How To Finish Strong?

God's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. How to finish strong. And we are going to go through Genesis through Deuteronomy.

And I came across a quote this week that really brought all of this together for me as I was studying this. And it's anonymous, but it says, two natures beat within my breast. The one is foul, the one is blessed.

The one I love, the one I hate, the one I feed will dominate. And the irony is, somebody left a box of donuts in the prayer room. So we're going to get rid of them.

Does anybody want any donuts? Kids? No? You're doing pretty good? Nobody? Donut, you want one over there? Well, I'm going to leave them up here and then you can get them afterwards. I was going to put this at home and put broccoli in there for my kids. But as a reminder, this is what the flesh offers.

Remember this. Remember this sitting here. It offers nothing.

It draws you in and draws you in and at the end of the day or the end of the week or the end of the month, it's empty. It's empty. The two natures that beat within my breast, the one is foul, the one is blessed, the one I love, the one I hate, the one I feed will dominate.

And you're going to see that throughout this study. This is so true, guys. Getting a hold of those fleshly appetites and giving them to the Lord.

We don't talk about those things anymore. It's kind of like they call it loosey-goosey or free grace, and I love God's grace. I love God's mercy, but if we go too far to that extreme, we forget that God has called us holy.

Paul said I disciplined myself and I brought my body under subjection so I don't disqualify myself when I preach to others. And before I forget, I want to include this in the message right now because it's going to go out on the radio and different things, but we want to let everyone know if they know someone who is incarcerated. We just joined an app called Pando and it is one of the only apps allowed in the prison.

All the prisons, we bought about hundreds of iPads, so it's in 500 prisons. So prisoners are actually listening to this message as well when it's released. So if you know anybody that is incarcerated, just have them look up West Side Christian Fellowship.

And I was absolutely amazed. We've been praying to get into the prisons and we've been uploading messages for about 10 days, about four or five messages in the last 10 days. There's already been 35,000 views of the messages inside the prisons.

And a lot of that is because they feature you on the homepage the first month, which is really good, but it's just incredible to get inside and then people click if they've been saved and there's about 100 salvations just in the last week and a half. So make sure you let people know who are incarcerated, that they can follow, they can listen along on the Pando app. I don't know why they call it that name.

There's a lot of names nowadays. I don't know where they come up with the names. Liquid death.

People are drinking that water, liquid death. What? What? Water's nice and cold and refreshing, not liquid death with some, I heard they pray demonic spells over it and stuff. I don't know.

But I just don't want that liquid death as my water. It's in everywhere. It's in Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

It's like, what is liquid death? I wonder who's behind the marketing of that one. Anyway, that's the first rabbit trail of the day. Try to keep track.

So, how to finish strong. How to finish strong. Most of us want to finish strong, don't we? I mean, it's so important.

We see what's going on with Gateway. We see what's going on in Dallas. I've had to remove cover quotes from my books of pastors who have fallen and it's just finishing strong is so important.

So important. And that is the, I try to remind Christians that the key is to get back up and keep fighting again and keep fighting again and finish strong. Yes, it's great to start well, young adults, but you can, you know, character is built over a lifetime, but it's destroyed in a few seconds.

And finishing strong needs to be our focus. I know it's one of my focuses. Lord, if I get to my deathbed and say, I finished strong.

I loved one woman. I led the church. I didn't fall into all... Lord, I finished strong.

That is a goal of mine. It should be a goal of yours. Because you have to stay focused on the goal because the lust of the flesh comes in and tries to knock you off course every chance it gets.

Don't it? How many of you want to get one? It's hard, isn't it? No, you're just not being honest. I know there's a lot more than that. But finishing strong, I'm going to sum it up for you.

You need to heed, you need to yield, and you need to persevere. I took all of the week's worth of notes, and we can end the sermon right on that if you want, but it's heeding God's voice, yielding to the work of the Spirit, and then persevering, even in the storms. Because most of us get knocked off course in the storms.

And when life gets challenging, or we get hurt, we get offended, and many times we're looking for that excuse. And perseverance is so important. But what else is challenging? Many of you in here know a lot about Genesis through Deuteronomy.

The law, what Moses gave. Others don't even really know where the Bible starts, where it ends. So I'm trying to make it applicable to all of us.

Genesis through Deuteronomy. Moses basically wrote, they refer to it as the law. Jesus quoted it often.

And I grabbed some definitions from bible.org that I'm going to kind of go through, and to give you an overview. Here's why it's so important. As you're reading Genesis, as you're reading Exodus, and Leviticus, and Numbers, and Deuteronomy, you actually get to see the heart of God.

And that's why you need the whole Bible. And when people start to cherry pick issues, like on the transgender issue, or on gender issues, and they just pick just a few little verses out of the God is love, don't judge. Well, look at the whole counsel of God.

He wrote it. He might have something to say about these matters. And it was interesting, as I'm going through, I realized every time Israel won in battle, this might be for someone this morning, every time they won in battle, they were on God's side.

Every time they lost in battle, they were not on God's side. They were in pride, they were in rebellion, they were in sin, and they would still go out in battle, and they would fall. But any time they were on God's side, with God on their side, they would win the battle.

You can go through, it's amazing. So Genesis not only means beginning, but it is also the book of beginnings. The book of Genesis gives us our historical point of reference.

And in the book of Genesis, all of the major themes of the Bible have their origin. Here's why this is so important. The creation of the world and of man is in Genesis.

And let me tell you a little secret that will make your life so much easier. You need to do what Billy Graham did up in the mountains this way, over by Arrowhead and Big Bear. He put the Bible on a tree stump, and he was being confused.

A guy by the name of Charles Templeton was confusing him. Charles Templeton walked away, became agnostic, and went to schools of higher education and began to reject the Bible. And Billy Graham was struggling.

He put that down on the tree stump. He said, Lord, by faith, I'm believing that this is Your inspired, the inspired Word of God. I believe this is Your Word.

I'm not going to question it anymore. And from that day forward, he was a new man. And that faith to say, and we don't check our brains at the door.

There's so much proof. God gives us tremendous proof that His Word is true. And so knowing, okay, this is the truth of God's Word.

You don't get sidetracked. You don't get off and get kind of weird. And you'll hear terms such as woke progressivism.

How many of you have heard that term if you've been following different ministries? Well, progressivism, they're not progressing if they're digressing from God's Word. So these terms usually mean liberal, progressive, woke. It means we're now going to tell you what we think God's Word means.

That was the culture back then. Paul really didn't have a good handle on things. Now we're going to tell you where God's Word has really kind of changed and shifted and the Holy Spirit is still speaking to us today and kind of taking us down a different path.

That's dangerous. That's why they're embracing all of this ungodly truth. It's basically false truth.

That's what happens when you get away from Scripture being the centrality, the center of your life, the inerrancy of Scripture. When you get away from that, you drift into a very dangerous area because then who's right? Opinions? And that is the new thing, right? Nike was onto it many years ago. If it feels good, do it.

And what's right for you might not be right for me. And all of that comes from drifting from God's Word. And so it says the creation of the world and creation of man.

It also talks about the corruption of man and the fall. And then it talks about the destruction of man and the flood. And then it talks about the dispersion of man and the nations.

And so if you've never read the book of Genesis, start this week. Just open it. It doesn't take long.

It doesn't take long. Just some chapters and you'll really get a good understanding. Because what you have to do is you have to offset the pull of the world that's coming into your heart and into your mind.

And the only way to offset false is to overwhelm it with the truth. Mentally, your mind is so powerful, is it not? So powerful that your mind controls so much. And that's the overview of really what Genesis, we already actually went through it here at this church a while back and through the book of Genesis.

And then we go right into Exodus. So Genesis is the beginning. Genesis talks about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, so many things going on there.

The fall and then the Tower of Babel and all these different things. And then Exodus, Genesis leaves with the children of Israel. Now in Egypt under Pharaoh, Joseph dies and they go into bondage.

And now they're in bondage many years. So by the name of it, you can probably come up with what it's about. Exodus, they are exiting.

And it's not easy. It talks about the redemption pictured in the Passover. So when they're getting ready to leave Egypt, many of you have heard the stories.

You know, Pharaoh hardened his heart and then God hardened Pharaoh's heart. And let my people go, let my people go. Moses is born and they were there many, I think 400 years or so before Moses is born.

And let my people go, let my people go. And he says, okay, I will. And then he changes his mind.

But finally, God says, I'm going to send the death angel into the area of Egypt and kill all the firstborn because of Pharaoh's disobedience. But he told the children of Israel to kill the lamb and put the blood on your, what a great picture. Put the blood on it.

That's where if you ever heard, just put the blood on it. That's where it comes from. So whoever had a being, it was a doorpost and the lentil the sides.

Whoever put the blood on their homes, when the death angel passed over, he would see the blood and would not kill the firstborn. So then you fast forward to the New Testament. Whoever put the blood of Jesus Christ on their life, the wrath of God would not abide on them.

He is the Passover lamb, the perfect lamb without blemish. What an amazing parallel. That's when people say, oh, I don't know, I can't trust the Bible, it's got a lot of errors.

You should see the consistency. It's amazing. And that's what Exodus is all about.

It also talks about the children of Israel being delivered and crossing the Red Sea. And the word redeemed is used nine times. Redeemed and redeemed and redeemed.

So it's really a foreshadowing of what Jesus is going to do. And again, we talked about the Passover. It's a very specific type of Christ as the sinless lamb of God.

But something else came out of Exodus that's huge. And it has a number in it. Anybody know what that number is? 10.

10 what? 10 commandments. And what state is it that they're putting 10 commandments back in the schools? Two states. What's the second one? Arkansas.

Well, when's California going to do it? So, this is interesting. They're probably liberal pastors. But I'm amazed at how many people don't, how many say they're Christians don't think that's a good idea.

What? You can hang the rainbow flag in the classrooms, but not the 10 commandments? And in a lot of their posts and things, well, separation of church and state. The government can't enforce these things. The government can't enforce these things.

And God's law, God's 10 commandments. Maybe we need a quick history lesson if you haven't been here in a while. But separation of church and state does not appear anywhere in the Constitution.

Nowhere. What does it say in the First Amendment? Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, the establishment clause. Nor shall they prevent the free exercise thereof.

The free exercise clause. So what happened? Well, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut. They said, hey, Mr. Jefferson, we are worried that the government is going to impose a national religion on the people.

You all have to be Anglican. You all have to be whatever it is. They're going to impose it, because they came from a church state area back when they fled, and even the pilgrims and Puritans had like a church state.

So they were worried about this. And Thomas Jefferson assured them in a letter, he said, don't worry, the government will not infringe on your right to worship. It won't.

Because there is an impregnable wall of separation between the church and the state. So they won't do that. So it's actually complete opposite now of what it is today, of how it was intended.

Here's the other thing. For 150 years, the Supreme Court never ruled on it. 150 years after he made that statement.

But just back, I don't know the exact year, 70s maybe, or 80s, I don't know exactly, probably 60s. I don't even know the court case. But then the Supreme Court said, oh, look at Thomas Jefferson's letter.

Maybe it was to take the prayer out of schools. Right, 1973 or so. And then they used separation of church and state to remove prayer from school.

So they actually used it against the founding fathers, what they originally wanted. So Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion. You can't establish a religion, but you can't openly and unapologetically acknowledge the sovereign hand of God that has guided our nation.

So yes, you can put up 10 commandment monuments. They used to be in the schools. Are you ready for this one? They used to be in the courthouses.

Well, you can't impose your morality. No, you can remind people though, hey, by the way, out of sight, out of mind. You remove them.

That's why they don't want them there, let's be honest. They don't want to see the law of God in their face because they are in rebellion. They are in open rebellion against God.

So sure, you can't put them in the schools, force the kids to do this and become this theocracy, but you can't say, hey, by the way, guys, the school system was formed in 1620 to teach kids the Word of God. With the 10 commandments, we're bringing these back. Thank God for some of these bold leaders that will actually take a stand and bring back what is so important to our nation.

And so that's the whole argument. You can't force things on people. No, but you can say, hey, God is sovereign.

God has governed the affairs of men. This nation was built on His Word and on His principles and precepts. And sure, there was things done in the name of God that weren't of God, but we're going to remind people that He is God and here are... Think about it.

All teachers can put up the rainbow flag, which means sexual deviant perversion. Let's be clear. Let's be clear.

I'm a clear guy. But we can't put up the holy, pure 10 commandments of God. What's wrong here? So that was Rabbit Trail 2 on the 10 commandments.

And then Exodus 15.26 is very, very key. If you, let's read together. I think it's up there, yeah.

If you sometimes heed the voice of the Lord, if you occasionally, and I think I've told you what that word, that word diligent is like a rock, a water hitting a rock over hundreds of years, or a hundred maybe, but dozens of years, it begins to wear that rock down. So it's not, man, I could never diligently heed. I'm not a perfect person.

I mess up from time to time. But see, when you mess up, you get back up and you're still going in a forward direction. I'm diligently obeying the voice of God.

I'm diligently obeying the voice of God. The devil knocked me down. I grabbed a donut, okay? But I'm getting back up and I'm fighting again.

I'm diligently obeying the voice of the Lord. And you're striving toward that. So those who diligently heed the voice of God, even when they get off track, they get back on the right track.

Even when they get off, and I'm not giving people permission to sin because sometimes people are saying, you give people permission to sin too much. What's the other alternative? Perfectionism? And not encouraging people? No, don't sin. We can live holy, godly lives.

Be diligent. But if you fall, get back up. Keep fighting again.

If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord and do what is right in His sight, I will put none of the diseases on you which I brought upon the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you. I am the Lord who heals you.

So this is where, this is where I took another sermon. And I was tempted. But all the names we know of God come primarily from these five books.

Jehovah Rapha, my healer. Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Sikhenu, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Jireh, my provider. They all come from Israel seeing God work.

And just studying those words, I get excited. And this is a true statement. I believe God can heal.

I believe that how we live, and we talked about that a couple weeks ago, that this is the temple of God. If I defile this temple, God will spank me. The word was destroy, which literally means God will wake up.

God will knock you off track. God will get your attention. That's a good way to word it.

And if something is caused by drifting from His voice, could it be that going back to His voice and following Him could heal us? And so healing's controversial, all right? I did a whole video a while back on seven reasons why God heals and doesn't heal. I mean, you really have to unpack Scripture. Some of it's due to sin.

Some of it's due to demonic. Some of it's due to a fallen nature. Some of it's due, we just don't ask.

We don't receive. There's so many things there, but we do see God as a healer. And this is where some, you know, the prosperity gospel, name it and claim it, health, wealth.

They grab things like this. And usually with everything in Christianity that gets extreme, they anchor themselves on a portion of truth. Like, have you ever listened? Some of what they say is true.

But some of what they say is not. Like, God wants all of us to be healthy, and if you're not, you just don't have enough faith. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

But then they'll take, God will heal us if we get back on track and we repent. That can be true as well. Especially if the sickness is due to sin.

How many people are sick because of sin? And they're so, oh, they're holding on to this bitterness. It wastes away at you. Bitterness and envy and jealousy and a critical heart.

And it's just, it really, it's a spiritual thing, but it also has physical ramifications. And we do know if we diligently follow God, He may remove a disease. He may heal us.

Now, He may not. Because none of the Scriptures are, a lot of the Scriptures, I should say, on healing are not like, God is my butler. No genie in the bottle, right? If I do this, God's gonna heal me.

If I do this, God's gonna heal me. And we've got this checklist. It's a very complex issue.

Why does He heal some and not others? Why does He heal unbelievers and not Christians sometimes? And maybe I'll get into that in the book of Acts, but right now, this is such an important message from Exodus that God was going to put diseases on the Egyptians because they were in rebellion. But if they followed God, He would heal them. And that's where that word comes from, Rapha, to repair, to mend, or to restore one's health.

And I don't know, I just wanna throw it out there, but maybe it'll register with some of you. If you need God to repair something, to mend something, or to restore something, could it be that you need to get your relationship with Him back on the right track? Just something to think about. Well, how do I know, Shane? Well, two things usually happen.

Number one, you don't like what I'm saying. Right, like, don't touch that one. That's why they'll never let me go on The View, because they don't wanna hear what I have to say.

And the other way to know is there's a conviction. There's a, man, I gotta get my anger under control. I gotta stop lashing out.

I gotta stop, man, I gotta stop. And there's a conviction. There's something like a knife just went in and convicted me.

That's how you know. That's how you know something could be, if God wants to do a process of repair and mending, you don't like what's being said, but there's a conviction to it. And then Genesis, Exodus, and then we get right into Leviticus.

Some people might think these books are boring, but they're actually not. There's so much, I can read all these books and something just jumps out every time. Especially this one on holiness.

This is where we get this idea of God is holy. Be holy because I am holy. And so as you're reading Leviticus, it will really have you search your own heart.

God says, you be holy as I am holy. And it's that call to God's holiness, that holy standard. Israel was to walk before God as a holy people.

A holy God, while we're on the topic of holiness, a holy God can only be approached on the basis of a sacrifice through the mediation of a priest. Back in Leviticus. Roman Catholicism still says that's the case today.

It's not the case today because now we have a high priest, Hebrews tells us, who's been tempted, tested in all points like we are, but was without sin. So our high priest has already mediated between us and God, has already paid the price and shed His blood. And that is the mediation.

So we walk boldly through the throne room of grace because we believe in Jesus. And that's one of the things that, say, Roman Catholicism stays stuck on. You have to go to the priest and they use this verse.

What did I miss along the way? And that's also why they don't think priests should be married. But the Bible actually says that the priest should be married. Because it turned into very sick and perverted things if we don't do things the way God has designed them.

And then chapter 17 in Leviticus, verse 11, the life of the flesh is in the blood. So if you wonder, why did they have to kill the animals? Because the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls.

So basically, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. Can you see Christ in all of this? I mean, the sacrificial system in Leviticus, shedding of blood, the priest would go in once a year, the holies of holies, the high priest, shed the blood on behalf of the sins of the people. Aren't you glad we don't have to do it again? That's why Jesus said, it is finished.

So we don't add things to His finished work on the cross. You don't have to go to a place called purgatory and be punished for a while. All these things have been paid for on the cross by Jesus Christ.

And then so, and you see Genesis, He pulls them out of these areas and puts them into Egypt. Exodus, they're free from Egypt. Now they're in the promised land.

I'm not promised land yet. They're on their way to the promised land. In Leviticus, He's establishing, okay, because you are my holy people, here's what I'm having you do.

And so this is where people get confused. Because God gave the Israelites the dietary laws, the ceremonial laws, and the moral laws because they were His people. The moral laws can never change.

So when it said certain things as moral laws in the Old Testament, those moral laws still apply. Now the punishment doesn't apply as it used to. You're not gonna get killed if you commit adultery.

But it doesn't remove the seriousness of the offense. And where people get sometimes confused, and I appreciate their heart, and I've had discussions with them, but they still think the dietary laws and the ceremonial laws are still valid for Christians today. But they don't understand like that's why they'll celebrate the feasts.

Feasts of leavened bread, the different feasts. They'll celebrate those, and then they'll make sure you celebrate them too. You gotta do these things.

No, that's Galatians. Who have bewitched you? Are you gonna finish in the flesh what began in the Spirit? Foolish Galatians. And you understand that these things were not that we have to do them, they were pointing to Jesus.

The dietary laws were what God wanted His holy people set apart. Do not eat these animals. They're unclean.

By the way, do you know the same things that are unclean are not good for you today? Hmm. Hmm. Wait, I can't eat shellfish.

You can if you want, but I won't tell you what they eat. God knows what He's doing. Pork and the shellfish and things like that.

It's just a dirty food, and God knew what He was doing. He's telling His people to avoid these foods. These types of foods.

And then in chapter 20, you shall consecrate yourself and be holy. Consecration is setting yourself apart and being holy. And I'm so glad Madeline prayed that this morning about this would be a good example.

Let's say somebody is actively engaging in premarital sex or other kind of sin. It's a call to come out of that and consecrate yourself. What I love about God's Word, or I would have been in big trouble, and so would all of you, is you can jump right back into that consecration.

You know what? I've blown it. Forget it, Lord. I've drifted.

I'm in sin. There's nothing I can do. Oh my gosh, I have to live the rest of my life in shame and guilt.

God just says, no, repent and consecrate yourself. Come back to Me. How beautiful! And then that should make us want to.

It's not like, oh, I have to. Like when I tell my little kids to go clean the room. You should want to.

I don't know, but I love that word, consecration. Holiness is a beautiful word to me because the fruit that comes from it, peace and joy and contentment and gentleness and kindness, the filling of the Spirit, comes with holiness and consecration. What comes with not rejecting God necessarily as a Christian but rebelling against His will.

This is why so many Christians are miserable. I've been there, you know, right? It's hard, isn't it? I know what to do, but I'm not gonna do it. I know I need to love my, I know I need to shave my beard because my wife wants me to do it.

Right, that's a minimal example, but there's bigger examples. But knowing, and I know I need to do this, but I'm, and we're miserable. We come to church with a frown.

When we do come, we leave with a frown. Worship wasn't that exciting. Listen, if you don't like that worship, oh my goodness, but think about it, it's a Christian caught in the mud, caught in the sin, and it's hard to rejoice when you're caught.

And that's why God says come out of her, my people. Consecrate yourself. Have a renewed focus for holiness.

That can mean little things. I've been convicted lately. Just even if it's good things, like just unplug the TV and start reading books again.

Or I'll be shaking her head at me, right? But it gets, you know, you get caught in these things. And God says come out and come back. And maybe that's a call for some of you.

Maybe you're in some very deep and dark sin, but the call is still to you. We've seen over the years the smiles, the joy, the tears from obeying God. It's amazing.

It's amazing when we obey God, right? The joy that follows after obedience. Jenny, can I tell your story real quick? Is it okay? Well, it's too late now. But it's okay.

It's okay, I'll make it real quick. But she came up last Sunday. She's crying.

She goes, I've been hiding from this or running from this for a couple years. I'm going to talk to your wife too. I'm like, oh my goodness.

She goes, I know God wants me to translate in Spanish some things. I just don't know what. I'm like, well, okay, we'll be praying.

Well, three days later, everything fell apart from what we were doing. And now she's going to be translating all the books into Spanish. So just from that obedience, just from that obedience.

And if there's a financial need, say we want to bless you financially for this. So now there's a financial need met. Now there's a need met of doing what God's called you to do.

There's tons of, I haven't asked her this, but I'm sure there's some joy, some tears of joy, right? Because getting back in the center of God's will, and guys, that's why I preach so hard sometimes, is I want to wake you up. If I could, I'd grab you up out of that seat and I'd shake your shoulder. And say, get right with God.

There's no other path. Choose today whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

How long will you follow two opinions? Now you understand that the heart of Elisha on top of Mount Carmel, how long will you waver between two opinions? Another version says, how long will you falter between two opinions? If God be God, follow Him. But if Bell be God, then get up out of here and go follow Bell. But if it would be to God, you would make a choice to follow the one true and living God.

That is the key. Oh, I love the Old Testament. Oh my goodness.

And the New, don't worry. To me, it's all God's book. I don't compartmentalize, you know? I mean, they're different, but it's the heart of God.

So again, it's a reminder to what? Your heed. All right, Lord, I need to obey. Yield to what God wants you to do, the work of the Spirit, and persevere.

Keep moving forward, even if you don't see the results. Actually, that's stronger faith. Those who keep persevering, they don't see the fruit.

Their faith is strong. That's strong faith. If you see the answer to your prayer, that's not faith.

That's fulfillment. Big, big difference. Well, I'm on a roll.

I might as well tell Marissa's story too real quick. Is that okay? No, okay. Well, she flew out.

She said she watches on Florida. Has to move to California. So you get the opposite, right? And when I first heard her story, talked with Morgan, I'm like, oh, we'll see.

I wouldn't even take that leap of faith. I mean, that's pretty. And I said, when are you flying back? I'm not, I'm here to stay.

God's got open doors. What? What do you mean? Where are you gonna live? Where are you gonna work? Like, I don't know if God can handle that one. That's pretty big.

No, of course, we use wisdom, right? But so far, God is opening doors to keep her here and to have her attending and a place to stay and see those. Without stepping out, that's not faith if you see the end result. And that's why many of us give up.

Because we, well, forget it now. Forget it now. I'm quitting.

I'm quitting. I might as well see how far does this go? I'll see you guys later. Hi, worship team.

But perseverance, and that's what I try to tell people even that are on health and fitness kicks and trying to lose weight. Do you know what happens? It's very small. It takes time.

30 pounds in 30 days is not realistic. Shoot for next summer to be there. Realistic goals, perseverance, getting back up, fortitude, strength.

Even though you can't see it, you know that God is moving. And then another, I like actually the book of Numbers. It has to deal with numbers.

But it gets its name from numbering the people. And it's primarily concerned with nearly 40 years of wandering in the desert. Whoo! A journey which should have only lasted 11 days.

See, I told you that before. Bible.org says it. I mean, this still amazes me.

Hey, here's your promised land. It's about 11 days. You guys ready? Let's go.

38 years later. And actually, after all, the generation had died. So they didn't even get to see the promised land.

What's wrong with God? Anybody know what, how many of you don't know why they didn't go to the promised land? It's okay, put up your hand. Nobody doesn't know why they didn't go to the promised land? All right, we've been doing pretty good then. Well, they didn't get to go to the promised land because they were called grumblers and complainers.

This really, this is kind of funny. Like, I don't know if you've ever seen the ocean part, but it's a pretty big deal. I haven't.

They walk through it, right? The big wind comes all night and the sea's back and they walk through it. They thought they're gonna be killed. Here comes the Egyptian army and God's like having their wheels fall off on their chariots and it comes back on them.

The people see it. And then a couple of days later, they're mad at God. Oh, if we would've just been back in Egypt.

Oh, who's gonna feed us? Who's gonna give us water? What? Look what you just saw. Grumbling and complaining. Grumbling and complaining.

Golden calves. And worshiping other gods. Can you imagine? I don't think God does this, but He'd probably be going, God, what is this? What is this? 11 days, let's go.

But nope, grumbling and complaining. Maybe that's a lesson for us. And I can say with the authority of Scripture, God is very displeased with grumbling and complaining.

Grumbling and complaining. I wish I could tell you I've mastered this area, but I also live in California. I also live in Los Angeles County.

I see what's going on. When our current administration says, well, inflation's not too bad. Have you ever went to Costco? Compare it to two years ago, three.

What? See, here I go again. Grumbling and complaining. Now, it's one thing to do it, but don't live there.

I usually do it like, Lord, I'm sorry. Man, thank You for my kids and my wife and the church. And you get rid of it.

That stinking thinking. Get rid of it when it comes in. But that's why Numbers is so, it's such an interesting book.

I don't even know if we'll get to it. But have you heard of Balaam? Revelation talks about Balaam. And some theologians call it the doctrine of Balaam.

So there's a king called Balak, Numbers, I don't know if it's 12 or 22. One of the twos. 22 probably.

A king Balak saw all these millions of people coming. And they're worried and they said, okay, Balaam, this prophet, come and curse these people. And so he's standing over them.

He's spending time with God. He comes back and instead he blesses them. Couple times.

And the king is upset. I would think so. But he said, I cannot curse what God has blessed.

What an incredible, I can't curse. And I believe that there's some, without getting too deep, there's some application for us. If we walk in that blessed place, we're praying over our homes.

You know, I just had somebody ask me the other day, should I put oil above my kids' rooms and pray for them? I'm like, not gonna hurt. It's not gonna hurt. That's some desperate parenting.

I like it. We've done it, to be honest with you. I've walked, I've prayed through the kids' rooms.

You're contending, you're obeying, you're living. Man, I can't curse what God has blessed. But, Balaam goes, I'll tell you what you can do.

Hmm. You can have them curse themselves by removing them from the blessed place. Bring those Moabite women down.

Bring those parties and the kegs and just on the outskirts of the camp. Have them dress a little immodest, risque. And the men will remove themselves from the blessed place.

So you can't curse what God has blessed, but you can remove yourself from that blessed place. So when you go outside the compounds of God's call to marriage and sanctifying the family. And I believe even being at a good church, anchored in that church.

There are the Wednesdays and Sundays or whatever, and you're anchored there and you're under that covering. And I don't wanna get deep again, but I think when Paul said, as a church, turn that one over to Satan for the buffeting of his flesh, but the saving of his soul. So remove him from the covering of your fellowship.

And so that's always stuck with me. I heard that 24 years ago on Balaam. Like, whoa, that's powerful because you're blessed.

And sorry, devil, we're good. You can't get me. But if I decide to leave that blessed place, what you basically do is you open yourself up for the attacks of the enemy.

You begin to go to places you shouldn't be or do things you shouldn't. And now you become an easy target. Thank God you can run back to the shepherd.

You can run back to the shepherd. But don't go play patty cake with the wolves and the bears and the lions because they're looking for those to devour. Your enemy goes about roaring as a lion, seeking whom he wants to and will, seeking who he will destroy.

So how does he get you? That lamb is outside the sheepfold. Did you know that? That's when the lamb would get in trouble, when they would go outside the protection of the shepherd. Man, there's so much rich parallelism there.

It's amazing. In the chapters 13 and 14, these are very key chapters as well because after receiving the evil report from 10 of the 12 spies, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, Israel focused on the giants in the land and failed to believe God and refused to enter to possess and conquer the land, a land that flowed with milk and honey. A land that flowed with milk and honey.

I guess you can eat meat and dairy for you carnivore and plant-based diet people. I mean, I don't know if it has to do exactly with milk, but it does have to do with the richness of the land. And that's milk and honey.

The richness of the land. The grapes were so big, they had to carry it on their shoulders and just flowing. And honey is often a sign of just abundance.

And God would say, I'm gonna give you goats and you're gonna have a surplus of curd, which is the kefir and the yogurt and mix that with the honey. And it's all throughout the Old Testament. And so as you, I don't know, here's a rabbit trail number three.

So we've been announcing it. I'm finally putting my weight loss book on Audible and we're releasing podcasts each week. So you can go to YouTube and listen to those.

But that's what I tell people. I don't get too caught up in all these, because you can get confusing, can't it? What diet? Carnivore says, plants are trying to kill me. Vegetables are bad.

And then whole plant-based, don't eat dairy, don't eat milk. And then you got the raw crowd. You got the fruitopians that just eat fruit.

And you got, don't eat this, don't eat that. It's like, what am I supposed to eat? Lettuce? No, it's trying to kill me. And so you know what? Just look at God's Word.

It will take away all the anxiety. Whole God-given food in moderation. Lots of activity.

It's very simple. Very simple. It's not easy, but it's very simple.

Why is it not easy? Because just on my way home, I will pass Panda Express, Krispy Kreme, Jack in the Box, Carl's Jr., and the pole, right? Empty donut box. Pulling us back. All right, let's get back on track.

That was three. Three rabbit trails. So Christ is in numbers.

We see Christ in numbers. Perhaps no place is there a clearer portrait of Christ and His crucifixion than the serpent lifted up in the wilderness. You remember that passage? Jesus said, I will be lifted, like the serpent with Moses, I will be lifted up on the cross, and whoever looks at Me shall live.

Same thing happened here in numbers. And He is also called the rock that quenched the thirst of the people, and it's a type of Christ. The rock, that's a great sermon title.

The rock that quenched the thirst. Listen, guys, you need to be thirsty for more of God. Run to Christ.

So this is a reminder, God's will is often a struggle, okay? Don't forget this. From Abraham and Joseph in Genesis to Pharaoh chasing the children of Israel in Exodus, to the deception of Balaam in Numbers and the blessing and curses in Deuteronomy, God's will is full of delays, challenges, and trials, but it also brings tremendous joy, peace, and certainty. Your faith must fight.

Your faith must fight. And as of today, that's the title of next Sunday's message when we get into Joshua and Judges and Ruth. And then finally, we're closing out with Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy is speaking of Joshua. And the Lord refers to this as the book of the law which Moses commanded. So this is the book of the law in Deuteronomy.

This is where we get a lot of the laws, a lot of the laws that, you know, when America was first established that they used to use these laws? Google William Blackstone's commentaries of the laws of England in the 1600s. You would see these similar laws. Did you know if you actually took a person, kidnapped them, like trafficking today, you would actually be killed? Let's bring that one back and see if it doesn't deter something.

A Christian pastor said that. Oh yeah, let me make it clear in case I wasn't clear. You take a little five or six-year-old, you should go meet your maker sooner versus later.

That's the punishment. That's why I say the punishment pits the crime. And that's why we're seeing this complete lawlessness is because there's no punishment.

That's why they wanted to recall our current DA Gascon. Because he lets people who should not be set free, free. Deuteronomy has a lot to say about that.

We're not under the law. It's a book of law. We're not under the law, but that does not mean that we shouldn't obey the law.

Because I hear that. Well, we're not under the law anymore. Well, that's okay.

Yeah, I understand. But we must obey the law. Even the law of God is good.

Galatians says, know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So this is what sets you apart from just about every other religion on the planet. If they're honest, if they're honest, Mormons will tell you this, Islam, Roman Catholicism, there has to be something you have to follow.

Yeah, okay, you believe in Jesus, but you've got to do this. There's no salvation outside of our church. You've got to be giving.

You've got to be doing these. You've got to be working. And you've got to works, works, works.

Where we rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And then because of that, we want to do good works. So the key point of Deuteronomy is the laws and their punishment.

And it was a good reminder for me this week to tell you, legal isn't always lawful. Legal isn't always lawful, in case you didn't get that. Well, this is legal.

Well, it's not lawful according to God's Word. Let's legalize this. It's legal, it's okay.

It's okay for a school to change your kids' pronouns and not tell you. AB, what is it right now? AB 1295 or something, that hopefully knew some vetoes, but I don't have my hopes up. Parental notification and things like that.

You've got to stay up to speed with this stuff. I know it's boring, but you've got to stay up to speed with what's going on. So just because something is legal, gay marriage is now legal.

Pastor, you got to do it. No, no, no, no, no. No, I don't.

Legal is not lawful. Lawful according to God's Word. You cannot change the heart, people say.

You can't, you ever heard this? You can't legislate morality. Have you ever heard that? You can't push your laws on people. You can't legislate morality and change their heart.

No, but you can restrain evil. You can restrain evil. What about somebody got a backbone and said, hey, you're trafficking a child.

We're going to open our death penalty up again here in California, San Quentin for a while, but then we're going to get this rolling. You don't think? You don't think that would deter some of this? Are you kidding me? You're bringing fentanyl over and you're killing kids? You don't think? See, we've dumbed down. I'm not saying we don't offer grace and forgiveness, but that's different.

That's a personal affront, but then there's a legal system that must bring the hand of God. And that's why people get confused even now with the government. With the government.

The government is actually, maybe this will be new to some of you. The government is not supposed to turn the other cheek. That's my job.

The government is not supposed to do all these things. The government, plain and simple, is to be a terror to those who want to do evil, to those who are good. That's the role of government.

God actually says in Romans 12, they are My avengers. So if you take up the sword, be careful, because they'll avenge you with the same sword. They're God's avengers.

This is the institution where God executes His judgment on people. But so many people, especially liberal Christians, they try to apply all these things like, well, we need to turn the other cheek. And yeah, turn the other cheek to Russia and China, see how that goes.

My goodness, folks. But they have a very poor biblical understanding. Even on the borders.

Even on the borders, the government is supposed to restrain evil. As a believer, I'm supposed to say, man, Trump wants to just send everyone back. Is there a way to vet that? To make sure parents with their kids, can we do lie detector tests? Because that's my heart.

But yeah, let's get rid of the evil. And so they're not gonna look the same. They're completely two different institutions.

God designed it that way. Punishment is a huge deterrent. Some people believe that people are bad because of their environment.

Okay, Rabbit Trail 4 maybe. But that's what you're hearing right now. I just mentioned Gascon, and I mentioned others.

They truly believe, even Newsom, they truly believe that people are bad because the environment is bad. So what are they doing in LA? Alcohol, Homeless Canal, go get more vodka. We'll give you syringes.

My goodness, I'm in the Twilight Zone. How many billions that's unaccounted for in the homeless, trying to fix a homeless problem? Does anybody know the exact number? It's like 50 billion or something is unaccounted for? Oh, I don't know where 50. I can see not knowing where 50 grand is maybe, but 50, what? They just throw money, because money won't fix the problem.

It's a heart issue. It's a heart issue. And so yes, environment plays a role.

Parenting plays a role. But at the bottom of everything, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. So unless you go after these issues, like, I don't know, I mean, really make a dent at the homeless thing, you probably have to get a lot of churches together, praying, going, ministering, casting out demons, getting them jobs, helping pray for the sick, and you'd have to really just take a spiritual approach to this.

You can't go just buy housing and think it's gonna fix, because then you become an enabler, and actually things get worse. But I'm not the governor, so. Watch yourself, lest you forget.

After 40 years, the Israelites were on the eve of entering the promised land. Here they go. Here they go.

But before they did, they had to be reminded about all that God had done for them. And this is interesting. Again, persevering and trust are key.

I know some of you might know, but do you know these names? Maybe it's Shammuah. Shaphat, Egalp, Palti, Gadel, Gadi, anybody? Nobody knows those names. They're in the Bible.

Why do you not know their names? Matthias, you know all my answers already. Those are the 10 spies who said the giants were too big. You know of Caleb and, I borrowed this from Jim Garlow when he spoke here a few years ago.

I'm gonna use that one someday. But that's true, we don't know these guys. We don't know them.

They're the 10 spies who died. It's too big. It's too big.

They looked at the giants, Caleb and Joshua, looked at God. That's what maybe some of you need to hear this morning. Look at God, not the giants in your life.

And then I'm closing with this key verse in 4.9 Deuteronomy, I believe we're still in. Give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently. There it is again.

Don't forget the things that God has done for you. And as our final reminder, heed, yield, and persevere. Heed, yield, and persevere.

And then Moses concludes to the people, Deuteronomy 30. This is another important one. God says, I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.

So what? Choose life. That's why we get passionate. That's why there's mission organizations over the years.

That's why there's like Paul preaching and Jesus even pleading with the people. That's why, because we know, choose life that you may live. God lays it out.

There's no changing absolute truth. When truth is set in motion, you can't change truth. Truth changes you.

So He says, choose life that you may live. And your descendants. Did you know your decisions affect your kids? When the Father comes to Christ, it's a high percentage of His family also comes to Christ.

Something like 90%. It's amazing. Obey His voice.

Obey His voice. So this morning, is it time for you to return to Rapha? Return to God who heals. Take back what the enemy has taken.

And even though this is kind of heavy, we can thank God for His mercy. Thank God throughout all of these five books. Look at God.

I'm just amazed at God's mercy. He should have wiped them out initially. He should have wiped me out.

Anybody else been wiped out? God's patience, His mercy. And so that's what we do during worship. Sometimes we just sit at the feet of the one who is called mercy.

We just sit at His feet. And that's why some people, they just have to go forward because they can't, Lord, what you've done for me, I should be dead. I should be on my 10th marriage.

I should be locked up. I should be in a sale asylum. I should be... And God, I thank you for your mercy.

And sometimes you might want to express that a little bit. Sometimes there might want to be, there's tears and you just want to come and say, Lord, I lay everything down at your feet again. I've drifted.

I'm the prodigal son. I'm the wayward daughter and I'm tired, Lord, I want to come home. And you sit at the feet of mercy.