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[0:00] I'm going to turn a little cover.

[0:18] So we're looking at this morning, chapter 17, chapter 18, and the first 10 verses of 19. So there were six weeks there that we walked through these two plus chapters.

[0:42] I'm not going to read all of that. So I think since we'll read the passage that's furthest from our memory, so we'll read chapter 17.

[0:55] Remind us a little bit of what we did a few weeks further back. I'm going to read this morning chapter 17 of Luke, verses 1 through 19.

[1:09] And then we'll pray and then we'll begin. We're going to discuss today. So if you're able, please stand as I read from Luke 17, 1 through 19.

[1:20] And Jesus said to his disciples, Pay attention to yourselves.

[1:52] If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in the day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him.

[2:08] And the apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea.

[2:26] And it would obey you. Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, Come at once and recline at table?

[2:41] Will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink? And afterward, you will eat and drink.

[2:53] Does he thank the servant because he did what he was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, We are unworthy servants.

[3:10] We have only done what was our duty. On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

[3:32] And when he saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.

[3:50] And he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now, he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, We're not ten cleansed?

[4:06] Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, Rise and go your way.

[4:20] Your faith has saved you. So it reads. Let us pray. Father, guide us today as we talk about your word, as we look at the subjects that we've considered.

[4:38] Help us, Father, to teach one another today. Help us to learn from one another how to walk in your ways.

[4:51] Help us learn again from you as we review, as we remember what Jesus has taught us. And Father, that those lessons would be further embedded into our soul and our mind.

[5:06] This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. What are the most important matters for a Christian?

[5:32] What things are most important? What would you say? From what Jesus has taught, not from what churches teach, but from what Jesus has taught, are those things most important?

[5:56] Yeah, yeah. This is a discussion. Yeah, Marianne, go ahead. I think the most important thing for us as Christians, I kind of look at us as like a vessel, and I think it's important for us to plant that mustard seed.

[6:18] And that can be with non-Christians. Okay. Because like it says, you know, the planting of a mustard seed can actually grow.

[6:33] Right. These are my words. Right. Right. Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Hopefully start to get those things in, and bring them to Christ.

[6:43] Passing on the mission. Yes. Yes. Okay. Sharing our faith. Good. What else? Donna? Your faith. Showing love.

[6:56] You were going to say loving one another. Yeah. All the commandments are wrapped up in those two. Those two commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your life, and love your neighbor as yourself.

[7:14] Damn. That's it. Yeah, that's it. That wraps it all up. Yeah, Jesus said that summarizes everything. And then in the New Testament, Paul and James and John all said that the summary is really one command.

[7:33] Loving one another as Christ has loved us. If you do that, you are loving God with all your heart because you're obeying God.

[7:44] So one command sums up everything for the New Testament. So that was Jesus' one new command. Right? Which was an extension from the love your neighbor.

[7:56] It was to love one another now. Which is more important than loving the world. Loving one another. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

[8:07] So we're going to look at critical matters today. As I was reviewing this week, these last two plus chapters, thinking, okay, what holds this all together?

[8:18] What is it that summarizes these things? Last time, when we looked at chapters 13 through 16, there was a theme there that I could see clearly.

[8:31] It was the beginning of chapter 13. The warning, unless you repent. Because the warnings of Jesus were just scattered all throughout those chapters, 13 through 16.

[8:44] Actually, going back to 11. But Jesus gave that parable at the beginning of chapter 13 of the barren fig tree, which was Israel. Christ has come to see his people, and it's barren.

[8:57] They're not producing any fruit. In fact, they're rejecting his message. So now, these chapters, as I looked over the six things that we looked at, I would call them critical matters.

[9:12] I'd call them those things which are of most importance. So notice, in chapter 17, 1 to 19, I called that primary responsibilities.

[9:26] On your outline, there's, if you have the outline, you've got the outline of the various lessons we went through. But over on the right side, you've got, I've kind of compiled some things.

[9:38] And there's a summary of the six things, critical matters. Primary responsibilities in chapters, in chapter 17, 1 to 19, where he talked about our obligation for one another.

[9:53] If your brother sins, rebuke him. If your brother repents, forgive him. You know, seven times a day. That's one of our primary responsibilities, is our brother.

[10:07] It is one of the most crucial things Christ has given us to do, to take care of one another. Right? The world will know, by your love for one another. That's our greatest testimony to the world, is how we love one another, how we care for one another.

[10:23] Christ says that over and over and over again. And then Paul and Peter and John repeat that. That is our, that is a primary.

[10:33] And then of course, also loving God. So, we have that summary in, verse 10, right?

[10:44] It talks about the unworthy servant, the servant that comes in. You know, do you thank the servant? Or actually, literally, the word is slave there. You thank the slave. Now, this is first century thinking.

[10:54] I know that's not how we tend to think, but it would be first century thinking. And if the slave came in, you don't thank them. It's their duty. And so Jesus just uses that cultural norm of that time to say, now that's also us.

[11:14] Toward God. When we do what God has called us to do, he doesn't owe us thanks. That's our duty.

[11:25] And we would say, if our hearts are humble and right, we would say, we are unworthy servants. We have done only what we ought to do.

[11:37] What we've been called to do. Now, God is gracious and rewards us and blesses us and all that, but he does not owe us anything. We owe him. And so anyway, so that those opening verses talk about those two responsibilities to our brother and then to God himself.

[11:55] And then notice, there's a section 1720 to 37, preparing for his return. Jesus spends a lot of time talking about when he comes back, the day of his return.

[12:09] Are you ready? Right? That that day will be unmistakable and unexpected, and how do we prepare for that? His return. That's an important, that's a critical matter.

[12:21] That's what we're waiting for. Right? We're waiting for his return. We live for that return. We're awaiting and looking forward to that. That's our great hope. And then prayer, chapter 18, 1 to 14, prayer, persisting prayer.

[12:34] Prayer is of utmost importance, of course. Communicating with God. Nobody would deny that. And then two times, he talks about salvation issues. So in chapter 18, 15 to 30, he talks about the essentials of salvation there.

[12:48] And then again, at the end of this section, chapter 18, 35 through 19, 10, where he deals with the blind beggar, your faith has saved you.

[13:00] And then when he deals with Zacchaeus, salvation has come to this house. And he talks about what is salvation, pictures of salvation, and essentials of salvation.

[13:11] In chapter 18, it was, remember the rich ruler came to Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus directed him to, right, it's about giving up everything.

[13:25] It's finding the pearl of great price, right, or finding the treasure in the field, and you sell everything you have to get the, to buy that field so that you can have that treasure. Because that's worth everything.

[13:36] So you give up everything. Right, and that's what Jesus calls that rich ruler to do, which he couldn't do. Which is the, but what was the very thing we saw last week, that Zacchaeus could do.

[13:50] He was rich, and he's willing to give up everything. Because he found Christ. Well, technically Christ found him.

[14:02] Because he, Jesus, ends that section saying, to seek and save the lost, is missing. Okay, so there's, there's, uh, and then one, one other thing, one, one, uh, chapter 18, 31 to 34, where Jesus is again, reminding his disciples, of his mission.

[14:22] I must go to Jerusalem, and there, I'm going to be rejected, I'm going to be spit upon, and mocked, and, and, and, ultimately killed, and then I will rise on the third day.

[14:32] That is critical. I mean, if he doesn't do that, then nothing else matters. Right? His death and resurrection. So, as I kind of looked at those six things we're going over, I thought, well, those are all really, really important issues.

[14:47] In fact, they're critical issues. Right? Salvation, his return, our responsibility to one another, and to him, salvation.

[15:00] Okay? So, that's kind of what, what I did, and, uh, so there's lots of things, if you, there's more information on that online than you need.

[15:12] Uh, there's stuff on there, that if you want to do further study, um, I found that faith is one of the key issues in this, in these, uh, two and a half chapters.

[15:23] It's repeated several times there. Faith of a mustard seed, the saving faith, a prayer of faith, and saving faith again. Faith seems to be critical. Again, notice, um, healings are, there's not many.

[15:37] There's only five healings from chapter 10 through 19. In fact, in the gospel of Luke, there will only be one more healing.

[15:48] That's when, uh, Peter chops the ear off of the servant, right, and Jesus puts the ear back on. So, so, healings as a focus has gone down, is what I'm saying, in these chapters, and what is focused on, you'll see there's a whole bunch of parables and pictures.

[16:07] Isn't it? In fact, as I mentioned last time, um, so from, in Luke 10, Luke chapter 10 through chapter 18, there are, if you'd like to count them, 367 verses.

[16:23] Okay? In those, in those chapters. How many of those verses is Jesus speaking in? Yeah, you see, oh, you found it, did you?

[16:35] 318 of those 360. So, he is speaking 85% of the time. Something like that. My math is close. So, in other words, this whole journey, remember, from the end of chapter 9, he set his face toward Jerusalem.

[16:52] So, chapter 10 through 19, and we just got to 19 last week. His focus is going to Jerusalem, and Luke, what Luke is recording is, everything Jesus has to say.

[17:07] That's the focus. It's not so much what he's doing, it's what he's saying. He's responding to people, he's teaching, in parables and pictures. Okay?

[17:19] So, that's what we're doing. So, in these last couple of chapters, the focus has been on, as I said, primary responsibilities, his return, prayer, salvation, issues, and, his own, fulfillment of the promises, that he's about to do.

[17:37] Okay, so that's enough of me, talking. There's other stuff, on the back, there's, other stuff, there, if you want to, look at this. this is a time for you.

[17:49] This is a time for you to talk, for you to, tell me what, not tell me, but tell one another, what you're learning, what are you discovering, what is God teaching you, is he challenging you, is he surprising you, is he twisting things, so that you, he's making you think, a little deeper, I don't know, how are these, chapters striking you, please see, yeah, Christy.

[18:16] The thing I, I remember most from this, is the one, remembered Lot's wife, Okay. and looking back, and to me, it's not looking back, at the things, I have, it's looking back, to make sure my family, and my friends, are coming.

[18:36] Yeah. And I guess, what's important with that, is to make sure they are, so you don't have to worry about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's a different, kind of looking back, I think that's good, I remember you told me that before, I thought that's really good.

[18:51] Yeah, that's, that's about mission, that's about, concern that, that my loved ones, are coming too. Thank you, good. Yeah, Rick.

[19:02] Yeah, just looking through, the early part of the 17, here, talking about, forgiving other people, sins against us, Don and I work, with a group at the academy, called the Officers, Christian Fellowship, and, so we work, with a number of cadets, and there are some cadets, that have grown up, in some really bad, family situations, so, we get questions like, my dad hurt me, this way, and this way, and this way, and I tried to talk to him, about it, and he doesn't want to hear it, how do I address that?

[19:38] Yeah. So, the father, has sinned, against the child, and the child, is trying to figure out, how to manage that. I think a lot of people, look at, the need to forgive sins, and you know, I was talking here, about, if, if your brother sins, rebuke him, if he repents, forgive him, well, what if he doesn't repent?

[20:01] Yes. And, so we've had those discussions, about that, you know, the things, that I was pointing them to, that I point myself to, if you look at Matthew 6, in the Lord's Prayer, and we pray this all the time, forgive us our daily prayer, forgive us our debts, as we've forgiven our debtors, and that's great, and we read, we read down through verse 13, and we stop, but there are two more verses there, that kind of put a fine point, on that, in 14 and 15, if you forgive others, their trespasses, your heavenly father, will also forgive you, but, if you do not forgive others, their trespasses, neither will your father, forgive your trespasses, that kind of puts a fine point, on the news, and then when we think about, well, you know, I'm happy to forgive them, if they ask for my forgiveness, right, then we have Romans 5, 8 to look at, Christ forgave us, while we were still sinners, that's the motto, and you know, well,

[21:05] I can say, well, I prayed the prayer, you know, I'm good to go, I've admitted, that I've done all this stuff, I don't even know, what I've done, I don't know, what my sins of omission are, right, I haven't, I haven't voiced, forgiveness for everything, and the other thing, that we need to recognize, is when we're holding on, to that insult, that affects us, that we need to learn, to let go, yeah, not, for the other person, alone, but for us, absolutely, and if I had to answer, your question, that you gave earlier, you know, how do we describe, our relationship with God, my relationship with God, is to honor him, and that's all encompassing, yeah, and part of that, is to, I need, I need to be sanctified, I need to be more like Jesus, every day, and sanctification of others, is my responsibility too, yeah, so how I act, relates to, what people see Christ, we were saying that earlier, it's not about me, it's about you, it's about following in, it's not about me,

[22:16] I hope we're not just singing that, because we like the, you know, but do the words, do I really mean that, it's not, I mean we say that every week, you know, it's about him, not about us, we're reminding ourselves that, but, if we do that, how many years have we been doing that, it could be easy to go through the, just the motions of saying that, but it makes me think, how many people have I not forgiven, and why have I not done that, whether they ask for it or not, why can't I get myself beyond that, and am I honoring God, if I hold him on to that, that daily prayer is searching, and what is true for him, right, yeah, I think that's one of the hardest things, we do, we do, especially, like you mentioned, that's great that you talk, to those kids about that, but it's, ones that were, they haven't asked or, they haven't asked for forgiveness, how do I forgive that, yeah, sanctification is, it's a process, it's not so much about the destination, except for the fact, that it leads us to our destination, but it's ongoing, right,

[23:38] God's always pruning, okay, one day we're finished, what comes to my mind is, Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, right, says, I, I die to myself daily, right, and I, that, that really jumped out of the Bible at me, when I read that, you know, I'm thinking, if he dies, to himself daily, that he can be led by the Holy Spirit, that kind of helps me, get myself out of the way, you know, if I just say, okay God, you know, even before I get out of bed, just don't let me be Susan, just, thank you Holy Spirit, for filling me, and for doing your will in my life today, just, you know, forgive me, help me, fill me with your love, and your patience, and, and, and give me, give me a focus for today, that you would want me to have, is there someone, that I need to call, someone that I need to pray for, just, um, but,

[24:43] I, I, I keep coming back to that, just, be dead to self, and then, what, the gentleman, I forgot his name, Richard, Richard, was saying, I couldn't forgive, an abusive husband that I had, um, not Don, but, um, I kept thinking, how can you forgive this, you know, how, how can you forgive, what he's done to my son, what he's done to me, how can I say, you know, he's, and like you said, he's never said, I'm sorry, but, um, then I, I learned to pray, for my enemies, and I started, as I started praying for him, and for God, forgive him for this, forgive him for that, forgive him for this, forgive him, it released everything in me, all that bitterness, all that anger, all that hurt, all that pain, just started coming out of me, because I thought, wow, this poor guy, you know what I mean, you start, you start, um, praying for all of the things, and think, what caused that in him, what caused his anger, what caused his bitterness, how was he abused, that he imitated that, and went on, to do that, and, and I just feel like, when you pray for your enemies, really list it out, forgive him for this, and this, and everything that, everything that you're upset about, you know, forgive him for that, forgive him for that, and by the end of the, by the end of the prayer,

[26:13] I just started finding, compassion, and sympathy, and pity, for that person, instead of anger, and bitterness, and, and, actual hatred, you know, for some things, but, um, but God is just, and they will, they will meet their maker, so you don't have to, God will fight the battles, you don't have to, and, and that way, you can forgive, because, because, I only hurt myself, when I, held on to the bitterness, and anger, because he's out there, skipping around, doing his thing, and I'm home crying, still, and, and, and holding on to anger, and holding on to bitterness, and when I let it all go, then I realized, that I had only been hurting myself, all those years.

[26:56] Thank you. We can, I think many of us can relate to that, in some way, not the same, but, in some way, we've all been hurt, we'd like to be the judge, jury, and executioner, but, that's the, okay, but, no, vengeance is his, not mine, and mine is to act like Christ, and Jesus on the cross, did this, right, forgive them, for they know not what they do, those soldiers knew exactly what they were doing, didn't they, but they didn't really know, what they, yeah, I mean, that, tough to forgive those guys, because they were pretty merciless, and cruel.

[27:49] I, I have a question, yeah, um, it's a, it's about healing, and it's the passage in chapter 17, from 17 to 19, where, uh, the Lord said, we're not all ten cleansed, we're the other nine, there's no other, found, to return, and to give praise to God, except, his foreigner, and Jesus said, rise, and go, your faith, has made you well, does that mean, he didn't heal, the other nine, no, since the other nine were, they were all healed, they were all cleansed, that's why I say, the word Jesus actually said, was saved, not made well, the word is saved, your faith has saved, so, beyond the healing, so, there, there was faith, of all ten lepers, they all did what Jesus said, and on the way, they were all cleansed, they were all healed, but only one came to give thanks, so, why only one came to give thanks, so, so, it's very important, for us, to actually, give him, praise, well, the mark, of saving faith, is not that I just take, what God gives me, the mark of saving faith, is I,

[29:10] I want to come back, and glorify him, and honor him, and, be at his feet, on my face, that's some mark, that's why you say, your faith, that's, that's faith, the others had faith too, but he had, I believe, faith that saved him, not just healed him, but, cleansed him from his sins, okay, right, we see the same thing, he does with the faith, the beggar, says the same thing, your faith has saved you, not just, he already recovered his sight, his faith is, what saves, it's our response, yeah, and, I think, and remember, in the gospels, John, John's gospel, every healing he makes, is a sign, of something bigger, right, so, so, healing the blind man, from birth, cleansing, you know, all set, there are seven, John gives seven miracles, and each one, is a mark, he calls them, signs, right, and that means, they signify something more, so, when the blind man sees, it signifies how we, when we're saved, our eyes are open, and we can now see truth, or the deaf hear, now I can hear God, or the lame walk, now I can begin to walk, because now I have the Holy Spirit,

[30:33] I can begin to obey God, in a way that pleases him, that I could not before, because I was doing it out of guilt, I was doing it out of shame, whatever, right, so, John taught me, how to see healings, healings are bigger, than just, you know, why does Jesus heal, the ones that he has, there's always a lesson there, but, Richard, there is this great quote here, the saving faith, heals our full death, to God, and understands, the mercy given, read that again, saving faith, heals our full death, to God, and understands, the mercy given, I heard that in a sermon, some birthday guy said it, I thought it was very well put, probably stolen from someone, probably stolen from someone, probably stolen from someone,

[31:39] Richard, Richard do that, plagiarism is the sincerest, form of lottery, oh, we try to give credit, but a lot of times, I don't remember, where I got it from, but, I know, I know I get a lot, from Piper, MacArthur, fellas like that, so, you pay it all forward, right, and you spread it around, they do not mind, they do not mind, I know, doubt it, I noticed, there's quite a bit, about pride, in, in 16, 17, 18, you know, and, in self-righteousness, and, how Jesus separates, the two, and how he, basically, you know, you know, it's a, it's a foreigner, or it's, or it's the, it's the beggar, or it's the, you know, it's always the person, that thinks he's got it, under control, that Jesus has to reprimand, not the person, that's lost, and, and, hurting, and, destitute, you know, that's the saved person, you know, and, that's, that just really, really, stuck with me, through, it's, it's all through it, so, the outsiders, the outcast, the tax collectors, and the beggars, the ones that think that, you know,

[33:20] Jesus is coming to make their life, this wonderful thing, and, take away all pain, and suffering, and, and, it's just going to be roses, and, and gravy, and, whatever, biscuits and gravy, biscuits and gravy, gravy's good on roses, roses and biscuits, but, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's how he uses the weak, to teach the strong, and, and, and remember, Luke, Luke sets up the whole gospel when Jesus, right, chapter four, he takes out the scroll of Isaiah, right, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, right, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to set people free from captivity. And he's doing that by slaying demons. That's slaying, but casting them out with a word, you know, flick of the finger.

[34:24] And healing people. And those are pictures. Those are all pictures. Especially the demon. Setting free from demons. Because before salvation we're all captive to the enemy.

[34:40] Right? We're captive. As Paul says in Ephesians 2, we are dead and we are captive. To our own passions, but to the enemy. We don't know it.

[34:55] We don't see it that way, but we are. Until we're set free, we don't get that. Anyway, that's what he's come to do. These healings. And it's the people that stay outcast that appreciate it the most.

[35:08] Because they've got nothing. They're not rich. They've got nothing. They're begging. And that's the picture of coming to Christ as a beggar. I've got absolutely nothing to do.

[35:21] I'm just at your mercy. You know, the picture of the lady, right? The crumbs under the table. I'm good with that. I'm okay. That's okay. I don't deserve anything more. That will be fine. That would heal me.

[35:37] Right? Yeah. I have a thing about the captives because I think we're, I think it's a degree of captivity, even after salvation. Sure.

[35:48] Because I think it's a disservice to ourselves and each other to say once we recognize salvation in our lives, we're all good to know.

[35:58] because we're not. Now we're smelling good. Because we're not. And that is part of the, I think, the lesson in the entire Bible, as we have it, is that we're our own worst enemy.

[36:18] Because we rely on ourselves. We don't give ourselves up totally. And we've heard, I've heard sanctification here. It is a journey. It's every day.

[36:29] And we hear in the epistles that we are to take our thoughts captive all the time. Yeah. Because they're like little independent beings of their own and they carry us with them.

[36:47] Yeah. That's why we wear the armor, right? Right. We'll continue to be in the Bible. Very, very easy to go. Opening the door. Yeah. To Satan who is constantly on the prowl.

[37:00] Yeah. He's lost, he's lost the war. But he's still the prince of this world. And he's still searching. We're no longer captive to him as we sang but we can be deceived.

[37:15] We know our choice. Yeah. I think that salvation opens our eyes to the choices we make. There's still that. choice.

[37:25] And the fact that we're far from perfect once saved chapter 7 the beginning of chapter 17 says our brother sins our brother keeps sinning.

[37:38] What's wrong with our brother? The disciples Seven times a day something's gotta be wrong there. The disciples Well maybe I'm the one coming seven times a day and saying forgive me because the disciples themselves remain in the darkness.

[37:55] We see that. And their journey is our journey. It parallels our journey. And they had him. And of course again the epistles.

[38:07] How can you have faith in something you haven't seen so you've gotta be really careful. but they've gone along and they've tried to turn people away from seeing Christ and who knows if Christ hadn't been there they may have sent them away and sinned right?

[38:27] Until the Holy Spirit came. Right. They did not have the Holy Spirit in venom until after the resurrection. I understand that. But we have the Holy Spirit and we still make those decisions.

[38:37] Absolutely. because we can grieve the Spirit. We cannot listen. We can walk away from the Spirit. Anyway just wanted to make sure we understand we have to take those thoughts captive.

[38:50] Absolutely. Appreciate it. Yeah. It's not just my brother who sins it's me who sins.

[39:01] Right. And I'm counting on my brothers to rebuke me when I sin and then forgive me. With kindness.

[39:12] Loving kindness. I've experienced that in this congregation. I've been rebuked and graciously forgiven. I'm so grateful for that. This is the only congregation I've experienced that in.

[39:27] Most find your fault and then leave. Instead of telling you your fault. Yeah. So I love this congregation.

[39:38] That's not common. Huh? That's not common these days. No it is not. That's why I love this congregation. I mean to feel like you've got permission to say I need to talk to you about something.

[39:50] Yeah. And everybody still be friends. Yeah. You know. There's still yeah I mean there's people that don't talk to they talk to other people.

[40:03] That's a problem. And that's not what Jesus said. If your brother sins or your pastor bugs you or you know go talk to somebody else that's not like you know.

[40:18] When you were talking about taking every thought captive I heard once I can't remember it was a Bible study or seminar or something but there's three thoughts there are three sources of what you think.

[40:31] one from God if it's a positive good thing challenging but you know it's a good thing. It's from God. If it's negative and you're getting ready to call somebody a name or whatever I mean you just you know how when you get angry it's just like that word wants to come out before you have a chance to capture it.

[40:53] And there's a so Satan can place thoughts in our minds very easily. and then our own thought. You know it was something that I learned something I made up something I read.

[41:06] And so if we observe where did that thought have you ever found yourself saying where did that thought come from? Or how come I said that word? I've never said that word in my whole life.

[41:17] It was there and my anger allowed it to come out. It was placed by Satan but my anger allowed it to come out in my weakness I sinned in that respect.

[41:28] taking captive our thoughts and then again like Jesus in the wilderness get thee behind me. Get thee behind me Satan. I'm going to shout out to the king and quote scripture to him.

[41:40] And don't let him control your life. I just lately I was kind of angry when they said Don had cancer. I was angry for a while and I wasn't very nice.

[41:54] I just wasn't being nice. And I guess I had to keep looking at myself like what's wrong with you? But I realized I was angry and so I had to take that thought captive.

[42:07] That's right. Yeah. Yeah. In reference to Susan's comment earlier I believe we have the opportunity to be the not so much we actually have the opportunity to be executioners.

[42:31] That would be wrong but to be a jury a judge and that's in our ability. God gives us the ability to forgive those people and pray for those people completely and that's our chance to be the judge the jury and say you're completely forgiven.

[42:54] You're forgiven through Jesus Christ. but we can take that either the harmful way or bad way and not forgive somebody and be bitter with them.

[43:06] We can be happy for them and set them completely free and in doing so set ourselves completely free. Yeah. Good point because you're making it's not that we don't make judgments it's not that we don't judge.

[43:22] We judge all the time and there's a right way of judging and wrong. Jesus didn't say don't judge. You're talking about don't judge. With wrong motives.

[43:35] Yeah. We have to judge. We have to make judgments all the time. Decide what's right and wrong. Good point to Ed. I've been in Susan's place before and been there with people and held on to the absence until I finally give it up and get beyond it.

[43:56] Lord do you take water and give them completely for whatever they've done. And there we go. You've done your portion and move on.

[44:08] Yeah. It does. You've read him. Anything to go back to what James said about pride versus the prodigal person.

[44:27] Versus I was looking at the Pharisee and the tax collector when they went to the temple to pray. And the Pharisee was all just he knows all. And the tax collector he was there bearing his heart and soul out to God and he was the one that was justified.

[44:44] And it just reminds me of the cross. I mean it was those who know the law to put Jesus to death but he put next to him because of his heart. So it's the head and the heart you know pride versus humility.

[44:56] It's not what you know it's what your heart feels. I mean obviously God wants us to study his word but he basically gives us knowledge. It's what our heart. like with our talents too.

[45:08] I mean a person could be the greatest singer in the world and if they're singing you know in church and they're doing it for themselves that's that's not honoring God but a person could have you know be all the worst singer in the world but if they're giving it all to God that's what he wants.

[45:26] Sing out. Thank you. Our attitude is before God. Make a joyful noise. Anything else?

[45:45] All right. We got it. So we're getting it. Yeah. So we've entered into chapter 19 so we begin the passion next week.

[46:03] as Jesus prepares to enter Jerusalem and he throws down his gauntlet he's going to be clear about who is entering Jerusalem so that they know exactly who they're going to kill.

[46:21] That's where we go. Father thank you for our time and pray oh Father that you would renew a right spirit within us sustain us with willing spirits that we might do your will do the willing and the working within us Father that we might please you we pray this in Christ's name amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen every day is an opportunity to stand before our Lord, to say that we're sorry for the things that we've said, because, and like Diana was saying, our thoughts can lead way to the things that we say.

[47:41] And the things that we say dictate sometimes what we do. So I want to challenge each and every one of you that each and every morning, when you first wake up, can you just say, Jesus, just as I am, just as I am right now in this moment, I come before you with all my brokenness.

[48:11] I ask you to touch me and to heal me. And the reason for doing that is because you never know what's around the next corner.

[48:25] Do you all remember when 9-11 happened? The pastor that I was working with at the time, he had a message. And it hit me like nothing else.

[48:37] How many of those people woke up that morning and didn't take the opportunity to say, Lord, just as I am, I come.

[48:54] How many people didn't do that and yet were lost? We have a responsibility to teach others, to lead others, to show them by example.

[49:11] I know yesterday, I kind of had a low spot. And just like what Bill, I can imagine that he experiences as a worship leader.

[49:32] It can be really, really hard because Satan used to be a worship leader. So he's going to target those people in a big way.

[49:45] And there were some things that I got really frustrated about. I didn't lose my Christianity, as they say. But I was thinking things.

[49:59] And I was saying things. And I was saying and thinking those things about myself. That I was unworthy to do anything.

[50:15] Including standing up here in front of all of you. to lead you in worship. So, I just want to encourage you each and every time.