There's a little gospel track put out by Gospel Track Society, incorporated out of Independence, Missouri. And it is called Warfare Prayer. You heard Mark Bubeck talk about one of the gentlemen that was one of his mentors, Victor Matthews. This is written by Victor Matthews. And this is, it takes about 10 minutes to pray through this. Awesome little prayer. It's awesome Because what you're doing is you're bringing yourself under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're putting on the armor You're standing against the schemes the devil in your life for that day, and it's very very thorough It has things in here that most people don't even think about when they're praying in the morning And it's just really a thorough covered format What's really nice about this as you would use this if you would use this on a regular basis Eventually, you'll get to where you don't need this You just lift it up to the Lord because you you'll realize the points you want to cover with him It's not that we you know Remember, it's not in this words It's the subject that the principles that we're trying to cover with the Lord So I always recommend this to a lot of the people that I spend time with that they would Just take this and use it on a daily basis Okay, so we're going to make that available to you up here as well And if you take one if you want some more you can get a hold of gospel tracks I would encourage you to Get a hold of them. It's not copyrighted but there's a reason for that, but they're kind enough they're putting it out in print and everything and Okay All right that covers those handouts This is a kind of a review time, and I really want to This is in section you Loop 418 I almost shared this verse with you a while while ago and Well, I just need to remember to do that before the week's over and I forgot we put it in here Which is great This is the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ This is what he declared as his mission after he had went through the temptation He came back to Galilee he went to Nazareth He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath as was his custom He was handed the scroll of Isaiah to read he stood up to read and he was handed the scroll of Isaiah and He read out of what we know today is Isaiah 61 And he said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me To preach the gospel to the poor He is the gospel he is the proclamation of every piece of good news that God has for man. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Now, that's really not there in the Greek, that part. In the Greek, it's to proclaim or to release the liberty to the captive and recovery of sight to the blind set at liberty those who are oppressed. So it starts with the gospel, doesn't it? It starts with redemption, the atonement, the Lamb of God, the washing away of our sin, the new birth, regeneration. But it doesn't stop there. That's where it starts. Then it comes to healing the brokenhearted Proclaiming liberty to the captive. Those who are held captive by who? By Rome? I don't think so. By the enemy. By the forces of darkness. Recovery of sight to the blind. Well, we saw him heal the blind, didn't we? I don't think he was specifically referring to the blind of Retina of sight He was referring to those who are blinded in their hearts their minds are blinded I Don't know about you, but I didn't understand spiritual things before Calvary Afterwards I did and I walked through a lot of things in life that I didn't understand some of the deeper things like soul time and Captivity. Surrendered ground. How can the enemy oppress and touch a Christian? And he brings recovery of sight to the blind. How many Christians I have sat with have been Christians for many, many years after we've spent some time with them. We get back in touch with them. How are you doing? And they say, boy, it's just amazing. Things are so much clearer. I have a whole different perspective on life around me. One lady was telling me how she is so aware when something comes up and she gets into an argument and starts defending something. And she says, wait a minute. Wait just a minute. There's a lie here that I'm defending. And then she backs off and apologizes. She didn't see that before. And so there's recovery of sight is blind there. And I feel like that in my life. Once I was blind, but now I can see. To set at liberty, to set free those who are oppressed, these are those who are wounded, who are hurt, who the enemy has shattered and abused. I don't know if we told you this week, if you've heard this, this is a secular number that's reported federally, it's accumulated in the United States. In our grand land of liberty, one out of three women in America are reported as having been sexually abused before the age of five. That's what's reported. Now what do you suppose is not reported? I've had some psychiatrists, several, tell me they believe it's 1 out of 2. In all the cases I've worked with, there's only been 1 or 2 reported. 1 out of 7 males have been sexually abused before they're 5 years old. We're talking about children, little kids. before the age of five. Folks, the enemy is rampaging in our land. Jesus said, I come to set them free of their oppression, their wounded, their hurt. His mission is so much deeper than what We in the local church have proclaimed for years, come to Jesus and be happy. It's so much deeper than that. Find release from your captivity. Find healing for your blindness. Let him heal your hurts and your pain and your wounds. I can remember as a pastor, not knowing how to help people. At a loss. We had a beautiful Sunday service going on. We had about 150 people there that morning. And just beautiful. One of those beautiful days, you know. Texas blue skies. Sunlight in the morning coming in the windows. We're in the middle of singing and worshiping and praising the Lord. And the piano starts getting louder. Louder. lady at the piano and she in this piano or war and she's winning the piano is just she's good and you know so we're thinking of and she starts beating the piano where I mean now we've lost the song everybody kind of stops it's two or three more times and she jumps up flurms out in a rage she storms out and you know Here we are in church, the whole church, you know, it's just... You know, and everybody says, what did you do, pastor? It's always the pastor's fault, you know? Boy, we prayed, you know, and she gets out in the parking lot, storms and gravel going everywhere, and she's out. I didn't know how to help her. I didn't know if I wanted to help her. Seriously, I didn't know what to do. Man, what do you do? Call her up and, hello? This is Bill, I sell Bibles. Sorry, wrong number. I just didn't know where to go with her. The day I look back at that, I wish I knew then what I know today. How to approach her, how to help her, how to minister to her and her family. I really believe she was a highly shattered, wounded woman. But, you know, I didn't know that. So, people flee from them, the wounded ones. But Jesus didn't flee. He walked right into the face of hell and said, let my people go. Paul said in Colossians 127, whom God willed to make known, what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of the world. Christ in you. And if there's one message I hope you get out of this week, It's that God wants you to know what he says about you and Christ. Christ in you. So our mission is to serve the local church of the Lord Jesus Christ. To affirm that very thing. To bring a balance into the battles of life. The spiritual battles of life. Our tendency is always to go into extremes. Martin Luther was in a battle. He was in a battle with all of this religiosity and the warped teaching of Rome. And he swung out of that battle and went right into an extreme. He thought that James should be ripped out of the canon of scripture. He had no place for it. Because James says, well, show me your faith by your works. Martin Luther said, no, never again. No works. He just went to extremes. But that's our tendency. And then we get tired of hearing grace, grace, grace, no works, and we go into works. We go to hyper-performance in Christianity. We raise up a standard and turn it into the law. And we need to understand that God is a God of balance, of order. And He's not on a pendulum. He's not swinging through history. He is stable. And it's our firm conviction that our mission can only be carried out in the finished work of Jesus Christ and the presence of God in our lives. So we join with Paul. As we pray for those who attend our course, that God would give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him. That the eyes of your heart would be enlightened so you would know what is the hope of His calling. What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance from His saints? What is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe? And that's our prayer for you. We talked about many things that you need to secure in setting up your ministry. And I'd just like to review real quick. Have them fill out and prepare a personal inventory in the background. Get some history on them. Page two, I'm sorry. Secure prayer support. Folks, could I urge you, could I enlist you to pray for our ministry, for ICBC Texas? We're inundated, overwhelmed with need. And when we try to meet those needs, it's really good to know that the saints are out there praying for us. Praying that we'll have wisdom, discernment, strength. have protection. So I would encourage you to raise up prayer support. We have some widows from past churches we pastored that I know pray for us on a regular basis. We've been on their prayer list for years and years and I hope as the Lord allows them to continue on this earth, we'll continue there. And never, never, never meet and counsel with the opposite sex along. No compromise there. That's a warning. So many, many people in the ministry have made this tragic mistake. We know of pastors who have made this mistake. I know of some that did not do anything. I really believe they were innocent and they were accused. How do you get out of that without damaging the church? Establish a trust relationship with the person. Begin each session with prayer for anointed guidance and protection. A point of binding and loosening. Look at each appointment as a divine appointment. I really see that. When someone comes into my office, I believe it's God-ordained. Because I ask Him to keep back any body that shouldn't be there. Or just don't let it happen. Sometimes that doesn't happen. When there's a frustration in getting together with people, then sometimes I think God is stopping that for some purpose. Either because God wants them to be with somebody else, or there's other people that need to be there, but they're not the ones. Ask them to relate to you what they would hope to see or gain in their lives from their time with you. What do you hope to receive this week or during our session? And I think the most common thing is to say, why are you here? Because you said you'd see me. So just ask them what they hope to gain from their time with you. I always try to go over what my approach is. Use the steps of freedom of grace or whatever your approach is. How are you going to do it? It kind of leaves a lot of tension. When people are coming for counseling, there's a lot of apprehension. What's going to happen? What are they going to say? What are they going to do to me? Are they going to hit me with a bat? What are they going to do? Throw me on the floor? What's going to happen? I mean, there is a lot of tension in their lives. Listen to their story. Keep good notes. My wife told me to put this one in. She's always going, Bob, smile. Smile, Bob. You look so much nicer than when you smile. Their need to unload or unpackage their story is usually a very pressing issue. Yes. We keep a file with the data information, you know, name, address, phone numbers, contact information. And I keep notes pertaining to that visit as long as I know that I'm going to be possibly revisiting him. Okay? I think it's a good idea. Sometimes give it to them. Let them destroy it. Or destroy it for them. I keep a shredder next to my credenza. So, it just depends. If I know somebody that we're still working with, it's possible for them to come back, I'll hang on to some names. Because I cannot remember. You know, we see so many people. I can remember people, but a lot of the details, without the notes, I would be really in trouble. It starts running into you. You're the person afraid of being closed. box, right? No, that's not me. You're not? You're HECO? Great. You don't remember the healing? Usually they don't they don't want to remember the box. I've never done that. No. My prayer partner is usually my wife. I'd rather take my own notes. I've seen her notes. I take my own notes, and I take very verbose notes. I really try to keep track of what's happening. That's good proof. Good delegator, I guess. I like to take in my own notes. Sometimes I'll make a circle in there and make a note to myself about something. Some of these people have kept their stories bottled up for years. I can't imagine how many people I've met that I'm the first guy to hear that part of their story. Awesome. Had a missionary one time. Had been on the mission field for years. And I was the first guy he had ever talked to about some abuse in his life. And this is a missionary. And he's been carrying it for years. Good notes help. And it's often through our notes, as they're telling their story, that we can kind of review and begin to uncover where a lie is, or see a pattern, or see what God... It's often through my notes that God shows me where we need to be going, what we need to be doing. Because I can use that as a tool. I can deal with it later in the session. I can come back and say, remember when you said this? Boy, it just helps so much. You say, well, I don't think I said that. Well, yeah, look, here's what I wrote. Here's how you said it. And then it just, it's right there. Be flexible. Sometimes we can get into a rut and we want people to meet our time frames or our schedules. That's really hard. Oftentimes, we look and think, well, I've just got so much time, so I need to work through this, and it may be better to put it off for a different time, instead of trying to make it meet a compressed time. If you're going to get into something and you've only got 30 minutes, you might want to wait. One of the biggest difficulties I have is in these courses. I do a lot of counseling in the courses. Jim drags me around and sets me in a room, and I usually Fred and Elaine did more counseling in this course this week than they normally do. I usually do most of the course counseling, which is great, because I was running back and forth to the airport. And so it's worked out great for that. But it's really interesting. You've got to change. You're working an hour and a half segment to the five days. So it's a different mode of operation. Well, it just depends on how you're going to set up your environment. But I'll tell you, three to four hours is a lot of emotional energy. And for me. And if you have two appointments in a day, you know, six to eight hours is a lot of energy. And when I was working and pastoring, and discipleship counseling. We would meet with people on Friday evenings, work all day Saturday, 10 hours, sometimes starting at 8.30 and going to midnight. And then preaching Sunday morning, meet with them after all the committee meetings at church and the Mad Dinkins and everything, and then finish counseling with them in the afternoon, and then having an evening evening service and then finishing up with them. Often I would finish up at 9 o'clock in the evening or 10 and try to get, if I was compressing so much into that weekend and we could get in, we could actually end up spending 20 to 28 hours over a weekend of all of that. Monday morning when it came time to get up and go hit the road and go to work, it was So you've got to think about what energy you have, what's available, what time frame you have to work in. Pulling off those 8.30 to midnight sessions is exhausting for them. And now we, I work Monday through Friday, try to, and try to work in half-day blocks, three to four hours in the afternoon or in the morning. And that's easier for them. It's hard for people to give up a week of their life so that they're wanting help, they need you. This is quite an investment for them. Met with many people who have spent years going to counselors. Years. One guy had been six years or better, he and his wife, getting counseling through secular counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed counselors. The last year before they met me, they had been going to a Christian counselor and been going to this guy for an hour to an hour and a half once a week for a year. And when he called me, he says, you know, we're tired of this. And if you can see us, we'd like to see you. We understand you do things kind of in a condensed mode because we either get this straightened out or we're finished. And we met with them and did one of those weekend deals with them. And they got radically right with God. They went back to the Christian counselor and kept their last appointment with him and said, we're finished. He said, you're not going to quit, are you? And he said, no, we're healed. God resolved it. And he told him about what we did and everything. And he just kind of, two or three months later, he called me up and set up an appointment to come in and spend time with me. He did. And so we just, praise the Lord. We've had several come to our courses. different professionals. So we just, I really encourage blocks of time to work with all these people. Instead of trying to set it up and run an hour here, an hour there, come back in next week for an hour. I don't even want to be there. Nothing gets resolved. We stir it up, they go home, and it's a mess. That may be good. I think there's a place for that, particularly dealing with behavioral patterns or follow-up. But getting through the major issues, I think you want to press or get it done. Be flexible. We don't want them sitting in our schedules. I've said that. We're supposed to be the ones walking in freedom, right? Work your approach, work your method, but don't let the method be a box that you can't get out of. It's a structure. Maintain the freedom to step aside and deal with issues as they surface if you need to. I can't do that right now. I'm sorry. That's in two days. Watch out for rabbit trails. Getting off the subject. Going down places that really has no bearing whatsoever on what you're doing. Avoid unnecessary physical contact. And guys, I'm really talking to you guys. When you have a woman break down and she's crying, most guys are just sissies when women cry. Don't do that. Come on, come on. And then you want to help them. You want to love them and calm them down and reassure them. Guys don't do that. Let the Lord love them. That's why I always have my wife there. Sometimes I have, you know, I don't have to usually do that, you know. She's very sensitive to the need for affirmation and support for women. Oh yeah, I do that all the time. Pass them the Kleenex, that's right. Blissfulness is just really serious. I mean, I had a lady one time, just, you know, We were sitting and counseling, and she was just really bawling and hurting, and Debbie had to get up and leave. So I said, well, let's just pray. And I prayed, and she reached over and grabbed my hand. And I'm praying. It's not like I felt like she had cooties or something, but I just didn't think it was really the thing for me to be doing without my wife being there, because my wife didn't know who grabbed who. So Debbie came back in the room, and here, I got this lady's hand. She really kind of Debbie got alarmed and I was embarrassed So maintains the space where it's not so easy to reach out and grab I Don't like to have a desk between me and the counselee sometimes I do but I prefer really to set over to the side Where it's not such a block It gets unfriendly. I put the desk between me and them real quick I don't allow them to have any knives, guns, scissors, any blunt instruments. Really? I have heard some horror stories. I just prefer they didn't. Buy a metal detector and put it at your door. No, he don't know. I mean, listen, I've had one of my instructors, as I was going through a lot of training, he told me about a lady that came into their office with a bat. And he said, well, can I have your bat? She said, you sure can. She smashed the wall right in front of his face because she missed him. And he yelled and screamed. Him and about three associate pastors was trying to wrestle this lady in the hall to get the bat. And I told him, I said, well, you know, the good thing about that, her son's in little league and not in marksmanship. Could have walked in with a gun. Be thorough. The enemy will try to stop you short. Oh, it's happened to me so many, many times. Just call it a day. There have been so many times I wanted to quit. Just quit. I got a call one time from a father. My wife and I had been traveling, and we were pretty tired. I had tentatively set up an appointment for him at the end of the month of January, and I was going to try to get out to his home state and help them with their family in person. I think seven children. The majority of them were under 12 years of age, except he had a 15-year-old son that was just going crazy. And I thought, you know, it's going to be hard for this mom and dad to get used up his vacation time. I said, not everybody can just up and leave their life or pick up seven kids and go across the country, the expenses of it. So we prayed about that, and I told him, I said, well, tentatively look at this week, I'll try to make that happen. Well, I set that appointment like just around the end of Christmas, after Christmas, and as we got into January, and we're just rampaging through January, and we're coming up to that week, we're on our way back from out of state somewhere, and I'm I said, I'm just too tired. I'm just going to call this guy and cancel. Tell him we'll reschedule. I need to stop. So I called him and told him that it just doesn't look like this time is going to work out, that I've got to stop. And he says, Tom, I'm so sorry to hear that. I was really looking forward to you coming. It's funny, you should call today. He says, we left our son at home with our kids. He was watching over them, and we came home this evening, this the night, and he has taken an axe. He has completely destroyed all the furniture in his room. He completely mutilated his Bible and chopped it up and put it in front of his door, and his brothers and sisters are horrified. I said, I'll tell you what, I'll pray about it. I really did, I mean, just had happened that day. And so we ended up going out there and we spent the first day with this kid and I just had had it with him. I mean, he just like, he cared less. This was one of those things, you're thinking, why am I here? This kid doesn't want this, mom and dad want it. You know, and I'm thinking, okay, the next time he does something, call the police. And I mean, I just was getting real apathetic on this feeling. So we was in this room where we was counseling. We'd actually borrowed, went to the public library and asked them if they had any meeting rooms, and they had one. We checked it out for the day. He was at the counseling. My wife and I was in there with him. And so I left that room, excused myself, went out, And I said, Lord, I want to quit. This kid is not going anywhere. And I thought, well, maybe... So I picked up my cell phone and called my son, my oldest son up in Sioux City. And I told him kind of the dilemma I was in, and here this kid had been really in trouble things. And I said, you know, Mike, I really want to just throw in the towel. Why don't you just, why don't you just ask, pray with me and ask if there's anyone in there that might know. That was not a bad idea. If I don't get an answer, then Mike, I'm quitting. But it sounded like a good idea, so Mike prayed with me and I hung up. I went back in there and I said, let's pray. bad laid his head down like this and I prayed he's just laying there on the table and I said alright Lord we're on let's go I mean it was like a shot of adrenaline to me but I wanted to quit see and I really believe the enemy was beating me up and was standing against me. And in three days, this kid had been in Wicca, had been in occultism, had taken parts in rituals, had a spirit guide. He can't clean. Three days. And to this day, he's clean. And it's not me, it's the Lord. So praise the Lord. So don't give up. Be thorough. Go the distance. And be training as you go. Be equipping them as you go. You want to be giving to them. Tools. I get the privilege of working with the alert guys here. And I have a course, and they call it a counseling course. Kilgore College, because I get to use Kilgore. Kilgore calls it Behavioral Relationships. or something like that, some weird name. But these guys come into this class, and what I do is I spend a week working through the stuff, working through their issues in a class. And at the workshop, I have them work through it. And they always said, you know, I thought I was going to come in here and learn how to be a counselor. Yeah, this is a weak crash course in counseling took me 50 years to get here and So That's what they thought but I tell them I Told them and I continue telling them everything I am walking you through is transferable every one of these principles that you're putting into action in your life you can take and use with other people. So that way we're training them. And the best training is to do it yourself. The best way to learn how to shoot a gun is to shoot a gun. You can read books about it all the time. The proper technique of holding your arm and your body and your breathing and your sighting. There's nothing like getting out on the... and shooting at a target. So we should be training individuals. We should be training them to take responsibility for their personal health and their freedom. Recognizing lies and deceptions. Recognizing surrendered ground. Routing out demonic spirits through their lives, through their authority in Christ. Standing firm in their identity. to know truth, to choose truth. And then we help establish resource tools in the area of discipleship for them. Doctrinal prayers, statements, declarations, key passages in scripture for memorization and study on the attributes of God and the names of God, or on the teachings and commands of Jesus Christ. The syllabus you have here is a great resource. Let me tell you something that just blessed my soul. When a pastor goes through this course, last November, I stopped in to see how he was doing. Several times, every time I go into his office, unexpectedly, there, right at his elbow, is this resource book. And he is constantly working in it with his people. Praise God. Because it's a great resource. It's just tools. There's a lot of tools here. That kind of wraps up what I've got to say. I would like to give you an opportunity to share what God has done in your life this week with those in the class. Or maybe you've got a question. You want answered? It says question and answers, but I also want to make it an opportunity for testimony. We've heard some pretty awesome testimonies through the years that we've been doing that. And so I just really like to open it up. If you've got questions, that's fine. If you've got some statements or testimonies you'd like to share, that'd be great. That's a good question, and I think that that's a really good question. Thank you for it. It's in my personal experience with that is I just kind of wait on the Lord. I've had many, many times where I just wanted to grow the talent. I give up. And sometimes I do. Sometimes I say, well, that's enough for today. Let's just let's call it a day. And they go. And then but we meet back the next day. And there's sometimes where I just don't get the first base. I can't get off Started with them And then I come back to the to the point. What do you hope to get out of it? What do you want? What do you want? I? Had that young one young man. I told you about he said right up front that I Am NOT letting go of my sin I'm not going to do that I'm not going to do that. Okay. When you want to do that, why don't you give me a call? Give God a call first and then we'll help you clean it up. Because until he's ready to do that, I couldn't help it. So we called that one short. A lot of times I'll go beyond. I don't get in a box. Five o'clock, got to go. I'm out of here. I really don't do that. I try to stay within what is reasonable and press through. I also try to gauge. I try not to get somebody engaged in something that I think may take more time than what I have right then. So I'll try to gauge that. We're getting ready to start something and there's not enough time. Let's wait till tomorrow. Does that answer your question? Be flexible. Okay. Anyone else? Well, just as a testimony to how the Lord works, I think there's one thing, we've talked a lot about prayer. I think another one to add to it that sometimes you might also want to add some fasting to it. I've used a lot of these principles over the last seven, eight years for pre-marriage sessions, rather than teaching them how to communicate, to clean up their heart, and then they will communicate on their own. And they don't need to be taught. And so I had this one couple that both came from just demolished homes. Both sets of parents divorced. a lot of violence in the home, all kinds of things. I just didn't know how we're going to put these two together so that they'll stay together. And so we went through a lot of these things. We were working through these issues. And we had finished four sessions. And I just felt there's something not right. There's one block here somewhere, and it's just not coming out, and it's not working. And I just didn't have peace in doing this wedding. And so I just finally said to my wife, fifth session nothing happens I'm just gonna have to tell him I can't do this way but I was very very heavy-hearted about it and so I just really hurt for them and I prayed and prayed for them and God laid on my heart to spend a few days fasting for them so three days before the next session I actually fasted and prayed for this couple that whatever it was that the Lord would break it and it would come up you know we were maybe 15 minutes into the fifth session and this girl asked to pray about something She's praying, and all of a sudden, she stops, and I'm kind of watching her. And all of a sudden, she throws up her arms and says, this just isn't working. And I ask, what isn't working? She says, God just isn't hearing me. And so I asked her, kind of asked you a very personal question. She said, yeah, OK. And she started crying. I said, is there something deep inside that you're afraid to talk about? And she said, no. And then, well, yeah. But I vowed I would never ever tell anybody. So I asked her if she would be willing to talk about it if we were alone for a little bit. I asked the young man to excuse us. She came out with something that happened when she was five years old. And she was so afraid that if people would find out, they would throw out the door, that this fella wouldn't want to get married with her. So we prayed the whole thing through, brought it before the Lord. She received healing. She had this tremendous brightness about her right after. So I asked her, are you now ready to talk? or to tell your young man what this is all about?" Yeah, he was nervous about it. So I went outside just to prepare him for this. I said, well, your sweetheart in there, she has something to share with you that might hurt you. So would you please just listen out the whole thing before you respond, and I'll help you with it, all right? And I don't know what he was imagining. He was white in the face. He was just extremely tense, expecting that at the very worst, So we went in, and she started to tell him the story, and when she was done, he just, is that all? And we just had this tremendous reconciliation, and that was six years ago, and this couple to this day is just, every time I see them, and they live in Dallas now, they come home to our church every once in a while, and they're just in love, they have two children now, and it's just wonderful. But at that point, I believe that if she hadn't come out with that, that I don't know what would have happened, but just the fact that sometimes even we as counselors, we just bring it before the Lord. And I believe that when Jesus said that some of these do not come out except by prayer and fasting, that's exactly what He meant. That's a good point. Fasting is a good point. And we don't talk much about it in our course, but it's a tool we know that God blesses and honors, and let it be God-directed. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes. Hold on. Question. Is a vow a soul tie? No, but a vow is a vow and it needs to be renounced. I kind of cover that when I cover counterfeit religious experiences. Any vows you've made? My wife made a vow when she was a young girl that she was never going to share her heart with anybody else again. So she kept everything inside. All of her secrets were inside. At the time she was probably an adolescent. up to when we got married. And I'm telling you, getting her to communicate with me was tough. Because she was conditioned on how to just hold it in. But when she renounced that vow and started realizing that she was excluding God's grace and trusting in Him instead of what people think about her. When she renounced it, she got free from that. So I think it's something we have to ask. That's a good point. Have you made any vows, any pacts? When we do counterfeit religious experiences, I think they talk about, have you made any blood pacts or any secret vows with anybody or with yourself? Or I will never. Okay. Yes. I just keep sitting here thinking that I would sort of hate to be the first one that I counseled in this way, and so that would it be more harmful to try or just to send everybody to you? I mean, I keep thinking I'd rather do that than to, you know, if you are trying to work with someone and Well, what you're assuming is that I will present it better and I might not. And you're also presuming that I'll get them right in and I probably won't. So, you've got to just weigh that out and let God just lead you in that. Listen, I had pastored for many years and sat with many people in my office over many issues, prayed with people, implored people to follow the Lord, but when I started coming up against the forces of darkness in their lives and wanted to help them, I was intimidated. I know exactly what you're saying, because I felt that after years of ministry and experience. I just felt like maybe this is not really what I should be So I think sometimes our flesh resists that. I think the enemy resists it greatly. So it's God who will go with us. He's the one that does it. And you see, there's a good thing in that, in our feeling of inadequacy, in our weakness, He is strong. And He can really come through. I think you need to just be cautious not to take on something that's over your head. If you feel like somebody's issues are really beyond where you can help them, get them help. But there's a lot of things you can help them untie and undo and realize and pray with them about. Okay? Yes, ma'am. There you go. Not everybody's in my fan club. It's hard to believe. Thank you, Norm. That's right. That's right. I have a lovely wife, but I protect her pretty strongly, don't I? Because I don't... One of the things I try not to do is I don't get my wife involved in counseling both morning and afternoon. And so she's not a real bouncy morning person. So I try to schedule appointments with women in the afternoon so that she can have plenty of time to get there. It works. It really does. Yes, sir. I had the same thought as that lady over there about going into knowledge. The thought just occurred to me and came to me the scripture that says, Seek and you shall find, ask and it shall be opened unto you. And so, even if we foul it up a little bit, God is faithful. If that person is really seeking the truth, seeking to be free, God will provide a way for that to happen. It's so true. And more times than not, I have had to stop. Lord, what do we do now? And don't feel like you have to have an answer for everything that's said. I'm not afraid to tell people. I don't know, but let's just ask the Lord. And you'd be surprised how often times the Lord shows up. And He shows up. Good, Mark, thank you. Anyone else? Yes, ma'am. So, let me close and send you out. Father, thank you for this week and for these people. Thank you for their attentiveness and the attention to the detail they have given to the instruction this week. Father, thank you for the work that you've been doing in their life, for leading them here. Now I ask as they leave here, you would bless them. Or that you would just, Father, you'd let your countenance fall down upon them. You would make their pathway smooth. I pray that you would be their rear guard. That you would walk beside them, put your arms around them, and converse with them and commune with them as their friends. And Father, would you undergird them with your hand of strength, keeping them protected under your wing. God, that you would be their strong tower, their fortress, their rock. Father, I pray that you would raise them up and use them as your vessel, as instruments of your glory, on this earth, that they would be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and that folks would see in them the true and living Lord Jesus Christ. And in his name we pray. Amen.