Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000167A
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00:18 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN's, A Sharper Focus.
00:22 So glad that you have joined us this evening. 00:24 My name is Jill Morikone. 00:26 And it is a privilege to open up the Word of God 00:29 on Wednesday night, to be able to come to the Lord. 00:31 Both our family here; our 3ABN family here 00:34 at the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist church, 00:36 as well as you at home. 00:38 You are a part of our 3ABN family. 00:41 And we just welcome you to, A Sharper Focus. 00:44 As you can see, I'm not Pastor John Lomacang. 00:46 He is traveling actually. 00:48 He's going overseas and carrying on several 00:50 evangelistic campaigns. 00:52 So say a special prayer for him. 00:54 But I'm delighted to be here with you tonight. 00:57 If you want to go to the website, it's asf.3abn.org. 01:05 And there you can download the study guides, 01:08 you can check out the videos. 01:14 So before we get started and go to the Lord in prayer, 01:19 I want to read a scripture, 01:22 and then we'll jump into tonight's message. 01:24 And tonight's message is, to be honest with you, 01:27 something that I need in my own heart and life. 01:31 Something that I need God's working 01:34 in my own character, in my own life with. 01:37 And that has to do with judging other people. 01:41 So our title for our topic for tonight is, Judging Others. 01:46 The scripture is 2 Corinthians. 01:48 If you have your Bibles, open up with me to 2 Corinthians 10:12. 01:55 2 Corinthians 10:12 01:59 The Bible says, "For we dare not class ourselves 02:02 or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. 02:08 But they, measuring themselves by themselves..." 02:12 You notice they didn't measure themselves against God, 02:15 or the standard of righteousness in His Word or His law. 02:19 They measure themselves by themselves. 02:21 "...and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." 02:27 Let's pray. 02:29 Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus. 02:31 And I ask right now that You could hide me behind the cross, 02:38 that Jesus could be lifted up and honored and glorified. 02:42 We ask that, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, Your Word 02:47 would come alive to us, and we would not only be hearers 02:51 but we would be doers of what You have for us in Your Word. 02:55 And I thank You in the precious and the holy 02:59 name of Jesus, amen. 03:01 It was one of those wonderful mornings. 03:03 You are just getting up and spending time with Jesus. 03:07 You like those mornings? 03:08 Oh, I love those mornings. 03:10 So got up and I said, well I'm going to spend my time 03:13 having my devotions. 03:14 And I had spent time reading the Word of God 03:17 and spent time talking to Him in prayer. 03:20 And now I was just kind of sitting quietly. 03:23 Kind of saying, "Okay God, I want to hear You speak to me." 03:27 You know, the Bible says, Psalm 46:10, 03:29 "Be still and know that I am God." 03:32 So prayer is not only me talking to Jesus, 03:35 it's Him talking to me." 03:37 So I was just sitting there quietly. 03:39 And I began to pray Psalm 139:23-24 over my life. 03:44 You know that scripture? 03:46 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; 03:48 try me, and know my thoughts; 03:50 and see if there is any wicked way in me, 03:53 and lead me in the way everlasting." 03:56 Now when I pray that scripture, I don't just say, 03:58 "See if there is any wickedness in me." 04:00 Because I know it exists. 04:01 I just say, "God, show me the stuff inside 04:05 that's not like You." 04:06 Because I want to be like Jesus. 04:09 And so as I was praying that prayer, as I was praying 04:12 that scripture back to God, all of a sudden He showed me 04:17 a picture of my heart. 04:18 And I'm not saying it was a vision, nothing like that. 04:21 But it was almost as if I was sitting there and I could see 04:24 my heart laid out in my lap. 04:28 And it was very clean and fresh looking and nice in the middle. 04:32 And all the way around the edges were pockets of diseased tissue. 04:39 And I began to cry. 04:41 Because I know that those pockets represented sin. 04:46 Represented something in my life that was displeasing to Jesus. 04:50 But I didn't know what it was. 04:53 And so I said, "God, I don't know what those 04:56 pockets represent. 04:58 I don't know what's in them, but please would You show me?" 05:03 And so that day unfolded. 05:06 You know, you get ready for work and you run in. 05:09 That very day a situation arose. 05:12 And instantly my mind, my heart, 05:17 responded with a critical spirit. 05:20 Instantly. 05:21 And it was like I felt God tap me on the shoulder. 05:24 Not literally. 05:25 But you know how He impresses our hearts with something. 05:27 And He said, "Jill, My daughter, that is one of those pockets 05:33 I showed you this morning." 05:34 The pocket of a critical spirit. 05:37 When I grew up, and then we'll get into scripture, 05:40 when I grew up, I had wonderful parents. 05:43 Loving home. 05:45 Sometime about my teen years, later teen years, 05:49 I got involved in, I don't know how to say it 05:54 except for a better word, 05:57 performance based religion. 06:00 I don't know if that makes any sense to you, 06:02 or if that makes any sense to you at home. 06:04 Religion that would be based on what I do, 06:09 how I dress, how I behave. 06:15 And that somehow equated righteousness. 06:19 I don't know if any of you can relate to that. 06:23 I think initially rules became safe. 06:26 It felt something comfortable, something I could trust. 06:30 Something I could almost hide behind. 06:34 And then the next progression, rules began 06:37 to become my religion. 06:41 And then the final progression, rules became what I thought 06:46 was my salvation. 06:49 Instead of knowing Ephesians 2:8-10, 06:52 we are saved by grace through faith, 06:54 "and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, 06:57 not of works, lest anyone should boast." 06:59 And yes, works is part of that. 07:02 For we are created in Christ Jesus to perform 07:05 and to do those good works. 07:07 But that comes as a result of a relationship 07:10 born out of love to Jesus Christ. 07:13 That comes out of Him doing the work in me and through me 07:16 instead of me feeling like I had to do that. 07:19 So somewhere along the way I lost my way 07:23 and became critical. 07:26 I developed a judgmental spirit. 07:29 It reminds me of the Pharisees. 07:31 Let's take a look at Luke 18. 07:33 This is the Pharisee and the publican when they went up 07:36 to the temple to pray. 07:38 We're in Luke 18. 07:44 Luke 18 starting in verse 9. 07:51 "Also He," meaning Jesus, "spoke this parable to some 07:56 who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, 08:02 and despised others." 08:04 Now instantly, if we look at what are the qualities 08:07 of the Pharisee, the first quality I see, 08:10 they trust in themselves. 08:14 It's kind of interesting. 08:16 Kind of easy to trust in yourself. 08:19 We're taught from babyhood. Right? 08:21 Learn to put on your own shoes. 08:23 Don't always let mommy tie them for you. Right? 08:26 We're taught, learn to brush your own teeth, 08:28 and you learn to read your own stuff yourself. 08:31 Mommy can't always read for you. 08:33 We're taught, learn to ride a bike, and learn to drive a car, 08:36 and be self-sufficient. 08:39 And that almost goes counter intuitive to the gospel, 08:44 to how we are to be as God's children. 08:46 So the Pharisees trust in themselves. 08:50 But not just trust in themselves in the self-sufficient way, 08:53 but trust in themselves in a self-sufficient way 08:56 that they were righteous. 08:58 Almost trusting in their own righteousness. 09:01 The second quality I see, they trusted in themselves 09:05 that they were righteous, and despised... 09:09 You've got it, Yannick. 09:10 Despised others. 09:13 In the Greek, that word for, "despised," 09:16 means, to reduce to nothing; to cast out as nothing; 09:22 to treat with utter contempt. 09:26 So they didn't just say, "Oh, who do you think you are? 09:29 I'm righteous and I can trust in myself." 09:31 But they had utter contempt for people who did not 09:36 follow their rules, who did not do what they thought 09:42 equated with righteousness. 09:44 Let's keep going. 09:46 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, 09:49 one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 09:55 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 09:59 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men: 10:04 extortioners, unjust, adulterers, 10:07 or even as this tax collector.'" 10:09 Now in the King James, it says, "even as this publican." Right? 10:12 We call it, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. 10:15 Or the Pharisee and the tax collector. 10:17 "I thank You God that I'm not like other men." 10:22 What do I see there? 10:24 He is self-righteous. 10:27 Could we say that? 10:28 He trusted in his own righteousness. 10:30 Very self-righteous. 10:32 We could say, proud, even. 10:34 Seems prideful to me. 10:37 Then he goes on to say what he does. 10:39 He had just listed all the things that he does not do. 10:42 "I'm not an adulterer, I'm not an extortioner, I'm not unjust." 10:47 And then he goes on to what he does. 10:49 "I fast twice in a week; I give tithes of all I possess." 10:55 He's trusting in himself, in his own righteousness. 10:58 He's proud in who he is before God. 11:02 His, as I mentioned, his rules maybe were safe 11:07 and easy at the beginning. 11:09 Something to hide behind. 11:10 Maybe they became a religion. 11:12 You can see that for sure his rules are his religion. 11:15 But I think, beyond that his rules have become his salvation. 11:18 Because he thinks, "All I need is to accurately 11:22 obey all these rules and I will be saved." 11:25 It becomes about the rules. 11:27 Now let's contrast that with the tax collector, or the publican. 11:32 Verse 13, we're in Luke 13 verse 13. 11:35 Luke 18, I'm sorry. Luke 18:13. 11:38 "And the tax collector, standing afar off, 11:41 would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, 11:45 but he beat his breast, saying, 11:47 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'" 11:52 Then Jesus says, "I tell you, this man," 11:55 meaning the tax collector, the one who realized his need, 11:59 "went down to his house justified rather than the other; 12:04 for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, 12:07 and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 12:11 Now what are the qualities of the tax collector? 12:14 I see a man or a woman who's humble, 12:17 who realizes their need of a Savior. 12:21 And he also asked, did you notice that, 12:24 he asked for help and pardon. 12:28 Now, why did the Pharisee not receive any pardon? 12:33 Jesus said, what did He say? 12:34 That the tax collector went down to his house justified. 12:38 He received pardon. 12:39 But it didn't say anything about the Pharisee 12:42 not receiving pardon. 12:43 So was God being unfair? 12:45 Was He being, "Okay, I'm going to pardon this person, 12:48 but I won't pardon this person." 12:49 No, not at all. 12:50 Look at James chapter 4. 12:54 James 4, we'll look at two verses there. 13:00 This is one of the saddest verses to me in the Bible. 13:04 James 4:2 13:07 The second part of verse 2. 13:09 "You do not have because you do not ask." 13:15 You think of all the things that God would want to give us. 13:19 Number one, He wants to give us salvation. 13:22 He wants to redeem us, and forgive us, and justify us, 13:26 and sanctify us, and call us as His sons and daughters. 13:31 But yet, we can't have any of that if we don't ask. 13:35 So you look at the Pharisee, he never asked, right? 13:40 He never asked, therefore he never received. 13:45 Having asked for nothing, he received nothing. 13:48 Verse 6, James 4:6 talks about, "God resists the proud, 13:52 but gives grace unto the humble." 13:56 They often say, "Rules without relationship lead to sin." 14:04 Rules without relationship lead to sin. 14:07 Or rules without relationship lead to rebellion 14:12 if we don't have Jesus. 14:13 So how do we see the critical heart manifested? 14:18 And then I want to spend the rest of our time, 14:20 what can God do in our life to change us 14:24 and to take out that critical spirit 14:27 and replace it with a heart of humility, 14:30 a heart of love toward other people? 14:33 So we'll spend the balance of our time on that. 14:34 But I just want to take a quick look at the critical spirit. 14:37 It destroys homes. Could you say that? 14:39 It separates friends, hurts innocent people. 14:44 And I believe the root of the critical spirit, 14:47 if you boil it all the way down, it comes down to pride. 14:52 Because the critical spirit, or the judgmental spirit, 14:55 puts other people down 14:58 because I want to make myself look better. 15:00 That verse we started out, 2 Corinthians 10, 15:03 they "comparing themselves among themselves are not wise." 15:09 Even critical thoughts in my mind affect 15:15 my behavior toward other people. 15:17 Remember, the Jews believed that... 15:20 And we could say the Jews, and oh well the Jews believed that. 15:22 But you know what? 15:24 I've believed that. 15:25 And I'm sure we have too 15:26 as Seventh-day Adventist Christians. 15:29 Often it's so easy to believe that Christianity 15:32 is bound up in the outward form of the law, 15:34 the actual Ten Commandment law. 15:39 And to realize that God's standard goes so much deeper 15:45 and so much higher than we could ever imagine. 15:49 Think of the sermon on the mount. 15:50 Jesus gave some radical belief systems, 15:54 some radical beliefs that He was presenting to them. 15:57 And not only the beatitudes, but after the beatitudes 16:00 we have six antithetical statements. 16:02 Really, that's just six contrasting statements. 16:06 And they believed in the letter of the law, 16:09 or we could say outward obedience to the law, 16:14 where Jesus said it goes way deeper than that. 16:16 It goes into the spirit of the law, 16:19 or the inward condition of the heart. 16:22 Remember some of those six statements that Jesus made? 16:25 "You have heard that it was said, 16:27 'You should not commit adultery.' 16:29 But I say to you..." What? 16:31 "Even if you have lust in your heart, that's the same thing." 16:35 Wow, one is the outward letter of the law 16:39 and the other one goes so much deeper. 16:41 Remember, He said, "You have heard that it was said, 16:43 'Do not murder.' 16:45 But I say to you, even if you have hatred in your heart 16:50 it's the same thing as committing murder." 16:54 So with the critical spirit, with that spirit of judgment 16:59 toward others, it's not just what I say 17:01 to my sister here, Tracy. 17:03 Or not just how I act. 17:06 It goes deeper than that. 17:08 It goes to my heart. 17:10 The thoughts and intents of my heart and how I feel inside. 17:15 We see the example of a critical spirit 17:18 at the dinner table. 17:19 You ever seen that? 17:21 It pops out, the conversation turns to the pastor. 17:24 We have a great pastor here, 17:25 so we're not talking about our pastor. 17:26 But it could, right? 17:28 You're in a church and all of a sudden, boom, it pops out. 17:31 "Well you know what he just did?" 17:32 "You know who he failed to visit?" 17:34 What is that? 17:36 A critical spirit. 17:38 It comes up at nominating committee in churches. 17:41 Someone's nominated for a really important position. 17:45 And then, "Oh, but you know what? 17:47 I have a concern about so and so." 17:49 And we say it in such a self-righteous attitude. 17:53 Like the Pharisee believing that they had that righteousness. 17:58 What about, someone comes up and says, "You know what? 18:01 We really need to pray for sister so and so. 18:05 They're not getting along very well." 18:08 Well what is... 18:10 At first it seems harmless. 18:13 Oh we believe in prayer, we want to pray. 18:16 That's a good thing, to pray. 18:18 But underneath that is that insinuation. 18:22 "Sister so and so doesn't get along with 18:24 this other person there. 18:26 You and I are holier. 18:28 You and I get along with people." 18:30 That critical spirit jumps in when we don't even see it. 18:36 We see that example, let's look at the disciples, 18:38 a couple of examples of their critical spirit. 18:40 And then we'll take a look at what God can do 18:42 and how He can change our heart. 18:44 The first example is in John 12. 18:49 There's actually many examples we could give. 18:51 We'll just give three here tonight. 18:53 John 12:2-7 19:00 John 12:2-7 19:04 Actually, we'll start with verse 1. 19:05 John 12:1, let's start with verse 1. 19:08 "Six days before the Passover..." 19:10 Now we're coming right up to the time when 19:12 Jesus is going to be crucified. 19:15 "Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, 19:19 where Lazarus was who had been dead, 19:21 whom He had raised from the dead." 19:23 Now I love it that when you read the Bible, 19:26 you can look at the different gospels 19:27 and you get a little more detail. 19:29 In Matthew, it talks about they're at the 19:32 house of Simon the leper. 19:33 So we know it's right before Jesus is crucified, 19:36 they're in Bethany, but they're at the house 19:38 of Simon the leper. 19:40 Verse 2, "There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, 19:43 but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him." 19:46 I imagine he had a high position. 19:48 He had just been raised from the dead, and everyone's, 19:50 "Oh, this is Lazarus. 19:52 And he's sitting at the table with us." 19:54 "Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, 19:57 anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. 20:01 And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil." 20:06 Now we know it was costly. 20:08 It had cost what? A year's wages. 20:10 Or something like that. 20:12 "But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, 20:17 who would betray Him, said, 'Why was this fragrant oil 20:21 not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?'" 20:25 Now initially you'd say, "Wow, that's a critical spirit." 20:29 He's saying, "Why is she doing this for Jesus? 20:31 And why is it not going to the poor?" 20:33 But his critical spirit went even farther than that. 20:35 Because what does the Bible say? 20:37 The next verse, he said this, not because he had any 20:39 compassion, not because he cared for the poor, 20:42 but because he's a thief. 20:44 The man is a thief. 20:45 And he said, he wants to make it appear righteous, 20:49 and, "Oh, this money should really go for the poor." 20:52 But he wants to steal the money from the purse 20:55 that the disciples had, 20:56 and he wants to use it for his own gain. 20:59 So the critical spirit there. 21:01 Mary is doing an act of sacrifice. 21:04 An act of pouring her love, her heart, to her Master 21:10 who had saved her and redeemed her from so much pain. 21:14 And yet Judas is engaging in that judgmental critical spirit 21:21 and looking at what he sees is a fault, 21:24 which was not a fault at all but what he perceived as one. 21:26 The next example is in Mark 9. 21:31 Mark 9, and this is where James and John, 21:34 remember, they asked to sit on each side of Jesus. 21:38 Mark 9, we pick it up in verse 30... 21:43 Mark 9:35 21:49 Oh, verse 33. I'm sorry. I'm reading the wrong. 21:51 Mark 9:33, "He came to Capernaum. 21:53 And when He was in the house He asked them, 21:56 'What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?' 22:01 But they kept silent..." 22:03 Has that ever happened to you? 22:04 You know, when God wants to show you something in your heart, 22:07 and it's like, "Oh Jill, what's going on here?" 22:09 "Oh, I don't know, God. 22:11 I have no idea. It's a really nice day. 22:13 Yeah, and I've really got to get to work. 22:14 And I'm not..." Right? 22:16 We want to avoid that because we don't want to 22:19 look at our own stuff. 22:21 Or what happens when maybe your spouse or a friend 22:24 says to you, "You know what? 22:25 What's going on with you, Tracy?" 22:27 And you're like, "Oh, I'm great. I'm doing really good." 22:29 So the disciples knew they had been in the wrong. Right? 22:32 They knew that, that they were arguing about 22:35 who was the greatest along the way. 22:37 So what does the Bible say? 22:38 They kept silent. 22:40 When Jesus says, "What are you arguing about?" 22:43 What's wrong with you?" they kept silent. 22:46 "For on the road they had disputed among themselves 22:51 who would be the greatest." 22:55 The third example from the disciples is in Matthew 15. 22:59 We won't turn there, but Matthew 15:21-28. 23:03 And think about the Canaanite woman. 23:05 Remember, Jesus led the disciples by this path, 23:07 and there was the Canaanite woman there. 23:09 And her daughter was demon-possessed. 23:11 And she came after Jesus and said, 23:14 "Please, will you come heal my daughter? 23:17 Will you cast the demons out?" 23:19 And Jesus, He did not have a critical spirit, 23:23 He loved everyone, but He wanted to teach the disciples a lesson. 23:26 And so He pretended like, "Oh, what do you 23:29 have to do with Me, woman? 23:30 I'm doing My own thing." 23:32 And so she came after Him again. 23:33 Remember? And again. 23:35 And then finally she said, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs," 23:41 remember, "eat the crumbs from off the master's table." 23:47 What lesson is Jesus trying to teach His disciples? 23:50 In this sense they had a judgmental or a critical spirit 23:55 toward a different race, really. 23:58 They thought, "We are the chosen people. 24:01 This woman is a heathen. 24:03 She's a Canaanite. 24:05 We don't want anything to do with that. 24:07 God's mercy, God's forgiveness surely could not 24:11 extend to this person." 24:12 And Jesus wanted to teach them that grace, mercy, forgiveness 24:18 is for everyone. 24:20 And He does not call us to have that critical spirit. 24:23 So what can we do about the critical spirit? 24:27 You know, the interesting thing is, 24:30 the story I told you at the beginning about my heart 24:33 and how God showed me those pockets in my heart. 24:36 That happened years ago. 24:39 And I was so excited God showing me my heart, 24:42 and He can work in me to change me. 24:44 And then you know what happened? 24:47 I shouldn't be saying this on live television. 24:50 Just last week, okay, that's not a long time ago, is it? 24:54 So you could be saying, "Oh yeah, Jill got 24:56 victory over this years ago." 24:57 Just last week God showed me there's still a critical spirit. 25:05 Wow, just last week. 25:08 And I told Greg, "God just showed me something in my heart. 25:14 And I don't like it. 25:16 And I don't want it. 25:19 I want God to take that." 25:21 So I had to go back through the same steps. 25:24 And here I thought I got victory. 25:26 Praise God He gave me victory, but guess what happens? 25:29 Sin is insidious. 25:31 And you give your heart to God and give Him 25:34 everything, and He takes it. 25:36 And then all of a sudden something starts to 25:38 creep in the back door. 25:41 And so praise the Lord, He doesn't show us our heart 25:45 and then say, "Okay, Jill, you've just got to 25:47 grit your teeth and bear it. 25:48 You've got to try harder. 25:50 You've got to pull yourself up," what do we say, 25:52 "by your bootstraps and do it a little better." 25:55 Praise God, He doesn't leave us that way. 25:59 He never shows us our heart and then says, 26:02 "Okay, you're left to work it out yourself." 26:04 He only shows us stuff because He wants to change us. 26:09 He wants to redeem us. 26:11 He wants to make you and I into the image of Jesus. 26:15 And so praise the Lord for that. 26:17 So three R's. I love alliterations. 26:19 So they all start with "R". 26:21 These are the three steps of healing 26:23 from that critical spirit. 26:25 Number one is to realize we can't change ourselves. 26:30 To realize we can't change ourselves. 26:33 I could say that's half the battle, but to be honest 26:36 with you, I think it's three-quarters of the battle. 26:38 Because if I try, like we started with the Pharisee, 26:42 if I try to trust in myself, in my own righteousness, 26:45 if I try to do it my own way and try harder, 26:48 that is always doomed for failure. 26:52 We can fake it for a while, but eventually 26:56 we're going to find out that we can't do that. 26:58 So the first step is just to realize 27:01 we can't change ourselves. 27:02 Jeremiah 13, you all know this verse. 27:06 Jeremiah 13:23 27:12 "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" 27:18 Of course not. 27:19 "Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil." 27:26 What could we say? 27:27 Could we change our heart? 27:29 When I have a judgmental or critical spirit, 27:31 when I'm struggling with some certain sin, 27:35 can I change my heart? 27:37 Of course not. 27:38 We who are accustomed to doing evil, we can't do good. 27:42 Number one is just to realize that we can't change ourselves. 27:46 Number two, repent and allow God, by the power of 27:51 His Holy Spirit, to change us. 27:54 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins," what's the Bible say, 27:58 "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 28:02 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 28:06 You know, I use to think, I need to... 28:10 Say you slip into sin. 28:12 You do something that you know God does not want you to do, 28:15 and you step over the line into something. 28:18 And then I would say, "Well, I have to be good 28:21 for maybe three weeks, maybe six weeks. 28:24 God would like it better if I was good for three months 28:26 before I finally come back to Him and repent." 28:30 Where does that come from? 28:31 Somehow it seemed like I had to become better 28:35 or I had to act good for a while before God would receive me. 28:40 And nothing is further from the truth. 28:42 The minute He shows us our heart, the minute He shows us 28:46 that junk and what's inside, what do we do? 28:49 Instantly we turn to Him, "Oh Father, I'm sorry. 28:53 Thank You for showing me my heart. 28:56 Thank You for showing me..." 28:58 In this case we're talking about a critical, judgmental spirit. 29:01 "Thank You for showing me the critical spirit, 29:04 the critical nature in my heart. 29:07 And God, I give You permission to change me." 29:09 We can't change ourselves, but He can change us. 29:14 Ezekiel. 29:16 We were in Jeremiah there, let's jump over to Ezekiel. 29:21 This is one of my favorite scriptures. 29:23 Ezekiel chapter 36. 29:26 Remember, the children of Israel were God's chosen people. 29:29 And He had called them to be set as a city on a hill. 29:33 He had called them to be a light to the heathen, 29:36 to be a light to the Gentiles, to those who were around. 29:40 And yet, at the same time they had miserably 29:44 failed in their mission. 29:45 They had followed after other idols. 29:50 They had left God and done their own thing. 29:55 And yet, this verse comes in the midst of all that apostasy, 29:59 in the midst of all them turning from God. 30:03 Verse 25. 30:06 "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; 30:12 I will cleanse you from all your filthiness 30:15 and from all your idols. 30:17 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; 30:22 I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh 30:25 and give you a heart of flesh. 30:29 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk 30:33 in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." 30:38 My favorite verse, "Then you shall dwell in 30:39 the land that I gave to your fathers; 30:41 you shall be My people, and I will be your God." 30:47 You know, God knows we have a stony heart, a hard heart. 30:53 I think about, I've shared this before, 30:56 Greg and my first year of marriage, 30:59 and we had some sort of argument. 31:02 And to this day... 31:03 It was a discussion. We could say a discussion. 31:05 Maybe we'll sanitize it. 31:07 It was a discussion. 31:08 And to this day I can't tell you what we argued about, 31:12 what we discussed. 31:13 All I can tell you is that I was right. 31:17 And I knew that. 31:19 And so I had, what does this talk about? 31:21 A hard heart, Right? A heart of stone. 31:23 I had a heart of stone. 31:26 And I remember thinking, it's his job to apologize. 31:32 His job to come say, "Jilly, you know, I was wrong." 31:37 His job to do all that stuff. 31:38 And my job is to wear the cold shoulder, 31:42 as women are very good at wearing. 31:45 And I will give him a little bit of... 31:49 "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong." 31:52 You know, that ugly attitude that we can be good at. 31:55 So this went on for a couple of hours. 31:58 Whoof! 32:00 And then all of a sudden Greg said, 32:01 "Jilly, I think we should pray." 32:03 And I thought, "I don't want to pray." 32:05 Because God is going to say, "Jill, you heart is hard. 32:09 Would you let Me take out the hardness 32:12 and give you a heart of flesh?" 32:14 And I thought, "No, I don't want to be softened." 32:19 Whoo! 32:21 So I knew when Greg said, "Jilly, we need to pray," 32:25 that really we ought to pray, because I've been raised 32:28 a Christian, and you're suppose to do that, right? 32:32 So I thought, "Well, I don't want to do it, 32:33 but God, please help my husband to pray first. 32:36 Because I'm not going to be the one showing weakness. 32:38 And I'm not going to be the one who prays first." 32:40 So we knelt down by our little couch. 32:44 And he prayed first. 32:46 And the first words out of his mouth 32:48 God used to soften my heart of stone. 32:55 The first words. 32:57 And he said, "God, forgive me for not being the wife..." 33:03 I mean, the husband. Whoof! 33:04 "...forgive me for not being the husband to Jilly 33:10 that I should be." 33:12 And as soon as he prayed that, God, by the power of His Spirit, 33:17 used that prayer to soften my stony heart. 33:23 You know, I think in the Christian walk we can think, 33:26 "Okay, I give my life to Jesus. 33:29 I choose to follow Him. 33:32 I want to serve Him. I want a soft heart." 33:35 And God gives that to us. 33:36 But you know what happens? 33:38 Life gets in the way. 33:39 Stuff gets in the way. 33:41 Trials and temptations come. 33:43 And all of a sudden, I realize things in my heart 33:46 I did not know before. 33:48 I realize pride, and junk, and a critical spirit 33:54 like God just showed me last week. 33:56 These things all of a sudden crop up 33:59 I did not know were there. 34:00 And at that time I have a choice. 34:03 My heart at that time can go hard or it can go soft again. 34:09 And at that moment I have to say, "God, I want to allow You, 34:14 by the power of Your Spirit, come into my heart. 34:17 Take out that heart of stone, 34:20 replace it anew with a heart of flesh." 34:23 You know, Hebrews 8:10 talks about God writing His law 34:30 in the tablets of our heart. 34:33 Not just with His finger on stone. 34:37 And it was put in what? The ark of the covenant. 34:39 But God writes His law in our hearts. 34:44 What does that mean? 34:45 We obey Him from the inside out. 34:47 It's not something external, as we talked about in Matthew 5, 34:51 it's not something external I put on because I have to. 34:55 I obey Him because I love Him. 34:58 Because life without Jesus is unthinkable. 35:02 So back to God's solution to the judgmental spirit. 35:05 Number one, realize we can't change ourselves. 35:09 Number two, repent and allow God, by the power of 35:12 His Holy Spirit, to change you. 35:14 And number three, replace superiority with servanthood. 35:22 I'll say that again. 35:23 Replace superiority with servanthood. 35:28 Replace pride with the mind of Christ. 35:32 I want to look at two scriptures in reference to that. 35:34 John 13 35:38 This is just before the last supper. 35:40 John 13 35:46 What's incredible to me about this passage, 35:50 we have the whole footwashing experience. 35:52 And we won't read all of that now. 35:53 But the part that's incredible to me 35:55 is the first couple of verses. 35:57 It says, "Now before the Feast of the Passover, 35:59 when Jesus knew that His hour had come 36:02 that He should depart from this world to the Father, 36:06 having loved His own who were in the world, 36:09 He loved them to the end." 36:12 Verse 2, "And supper being ended, the devil having already 36:16 put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, 36:20 to betray Him..." 36:22 So Judas has already made up his mind. 36:25 He already made the pact with the priest 36:28 that he's going to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, 36:31 which is the price of a common slave. 36:34 He's already made that decision. 36:36 Verse 3, "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things 36:42 into His hands, and that He had come from God 36:45 and was going to God, rose from supper 36:49 laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself." 36:53 And He began the process of servanthood, 36:56 which was a servants job, 36:57 washing the feet of the disciples. 37:01 But what I love is verse 3. 37:04 It shows us John clearly understood that Jesus 37:08 was not doing the part of a servant because He somehow 37:11 forgot He's the Messiah. 37:13 He wasn't doing it because somehow He thought, 37:15 "Well, I'm just an ordinary man." 37:17 It says, with full knowledge that He came from God, 37:21 that after this time, the sojourn on earth, 37:24 He's going back to God, 37:27 full knowledge of His divinity, He still chose to serve. 37:32 That is the opposite of a critical spirit. 37:37 Would you say, the opposite of pride. 37:38 That is the heart of humility, of esteeming others, 37:43 as better than Himself. 37:44 We see that... I call it the mind of Christ. 37:47 But we see that in Philippians 2. 37:51 Philippians 2, that's the second scripture for this. 37:54 Philippians 2 37:59 If I can find Philippians. 38:00 Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. 38:03 I went too far. Philippians 2:1. 38:06 "Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, 38:09 if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, 38:13 if any affection and mercy," 38:16 verse 2, "fulfill my joy by being like-minded, 38:23 having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." 38:29 It reminds me of Romans 15. 38:32 I received a letter once from someone. 38:37 Well I've received many letters, but this particular letter 38:39 that I received was someone who addressed some issues 38:43 that they saw in my life. 38:44 And you could say my heart rose up with a critical spirit. 38:49 Really, to be honest with you. 38:50 Like, what business do they have to write me this letter! 38:53 And who are they! 38:54 And instantly you start getting defensive inside. 38:58 Not having the mind of Jesus. 39:00 Not having a mind of servanthood or being 39:02 like-minded toward my brothers and sisters. 39:04 And one morning I'm having my devotions, 39:07 God led me, I was just reading Romans 15. 39:12 And it talks about, verse 5, the same thing that 39:15 Philippians 2 talks about. 39:16 "May the God of patience and comfort grant you 39:19 to be like-minded toward one another..." 39:22 There is the same phrase. 39:24 God calls us to be like-minded toward one another. 39:28 And Romans goes on to say, "Receive one another..." 39:31 This is in verse 7. 39:33 "Receive one another, just as Christ also received us, 39:37 to the glory of God." 39:38 "Therefore, receive one another..." 39:41 And when I read that, when I was having my worship, 39:43 God instantly said, "Jill, why can't you receive your sister? 39:49 You know, the one who sent you that letter. 39:51 You're holding a barrier or a bridge, 39:53 you're looking in condensation. 39:55 But she is your sister. 39:56 I have received her as My daughter. 39:59 Do you not think you can receive her as your sister?" 40:03 And so I realized at that point, "Wow, look at the bitterness, 40:08 the critical spirit I'm harboring toward someone else. 40:11 God, would you take that away? 40:13 Would you replace it with the spirit of Jesus?" 40:16 And He lead me, in that case, to write 40:18 this precious woman a letter. 40:20 And she became my friend. 40:21 And you know what? 40:23 Everything she said in the letter was probably true. 40:25 There was a lot of good things to learn in there. 40:28 So back to Philippians 2. 40:30 God calls us to be like-minded. 40:34 We fulfill His joy "by being like-minded, 40:37 having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." 40:42 How much division and strife 40:45 would we avoid in the family, in the church, 40:49 at our place of work if we followed this scripture, 40:55 if we considered each other as brothers and sisters, 40:59 instead of thinking, "I'm going to scramble on my way 41:04 to whatever position," and I just push my 41:07 brothers and sisters out of the way. 41:09 Or instead of picking up little pebbles and throwing them 41:13 at them, saying, "Oh, you do this wrong." 41:15 and, "Oh, you do that wrong." 41:17 That's not being like-minded. 41:19 How much division and strife could we avoid 41:23 if that really happened? 41:27 I heard from a woman, she said, 41:30 "I joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 41:36 and I was brand new. 41:39 I didn't know anything, didn't know much. 41:42 Just brand new baby Christian. 41:45 Excited to be in the church. 41:48 And the elder sat me down and said, 41:54 'You wear your hair the wrong way. 41:58 You don't dress the right way.'" 42:00 Or whatever. "You don't..." 42:02 You could replace it with whatever. 42:06 And so she said, "I struggled, and they would call me names. 42:12 But yet I'm a baby Christian, and brand new, 42:15 and just coming into the church." 42:19 Then she said, "I left the church." 42:23 Because people did not follow that principle 42:28 we're talking about in Philippians chapter 2. 42:30 Because people harbored a critical, judgmental spirit 42:38 toward someone else. 42:41 She said, "I've been out of the church for years. 42:44 But I watch 3ABN. 42:48 I watch 3ABN." 42:50 And so, I think in many churches we have people that come in 42:57 that are hurting, people who are broken. 43:05 And often we don't display the character of Jesus. 43:12 Could we say that? 43:14 We don't show His humility and His servanthood. 43:18 We don't show His desire that we would be like-minded 43:22 toward each other. 43:24 Instead we just say, "Who are you? 43:26 Whatever. You do your thing. 43:28 I'm in my clique over here." 43:30 And we ignore people. 43:32 Or we criticize people. 43:36 Or we act very kind to them. 43:38 "Oh Cynthia, it's so good to see you. 43:40 You know you're my good friend. 43:42 We're friends." 43:43 And then I go over here to Tracy and I say, 43:45 "You know what Cynthia just did? 43:47 And she's a terrible person." 43:49 Well what is that all about? 43:50 Now we laugh, but you know what? That happens. 43:53 It's that spirit of criticism. 43:57 That spirit of judgment. 44:01 You know, Satan, the Bible says, is the accuser of the brethren. 44:06 Remember in Zechariah 3, Joshua stood before... 44:11 Let's look at that real quick. I think we have time. 44:13 And then we'll keep going back to Philippians. 44:15 Keep your finger in Philippians 2. 44:17 Because we will be coming back there, Philippians 2. 44:22 But go to Zechariah. 44:24 Zechariah is almost the last book in the Old Testament. 44:26 Almost to Malachi. 44:28 Zechariah 3:1 44:32 "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest 44:34 standing before the Angel of the LORD, 44:36 and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him." 44:41 Look at that. 44:43 Standing there, and instantly Satan is the accuser 44:45 of the brethren standing at his right hand to oppose him. 44:48 "And the LORD said to Satan, 'The LORD rebuke you, Satan!'" 44:52 Praise the Lord for that. 44:54 I love that verse. 44:55 "The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! 44:58 Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" 45:01 So my question to you tonight is, 45:03 why don't we look at other people that way? 45:05 When people walk into your life, when people walk into 45:08 your place of work, when people walk into your church, 45:11 why don't we say, "This is a brand plucked from the fire. 45:15 Thank You, Jesus, that this person is here. 45:18 I'm so excited." 45:19 And whatever Satan's coming in the form of his saints with 45:26 criticism, with that accusation, 45:30 we just don't even listen to that. 45:32 Push that aside. 45:34 "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments..." 45:37 So you could say Satan had a leg to stand on. 45:40 There was some dirt going on here, right? 45:42 "...and he was standing before the Angel." 45:44 Verse 4, "Then He answered and spoke to those 45:47 who stood before Him, saying, 45:48 'Take away the filthy garments from him.' 45:51 And to him He said, 'See, I have removed 45:54 your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you 45:57 with rich robes.' 45:59 And he said, 'Let them put a clean turban on his head.' 46:03 So they put a clean turban on his head, 46:05 and they put the clothes on him." 46:06 So he was clothed in these filthy garments, 46:08 the Lord rebuked Satan for the accusations 46:12 that he was bringing against Joshua, 46:14 and then clothed him and covered him with His 46:19 righteous white robe and took away all of that iniquity. 46:23 Now back to Philippians 2. 46:25 We read Philippians 2:1-2, now we're on verse 3. 46:30 "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, 46:37 but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others 46:41 better than themselves." 46:44 How in the world are we to esteem someone else 46:46 better than ourselves? 46:47 Now we can read that and say, "Oh, I definitely esteem 46:50 my sister Celestine as better than myself." 46:52 But how are we to do that practically? 46:55 What does that look like? 46:58 I think it means we treat other people as though 47:01 they were our superior. 47:04 Right? The Bible says treat them as better than ourselves. 47:08 So we treat them as if they were our superior. 47:11 Now how do we do that? 47:13 Number one, I think we listen to others. 47:17 That's a way to esteem someone as better than ourselves. 47:21 Listen to them instead of always having to speak. 47:24 If someone is sharing a story, maybe Tracy is telling me 47:26 a story about her dogs, and what's going on in her life, 47:29 and the people she's just been witnessing to... 47:31 Because Tracy is a great witness. 47:33 ...and the people you've just been witnessing to, 47:35 and I'm thinking the whole time Tracy's talking, 47:37 "Man, I can't wait to tell her the story about what just 47:40 happened to me and the person I got to witness to on the plane." 47:43 Now is that esteeming Tracy as better than myself? 47:49 No, because I'm thinking, while she's talking 47:51 I'm thinking, "I'm going to say this." 47:54 "Oh, I could top the story in that fashion." 47:56 "Oh, I can do this." 47:57 What is that? 47:59 It becomes all about myself instead of esteeming my sister. 48:05 So we listen to others instead of always speaking. 48:09 Maybe someone is excited about something that happened at work. 48:12 And we rejoice with them instead of feeling sorry for ourselves. 48:16 "Boy, I wish I had that happen to me." 48:18 "I wish I got that check in the mail." 48:20 "I wish someone had bought me that." 48:22 I wish, instead of that, to rejoice with them 48:26 and not to do with my own self-pity. 48:28 What's that? Esteeming someone else as better than myself. 48:34 Not only do we listen to others, I think another practical 48:37 way to esteem others as better than ourselves 48:39 is to pay attention to their needs. 48:43 Is someone sick? 48:45 We could bring them food. 48:47 We could pray with them. 48:49 Is someone lonely? 48:52 We could be a friend. 48:53 Take time and go visit them. 48:55 Is someone discouraged? 48:58 We could go and offer to pray with them, 49:02 and pray for them. 49:05 And the third thing... 49:06 We listen to others, we pay attention to their needs. 49:09 The third is to give of yourself. 49:12 Sacrifice if need be. 49:14 You know, J. D. Quinn, we all know him here, 49:18 he always says, "It was the right thing to do." 49:21 I don't know if any of you have heard him say that. 49:23 You've heard it. 49:24 He'll say, "It was the right thing to do." 49:26 He'll say, it's late at night, I remember this happening once, 49:29 it was a Friday night, it was late. 49:31 You're ready for bed, you know. 49:32 It's Sabbath, and we don't have work, and all that stuff. 49:36 It was maybe eight, I don't remember. 49:37 Maybe even nine o'clock. 49:39 And someone calls and says, 49:40 "Boy, we really need to do this anointing." 49:43 It's in Carbondale. 49:45 We're going to get there at ten. 49:47 Right? It's 45 minutes to Carbondale. 49:49 By the time you get there and then you pray with the person, 49:52 and then you come home and, 49:54 "Oh God, I was so tired this weekend." 49:56 What does J. D. say? And this happened. 49:58 And I remember J. D. and Greg talking about it. 50:00 "It is the right thing to do." 50:04 Get out of yourself, focus on someone else. 50:08 It's the right thing to do. 50:09 Sometimes esteeming someone as better than ourselves 50:12 takes sacrifice. 50:15 Does someone need a ride and it's out of your way? 50:17 Drive the distance anyway. 50:19 Is someone lonely and discouraged, but you feel tired? 50:23 Go and visit them anyway. 50:25 Is someone obnoxious and likes to talk about themselves? 50:31 Listen anyway. 50:34 Verse 4. 50:37 Verse 4 we should have read in conjunction with verse 3 50:40 because it really goes along with three. 50:42 "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, 50:46 but also for the interests of others." 50:48 And I think a point here well taken would be that 50:52 we can take this to an extreme. 50:54 And I'm not trying to advocate some sort of extreme. 50:57 We can say, "I'm supposed to look out for my sisters interests," 51:01 and totally ignore, run my heath into the ground, 51:05 and not only spend all my money, now I would take loans out 51:10 so I can give money to help other people. 51:12 That's not what the Bible is talking about. 51:14 It says what? 51:15 Verse 4, "Let each of you look out not only for his 51:19 own interests, but also for the interests of others." 51:21 So I don't think the Bible is saying we be 51:23 impractical about it. 51:24 But to be honest with you, in my own heart 51:26 if I'm to error on one side of that ditch, 51:29 it's much easier for me to error on the side of not giving, 51:34 not sharing, not going out of my way, 51:38 than it would be for me to error on the side of 51:41 going into debt for giving and helping someone else. 51:44 So whatever your battle is, I mean, God knows that 51:47 and He can help us adjust that. 51:48 Verse 5 is really the crux of the whole thing we've been 51:52 talking about; esteeming other people as better than ourselves. 51:56 It says, "Let this mind be in you 51:59 which was also in Christ Jesus..." 52:03 And what's the mind of Christ? 52:05 He was in the form of God. 52:06 Remember we read in John 13 how, with full knowledge of His 52:09 divinity, that He came from God and that He's going back 52:12 to God, He chose to serve. 52:14 And that is the mind of Christ. 52:16 "He was in the form of God, 52:18 He didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God, 52:21 but He made Himself of no reputation, 52:23 and took upon Him the form of a servant, 52:27 and was made in the likeness of men. 52:29 Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself..." 52:32 So He didn't just say, "I'm going to be a man, 52:35 and I will be a prince or a king." 52:38 And then He didn't say, "Well, I'm going to humble Myself 52:42 down here and become a servant." 52:44 Not only that, He humbled Himself to death on the cross. 52:49 And in their culture, especially in the Jewish culture, 52:53 what does it say in Galatians 3, 52:54 "Cursed is everyone who dies on a tree." 52:57 So they believed if you died in that fashion, 53:01 it was a sign of divine displeasure, a curse. 53:03 So He not only humbled Himself as a human, 53:06 and as a servant, but He died the worse death possible 53:10 in their mind. 53:12 The sign of divine displeasure, separation from God, 53:15 because He loved us. 53:17 That is the mind of Christ. 53:21 "He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. 53:25 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him 53:28 and given Him the name which is above every name, 53:31 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 53:33 of those in heaven, and those on earth, 53:35 and those under the earth, and that every tongue 53:38 should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 53:42 to the glory of God the Father." 53:46 Now you may be watching tonight, 53:51 and you may be saying... 53:52 I just got an email from someone else saying, 53:55 "I was in the church, newly baptized." 53:57 This is another country. 53:59 Newly baptized in the church. 54:01 "And then people started saying things, and I started 54:05 feeling like they didn't accept me or want me in the church. 54:09 And now I'm hurt. I'm hurt." 54:14 So I don't know where you are tonight in your walk with God. 54:19 You might be saying, "I'm one of those people 54:23 who's hurting other people." 54:26 "I'm one of those people that has a critical, 54:29 a judgmental spirit toward other people." 54:33 God, by the power of His Holy Spirit, says, "I can change you. 54:38 Once you've realized your need of Jesus, 54:41 I can take out that heart of stone, 54:44 I can replace it with a heart of flesh." 54:48 God says, "I can put in you the mind of Christ, 54:53 that servant's heart that esteems other people 54:56 as better than yourself." 54:57 So if that's where you are tonight, 54:59 go to God and say, "God, will You change me? 55:02 Would You take out this critical spirit? 55:05 I don't want it anymore." 55:06 And sometimes, you know, in my own life 55:08 I've found maybe I do want it. 55:11 Right? I want to hang on to something. 55:14 And if that's the case, we just claim Philippians 2:13. 55:17 "It is God who works in us both to will and to do 55:20 of His good pleasure." 55:22 That means God not only gives us the desire, 55:24 He gives us the power. 55:26 So if you don't even have a desire 55:28 to have a spirit of humility, God knows that too. 55:30 Just go to Him and say, "God, will You give me 55:34 a desire to have You change me?" 55:37 And God will do that. 55:38 Maybe tonight you're in the other camp, and you're saying, 55:42 "I'm new in the church, or in my family, or my place of work, 55:45 and people have trampled all over my life. 55:50 People have hurt me. 55:51 People have been critical to me, and I just feel 55:54 crushed and beaten down." 55:56 Know that the Lord Jesus loves you. 56:00 You are His son and daughter. 56:02 And He says, "You are My purchased possession." 56:05 We are worth, Shelley always says this, 56:07 nothing less than the price Christ paid for us on Calvary. 56:11 We are worth an infinite cost to the Son of God. 56:15 And He loves us, and He can restore those broken places. 56:19 He came to set at liberty those who are bound. 56:23 He came to heal the broken-hearted 56:26 and to bind up our wounds. 56:28 So that's the beautiful thing about God. 56:31 No matter what side we're on, He says, "I can change you." 56:35 If we're critical, He can make us humble and He can make us 56:40 esteem other people better than ourselves. 56:43 And if we are beaten down and crushed and have been 56:46 criticized, what does He do? 56:49 He lifts us up, pulls our feet out of that miry clay, 56:53 and sets us up upon a rock. 56:57 So let's pray as we close here tonight. 56:59 Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus 57:01 and we thank You, God, that You love us. 57:05 We thank You for the gift of salvation. 57:08 We thank You that even now, right now, 57:12 You can renew in us the spirit of Jesus. 57:16 You can take out from our hearts the stony heart 57:21 and you can replace it with a heart of flesh. 57:25 We thank You, God, that You are the one who's working in us 57:29 and through us both to will and to do of Your good pleasure. 57:32 And right now I just pray for my brothers and sisters 57:35 not only here in our church, but those at home, those watching, 57:40 those who are hurt and battered, those who are crushed. 57:44 And I ask, Lord Jesus, that You would speak peace, 57:47 that You would bring the comfort, 57:49 the oil of Your Holy Spirit, and You would do a new thing 57:53 and cause rivers to flow where once there was desert. 57:57 Lord, we ask that You would guard our minds, 57:59 that You would guard our hearts, that You would change us 58:02 into the image of Jesus. 58:04 And we thank You. 58:05 In the precious and the Holy name of Jesus, amen. |
Revised 2018-01-23