Glory, Freedom, and the Urgent Messenger

Grace be with you. Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a blessing to be gathered with you all. I appreciate what's been shared. I just hope we can continue to be encouraged and strengthened in Christ, and put on Christ, as Brother Brett said, to wear Him. Thank you. I'm going to take a little break from the series of the Sermon on the Mount. For one thing, it's a good place to take a break. We're done with Chapter 5. Be ready for Chapter 6. I just had some various thoughts that have been on my mind, things that have been inspiring, encouraging, that I wanted to share. That's what I have in mind for today. I admit that some of the things I might want to share today are maybe not all connected with each other. Just various thoughts. Let's stand and pray, and we'll get started. Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for all your love to us, your mercies, your kindness, your goodness, that you've brought salvation, and did a wondrous work for loving us, and making it possible for us to love you, and come to you, for calling us, for all that you do for us. We just glorify your name. We praise you, and pray that you would just help us to be faithful, and to grow in you, and to be an encouragement, and a building up of your kingdom, and of one another here on earth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. How many people have heard that song? I think maybe there's like a verse that goes with it. I'm not real familiar with it, but I... Has anybody heard it, or would kind of know the tune? Someone in North Missouri introduced it to us, and maybe... I thought if we could, we'd try to sing it. Just this part. You don't know it? I thought for sure Adley and Barbara will know it. Let me sing it once, and then we'll sing it together. And if you think of the tune as I start it, help me, so I'm not singing it solo. He is my everything, he is my all. He is my everything, both great and small. He gave his life for me, made everything new. He is my everything, now how about you? Let's do it again, louder. He is my everything, he is my all. He is my everything, both great and small. He gave his life for me, made everything new. He is my everything, now how about you? Alright, thank you. He is our everything, he is our all. His ways are unsearchable. His glory is insurpassable. He is the superlative of everything good. I think it is good for us to just stop daily. And just think about the greatness of God, the glory that he dwells in, and glorify him for it, and give him the glory that is due him. You know, all the waters, all the waters in the earth, every river, lake, ocean, sea, all the waters could be gathered into the hollow of his hand. Or he could measure out the sky in the length of one span, from his thumb to that finger. Job says that he hangs the earth on nothing. He hangs the earth on nothing. There is this chapter in the Wisdom of Sirach, chapter 42, and I won't read the whole chapter for the sake of time, but Job expresses this, or Job, Sirach, expresses this glory and this wonder that God has in the sun and the heat that it puts forth, and what all it does, and the moon, and how it marks seasons and months and times, and how this all has its order. He talks about the rainbow and its beauty and its brightness, and how it arcs the circle, or the earth, covers the earth in an arc. The snow, he mentions lightning and clouds and hoarfrost, and how the north wind brings cold weather, and the ice freezes over, and all the water has an armor over it. And he just expresses all these things. He talks about how the sailors who go out on the sea come back with these amazing reports of the wonders of the sea and these huge sea creatures. And then he ends up saying this, in chapter 43, he says, We will say many things and not reach the end, but the sum of our word is seen in this, He is all. How shall we ever be able to adequately praise Him? For He is greater than all His works. Fearful is the Lord and exceedingly great, and wondrous is His power. Glorify the Lord and exalt Him as much as you are able. For He will surpass even that. And when you exalt Him, put forth all your strength. Do not grow weary, for you cannot exalt Him enough. Who has seen Him and will describe Him? And who can magnify Him as He truly is? There are yet many things greater than these, for we have seen but few of His works. For the Lord made all things and gives wisdom to the godly. He is worthy. He is worthy of great glory. And this glory that belongs to God is the one thing that He won't share with us. He won't share it with anybody. There is a verse in Isaiah, 42 or 48, 42 verse 8 maybe, I think, where He says something like, I am the Lord your God. My glory I will not share with anything, with anyone or anything. He'll share His grace. He'll share His love. He'll share His power. He'll share everything that He has, except one thing. He won't share His glory with us. And the moment that we try to take glory for ourselves or in one another that belongs to God, we really offend God. And so let's just, as we go through life, let's glorify Him, as Sirach says, with all our strength, as much as we're able. Recently, I was listening to the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. Just listening to Bible audio. And it struck me, the thing that Joseph said there when he was in Potiphar's house and Potiphar's wife was wanting Joseph to come to her. And this is what Joseph said, something like this, how can I do this? He said, my master has given me authority over the whole house. He doesn't even concern himself what I do. He's given me the liberty to do everything except one thing. And that is to do something with you. How could I do that? You're his wife. I've got liberty everywhere, with everything, except that. And it occurred to me that like, you know how the New Testament talks about the wife is the glory of her husband. And that is the one thing that men don't want anybody to touch as their wife. Because it's his glory. And I just thought how similar that is to our master, to God. How he has given us the earth and all that's in it, all the creation that he gave us. And he says, here, do it. Do with it what you see fit. Subdue it, harness it, bring it into subjection, increase it, multiply it, make it fruitful. Just don't touch my glory. Or don't take it, you should say. Don't take it upon yourself. And so, with that, I think of like, liberty and freedom. So God intended, God intended, as I see the story there in Genesis, when he created man and put him in the garden, his intentions was to give them all this liberty and all this freedom and give them the will to decide what to do. But by that, he decides what we're made of. And Adam and Eve proved themselves to not have that heart that he wanted. And so have all of us. At one time, at least, in our lives. Freedom, freedom is such a, is such a fragile yet powerful thing. It's, it's, it's the ultimate testing ground. It's, it's the greatest proving period. Is once, is once we have been totally set free to do exactly what we want to do, and then, and then it's, it's revealed what we really want to do. It's revealed what really is in here, right? Edmund Berkey, when he wrote the reflections of the revolution in France back in 1790s, he said, the effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do as they please. We ought to see what it will please them to do before we risk congratulations, which may soon be turned into complaints. See, people, people leave, people sometimes find themselves either growing up or, or maybe they voluntarily join something or, or they end up in some, in some kind of place where they're under really, under strong restrictions. And, and they're, they're, they're kind of bound. They don't have the liberty to do what they want. And then, and then they break free of that, and they're loose of that. And then what happens over and over with that? With a little bit of time, you see that this liberty didn't help them. They, they just proved what was in their heart, and their, their straits are far worse than they were. At least in some way, they're, they're far worse than they were when they were, than, than they were being, when they were being restricted. And so, we, we have to make God our everything. He's got to be our all. He's, if, I think, I think most, I hesitate to say 100%, but like most apostasy, most, most falling away, most, most maybe even deception. Um, could, could probably be traced back to not having a desire in our hearts for God and, and what is about God. Jesus said, we shall know the truth, and the truth will make us free. We shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. But knowing the truth brings responsibility. Right? If we, if we find out, if we get the knowledge, if we learn about the truth of something, it brings responsibility with us. Which means it, it brings with us the ability to respond to it. Okay? And, and so, this, this truth that Jesus brought us is, is, is brought to us, and, and we're free. We're free from, we're free from a whole bunch of things. And, and maybe I'll talk about some of this later. But now, now it also comes with this responsibility. How, how are we going to respond to this truth? Freedom is something that is so longed for, but, but once it's really in our lap, uh, the magnitude of the consequences of what we end up doing with it is, is really great. Recently, I was reading this article about how Abraham Lincoln signed, on January 1st of 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which, which was a, which, which was, uh, which was to free all slaves It was a, it was a sign, a thing by the president that all slaves were set free on January 1st of 1863. But, they didn't have social media, um, and the knowledge of this didn't immediately go out everywhere. And so, the people weren't, the slaves weren't set free until they knew about it. And in some places, especially in Texas, um, the news of this didn't, didn't really get there until about two and a half years later. And so there were slaves there, and they, the masters, it's maybe not totally clear, maybe some people kind of knew about it, but, but it seemed like the masters were trying to hide it from the slaves. There wasn't much, there wasn't much, um, presence of, of union armies and, and things like that. And so, and so in Texas, black people were still being slaves for the next two and a half years until June 19th of 1865, which is what they call Juneteenth, and it's a big holiday now. But, but then the news came, and they were made aware of this, that, hey, Abraham Lincoln signed an emancipation proclamation and we're free! And things went wild! And, and, uh, the masters couldn't no longer, couldn't, couldn't keep their slaves in bondage anymore. But it didn't necessarily, it, it, it only proved what was in these people's hearts. There was this, there was this man named Felix Hayward who wrote this after, after that, after he saw what happened and, and the news came to Texas and he said, everybody went wild. We all felt like heroes. Just like that, we were free. We knew freedom was on us, but we didn't know what was to come with it. We thought we were going to get rich like the white folks. We thought we were going to get richer than the white folks because we were stronger and we knew how to work, and the whites didn't. And we didn't have to work for them anymore. But it didn't turn out that way. We soon found out that freedom can make folks proud, but it didn't make folks rich. And so, freedom is something I think everybody longs for. And yet, and yet it, it comes with such a responsibility because it, it proves, it, it proves what's really, what's really in here. So what are we, what are we doing with, with our liberty? Because Jesus came to set us free. He came to, He came to put us at liberty. So, so are we, are we taking that liberty and are we serving the flesh? Or are we taking that liberty and through love serving one another? As I, as I read through the epistles and the book of Acts and the things that the apostles write, I, I hear them like, I hear them over and over fighting for this liberty because, because there was constantly people trying to bring them under bondage. And they were constantly being like, don't be brought under bondage again. Don't, don't let any man judge you over, over food and drink and holidays. Don't, and don't judge one another. This is, this is not what the kingdom of God is about. And, and they keep, they keep fighting, they keep fighting for this liberty on one hand, but then, but then you also get, as you read, as you read them like, but discipline yourselves. Paul said, Paul said, I, I beat my body into subjection and I make it my slave. But, but what, what I, what I want us to realize, or this is one of the thoughts I've been having recently is like, Paul, Paul said that. I don't think anybody thinks Paul lived a, lived an extravagant life. And I, I think when he said that, he means it. Like I think, I think he made his body his slave. I think he brought it under subjection. But he did that to his own body. He never, he never beat Timothy's body into subjection and made it his slave. He never did it to Titus or Philemon or any of those people. No, he, he beat his own body into subjection and he made it his slave. And then, and then he, and then he keeps fighting and he, he keeps, he keeps preaching for this, for, for other people not to bring others into bondage. Sometimes, I feel like we can, in our zeal for righteousness and purity and holiness and convictions that run strong and deep, we, we can miss some of the key elements or the key element in the new covenant. And, and that is that the heart has to be turned. Like, one of, one of the, one of the great distinguishing factors between the old covenant and the new covenant is that in, in the old covenant, Jesus, or God, took, took them by the hand. Right? He, he took them like you would take your child who, who may not be willing and he took them by the hand and he took them out there and there he tried to, there he tried to rearrange their hearts and, and, and make a good heart out of them. And he says, the new covenant is not like this. I will not take them by the hand. I will not, I will not touch them. Instead, instead, I will, I will set them free and I'll make my covenant with the one who in, in this, in this, in, in this position of complete, voluntary liberty turns his heart toward me. With that one, I'll, I'll, I'll put my hand out to him and we'll walk together. We'll get in a yoke with each other and, and we'll walk together. That's the one that the new covenant is with, is, is made with. I had, I had some thoughts. Was it just last Sunday when you preached, Adlai? Oh. And you, you made mention of how the New Testament writers refer, sometimes refer to the law, the Old Testament law as a yoke that was heavy, a burden that was heavy to bear. Paul says things like, maybe it's Peter. One of them said like, why are you placing a, a yoke on them that neither we know our forefathers could bear? And so, and so, and so they, they, the apostles referred to that as a heavy yoke and then, and then Brother Adlai said something like, but Jesus says, my yoke, I know a lot of translations say easy, which is not really a good word, but he says, my yoke is, is good. My yoke is kind or, or gentle and, and my burden is light. Now, why is that? Because after all, would not all of us in here say that Jesus wrote the standard? When he gave the sermon on the mount, did he not, did he not take things and just raise the bar and, and, and, and made it, made it broader, made the applications broader than they even were before? So, so why does it say that? Or, or, or how should we think about that? If we, if we're going to, if we're going to approach the, the laws of the new covenant, if we're going to approach Jesus's laws, who, who, that, that really are a higher standard, that really are raising the bar, but if we're going to approach them in, in the spirit and in the heart of the old covenant, we're going to miss, we're going to miss the goodness of it. Right? If we're going to if, if we're going to think that we can, that we can coerce and we can twist others in, into these laws with, with a, with a do and don't mentality like we read as we go through the old covenant, we're going to miss it. These are not the people Jesus is making a covenant with. He's making a covenant with the people who have, who have been renewed in their hearts and, and who, who look at the things that Jesus said and they get it. They get the principle that he put forth and they, and they with a willing and a voluntary heart want to apply this and make applications to their lives. I'm not, I'm not suggesting that it's like, it's satisfactory to just believe in a principle and not have an application. That's not what I'm saying. But I, here, here's what I thought about when Brother Atlas shared that is there's something similar to that in what happened when Rehoboam got, became king. When Solomon died and Rehoboam was crowned king, the people came to him and said, your father made our yoke heavy but if you now lighten the harsh servitude and burdensome yoke, we will serve you. And so Rehoboam calls the old men in and he says, hey this is what the people say. They say if, they say if, they say my father made the yoke heavy and if I make it light they'll serve me. What do you say? And the old men said, listen to this. The old men said, if you shall be a servant to them and if you speak good words to them, they will be servants to you all the days of your life. Rehoboam didn't really like this counsel. And so he calls the young men in and he says, what do you say? The people say, make my yoke, my father made the yoke heavy, you make it lighter. What do you say? And the young men said, you say unto them, your father made the yoke heavy, well I'm going to add on top of it. And he, he, he, he whipped you with whips and I'm going to whip you with scorpions. And so after three days, the men come back to see what his counsel is and, and, and he takes the young men's counsel. And he says, you guys want a lighter burden? Well my, I'm going to add to the yoke that my father had. I'm going to make this heavier. And he whipped you with whips and I'm going to use scorpions. And what happened? The people laughed. The people said, what inheritance do we have in this? We're not, we're not going to abide by this. And I'm, I'm not sure if the people's hearts were right as they should have been. But, but what I know is that, is that this, this approach doesn't work and it drives people away. And Jesus was, Jesus did exactly the counsel of the old men. And he was the exact opposite of Rehoboam. Jesus became a servant to us and he spoke good words to us and to this day, men and women, young and old, will give their lives in service to him whether it costs them all their life. They'll, they'll be this voluntary servant to him whether they get their heads chopped off, burnt, burned at the stake, drowned, there's no stopping them. They are committed for the rest of their lives. And it's not because Jesus put this heavy yoke on us. It's not, not because he took, he took the old covenant and he said, I'm gonna add on top of this and make it stricter yet. He reigns. He reigns in the hearts of these people who have made themselves his voluntary slaves. Are we one of them? And Galatians chapter five, Paul says, for you were called to freedom, brethren. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desires against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another. So that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. Of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. And if we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another and envying one another. Elmo Stoll once wrote, Jesus refuses to force anyone. He called with tenderness. He patiently invited. He bent down to help and lift. He showed love and mercy and compassion. He sought to win the voluntary devotion of men's hearts and was satisfied with nothing less. It is a model for all of us to follow. There's a passage in Isaiah that has been inspiring to me. It's in Isaiah 40-52. So it's a piece of poetry. I think you could say, well I'm pretty sure you could say. So the setting here, Isaiah's writing, Israel is in captivity. Most of Israel has been carried away to Babylon. There's some people left in Jerusalem, but Jerusalem lays in ruins. This great city, this city that had been the glory of all the empires, that people came from the uttermost parts of the earth to look at, now lay crumbled, burnt, ruined. It was a place that was desolate, a place for owls and a place for wild beasts. And here and there, there were still a few people living. That's the setting. And then we have a watchman who's on the watchtower. And he looks, this is partly what I see in this passage. I'll read it in just a little bit. But the watchman is looking out, and way out there on a distant mountain, he sees someone who's running. He's running toward the city. And he's running with urgency. And the watchman braces himself. He tries to get himself ready. This is a messenger. His message is urgent. What does he want? He calls other watchmen in. He opens the door. He wants to know what's going on. Is a battle happening? Is a war coming? Is there tragedy? Are we in danger? What's going on? I'm adding a little bit of my imagination. But I think this messenger comes in. I think his feet are ugly with dirt and sweat and blood from running over these rugged mountains. His clothes are probably tattered from running through the brush and coming here in the quickest way possible. And then here in chapter 52, starting in verse 10, it says, How delightful on the mountains are the feet of the One who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation and says to Zion, Your God reigns. Listen, your watchmen, raise your voices. They shout joyfully together for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion. Be cheerful. Shout joyfully together. You ruins of Jerusalem for the Lord has comforted His people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared His holy arm in the sight of all nations so that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. Amen. And so what is this urgent, urgent news that has a messenger running over the mountains to bring it? It's that God reigns and that He's going to restore this ruin, that He's going to build up the waste places. Is He reigning in our lives? It says there, He bared His holy arm. Some of the translation might say, He revealed His holy arm. I think it's saying God has rolled up His sleeves and He's ready to do something great. He has brought about salvation to mankind. He is restoring Zion. He is establishing His kingdom and everyone to the ends of the earth shall see His salvation. Jesus came. He came. He is that messenger who has come and He has proclaimed the truth to set us free. And now, and now what are we doing about it? In Luke chapter 4, and I think some of the other gospels mention this too, but Jesus starts His ministry. And He goes, He goes to the synagogue and it says that as His custom was, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and He stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him and He opened the book and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set free those who are oppressed and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And then He closes the book and He sits down and He says, Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your eyes. I'm He. I'm the one who came to give sight to the blind, to set the captives free and to proclaim the year of the Lord. Free to do what? Free to do what we want. But what we do reveals what we want. Do we want God? Do we want Him reigning in our life? Is He our everything? Is He our all? Let me skip or go back to a passage in Ephesians chapter 5 that has also been inspiring to me recently. Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 15 it starts saying, Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is and do not get drunk with wine for that is dissipation but be filled with the Spirit. I want you to notice the next verses. He says here, Be filled with the Spirit. And then here's what the effects will be if we're filled with the Spirit. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Those things, there is not an exhaustive list but there is a list of things that happen when someone is filled with the Spirit. They'll start being thankful. They'll start singing. They'll start appreciating the psalms. They'll start encouraging one another with songs and with thankfulness and they'll be subject to one another. Those are some of the fruits that'll happen when someone is filled with this Spirit that came upon Jesus when He said, I came to set you guys free. I came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Are we increasing in these things? Let's be real honest with ourselves. We are to be growing in our spiritual lives. We need to be increasing. So in these things that we just looked at, are we increasing in them? Do we recognize that we have a more thankful heart than we did five years ago? Are we more given to encouraging one another, to submitting to one another, to bearing with one another than we were five years ago? Have we been gripped by this message that the messenger came and proclaimed? Has the light been shed abroad in our hearts? Have we conquered more of our personal battles? Have we been more victorious than we were five years ago? Have we taken the message from the messenger and spread it? Do our neighbors know more about the faith than they did three years ago? I think it was Eberhard Arnold who said, the church is the light of the world. It's a city set on a hill and the messengers that go into the world proclaiming the good news are like the sun rays. When Jesus said there in the Sermon on the Mount, when he said, you are the light of the world, what was he talking about? He was talking about you. He's not talking about the Bible. The world doesn't read it. He wasn't talking about messages getting preached Sunday mornings so the world doesn't hear those. He's talking about you. You're the light of the world. I just want to encourage us to think creatively, to think about the fact that he has put us at liberty to do this, to do righteousness, to make peace, to express joy, to glorify his name, to spread the message, he has given us the liberty to be creative about it. Recently, or this? No, not this last Friday. The last time I was in Springfield witnessing, there was this group of girls that came up to talk for a little bit and the one girl gave me a little note. It was just a piece of notebook paper like this, folded down, and it said, for you. And she said, here, I think this is for you. And said, read it sometime. Maybe I can't remember if it was tape shut or something. So I stuck it in my pocket, told her thank you, and later I opened it. And we can say what you want. Maybe it was cheesy, maybe, but I was blessed. I think this girl, I think this girl was trying to be, I think this girl was being, found a creative way to try to spread a little light. The note was nice. It said, you're special. I have given this either because you look like you need it, or, I can't remember, it was something else. Either because you look like you need it, or you look like you deserve it. I think that's what it was. And then it had a few, it had a verse out of Proverbs. And, I don't know this girl. She looked pretty worldly. I could pass judgment on her. I'm sure there's something wanting, but I can just say like, this girl found a creative way, in her own way as far as I know, to just spread a little light, to spread a little kindness, to, to spread some joy, or make some peace. And I've thought of things, I've thought of encouraging, especially sisters, because you're not as likely to be out on the streets. But anybody, brothers or sisters, like, oh yeah, you could just, you could bring postcards along to church, to the church meetings. And just, if something gets preached, or said, or a testimony shared that's inspiring, just write down what inspired you. And on Monday morning, put a stamp on it, write someone's address on it, send it away. There's all kinds of ways that we can, that we can get, real and creative. And maybe it's such a little thing. And sometimes we look at the masses, and we look at the, look at the, the direction of the world, and the chaos, and we think it's a hopeless case. What's the point? We can't hardly make a difference. And yet, if we can make a difference for one man, and if we can even make a difference for one man for one day, it's not worthless. It's not worthless. You know that story about the, there's this story about the guy that lived by the seashore, and when the tide went out, the high tide came in, and then the tide went out, and on the shore there, there was a whole bunch of starfish, and things like that were left stranded on the sand. And they will die there in the sun if they get dried up before the tide comes back in. And this guy would walk along there, and he'd take these starfish and these other critters and toss them out to the water. And a guy was watching him do that, and he said, he came down to ask him what he's doing, and he said he's tossing these back so they can live. And the guy said, look up and down this shore. Do you see how many starfish and things are laying here? You can't make a difference. And the guy picks up another one, and he says, it makes a difference for this one. And he tossed it out. What we do with our freedom is how we'll be judged. Let's glorify him and exalt him as much as we are able, as Ben Sirach says. And how is the Father glorified? John says, herein is the Father glorified that we bear much fruit. And there is nothing, not only is the Father glorified in that we bear much fruit, there is nothing as compelling to the onlooker as a fruitful life. There is nothing, think about a man, think about, suppose you walked up to a cave, and there was a man all dressed up in a suit, and he tried to convince you that there's gold and silver and gems down in this cave. Just go down in there, dig them out. They're yours, they're for you, for the taking. First you'd have to decide, I don't know if this is true. And he starts persuading and compelling, and he starts pressuring, and the more he does that, the more you're like, I think maybe there's a trap down in there, I don't know if I want to go in there. But what if, as you were looking at that, a miner comes up out of that cave, and he's all dirty, and his hard hat is all dented, and his light lens is broken, and he's kind of a sorry-looking sight, but he reaches into his pockets, and he pulls out some gold and silver and says, this is what's down in there. I mean, you'd be ready to go, if gold or silver was what you wanted. But that's what's compelling. Herein is the Father glorified, and may I add, people compelled, when we bear much fruit, real fruit. So let's put on Christ, as Brother Brett said. Let me just close with a few verses out of Romans 14. Verse 17 and 18, and 19. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So when we pursue the things which make for peace, so then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. May the Lord add his blessing. I'll open it up for comments, corrections or thoughts people have. Thanks, Brother Duane. I think messages like this just really get me going. When somebody tries to encourage and push people towards hope and being creative and just all that, I just really appreciate that. I feel like there's a lot of life in that. In relation to the note that that little girl gave you, it reminded me of a testimony a brother in the road ministry was on a college campus witnessing. And he told me this story. It's a small thing and you might kind of think it was kind of strange, but it was kind of edifying. He said that this person was walking towards him and he felt like God was telling him or encouraging him to just tell that person, God loves you. I know there's a lot of theological complications there, but he just did it. He just said, God loves you. And they just kept going. They didn't really show much interest. But later on, I don't know how much later, but that person came to him again. They saw him on campus and they said, I was on my way to commit suicide and then you told me that. And it just really changed it for me. I'm not sure exactly how they worded it, but I know there's a lot of testimonies like that where just one small thing, it just changes the whole direction and the course of this person. And that's such a good thing, picking up the seashells or the sand dollars. It's just such a small thing, but it can really have a huge impact in someone's life. Recently, I've been thinking about the homeless ministry. I know that kind of dwindled out, but I was wondering maybe if that was something we could talk about at a brother's meeting to revive that. I think I'd like to be a part of that if we did. It's kind of a similar type of ministry where you're just doing one small thing for somebody and you don't even know if it helps, but it's really appreciated by others. There was a song that I was reminded of when you started the opening about just glorifying God and he's just everything. When I moved to North Carolina and I was living with Burton and Bracken, I worked at this thrift store called Foothills. I drove the truck and I'd pick up old couches and things and help people deliver the furniture that they bought, but they would play the radio in that store, and the rule was it had to be the Christian radio station. It couldn't be anything else. Anyways, there would be the song that would come on, and it's a Christian, like a Caleb type of song, but the words just really, really inspired me and it kind of made me think of that, the opening there, how you opened up. I was going to read the, let me just read the lyrics here. From the birds that sing in the tallest trees to the human life of you and me, from the desert stands to the place we stand, he's God of all, he is everything. I'm giving my life to the only one who makes the moon reflect the sun. Every starry night, that was his design. I'm giving my life to the only son who was and is and yet to come, let the praises ring, because he is everything. From the autumn leaves that will ride the breeze to the faith it takes to pray and see, from the painted sky to the plank-filled eye, he's God of all, he is everything. I'm giving my life to the only one who makes the moon reflect the sun. Every starry night, that was his design. I'm giving my life to the only son who was and is and yet to come, let the praises ring, because he is everything. I'm giving my life to the only one who makes the moon reflect the sun. On that starry night, he changed my life. I'm giving it all to the only son who gave me hope when I had none, so let the praises ring. I'm giving my life to the only one who makes the moon reflect the sun. Every starry night, that was his design. I'm giving my life to the only son who was and is and yet to come, let the praises ring, for he is everything. Thank you. God bless you. I just want to say thanks for that, brother, and amen to those encouragements. Very worthwhile. If I can remember some of those statements now, like just how good it is to remember that we will be judged by what we do with our freedom. Is that how you said it? Judged by... Our freedom will depend on... Our judgment will depend on what we do with our freedom. We're not to use it for an occasion of the flesh or free to do what we want, but what we do shows what we want. And so, yeah, it's a complete... There's a completeness to it that a lot of people end up missing, I think. I think I see it coming from the people that leave places where I've been at. They use this freedom for an occasion to the flesh. I could think of some people, maybe especially some cousins that did it that way. I haven't seen them for probably 10 or 12 or more years, but very obviously that way it's a bad testimony. It makes those that are in bondage more firm in their bondage just because they see people abusing their so-called freedom, and so it goes. Yeah, and then I was really... I have a little testimony I want to share. You were talking about glorifying God and how that's our duty. It's one of the things that... However you said it, I just had a little something happening or we had something happening to us at work the other day that was really just... I think I called it creepy when I was relating it to my family, or to Barb and other children. We had drug problems. Just got done working, long day, hard work. Pulled up on the interstate and I completely lost antifreeze. I could just tell it was just boom, all gone. Pulled off and couldn't figure it out. Finally figured it out that there's a radiator hose busted. Just a little one that goes to the heating core. So figuring out how to plug it and sure enough I found enough fencing stuff to stick it in there, plug it, clamp it off. And then I looked around to Matthew and Sasha and I said, well, now we just have to figure out how to get water in this thing and we're good to go. And Matthew looks around and he says, oh, there's some sprinklers going up there. They just turned on. And we quickly get our water canteens and fill them and stick them. Takes a couple of gallons of water to fill it back up. Fill it up, run the truck. Sure enough, it's not leaking. It was leaking for a while but we did more things to fix it and got it fixed. Ran the truck for a bit. Everything was good. Pulled away and just as we were pulling away we all noticed that the sprinklers just shut off. It just made us quiet. We were just like, oh, okay. And we were not really that close to, I mean, with a truck with no antifreezer, water, you can't really go anywhere. We weren't really that close to anything. And so I just hope that would be one way to glorify God with that little testimony. Hey, brother, yeah, that's encouraging. God's timing is amazing. Yeah, and even what, Teo, what you shared, that song was beautiful. Yeah, those thoughts from you, brother DeWayne, I guess some of them I thought of before, but then, yeah, something that you said that I hadn't thought so much about, that liberty or freedom is the ultimate testing ground. Yeah, I think that's something to really drive in my heart. It is kind of interesting how when you're under a yoke, and there's a good analogy in design of nature that children, as they're growing up, they're in some level of a yoke that, I mean, depending on the condition of the heart, as they're getting into their teens, I mean, it could be like a compressed spring, and as soon as they're set free, they just boing, boing, boing, just go crazy, or that they really were taking to heart what they were learning about the ways of the Lord, and when they're set free, they're that ultimate testing ground of what they're going to do with the liberty. And that's true for all of us, of course, but yeah, it's good stuff. I guess one thing I definitely wanted to share with this passage in Isaiah 52 that really, I think, accentuates, really emboldens and underscores the points that Brother Dwayne was saying with regard to God and Christ and the coming kingdom and things like that. Yeah, chapter 52 of Isaiah, verse 10, and maybe if I say this kind of thing often enough, maybe, because I find it neat and very encouraging to remember that the name of Jesus in Hebrew, Yeshua, means salvation. So it's interesting when you look at this and you see the Lord is made to bear His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations. Now in chapter 65, Tertullian talks about that where, I think it's verse 2, where it says, you know, picture Jesus on the cross all day long. I've held out my hands to a rebellious, and, you know, so on. As it says, the things there, a people, a rebellious people. Just picture Jesus on the cross. So, verse 10, Isaiah 52, the Lord has made bear His holy arm. I mean, yeah, bear is really kind of a, or stripped, you know, bear His holy arm. I was just looking it up in the Hebrew, see what it says. In the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the Yeshua, the Jesus of our God. I just think it's neat when you see that it's actually the word Yeshua there in the Hebrew. So I'll just share that. Oh, and then, of course, it skips down to verse 12, or verse 13. It says, behold my servant. Now, yeah, in the Hebrew, it's a word that would be translated as slave or servant. But in the Greek Septuagint, Pais could be translated as that or child, which I think is kind of neat. Behold my child, servant. It goes on to talk about He would be raised up, lifted up, literally. I mean, figuratively. I mean, you could think of exalted, but literally He'd be raised up, and certainly He was raised up on the cross and stuff. Anyway, and it goes on from there off in segue into chapter 53, and we all know what it says. But yeah, here in verse 10 where it says, all nations will see the Yeshua, the Jesus of my God. So I think that's kind of neat. Thank you, Brother Dwayne. You had so many points there. And even your stories had great lessons in that too, edifying this one thought on staying fast, therefore in the liberty. Galatians 5, wherewith Christ has made you free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. I know the song like that. Yoke of bondage. As you mentioned earlier, take my yoke upon me from the burden is good. A yoke is easy. A yoke. A danger, and this is just a side thing that I remember someone said once, the danger of that. Christ is everything. Christ is all, okay. The danger is pride. Be humble. Jesus said, I'm meek and humble of heart. Humility to do it. I think of some examples in the scriptures where they're on a high, and then really they come to a low, a low so deep that they don't know if they can get back on. And it happens to us too if we sin, we can get low. Wow, how did I ever do this? But Moses, when he went in the mountain, he was in a high, he got a revelation from God, and then he's dancing around the golden calf. Elijah was in a high after the contest with the false prophets of Baal. God had consuming fire come down and burn him, and then Jezebel says, I want his life. And so she runs away from him. He runs away from Jezebel. He's like a scared little duck. And a week before Jesus was crucified, the people were saying, Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna in the highest! And then one week later, Crucify him! Crucify him! So we better watch out too. Let's have that steadfast way about us, step by step. We need each other to edify and build up. Last night, she wanted to, we did, she said, let's listen to the Moravians. It was on strength to strength. The Moravians. And Ken Miller was the speaker. And I said, okay, I like Ken. I love Ken Miller. I'll listen to him. And it was talking about Ken Miller on the Moravians. And we know a lot of the story about the Moravians. The young people, like the road ministry tale. You know, they really, they didn't really want to have families and children and you know, like that. But that was to evangelize the world. And I realized there were some things I didn't like about it. They baptized babies and they did this, You know, there's something you have to water off too. my wife listened to the whole thing and they were a good example. Moravians, Waldensians, early Christians, Anabaptists, and even kingdom groups like you people. The Lord be magnified. I just wanted to make one correction. The ending of the song, the internet shut off so I had to, it didn't end like that. This is the ending. I'm giving my life to the only son who was, I'm sorry, I'm giving my life to the only one who makes the moon reflect the sun every starry night. That was his design. I'm giving my life to the only son who was and is and yet to come. Every angel sings that he is heavenly so that the praises ring because he is everything. Yeah, I didn't, I guess I don't need to, I have many words but I'm thankful for the brother shared and part of what Dwayne shared I thought, he's just able to express some of my thoughts and that's really, I like when that happens because I'm not all that good at expressing my thoughts. So all the good encouragements, I just wanted mainly to say amen and he had the little story about Elmo, I think this is the story that came from him but I'm not quite sure and then I happened to think another one, I'm not sure if they're together. There was this man on the bus and he was wanting to get off at his stop and as he came up to the stop, the bus stopped and he stood there by the door and the door didn't open and people said step down, step down and he didn't know what to do and so they went on to the next road and the next stop and same thing over. He just couldn't figure out what he's supposed to do and they said step down, step down and you had to step down on the next step to the door and then the door opens. The stop activated the door and so as long as you didn't step down, it would not open, the door wouldn't open. I think the idea was that we have to go out in faith, we cannot do these things without stepping out and actually exercising our faith that way. If they would have just, if he would have just believed what they said instead of using carnal reasoning perhaps, what's worthwhile stepping down if the door doesn't open? He would have discovered it would have opened. And I'm not quite sure this next thing I thought of or remembered and I don't know the whole story anymore but it's like these people were on this path to or trying to find maybe the narrow door I just don't quite remember but I do remember these people were like banging their heads against the wall trying to get out and somehow they were like said they need to bend down or they need to humble themselves I forget how it was worded but they just kept banging their heads against the wall all they had to do was get down and crawl through a hole or a low door but as long as you're high-minded as long as you're keep your head up in the in the skies holiday prod all these things keep you from entering the kingdom of heaven or the nation as Robert would say one other thing that I thought of not touching God's glory and and that we that's an illustration of a of a marriage maybe it wasn't said that way but I'm thinking we have this example of a man and a wife a husband and his wife that this glory is not shared and it's when when a man or a woman are not faithful to that and they look to other people they look to they share that glory with other people it takes something away from the marriage and it it it does harm I could go to a long row on that what all it would harm but it's just a principle that that if we if we stray away from from God we end up if we had been his child and we we allow I said this maybe said this before already I know I have it at home but the thing that we hang on to is the thing that we get deceived by so any little idol that we hang on to thoughts anything that we're not willing to allow God to have this very thing is going to be our downfall and so this is the way a marriage works too these things that we do not honor when we do not honor each other in that way it's to our downfall the marriage cannot be as good it's going to be deteriorating and like we've been encouraged to go ahead and be gaining ground every year I this is a lifetime battle that doesn't stop until we cross that river of Jordan where we cross for death so let's bend for the long haul The larks and turtledoves up here, they grind the air and sing with cheer, they praise and love their nature. The hemorrhoidal flock directs the swallow's swoop and catch insects, so why, my dear, care takers? The hospice thunders, the trumpets rush, the shepherds lead to meadows flush, they're shipping flocks in fleeces. The ducks are seized, the broods explore, gone after for their honey store, for a week you'll play in breezes. Oh, I myself can seriously rest from all the joy within my breast, a surge of gladness raises. I sing loud one creation song, the prayer that to my God belongs, flows from my heart in praises. Enter I, as you see, that house of every mysterious form. I, with love, have this cross, in self has sworn that he will go. How is this, how the world of magic stands? An answer from the sky descends, me that from God he comes. While it is calm today, repent, and pardon not the law. Their precious fruit pours Jesus' name. Friendship's end we're never hearing, Jesus has said he. I am the life, I am the life, that's what he will do, the father of me. The money I bring, good has spoken. Living in me, much friendly shall be, dwelling in you, my. I am the life, I am the life, that's what he will do, the father of me. Peace, oh heart, that's why your fruits flower. Walking in loudness, children of day. Follow your God, that sets before you the day. I am the money man, we are the ranchers. I am the money, faithful and true, that's what he will do. The father of me.