Good morning and God bless you. Well we're back in the book of Hebrews. Instead of chapter 13, instead of chapter 12, guess where we are? Chapter 11. If you were turning your Bibles to Hebrews 11, we're just going to read that one verse, very famous verse. But it's in the context of these heroes of the faith, and it says something, and, well, we'll title today's message, What Are You Hearing? What Are You Hearing? Hebrews 11, 6, if we'd stand for the reading of God's Word, and His Word, yes. It says, And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him. Father, we seek you give us ears to hear that we would be like Jesus said those that have been given ears to hear let them hear let us hear the message of law where we need it, never of license because we don't need it, and grace because that's what we need. Give us grace in this place, in our hearts, in our lives, in this church, and as we go forward from now and evermore, in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Jesus is for me. Jesus is with me. I live and die for Jesus. Now, what do you think when you hear me say that? Well, that sounds phony to me. How arrogant you are! I don't want to be like that. That isn't real for me. I wish I could say that, but I'll never be like that. That sounds good to me. I believe in Jesus too. I believe I can be like that. Jesus is for me. Jesus is with me. I live and die for Jesus. What message are you hearing? Because it makes all the difference in your world. Now looking at Hebrews 11. There's a lot to look at and discover. It's called the Faith Hall of Fame. And there's three different ways to look at it which we'll get into in a moment. But it's all about faith and it's often again called the Faith Hall of Fame and for good reason. Verse 1 tells you that faith is being sure of what you hope for and being convinced of what you do not see. So many people have faith, but they have it inside, so they look for these feelings, or these expressions, or these thoughts, and these experiences, and they're chasing those, and they put that in the center of their life, instead of God Himself. And there's other reasons, because we're afraid to, or we're afraid of missing out on something, or many other reasons which we'll look at today, some of them. But verse 2 in chapter 11 tells you that the people received commendation because of their faith. They were convinced by a sure hope and that's why they acted as they did. I mean, you see these people on the Olympics and you think, I could never do that. Or, maybe one day I thought I could have done that. Or, you know, I was a wrestler and I thought, you know, I could do this and try to go to some Olympic trials. And I got a little ways into it and it was pretty cool. And then I met the real guys that knew what they were doing. And I counted lights. Because I was on my back right and so now I look at them and I think it the guy that put me on my back got the tar whooped out of him the guy that came in second the guy that won and won the gold medal just absolutely obliterated I thought no I mean I could go back I could do it you're 60 stop that coulda shoulda woulda how many of us live our life in the rearview mirror you don't have to you can't go back in time but God can magnify your time and make it as if the harvest never stopped oh yes But you don't see it lived out, and so you don't believe it. Or you've tried it, but don't try. That's not the issue. Verse 3 tells you that your faith starts with your view of God. Faith in God knows that He created the universe out of nothing. Verse 4 tells you how Abel was declared righteous through faith, which was demonstrated through his sacrifices. And even though he died, his faithful witness still speaks to us. We have a class that we do on Monday night that I'm not even involved in, but we have a bunch of old dead people involved in. And I don't mean the elders in this room. No, we call all dead guys. Stop that. We call all dead guys, you know, because, you know, these Puritans, these old dead guys have something to say to us still today. They may not have written in the same way, but you can work your way through that. And they are also delicious. We think of Thomas Chalmers who talked about the expulsive power of a new affection. You get that dog and it's got a bone in its mouth, it ain't letting go of that bone. But if you throw a stake in there, it's gonna let go of that bone. Right? You fight desire with desire. Now verse 5 tells you how Enoch pleased God and how he never experienced physical death. Abel and Enoch point to how God is worthy of your faith whether you live or die. And we read verse 6 again. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. And we don't think of pleasing God, we think of God pleasing us, and that's a very direct way to say it, but that's what the truth is. And we think we're wiser than everybody else, and they don't know if you had a compelling reason, but if God gave you a compelling reason, and you saw that pleasing Him is what would wind up pleasing you, you might change your mind. We talked about this a couple weeks ago, changing your feelings. But then through verse 7 through the end of the chapter reiterates this truth telling you about many of the heroes of the faith. Demonstrating the reality and power of faith in God. Some did great exploits or prove their faith and some died as martyrs and prove their faith. But as you look into the stories of these people you find these heroes were still humans and they had their issues, their problems and their sins. They were just like you and me. And it's just the same with any of the heroes of the Bible or any of the heroes of the faith since then. We're all flawed people. We've all failed at times. All have sinned and all come short of the glory of God. When you woke up, were you God? No. What do you need to do? Turn to Him. In other words, repent. Not about where everybody else is on the spectrum. It's you and God. But here in Hebrews 11, you see that these heroes are not defined by their failures. They're defined by their faith. It's not that the sins are unimportant. is that their sins were forgiven. You see, good people don't go to heaven. Not one good person goes to heaven, not one, because there is not one. It's forgiven people that go. It's a wonderful testament to the truth that we're saved by God's grace alone and that we live by faith, but we're not going to let us all off the hook right there, are we? Verse six tells you plainly why faith is so important. Again, one more time. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him. But if you're hearing that as law, we're going to get to this. That's why it doesn't work for you. If you're hearing it as license, well, it doesn't matter what I do, because I'm forgiven anyway. That will affect you. But if you hear it as grace, God's wonderful grace, that they did it because of me, and so can you to my glory, which will be for your good. See this may be a problem for you. That brings us to our question today. What are you hearing? You see there are three ways to hear the message of Hebrews 11. Now the Christian already believes that God exists. Amen? We're already in that paradigm. And that he created and he controls the universe. They've already drawn near to God in faith. And they've been saved by Jesus Christ. And they know that it is possible to please God. But when they read about all these heroes of the faith and how they did such great things, and how they persevered through such great troubles, they don't say... shouldn't say... Well, they didn't have computers. They didn't deal with the culture. Yeah, their culture was you die if you mention Jesus. We read how they persevered through great troubles, and we might wonder about our own faith. Or we might think that it doesn't really matter, that this is just a roll call of the greats, and they had their problems too, and this really doesn't apply to me. I'm a believer. Or maybe they have found the real focus of faith. It's easy to say it's God, but we need to show why that's true. Your perceptions will determine what message you're hearing, and how this chapter will affect your life. And when you see these, People doing this are God calling you to do impossible things. That's so He won't rely on you, but you rely on Him. Easy to say. So what do you hear about your faith when you hear Hebrews 11? Do you hear law? You better be like this. You're convicted, but you're condemned. You believe, I'm not good enough. You think, I'll never have enough faith. I'm not like that pastor, and I'm going there. I'm not like Luther. Luther was saying, I'm not like Augustine. And Augustine was saying, I'm not like Aquinas. I'm not like Anselm. I'm not like Paul or John or Peter. In your inner narrative, God is against me. God is not against you for your sins. He's for you against your sins. But there's people that know that intellectually, and they still go off to do whatever they want to do. I'm speaking to you today. If you have a weapon, put it away, because you might feel like coming at it with me. Well, you'll see. I'm not joking. You feel pressure instead of reward. You're defined by your failure. That's when you're hearing His law. You don't hear any grace. You hear just law. You see Hebrews 11, you say, well, I'll never be like that. Well, God's the one that chooses. Well, He didn't obviously choose me. God made me this way to destroy me. Oh my. What's the opposite of that when you hear God's word is licensed? You don't have to be like this. You're careless and complacent. You believe, I am good enough. You think, I have enough faith. Your inner narrative is, God's not worried about me. He's not interested in me. You seek pleasure as your reward. You're defined by your foolishness. You see, you have a dog. And that dog is told it's bad. And that dog is put on a leash. And it's real tight. And it's not very long. And it can't get out of the backyard. And when it does get loose or whatever, everybody tells it, you know, don't get around that dog, it bites. And it's ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra. It hears nothing but bad things. It experiences that noose. Oh, did I say noose? Leash. And it's just mean and ornery and eventually has to get put down. Then you have another dog and there are no rules. There's no leash. There's no fence. There's no rules. And that dog slides into stupid right out in traffic and gets run over. It doesn't know any better. And then you got the dog that's walking along the sidewalk with his master and kind of doing a little bit of this. Right? But that dog's happy. Slobbering. You know what I'm talking about. And all the kids love that dog. Right? And it's too big and it knocks the kid down. Slobbers all over the kid. Then you rescue the kid and it's slobbering all over you. Everybody loves that dog. That dog is happy. It's got a leash! But it's not too tight. There's liberty there. It gets to run free. And it's happy to have that leash when the, you know, the master says, okay, hold on. Hold on. When it runs up against the issue and all that. That dog is in grace. That dog is happy. That dog knows my sheep hear my voice. My sheep know my voice. Right? If I'm walking anywhere within vocal range, and I say, my babies, come to me. See, they're looking right now, and I'll come over to you, but you get it, right? You know my voice, you know what it sounds like. Their mother knows my voice. Her mother knows my voice. Her mother knows my voice. You see, when those puppies come out, They know the Master is going to take care of them. They're well cared for. They're in grace. And you hear, you can be like this. You're comforted and courageous. You believe God is good enough. Hear the difference? You think, God is worthy of my faith. Your inner narrative is, God is for me. You see, the problem isn't sin. The problem is when you say it isn't sin. The problem isn't when you struggle with sin. The problem is when you won't. You see the possibility reward. You're not defined by your failures. You're not defined by your foolishness. You're defined by your faith. What's the difference between people like that? Well, it's tremendous, obviously, right? Amen, somebody? But why do some hear it this one way and others another way? Well, here's the difference. The difference is where you focus your faith. When you hear Hebrews 11 is law or is licensed, you're focusing your faith in yourself. However, if you want to exercise and grow in your faith, and then instead of starting with yourself, you must start with God. That makes all the difference. Let's talk about some of these incredible heroes of the faith. Some of the Bible's greatest personalities. The father of faith, right? Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you. And I never got to praise... So let's just praise the Lord, you know? Let's go to the library, let's eat something, but let's just praise the Lord. The father of faith wasn't always faithful. Remember, he grew impatient with God and had Ishmael by another woman instead of Isaac, the son of promise. And lo and behold, what does that cause today? Amen? How about the humblest man? The humblest man who ever lived was Moses. The Bible says so. Of course, he wrote that. But he wasn't always humble. He let his temper get the best of him. And remember he was supposed to do one thing and then he did the other and then God said you're not going into the promised land because of that. He's supposed to lead them to the promised land and he didn't get to go in. Except the man of transfiguration. He was there. But the father of faith wasn't always faithful. The humblest man wasn't always humble. The strongest man, Samson, was also very weak. Delilah. The man after God's own heart, David. Didn't always follow after God, Bathsheba. The wisest man, Solomon. Wasn't always wise, he had a harem of over a thousand women. Oh, Lord have mercy. No, it isn't. And what happened? He built an altar for each of the false gods they worshipped. And he was the wisest man ever. The greatest man. Who did Jesus say the greatest man who ever lived was? John the Baptist. He wasn't great enough. Remember when he was in prison for a couple years? He goes, are you the one? He knew it in his mother's womb. He said, I'm not the one. I'm the one that's going to be heralded. He quoted scripture. He was his cousin. If anybody knew who Jesus was on this earth, it was the greatest man who ever lived, which is John the Baptist. But when he isolated himself, What happened? You unplug. You lose power. The boldest man, Peter, gave into peer pressure. Remember Galatians 2? The Judaizers. The man who said, Jesus, I won't let them kill you. Jesus, you'll never wash my feet. Jesus, I'll never deny you. But he did. Also said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus told Peter that God himself had revealed that truth to him. And then he says, get behind me, Satan, like six verses later. Peter still did some bad things, but he's still a hero of the faith. Because which of those people and which of those things was more important, their failures or their faith? These people were successful in God's eyes. Keep listening. And in our own eyes. Even though they had to overcome great obstacles. Even though they had their issues. Even though they still made mistakes. Even though they failed and sinned at times on purpose. These examples show you and the whole Bible tells you that you'll always need mercy and grace. Mercy because you did it. Grace so you don't do it again. that you can always have mercy and grace. Because of our great high priest whose hath through the heavens Jesus sitting at the right hand of God we can boldly become to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. I wonder how often that is. I never want to leave the throne room not spiritually speaking ever. No matter how high you climb, you still need mercy and grace. Because you ain't climbing higher than the throne of God. No matter how far you fall, you can still have mercy and grace. Amen? Now, let's think through this a little bit. Are you with me? Amen? It may seem as if Hebrews 11 is focused on the desire and devotion of the people to God. Doesn't it seem to read that way? They did this, they did that, and it makes you feel bad. That's the problem with the curated vision of these social media things, is we think this person is just doing it all. Everything is good, you don't see the normal routine of their life. They still have to change diapers, so much fun. First few times, yes, what an honor. And then after a while, it's like, it really is messy. Girls and boys are different. Someone caught that. Things happen and you wonder. Or you don't have one. You think, oh, they have all this. I have none and they have ten. Ten little bombs of, oh boy. You see, we think this is all about what they did for God and what God did for them. But it's not focused on the desire and devotion of the people to God, but it's focused first on the desire and devotion of God to his people. Don't complain about being a cookie jar if you want to be a coffee pot. Be a good coffee pot. This is why the people did what they did, and why you can do what God tells you to do in faith, because God is faithful. It isn't how strong you hold on to God's hand, it's how strong He's holding on to yours. It isn't living great for God. It's living like God is great in you. It's not about you conquering that thing, it's about Christ conquering you. This isn't pride, this is humility. Are you hearing the wrong message? What are you looking for? What are you hearing for? Be careful how you hear, Jesus said. Instead of remembering and reminding you of what Christ has done for you through his cross and what is available to you through repentance, faith, and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, you look at these great men and women and you think, All it does is show you how far your own desires are from where you think they were. Or how far you are from where you think God wants you to be. You're morbidly introspective. Look out and help somebody else. Pray for somebody else. Do someone else's dishes. Perhaps you think that since all people have problems, it's all about God's grace, that it doesn't matter what you do. God's gonna forgive you even when you don't care about pleasing Him. God is opposed to merit. He's not opposed to effort. And that isn't pleasing to God. It indicates a lack of faith altogether. Maybe you aren't actually a Christian after all. If you fear that you aren't pleasing to God, that's one thing. Hear God's message of grace. But if you don't even care about pleasing God, well that's quite another thing. You need to hear the verse 6 again. Because your supposed faith is in a God who doesn't exist. And your reward for seeking that imaginary God is going to be an eternity without His love. Hear that. And come to Christ in true faith, asking Him to forgive you of your sins. You see, people, they repent, thinking that's the way to the good life. You need to repent of not being intimate with God and say, God, I want to be close to you. I want to draw near to you, and I want to know what that actually is. Because a lot of people seem to define it one way, but I'm talking about when no one else is around. You and God. All people are equal at the foot of the cross because all people are in equal need of the cross. Not just one time. Are you hearing the real God or just the God who's most real to you? One of the great obstacles to success is victimization thinking. You're thinking all the pressure's on you and you don't have what it takes. And that can be very hard to overcome, especially when it may be true. Augustine said, command what you will, give what you command. Some people might be against you. Some situations are nearly impossible to overcome. And the devil is aiming at you, too. In some sense, we're all victims of our own sins, the sins of others, and the schemes of Satan. Still, the people in Hebrews 11 overcame all of this and did great things for God. Their main focus wasn't on their victimhood. Their focus was on their God. What made these people heroes was their faith. But why did they have faith? Here's why. The reason these heroes acted like heroes was they knew that God was for them. And so they pursued Him and His call on their lives, no matter what the cost, because God was worth it. They knew God was for them. They didn't act as if it meant they were allowed to do whatever they wanted to do. Rather, it inspired and empowered them to do what God wanted them to do. This is true faith. It's humility and holiness before God and it pleases Him. You're acting on what He says about your future, not how you might feel in the present. Not how it went yesterday. This one thing I do. Forgetting what lies behind and pressing on towards the mark of the high call of the prize in Jesus Christ. You can do it. Because it is God who wills and does for you to will and do of His good pleasure. That's the key to godly success. That's how to be a hero in the faith. It isn't about your power, it's about God's power. And people say that, but they don't understand what that means. Of course, you know He created and controls the universe. That's an easy one. But have faith in Him, even when you don't have faith in yourself. That's a lot of people's problem. They have too much faith in themselves. The truth will set you free. You have nothing to lose but the chains that you put on yourself. Let the word of God's grace set you free to serve Him, not to catch up and think, how do I restore this and do that? Just follow the way He's going and He will change your whole world. And if you're a Christian, you think you can't please God, hear what Hebrews 11, 16 and Hebrews 2, 11 say. God's not ashamed of you. He's not disgusted with you. He'll never give up on you. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. When your heart condemns you, remember that God is greater than your heart, 1 John 3, 20. Don't let your limitations, your failures, and your problems keep you from believing, embracing, and resting in His limitless, unfailing, problem-solving love. And you say, well, yes, but Pastor, I need you to talk to these people about... You need to hear it yourself. When you stand before God, you will not stand in shame. You will stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That's the gospel. Doesn't matter if the rest of the world is saying, look, they can't hardly do it. God's going, yay! Right? You should never be ashamed of that. Romans 1.16 says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. The message that God wants you to hear is not just an affirmation, it's a challenge. Jesus Christ lived and died for you not only to save your soul but also to redeem your life. Do you know what I mean by that? I mean you can stop compartmentalizing your life into this is what I do for church and God's people and you know to please God and this is what I do over here when no one else is looking or when I get what I really want. God wants you to have good things. He wants to redefine what those good things are. I'll just be bored. If you actually know God, that's the least boring thing in the world. Fighting sin is not a boring profession. Redeem your life. Buy it back. Reclaim it. Not to show off you. I was right the whole time. Fool. The power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God are meant to inspire and empower you to do His will in any and every situation. Life is supposed to be hard, folks. It's supposed to be hard. Why is it called running the race, fighting the good fight of faith, right? All these things, it's meant to be hard. It looks different for each one of us, but it's essentially the same for each one of us. To glorify God, which means revealing his character through your character. And that has to also be through negative things. When your tree's shaken, what fruit comes down? Show the world who Jesus is and what he means to you by how you live your life. Let him get away with it. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Not just, you better let him do it because he said he's taking it. I will repay. They had better want me to slap him than God. Show the world who Jesus is and what he means to you by how you live your life. And part of that is, you don't do it right. And you drop the football again, so you show what Jesus means to you because you pick it back up. Right? You drop the football. It's the Super Bowl. You don't just look at, well, one player did a few years ago. Just sit there and look at it. And then put on another jersey. I think I'll go with this team. That would be silly, right? Don't we often do the same thing? That's living by faith and being a hero in God's eyes when Jesus is the hero to you. You can fulfill his call in your life even when no one stands with you. And even if everyone stands against you, if God is for you, who can be against you? It means they won't prevail. It doesn't mean they won't be against you. Of course they will. We have felt, bad word feel, but oh well. We've been experiencing quite a bit of attack on us personally lately and on some things in this church and things you just don't want to have to deal with. I'm like, oh not that again. But there it is. But God will always be faithful to you. The question is, do you have faith? It depends on what message you're hearing. Which dog are you? Right? Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr You know, we've said enough to make the point. You don't just live the way you want to and think you're getting away with it. You ain't getting away with nothing. And I don't just mean your mom and dad saying, you ain't doing it right. I mean your conscience telling you the same thing. Everybody else saying this, that, everything. You're doing so well, you're so wonderful. And you know on the inside, you're just eating up. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. You know, you can hear someone talk and not really listen to them. Someone can be with you and not be with you. Ever done that? I was doing it yesterday. I was talking and someone just... But I don't want to go to jail. Not every thought that comes into your head is from you. You just, you turn them back. I was sitting on the balcony with my babies. And we were at the place to watch the wild crats. And I go, huh, like that. And little Lola says, what's going on? I said, I'm having a bad thought. She goes, think of something else. Right? I was thinking about them falling over and dropping. And then I was thinking, Stop. There are people that have those kind of thoughts and they come into them. That doesn't mean who they are. Is that how I define myself? Did I do anything? No. Are they here today? Yes. Do I love them? Yes. Right? Are you really going to learn what spiritual warfare really is? Right? If you're really doing things for God, guess who's coming to town? Guess who's going to come knocking on the door? Guess who's going to challenge you in the one area that you don't want? If you were the devil, how would you challenge you? You think, why that? Exactly why. Because God wants to show you, down in the trenches, you get through that, you've got them everywhere. You can deal with that, you can deal with them anywhere. Old FDR was right. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Just turn that into the fear of God and you won't have to fear anything else. Hebrews 3.15 says, Today if you would hear His voice, in other words, if you want to hear His voice, don't harden your heart. The key to hearing God's voice is heeding God's voice. Just in that little bit, that little bit, that step, that talk, that walk, and it becomes a thing you get used to. You don't have to say, God told me... I don't go around saying that. I don't have to. I don't look to touch the hem of Jesus' garment. I'm wearing it. That scare you? I'm not saying I'm Jesus. I'm saying if you're a Christian, He dwells in you. He dwells within you. But is He on the throne of your heart? Is He really with you? They were going to go in Exodus 33, Exodus 32, which is what we had passed out earlier, They had the golden calf. They messed up bad. And God says, eh, you're going to go in the promised land anyway, but I ain't going with you. And they were like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not talking about chasing a feeling. Do you know that the presence of God is what you should want more than anything else? And don't guilt yourself. You should want it more, but you don't. My dear old dad passed away a couple weeks ago and he would always say, that kid in South Africa or whatever would have killed to have a ham sandwich. You don't like ham, right? Or the fennel seeds in that sausage. And I own the pizza places. This isn't relevant for me. Stop pushing yourself out. Because that's what you're doing to God. I'm not God, but I guarantee you I'm speaking for Him right now. And I'll be held to account. And I do know Him. I know Him. And I know what He wants is to have you down where you don't want to be. So that He shows up there and says, I love you no matter what you think. And pulls you up out of that. When He said, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? That's Him speaking for you on the cross. The one had never not known the full presence. Now he became a human so that he could experience that. And as far down as he went, as farther than you could ever go. And as he comes up, let him take you up with him. He was forsaken, so you don't have to be. But it can't just be guilt, because you are guilty anyway. It can't just be grit. I'm just going to do it now. I'll live like one of the heroes of the faith. Ha ha! Try to be a hero, you're gonna be a zero. It's not guilt, it's not grit, it's grace. You just walk in it. And when you fall down, you're still in it. Those footprints, love the poem, but there was two sets of prints and then there's one, that's where he was carrying me. There's always and only ever one. He's carrying you the whole way. Now unto Him who is able to carry us and keep us from falling, to Him be glory and majesty forever. It doesn't mean that when you fall down, it's such a great and wonderful thing. The great and wonderful thing is He's still there and just goes, all right, come on up. Right? Our friend who lost her leg, and when she first put the new one on, and if you saw the video, it was good, good, good, good, good, good, good. Right? Ah, and this now, pain. You will feel it. I can't believe they made a video of this, and I thought, thank you for sharing. But then you get more used to it. You get used to walking with Him. Babies crawl. But they see everybody else, the big people walking. Doesn't always work. I see the big people slamming basketballs and I still can't do that. But that's the point. I don't have to do that. You just have to do with what God is giving to you. And He gives you the power to walk with Him, otherwise He wouldn't call a walk in the Spirit. He gives you the power to fight the good fight of faith, otherwise He wouldn't say that people can do it. He gives you these examples not to beat you down, but to be the great cloud of witnesses. They witness to you that Jesus is worth it no matter what. And not just when you're suffering, but when you're just lackadaisical and you're just fear of missing everything else out because you want your best life now. I don't want my best life now. I had money. I had all the stuff. Solomon had all the stuff. Ask him. I want the Jesus life now. Here comes the whole application of the whole Bible. Are you ready? Hosea 14.9 is the last verse of the book of Hosea. And it relates to his message as well as the whole Bible. Remember, he's the one that God said, get with this woman and she's going to cheat on you. Yikes. What do you tell Jeremiah? You can't have a wife. What do you tell Ezekiel? Your wife's going to die tomorrow and you don't get to cry. I'm not making a prediction about stuff. Stop that. You're in law. Hear the grace. You know, Hosea 14.9 says, whoever is wise, let him understand these things, what he was talking about. Whoever is discerning or prudent, the word would say, let him know them. The wise man pays attention to God's message of warning and judgment, not just because you're going to hell. Well, I've accepted Jesus. Okay, you're not going to hell, but you're going to live like hell? What kind of witness is that? What kind of rewards in heaven is that? What kind of communion, sweet communion with God is that? Love that is greater than knowledge. Joy that's inexpressible and full of the revelation of God Himself. Peace that is more than your understanding. The wise man pays attention to God's message, warning and judgment. And so, because they do that, they also see the path of His mercy, repentance and redemption. Hosea says, the ways of the Lord are right. The righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. The wise person knows God is right. They don't just know it in their head, they follow it in their heart. They follow God's word as a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path. What they're walking on, where they're walking to. I need to know God's will. I'm walking in it already. You're not going to find the right house if you're not in the right neighborhood. But if you're in the right neighborhood, you will find the right house. It's so easy to be deceived. And when you don't believe you can be deceived, that's when you already are. A lot of people think they're saved and they're going to be split in hell wide open. A lot of people are saved and they're not going to split hell wide open, but it's going to take eternity for them to find some of us. The wise person knows God's right. The foolish person falls a long way because they don't really listen. And you see, you're not really hearing God's voice unless you're heeding God's voice. Now, let me finish. Sometimes as a Christian you don't realize that you're allowed some other thing to overtake your faithfulness to Jesus. I'm not talking about living perfectly. I'm talking about living purposely. For many, God isn't actually their goal. God is just what they think will baptize their goal into sanctity. Well, I've got to make this much money because, oh yeah? I want my children, oh yeah? You don't understand how it is at my house, God does. Again, keep feeding on trash, keep living like garbage. I ain't talking about your status. I'm talking about the desire of your heart. Your mind builds some argument that allows you to believe that gaining your greater desire is permissible because you now think Jesus wants this for you. It could be a good thing. Yeah, to work is a good thing. Provide is a good thing. Yeah. Want to have enough room for the rest of the family to be able to move in so you can, you know, pool resources? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But how many people put that right in the dead center of their life and think that putting God first in their life means it's okay? Wrong. Ready? You know what a huge sin is? Ready? Putting God first in your life. Huge sin. Huge. Come at me. Come on. You know why? Because you could say your grace and still eat what you shouldn't eat. Living example. Right? You can pray that God would be with your business and do all this and then just cheat everything. All right? You could say, with this ring, I do thee wed and then go off with your girlfriend. It's not about putting God first in your life. It's about putting God in the center of your life and everything revolves around Him instead of everything revolving around you. It's not wrong to have good goals, duh. If you can be a doctor, please be a doctor. We need some good ones, right? If you're supposed to be a missionary, that doesn't mean I'm telling you not to be a missionary. Be a missionary, maybe. But maybe you'll be a missionary for 27 years in a foreign country and have to come back. What then? What are you gonna do, right? Maybe your children are just so awesome and your grandchildren. And you love them, they seem so wonderful. And then they start to get a little bit wayward. Oh, now it's all my fault. What do you do now? If you know God, you just keep walking with him. He will show you. My sheep hear my voice. My sheep know my voice. Not just for salvation, but for sanctification. Not making it up, but the word speaking to them. It still speaks today. Today, if you will hear His voice, don't harden your heart. Pay attention to this. I'm telling you, the fear of missing out is controlling people. The devil wants you to believe that you're missing out on the good life. Satan is the one who's convinced you that Jesus wants you to chase it. And it's harming your life, your witness, your communion with God, your rewards in heaven. Stop placing what you want to do with your life at the center of your life instead of Jesus. It doesn't mean read the Bible more, pray more, stay in your closet, and never have any fun. Don't be that dog. Right? Don't be the other dog. Woo-hoo! Jesus forgives me. Woo-hoo! It's not going to work. God loves you. But when you don't actually have Jesus at the center of your life, it's not the sin. It's not the situations. It's that everything's out of orbit. That is what's causing you to miss out on God's best. Not life's best. Don't you really want to be able to say Jesus is for me? Jesus is with me? I live and die for Jesus? Paul said it this way, for me to live is Christ. Doesn't mean all I do is witness. It means my life is a witness. Doesn't mean all I do is evangelize. It means I know when I am supposed to make that turn instead of just getting my numbers in. Like I've got to write out so many tickets. I've got to do so many things. I've got my to-do list. Okay, let's get rid of God's to-do list. Now I can do what I want to do. Wouldn't you like it to be where you could do what you want to do and it's what God wanted you to do instead of making your mind up that that's what it is? That's what heaven is. Jesus will be there. You do whatever you want to do. But everything you want to do is what He wants you to do. Here we go. Aren't you tired of asking God what His will is? Aren't you tired of wondering what the next thing is? I was. I changed my mind. It's got to do what I want to do. What's your goal? Presence of God. How do you get there? Stay in the presence of God. How do you stay there? I please God. How do you do that? I walk with God. It's all in a circle. You just keep doing it, and you get used to it, and then you get used to walking. I don't have to think about walking. When my dad got Alzheimer's, he forgot how to do things like swallow, but he was real bad. Not everybody gets that far. You may not have issues in certain areas, but you'll have them in others. And the answer is to walk with God. And we think, oh, I just gotta get in my Bible more, as if you can just read your Bible more, and then when you got enough God, then you can stop. You haven't actually met God. They were going to go into the promised land. But I'd rather go into the promised land with God than without Him. And if He's not with me and I have to stay in the wilderness to be with Him, I don't want to go in the promised land. The promised land is wherever God is. He's everywhere, of course. He's with you, of course. But is He ruling on your heart? He's within you. But then why did Paul pray that he would dwell in your hearts by faith? That you would know the length and the breadth and the width and the height, and to know the fullness of God. That's being filled with the Spirit, and I don't mean, again, I make fun of that, but that's what people, they get their idea because they don't know what it really means, so they have to make up what they think it means. Aren't we having the greatest time? And the girl's seven foot tall and I'm three feet tall. Isn't this great? Yeah, it's great. You bought the limo, so okay. Get real with God. You can know Him. I don't have anything that you don't have. But some people live how you don't live. Why is that? What was going on in Hebrews 11? God, trust Him and learn what that means. Repent, and not just because I feel bad because I sinned, but I want to get closer. See life through the lens of God, and see seeing God through the lens of life. Then you'll be filled with the Spirit, you'll have the full armor of God, you won't have to repeat phrases, you'll know God. We ain't gotta talk about when there was trouble and you thought, oh my God. We just were able to speak and connect, just like that. We'll never forget that. Now I'm dealing with it again, because it's happened, as you know. But I'm here to tell you, excuse me, boys, there's a difference. There's a difference. Not me, God. How do you stay plugged in? Not go to church more. Yes, give more to me personally. Oh, sorry. But how can you know the difference? How can you not be offended? How can these things be this way? What were these people like? Abraham was a regular guy. He's like, I don't believe this. His wife was like, I'm not gonna have a baby when I'm 90. That's why the baby was named Isaac, because Isaac means laughter, right? Where did our friend go? His dog Isaac died the other day. Right here, he's out there in the yard. What do you do? You want to be like those people? Forget those people. Be like Jesus. You wanna be like Jesus? Listen to what He says. If you wanted to know what I like, so you know what's present to me, you listen to how I talk. Like last week, I had all these people say, hey, are you watching the grace? They knew I was, because I said I was gonna do it. Right? You know I like burritos. You know I can't stand broccoli. Because you get to know me. Get to know God. Not just in His word as, I better do this or... That's the bad dog. Because you wanna. What if that other dog said, hey, hey, hey, let's go over to Dave's house. He's really good. He don't just serve us alpo. Whatever the good stuff is, I don't even know. Our dog is somewhere else now. I mean, I could go on and on, but when He really thrills you, find what it is. Say, God, not just a feeling, but a reality, an experience that I'd be en fuego and other people would catch fire from me. That's what I want. You know when you find people that know God, and then, well, theologically this or that or the other thing, but those main things are just sitting out there like they're written on your chest. It's like, I love Jesus. I'm doing what I know about Jesus. I'm willing to learn more about Jesus, and I wanna share about Jesus. And then we go. It's that simple. It's that simple. Yeah. It's what he's done, not what you do. Forget how you're going to prove yourself. Forget all that. I mean, you're young. Do stuff. Yay. Hallelujah. And the family would all go, yeah, yeah, that's the man. Yeah, of course. Yeah. I do it about my kids. Hey, honor roll and things like that. And I go, and these are mine. Miss Goforth is the best teacher in the world. Yeah. And she's my daughter. Hallelujah. You know, you do that. God's waiting to do that for you. He's not saying, well, you waited 16 years. That's the bad master. We don't have that. We don't have that. If I ever come off like that, just forget what I said. Right? Don't poop in the lawn, JD. Right? God's got a hold of me like that already. And I can hear Him. Because I know He wants that for my good. Not to beat me up. God doesn't beat me up. I beat myself up and God says, that's enough. Yeah. Yeah. How are you hearing it? What is your heart hearing? Say, God, help me change my heart because I want to hear your grace, not just so I can run out in the middle of traffic, not so I can be chained down, but so I can be on that leash and feel free. No one is as free as the one who may even have the world's chains on them, but God is stronger. You don't get the chains off and go, ooh, nice necklace, nice little bracelet. Who doesn't want to go back to their sin? I'm the only one, for goodness sakes. I'll raise two hands then. I'll try to throw my feet up in the air. I don't want to go back to it. I'm not going to go back to it because of His grace. Learn to walk in grace. The place for grace. And give people a space for grace. And when you do that, they'll make space for you. Don't judge them. Don't pass sentence. You know? If they're not doing it right, show them how to do it right. Don't beat them up for not doing it right. Don't be at the airport. Don't you hate the airport? You don't know where you're going, and they get mad at you for not knowing where to go, and then they don't tell you where to go. So you want to tell them where to go. You see what I mean? Get to know God, it's so worth it. I'm still doing it. Hopefully that's what discipleship is. Like, all right, let's go on. And we do that, and she's like, that's pretty good, let's go on. That's pretty good, let's go on, let's go on, let's go on. And no matter what your situation is, what your problem is, you're still on the Jesus train. That's what we want. We don't wanna be chickens that pick apart each other. You just get here, you get used to it, and then you change, and that's it. And over the years, you're like, wow. If you don't see someone, and you see them years later besides me, wow, they got a lot taller. Right? Or the kids get older, or things like that. We went and saw the Wild Kratts yesterday, and one of them has blonde hair, one of them has dark hair. And I'm like, Margie, the other one changed her hair to blonde. She goes, no, no, he's your age. He has gray hair now. Grease and formless grade. I love you and I know God loves you and I sincerely apologize to you if I don't show that often enough. But know this. I feel it. Come here if you want to feel love. Not a love bomb like a cult. But a love that changes you. That's patient with you. And there's wind in your sails. I'm tired of rowing the oars. I want wind in my sails where rowing is just easy. Like you have an outboard on the back. Like you have the training wheels on. You had some magic that made you do this. His grace is there for you. It's way bigger than you think. He's way more for you than you believe. Once you're in, you're in. Now you win. Father, I thank you because you're you. I thank you because you bring us along teaching us about you when we're ready to hear it. But sometimes we're in a crowd and we don't always hear it and we're part of a crowd that ain't here and we're the proud crowd and we want to hang with them. Help us, Lord, to know that you're worth it no matter what we think we're losing or gaining, everything. Help us to have some of that now. In Jesus' name, amen. I hope this was helpful for you. It's helpful for me.