Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #16211 - This World Has Nothing For You - 1 John 2:15-17

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#16211 - This World Has Nothing For You - 1 John 2:15-17 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles. First John chapter 2.
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First John chapter 2. We're going to pick up in verse
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15 where we left off. I've entitled the Bible study.
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This world has nothing for you. If you can just agree to that
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statement, it will move you so much farther along in your walk
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with the Lord. But it takes some time, quite
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frankly, to be convinced that this world has nothing for you.
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There is nothing of eternal value in this world with the
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exception of two things, the Word of God and the souls of
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men. The only things eternal that
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will go from this world into the next is the Word of God.
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Heaven and earth will pass away, but by my words by well no means
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pass away. And the eternality of the souls
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of men and women that we have the privilege of meeting,
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loving, serving, caring, sharing the gospel with, and seeing
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salvation take place in and through and around our lives.
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And can I just say now, many years serving, serving here as a
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pastor, serving in California, that as a pastor, it is getting
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harder and harder to convince the flock.
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It is getting harder and harder to convince believers that this
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world has nothing for you. Even now, knowing what I'm
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sharing, I can sense that some will have some resistance before
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some of the explanations biblically of what I'm saying.
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Exactly. Just to accept on face value
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that this world has nothing for you.
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I don't know how long it's going to take.
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It may take a year, it may take five years, it may take a
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lifetime. But I promise you and assure you
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on the authority of God's Word, you will agree with this
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statement. You will either agree with it
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moving forward and just like embracing all that God has for
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you, knowing how to navigate in the world and not, not not have
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the world control and conform you.
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Or you'll go all the way to the end of your life.
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And at the end of your life, you look back and say he was right.
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I remember that night. This world had nothing for me.
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And it's true. There is this ongoing battle of
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comfort and ease compared to the spiritual warfare of pressing in
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and giving God your all. I'm not speaking about
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conforming to some church doctrine or some church
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tradition, as important as teaching and doctrine is, That's
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not what I'm speaking about. I'm talking about the man, the
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woman, the young man, the one young woman that just says,
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look, I am giving my life to the Lord and I'm going to do
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whatever it takes and I'm going to seek his face and I'm going
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to pray. I'm going to make all the hard
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decisions. I'll make the decisions before a
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pastor even tells me to because the Holy Spirit, like I'm going
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to be a man of the word, I'm going to be a woman of prayer,
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all of that, just living a life, pressing into the things of God.
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And on the other side, comfort and ease.
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And I mean, it's not surprising that so many today, including
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some of us from time to time, would choose comfort and ease
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and to take refuge in the world rather than the sacrificial,
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challenging life of a sold out commitment to Jesus.
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I don't know why, but some of you are just afraid to do this.
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There is a real fear of what will happen if you truly give
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yourself wholly to the things of God.
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I mean, maybe you're thinking, well, if I do that, Pastor, I'm
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going to be sent on the mission field of Madagascar.
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And I don't even know where that is.
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And it's just going to be so hard and so difficult.
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And, and I have my life just where I wanted and I've spent so
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many years getting it to this place.
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And you're saying that God is going to call me to this or
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turn. And I don't know what God wants
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to do, but why don't you let him is the question?
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Well, there's a battle going on. And add to that, as the culture
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spirals out of control and it becomes increasingly more
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difficult, a new desire adds to, as you look in the difficulties
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in this thing over here. And then here's another thing
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that you're going to have to deal with.
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And that is, and I'm hearing this more and more so.
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So as a leader in God's church, just a brother too, just a
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brother in the Lord, I hear more and more of this.
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Yeah, I just don't. I don't want to press hard.
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I don't want to go farther. I don't want.
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And then on the other hand is like, I just want to get out of
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here. I just got to go.
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I quit. I'm out.
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I got to go. It's too much, too hard, too
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difficult. Even though the Bible says in
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second Timothy chapter 3 verse one that Paul says to young
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Timothy, but know this in the last days, perilous times will
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come and sometimes it's a move to another state that's I got to
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get out of here. Some other state is going to
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definitely be better than this state.
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Other times it's a longing for the rapture.
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You know, Maranatha Lord, Even so come quickly.
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But it's not so much a desire to see the Lord, it's just a desire
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to get out of here. And our priorities get shifted.
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And as I shared in previous studies, how they're all weaving
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together. Like there's this sense of
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anything's better than what I have right now, anything's
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better. And then you start looking
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around. You got a better, you got a
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better, you got a better. And before you know it, the
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enemy's got you off your game. And this is a blind spot often
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in our lives where we just don't see the influence of the world
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because the world does influence us a lot.
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And really, to the degree that you're in the world will be the
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degree by which the world influences you.
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As things grow darker and darker and more challenging, those who
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love the Lord know that this world is barreling to the end.
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It's not a surprise the disciples with Jesus felt this
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way. So now here we are 2000 years
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later and we're feeling this way.
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You can jot it down again in John chapter 17 and verse 15 in
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the prayer of Jesus to the Father.
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Part of his prayer was I do not pray that you should take them
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out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil
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one. They are not of the world, just
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as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth.
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Your Word is truth. As You sent me into the world, I
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also have sent them into the world, and for their sakes I
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sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
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This is the anchor verse when we use the phrase in the world, but
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not of the world. Jesus, I'm sending you into the
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world, but I don't want you to be of the world.
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You're going to live in this world.
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You're going to work in this world.
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You're going to dine in this world.
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You're going. Everything about your life will
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be lived out within the culture and the world system in which we
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live, but you're not of it. Some of you may have been of it.
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So consume. God called you out of the world.
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To do what? Send you back into the world?
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A new creation. Not to send you to the hills to
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live in a cave or have some commune and start a cult.
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He wants you in the world. He, he wants you in the world.
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He doesn't want you running around.
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He doesn't want you seeking out all this.
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He wants you to press on. Jesus right here prays that will
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not be taken out of the world. And whenever Jesus prays, he's
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always in the Father's will. So this is an answered prayer.
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This is our life, Jesus. Can I just say it out loud for
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all of you that want to get out now or in the future?
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Jesus wants us in the middle of this dark, dying and decaying
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world. There's the answer to your
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prayer, just in case you were praying this.
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What are you doing, Lord? Why am I here?
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Why do I work here? Jesus wants you there.
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Why do I live here? Jesus wants you there.
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Why am I in this generation? And I remember a few years ago,
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God just really flipped the switch on me where I just
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started to embrace that this generation, as hard as it is,
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how difficult it is and how ministry has gotten harder and
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more challenging and it's only going to get more hard and more
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challenging. But, but I'm up for the
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challenge. You know why?
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Because I was born for this time.
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I was born. You were born to be alive in
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this generation, not in the 50s in the black and white version
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of life. You weren't some of you and now
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some of you probably were alive during that time.
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But we, many of us, we weren't born in the 50s or the 40s or
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the 30s. We weren't born for the world
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wars or, or the different things that calamities of the world in
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previous generations. Although if it was God's will,
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we would have been there, but it's God's will for you to be
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alive now with technology and social media and all of the
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challenges of AI. We were born for this generation
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so that we could be here, so that we can face the things and
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lead people into the precious presence of the Lord through our
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lives, not to escape. In Luke chapter 10 and verse 3,
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even hear this, what Jesus said, this is powerful.
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He says this, go your way. Behold, I send you out as lambs
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among wolves, to which you say what you're saying.
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What are you sending us out to get eaten and devoured?
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Oh, some of these wolves will be converted and changed.
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Some of these wolves are connected to families,
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situations. Some of these wolves.
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God has a plan and a purpose. So what does Jesus say?
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Guard them from the evil one. Guard them from the temptations.
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God has put you in this world, and we have no business trying
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to remove ourselves while judgmentally pointing the finger
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at a Dark World. I know for some that'll be hard
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to hear, but it's much more convenient and easy and a
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misapplication of Christian love just to point the finger at The
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Dark World that the world's pretty dark.
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It's pretty obvious. It's much easier to be critics
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of the world rather than to be servants in the world.
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And some I know have chosen this.
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They have chosen and position of antagonism toward the very
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people that Jesus died for, and it just isn't really an
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effective evangelism tool to hate the people that Jesus died
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for or to be upset with the effects of sin.
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Difficulty. I know it's hard to see, I know
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it's hard to experience for some, but Jesus sent us into
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this world. I believe the call of God for us
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is infiltration, not isolation. The world, this world, needs
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good, strong, godly in love with Jesus Christians to infiltrate
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it. To be in all the places God has
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you to be in all the workplaces, to be in all the neighborhoods,
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to be in all the gas stations and the supermarket's.
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He needs us to be in this world. He needs us to be open, to be
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used. It's important principle.
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It's we always remember we can't do everything.
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So God is not calling us to do everything to reach every single
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person, and He's not calling us to do that.
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It's unreasonable. God's not unreasonable, but
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although we can't do everything, we must do something.
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We need to step in. I know statistics.
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I don't have the numbers here, but I know statistics have very,
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very high percentages in churches like ours of people
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that have never shared the gospel with someone else.
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Never. They've never talked about the
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blood of Christ. They've never talked.
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And, and really the reason is it's not fear, it's not anxiety,
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it's not knowing how, it's not those things.
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I don't know. It's not those things.
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It's a lack of yielding to this, the leading of the Holy Spirit
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and rather choosing comfort and ease instead of the discomfort
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of telling talking to someone about their life.
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Let me just help you on the pathway because I don't know
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that you just go up to somebody else.
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You're pumping gas and go hey center, I want to talk to you.
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Pastor told me to like you. So I'm going to try to like, you
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know, the one of the greatest, one of the greatest, most
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beautiful, love affirming, caring thing you can do with a
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person, especially with a stranger, is ask them this
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question. How can I pray for you?
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I'm telling you, most people will give you something to pray
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for. And when they do, they're
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sharing a piece of their life with you.
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Imagine just a simple conversation and maybe it is at
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the gas pump. You're standing there, they're
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standing on the other side. And you know how you never peek
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over, but you know they're there and you're there and they're
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right. And you just like I'm going to
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peek over and they see, you know, what are you doing?
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You know, what are you doing? And and you say, you know, I
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really, I really felt like God wanted me to ask you, how can I
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pray for you? And they they respond, yeah, I
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just had an argument with my husband, just hard argument with
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my wife. Do you know how intimate that
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piece of information is? They don't know you gas pumper.
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How do you they don't know who you are.
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But because the Holy Spirit put it on your heart and you just
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stepped into it, they shared a very intimate piece of their
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life with you where they have shared with a stranger something
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they want to be taken to the throne room of God.
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Now they can't say that they don't know what they're, they're
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just, they're getting gas. You're just scared getting gas,
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but you're there getting gas in the name of the Lord.
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It's very different. It's very, very different.
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You're in this world and you can watch the news and you can see
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that every bad thing is on the news.
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Very rare. When I first moved to Colorado,
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number one story cat got stuck in a tree, second story weather
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third story and in this neighborhood another cat got
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stuck. It was just the the stories
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years ago weren't as hard as they are now.
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Things have gotten worse, no doubt, but the media doesn't
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shape your view or does it? Of this world.
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In some cases we allow it to happen and we'll see in a
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moment. Notice now, chapter 2, verse 15,
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as God has called us to infiltrate, not isolate.
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Notice what He says. This is the command from John
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the Beloved, the one that Jesus loved.
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Do not love the world or the things in the world.
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If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
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Him. For those of you that know John
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316, this sounds strange and you try to reconcile the two, where
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in John 316 it says God so loved the world and now John is saying
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don't love the world. What is he saying exactly then?
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If God loves the world but we're instructed not to love the
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world? Well, it's obviously biblically
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biblical that Jesus loves the world and desires to draw man to
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himself. This is the purpose of the
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gospel. But there is a world that is not
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to be loved. John 316 The world is referring
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to people. In first John chapter 2 verse
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15. The world is referring to the
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system, the demonic system that exists in the world today.
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I like to describe it how I like to remind mind myself and
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remember. This is the atmosphere, the
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atmosphere in which we live, the world that we breathe in and
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breathe out. The world in which has its own
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message. The world where the devil thinks
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he owns the world and controls the world.
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This world system that desires to seek to draw you away from
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the love and grace of God. An organized system run by
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demonic hordes and the influence of people through the influence
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of people that has a world that is in opposition to God.
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Luke would say, and as he's writing in Luke 21, quoting
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Jesus, he said, and I'm quoting from the New Century version
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because I like this one. It says be careful not to spend
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your time feasting, drinking or worrying about worldly things.
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Be careful of the world. And we have used the and heard
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the word worldly, I'm sure a word that has been misused so
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often. Worldly.
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You're worldly. You're worldly.
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And what does that often refer to?
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Well, you know, you're with some people define it differently.
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Some say being worldly as smoking or dancing or what music
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you listen to. And it's true that the world
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does have a lot of enticing unspiritual weapons to pull us
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away from the Father's will. But I believe this is bigger
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than just a series of identifying behaviors of
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worldliness, but rather a reflection of the world in which
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we're in. We need to measure worldliness
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in terms of how something either helps us or hinders us in
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following Christ. That's the easiest way.
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And we can just start with ourselves, not other one, anyone
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else? Because, you know, there are
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churches today that will dictate to you how you dress, how you
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dress. So, you know, that's worldly
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clothing. Look, I'm at a place right now.
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Just come to church. Don't come naked, OK, Come
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dressed. And if there's some kind of
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revealing clothes for you as a man or a woman with, you know,
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maybe one of the brothers and sisters can just talk to you and
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say, hey, be careful there because you know, you might
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stumble someone without clothing.
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But but to identify, you know, look at you, look at how you
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dress. Like just be happy to dress man.
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We had a situation not many years ago where there was a
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woman that came into our gathering and her clothing was a
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little revealing and it was pretty obvious.
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And I'm sure it was obvious to her, although that was her life.
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And some sister went over there and just started railing on her.
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And by the time we got wind of it, we were able to minister to
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her. And come to find out that's all
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she owned because that was her background.
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She got saved out of that and isn't it amazing?
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Isn't it cool? This is what's so cool about
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that? What's so cool and she recovered
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and the Lord did a thing and then she moved on.
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But it's not cool that she was treated that way that why would
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you do that? Why would you do that?
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Why don't you get to know her first?
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Just find out her story, where she came from, what's going on.
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You just kind of disciple a lady unto the ways of the Lord or the
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guys with is that guy comes in revealing with his shirt all
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down and big gold chains and here I am ladies, you know it's
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like. Just put an armor on dude.
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You can be a little harder with the guys dude.
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But but, but when you when you think of this, I want you to
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understand like there's, there's a sense where we are with with
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this particular gal. She's a new creation in Christ
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and it just took some time for her clothes to catch up.
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That's all. But for someone that is mature
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and someone that says they've walked with the Lord for a while
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and to treat another person like that, whether you do it outward
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or inward instead of caring for a person like that, hey look,
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it's just not an effective way to show the love of God.
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It really isn't. When we live in a world that
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certainly does want to take our eyes off of the Lord and does
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want to tempt the world does try to influence us at every turn.
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100% you add to the tools today that are available.
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You know, years ago you could say something like we'll look at
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the magazines. And I remember using an
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illustration years ago that when we were shopping at the
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supermarket, they used to have that rack of magazines right up
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at the register. And sometimes there were just
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some really revealing magazines right there.
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And I would tell the kids not to not to look.
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Let's just get through. We're just here to buy bread,
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not to see this stuff. That's changed, of course.
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And what what has happened? It's not so much the magazines
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anymore or the billboards anymore.
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We have social media in our pockets.
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We invite it. We invite it in.
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Like some of you are so overcome by the world because you're not
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obeying this. Well, what pastor, are you
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saying not to look at social media?
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No, you missed the point. I just want you to understand
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you're bringing it on yourself and you have to be, you have to
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examine your own life. Social media, YouTube, you know,
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they are the algorithms now AI is being created where nobody's
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going to have an original thought anymore.
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And I'm watching, I'm here. I'm seeing more and more my
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e-mail box filled with emails that were written by a computer.
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Someone's trying to communicate something to me, but it's a
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computer. You don't want to have a
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computer do your thinking for you.
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You're going to be in big trouble because you know what?
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The computer doesn't have the Holy Spirit.
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You don't want to be trained how not to depend on the Holy
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Spirit. But you know, Pastor, I don't
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know how to write. No.
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Write the way you want to write. We accept you.
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We accept you as you are. Yeah, but I get, you know, AI
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took one little line and made it a three paragraph.
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I don't want to read 3 paragraphs.
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Send me the line. I love you as you are.
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But my grammar and my spelling, I don't care and most people
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won't either. The world has demanded that,
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that you look way, that you really aren't.
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The world's conditioned us in so many different ways.
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If you just spend some time asking the Lord God, how have I
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been conditioned by this world, He will show you and I see it
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over and over and over again. You add to that the financial
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system, the way that the world teaches about money compared to
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the way Jesus teaches about money.
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Very different, opposing. They're very much in opposition.
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I was just busted on this myself, just thinking about not
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busting because I didn't really do anything wrong.
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But we're talking tennis with some young people here.
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And I remember I came to mind, a famous tennis player that's
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retired now. And you know how I remembered
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him? I didn't remember his name.
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I had to look up his name. But I remember his famous
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commercial. I remember the brand of the
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watch he advertises, but I couldn't remember the guy's
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name. Why?
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Because those guys on Madison Ave. did a great job nailing
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that name of the watch in my mind.
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There's a lot of the influence in the world that is eroding
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your effectiveness. Yeah, but, Ed, I pray.
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Good. But Lord, the Lord gave me a
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verse. Fantastic.
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Do you know that you can have all the right facts and come to
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the wrong conclusion? It happens all over.
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This is what we discern. Hey, you know what?
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We're going to wait for the Lord.
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He told us to wait. Hey, let's get another apostle.
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No, nobody told you to get another apostle.
24:38
Acts chapter 1 and 2. Jesus said to wait.
24:41
That's all you need to do. Just wait.
24:45
He chose the first 12. He can choose the replacement.
24:48
Just wait. And so often we're impatient and
24:53
the world has conditioned us not to be at peace.
24:57
Don't love the world. Don't give the world your
25:01
affections. Don't give the world your heart.
25:06
The world is not worthy of your devotion.
25:09
And your heart, even though you are in the world, you're just
25:14
not of the world. This system will wreck all of
25:17
us. It was Spurgeon, Charles
25:20
Spurgeon that said this. I believe one reason why the
25:23
Church of God at this time has so little influence over the
25:27
world is because of the world has so much influence over the
25:31
church. He wrote that 100 plus years
25:35
ago. It's worse today.
25:39
It's so much worse today. We're called today and
25:43
commanded, according to verse 15, to repel the world's
25:46
powerful magnetism and instead to yield to heaven's pull.
25:52
Now I admit it seems very strict and strong not to love anything
25:55
in the world. Doesn't God say He's given us
25:57
all things richly to enjoy? He does, he says in first
26:01
Timothy chapter 6 verse 17, command those who are rich in
26:04
this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in certain
26:08
uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly
26:12
all things to enjoy. But remember the things that we
26:17
enjoy have been given to us by God and not the world.
26:22
And it's deeper really than some man made list.
26:25
You may leave a Bible study like this and go with tell me what to
26:27
like and tell me what not to like.
26:29
It's deeper than that. You got to give your heart and
26:31
devotion to the Lord and He'll lead you.
26:34
You can give your heart and devotion to the Lord and He will
26:38
lead you. I look at my own marriage.
26:39
We've been married in a long time and there are things that
26:42
are that Marie has to deal with that I don't deal with, and
26:46
there are things that I deal with that she doesn't deal with.
26:48
It's more than just a list. We need to be led by the Lord.
26:52
We need to allow the Lord to speak to us, to clarify for us,
26:56
but it it's very basis the Lord has gathered us under the
27:00
teaching of His word today. Don't love the world or the
27:04
things of the world, because if you love the world, the love of
27:09
the Father is not in you. You can't have competing loves
27:13
or Jesus would say you can't serve 2 masters.
27:19
This is an important theme he says in verse 16 notice for all
27:25
that is in the world. And then he gives us some things
27:28
to watch out for. The lust of the flesh, the lust
27:31
of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but
27:36
is of the world. OK, now we're narrowing it down.
27:42
All that's in the world, the lust, the lust and the pride and
27:47
he gives us some direction. The first, the lust of the
27:52
flesh, deals with our physical body.
27:55
The second, the lust of the eyes, deals with our minds, what
28:00
we allow to see and what we receive and think of.
28:03
And then the third deals with our ego, things that deal and
28:08
please our ego ego. Before we move on, notice that
28:14
the devil doesn't get a lot of attention here, but rather the
28:18
culture and system that he's created.
28:21
You know how the devil gets a lot of attention today?
28:23
You know, there's deliverance ministries.
28:24
We need to be delivered. We need to be delivered.
28:27
What you need to do is stop loving the world.
28:30
You go, pastor, no way, yes way. And you stop loving the world,
28:36
giving yourself over to the world.
28:39
What does the Bible say? Jesus teaches us if you present
28:42
yourself to sin, you become a slave to sin and you present
28:47
yourself to righteousness, you become a slave of righteousness.
28:52
There's a lot that goes with that follows the decisions that
28:55
we make in life. What we need to be delivered
28:59
from is the influence of the world and learn how to navigate
29:03
the world in such a way where our relationship with the Lord
29:07
is protected, that our view of the Lord is protected, that our
29:13
bodies in the Lord are protected.
29:18
Notice now the lust of the flesh.
29:20
I want to touch briefly on these so you can see them and I'll
29:23
show you at least I'll give you some homework and you can see it
29:26
for yourself. But the lust of the flesh speaks
29:28
of the affections of the world. God has given us certain desires
29:33
and appetites that are good hunger, thirst, a sexual drive,
29:40
rest. The problem arises when our
29:43
sinful nature is inflamed and these things that are good from
29:49
God become sinful. Hunger becomes gluttony.
29:55
Thirst can become drunkenness. The sexual drive can become
30:00
fornication and adultery, and now the whole new category of
30:04
Internet pornography and all of that rest, that desire to rest.
30:08
You know the pattern of six and one, six and one.
30:11
That desire to rest can easily become laziness.
30:16
We have careful we need to be with the lust of the flesh, the
30:19
wrestling of the flesh, right? The lusting of the flesh against
30:23
the Spirit is always going to try to push us farther and
30:26
farther away from God and into sin.
30:29
The affections of the world. Secondly, the lust of the eyes
30:33
speak of the appearances of the world and our eyes are often the
30:37
gateway to the beginning of sin. This is something I want you to
30:40
turn. Would you turn over to James
30:42
chapter one with me so you can cross reference this James
30:46
chapter 1? The eyes are often the gateway
30:50
and the beginning of sin. When we lust with our eyes, we
30:53
are consumed with wanting more and wanting to fulfill the
30:57
appetite of our eyes. So notice in chapter 1, pick up
31:02
with me in verse 14 this pathway of sin.
31:06
But each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own
31:10
desires and enticed. Then when desire is conceived,
31:15
verse 15, this is James one, When desire is conceived, it
31:18
gives birth to sin, and sin when it's full grown, brings forth
31:23
death. Do not be deceived, my beloved
31:26
brethren. Every good and perfect gift
31:28
comes from the Father above. So how careful we need to be
31:30
with our eyes and what we allow in our eye gate and by extension
31:36
in our ear gate pathways of knowledge gathering so that in
31:41
our minds, what will we be meditating on?
31:44
And you can see the value now kind of you get a little bit
31:46
better picture of the value of reading your Bible and praying
31:48
every day because you're gathering godly information in
31:51
your heart and in your mind and your eyes are on the Lord just
31:55
as you're reading His word and receiving it.
31:57
The appetite of our eyes, you know, it's described in another
32:00
way, is covetousness. Covetousness?
32:03
Covetousness is a serious sin. Don't.
32:05
It doesn't get a lot of attention, but it's one of the
32:07
top ten. You know that back in Exodus
32:10
chapter 20, this covetousness is so important that God put it in
32:14
the 10 commandments. It says be careful, don't cover
32:19
it, covet your neighbor's wife, be careful not to covet.
32:25
And it often starts with what we see.
32:28
And again, we made a commitment, let's say, to save some money.
32:33
So we just said we're going to drive a car until it falls apart
32:38
and we just hope it falls apart in the garage and not on the
32:40
highway. But, and so I was a committee,
32:43
you made it under the Lord. You've been wise with your
32:45
money. You've been putting it away
32:46
until your neighbor gets a new car and you see them rolling up
32:51
and you're there fixing the oil leak or whatever on yours or
32:56
wondering where the third wheel went or like what's going on.
33:00
And then they come up and what happens if you're not careful
33:03
with what you see instead of being happy for them and they
33:06
can do whatever they want with their money and you can be happy
33:08
for yourself because you're doing whatever you want with
33:10
your money. Because God told you to save.
33:12
You agree with it. You made the commitment.
33:14
Then you ask the question, why did our neighbor get a new car
33:17
like that? Dangerous question, huh?
33:21
Because it's none of your business.
33:24
What do you care? Why is that so much of a big
33:27
deal? I'll tell you why.
33:29
Because you saw it and you didn't take that thought captive
33:34
because it really doesn't matter if your neighbor got it.
33:35
Why don't you go over and say, nice car, How does it drive?
33:39
Can I borrow it? You know, whatever.
33:42
It's better to borrow it than you don't own it and pay the
33:44
taxes. That's better.
33:45
Like, but covetousness, it's not fair.
33:49
You can run that thing all over and then you go back to your
33:51
jalopy and you got AAA coming out to jump it and and like,
33:55
this is just wrong. I got the money.
33:56
I was going to buy the car. Wait a minute.
34:00
How did you get there after all these years of saving and
34:04
commitment and you're so close to your goal just because your
34:07
next door neighbor got a new car?
34:08
Yeah, because the lust of the eyes.
34:11
Cars, people, things, places, positions, whatever.
34:17
The lust of the eyes is real. You're having a difficulty in
34:22
your marriage right now, and a woman catches your eye or a man
34:26
catches your eye. You know they use that phrase,
34:28
right? You know why?
34:30
Because it's true and you're in a very dead you.
34:35
Nobody's caught your eye all these years, but you're in a
34:37
difficult situation in your marriage now.
34:39
And now someone caught your eye. That is the lust of the eyes.
34:45
Do not love the world or the things in the world.
34:48
And who knows, maybe the enemy set it up for that lust of the
34:51
eyes. For that he just sent that woman
34:54
right there and you're not in a place of resisting.
34:58
Married, single, You're lonely and you're wrestling and you're
35:02
going and you're here You are. Somebody caught your eye.
35:06
No, no, no, no. You have to be like Job and make
35:08
a covenant with your eyes between you and the Lord across
35:12
the board. I could go on and on and on, but
35:14
your eyes, how important it is. Every single advertisement you
35:19
ever see preys on this one thing, the lust of the eyes,
35:25
because you didn't even know they had such a thing until you
35:29
saw it. And then the ad says, well you
35:32
need it. And then your flesh says I want
35:36
it. And then you're broke and going
35:43
into deep debt buying things that you don't need but you
35:49
deeply want. And you don't honor the Lord
35:52
with your money. You go but a pastor.
35:56
I tithe. Yeah, but what about the other
35:58
90%? Are you honoring the Lord with
36:00
that? Well, I can do whatever I want.
36:02
Yeah. But if you're doing whatever you
36:03
want in the spirit of God dwells in you, whatever you want to do
36:07
would be led by the Holy Spirit. And it's just a system that that
36:12
beats us up. There isn't one person listening
36:16
that hasn't been beat up by 1 aspect of the world system.
36:20
Because the final one, in case you think, well, I got away, Ed.
36:22
I got away. All right, I got a third one for
36:24
you. The pride of life.
36:29
This is the arrogance of the world to which most people go.
36:32
I'm not arrogant. I'm not arrogant.
36:34
Listen, I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, but you have to
36:37
understand, it's easy to fall into the world's trap.
36:41
Seeking admiration, praise from other people or with the
36:45
invention of social media. You just want people to like
36:50
you. No, I don't.
36:55
Well, bring up your social media and we'll look at how many hours
36:58
you spend on it and how important it is.
37:01
How many people like me. I had three yesterday and now I
37:06
have 4:00 today. Listen, this is the world.
37:14
That natural desire to be in community and to love and be
37:19
loved has been stolen by the devil.
37:23
And it's been twisted. You know the word perverted, It
37:27
just means twisted. It's been twisted to relegate
37:31
most people in the world, and perhaps even a few of us, that
37:34
all we care about is how many likes we have or how many.
37:38
What happened to loving your neighbor?
37:41
Look what I'm doing. It's one thing to share your
37:44
life, and that's good. That's wonderful.
37:46
It's another thing to be so caught up with other people
37:50
caring about you in the world, man, it gets us.
37:57
It gets us because of the magnetism of the world.
37:59
But it also gets me because I give myself to the world and how
38:06
careful we need to be. There's that selfish desire to
38:10
be one up on someone. I think of some of the sibling
38:12
rivalry that exists in the world today where you're spout your,
38:16
you know, your brother has this and you want just a little bit
38:19
more because they're the favorite brother and I just want
38:21
a little bit more. And your sheet, your sister gets
38:23
this and I just want to. And it's just this competition
38:25
in this incessant battle that never ends instead of just being
38:31
content in the war. This happens in so many
38:35
different ways. We want to be known in our
38:38
profession and we want to have accolades of what we've done and
38:42
we want to be known and want to be in the top this and the top
38:45
that instead of just being the best that we can at what we do.
38:49
Who cares what top we are? Just be good at what you do.
38:53
Excel in the name of Jesus. That last one I know about.
39:02
I know about it when I corporate world and I know about it in the
39:05
church because it exists in the church among pastors too.
39:09
We're not immune to this. And you know, the Lord has a
39:13
wonderful way of just reminding you, I love you as you are and
39:19
whatever you have I have given to you and whatever you don't
39:23
have, I've removed from you. Because doesn't the psalmist
39:27
say? The psalmist says that God will
39:29
withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly.
39:35
You just thought walk uprightly. The Lord's going to take care of
39:37
you. But pastors, I mean, I, you
39:40
know, I don't excel and I don't know, excel.
39:43
Do the best that you can, man. Go as far as you can for the
39:47
glory of God, not the pride of life, Not to, you know, come to
39:55
your high school reunion and go. That's all you have to do is
40:01
just laugh. You just walk in and laugh.
40:05
They're still there. They're still there.
40:06
And look, I got out of here. You're back now for what?
40:12
Not to show off, not to brag, not to make a big deal how much
40:17
money you have or whatever. You're a messenger of Jesus.
40:21
Somebody asks. You say you have worked hard.
40:23
You know, you can have those conversations, but is it for the
40:26
Lord or is it for you? There's a big difference in
40:32
every area of life. Notice come back.
40:36
Oh, by the way, for homework as we wind down here, let me give
40:40
you a few things for homework with these three things, these
40:44
Trident 2 temptations. The lust of the flesh, the lust
40:47
of the eye is the pride of life took down Eve Genesis chapter 3
40:52
and go see it for yourself. You'll see all three of them
40:54
took down Aiken in Joshua chapter 6, took down or at least
41:00
came against, didn't take down, but at least came against Jesus
41:04
in the temptations in Matthew chapter 4 and has taken down a
41:11
lot of believers along the way temporarily in some cases
41:16
rendered them an operative and disqualified them for a long
41:19
time. Two more things he says about
41:24
the world and then we're head out here.
41:26
He says at the end of verse 16, the motive of not loving the
41:34
world is at the end of verse 16, these things are not of the
41:39
Father. And I know if I asked or I gave
41:43
a little piece of paper you guys filled out, I put a survey out
41:45
online right now and I said, don't you want to love the
41:48
Father? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
41:52
I mean, this is for some just the most sweet, most beautiful
41:55
relationship you've ever had in your life is with God the Father
41:59
through his Son Jesus Christ. But the world is not of the
42:03
father. You can't have a divided heart.
42:08
Many times I'll sense a divided heart in someone and I'll share
42:12
it with in my office. I said, brother, sounds like you
42:14
have a divided heart. Oh no, it's not divided.
42:15
And I'm like I'm telling you, it's divided.
42:17
And what they're trying to say is I'm not in deep growth sin.
42:21
No, you don't understand. You've got 2 desires and neither
42:24
one of them can. They can't live together in your
42:26
heart doesn't have to be deep gross sin.
42:29
You just have two desires and you're going to have to be like
42:32
Elijah said, choose you this day or like Joshua said that choose
42:35
you this day who you're going to serve.
42:37
But I'm telling you right now, Joshua said, As for me and my
42:39
house, I'm going to serve the Lord.
42:42
That's it. I'm going to serve the Lord and
42:46
I'm going to follow him. But with the, you know, I was
42:48
like, I got this and I got this and I'm not sure.
42:51
Look, just serve the Lord. The world is not of the Father.
42:56
It excludes the love of God. That's pretty serious.
42:59
The world system is at odds with the Father.
43:01
And secondly, verse 17, the world is passing away and the
43:07
lust of it and he who does the will of God abides forever.
43:12
The world is not eternal. It doesn't last.
43:17
The world will not last forever. It's winding down right before
43:20
us. Scientists talk, teach us about
43:22
the second law of thermodynamics.
43:24
I mean, even scientists can see this, that the world is winding
43:27
down. Peter wrote it and you can write
43:29
it down in Second Peter chapter 3, verse 10.
43:33
Man was designed to only love one thing at a time.
43:38
And the world is not eternal, it's passing away.
43:42
You know, they have all these award shows, and I think it was
43:45
the Grammys that we're on recently.
43:47
I didn't watch it, but the Grammys.
43:48
So Grammys are so important. Who won the Grammy for Best Song
43:52
in 1955? Anybody, 1985.
44:01
If you know it, don't say it. Just be quiet.
44:03
You're going to mess my point up.
44:10
I mean, and remember you stayed up all night back to end you
44:17
taped it on your DVR, called in sick because you stayed up late.
44:21
Oh, yeah. So how important it is it today?
44:24
It's not eternal What differences make.
44:26
Now I can just look it up. Just look it up.
44:29
And then once you look it up and go didn't like that song anyway.
44:34
The things of this world are not eternal.
44:36
What, what, what is it that, what is it that you and I that
44:40
we, what's it going to take for us just to really believe that
44:42
day by day, just embrace it. Resist the world's poles and
44:47
tugs. Some of it we're never going to
44:49
be able to get out. Some of it's with us
44:51
permanently. Like the tennis example that was
44:54
stuck in my head. I wasn't even thinking about it,
44:57
but it's stuck in my head. I grew up on television,
45:02
television with my babysitter. Today, television is not
45:05
babysitter. You know what it is?
45:06
The iPad, everything the kids are watching, it's going to get
45:10
stuck in their head. I can remember stuff.
45:14
I mean, I'm talking hours and hours and hours and hours and
45:16
hours and hours and days and days and days sitting in front
45:20
of television. Now it's phones and iPads.
45:26
Not just kids, huh? It's for us too.
45:29
We just got to be really singularly focused on how God
45:31
wants us in the world, but not of the world.
45:33
And as I said before, 1 moment, whether it's tonight or in the
45:38
future, you're going to believe me when I say this world has
45:42
nothing for you. You see what he says in verse
45:46
17. Once I grasp that this world has
45:49
nothing for me, I don't try to get out.
45:50
I don't try to run away. I embrace what God has for me.
45:53
And when I do the will of God, I abide forever.
45:57
I have eternal rewards. God lives His life through me
46:03
and I make a difference for the Kingdom and I look forward to
46:07
being with the Lord. I look forward to His return,
46:11
but not at the expense of the world that I'm in right now.
46:14
God put me in this world for a reason, and I'm alive today
46:19
because of a reason. God's purpose and the most
46:23
fulfilled and happy I will be is when I'm obeying the Lord in my
46:27
life. Perfect peace, perfect harmony,
46:31
and a lot of warfare. Have you found that to be true
46:35
in your life? It says universal truth.
46:39
The most satisfied we are is when we're in Christ, obeying
46:44
him with the calling that he's placed upon our lives.
46:47
So Father, thank you for the truth and forgive us for loving
46:52
the world in the areas that maybe you show us.
46:55
Like I don't have enough time to list every example in our lives,
46:58
but I don't need to because, you know, you're the Spirit of God
47:02
who loves us and cares for us. And so I just think even as I
47:06
was reminded tonight, it's such a great reminder how much I do
47:11
I, I how much I do remember. And I just asking right now that
47:17
you would wash my mind with the water of the word that that you
47:21
would make room in my mind that I can remember more and that I
47:25
could pour myself into things that are eternal more.
47:29
And that when I'm enjoying this world that I'm not part of it,
47:33
but I am enjoying it. I'm enjoying serving you and
47:37
loving you. Enjoying my children, my
47:40
grandchildren. I'm enjoying sports perhaps, or
47:43
hobbies, yes. My job, my career, my yes.
47:48
But always for your glory, always for your purposes, always
47:53
looking to you, always being led by you.
47:56
I know we're not going to hit it perfectly, Lord, but help us.
47:59
Help us with our affections and even habits that this world is
48:07
shaping and molding us. I think even right now that we
48:12
are being transformed, not being conformed to the world, but
48:16
being transformed by the renewing of our mind.
48:19
And I pray that over our church tonight that the transformation
48:23
even begin tonight with your word.
48:29
Let it be a outpouring of your love for us.
48:32
You just love us as we are. You really do, which is kind of
48:37
mind blowing to think how you're able.
48:40
We have such a hard time with that, accepting people as they
48:42
are. But we're learning and we're
48:46
growing and we're trying to understand and apply the
48:50
principles that you teach us, Jesus.
48:52
So thank you for being patient with us.
48:55
Thank you for leading us carefully, for correcting us and
48:59
instructing us. Thank you Lord, for your leading
49:02
of our lives. We look to you tonight in Jesus
49:05
name, Amen. We pray that you've been
49:09
encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
49:12
sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
49:14
Call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
49:23
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49:27
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49:32
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49:35
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.