us, speak a word that every single one of us needs to hear, specific words from you. We pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen. We're in a sermon series through the epistle of 1 John, the apostle of love. We're calling it Meno. Meno means to abide in the original Greek, abide, to be connected, to keep in step with the Spirit, to have our heart be intact with the heart of God, the Father.John, if you haven't noticed, John is a person who understands that the world's divided into two, two kingdoms, one of light, one of darkness. There's two fathers, God, the Father, and the enemy. There's two DNAs spiritually speaking, two spiritual essences. There's righteousness and unrighteousness. Today he wants to delve into the topic of what love is, and he compares and contrasts love with hate, love and hate. The word love, not just in the English language, but in every language, it's one of the most elastic words. It's been stretched to mean so many things. It's one of the most misused and overused and abused words, used in so many ways of so many things, and often it's employed actually to describe something that is opposite of what love truly is from God's perspective. I'll just give you one example of this from the Old Testament.It's the story of Amnon and Tamar in 2 Samuel 13. Scripture says that Amnon fell in love with Tamar. He loved her with an incredible love, and he does everything he possibly can in order to woo her. In pursuit of this "love," he deceives her, ultimately rapes her, and ruins her life. Then, as scripture says, almost immediately after that heinous act, it says that his love for her morphed into a hate that was even more intense than the intensity of the love that he had for her. Love for him wasn't a true love. It wasn't a sacrificial love. It was actually just a synonym for selfish desire, which is actually hatred. Scripture says that true love isn't just sentiment. It's not just affection. True love is self-sacrifice for the benefit of the beloved. Hate is the opposite, where you're willing to sacrifice the best, the benefit, the interests of the other person for self, for your yourself.Here, as we get into the text, one of the things that the apostle John wants us to realize is that, in and of ourselves, naturally speaking, we can not love like this. We can not love with this kind of love. Naturally, we love people that can benefit us in some way. We love people that can help us in some way. We love people that love us. Oh, you love me. Thank you. You have such good taste in people like me. Thanks so much. I love the fact that you love me. Supernatural love isn't just loving people who are lovely or loving people who love us. Supernatural love is I'm willing to sacrifice even for enemies. That's what Jesus said. Love your enemies even as yourself. It's a supernatural love, and we can only do it by the power of the Spirit.Today we're in 1 John chapter three verses 11 through 24, 1 John chapter three 11 through 24. Would you look at the text with me? "For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. From whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him, and by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given to us." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts.Three points, the first two really straight forward. Stop hating people. Number two, start loving people, and, number three, greater than your heart. First of all, stop hating people, kind of common sense. John, why do you even have to tell us? In particular, he's writing this letter to Christians. You are children of God. You have God's love in you. You have experienced God's love. Why does he need to command us to do what we should do naturally? This is verse 11, "For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." Then he brings in a case study. "We should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." It seems like this case study's out of nowhere. Talking to Christians, you should love another. Okay, great. Now he's like, "Let me contrast that. Let me bring in the most severe example I can have the opposite of love."Why do we as Christians need to hear this? Well, first of all, he's dividing the world, again, into two categories, those who love and those who hate, those who are of the pattern of Abel who was righteous and was saved by grace through faith and those who were like Cain. He says you have been saved to be like Abel. You have saved by grace through faith. You are now loving. However, be careful of the streak of Cain that every single one of us is susceptible to. Though God has given you a brand new heart, a heart that loves God and loves people, if you do not practice this love, the hate within can dominate. There is a little Cain within each one of us. He starts talking about this hatred and murder, and it seems so extreme. Why are you telling us this? It seems extreme if we look at love and hate in terms of our cultural definitions.Love for people today is just kindness or being a good person or being nice to people, and hate is just an extreme reaction emotionally speaking, but when scripture talks about love and hate, it doesn't talk about emotions per se. Love, Biblically speaking, is self-sacrifice for the benefit of other. Hatred is being willing to sacrifice others for self. Now we got to ask, "Why is Cain the epitome of this hatred? Why is he the example?" Well, he's the example, and primarily because Cain and Abel were the first people born under the curse of sin. The curse of sin's deep within every single one of us. It's a bent toward self. It's the self-centered bent of human nature. I'll help you if it helps me. However, if helping you doesn't help me at all, then if it's going to be too much of a hassle, if it comes down to you or me, obviously I'm going to choose me. If push comes to shove, I will push, I will shove. That is human nature.Now he brings in the example of Cain, and this is a really fascinating case study because Cain and Abel are brothers raised by Adam and Eve, their same set of parents who discipled Cain and Abel the same way. Abel, he worked with animals. He was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer, different livelihoods, different vocations, however, same parents. One of the things that we realize is the contrast here isn't between Abel, who is like a Christian and a religious person, and Cain, who is an atheist. The contrast is between a person who by faith responds to God's commandments and one who responds by works. Now, here's how it played out. They both bring sacrifices. Abel brings an animal sacrifice, and Cain brings vegetable or plant sacrifices, but both bring from their first fruits. Both bring from their livelihood. The question there isn't about the type of sacrifice.The question isn't about what we bring in our hands to God. The question from God's perspective that it's most important isn't what we bring in our hands but what we bring in our hearts. Abel, Hebrews 11:4 says, comes to God and brings a sacrifice by faith. Cain does not. This shows us that his relationship with God is already tenuous. There's something going on in his heart. Well, what's going on? We see later on that God rejects Cain's sacrifice, and Cain begins to seethe. There's anger in his heart. God then comes again and says, "Look, Cain, be careful. There's sin crouching at your door like a predator. If you do not control, if you do not overpower, it will overpower you." Why that reaction came to God's saying, "Look, I'm giving you another chance. Now come to me with faith instead of works," well, we see what's going on in his heart before he lashes out at his brother and actually murders him by slitting his throat.That's the word spousal in the Greek. He slaughters and butches his brother out of hate. Before he had hate in his heart towards his brother, he had hate in his heart to God. Now we need to analyze what was that hate in his heart to God. Well, with what kind of posture of heart did he bring a sacrifice to God? Love? No, indifference. He comes to God in order to manipulate God. He comes to God, gives God what he thinks God wants to get God off his back. God sees that. He sees the manipulation, and he rejects it, and then we see Cain lashing out at his brother. What's going on in his heart? Well, John tells us this. He says Cain was of the evil one. Cain's spiritual DNA is similar to that of Satan. Now we do a little more analysis. What made Satan Satan? Satan was the greatest angel of all the angels, of the greatest army of angels, he was in charge. He was the number two before God.What made Satan Satan? What made Satan Satan was he wanted to get rid of God. He wished that God were not. He wanted to mentally murder God. That's what made Satan Satan. Here, John tells us that Cain is of the evil one. What does Cain want to do? Cain hates the implacable fact that God exists, that God is omniscient, that God is omnipresent. He hates that fact. He can't get rid of God, so he wants to pay God off, manipulate God to ultimately get what he wants. Cain was of the evil one because Cain wanted God gone. He wanted God to be dead to him. That gets to the heart of what hate is. Cain, ultimately, he can't get rid of God, so now he turns to his brother Abel, hates Abel. What does he do? He physically murders Abel, but the physical murder came only after there was mental murder or heart murder. He wished that Abel were not. That's what hate is.Now we can apply this. With this definition, we see hate in our hearts all the time. You're driving. Someone's going 45 in the high speed lane. I wish that you were not in the lane. That's what I'm saying. You don't vocalize this. Someone's not using their blinker. I wish that you were not. Double parking on Beacon, I wish that you were not. You're in the self-checkout lane at Stop & Shop and someone uses it for the first time ever. I wish that you were not. Now, you can apply this to your boss. You can apply this to colleagues with whom you're competing for promotions or someone that you competing with for a grant or a scholarship. My life would be easier. I wish that you were not. Now, the reason why John uses this story, employs this story, is because these are brothers. These guys know each other like no one else knows them.I'm telling you you've heard the adage, the line between hate and evil is thin. That's a thin line, in particular with people who are closest to you. Have you ever thought that, "I wish that you were not," about a sibling, about a child, about a spouse? It's so crazy. One moment, you love them so much. You're snuggling. Everything is great. Then another moment, you're like, and something's going on. That's that streak of Cain that John is talking about. He says be careful. In particular, he's talking about the brethren, brothers and sisters in a church where God makes you spiritual siblings. You didn't choose one another. You're spiritual siblings. You can think of the people closest in your life. These are the people where it takes a sacrifice of self, of convenience, of comfort, of your own preferences in order to love.The fact that we do love, the fact that we want to grow in love is a sign that we have become children. That's verse 14, 1 John 3:14, "And we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death." Here we got to ask ourselves, "Are there specific brothers and sisters in my life, Christians in my life whom I'm seeking to love?" If so, that's a sign that we are children of God. If not, perhaps you have not... If that's not even a category in your mind, that I should pursue loving other Christians, if that's not even a category, perhaps you need to ask, "Have I passed from death into life?" The assumption here is that people don't begin neutral spiritually or basically good. Ephesians 2:1 says that we are born in a state of spiritual death. John 5:24, "Truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life."If you're unsure of your salvation, if you're like, "I don't know if I'm a Christian," scripture says all you need to do is place your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, repent of sin, and now you pass from death to life. The signs of that life, the signs of that first heartbeat, are love toward God and love toward neighbor. Verse 15, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." Again, he gets to the final consummation of what happens when hate is birthed in our hearts. What it does is lead to ultimate murder. That's the end. We want that person gone, but Jesus doesn't focus on the murder. In Sermon on the Mount, he says, "If anyone is angry toward a brother or sister or another person, you have already committed murder in your heart." He's saying that murder in the heart, hatred in the heart, is tantamount to real murder because you are wishing that they were not.The other thing I will just mention here, he's talking about murderers and that murderers are representative of their father, of Satan. Scripture says that anybody who's done absolutely anything can come to God and repent of sin. Even the sin of murder can be forgiven. Any person who's still alive, if you're still breathing, you can be made right with God through repentance. The moment you repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, your sins are forgiven. This is the only way our sins are forgiven. Our culture is at a point where the only thing you need to do to go to heaven is die. That's false. You need to repent. You need to believe. That's the only way. Stop hating, and we're all struggling with that. How do we get rid of the hate in our heart? We need to grow in love or start loving people. Again, love is action. Love isn't just emotion or feeling. It's action. It's what we do.What are we doing to love the people in our lives? What are we doing to encourage, to help, to care, to lift them up? What are we doing to grow in generosity? We're doing this not because they deserve our love. We're doing this, we're loving them, not because we're just responding to their love for us. We're loving them in the same way that Jesus Christ loved us. How did Jesus Christ love us? When we are yet sinners, when we're still enemies, he gave himself for us. This is how we truly understand love. In verse 16 he says, "By this we know." How do we know? By this we know that he loves us, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. He says this is the definition of love. It's laying down your life for another, sacrificing the greatest thing that you have for the benefit of the other person. I love the sublimity of thought and simplicity of words. I understand every single one of these words, and you bring it together and it's like, yeah, that is the greatest love.The greatest movies you've ever watched, there's always someone giving their life for friends, for other people. We understand this is the greatest sacrifice. This is how scripture talks about love. That the greatest, most supreme demonstration of true love, it's always the cross. Whenever the New Testament talks about God's love, it always talks about God's love in the context of the cross. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son." You see this Galatians 2:20, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 5:25. This right here, this is true love. When you realize what Christ did for you, it melts your heart, begins to push the darkness out and replaces it with love. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that. Hatred even just for hatred can't get rid of hatred. Only love can dispel the hatred in our hearts."When we experience God's love, we begin to experience that God is true love. This right here allows us to sacrifice self-interest for the interest of others. It's a miracle. It's miraculous when it happens. Every time when it happens in your life, you need to attribute it to the work of the Holy Spirit and give God the glory. One example of this from game theory, if you study game theory... This is first semester econ in college. We're going to go back there to the prisoner's dilemma. Remember the prisoner's dilemma? There's two prisoners, and both of them have been arrested. They committed a crime together, maybe, allegedly. We're not sure. They're in different rooms with detectives. If one guy confesses, gets off scot-free, and the other guy gets 20 years. If one guy does not confess, say, "I didn't do it," and the other guy says, "I didn't do it either. We didn't do it," they get off but only after like six months prison sentence.If each of them confesses, they get 15 years.Now you got to do the math. What do I think my partner is going to do? Are they going to confess or not? Well, it's in their best interest to confess because if they confess and I don't confess, they get off, I get 20 years. It's also in my best interest to confess because if they don't confess, the same thing happens. If both of us confess, we get 15 years, which is bad, but it's not as bad as 20 years. What economists say is like most people are reasonable actors, and most of them act in their best interest. Most people say, "I'm going to confess because I'd rather take 15 years than 20." Now, I'm not saying we're prisoners. We didn't commit crimes, hopefully.Here's how it applies to us. Imagine if everybody lived like this. Imagine what the world would be if everybody acted not in their own self-interests but in the self-interest of the other person. This is so great. Deep down inside we know that this is how we ought to be. This is the is-ought dilemma. John's like, "You ought to be loving. Why do I have to tell you? Because you're not loving." Everybody in the world, we know that the world would be a much better place if people were loving. Where do we get the power to do it? We get the power, the spiritual resources to do that from the Holy Spirit, from Christ. John talks about this is the greatest love. We should love like this, and the greatest level of love is to give your life for the brethren, give you your life for other people.Here he's asking us a question, "Would you honestly be willing to die for another person, in particular other Christians? Would you be willing to die?" You've got to meditate on that. It's easy to say, "Yes, I would," until that moment comes. That's where John takes us emotionally. Are you willing to die for other Christians? Then he gives us verse 17. Wat he's saying is, "If you're willing to die for them, then why aren't you willing to live for them? If you're willing to give the greatest sacrifice, which is your life, then why aren't you willing to sacrifice things in your life for this person, be it time, convenience, comfort, money, what have you?" That's verse 17, "If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, sees other Christians in need in particular, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."Are you growing in love? Well, let's look at your life. Let's look at what you do. Let's look at your calendar. Let's look at your budget. Are you budgeting for generosity? Are you budgeting margin in your calendar in order to act out love, in order to give acts of love? You see all this throughout scripture. The greatest example is the story of the good Samaritan. A priest walks by, a rabbi walks by this person who was mugged. Then, finally a Samaritan walks by, a person of the wrong race according to the cultural Jews. He comes, and he's inconvenienced for his time. Now he lost a day from his schedule. He's going to make up all that work. Now he finances the guy's stay at a hotel, finances the medical attention. He's inconvenienced. He's sacrificing time, convenience, comfort for the benefit of the other person. Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."Are there people in your community that you're looking to bless, looking to love just in action? That's number one. Number two, scripture teaches that we are to have a posture of heart. We're ready for it, where we do. Some of them was godly Christians I know at Mosaic, I know that they do this personally because they come to me sometimes. They're like, "Pastor Jan, we budgeted this much to give people in need. To whom should we give?" That's so inspiring to actually practice this systematically, to help others, and to love others. Obviously this doesn't mean that we indiscriminately dole out money to people who are irresponsible. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 through 12 says, "For even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone was not willing to work, let them not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living."If you're running out of energy to love people, and I'm here. I'm here every once in awhile, mostly Mondays like before 10:00 AM, before my coffee. You feel like it's the energy to love people is gone. You've just given so much. Where do you get the energy to keep loving and keep giving? John would say you just need to spend time in the Lord, abide in him, in his love. Meditate in what God has given you. He's given his Son so that you can give now of yourself. He's forgiven so that you can now be forgiving. He's served so that now you can serve. The other thing I just want to point out here before we move to point three is that we love not to earn affection from God, not to earn salvation from God, not to earn acceptance from God. We love because we are his children and we can't but love.The imperative to love flows from the indicative of this is what's happened to you. You love because you have become loving. You see this in 1 John 13:14. He says, "We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. We love the..." This is what he said, "We love the brothers." John, why do you need to tell us to love the brothers or love Christians or love people if we already do it? That's verse 14. You are a Christian. You are beloved from God. You love people. Then he tells us verse 11, "This is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." That's the imperative. We love. You should love. Verse 16, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." We love. You ought to love.Verse 18, "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." Again, the imperative, and the imperative flows out of the indicative. What's going on, he's like, "You have been miraculously regenerated. God has made you his child. The DNA of God's seed is within you now. Practice love. Grow in love. Make sure of your salvation and your calling and your election," scripture says. Possess your possessions. Be who you are. We need that reminder every once in a while. We kind of forget with the hustle and bustle of life, with jobs and busy schedule. We kind of forget. This is who I am. My nature is that I'm a child of God. God has loved me. I am his beloved, therefore I am to love.Point three is greater than your heart. Stop loving, start loving greater than your heart. What's John doing here? Well, John has written this letter for the purpose of helping Christians realize that they're Christians, to have confirmation. I want you to know that you have eternal life. Simultaneously, what he wants to do is if anyone is not a Christian to awaken them from this lie, the self-deception that they are Christians. John here, and we've talked about this in the first sermon, he gives these three tests over and over with which we can examine our salvation. Test number one is doctrinally. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died on the cross for your sins, that he bore the wrath of God that we deserve, that by grace through faith when you believe in him, all your sins are forgiven, there's no condemnation now?Doctrinally, morally, do you seek to obey God now? Do you seek to live righteously, honor him, and please him? Then relationally, do you love God? Do you love people? Now, he sets the standards so high, and he understands that for some some Christians who are true Christians, when they see how high the standard is and how far they fall short of that standard, that their hearts begin to condemn them. That's the scene that he sets in verse 19 and 20, "By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. For whenever a heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything." He says at some point, even for Christians, our hearts will condemn us. The scene that he sets is that God is judge. There's my heart who's the lawyer that's accusing me and then myself.Sometimes Satan accuses us. Sometimes it's own heart, where our own heart says, "Look, you're as loving as he ought to be. Look, the pattern of your life is so selfish. The pattern of your life is so unrighteous. You're probably not a Christian." John would say go through those three tests, but then also he says, verse 19, "By this we know we are of the truth and reassure our heart." When our hearts condemn us, he says, look to this. By this... What's the this? That's the previous verses, 17 and 18, where he says that we love the brethren. We sacrifice. We give of our physical goods, and we give of our time, and we give of our money. There's a track record in our life of loving people in a supernatural way.He says so even if today your heart is condemning you, questioning your salvation, look at your track record since you became a Christian. Have there been moments of supernatural love, and are you growing in that? If so, if you can point to times in your life and like, "That definitely wasn't me. Wow, God really showed up here. God showed up here. God showed up here. God helped me love this difficult person and this difficult person and that difficult person," that right there is proof, that track record is that, that you are a child of God. When we fall, he's saying, when we have moments of doubt, self-condemnation, don't focus on the failures. Focus instead on this track record of growth in the Lord. Refocus on the times that God's love has flowed through you. That's verse 19. He says, "Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything."Assumption in your heart is not infallible even as a Christian. Then the other thing that's really fascinating is that he brings in God's omniscience, that God knows everything, and he brings it in in order to bring comfort and relief to the Christians instead of a cause or a concern. Whenever I think that God knows everything, knows all of my sin, knows all the sinful inclinations in my heart, like it scares me. John says, "Look, for the true believer, God knows that you want to obey him. God knows that you want to grow in love, and he knows your battle. He knows your temptation. You can be reassured that if there is this track record, you can be reassured that God knows. He knows the imperfections. He knows your desire to love, obey for Jesus' sake, and God will continue to equip." You see this in Romans eight verse one, "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."If you're in Christ, there's no condemnation. Then, in verse 31 through 34, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who is going to condemn us if we are in Christ Jesus? Not even our own fallible hearts." One example of this is the heartbreaking story of Peter, the apostle Peter who denies Jesus, three times denies Jesus. In John 21, Jesus, the resurrected Christ, meets the disciples on the beach. He's got some fish that he's broiling for them. He's cooking for him. It's a wonderful scene, just a brunch on the beach.Then Jesus says, "Peter, let's go for a walk." This is where Jesus asks him the three heartbreaking questions, where he says, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter said, "Oh, you know I love you." "Peter, do you love me?" "Yes, of course I love you." Finally, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter's response is, "Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you." This is a fascinating response because what was happening in Peter's life was a crisis of faith. Do I? I think I love him, but I just denied him three times. Jesus here reinstates Peter, gives him more grace. Peter's saying, "Lord, as far as I know, I do, but you know greater." That's what John is saying. Even for the Christian who's struggling to love, struggling to follow, who's struggling to obey, if you believe in Jesus Christ, if you are attempting to grow in love and there's a track record of growth, God is going to give comfort to the heart. He will give a confident heart.That's the phrase that he uses in verse 31, "If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God." God brings confidence to our condemning heart and gives grace. We have confidence before God. The word means boldness of a child coming to the father as opposed to the accused appearing before a judge. Then he gives us these two benefits of walking with the Lord, two benefits of the confident heart when you know that you're in Christ. The first is answered prayer. This is verse 22, "Whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him." By the way, this is a staggering claim, that a child of God, whatever you ask, God will give it to you, but there's conditions. The first condition is that we seek to grow in obedience. We're seeking to obey his commandments and do what pleases him, meaning that if there's disobedience in your heart, knowing sin, like sin that you know of in your heart, it interferes with our prayers to God. It gets in the way. That's number one.Number number two, we need to understand that whatever we ask, it has to be in accord with God's will. That's what in Jesus' name means. A lot of people pray whatever they want and they think, "If I tack on Jesus' name at the end, like, 'Lord, please let me win the Powerball, and I'll tithe the off the winnings, post taxes, in Jesus' name.'" That's not... In Jesus' name means according to God's will, for God's glory. He says, "Are you seeking to live an obedient life?" The Christian who's seeking to live an obedient life, praying in Jesus' name for God's glory, can point to prayers in their life that have been answered, one after another after another after another. Some of the most righteous people I know in my life, whenever I come to them with a prayer, this is why they're on my team, I ask them to pray, and you just see there's this track record.Scripture says, "The prayer of a righteous person availeth much." It's powerful. Are your prayers being answered? God often doesn't answer in our timing, and God often answers with what we really need, what we would have asked for if we knew everything that God knows. One of the prayers that I've always been curious about is when Jesus to Peter, as he prophesies that Peter is going to deny him, Jesus says this, "I've prayed for you that your faith would not fail." I've always thought that's a fascinating prayer. Jesus, why are you praying for his faith to not fail? Why not pray for him not to deny you? That's a puzzle, but Peter needed to go through that trial to cement his faith for everything that was coming. Jesus will always give us, to his children, what we really need, not necessarily what we desire at the time.Then, the second blessing after the answered prayer, verse 24, "Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us." This is incredible because he says when we keep his commandments, when we're striving to keep his commandments, we understand that it's the Spirit at work with us. The Spirit of God is abiding in us. This is an important verse because when a lot of people talk about the Holy Spirit, they connect the Holy Spirit with subjective experience, emotional experience. Oh, I felt the Spirit today in worship. I got some goosebumps. I love when I feel the Spirit. I love when I feel the presence of God, when the presence of God is heavy in a place. I love those moments. However, that's not what he's focused. He's not just focused on the subjective experience of the Holy Spirit.He's not saying, "By this you know the Spirit is with you because you feel him." He says, "By this you know that the Spirit is with you. Whoever keeps his commandments," meaning can you look at your life and say, "I desire to keep God's commandments. I desire to live according to the will of God. I desire to please God. I desire to believe in Christ"? If so, that right there is miraculous, and that is a sign of the objective work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Stop hating, start loving, and God is greater than our own condemning hearts. At this time, we're going to transition to holy communion. Holy communion is an opportunity for Christians who are repentant to celebrate God's grace. For whom is holy communion? It's for anyone who is repentant, anyone who has repented of sin and today continues to repent of sin.If you're a Christian and in your life there is sin, in particular relational sin that we talked about, hate, hostility, bitterness toward another person, today's an opportunity to repent. We are called to repent before we take communion. If you are not a Christian, if you have not repented of sin, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service or repent of your sins today, and then you're welcome to partake. The way that we celebrate communion is the ushers are going to hand out the elements, the bread and the cup. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ broken for us to heal our souls, and the cup symbolizes the blood of Christ that was shed for us to cleanse us from sin and guilt.The ushers are going to hand them, out the elements. Please hold onto them, and then we'll partake together afterwards. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this time in the holy scriptures. Lord, what a word that you've given us, that we can be your children and that we can grow in love, not to get something from you, not to earn acceptance, but because you have loved us. You have made us your beloved children, and you have made us loving. Now help us grow in that love. Jesus, we thank you that you showed us what true love is. You met our greatest, most tangible need, which is reconciliation with God the Father. We thank you for your sacrifice, and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Audio Transcript:You're listening to audio for Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.comHeavenly father, we thank you that you are our father, and Lord, we do not take that for granted. And for those of us who do, Lord, I pray today, reignite in us desire and affections for a relationship with you where we understand that you are father. We don't take that for granted. We understand that we were children of wrath. We understand that we are under your judgment. and still Lord, you came and you poured out your love on us by giving your son. To give your love, to give your forgiveness, to give your grace, you had to first give your son. And you have so loved the world, you have so loved us that you gave your son.Jesus, we thank you that you came and died on the cross for our sin to save us from the condemnation in order to reconcile us with the father. I pray, Holy spirit, show us that if we are your children, born again, regenerated by the spirit, that we are to grow in resemblance with the father, we are to grow in your likeness, in your image, growing, giving, and serving and sacrificing in the same way that you give, serve and sacrifice. Lord, we pray that you bless our time in the Holy scriptures and we pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.We're in a sermon series that we are calling menó. And menó comes from the original Greek, Koine Greek. It means to remain, to abide in, to strengthen a relationship by walking in step with the spirit of God. And why are we using this term? Because 24 times in the Epistle of first John, the book we're in, he uses this word, this is a big theme of his book, that what it means to be a Christian isn't just intellectually saying that we believe in God, it's actually to be with God, to live with God, have God abide in you and you and him. And today, the Apostle John focuses our attention on the first person of the Trinity, God the Father, that God is father, son and Holy Spirit, equal in essence and still three individual persons.And one of the things that John wants us to know is that God loves us with a fatherly love. My wife and I, we have four daughters, and I've been a father now for 11 plus years. I tell people I've got a PhD and a half in raising daughters. I'm pretty good at it, not the best, I'm okay, growing at it. We had our first baby when I was 26, when we had Sophia. And Sophia is 11, Elizabeth is eight, Ekaterina just turned five, and Milana is two. I love being a dad, I love it so much. Obviously, it's hard, there's always challenges.Will Ferrell has three sons and he recently was talking about that and he's like, "Actually, raising kids is like operating a mini correctional facility." I'm like, "That's good." He was talking about water cannons. I was like, "Not going to go that far, maybe water pistols." Yes, there's challenges, but there's so many blessings, so many benefits. I made a list of all my favorite stuff about being a dad. Number one, and this list isn't in order of importance, but maybe it is. Number one is I love providing, I love to provide, in particular food. I love watching them eat food that I bought, food that I cooked, that I cut. I love it so much. I don't know what it is, it brings so much joy to my heart.We were cooking steak the other night, Friday night, that's what we do. And I cut up a steak and I put it on a big plate and my daughter Milana, who's two and a half, she didn't point to the little plate that I gave her, she said, "No," pushed the little plate away, pointed to the big plate. Obviously she got the big plate and devoured most of it. It brought joy to my heart. I love that. I love discipling. I love watching them grow. I love teaching them to read. I love caring and nurturing and snuggling. My daughter's very affectionate. My five year old just spontaneously comes out and she says, "Dad, I love you so much. I love you 1,040." Same number every time, I don't know why.And my response is always, "I love you 1040 plus one," and she's like, "Ooh, that's a lot." Same response, we have the same conversation every day. My two year old, I ask her, "How much do you love your dad?" She says two, because that's the only number she knows. I'll take it. I love being a dad. And one of the things that I've noticed is, people come up to us, and my girls are really beautiful and whenever they say, "Oh, your daughters are so beautiful," I always say, "They take after their mom, praise God."But there's a clear physical resemblance of me in them. I look at them I'm like, "Yeah, you're mine," especially my youngest, that is mini me. And one of the things as we raise kids is you do see that they don't just physically resemble you, they begin to resemble you in speech patterns, in humor, they begin to resemble you in character, in self-control, in all the most important things, but in particular the begin to take on or emulate your relationship with the Lord. We want them to emulate us in all the most important things, but in particular in having a relationship with God the Father.And this is what Saint John talks about today, is that we as Christians are made children of God through heart surgery, that God takes out our heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh, a heart that's numbed her toward God is replaced with a heart that beats for God. Now we have a spiritual DNA, the God's seed is in us and we begin to grow in resemblance of God, and that's what we're talking about today. That's the title of this sermon is Growing in Resemblance of the Father. That God is Father, Jesus is our older brother. One of the things I will mention is, this is what happens to many people. When we hear about God the Father, we begin to measure God the Father through our earthly fathers.And lots of work has been done about the father wound and father issues, and here's the thing, every single one of us has been raised by a fallen father. And I got to be careful here because my dad is actually here in the crowd. What's up pop? If you see the guy who looks like Sean Connery right there, he's right there. Great, great dad, phenomenal dad. But every one of us, we're fallen and we're raised by fallen parents. So there's all these some kinds of dysfunctions. So here's what I ask you to do, despite the pain, do not measure God the Father by your earthly father.Instead, measure your earthly fathers by God the Father. And by the way, the reason why the father wound is so deep for so many people is because in our heart of hearts, we know what a good father should be like. How do we know that? God has planted that in our hearts, he's written that on our hearts so that we don't seek that completely fully in our earthly parents, but in God the Father. And today we're going to look at 1 John 2:28 through 1 John 3:10, so please look at the texts with me. 1 John 2:28. "And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.""If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that every one who practices righteousness ha been born of him." See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And every one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.""You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you, whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes the practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sitting from the beginning. The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.""By this, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother." This is the reading of God's Holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. One big idea in three points, born again to abide, behold the father's love, and three, resemble the father. Here in 0.1, born again to abide. John begins by calling the Christians children. He's not talking to little children per se, he's talking about Christians, who from God's perspective are his kids. And he says, "Abide in him."At the end of verse 29, he says, "Whoever practices righteousness has been born of him." Here he's giving us the doctrine of regeneration. The doctrine is what I mentioned in the beginning that you are born again, you are born to new life, you have a new identity and new responsibilities. Now, when it comes to the term born again Christian, it has all kinds of political undertones. So one of the things I want to do here is just reclaim it from all of that baggage. I was at a lunch yesterday visiting a dear sister who's in a nursing home, she had a pizza party.And whenever I get invited to social events, I'm always seated at the table with the non-believers, be it baby showers or weddings or dinner party, anything. So I'm at the table with the non-Christians because I'm a professional Christian, so that's what I do. So I'm at that table and a lady from the Christian table looks at me and she says, "Oh, you're a pastor?" I said, "Yeah." She said, "Oh, that's great. I'm a born again Christian." And I felt the unease immediately from everyone at my table, and I was like, "Yeah, I'm a little uneasy too." And usually when you think of a born again Christian, there's all kinds of things that come to mind in a flag-waving and etc.What I want to do is I want to show you that from John's perspective, saying born again Christian is like saying Christian, Christian. For John it's the same reality. If you're born again, you are a child of God, you are a Christian. For John, this is what happens when a person becomes a Christian, they are reborn. And that leads to growing resemblance of God the Father. That's why he says whoever has been born again, perfect tense, that person practices righteousness. What comes first? It's being born again. So you practice righteousness, which is what it means to grow in resemblance of the father because you have been born again.The righteous life is evidence of the new life. It's not cause, it's not a condition, it's the effect like begets like, God The Father begets children who are like God the Father. The son of a fish is a fish, the son of a duck is a duck, the son of God is a godly son or daughter, that's what he's saying. And he points out, what does he say? What's the main verb here? What's the imperative? He says, "Little children, abide in him." And this is really important because a lot of people are overwhelmed when they come to Christianity or they're trying to explore Christianity, and they're overwhelmed by all the theology, they're overwhelmed by scripture, which is 1,189 pages in my Bible.Just overwhelmed by all of this, and you feel like you need a graduate degree in Christianity to be a Christian. And he says, "No, you're a child of God. Revel in that." Now what do you do? Just spend time with God, that's what it means to abide in him. You have everything you need for growth in the Lord, and scripture is part of it, you spend in scripture, you spend time in prayer. Just spend time with God. How do children grow in their relationship with their parents? They have conversations, they spend time together. There's the gift of presence where you're present with one another. So as a child of God, abide in him.And he says, "Abiding in God prepares you to meet Christ." And here he starts talking about second coming in verse 28. "Now, little children, abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming, Jesus has come once, he will come again, he will come suddenly, unexpectedly, without warning. Jesus said, "Be prepared for you don't know the hour or day that he comes." New Testament talks about the second coming all the time. One in every 25 verses in the New Testament talks about the second coming. In 260 chapters in the New Testament, it's mentioned 318 times.And every single book of the New Testament except for the particular epistles of Galatians second, third John and Philemon, and he says, "Be prepared. That's how you get prepared, is by abiding in him so that you have confidence so that when he appears," meaning he's already here, that's why he uses that phrase, so that when he appears, meaning he's here, God is omnipresent, but he will physically appear and is coming. As the word Perusia, which in that context meant the coming of an emperor or a King, or Caesar is an event of a lifetime. And he says, People will have two reactions when Christ returns. Either they will be confident, a fearlessness. You're glad that he's here, you're rejoicing that he is here as judge and King because your sins have been judged on the cross because of repentance.And he is your Lord, he is your King and you have been attempting to follow him all of your life, or he says you will shrink back from him in shame. Shrink back from him and shame, meaning there's something to be ashamed of. And he says, "Which one will it be?" Well, are you abiding? And this idea of shrinking back in shame, you've probably experienced this, it's when you haven't been doing what you should be doing. I remember at my first job out of college, I got yelled at by a CEO of the company who was in a meeting. I didn't know that he was the CEO, I know he was in a meeting, and I was buying a car on Craigslist. He saw that on my screen and he yelled at me in front of everybody. So that job didn't work out.And so I learned my lesson. And then my second job, I applied for a job with the government and had to take a polygraph. And it was a four hour pilot polygraph, and by that point I was like, "You guys know everything." I told them everything I had ever done that I thought was wrong, and I was ready for this exam. And I was like, "They can throw nothing at me because I've already told them everything." So it was at peace and I passed the polygraph. That's kind of what repentance is. You come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you confess of all your sins, and you're in confidence because you're abiding in him, so there's transparency.In Proverbs, it says that the righteous are bold as lions, they've got nothing to fear. So faithfulness leads to fearlessness, that's what he's talking about. So are you ready? Are you confident in seeing Christ? And John uses this word confidence four times in this text, twice is the confidence at the second coming, twice is the confidence we have when we pray. The way you prepare for the confidence in the second coming is you're with confidence come to the Lord in daily prayer of confession and adoration and just spending time with the Lord. So abide in the Father, abide in his love. That's what happens when you're born again.The question arises here is, how do I become a child of God? How am I sure that I'm a child of God? And this is 0.2; Behold the father's love. In verse one of chapter three he says, "See what love the father has given us." "Behold," the King James version says, which I think is a word with more gravitas, it's not just the look in, it's the stare at, direct attention, reflect and ruminate upon this amazing love. And he says, "Behold, what kind of love." It's an incredible word that has to do with be amazed It's a sense of wonder he's trying to evoke, "Be in awe." It's only used seven times in the New Testament. Mark 13:1 the disciples with Jesus are walking out of the temple, and as they came out, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, teacher, what wonderful stones. What wonderful buildings, this is all incredible."When Mary heard from the angel that she was going to give birth to the son of God, she said, "What kind of greeting is this?" Another definition of this word is, what kind of world is this message from? It's so unearthly, it's coming from a different planet. And why is John so amazed by this? He's so amazed because we get to call God Father. In all of the Old Testament, not one individual person calls God Father, directs a prayer to God as father, not one. Collectively as Israel they said you are our father, not individually. They called God judge or protector or provider or sustainer or ruler or creator, never father.Jesus Christ comes, revolutionizes our relationship with God, and how does he teach us to pray? Our God in heaven? No. Jesus also doesn't pray to Jesus. Jesus prays to whom? Our father. Our father who art in heaven. Revolutionizes our relationship with God. And he says later, "God doesn't just call us his children. And so we are," he says. He makes his children not just entitled but actually in nature, we become the children of God. And we should be amazed by this, this should be... If John were texting us, if we are in a text chain with John and the Apostle Paul, and John were texting us, he would say, "Behold, the love of God that we are his children. This is how he loves us. Behold, his love."And then you would send us the Paul Rudd meme. I don't know if you've seen the meme or the GIF, whatever, I always mix those up, where he's sitting with someone and he's opening a drink and he says, "Look at us. Look at us." You know that one? I love that one. "Look at us. Who would have thought? Not me." That's the reaction that Christian should have, "Not me. Why? I can't believe that I am a child of God." Now, here's why we don't have that reaction. We don't have that reaction. If I tell you that you're a child of God, you're like, "Yeah, okay." If I tell you that Jesus loves you, you're like, "Yeah, I know. Everyone loves me."It's not shocking to us because we feel like we've earned it, we feel like we deserve it. "God exists, he made me, therefore I'm his kid." And one of the reasons why we believe this is because we have swallowed wholesale liberal theology that came to us in the 18th century, 19th century after the enlightenment and it went like this, it was the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of humanity. And it goes like this, that every single person who's alive, just by virtue of being alive is a child of God. And every single one of us we're brothers and sisters, we're all together, universal brotherhood. And that theology is nowhere to be found in scripture. Why? Because that theology, it jumps over the fall. Yes, God creates us, and Adam and Eve are children of God and then we sinned.Now, scripture says, because of our sin, there's something in between us and God, there's a chasm between us. Therefore, this chasm is the chasm of God's wrath that we deserve for our sin. So God goes from being father to judge. Now, how do we go back to having a relationship with God, the father? And this is what makes Christianity so incredible, that because of Jesus Christ, because God gave his son to bridge that chasm, to absorb the wrath that we deserve for our sin, and by grace through faith in that sacrifice, you can be a child of God, you can be born again.In John 1:12-13 says, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Nor of the will of a man. It's not because you chose to be a child of God, it's because God chose to make you his child. That's what it means to be born again, that we were dead in our sins, meaning we don't deserve any of this. That's why we should marvel. We don't behold, and we don't marvel getting a paycheck. Like if you get paid biweekly or at the end of the month, it gets deposited into your account, you don't look at the deposits like, "Behold, I got paid."You don't do that, because you earned it. And if you are beholding, you're probably stealing from the company. No, you behold at grace, "I did not deserve this." 2 Peter 1:4 says, "By which he has granted to us the precious and very great promises so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. Having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire." Holy scripture teaches that in our flesh we are not children of God because in us there's a corrupt DNA. And actually in this text, he talks about being children of God and children of Satan, that there's godly, divine DNA and there's ungodly, satanic, demonic DNA in each one of us.And before you check out, I know exactly how we react because I preached through this text when we just launched the church. We were like two months in 2011, I preached these texts and I had a guy send me an email. I was reading the email recently and he's like, "I liked everything except for the part where you call the Satan spawn." And I was like, "I just read the Bible verse." Let me just do a little explaining. Who is Satan? Satan was an angel. Satan was the premier being, he was the number two in all of God's army, of all the beings in the universe. He was number two. So what made him Satan? What caused the fall?In Isaiah 14, I can't get into this text now, but go home and read it. In Isaiah 14, we see the progression. He got to the point where he got puffed up with pride and he says, "I will ascend to the throne of God. I will make my throne with the most high. I will be God. I am my own." And in that text you see, I, I, I, I. What made Satan Satan wasn't that he just broke God's law. What made Satan Satan is that he got, attempted God... Get rid of God. He wanted God to worship him instead of worshiping God. And that's the temptation with which he tempted Jesus in the desert. Remember, Jesus is fasting, Satan comes to him and he says, "Fall down and worship me." That's what makes Satan Satan.It isn't just breaking God's law, is trying to get rid of God and putting yourself at the center of the universe, putting yourself on the throne of God. So when you understand that that's the DNA, the DNA of satanic, DNA as John talks about, that it's a selfishness. It's living as if you are God and there is no God as if you are the giver of your own life and sustainer of your own life, that every single good gift that you have is from yourself. Who made you to differ? Scripture says, was it you yourself? No. It was God.And that's what makes this DNA so insidious, there's DNA of spiritual darkness and then you compare it with the DNA of Christ, spiritual DNA, godly DNA, where Jesus Christ in Philippians two it says, "Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing." Satan said, "I will ascend." Jesus said, "I will descend." Taking the form of a servant and coming to serve us and ultimately going to the cross and paying the penalty for our sin to save us. He didn't say, "God serve me." He said, "Father, I'll serve you. I'll worship you, command me."This is like, when you become a Christian, you get this godly DNA in you, but then you got to grow this DNA, so this DNA overpowers the corrupt nature. Then this is the battle between the flesh and the spirit. And I shared this illustration in my newsletter, but one detail I didn't share, if you read the newsletter you... This gentleman Chris long had, he was suffering from leukemia, had a bone marrow transplant, and he was working in as a criminologist in a crime lab. And one of his colleagues said, "Hey, you had a bone marrow transplant, let's test your DNA and see what happened."So they test his DNA and they find, there was his strand of DNA, but then there was the donor strain of DNA, a German gentleman for 5,000 miles away, and that DNA was overpowering his own, so that in many facets in his body, his own wasn't even visible. This idea is called chimera where you have two kinds of DNA. And this is an illustration of what happens, and this is what John is saying. You have this new seed that has been planted in you through the preaching of God's word. Now, you need to grow it by abiding in Christ. In verse one he says, "Look at the love that the father has given us."God loves and he proves his love by giving. Remember John 3:16 the small famous verse in all of scripture, "For God so loved the world that he gave his son." And he says, God gave his son to give us his love, and against the perfect tense of the word, he has given us, and that means it's perfect. You didn't earn it and it can't be withdrawn, when God makes you a child of God, you are a child forever. And he says, "Look, he calls us his children and makes us as children of privilege that he didn't even give to the angels." God could have just forgiven us as judge and that would have been great, but he doesn't just forgive us as judge, he loves us as a father, which is so much greater.Now the reason why John is also very amazed here is because he's writing to a culture where parenthood and fatherhood and motherhood were not honored because children were not treasured. Now, in the Greco Roman world, fathers were aloof, not affectionate, and never equitable, not fair, and a lot of the time children were abused and often left unwanted. The church, father Tertullian talking about... he was writing under the proconsul ship of Tiberius in North Africa. He said, "A lot of children were left to die in the woods or killed through drowning or exposure to cold and hunger and the dogs."In that culture, John is saying, "Look how shocking is, the God is a father who gives and he loves and he's with you always and loves you as a child." And by the way, it's as shocking in our culture where parenthood is diminished and fatherhood is diminished and we live in a culture of abortion are on demand. And as shocking it was to know then that God is father, it's also shocking that God is a great father. Dear Christian, do you understand the fatherhood of God? J. I. Packer wrote this book called Knowing God, which every Christian should read and reread and he's got a chapter on what makes Christianity Christianity.And he says, "I know that a person understands the depth of Christianity by how they pray. Do they pray just to God in general or do they pray to the father, as a child coming and pleading and conversing and just enjoying the relationship with God." And the other thing before I move on to point three, why is John bringing this up now? Why focus the attention on the father's love, that God is loving and that we are children? Well, he says this in the second part of 1 John 3:1, says, "The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him." The reason why the world doesn't know us is that it did not know him. And the reason why he mentions that is because they don't feel like God is with them, they don't feel that God is present. They don't feel like they were in God's hands because they're suffering at the hands of the world.They're asking question, if God is a good father, why is there suffering? Why is there schism in the church? Why is the world so sinister and hostile? And he said, "Look, if the world is being hostile to you as his children, is because are first hostile to God the Father. They don't know him. Like you love God the Father so much and you can't believe that other people don't love this great God. That's how we feel. But he says, "You need to understand that they're on the other side and they don't see this. They don't understand this relationship." And that's why we share the gospel with them and show them how great the father's love is.A former member of the church texted me recently and he texted me a meme of a pie chart. And the pie chart had three parts. And the first part it said 1%... It's a football metaphor by the way, sorry. 1% is San Francisco fans who are going to root for San Francisco in the Super Bowl. 2% is the chiefs fans who are going to root for Kansas city in the Super Bowl. And then said 98%, the rest of the country who's just glad that the Patriots aren't in the Superbowl. And he said that to me as a jab. And I was like, "I just don't understand. I'm on the right team. How can you not love the right team? Sorry for equating the Patriots with God the father, from all metaphor's breakdown.But that's what he's saying, the world doesn't understand. So we love them and we pray for them, and we ask for the Holy spirit to regenerate them, but we still keep shining God's light and we keep spreading God's love because that's what the father does. And the more that we resemble the father, and this is point three, the more that the people around us will long to know the father. So verses two of chapter three he says, "Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is." And this is incredible. That DNA, that seed of God in you, that divine nature that's in you, he's saying, ultimately it will be brought to completion or combination and we will be like him.We will not just be called children of God, we will be like him, not just act like him, but be like him in nature. And that hope of one day having a sinless body and this is the doctrine of glorification in heaven, that hope of being with the Lord in a sinless body gives us strength in verse three, to purify ourselves, "And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." In 1 John chapter one he said, "Whoever confesses their sin, you can be sure that God is faithful and just to cleanse you from all sin." To forgive you and cleanse you, to purify you. And now he says that, "Because you've been purified by Christ, we are to purify ourselves." It sounds like a contradiction in terms, it is not.And you know the adage, God helps those who help themselves? I'm sure you've heard that. It's false. It's a false theology. And this idea that God shows up when you've done everything you possibly can. That's not how the world works. That's not how Christianity works. It begins with God helps you, God purifies you, God gives you a new birth and then he equips you to purify yourself. So if I could change that, I would say God helps you to help yourself. Not God helps those who help themselves. It begins with God doing 99.99% and then the other 0.09% he equips you to do. But we are to purify ourselves. Can we be absolutely pure of sin in this world? No.But, the sign that we actually have a new life is the fact that we want to grow in grace. The more intimate your relationship with God, the more you're exposed to his light, the more the light exposes your darkness. The closer you get to the light, the more darkness that you see. So he's purified you, so now you have access to the light. You abide in him, and then you see more and more darkness. So, you thought the sins that you were dealing with were bad and God gives you strength to overcome and you purify yourself because he's purified you more, and then you go deeper and deeper and deeper. And this tension is always here.On the one hand, we understand we're fallen sinners. On the other hand, we understand we're children of God and we are to grow in resemblance. And we do that every single day by grace, through faith and repentance. But this is really important because some traditions of Christianity focus all the attention on you purifying yourself. How's your week? Were you perfect? Did you sin? Oh, if you sinned, you lost your salvation, that's terrible. And John says, "But you're a child of God. God doesn't lose children. He doesn't divorce children, he's adopted you for eternity. That's the rule. Other traditions are all about you're saved by grace through faith and Jesus died for all of your sins on the cross so you can live any way you want. God loves to forgive, you love to sin. You get to do what you want, he gets to do what he wants.And John says, "No. If you've become a child of God, you hate sin and you grow in hating sin and you want to purify yourself." How? You do that through practicing, and that's the phrase that he uses in verse seven, and he says, "Little children, no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous." It's a matter of practicing that the more we practice a thing, the easier it becomes. The more I practice not working out, the easier it is to not work out. The same thing with food, the same thing with anything. But once you get in a routine, it gets easier and easier because your willpower isn't used because it become a part of your character. And he says that the people of lawlessness or the people of the satanic DNA, they practice lawlessness, it becomes easier and easier and easier. And he said, we got to do the opposite.In verse eight he says, "Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil, of the evil one." And again, it gets back to this idea of lawlessness and he separates sitting and lawlessness. Sinning is transgressing God's law. Lawlessness is getting rid of God and getting rid of his law. And if you're like, "I don't know about sin, I don't know about transgressing commandments." Well, the question that John will put before you is, what are you living for? Like what is the ultimate purpose of your life? What do you find more worthy of your time, of your money, of your talents than anything else?Well, whatever the thing is that you're living for, whatever you find more worthy than anything. That is what you're worshiping. And it's not necessarily a bad thing, it could be a good thing. And you take the good thing and you put it in place of God and now it becomes a bad thing. Worship is building your life or meaning on anything other than God. The other thing before we close, I just want to deal with this, verse six and verse nine he says, "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. " Verse nine, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning." And a lot of Christians read that and they're like, "What does that mean about my faith? Like I have sinned."And again, the emphasis is on the practice, it's on the personality. It's on what's progressive on the life pattern, on the character. What are you practicing? What is the habit of your life? What is the culture of your life, the ethos of your life? Is it the same as the ethos of the father's family? Is your life resembling the father. And I'll close it with this illustration from F. F. Bruce. Every family has rules, every organization has a culture. And my family, I tell my girls, there's only two real rules. Rule number one, no screaming, rule number two, no complaining. The screaming one, you can make, we live in Boston and we have neighbors on three sides of us, so don't scream and I don't like it either.Complaining biblically speaking, God punished Israel for 40 years and made them walk around in the desert in circles because they complained. So don't do that. No screaming, no complaining. We don't do that here. Now, I use that phrase all the time with my daughters, we don't do that here. And in response you could say, "I just did that here." And that's kind of what John is getting at. And so F. F. Bruce, I'll close with this illustration and then we'll pray. F.F. Bruce was a New Testament scholar in the 20th century, probably the greatest in the 20th century. And he went to this private school that was founded in the year 1224. 1224 school of tradition.And in his commentary in first John, he talks about, in the school, whenever a student would act out or disobey or misbehave, what the teachers would say is, "We don't do that here." And F. F. Bruce was like, "I just did that. I was just saying, I just did that." And then he concludes and he says this, "But the literalist might reply, "But obviously it is done. This boy has just done it, but he would be deliberately missing the point of the rebuke. The point of the rebuke is such that this conduct is disapproved of in this school, so anyone who practices it can normally be assumed not to belong to the school."Fellowship with the sinless one and indulgence in sin are a contradiction in terms. We don't do that here. As part of this family. We don't, we don't abide in sin, we abide in the savior. So for the Christian, we're born again to abide. And how do we abide? We behold the father's love, and that's what allows us to resemble the father. If you're not a Christian, today, look to the father, look to Christ, look to the Holy Spirit, beg God to forgive you of your sins and turn to him in faith. And at that moment, and when you do a wholeheartedly, he will pour out his love into your heart, you will be regenerated and you become a child of God. So as we pray now, you're welcome to do that and we ask you to do that. Let's pray.Heavenly father, we thank you for grace and we thank you for the gospel. We thank you father, that to give us your love, gave your son for us. We thank you Jesus, that you were willing to give your life for us to make us children of the father. And we thank you that you are our older brother and you are your brother's keeper. And we thank you Holy Spirit, that you are here with us now, and I pray that you grow us, each one of us, in our obedience to you, in our abiding in you, so that we continue to resemble the father. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Edgar and I continue our dialogue about conflict but we discuss it from a biblical viewpoint and see how the Bible paints this conflict. We can find a battle between good & evil in almost every corner of culture; we see it in movies, books, and religions. In looking at these battles between good & evil, there are casualities and unfortunate events that occur simply because of the fact that the context is that of a conflict. In the Bible, we also find that there is a major conflict between good & evil, namely, God and Satan. A fundamental principle for God is that He does not force you to do anything, because He knows that love cannot be forced. In this conflict, we find that God has to navigate through His ideal will and remedial will to help each and everyone of us in our best interest in light of the context of conflict. History between God and Satan (Genesis 3, Revelation 12, 13 -14, 17, 19) Satan wants Gods position, power, and prominence - Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28 Satan is cast out from heaven - Revelation 12 Satan tempts Adam and Eve - Genesis 3 God delivers promise of future deliverer and conquerer over Satan - Gen 3:15 Satan attacks Jesus all through His ministry - Matthew 4 Satan attacks Jesus’ followers and church - Revelation 12-13 Difference between Christ and Satan Satan desires to ascend through pride and is brought down in the end Jesus descends through humility and is exalted in the end

Episode 56: Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan Jay walks us through Anton LaVey, the Church of Satan, and all sorts of magic and weirdness. This story contains: 1. Anton LaVey. (Formerly, Howard Stanton Levey from Chicago!) 2. LaVey developed the Church of Satan! (The Satanic Bible has been in print since 1969!) 3. LaVey's understanding of magic was influenced by the British occultist: Aleister Crowley. (Mhm.) 4. LaVeyan Satanism! (They don’t really believe in Satan-Satan – it’s a metaphor!) 5. There are some famous Satanists – that’s fun! (Liberace, Sammy Davis, Jr,. Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Manson!) Sweet Dreams XOXOZzzz.

“Lord of Lords vs. Lord of the Flies” Jesus is accused of being Beelzebub. (Beelzebub is basically another nickname for Satan.) Scripture is very clear on the reality of Satan and the spirit world. The scribes accuse Jesus of being ruler over demons because He cast them out. Jesus uses reason and logic to refute the scribes thinking. If He were Satan --- then why would He cast out Satan? Satan's business is to enslave through sin, a slavery evidenced in sickness, possession and death. Yet, this is exactly the type of bondage that Jesus is freeing people from. Jesus then turns their attention and ours to the Spirit (The Holy Spirit) in whom we will all give an account. Receiving and/or rejecting the Holy Spirit has eternal consequences. (In theological terms we refer to this as the “unpardonable sin”.) Jesus was telling them that they were placing themselves in a position of defiant hostility against God. When we reject the opportunity to have a personal relationship with the living God --- when we set our face against a friendship with Jesus, is to "blaspheme against the Holy Spirit". Such is the unforgivable sin, a sin never to be forgiven. Jesus then describes who belongs to His family. The “important great good news” is we can turn and put our trust in Jesus and enter His circle of family, and that circle will be ours for eternity. To sum it up; Jesus, the one who binds the powers of darkness is also the One who gathers us as family in the safety of his care. Harvey

In our final study out of Warren Wiersbe's book, The Strategy of Satan, we look at how Satan attacks us from within the home.