Latest / Trinity Tinley Park Sermon Podcast / "How To Live Freely" with Pastor Paul Strand | September 13, 2026

Transcript

"How To Live Freely" with Pastor Paul Strand | September 13, 2026 · Trinity Tinley Park Sermon Podcast

0:02
SPEAKER_00: There it is, living freely, discovering true wealth in Christ.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: I feel that every fall, and we've been doing it since 2005, every fall for 21 years, we have looked for a study that the pastors could preach on, the small group leader could teach on, and the small groups could be involved in.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: We've covered so many bases.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: War Room, I never forget that one.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: Red Sea rules, never forget that one.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 23, never forget that one.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's prayer was last year.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: And this year, for those listening online, perhaps some will be benefited.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: You here sitting in the pews, perhaps you'll be benefited.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: What was going on in your life a year ago couldn't be touched by this series.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: But maybe God is bringing this series to us for the sake of someone online or here in this congregation who will listen and learn and be touched by God's Spirit.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: The message entitled Active Faith Releases God's power.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: Faith is the most prominent word to be found in any religious community.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the word faith refers to that entire community.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: There's a Christian community.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: There's the Muslim community, there's a Buddhist community, there is the Jewish community.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: 4,300 religious communities on this earth.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: 83% of the world's population identify with one of those religious communities.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: Does your faith in a religious community, does that bring you into a relationship with your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
2:03
SPEAKER_00: Does that impact your life on a daily basis?
2:07
SPEAKER_00: The answer is no.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: There is a second realm of faith.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: It's not the entire religious system, but it refers to the doctrines of that religion.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: The Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod has doctrines.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: The Catholic Church has doctrines.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: The Baptist Church, the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, they all have doctrines and teachings.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: But most of the time when the word faith is used, it refers to a personal response to God.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: Notice at this point in the ballgame, I have not said a personal relationship with Jesus.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: I've said a personal response to God, and I do that intentionally.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: In order to have a personal relationship with an individual, you have to have a personal response to them.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: The first has to happen before the latter occurs.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: You're 20, 21 years of age, and you're deeply in love with someone in your class.
3:14
SPEAKER_00: Deeply in love with them.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: You can't stop thinking about them.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: That's your personal response to him or to her.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
3:24
SPEAKER_00: They don't have the same personal response to you.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: And you remember those days how heartbreaking that was.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: There has to be a mutual personal response.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: You have God up there in heaven, and there are eight billion people on this earth, and he created every single one of them.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Mom and dad get the credit, but it is God who put the sperm and the egg together.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: It is God who created them.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: He has this intense love.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Jesus spoke about it, John 3.16.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: God so loved the world, not this segment or that segment, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but should have everlasting life.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Here is God.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: He says, I want you to love me as much as I love you.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to tell you a story later in this service that left me unnerved.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: Not all the world believes.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: Not only are mutual acceptance, you believe, I don't believe, that's fine.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: There are some in the world who are antagonistic to a highest degree against those who bear the name Christian.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: In order to have a personal response to Jesus, in order to have a personal relationship with him, you have to have a response.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: Here is the thief on the cross, his response to Jesus.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: What a phony you are.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: You're hanging here on the cross.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: Your own religious leaders are cursing you and spitting on you.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to do the same.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Thief on the cross, mocking Jesus, says they're both dying, and his buddy on the other side does the same.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: And then something happens.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: God says, I so love you, thief on the cross.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: I so love you, centurion.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: I so love you, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: I so love you.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: That the Holy Spirit comes and Jesus speaks seven words, and every good Friday we share those words.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: And quite frankly, we should share them at least 24 out of 48 weeks in the year.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: He says on the cross, Father forgive them, they know not what they do.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: And it's like the thief on the cross has been hammered broadside by the Holy Spirit.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit says, He's speaking about you.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: And the thief on the cross says, I know he's speaking about me.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: And the unwritten dialogue, I've told you a hundred times.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: The unwritten dialogue, Jesus, can you forgive my sins?
6:12
SPEAKER_00: I just mocked you and cursed you, but can you forgive my sins?
6:17
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Yes, the unspoken dialogue.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: I believe in you, Jesus.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: And then the dialogue that is laid in front of all mankind.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: He says to Jesus in a personal response to him, Remember me when you come into your kingdom and the relationship begins.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says today, you will be with me in paradise.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: Roman soldiers are there.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: Do they have a personal response to Jesus?
6:48
SPEAKER_00: Yes, they do.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your clothes.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: We're gambling for them.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: Try and not drip too much blood on us as we're sitting underneath the cross.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: That was their personal response to him.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: And when the darkness comes at midday and the thunder and the lightning and the temple and the curtain in the temple is torn and all these things happen.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: They are oblivious to God.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: They are oblivious to God.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Roman Centurion, his response to God.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: Truly, this was the Son of God.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: Nicodemus and Joseph Arimathea, members of the Sanhedrin who voted for his death, they said when they stood on that mountainside, we've had enough of the hiding, we've had enough of the garbage that we're trying to keep underneath the blankets.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: We believe in Christ, we want his body.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Give us his body, Pontius Pilate.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: We want to bury his body in Joseph's tomb.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: To have a personal relationship with the divine Son of God, you have to have a personal response to him.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: Your faith pertaining to God is the single most important factor in your life.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: That is why every baptism I've ever done of a child or a baby, I say the same thing every single time.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Mom and Dad, you acknowledge the most important thing your child will ever have is a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: And every parent, every parent, almost 2,000 baptisms of infants and children, every parent has said, I do so intend, that they have that relationship.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: Can a parent give it to them?
8:44
SPEAKER_00: No.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Can the uh circumstances of life, can God's word bring that response?
8:51
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is yes.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: A parent can wish it with all their hearts.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: A spouse can wish it for their spouse with all their hearts.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: A friend can wish it for their best friend with all their hearts that they had this relationship with the Lord.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: But it's a personal response to him.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: Living freely, here it is, cover the bulletin.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: You shall go out with joy and you shall be led forth in peace, determined by one factor.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: When you wake up in the morning and you say this is a day that God has made, do you believe it with all your heart?
9:33
SPEAKER_00: You do not say this is a day that my student loan debt has made.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: And I can't stop thinking about it.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: This is a day that my job has made.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: I wake up in the morning with not in my stomach I got that sort of boss.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: This is a day that my son or daughter's addiction to cocaine has made.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: This is a day that my finances, my health have made.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: This is a day that my size or sex has made.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: You wake up in the morning and it can't be words, it has to be in the heart.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: This is a day that God has made.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: I will rejoice not in the day, but I will rejoice in the fact that whatever this day brings, God has entered the day with me.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: He gets up before you ever wake up, he scouts the day, he comes back, he said, time to wake up.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: And you get out of bed, and he says, Take my hands.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: As long as you have my hand and I have yours, this day, whatever shall come, you shall wake up with joy, and you shall leave in peace, whatever the day brings.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: Your faith or lack thereof will determine your hope or lack thereof, your joy, your lack thereof, your contentment or your lack thereof.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: I was teaching sixth grade this past week, Mrs.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: Betis' class.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: I said to them, put your heads down, close the eyeballs.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to see what anyone else in the room is going to say.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: I asked them this question how many of you wake up in the morning with fear?
11:29
SPEAKER_00: How many of you wake up in the morning with some sort of fear going on?
11:34
SPEAKER_00: I thought maybe two or three kids would raise their hand.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Every child in that classroom raised their hands.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: Your faith is a single most important factor that determines your ability to live freely, unchained of fear or guilt, or low self-esteem, or narcissism, or anything else controlling your life, your faith.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, seventy, eighty, nineties, your face.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have very big biceps, you gotta lift some weights, ladies and gentlemen.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: If you need the heart stronger, you can't sit on the couch for five hours watching football all afternoon, save for the bears, thank you.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: But after that, then you gotta go out and exercise.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: Whether it's at a gym or whether it's on the bike trail, if you want some muscles and a strong heart, that's what you gotta do.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: There is a muscle in your life more important than any other.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Apostle Paul wrote about it, 1 Timothy 4.8.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: Physical training helps you a little bit, but spiritual training will help you understand the treasures you have in Christ, and that'll blow everything else away.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: Our dear principal, Principal Gall, he had a marvelous chapel on Wednesday.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: He's sitting there talking to 175 kids.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: He's got two Lego towers built.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: One is long and thin, and one is short and squat.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: He pushes against the long, thing, thin one, it topples over.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: He pushes against the short squat building and it stands like a rock.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: He says to them, I could push against this for 200 years and it wouldn't move.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: And then he heads straight to the scripture.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: He says, remember Jesus' parable.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Two houses, one built on the sand, one built on the rock.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: The storm comes.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: If you never have a storm in your life, you don't have to listen to this, okay?
13:58
SPEAKER_00: But if every once in a while you have a storm, then maybe we should listen to what God says.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: The storm comes, the house on the sand demolished.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: The house on the rock said, bring some more, bring some more, is that all you got?
14:13
SPEAKER_00: Bring some more.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Your faith, active and strong.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: It's the most important thing you'll ever, ever, ever have on this earth.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Oldest person I ever met was 112 years of age.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: Ministered to for about six months.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: And at 112 years of age, he still had fears.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: Your faith in your Lord.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: The principal asked the students, he said, How do we strengthen our faith?
15:04
SPEAKER_00: They headed straight to the Bible.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Headed straight to the Bible.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: You need a strengthening of faith.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: You got a Red Sea going on in your life, head back there to Exodus.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: You're in a lion's den financially, health-wise, relationship-wise.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: Your marriage is in a lion's den.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: Head to judges.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: And look at what happens.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: You're running out of faith and your ability to maneuver through life.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: Head to the parable, see what five loaves and two fish can do in the hands of God.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: It's there in the Bible.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Because the Bible isn't just a set of words set on a page.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is in that Bible, and when you open up those pages, He comes forth.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: You should not be surprised, as I said last week.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: You should not be surprised at the devotion that lands in front of you, or the verse that lands in front of you, or your confirmation verse appearing after disappearing for 40 years.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: It appears when you need it, and God knows that, and that's his vehicle.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: He asked them how else?
16:17
SPEAKER_00: How else do we strengthen our faith muscle and our brilliant students in this school?
16:23
SPEAKER_00: They said prayer.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: They said prayer, talking to God.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: If you have breakfast with someone once every three months, how well do you know them?
16:36
SPEAKER_00: If you have breakfast with someone once every two months, how well do you know them?
16:42
SPEAKER_00: If you have breakfast with them once a month, you know them better than uh once every three months.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: If you talk to someone every single day, whether it's your best friend, your mom or dad, my sister said I talk to my mom and dad every single day for 18 years, and I never knew that.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: And I was wondering why Becky had such a close relationship with mom and dad.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: You talk with someone every single day, you get to know them fairly well.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: And here's God.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Give me a phone call.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: My mom would say to me, Paul, I haven't heard from you in three weeks.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: Give me a phone call, Paul.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: And that's what God says every day.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: Just give me a phone call.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: You want to live freely.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: Believe that he's real.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: Believe that his promises are true.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: When someone says to me, How often do you pray?
17:48
SPEAKER_00: I said, I don't know.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: I talk to him all day long.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: When I drive by a police officer, I say, God be with him.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: When I drive by a fire station, I say, God be with them.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: When I see a lonely man standing there on the corner, I say, God be with that man.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: I talk to him all day long.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: When I start thinking about my grandchildren, I start talking to him.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: When I think about Josh and Rachel, I start talking about him.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: When I think about Connie, I start talking with him.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: When I start thinking about you guys, I wonder how they're doing today.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: I wonder how the surgery went.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking to him all day long.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: And there's a third way that you strengthen your muscle.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: And the principal was astonished when he heard the answer from one of our students.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: That student said, You gotta talk about him to others.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: And the look on the principal's face.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: He was startled by the answer.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: You have to talk about him to others.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Philemon 1 6, be active in sharing your faith in your Lord Jesus Christ so that you'll have a full understanding of all the good things you have in Christ.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: The more you talk about him, the more real he becomes.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: I hesitated sharing this last night and this morning at 8 o'clock.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: I hesitated sharing it.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: I actually asked people a couple of people, should I have shared it or shouldn't I?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Absolutely, you should have shared it.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: This talking about Jesus with others.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: I've never bumped into it before.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: One time five years ago, I'm talking about Jesus at a funeral and I'm talking about his promises, and a man is very hostile.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: And he comes up to me afterwards and said, My son died in Vietnam along with 52,000 others.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: There is no God.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: He said, Stop bringing them false hope.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: Told them about my son dying of cancer, but that's another story.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm at a funeral not too long ago.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: And the daughter is sitting there, her husband sitting next to her.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: And I'm talking what I always talk about.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Talk about Lazarus, talk about Mary and Martha, talk about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: I talk about John 11, 25.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm the resurrection in the life.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: He that believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking as I have for 1,200 other funerals.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: And there's a man at that service.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: And the more I talk about Jesus, the angrier he gets.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: All over his face, all over his body.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: Turns to the person sitting next to him.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Can almost hear what he's saying.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe that jerk is talking about these things?
20:40
SPEAKER_00: There was another gentleman there, I believe a professor.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: And he sat there the entire service with a huge smirk on his face.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: Pastor, you really believe this stuff?
20:54
SPEAKER_00: You really believe this stuff?
20:55
SPEAKER_00: You're disturbing this service by talking about this stuff?
21:02
SPEAKER_00: It unnerved me.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: Haven't bumped into it before.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: And when people left the service last night and this morning, they said, Pastor, that's what we bump into.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: When we talk about Jesus at school, that's the reaction we get from some.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: And when I talk about him at the at on my football team, it's like I've just raised some word that was worse than a cuss word.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: That's what we bump into, Pastor.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: You just happen to bump into it, perhaps for the first time, but that's what we bump into.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: And then one individual said to me, Don't stop preaching.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: And don't stop talking about him.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: And that's what I say to you.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: You know what happened to me the next day?
21:53
SPEAKER_00: I didn't sleep well that night, bumping into that.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: I didn't sleep well.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Next day I go to Inseel Hospital.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: See, one of our members, the daughter is there.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: I have a devotion on God's light coming into the darkness, and I have a prayer.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: And she said, Pastor, you're bringing God's light into people's lives.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: I can't describe that, what that does and what that means.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: And I said to her, I really needed that today.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Thank you, God.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: And then she said, I read a devotion this morning, Sarah Young.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: It's the kind of the same devotion you read.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: God's light coming into the darkness.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: I said, send it to me.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: And she did.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: On Friday, we go down to Champagne Urbana, Connie's stepdad's 94th birthday.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Stop at a gas station.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking to the gal at the gas station.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: I said, How long you worked here?
22:46
SPEAKER_00: She said, 12 years.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: I said, my first job was the Philip 66, just like this.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: She said, I enjoyed it to two years ago.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: They made me a manager.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Now I have to order all the food, clean all the bathrooms, and I can't handle this stress anymore.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: And I said to her, God knows where you're supposed to be.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: I hesitated because of what happened at the funeral.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: I hesitated for a moment, but God did not give us a spirit of timidity.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: I said, God knows where you're supposed to be, and when you're supposed to be there.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: And her eyes lit up.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: Not with anger.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: Her eyes lit up and she said, Thank you for reminding me of that.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: Principal Gaulle had it correct.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: The more you speak about Jesus to others, you're going to have one or two reactions.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: And if the reaction is a negative one, you know, I shared that with Pastor Schauer that week.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: I said, You won't believe what happened to me.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: You know what he said to me?
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Words of comfort.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: He said, It happened to Jesus all the time, Paul.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Happened to him all the time.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: They mocked him and they cursed him and they hung him on a cross.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they'll do that with you, but they mocked him and they cursed him and hung him on a cross.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: You can't stop bringing him into other people's lives.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: And the more you talk about him, the more freely you live.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: Because you're not ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: You got an active faith, and David's sins are forgiven.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: You got an active faith, and David says, Bring on Goliath.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: You have an active faith, and Daniel says, Yeah, throw me in the lions, then we'll see what happens.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: You have an active faith, and Simon Peter says, I'm going to live the rest of my life for my Lord and Savior.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: Living freely, God bless you, if you're involved in this study.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: God bless you.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: Most important thing you'll ever have is a faith active and strong in the reality of the one who created this universe.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: And he is yours, and he is mine.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: In our Savior's name.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, take the promises out of the Bible during these next four weeks.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: May they not drift over our head, may our eyes not close when we're reading them.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: But may your spirit grab hold of them, send them straight down into our heart.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: Did not Jesus say, No one can come to me in faith unless the Father draws them, and when the Father draws them, I will cling so tightly to them they can barely breathe.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: I will be with them in their life on this earth, day by day, moment by moment, circumstance by circumstance, and when their body has all worn out, I shall take them to heaven, everlasting life with me.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I've come to understand that not every person will believe that.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: But nonetheless, the truth is there, and our boldness and our courage will enable us to live freely, even in the realm of sharing our faith.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: In our Savior's name.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: Amen.