Participants:
Series Code: RSP
Program Code: RSP000010A
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00:01 Announcer: Revelation. The time of the end.
00:04 Mysterious signs. 00:05 Strange happenings. 00:07 Confusing numbers. 00:09 Are we facing a new world order and the mark of the beast? 00:14 Are we living on a planet in upheaval? 00:16 Are we on the verge of Armageddon? 00:24 Revelation, what do all the signs in this mysterious book mean? 00:32 Discover real answers. 00:34 Revelation Speaks Peace, with Shawn Boonstra. 00:39 + 00:41 I was in Psalm 15 today and I came across a text that's going to fit our subject perfectly 00:48 tonight. Could be coincidence, I don't know. Listen to this, let me see here, Psalm 15, "Lord - 00:55 just remember these words when we get into our key passage from Revelation tonight - Lord, who 01:03 may abide in Your tabernacle, who may dwell in Your holy hill - we're going to see a crowd on 01:08 Mount Zion as we get into Revelation 14 - he who walks uprightly and works 01:14 righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart, he who does not backbite with his tongue or 01:20 does evil to his neighbor nor does he take up a reproach against his friend - there was 01:25 lots to pray through there this morning, O Lord please let none of this be true of me that I 01:30 don't backbite - In who's eyes a vile person is despised but he honors those who fear the Lord 01:36 who swears to his own hurt and does not change, who does no put out his money to usury nor does 01:43 he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. 01:46 It's quite a Psalm, after we study the first portion of Revelation 14 tonight, I'd 01:51 encourage you to go home and read Psalm 15, it's really something and it matches really, 01:57 really well. Tonight's topic is one of my favourites. We've had some really, really heavy topics 02:01 lately, and so I'm going to change tack a little bit, and what we're going to look at 02:07 absolutely underlies what Revelation 14 is getting at in the first few verses, but I'm 02:13 going to relax just a little bit. We'll have a little bit of fun with the subject. "The 02:17 ultimate mind game." Let's pray. Father in heaven, this evening, we are humbled by the gift that 02:29 You gave us at the cross of Christ. We can scarcely get our minds around what it is that You 02:37 gave, Who it is that You gave, how much of Yourself You've poured into our redemption. May 02:51 we get a sense of that tonight as we turn to the pages of scriptures. How great Your love 02:57 is for us. I'm asking tonight that You would bless me with a strong voice this evening. Give 03:05 me the ability to speak, but also, give me the ability to think, and to think clearly, and 03:12 to say things that are worthy of the Name of Jesus, so that when we are done, we will have spent 03:21 time in His presence, not our own, and that we'd be changed to be a little bit more like Him 03:28 because we've spent time in the Bible. So forgive my sin, make me fit to speak, fill this room 03:36 with Your angels, I ask, and bless our understanding, for we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. 03:45 Tonight, I want to start with another important principle that I think that I've touched on in 03:50 a previous meeting, and it has to do with how many parts of the Bible are structured. In fact, 03:57 I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned it. Here in North America, in the west, when we 04:01 read a book, we expect the author to kind of write like this: point A, point B, point C, 04:07 and then his big conclusion or her big conclusion down at the end of the book. So we kind of 04:12 build to the big point and we often stick the big point at the end. That's why people, when 04:18 they're in a store, they kind of want to know what a book says and they don't want to buy it, 04:21 they turn to the back and they read the last chapter, right? The big point at the end. But 04:27 much of the Bible is not structured that way. That is not the way the Bible writers write. 04:33 If you go to the book of Psalms and other places, you find a different kind of structure. 04:37 Sometimes there is a parallel structure, which we looked at a little bit in Daniel chapter 9. 04:42 You'll see it a lot in the book of Psalms. You'll have point 1, point 2, and then it repeats; 04:47 point 1 again and point 2 with different language and so on. That's parallel structure. But 04:53 there's another one called chiastic structure, and it's called chiastic structure 04:59 because it looks like the Greek letter chi. Sometimes you'll hear the word "kee" come out my 05:04 mouth; that is not how you pronounce it. It is chi. It's like the letter X. And here's 05:09 the thought behind it: you'll find the most important material right in the middle, like you do 05:14 with the letter X. And so the writer might make points A, B, C, and then make the big point, 05:21 the thing he's trying to drive at, but then he kind of backs you out of the subject again by 05:26 repeating his earlier points in reverse order. So it kind of looks like this: point A, B, C, 05:31 big point in the middle, and then he goes C, B, A, and he backs back out of it. You find 05:37 it all over the Bible. And the book of Revelation is chiastic in structure. The whole book is, 05:43 and sections of it are chiastic. It's a fascinating study. What ends up happening in the book of 05:48 Revelation is that the big action isn't at the end; what's at the end is absolutely 05:53 critical. My favourite chapters are at the very end because we're home at last and God wipes 05:58 away our tears. I love those chapters. But the peak of activity in the book of 06:02 Revelation happens in the centre, and it's in chapters 12, 13, and 14. So last night, we 06:09 looked at, or started to look at, Revelation chapter 12, and we saw the story of how this 06:14 great conflict emerges in this universe, and we see both sides of the issue. We see heaven's 06:20 side and the dragon's side. When we get to chapter 13, you'll see the dragon's last play, sort of 06:27 what he builds to at the very end of time. You have a beast come up out of the sea and a 06:33 beast come up out of the earth. That's his sort of big play. It shows his side of the equation. 06:38 Chapter 14 gives God's side of the equation and what he does in the last moments of this earth's 06:45 history. So what we're going to look at tonight, or start looking at, is Revelation 06:50 chapter 14 because I always feature God first. Antichrist gets secondary billing every 06:56 single time. Revelation 14 and verse 1: "Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb [who's the lamb 07:05 in the book of Revelation? Jesus Christ] standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and 07:11 forty-four thousand, having His father's [what?] name written [where?] on their foreheads." I 07:19 want you to pay attention to that. There's much made in books about Bible prophecy today about 07:24 the mark of the beast, and the mark of the beast goes on the forehead and on the hand. And 07:30 then they stop discussing it. But if you read the whole central section, God also puts 07:34 something on the forehead: His name ends up on the forehead of believers. "And I heard a voice 07:40 from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the 07:46 sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, 07:54 before the four living creates, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the 07:59 hundred and forty-four thousand who were [what?] redeemed from the earth. These are the ones 08:07 who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins." Let me ask this question: these people 08:13 gathered on the mountain, have they ever sinned in their lives, yes or no? Absolutely. They are 08:18 redeemed from the earth. These are people under the redemptive blood of Christ. Now because of 08:24 Jesus, they're considered pure. It actually uses the imagery of sexual purity to represent these 08:33 people. It doesn't mean they've never been married and never had kids; that's not what it's 08:37 getting at. This is symbolic. It is imagery. Remember, in Bible prophecy, a woman represents 08:44 what? A church, God's people. And a pure woman, the bride of Christ. The Bible often uses 08:50 adultery to describe unfaithful people. Jeremiah 3, give it a good read. God begins to 08:57 describe His people as an unfaithful bride, an unfaithful woman. These are people who are 09:04 faithful to Jesus Christ. "These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." Now, this is 09:14 the defining characteristic of these people. This is what sets them apart. They follow the Lamb 09:21 and they utterly refuse to believe the serpent's lies. These people will do whatever 09:26 God asks. These are the seed, the children of Abraham. They're like Abraham in their character. 09:32 They go where God asks them to go. They do what God asks them to do. "These are the ones who 09:38 follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to 09:45 God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault 09:52 before the throne of God." This is a very special group of people that's been redeemed from 09:59 the earth. And the Bible says the Father's name is written in their foreheads. Now, what does 10:06 that mean? Does that mean that they have a tattoo on their foreheads? Not exactly. Jesus 10:12 said, if you read it carefully, He prays to His Father in John 17. I love that chapter because 10:17 you get to eavesdrop on a conversation between the Son and the Father. I love it. It's the 10:22 real Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer, the one that we recite, is a model prayer, but in John 10:28 17, you get to listen to Jesus pray to His Father. And in that prayer in John 17 verse 6, He 10:34 said: "Lord, these disciples, I have manifested Your name to them." "I showed them your 10:40 name." What does that mean? He had the secret name of God on a piece of paper, said, "Guys, 10:45 come over here, I'm going to show you the name of" - no. No, He showed them the name, He told 10:50 Philip, "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." What is somebody's good name? We 10:58 still use that expression today. If somebody has a good name, they have a good character. 11:02 Jesus showed them what God is actually like. Look, Moses asks, "Can I see Your glory?" Exodus 11:08 33. That is a daring request, right? "Can I see Your glory?" Exodus 33. Let me look this up 11:16 here. I want to share this with you because this is a foundational concept in the book 11:21 of Revelation. "Lord, I want to see Your glory." And God says, in Exodus 33 verse 19, "I will 11:29 make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you." 11:37 God says, "I'm going to proclaim My name to you." Then it happens in chapter 34. "Now the Lord 11:44 descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord." "And the 11:50 Lord passed before him and proclaimed [here it comes, here comes His name], 'the Lord, the 11:55 Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping 12:00 mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.'" It's the character of 12:05 God. When Jesus said, "I revealed Your name to these disciples," He's saying, "I 12:12 showed these men what You are like." The name of God is written in these people's 12:17 foreheads. They have made a decision about Who God is. God's name is written on the forehead 12:23 because that's where you make your decisions about God. It all happens behind this brick wall 12:28 here, right up above your eyes. Listen to what Paul says in Romans chapter 7: "So then with 12:34 the [what?] with the mind I myself serve the law of God." We make our decisions for God with 12:43 our mind. These people on Mount Zion have made a decision. They are in with God. His character, 12:50 His name, is written in their foreheads and in their hearts. They have made a decision about 12:55 God. They refuse to believe the devil's lies. And these people are being recreated in the image 13:01 of Christ. They're becoming more like Him every day. They believe God is everything He's ever 13:07 claimed to be. These people are on the right side of the conflict. And God sets these 13:12 people aside as His very own. Revelation 7 is another passage that describes these one hundred 13:19 and forty-four thousand. It says: "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, 13:25 'til we have sealed the servants of our God [where?] in their foreheads." This is a last-day 13:32 group of people whose commitment to God is utter and complete. These people see God for Who He 13:38 is. They're allowing God to write His very character in their hearts. So the question, 13:44 obviously, is, how do you get in on it? How do you get to be one of those people? Because 13:51 honestly, you read a description like that, and it's kind of hard to feel qualified, isn't it? I 13:57 don't feel qualified. How do you get in on it? Well, the Bible gives a few keys. Number one is 14:03 very obvious: you gotta make a decision. You have to exercise your freedom of choice. You have 14:09 to use your mind, your heart, to reject darkness and embrace light. You have to choose Jesus. 14:14 The first key is, you gotta make a decision. The second key is right in the text: this group of 14:20 people is redeemed. They have to make things right with God. You and I have to accept the gift of 14:26 Christ if we're going to be among those people. And how do you do that? Well, really quick 14:31 review. First John 1 verse 9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us 14:37 our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I love it that it says "all." There is 14:46 nothing that Jesus can't deal with tonight that you have done. You've got to come clean. This 14:51 is how God makes you faultless before His throne. "Okay, Shawn, I would love to come clean with 14:57 God, I would love to do that, but you don't understand. I have gone too far. You don't know the 15:02 things that I've done. God can't help a guy like me." Yes, He can. If you even have the 15:09 inclination to come to God, it means you have not gone over the boundary. It is not too late. 15:13 The Bible says in Romans 2 verse 4 that the goodness of God leads us to repentance, which means, 15:21 if you even want God, if you're worried about a relationship with God, He's already speaking 15:26 to your heart. He's trying to pull you over the line. You wouldn't be interested if God 15:30 wasn't working with you. It's His gift. Repentance is a gift from God. If you're worried 15:36 about being right with God, then I'm not worried about whether or not you've blown it. You know 15:40 who I worry about, are the apathetic, the ones who don't care. But if you're sitting in a 15:44 corner somewhere, do not let the devil isolate you and tell you it's beyond hope, because if 15:49 you're interested in God, you're only interested because God made you interested. There is hope 15:55 for you. God gives us the gift of repentance. And then He does something really amazing: He 16:00 makes us new creatures. He transforms us. "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a 16:05 new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." What is a 16:10 creature? A creature is something that's created. The Bible says in John 1 and Hebrews 16:17 1 and Colossians 1, Jesus is your Creator. It says it, point blank. Put your life in the 16:23 hands of the Creator, and He has all the power in the universe to put your life back together. He 16:28 will recreate you in His image. He'll begin to change your character and write His own name 16:33 in your forehead. "Oh, but Shawn, you don't understand. I struggle. I struggle with 16:38 temptation and the old life is always there." I know. That's true for all of us. All 16:48 Christians deal with that. You've gotta understand, you're not alone. That's what the devil 16:53 wants you to think: you're all alone in this. Everyone else at church is doing just great. 16:57 You're not the only one who's struggling. We all face temptation. The devil wants to 17:02 remove you from everybody else and make you think that you're alone because he wants you to 17:07 give up hope. But believe me, you are not alone. First Corinthians 10:13 says, "No 17:11 temptation has taken you except as common to all men." Anything you're tempted with, someone 17:20 else is being tempted by it too. Whatever you're struggling with, someone else is struggling with 17:25 it too. You are not on your own. The devil wants you to think that so you become despondent 17:29 and just give up and walk away. Listen to me carefully. Coming to Christ doesn't mean you've 17:38 arrived. It means you're getting started. Right? As long as we live on this planet, 17:45 temptation's going to be a part of the equation. The devil might've lost the keys to the 17:52 planet, but he's still pitching fits, still throwing the temper tantrums, still turning his 17:55 wrath on the believers. "What, are you saying other people struggle like me?" Yes, they do. 18:00 How do I know that? Even the apostle Paul struggled. The apostle Paul. The great 18:05 missionary. Romans chapter 7, he says, "Look, the things I want to do, I don't do those. And the 18:12 things I don't want to do, I do those." Sound familiar? Here's what he says: "O, wretched man 18:19 that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our 18:25 Lord." Paul struggled. It's part of the Christian experience. But Paul found hope in Jesus Christ 18:32 and he threw himself on the mercy of God. And I'm telling you tonight, you can do the same 18:36 thing. You can throw yourself on God's mercy. And if you do that, you'll discover that God can 18:41 actually do something about the situation you find yourself in. The key is, don't panic. Don't 18:47 worry. Don't give up; and start trusting that God knows what He's doing in your life. And the 18:53 other thing, start paying attention to the advice that He gives you in here. There's lots 18:57 of it. Do not ignore what this Book says. This Book has some really solid principles that I 19:03 promise you will help you become more victorious over temptation, I promise you. If you are 19:09 willing to follow the Lamb wherever He wants to take you, then things start getting a 19:13 whole lot easier in time. The Bible has advice that will really help. Would you like to 19:19 see it? Two people. I'm disappointed, in a Bible class. Would you like to see it? Good, 19:29 because that's all I was going to talk about tonight. Let's start talking about the mind, 19:34 'cause that is where God writes His character. That's where He changes who you are. Often in 19:38 the Bible, it says the heart, but it's talking about the thoughts and intents of the 19:42 heart. It means the mind. It's where you do your thinking and your feeling. That's where God 19:46 really changes who you are: in your mind. This is where you make your decisions. And your 19:50 brain is an incredible gift from God that you really need to take care of. It's like a computer. 19:57 When I first got married, I had a typewriter. And I got started in ministry, I had a typewriter. 20:03 And I didn't want anything but a typewriter, and my wife would tell me, "Shawn, you really need 20:07 a computer." I don't want a computer. Computers aren't going anywhere. That's just 20:11 technology; it's not going anywhere. I've got a typewriter. And all my ancestors had 20:15 typewriters, and that is good enough for me. Type, type, type, type, type. Type, type, type. 20:20 And make a mistake right at the end of the page. You remember that? Just right at the end of 20:23 the page, and you have to rip it out, crumple it up, throw it on the floor. My wife would look in 20:27 my study, and crumpled paper all over the floor. She said, "You should break down and get one of 20:31 those computers." I said, "Nobody needs a computer. They're not going anywhere." 20:33 Turns out, my wife was absolutely right, and so I bought a computer. We couldn't 20:38 really afford it, newly wed, and we got this computer, and I discovered something marvellous: 20:42 word processing. I can write a sermon once and print off thousands of copies for my 20:47 friends. "Hey, I wrote a sermon, look at this." And it was like, "Oh, Shawn, you're printing your 20:51 sermons off? Thank you very much." Oh, it was wonderful. And I'm typing and I'm typing, and 20:56 the longer I used that computer, I started to notice something: the more I used it, the slower 21:02 it got. You know, why did it slow down? Couple of reasons. Number one, I loaded all the 21:10 software I could find on that thing. Everything I could lay my hands on, back on, you know, the 21:14 little floppies. You remember when Microsoft Word was thirty-four floppy disks to 21:18 install? And I was installing all this software. And after a while, you just keep installing 21:23 it, and the information in those programs begin to clash with each other, and clash with the 21:27 operating system, and when the information clashes, eventually the computer crashes and you get 21:34 the blue screen of death. But it crashes. That's reason number one why the computer starts 21:41 slowing down. Bad information, conflicting. There's another reason, mmhmm. There are all 21:46 these kids out there sitting in their basements writing software deliberately designed to ruin my 21:51 new computer. Viruses, malware, trojan horses. If you're not careful, that stuff gets in your 21:58 system and it clogs it up. Now, maybe it's a little bit simplistic, but the human brain 22:04 kind of runs the same way, kind of runs the same way. It's the most amazing computer in the 22:09 universe. It can do twenty quadrillion calculations every second. Every single - you know, 22:15 Silicone Valley would love to develop a machine like that. Twenty - that's a '2' with 22:19 sixteen zeroes. Your brain, your God-given, biological brain, is a wonder. But what if somebody 22:27 tried to get in there and wreck it? What if there was actually a virus for the human mind? "Not 22:32 possible, that's silly." No? The Bible says there's an all-out war for it. Second Corinthians 22:37 chapter 10: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh." The 22:43 battlefield is not in the physical realm. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal 22:48 [physical] but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments [where do 22:53 those take place? In the mind], every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of 22:58 God [where does the knowledge of God reside? In the mind], bringing every thought [where do 23:03 your thoughts reside? In the mind], bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience 23:08 of Christ." The greatest battle in the universe is for your mind. That's why Armageddon's 23:15 not really about the Middle East; it's really about your heart and your mind. Somebody's 23:20 after your heart. Somebody wants to confuse you with the wine of Babylon, and that tells me, you 23:25 should be on your guard as to what you let in. You should be taking care of your mind. In 23:29 fact, you should install antivirus software; that's what you should do. You should. 23:33 "There's no such thing." Yes, there is. Philippians 4: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever 23:38 things are true, whatsoever things are just [or honest, rather], whatsoever things are 23:44 just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of 23:49 good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things." 23:54 How do you protect your mind? You fill it with those things. You keep it busy with Godly 24:02 thinking so that you crowd out the evil. You don't give the devil one inch of space in that 24:07 computer of yours. If you fill your mind with conflicting information, you are going to 24:13 get an unstable system. You really will. If you allow both kinds of information in there, 24:17 it's going to become unstable, just like a computer. How do I know? James actually says it. 24:21 "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." You have to make a decision. You can't live 24:30 on both sides of the fence. It's the Lamb or the dragon. Those are your alternatives. If you 24:34 try to play on both sides, James says, you become unstable, just like a computer. Jesus says 24:40 much the same thing. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the 24:46 other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other." You can't serve two masters. You 24:51 can't allow your brain to be pulled in both directions. You can't, anymore than you can date 24:56 two girls at once, guys. You can't. I know. It's long before - no, I never - you were my one 25:06 and only when we were dating. But there was a time. I couldn't believe my luck. Two girls said 25:15 yes to a date at the same time, but it landed on the same night. Ugh. I didn't have a car. I was 25:22 so poor, I had to pick them up in a taxi. I picked the first one up, we went out for dinner. 25:25 Mac and cheese and hot dogs. Fancy stuff, you know. Got back in the taxi, took her back, 25:32 dropped her off at her house, and the cab driver said, "Probably should take you home 25:36 now." I said, "No, no, no, I got another date. We gotta get going. I got one at 8:00. Let's 25:40 go get her." And he stopped and he said, "Listen, buddy, let an older guy give you some counsel: 25:44 this is going to blow up in your face. This is not" - "No, I know what I'm doing," 'cause you're 25:49 18, you know exactly what you're doing, right? "I know what I'm doing." He says, "Alright." 25:53 Picked up the next girl, out for dinner. On a student budget, that's four dinners, mac and 25:57 cheese and hot dogs. And I dropped her off after dinner, again in a taxi, and I made an 26:05 incredible discovery: taxi driver's absolutely right. Neither one of them ever talked 26:09 to me again. First one wondered why she was home by seven; the other one wondered why the cab 26:16 driver is laughing and winking in the mirror the whole way to the - you can't do it. Can't 26:26 serve two masters; it's not possible. You have to be single-minded. Folks, you are 26:30 either with the Lamb or the dragon. You have to make up your mind. Can't serve both. So how 26:36 do you become single-minded? Here are the principles. Number one, through faith. Through 26:41 faith. That's what the Bible says. "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And 26:47 this is the victory that has overcome the world." Our faith. God is saying, "Trust Me. 26:53 Exercise some faith. Start trusting that I actually know what I'm talking about. Do what 27:00 I say. Take a risk. Do what I say." You have to be like Abraham, do what God asks, even 27:06 on the days when you don't feel like it or it doesn't seem to make sense; you just do what He 27:09 asks. You live by faith. You see, your faith doesn't grow unless you actually use it. 27:15 Christianity is not just a bunch of facts you put in your brain. You have to live it. 27:20 Christianity is one of those things that you only know by actually doing it. It's like 27:25 skydiving. I can do all the math in the world. "Alright, took a physics class, it says that, you 27:30 know, I weigh [mumble], and the parachute is X big, and the wind is just like this, and 27:34 mathematically, I know that that parachute's going to stop me from careening into the earth." 27:42 I know it mathematically, but do I really know it? There's only one way you know it: you gotta 27:45 put on the parachute and jump. And there's only one way you will ever know if this Word is 27:51 true: you've gotta put on the parachute and jump. You've gotta trust that God knows what He's 27:55 doing and start living like it's real. If the Bible says do it, do it. Fill your mind with the 28:01 Word of God. The book of Romans says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. You 28:07 gotta live your faith. You become single-minded that way, because you will see, it's real. 28:12 Principle number two is really obvious. It's not rocket science. You want to be 28:17 single-minded, quit putting garbage in your brain. Garbage in, garbage out. And that is 28:23 actually a Biblical principle. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 12: "A good man 28:28 out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things." Put good stuff in, good stuff 28:32 comes out. "An evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things." Put garbage in, 28:38 garbage comes out. What you feed your mind is exactly what comes back out of you. Sewage into the 28:44 mind, sewage comes out. I want you to think about it like this: your brain is like a filing 28:49 cabinet. All day long, you see things, you hear things, and your brain grabs it all, and it 28:55 sticks it in the filing cabinet back here. And then suddenly you face a moral crisis, a decision 29:01 that you have to make. "What's the right thing to do in a situation like this?" And your 29:05 brain, without you even thinking about it, runs to the filing cabinet, goes through the files 29:10 saying, "What do we do in a situation like this?" It's subconscious. It's on autopilot. 29:15 So you're faced with sexual temptation, and your brain runs, "What do we do in a situation 29:19 like this?" And all it can find is eighteen thousand episodes of Days of Our Lives. What are you 29:28 going to do? You're going to cave in. You're faced with a tense situation. You're getting 29:33 mad at somebody. Brain goes running in there, "What do you do in a situation like that?" It 29:37 finds Jean-Claude Van Damme who punches somebody in the face 11,236 times. What are you going 29:42 to do? It's actually how it works. It's actually how it works. But you can put a stop to 29:49 it. You can change what's in the filing cabinet. You absolutely can. First John 2 verse 15: "Do 29:54 not love the world or the things in the world. [There it is. You can't have both.] If anyone 30:00 loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." It's one or the other. Don't be 30:05 double-minded. There's only room up here for one kind of file, one set of files. And now I want 30:11 you to pay attention because God is about to give us three areas of temptation, three kinds of 30:15 files the devil is desperate to put in your mind. Here it comes "For all that is in the world - 30:21 the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father, but 30:31 is of the world." "And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of 30:38 God abides forever." You know what it's saying? Start living now like you're already in the 30:47 kingdom. The Bible says you're already a citizen. Paul said, "I'm a citizen of the kingdom of 30:52 heaven." You've already got your passport. Start living like you're there. Three kinds of 30:57 files the devil tries to put into your brain. I want to look at them, because if they have 31:01 ever applied to any generation, they really apply to the 21st century. They really apply to 31:06 us. He mentions the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That's the 31:13 devil's filing system. That's the stuff he's trying to put into your head. And the only way 31:18 he can get it in there is if you let him. You have to grant him access. He cannot force his way 31:24 into - only God has direct access to the human mind. First Kings 8:39: "You, O Lord, alone 31:30 know the hearts of men." Only God has direct access, and He never forces Himself on anybody. 31:37 The devil would love to force his way in, but he doesn't have direct access. You have to give 31:41 it to him. There's an old book - many of you will have heard of John Bunyan. And if you've not 31:46 read John Bunyan, especially young people, Go back and read it. It will show you that our 31:51 ancestors really did read the whole Book and they knew it inside and out. He wrote a book 31:54 called Pilgrim's Progress, and many of you will now say, "Oh yeah, Pilgrim's Progress, I 31:58 remember that." Beautiful analogy. I mean, it's so good. You know, it's tempting to think 32:03 it's inspired. It is so good, it is so Biblical. Every page is Biblical. And he describes the 32:09 journey of the Christian through life from coming to Christ until they make it to the kingdom. 32:14 It's beautiful. Everyone knows Pilgrim's Progress. He wrote another book, though, that 32:18 doesn't get nearly the advertising. It's called The Holy War. Beautiful book. Go get 32:23 a copy if you can find one. It's probably free on the Kindle or something nowadays. The Holy War 32:27 by John Bunyan. And in it, he describes - 'cause these people were conversing in what we're 32:33 talking about - he describes the war that's going on for your mind. He understood why the 32:39 Bible says God's last-day people have the Father's name written in their foreheads. And what he 32:43 does is compare your brain to a city that's under attack by the devil. It's an analogy. Now, the 32:48 language is really, really old, but I'm going to read it to you anyway 'cause it's so good. 32:53 "The walls of the town [I love the way they write. They use way too many words, right? They 32:58 obviously didn't have Twitter because you'd never fit this in 140 characters] the walls of the 33:04 town were well built, yea, so fast and firm they were knit and compact together, that, had it 33:10 not been for the townsmen themselves, they could not have been shaken or broken forever." 33:15 I love reading that stuff. When you're out doing whatever you do on Saturday night, I'm sitting 33:18 reading Bunyan because it's just - that's beautiful language, amen? All the English majors 33:23 said "Amen" and everyone else said, "That is too wordy." You know what he's saying? He's 33:27 saying that the city, the brain is a town, a city, and it's so well-built that you can't break 33:35 in, unless the townspeople let you in, right? That's what he says. And he continues. He 33:39 repeats himself: "For here lay the excellent wisdom of him that builded Mansoul [that's you, 33:44 your brain, your heart], the walls could never be broken down or hurt by the most might 33:49 adverse potentate, unless the townsmen gave consent thereto." He just said it again. You can't 33:54 break in unless somebody lets you in. "This famous town of Mansoul had five gates, in at 33:59 which to come, and out at which to go; and these were made likewise answerable to the 34:04 walls, to with, impregnable." In other words, it has five gates, and you can't get through those 34:09 either, can't break them down, unless somebody on the inside opens them. "And such as could 34:13 never be opened or forced but by the will and leave of those within. The names of the gates 34:18 were these: Ear-gate, Eye-gate, Mouth-gate, Nose-gate, and Feel-gate." No Watergate, no - 34:26 you know, just the five senses. That's - and he hits it right on the head. The devil cannot smash 34:32 his way into your mind; he has to get permission. And if he shows up trying to force his way 34:37 in, you're not going to let him in. So what does he use? He's only got two tools: violence and 34:40 deception. He'll talk you into opening the gates. Right? Tonight, I thought what we would 34:47 do for a few minutes is wander around the city of your brain and check the gates and see how 34:52 well locked they are. That sound like a good activity? Some people are not so sure. "The 34:57 preacher's about to meddle." Yes, I am, absolutely. There's too much at stake, folks. Jesus 35:04 is coming. You wrestle with temptation, pay attention. Here's the Bible's advice: 35:09 "Apply your heart to instruction [let's take a look at the ear-gate], apply your heart to 35:15 instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge." What does God say use your ears for? 35:22 Knowledge. Apply your heart to instruction. It's to get wisdom. It's to fill your mind with God. 35:28 He says it in another place, Proverbs 22: "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, 35:34 and apply your heart to My knowledge." God says the ears are a gate to the heart, is what 35:41 He says. This is a method of putting files in your filing cabinet. So here's what I want 35:45 to ask tonight - and it's kind of an intelligent question, I hope - how much of what's going 35:52 in our ears in modern culture might be considered wisdom? "Preacher, you're really going 35:57 to meddle, aren't you?" Yeah, I am. Because we live in a really noisy world. The sound is never 36:08 turned off, and I don't think it's by accident. And your ears are picking up information, 36:12 whether you're paying attention or not, all day long. Every so often, I go down to the car and 36:18 I turn on the radio. And I bring a pad of paper and hit the scan button. And I write down the 36:25 lyrics of what's on the radio right now. Lately, I've had to go and check Spotify and Pandora 36:32 too. I'm going to show you what's on the top charts right now, what everybody's listening 36:38 to. And we're going to ask one question: how much of this is wisdom? Song number one, by 36:47 Bruno Mars, "Uptown Funk." "Oh, preacher, you're going to meddle, aren't you? You're going 36:51 to ruin everything." Yup, I am. Here it comes: "Got kiss myself." It needs the word "to" 36:56 in there. He would - you gotta put the word "to" in there. "Got [to] kiss myself, I'm so 36:59 pretty." "I'm too hot, hot, [and I can't print it on the screen]." You know, I used to 37:05 put these up twenty years ago and I didn't have to censor them. I do now. "Gotta kiss 37:10 myself, I'm so pretty. I'm too hot, call the police and a fireman. I'm too hot. Make a 37:14 dragon wanna retire, man, I'm too hot. Say my name, you know who I am." Actually, I do know 37:20 who you are. I know someone else who fell in love with himself, and it cost the universe 37:27 everything. Let's just be honest. I mean, there's no tunes there. It's fun to listen to. I 37:32 get it. I get it. Fun to listen to, but does that sound like Godly wisdom, yes or no? No. 37:39 Song number two, Taylor Swift. She's the good girl, right? She is kind of a good girl, and for 37:43 the most part, that's absolutely true. But even here, I couldn't believe it. "Nice to meet you, 37:47 where you been? I could show you incredible things, magic, madness, heaven's sin." Really? 37:56 I don't want those kinds of incredible things. They hurt. It continues. "Saw you there and I 38:02 thought [and then she takes the Lord's name in vain. I didn't want to print that.] Look at 38:06 that face. You look like my next mistake [because of course, you have to cave in, right? You got 38:10 no choice]. Love's a game, wanna play?" No, I don't. Love's not a game. Love's the greatest gift 38:18 that God ever gave us. And one of the big reasons we have so much heartbreak in our world and 38:21 ruined homes and teenage pregnancy is because we're treating it like a game. It's 38:27 not a game. "Got a long list of ex-lovers. They tell you I'm insane, 'cause you know I love 38:31 the players, and you love the game." Ah, what dad wouldn't be delighted to have his daughter 38:37 singing that song on the radio? That's not wisdom. Not for a daughter of the Most High God. 38:44 We shouldn't be singing that. Number three was a bunch of noise. I couldn't make it out. 38:48 And I'm an old metal-head. Before I came to Jesus, I was AC/DC and Kiss. I can usually 38:55 figure it out. I can't figure this one out. And my Bible says God is not the author of 39:00 confusion, amen? Alright. Number four, a little song called "Take me to Church." Got 39:04 my hopes up for about two seconds. "My church offers no absolutes. She tells me, 39:09 'Worship in the bedroom.' The only heaven [religion is sex? That comes straight from 39:14 Babylon] the only heaven I'll be sent to is when I'm alone with you. [This delightful morality 39:19 tale continues.] If I'm a pagan of the good times, my lover's the sunlight. To keep the 39:24 Goddess on my side, she demands a sacrifice." It's on the top of the charts right now. Top of the 39:30 charts. Saturday night in heaven. The angels are thinking, "What are we going to do? What 39:38 are we going to do? It's Saturday night." And Gabriel says, "Let's have karaoke night 39:41 here in heaven." And so they clear out the square there in heaven, and we all show up and 39:46 they turn on the karaoke machine and the angels sing to "Keep the goddess on my side, she" - do 39:51 you see it, yes or no? No. So why are you feeding it to your brain now? Number five, by 39:56 Usher. I feel for Usher, because he's right on the cusp of a decision for Christ. "Shawty, I 40:02 don't mind if you dance on a pole." Top of the charts. "That don't make you a ho. Shawty, I 40:09 don't mind when you work 'til three if you're leaving with me. Go make that money, money, 40:13 money." It's what we're listening to. The sad thing is, Usher's raised in church, sang 40:18 in the baptist choir at age six. Number six, song by Nicki Minaj, can't put it on the 40:24 screen. Number seven - no, I mean, my curly hair went straight when I heard that one. 40:31 I changed it fast. Ariana Grande, delightful song called "Bang Bang" and she doesn't mean 40:36 playing cowboys and Indians. "She got a body like an hourglass, but I can give it to 40:41 you all the time. She got a booty like a Cadillac. I can send you into overdrive." 40:45 Starting to get the point? I don't think we need to put much more up. It doesn't stop. "Oh, 40:54 come on, Shawn, you're one of those hysterical preachers. You see a demon behind every bush." 40:57 No, I don't. I don't. "You don't know anything about music, preacher." Actually, I do. 41:06 Studied at the Toronto Conservatory for nine years. I do know. I'm not hysterical 41:13 about it; I'm just encouraging you to pay attention to what you're putting in the filing 41:16 cabinet, please. Devil's trying to get you to put it in there. He's trying to get you to open 41:21 the gate. He wants to put some files in there so you make the wrong decision when the chips 41:24 are down. What are you putting in your filing cabinet? I mean, you say it doesn't affect you. 41:29 "It doesn't affect me; it's just a song." Then you tell me where all the dark thoughts are coming 41:33 from. Tell me where they're coming from. The idea is the temptation. "Come on, it doesn't 41:38 affect me; it's just lyrics. Doesn't change how I think." You don't think so? It's not what 41:43 noted psychiatrist Ira Altshuler thinks. "Music, which does not depend on the master brain to 41:49 gain entrance into the organism, can still arouse a person by way of the thalamus - the relay 41:54 station of all emotions, sensations, and feelings. Once a stimulus has been able to reach 41:59 the thalamus, the master brain is automatically invaded." What does it mean? It means, put it 42:03 to music, and it goes straight into the filing cabinet, and you don't even have time to think it 42:07 through. It just goes in there. And it has a big flag on it so it's easy to access. Ask 42:11 yourself this: why do most ad executives put all their best jingles to music? Why? 'Cause 42:17 they know what we won't admit: it plants it in the filing cabinet and makes it easy to 42:22 get. I mean, let's try it out. "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh." That's decades old. How did you 42:29 find that so fast? Huh? "At McDonald's, you deserve a?" That's thirty years old. You got 42:39 it instantly. "Every kiss begins with?" Okay, yeah, I sang that while I was vacuuming the house, 42:46 singing, and my kids said, "Dad, you know, ugly begins with you, right?" How do you get it so 42:52 fast? Music puts a big flag on it, and that's the first file you grab. It does. There's a 42:58 reason. All the dictators in the twentieth century built their causes with pageantry and music. 43:03 They did it. "What are you saying, don't listen to music?" No, of course not. Listen to 43:07 music; it's a gift from God. Just beware of what you're putting in the filing cabinet. 43:11 "Doesn't affect me." Yes, it does. It does. Jimi Hendrix once said something interesting after 43:17 watching his followers. "Music," he said, "is a spiritual thing of its own." He was marvelling 43:22 how he could control the audience. "You can hypnotize people with music, and when you 43:26 get them at their weakest point, you can preach into their subconscious whatever you want 43:29 to say." He's absolutely right. It's just Christians that won't admit it. The devil knows it. I 43:37 think he knows this subject very well. Remember, when we looked at him, he had timbrels and 43:42 pipes. He was the musical angel. He knows the subject. You want to see something creepy? It 43:47 might be a coincidence, but it's kind of creepy. You want to see it? Only one person now. "What's 43:53 he going to show us?" Barry Manilow, we used to make fun of him, called him "Barry 43:57 Banana-loaf" all the time when we were kids. But he sang one song. Could be a coincidence, 44:02 just a little freaky, though. "I've been alive forever, and I wrote the first song. I got the 44:06 words and the melodies together, I am the music and I wrote the songs. My home lies deep within 44:12 you, I've got my own place in your soul. Now, when I look out through your eyes, I'm young 44:16 again, even though I'm very old. I write the songs that make the whole world sing." Might be a 44:24 coincidence, but it's creepy. That's the ear-gate. Is yours locked? Let's look at the 44:33 eye-gate. Now everybody's getting real quiet. "He's going to wreck something for me." 44:38 Hollywood. Does it appeal to your higher or your lower nature? Let's just be honest, 44:45 come on now. Which one is it? Right? What sells the movie in the trailer? It's the sex and 44:50 the violence. That's what they put in. They put that part in the trailer 'cause they want you 44:54 to come and look. That's what people are waiting for. Can we just be honest about it? We 44:57 don't have time not to be honest, as Christians. There was a day we didn't participate in 45:01 the industry. But now we watch exactly the same stuff as everybody else and we don't 45:05 think anything of it. It's becoming a problem. "What are you saying, Shawn? Throw out my 45:09 TV?" No, no, if you're going to throw your TV out, tell me where you threw it, because I could 45:12 use a nice TV. But that's not the point. Use some common sense. What are you putting in 45:21 your mind? We're paying a price for the stuff we're sticking in the filing cabinet. We're 45:24 slipping, and I can prove it. I can. Some atheists went to a Christian convention a while 45:29 back. A bunch of Christians got together and the atheists went to the hotel, paid off the desk 45:33 staff so they could see what everybody ordered in their room. Eighty percent of the Christians 45:37 ordered X-rated movies in their room. Eighty percent. That's sad. What are you putting in 45:43 front of your eyes on your laptop, on your smart phone? Something's changed in the 45:49 Christian community. In 2014, Barna discovered seventy-seven percent of Christian men under 45:54 the age of 49 are watching porn once a month. What are you putting in the filing cabinet? 45:59 Why are our Christian marriages failing just like everybody else's at the same rate now? 46:04 Why? Why do we cheat on our spouses just like everybody else? Barna found out last year, 46:08 one-third of Christian men have had an extramarital affair. One-third. Watching the same 46:14 movies, the same shows. It's not the whole cause, but you gotta wonder what it's contributing. 46:18 We wonder why we have the same problems as everybody else. What are you putting in your filing 46:24 cabinet? Listen to the Bible's advice. "I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will 46:29 You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked 46:35 before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me." Notice what it 46:42 says, "clings to you." Hard to get it back out of the cabinet. What would happen if we applied 46:47 the filter of no wicked thing to our eyes? You'd get control of your mind back, that's what 46:53 would happen. What are you feeding your brain? Here's the truth. You and I, by the time 46:59 we're 18, saw 16,000 murders. Desperate Housewives, we found out, was the most popular show 47:03 with kids nine to twelve in the year 2005, University of Kansas. Fifty-four percent of our kids 47:09 have a TV in their bedrooms. Close the door, because of course, if you're eight, we 47:13 trust you to make a decision about what you're watching. Kids who watch sex on TV are twice as 47:17 likely, statistically, to engage. "It doesn't affect me." Yes, it does. Our standards are 47:25 dropping. "It doesn't affect me." Ask Janet Leigh if it affects you. Remember Janet 47:30 Leigh? You don't want to admit you know who she is now, after all that, but in Psycho. 47:34 Remember Psycho? Shower scene? I saw it. I wasn't a believer. You don't want to admit you saw it. 47:40 But the minute I did that, some of you saw the scene in your brain. Came back instantly. 47:45 Blood swirling down the drain. Here's what's fascinating: she was never able to take a shower 47:51 again. Right? She had a bath after that with a baseball bat by the tub, and she was on that 47:57 side of the camera, that side of the camera. What did it do to us? I'll tell you what it did to 48:01 us: the University of Michigan has discovered that one horror movie will affect your sleep 48:06 patterns twenty years later. Twenty years. How many of you know who Ben Carson is? I was 48:12 talking to him, oh, about fifteen, twenty years ago. It was sort of before he was making 48:15 news. Famous neurosurgeon. He said, "This is really fascinating." He was talking to 48:21 a group of us, and he said, "I can lock somebody in a room like this [like we're here now], I 48:26 can open their eyes for one second, close them again, lead them out. Ten years from now, 48:29 I'll have them on the table. I'll be probing their brain, and suddenly, if I touch the right 48:33 spot, they'll see the whole room, down to what you're wearing and what's on the clock 48:37 at the back of the room." In other words, everything you ever see goes in there forever. And 48:42 in a moral crisis, your brain goes scrambling for information without even trying. It just 48:47 grabs what's available. It's always running, always running. You ever notice how sometimes 48:54 you're working on a problem, and then you put it aside, and two hours later, the answer comes? 48:58 It's because your subconscious is still in the filing cabinet, still working on it. It never 49:03 stops. It's always accessing those files, even when you're not paying attention. You go to 49:08 bed at night, you ever notice, you start dreaming, and you dream about what happened today, 49:12 but then weird things happen. Suddenly you're back in the third grade in your dream, along 49:15 with what happened today. Do you know why? Your brain's taking all the memories from today and 49:20 looking for a place in the filing cabinet to stick them. It's always working. And if you 49:25 have the wrong information, you're going to do the wrong thing. I mean, just quite aside 49:31 from that, most of us don't even live real lives anymore. Twenty-two hours a week, we're 49:35 in front of that thing. We let other people play sports, we sit and watch it, and we don't go 49:40 outside and do anything. Our friends and relationships are all - even a TV show called 49:44 Friends instead of actually going out and having some. We're wasting huge quantities of our 49:51 lives watching actors pretend to have a life. What sense does that make? It's destroying us. 49:58 People tell me, "But I wish I had the time you had to study the Bible." I promise you do. I 50:02 promise you do. I've got a challenge for you. Take a few things. Take your TV remote and 50:07 your smart phone and your tablet and your laptop and your Bible. Put them all on the coffee table 50:12 for three weeks. See which one you reach for the most. Honestly, we're squandering this 50:20 beautiful gift God gave us called life. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and 50:28 the pride of life. There's the big one. What is pride? It's putting yourself at the centre 50:33 of the universe. It was the very first of all sins. Lucifer said, "I will ascend into heaven, I 50:40 will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also on the mount of the congregation, 50:45 on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds," I, I, I, 50:50 I. Ezekiel actually says that Lucifer was corrupted because he was gorgeous. "Your heart was 50:57 lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your 51:02 splendour." And here we are, living in a world that puts all the emphasis on the outside. All 51:10 of it. All on physical beauty. We worship youth when the Bible says grey hair is worth 51:17 something. Girls starve themselves to look like a picture of a girl that doesn't 51:22 actually exist; it was made in Photoshop. Boys taking steroids, damaging their bodies so they 51:28 can look like the guy in the magazine too. Everybody in California going out and getting 51:33 plastic surgery, denying the inevitable. Get all the plastic surgery you want; your face is 51:39 still going to slide off your skull one day. Still going to happen. We're spending millions 51:47 of dollars - as people starve, by the way - millions of dollars on designer stuff and designer 51:53 clothes and designer cars and we decorate our bodies with expensive things, but I'm 51:58 telling you what God's looking at: He's looking at the inside. He's looking at the heart and 52:04 mind. God judges the heart, not your appearance. That's it. Listen to God's advice. First 52:10 Peter 3: "Do not let your adorning be external - the braiding of hair or the 52:14 putting-on of gold jewellery, or the clothing you wear - but let your adorning be the hidden 52:19 person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is in 52:23 God's sight very precious." Now, some of our Mennonite and Amish brethren - I go visit the Amish. 52:31 I kind of envy their lifestyle some. I do. They've taken this passage to heart. They don't 52:37 even put the stuff on ever. They take it seriously. And you know something? They kind of have a 52:42 point. They kind of have a point. Why not let Jesus be the most attractive thing about you? 52:50 Why not let Jesus be it? The Bible's rule is simplicity. It's letting Jesus show through you. 52:55 It's letting Jesus be more visible than you. Put a filter on your mind. Close the gates. 53:05 Here's the Bible's advice. In the last days: "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and 53:12 worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for 53:17 the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who gave 53:22 Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His 53:29 own special people, zealous for good works." "But I don't want to be different." No? I do. If 53:42 it means that I'm practicing for the kingdom of heaven, I do. Let me ask you: You've taken the 53:48 reins of your own life for years. I've done it. Still struggle with it. Everybody 53:54 does. How does it go when you run it your way? How's it going There's a man in church, he's 54:02 playing the organ, he's practicing in an empty church, and it's going horribly. Making 54:06 mistakes. And as he's practicing, to his horror, the back of the church opens and a 54:11 man comes and sits down and sits there and listens. That's making it worse. Now he's 54:15 self-conscious and he's making more mistakes. Ergh. Man's sitting in the pew, in a break, 54:23 says, "That's quite a piece you're playing. You're struggling with it." "It's very 54:27 complicated." "Maybe I could help you with it." "You don't understand. This is really 54:34 complex." "This is a piece written by Felix Mendelssohn. You don't get it." "Alright." 54:40 Man keeps making more mistakes. He's getting more frustrated. And then after a bit, as happens 54:44 to most men, he starts to feel bad. "Ooh, I was kind of rude to him." He stops. He says, "I'm 54:50 sorry I was so rude. I just - I'm struggling with this. My name is Steven. What's your 54:54 name?" He said, "I'm Felix Mendelssohn. I wrote that piece." So here you are. 55:06 Struggling with your life, doing it your own way, and the whole time, God's knocking on the 55:12 door, saying, "But I made you. Why don't you let Me teach you how to live? It just goes a 55:21 whole lot better. And you can end up on the mountain with the Lamb with My name written on 55:32 your forehead." It is the Lamb or the dragon. You gotta make up your mind. If you'd like to 55:46 stand on Mount Zion one day, why don't you stand right now and have prayer with me? Father in 56:00 heaven, what a marvel Your Word is. There's not a detail about life that You've left out. 56:11 Tonight, we want to turn our hearts and minds over to You. We want to be new creatures. We 56:20 want Your character written in our hearts. Give us the wisdom to see where the enemy attacks 56:27 and to follow Jesus. Father, we're thankful for the gift of the cross and the fact that 56:33 we'll be on our way home very soon. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, for we pray it in His wonderful 56:41 name, amen. |
Revised 2016-07-29