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START OF FILE: 2025-04-21 - Undefeated battleground part 4 - Undefeated Battleground.txt
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SERMON DETAILS
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Date:     2025-04-21
Title:    Undefeated battleground part 4
Speaker:  Undefeated Battleground
Church:   What Do You Mean By
Type:     Church Service
Duration: 1h 39m
Language: English
URL:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZMoeygO-_A
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TRANSCRIPT
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[Music] God be with you till we meet again. [Music] By hold [Music] you. Let's see if we can get our overhead [Music] going. God bless everybody. Good to be in the house of the Lord tonight. number 221. God be with you till we meet [Music] again. Nice spring day. Good time to go to church. Amen. God be with you till we meet again. By his counsel's guide uphold you with his sheep securely fold you. God be with you till we meet again. Till we meet. Till we meet. Till we meet at Jesus feet. Till we meet. Till we meet. God be with you. Till we meet again. God be with you till we meet again. Need his wings securely hide you. Daily manner still provide you. God be with you till we meet again. Till we meet. Till we meet. Till we meet at Jesus feet. Till we meet. Till we meet. God be with you. Till we meet. [Music] again. God bless everybody online and here. Welcome to Wednesday night's service. Let's just bow in a word of prayer. Father, we come to you this evening, Lord, not cuz we're righteous. We're nothing without you. We come through the name of Jesus Christ, our righteousness. And Lord, we ask that you'd hear our prayers, Father, that you'd help us to understand the gospel, Lord. That you'd make that connection for us, Lord. that only you can. Lord, we pray that you'd receive our prayers to you and Lord our worship to you for we love you. We ask Lord God that you would hear the prayers of your people, Lord. Reveal yourself unto your children, Father. And Lord, we give you thanks tonight that another day has come, Lord, where the weather was good, Lord, and it's so beautiful outside. And and Lord, it's beautiful here, too, Lord, to be in your presence. We ask Lord God that everyone here would feel your presence Lord tonight. I ask it Lord humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's sing another song. I'm very happy to have my friend Dan Edbeck here all the way I believe from second grade just way way back in the days. So if you want to know the goods. So I'm going to be singing a lot of song about forgetting the past, you know, about the blood. Uh Kia F at the cross. Alas, and did my Savior bleed? And did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? At the cross. At the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight. And now I am happy all the day. Was it for crimes that I have done? He groaned upon the tree. Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree. At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I receive my sight and now I am happy all the day. Amen. Just having Dean here and all of us here together makes me recall the past. And he probably won't remember this story, but one night I was in that old honky tonk just doing my thing and ranked so much out of my mind getting ready to drive home and Sister Suzanne by the grace of God right before I left somebody grabbed a hold of me. They said, "You're not driving." I said, "Well, yes I am." No, you're not driving. They reached out and snatched them keys before I could. I don't know if you remember that or not. And I didn't drive. Somebody drove me home. That's the only way I've made it. Somebody Somebody drove me home. Lowest points of my life. Somebody there helped me. From one of the Grady sisters saving me from drowning to my friends watching out for me. One time I was going to jump over a bridge and I went running from the college towards Tower Drive bridge. A little old short Filipino Tony Don my buddy chased me down, tackled me. Three, four of my other big buddies come. They want us to beat him up. And Tony says, "You stay away from him. He's my friend." And they looked at me and said, "Yeah, he's my friend." Somebody was carrying me. Let's sing that song. Something keeps holding me. And that's the truth. What is Christianity? Just church? No, it's reaching out, grabbing the keys of your buddy that's out of line. What is Christianity? Somebody's got to jump in the water to pull you out if you're drowning. That's what Christianity is. Some don't even understand they're already a believer cuz it's in them. It flows through them. The trials of this world was getting closer. The pull I felt was more than I could bear. And I was on the verge of just giving over the strength within myself. It wasn't there. Something keeps holding me. Every day I see helping me faithfully to overcome my trials. Oh, guiding me constantly, giving me [Music] victory. It's a reality. Something keeps holding me. [Music] Satan laid before me his temptation and his desire to steal away my faith. But I have found in time the revelation the strength I need to keep me in his grace. Something keeps holding me every day. I see. Helping me faithfully to overcome my trials, guiding me constantly, giving me victory. He's my reality and something keeps holding me. Jesus keeps holding me every day. I see. helping me faithfully to overcome my trials. Guiding me constantly, giving me victory. He's a [Music] reality. Jesus keeps holding me. Jesus keeps holding me, giving me victory. Still remember about 38 years ago, little Lulu in the bar. She said, "When I come back to witness, two weeks," she said, "In two weeks, you'll be back. It's been a long time." Although my friend Dean knows my past and knows some of the wrong I did, if you ask him, he'll tell you a change come over me because mercy took a hold of me in the depths of my problems. I can't explain it and I lost a lot of friends over it. But you don't lose brothers. Brothers you don't lose. [Music] that saying where he leads [Music] me. I always remember this song because I was lost out in the woods in Abrams, Wisconsin and it was snowing and I was getting cold and I wanted to drop my gun down and that voice spoke to me and says, "Don't you drop that gun." And I was miles back in this woods. And then that voice said, cuz I kept trying to find my way and I kept running into my own trail. And that voice said, "You've tried every easy way there is to get out of this woods." And I thought, you know, I did. I took every easy path. I said, "I'm sorry, Lord." So I turned around and I saw a brush pile and the snow's coming down and it's almost dark now. I'm seeing all the wildlife, of course. And I walked right through that brush pile and then there was a ridge with some trees down. And that was the worst spot to go. I kept doing everything hard and all of a sudden I saw my pile of rocks. I said, I know where I'm at now. So happy. Come across that field home to my wife, get a good supper. My My jeans were just molded to my pants. My I looked like a blue guy from Kentucky for a few days. So all of the ink was coming off. I was very very cold. live where he and and and when I thought I was lost, excuse me, this why the song I started to sing this song where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. I'll go with him. With him all the way. I can hear my Savior calling. I can hear my Savior calling. I can hear my Savior calling. Take thy cross and follow. [Music] follow me. Amen. Say this to those online and here tonight. If you don't know him as your savior, don't be like me for years who thought, "Well, I can't be that. I don't deserve that. I could never live that way. I couldn't. I wasn't. And I didn't. I wasn't good enough to be saved. I couldn't live that way and I didn't deserve it. But the grace of Jesus Christ and grace means unmarited favor. You don't deserve this. You just ask for it and him the king gives it as a gift to you and he places a little bit of his spirit upon you. That's why we're a message church. That's why I'm a message church because I felt the mercy of Jesus Christ come on my life. Begin to build me back up. Let's take up our offering tonight. Uh Josh, come on up. Good to be in the house of the Lord tonight. Boy, nothing like a little spring weather and friends visiting and a God that is faithful. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for gathering us here tonight. Lord, we pray you please be with Jenny's grandpa. Father, we pray, Lord, you please continue to heal his broken neck, Father. And Lord, we pray you please bless this offering and please bless the rest of the service in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. God is good all the time. Put a song of praise in this heart of mine. God is good all the time. Through the darkest night, his light will shine. God is good. [Music] He's so good all the time. God is good all the time. Put a song of praise in this heart of mine. God is good all the time. In the darkest night, his light will shine. God is good. God is good all the time. Oh, God is good all the time. time. Through the darkest night, his light will shine. God is good all the time. Through the darkest night, his light will shine. God is good. God's so good all the time. Well, how about if you're having troubles? If you're walking through the valley and there's shadows all around, do not fear. He will guide you. He will keep you safe and sound. He has promised to never leave you nor forsake you and his word is true. God is good all the time. [Music] Put a song of praise in this heart of mine. God is good all the time. In the darkest night, his light will shine. God is good. Oh, God is good all the time. Amen. You know, there's something about the Christian walk. So, I like to relate it with a story. I bought a 24 ft pontoon about 3 4 months ago and I had it parked and when was that Monday, Thomas? I believe we took the pontoon out to drive it around. Had never started it. And uh and when I we took it off the the ramp or and tied it to the dock, all that went real good. It it floated real good. And I put that key to that ignition and started to turn over and I thought, "Oh, we got it." And then we pumped the gas and turned that ignition over and that motor just kept spinning around and said, "Oh no." Did it again. Kept spinning around. Kept spinning around. We we messed around for about 15 20 minutes and the battery was good, the boat was good, but it wouldn't start. And I didn't know it, but I was missing a key thing. That's why it didn't run. What I didn't know about Christianity when I was young was I was missing a key something. It was the Bible in my case, the the wisdom of the Bible. And my Christianity wasn't working. I had a form of religion, but Christianity is different. and this pontoon boat. I thought, "This guy's taking care of this pontoon boat." He had a bag wrapped around the prop. He had it winterized. It looked good. There wasn't a dent on the thing. I thought he sold me a boat that doesn't run. And so on the way back, I called him up and and he says, "Well, how how did it go?" He said, "You know, I said, "Well, the boat's nice. The battery's got a lot of power, but it just wouldn't start." He goes, "It didn't." He said, "Did you happen to to put the little uh kill switch? Did you plug that in before you started it?" Brother Jim is laughing. I said, "Kill switch?" He goes, "Yeah, without that kill switch plugged in, it ain't going to work." And I said, "I'm that dumb." I said, "No, I sure did not plug that little kill switch in." He Oh. He says, "You do that the next time." He says, "And it'll work real good." So is it with Christianity. You must mix reading the Bible with faith and believing the Holy Ghost can do miracles. Believing that what God does is perfect. Some of the things I've went through in my life, I don't understand, but I trust him. Why did my first baby die? I don't. But I trust him. Straight into the presence of God, he went. I trust him. Why did I get a nice car one time and kind of wreck it almost the first day when I was a I I don't know, but I trust him. Amen. Do you trust him tonight? Amen. It's all quiet. We better get something flowing. We've been looking at some good scenery and I took Dean up to the to the docks and you can tell when someone's walked on a dock and along the river, he just seemed like he was right at home. That's right, wasn't I? You know, the prophet of God, he liked the nature. A lot of Christians like nature, let me put it that way, because they can see God in the nature cuz those animals are perfect. The grass, the water, it's just perfect. Kef, there's a river of life flowing out of me. Oh, makes the lame to walk and the blind to see. Opens prison doors. Sets the captives free. Oh, there's a river of life and it's flowing out of me. Bring up, oh well, within my soul. Spring up a well and make me whole. Spring up a well and give to me that life abundantly. Amen. Let's sing that one more time. Do you guys have a special tonight? Oh, there's a river of life flowing out of me. It makes the lame to walk and the blind to see. Opens prison doors. Sets the captives free. There's a river of life flowing out of me. Amen. [Music] What [Music] [Music] [Music] is this? [Music] I don't need a mic. Sarah, I'm wearing one. She's not [Music] I thought that I had crossed the line. walked away from love one [Music] time. Too [Music] many. I thought I'd used up all the grace set aside for my mistakes. So many. [Music] All my knees I found to my surprise that your mercies renew with the sunrise. You make your mercies new every day. You change my life in so many ways. You cradle me in your sweet grace. You f me yesterday, today, forever more. There's one thing I know for sure. Fresh as the morning do, you make it new every morning. [Music] Oh, the wasted times that I have known. a prodal away from home. Not [Music] knowing every day your grace was multiplied with forgiveness waiting to provide. You make your mercy new every day. You change my life in so many ways. You me and yours. You f me. Yesterday, today, forever. There's one thing I know for sure. As the morning do, you make your mercy new every morning to save the entire world. How much grace would it take? When the sun comes up, there will be enough. You make your mercy new every day. You change my life in so many ways. You me in your sweet grace. You fil me [Music] yesterday, today, forever more. There's one thing I know for sure. Fresh as the morning do. You make your mercy new every morning. [Music] Let's just uh let's just sing Amazing Grace. Stand it up leading them. Amazing grace, how sweet the at like me. [Music] I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. [Music] My heart to fear and grace my fears relief. How precious did that grace appear. They are I first [Music] believed. Amen. Remember, God bless you everyone. It's good to be with you all. You can be seated for a little bit. Nice to see Dean and Mike, the Jimmy, and everyone else. Is it closer? Is it working? It's good. Okay. All right. Well, praise the Lord. Thank you, musicians. All right. Couldn't decide between what song to sing, so I'll just sing them both. Don't forget the guitar mic, please. dogs. [Music] When you get to heaven after the trumpet sounds, if you decide to look me up and waste your time looking around, I won't be at my mansion. And you won't find me by the sea. Just find Jesus. And there I'll [Music] be. I want to see the unseen arms that held me through the storms. I want to touch the hand that touched and completely changed my heart. I want to hear him speak the words that brought such peace to me. So just find Jesus and there I'll be when I step through those pearly gates. There'll be so much to [Music] see. I'll behold manions tall and stroll down golden streets. And though the splendor will be amazing, there's only one attraction for me. Just find Jesus and there I'll be. I want to see the unseen arms that held me through the storms. I want to touch the hand that touched and completely changed my heart. I want to hear him speak the words that brought such peace to [Music] me. Just find Jesus and there I'll be. Just find Jesus and there I'll [Music] [Applause] be some water up here. You can call me crazy. You can say I'm a [Music] fool. I'm not saying it's easy. Sometimes it seems so cool. And I remember where I came from and what you put me [Music] through. And I'm saying it's [Music] over, devil. I'm saying we're through now. You may be feeling so so blue. And you may not be [Music] knowing just exactly what to do. Won't you turn to my Jesus? Cuz he will make you brand [Music] new. When you tell him it's [Music] over, tell the devil's true. You've had your chance to make something, oh, out of my life. [Music] And you turned me to shambles. Made a wreck out of me. But now I'm giving to Jesus the time of my [Music] life. And I'm saying it's over that I'm saying with [Music] proof and I'm saying it's over. level. I'm saying we're through and I'm saying it's over, baby. I'm saying we're [Music] through. Amen. Devil, it's over. Satan, we're through. That's not something we just do once and then talk about it the rest of our lives, but it's something we do every day. Like Paul said, he died daily. Amen. Amen. It's you can all stand as we get ready to read the word. It's an honor and a privilege to preach the word of God. And I'm thankful for um grace that I'm not here because I deserve it or that I earned it, but by grace and grace alone from the cross. Amen. We'll be turning our Bibles to John 15 and verse 11. be reading ver down to verse 13. Just say amen when you're there. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Amen. My Lord add his blessings to the read reading of his word as we bow our heads. Dear gracious Lord, I come to you humbly in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, no merit of my own, no nothing I earned, but I I give to you what you gave me. Just a voice and I yield myself to you in the name of the Lord Jesus. Speaker and audience alike, speak yourself, Lord. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. You can be seated. It's an honor, privilege to be here. It's it's always great to preach. I do my best. Tonight I'm going to go continue on the series of undefeated battleground. Going to go to go to part four. I'm going to talk about something we've no one's ever heard before. The meaning of life. So the concept of the series is that in Christianity, I don't believe that it's like sports where we have a percentage of shots made or victories won, but rather that depend how we win or lose depends on how we fight, what we fight with, where we fight, etc. We went through our different formations throughout history. We were undefeated on certain battlegrounds and our goal is to defeat the devil, of course. But throughout history, there have been many smart people that have said different things about the meaning of life. And that's what I want to look into tonight. I'll read through a few of you and it's on the projector. A few philosophers and what they thought the meaning of life was. Aristotle and I I know these men created great works and great books and I can't I can't put everything they said into one sentence, but you know, this is what they said was the meaning of life with from what they have taught. Aristotle said the meaning of life is flourishing and living well. Udemonia and Epicurus said the meaning of life is tranquility and freedom from pain through simple pleasures. Stoicism from Marcus Aurelius most notably the meaning of life is virtue and living in accordance with reason and nature. Existentialism from Fedric Niche and others. The meaning of life is creating your own meaning. Creating your own meaning through freedom and responsibility. Nihilism from various people. The meaning of life is meaningless. Isn't that just the great the best? Utilitarianism from John Stewart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. The meaning of life is to promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Hedonism from Aristus and Serenics. The meaning of life is pleasure. Absurdism from Albert Cas. The meaning of life is to embrace the meaningless meaning meaninglessness and find joy anyway. They all have their ideas for what the meaning of life is. And you know I wouldn't say that they all all I don't believe in saying something is entirely false cuz that's not the way that Satan perpetuates what he wants to give us. It's 99% truth and only 1% false. And each of those meanings while a meaning in and of themselves are wrong as a simple saying of this is what it means but they all have an little element of truth that goes that went into each one of them I could say in some in some ways but brother Brandham said in blasphemous names he said well all these systems that men has made and their achievement has got to break up that's all they got they have to come we have to come to unity to brotherhood that's been my that's been my purpose of life is to try to unite and not break up an organization ation, but let them drop their ideas and be brothers to every born again Christian. You see, that's that's the idea. That's where I've stood. And Christians and answers, number one, he said, "They all got scared. I was going to come there and build a big building, drain out the churches." But that's not my purpose of life. See, I I get the people saved. It's up to them. Like the Samaritan come down and took them in to the inn, then let them take care of them from there on. I'm not here to break up churches. I'm here to get converts to Christ. See, and it makes me misunderstood among the people. See, when when they're interpreting their own way and not and not saying what I'm saying. See, and he said again in that day on Calvary. Now, the first thing I want to say is Jesus never lived for himself. His life was spent for others. And one of the main themes tonight is that the world wants to define the meaning of life through some through something we do for oursel. And I think the greatest meaning is in what we do for others. Yeah. His life was spent for others. That's perfectly eternal life. When you say you go to church and you do good things, that's fine. But when you live your life to yourself, you haven't eternal life. I was had some friends at work I was talking to about them about meaning and Christianity. One of them, maybe he's a cynic or something, always finding problems with everything. And he said, "How do you know the Bible is true? Who put it all together? All these different questions." And I said, "Hey, maybe you're right, Adam. You know, maybe it's 99% truth." But uh if you were to if someone were to come to you and say, "Okay, it's all false. What do you have instead?" Yeah. Like I'm I'm I said, "Adam, I'm fine with what I believe being wrong. If you have something better, like what I have is great, but if you have something even better, that that's awesome." And then he said, "Oh, that's getting into philosophy." I was like, "Yeah, maybe it is." And I said, and we had a a printer there, but I'll just use this as an example. This camera, there's a little smudge on it, and that's a flaw. And I could go on and on about the flaw. and Jenny's hair isn't perfect or brother Jimmy, why aren't you smiling? That's a flaw. But if I were to go and try to design that camera or Jenny or brother Jimmy or another human being, that's going to be a lot harder. And I pointed that smudge on that printer and says, "Yes, pointing out the smudge is easy, Adam, but designing the printer, that is really hard. It's very easy to build to break it down." I said, "I can do that even better than you can, maybe, Adam, but what's the alternative?" He really didn't have an answer for me. And so I said, "We have something in Christianity." He's like, "Oh, that's philosophy. That's psychology." I said, "Maybe, but that's not an answer, Adam, to say that." I said, "It's okay if you don't have an answer." I said, "But there's something we have that other religions don't." And I said, "What you're saying is 99% truth. You can come up with some intellectual reasons or whatever, but we have something you don't that 1% and that is that Jesus Christ isn't just an idea or a concept that he's a real person and I believe in him Adam not because I intellectually proved him but or because my parents believe him but because he had an impact on my life and if one of the ways of believing in someone or something is the impact it has on your life. I believe in the floor because it has an impact. It's there when I need it. I believe in Dean because of the stories and a person that has an impact on my life. But if that's the judgment for which I believe things, I believe in Jesus Christ the most because he has had the most impact on my life. And if he's just a set of ideas, then how could people that are real be more real as a person than Jesus Christ? He didn't really know what to say to that. He's like, "Well, I can all I can say is you're all prisoners." And I said, "Yeah, you're right. We are all prisoners to something." Paul said he was a prisoner to Jesus Christ. Adam, what are you a prisoner to? He he didn't have an answer. But it's not to trap someone, but just to get them to think. But what are we living our life for? Brother Brandham said, continue on in the quote. That's perfectly eternal life is living for others. It proved it when it come. He lived and had eternal life because he did not live for himself. He lived for others. And you receive eternal life by receiving that day. And you don't live for yourself no more. You live for others. Someone said, "How can you stand let anybody call you such bad names?" You don't live for yourself. You live for others that you might redeem that man. You become sons. And the trouble of it is the church has forgot they were sons. You're a son. You're taking Christ's place. You're a son. So don't live for yourself. Live for others. And I love this part when I was studying this thinking this is great. This is true. A lot of times we get into a bad habit of, "Oh, well there's this source or this source being wrong. I don't care about the source. I care about is it truth or not." Well, brother Brandham, I can live for this brother cuz he sure is a nice man. That's not it. Live for that man who treats you nice. No. Live for that man who hates you. Live for that person who would kill you if they could. That's what they done to him. They killed him and he died that he might save them. That's eternal life. When you that's in your bosom, you're facing heaven then. But you sacrifice your own things give them up like the sheep gives its wool. You look on towards Calvary. This is just to give a foundation for a thought. Brother Brandham said in the Revelations chapter 5 part one, he said, "A few days ago, I was sitting talking to my loyal little friend here in this city, a medical doctor, Sam Adair." And he said, "How are you doing, Bill?" I said, "Pretty fair, I suppose, doc." I said, "Yourself?" And he said, "A lot of patients." Said, "I had 15 examinations this afternoon." I said, "Well, that's good as long as it's just examinations and finding nothing wrong." He said, "We got talking about back when we were boys." And I said, "Well, doc, I don't know how just long I'm going to be around. We're both in our 50s." And he said, "That's true, Bill." And I said, "But all these years, about 31 years of ministry now, I have kept my heart prepared for that hour when he comes. So it doesn't matter when he comes." So he said, "That's true." And I said, "The greatest thrill I have is living for others. The greatest thrill I have is living for others." So my request is not to think of who said something, but the something that they said. That's they did to Jesus when he was alive and they said, "Oh, well, you're this Jesus, and you're that." But they never hardly even challenged the content of what he was saying. Is that such a bad thing? The greatest thrill I have is living for others. And he said, "That's what life is. Makes life real is when you not what you can do or accomplish for yourself, but what you can do for others." See, that's when you're really living. And if there happens to be someone among us who has has never did that, try to live for somebody else. Give that a try and just see how much more life holds for you when you will not live for what you can get yourself out of life, but what you can give someone else in life. And you'll find that it's more blessed than riches or anything that can be thought of as what you can do for someone else to make life's burdens, which life in it in itself is a burden. And it will make it a little lighter for someone else. You just don't know the joy unless you've tried it some once to do something for someone else. And I believe that the where we get miserable is when we live for ourselves. The whole world is so miserable and they think, "Oh, well, I must be miserable because I'm not doing stuff for me." And they do more stuff for themselves. And then they feel more miserable. But we want to fight in a way that we'll never lose. And I would say, if you live for yourself, you'll always lose. If I live for myself, I will always lose. If at the principal part I think what's best for David I just can't win. Maybe temporarily but long term I can't win. But God's program is that living for yourself or living for others is the best way of living. Short-term suffering long-term growth and happiness and joy. And Satan's Satan's program is live for yourself now and experience great pleasure right now. And he's not going to advertise where it really ends though. that's not he he's not quite going to do that. And it seems simple, but Satan, remember, Satan presents this program in a way that looks like the right way in order to get us to do it. Satan's program is not don't believe God's word, make yourself an atheist. You know, an atheist, I would say, is if you had a degree of wrongness, an atheist is more wrong than a hypocritical Christian. Because Satan's goal is not to make us an atheist. It's I believe one of his if he that's one of his goals. But if he can get us to put up an image of this is what Christianity looks like when actually it's perversion of what Jesus wants. He likes that a lot more than the belief of oh I just don't believe in God. This is Paul speaking with the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chap 11. And I switched around some verses and removed something to be a little bit faster. And this is how Satan presents himself to people. Not the way that you would think. He said, "Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me. I'm jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused to you one husband, that I may present you as a chasteed virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his satility. So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth, that Jesus isn't real." No, he preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached. Or if you receive another spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. For I suppose I was not a wit behind the very chiefest apostles. For though I be rude in speech, yet not knowledge, but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that ye might be exalted? Because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely. Verse 12. But what I do that I will do, that I may cut you off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For even as false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel, for Satan himself has transformed into an angel of light. Yeah, Satan does not present himself in his truest form in a in a stark contrast to the Lord Jesus Christ, but rather in a 99% the same and only 1% changed. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, quote unquote, whose end shall be according to their works. So, Satan's program is to get us to always lose. Right. And I don't think the way to always lose. Satan is more effective with people, I think, in greater numbers by getting them to believe an altered version of Christianity rather than getting them to not believe Christianity at all. Because a like I forgot who said it, but atheism is a belief that even the devil's not dumb enough to believe. Even Satan doesn't believe it because he knows there's a God, but he gets if I if he can just get people to worship him. See, Satan wants to be worshiped. So, he's going to come up with a way of saying, "How can I remove all of the hard parts of God's gospel and amplify all the all the great parts and then present it as the truth of the hour? If I can get people to play God of where they're against everyone, everyone against them, I can get there." CS Lewis said, and I can't take a great artist and put them into a few sentences, but I tried. CS Lewis said, it's not in the projector. In his famous work, the Screw Tape Letters, a senior demon named Screw Tape, and this is a a letter or a thing about how to hurt Christians if demons were talking to one another. The Screw Tape Letters, a senior demon named Screw Tape advised his nephew, Wormwood on how to tempt a human. Screw tape suggests that the most effective way to lead humans astray is not through blatant atheism, but by twisting and corrupting true faith, leading them to a watered down selfserving version of Christianity. And self- serving isn't always I'm going to go and go play sports. I'm going to go and make a bunch of money. It's often I'm going to go and try to put myself as the person that is actually God. I'm going to put myself as the person who is actually telling everyone else, hey, you guys are all wrong and I'm actually the one who has the real program. It's like what Satan did to Eve in Genesis chapter 1. I work in I worked in sales for a long time. Now I'm work work more in training and what my one of the main parts of my job is to I want the people as an HP rep. I want them to first think of HP and I was once told by a different rep of Samsung the product will always sell itself. What you have to sell is you David. So I do my best to get them to have a good view of me so that when they are first recommending something they recommend HP. That is my job. But Satan can take a recommending of something and pervert it. So Genesis chapter 3 and verse one. Now the certain was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Yay, remember telling isn't selling. So when we're trying to sell, I don't sell you a new phone by telling you, hey, this new phone is amazing." and I say, "Hey, do you ever get to the end of your day and your phone is just dead or you need to have more storage on your phone?" You're going to say, "Yeah, I do that." And it builds up a a it's a way of selling that's more successful than telling someone. Satan isn't telling Eve. He's asking your questions. Yay. God said, "Ye shall not ever eat of every tree of the garden." God did say it. He's not saying anything false. And up to this point, it's 100% truth. And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruits of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden." God said, "We can't eat of it or even touch it, or we'll die." And the serpent said to the woman, "Ye shall not surely die. For God, I guarantee you it was not any space." He didn't give her a chance to respond. I guarantee you. He kept on going. He said, "Well, you you're not going to die. For God knows that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened Eve. You will be like God. You'll be equal with God. You'll know good and evil. It's going to be great. You're going to be desired. It's something that's an amazing thing for you to desire. And it's actually okay. And it'll make you just like God. God knows you'll be okay. I guarantee you, he probably told her, too, because the Bible says if we tried to put everything that ever happened into a uh a Bible, there's not enough ink in the world to do it. There's not enough paper to do it. I guarantee you he told her, he said, "Hey, you've only spent 8 million years with God. I spent eight quadrillion years with God. I know him more than you do, Eve. Well, why are you on earth? Oh, he sent me here and he lied or something like that. It's just my opinion. Because he's a good salesman. He wants He's trying to get her to do something God didn't do. But he didn't present it as, "Hey, disobey God." He said, "Hey, help God. Be like God." God wants you to be like him, right? Well, yes. Well, if you do this, you'll be equal with God. God knows in the day you eat of you will be your eyes will be open. You'll be just like God and you'll know good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. It was pleasant to the eyes. A tree to be desired to make one have faith in God. No, to make one wise, to make one a god in and of themselves. She took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also in her husband with her, and he did eat. It was all on what she wanted herself. He introduced something to her that she had not even thought of yet, which was, hey, don't do something for Adam. do something for you. You've earned it. Satan wants to turn the program of God into transactions. I live for others for a while. Now I'm going to go home and live for myself. You noticed later though that they got into self-preserving behavior because then God says, "What have you done?" "Oh, the woman you gave to me. She did it. Eve, what did you do? Oh, the serpent begiled me and I didn't eat." They're passing the buck. It's self-preservation. How did it go from talking to God every day oneonone to like I didn't do it. Self-preservation. Satan's program is not total unbelief. It's you know what? This guy in authority that God placed in your life, Eve, your husband and God, they have the right program and I need to add to that program to help them. Yeah. Look at what he did to Saul to get him to hate David enough to kill him. Saul was the king. Saul had everything he wanted. And then he heard them singing, "Saul has slain his thousands and David's his 10." David his tens of thousands. Anyone in leadership could know, "Well, praise the Lord. He's killing more than I am. I don't have to do as much work. This is so great for the kingdom. He can do the public relations work and I don't have to deal with all these people." But oh no, like dad says, Saul got too stinking thinking and he thought, I'm not getting enough praise. I it all started with I I'm not getting the praise I'm supposed to as the king. He's getting more than I am. And it was selfish. And if he would have stopped thinking just through his own eyes and just to himself and thought, "What's best for the kingdom?" He's like, "Oh, the people are happy." Hey, David, why don't you become one of my main generals? Why don't you become one of my main men? Why don't you teach all of the other people in the kingdom how to play the harp like you do? How to sing like you do? Could you teach the things of God to our people to have such faith as you did against Goliath? Because David, I failed against Goliath. All my warriors failed against Goliath, but you didn't. Could you please help our men with that? But no, Saul thought, uh-uh, no, not enough praise to me. And he actually thought in his own mind, I'm the king. God doesn't want the king to have less praise than someone else. Brother Brandham said the greatest battle ever fought 1962. That's the thing he does to a woman today. Some woman with a lovely little husband finds some great big masculine man. This man will try to open opening up the reasons. Remember that's Satan. That's the devil. Or vice versa, man to woman, woman to man. Either way, what does he do? What does he do? Work in that reasoning power. So how does Satan present this to us? He works in that reasoning power. That conscious or something begins to move through. But give God's word the first place. A man can't even come to, he can't sin. Hallelujah. Here it is. This is coming fresh. A man cannot sin until first he casts aside God's word. And I'd add to that, and listens to a different source. He can't even sin. That's disbelief. Until first he gets rid of the word of God, the presence of God, he cannot sin. Satan begins at the principal part of God's word and at life itself. How can I best serve me and serve others? Which automatically somehow puts me into the position of getting everything I ever want and I serve God? And God pres gets at the principal position of how can I best serve others? I had someone privately text me and say, "Hey, David, how do you," it was a young man, he said, "How do you deal with loneliness?" I was hoping you could help me. And I do a podcast. I told him, "I'll do a podcast episode just for you cuz you're probably not the only one that deals with that." I did some studying on it for a couple days, did an episode and I bet the Lord showed me that loneliness is a symptom of looking at your life in the wrong way. It's just a symptom and that symptom is I and the disease is I I feel lonely. I feel depressed. And I said loneliness one of the things that you can do in the body I said that serve others. Live your life for others. As a man I am not here to serve my own needs. I am here to serve the needs of others. So when I'm doing things, I'm doing my best in my life to think not how can I best help me but how can I put great uh change myself in such a way so that I can better serve my future wife and my future children and those around me. When I think that way I can't lose. But when I think oh Dean's doing me wrong, Josh is doing me wrong. Josh has his head in the puke because he hates me. Mike's doing me wrong. He's not smiling at me right now. I can't win. But I can even be intellectually right. You can be right and still not be effective. Amen. You see, David, I have a right to pleasure. I have a right to what I want in life. This is the age of people's rights. As a Christian, we don't have rights. We forfeit our rights for the purposes of God. I We don't live for oursel. We live for others. Satan can't beat us when we're saying when he comes to you with, "Oh, would you go do this? Oh, would you go do that?" Like, "Oh, does that serve others?" Well, no, but it'll feel good. Well, it doesn't survive, so I don't want to do it. But you say, "Oh, well, surely the greatest kings in history have never fallen to something like this. I want to show you how Satan does it. I have a right to live for myself because I already did so much for God. Now that I did so much, I deserve what I want." King David said that. 2 Samuel chapter 10:1 17, this is a battle happening. And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together. pastor over Jordan came to Halam. The Syrians set themselves in a ray against David and fought with him and the Syrians fled before Israel. David slew the men of 700 chariots of the Syrians and 40,000 horsemen. On average, usually in a battle, a couple thousand people die. Then they retreat. It's very abnormal for 40 over 40,000 of the opposing force to lose. So this is a great victory. And Smoke Shabbach, the captain of their host who died there. And when all the kings that were servants to Hades saw that they were spitting before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon anymore. So David just won a great victory. And the very next chapter is one of the saddest verses of the whole Bible. The first sentence, second 2 Samuel 11. And it came to pass after the year was expired. at the time at the time when kings go forth to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him and he stayed home. But David stayed home. Verse two, and it came to pass on the evening's tide that David arose from off his bed. It means instead of fighting like he was supposed to with his men at the time when kings do that, he was laying down on his bed relaxing and sent someone else to do it. He walked upon the roof of the king's house and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. We all know the story. He says, "I'm the king. Come unto me." She gets pregnant. He tries to get the girls the Ba'ath Sheba's husband to sleep with her. He the Uriah is so humble he won't even do it. Then David has Uriah killed to cover it all up and then gets Bath Sheba for his own wife. It's not like David had 500 other wives. Oh, wait, he did. But he had 500 of the wives, but there was another one. But that's how Satan presents it. David, you just slew over 40,000 of the Philistines. You deserve a break. Stay home. So he's like, you know what? I do. I do deserve a break. I already did this for others. Now, even though it's the time when I'm supposed to go to battle, I'm going to stay home. I'll sum Job up. Job is completely capable. And it made intellectual sense, but it put him into the position to do wrong. He repented by God's grace. But he still the reason why the thing that made David do this wrong thing was not the thing he did with Ba'ath Sheba, but the entry point, the thing that the principal part that Satan got him to do was to consider what to do with this day, which is live for himself. You earned living for yourself. You have a right to stay home. Send Joab instead. At the time when kings go forth to battle, David stayed home. What about Samson? Samson's a tough one. Samson had the great strength from God that God gave him. He's killing thousands of Philistines all the time, carrying 80,000lb gates throughout the city and all these different things. And then he gets one day and he decides, you know what? I did so much for God. I've done what I'm supposed to do. I've earned my right to pick a girl. Oh, she's she's one of the Philistines. Doesn't matter. I'll convert her. Doesn't matter where she comes from. She's mine. I earned this. It's my right. And it really hurt him. But the the the problem wasn't the girl. It was Samson figured that, hey, I earned it. Did I not just kill a thousand foot? Yeah. With a job on a few meals. Did I not just carry the gates all throughout it? Yeah. Right. He He said he earned it. But he changed he turned God's program into a transaction. It's not a transaction. Someone says, "Oh, well, well, you for I guess I'll do it right if I if I do good behavior for two weeks and then I can go back to my old ways." Like, no. God wants someone who is wholly devoted to his cause. Satan's counterfeit of the Christian life is 99% the same as the real. And it makes more sense. When Judas got mad at Jesus for letting Mary wash his feet, is this all right tonight? to wash his feet with spikenard, which I did the math on spikenard and how expensive it was. It's the equivalent of $60,000. So, here's Jesus and his disciples in the situation where they're broke as can be all the time. Most of the time, they barely scrape through trying to go from place to place and figure it all out. And Judas, he knows money really, really well. That was a skill that he had. He's like, "Jesus, this is nuts. Are you out of your mind? You could have sold that spike nerd and given it to me. Oh, I mean to the poor." He was right. But God didn't look at it the way the same God that would say, "Hey, we don't have to consider the budget the same way." Could create gold in fish's mouths. He could take two fishes and five loaves and turn it into so much that it's baskets overflowing. God doesn't look at it the same way we do. God doesn't actually want our help to change his program. He wants our help to continue his program. If I get into a situation where I'm learning basketball from Michael Jordan and I say, "You know what? when you shoot it a certain way, I think it'd be better. He's going to say, "Hey, stop." Unless you got six championships, you can go ahead and shut up. And he has every right to say so because I don't know anything about it. Even if it makes sense in my mind or if it's intellectually correct, he's going to say, "I don't care. You're not Michael Jordan." That's right. But he has flaws. But Jesus doesn't have flaws. They should have just believed him only not because it made sense, but because he said so. Satan's program is it has to make sense in order for me to do it. God's program is God has to say it. It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense. Amen. We live for others. Satan says the highest form of living is that you can feed the hungry for 3 hours, give 40 bucks to a homeless guy. Now I've earned the right to live for myself for a little while. But God's program isn't that. It's that living for others is the highest form of living. You know, I can say that I've live tried to live for others and I live for myself some. But I can say that the most fulfilling life is living for others. Amen. Satan's program only leads to short-term pleasure and long-term death. God's program only leads to short-term suffering and long-term eternal life, joy, and happiness. James 1:13. Because this program that Satan has is not another victory. It's death. God's program is life. Satan's program is death. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived and it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. These two ways of life are not equal ways or one's just as great as the other. Like no. Satan's way leads to death. Challenging God's program leads to death. Doing God's program word for word without trying to change it always leads to life. You cannot win trying to change the program. Even though it makes sense. It didn't make sense to spend 60 grand on some spiking after five minutes of washing Jesus's feet. It doesn't matter though. God's way always feel feels worse initially and ends in eternal life. In our text though, we read John 15:12 that this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you and greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. I love the way that the chosen portrays it is that Judas is talking to Jesus and Judas says but Jesus why don't you listen to me why don't you listen to my advice on these things and Jesus said I didn't I never asked you for your advice then why am I here don't I have something to offer that's the point you don't you have what what we have to offer Jesus is not our own program it's actually weakness God's strength is made perfect in our weakness you say oh I'm the worst of Christians I have all these flaws That's great. You're the best candidate. Like, oh well, I'm a rich man. I have 8,000 billion dollars in the bank and I have 800,000 soldiers at my command and I have this and that. I don't want any of that. I just want you. That's what God says. He just wants us and a willing heart and weakness. Satan says that life or the purpose of life is through strength. God says the purpose of life is him using himself through our weaknesses. God pours himself into our weaknesses and that's his strength. And it's easy to say that that verse means that the greatest love you can have for your friends is just to take a bullet for them. I believe that that's what that means. Of course, but I was watching the chosen and someone hit me. But it also means that greater loveth no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. He didn't say that you would die for your friends, but that you would live for them. And not just your friends, but your enemies, too. God's program is to live for others. It's easy to say, "Oh, I'll take a bullet for God." I once was witnessing to a guy and he said, "Oh, well, you know, I don't quite live for God, but I know that if I was ever at a place where I needed to really serve God or really defend God in a in a firefight, I'd really do it." I said, "That's part that's half of it. That's good, Eric. The other half is to live for him. That's the program. It's not to die for God. That's the easy part. The hard part is to live for him." Jesus Jesus did both. He died for us and he lived for us. He didn't wake up every morning saying, "How can I best serve me?" He said, "How can I best serve others?" I don't believe that that means you don't get to have your own hobbies. You know, one of the best things you can do as a person in order to uh better help others, have a personal hobby. I don't care if it's stamp collecting or what what it is. We don't want to become an addiction, but a hobby. You need one. You are 30 times less likely to have suicidal thoughts or depression, Harvard says, if you have a hobby. So, one of the best things you can do to help others sometimes is to have a hobby. We can't just read our Bible, pray 24/7, uh go to church, uh say the things, and then we're doing it right. That's actually not God's program. We're actually human beings. Sometimes it is time for dad and dean to go go fishing or go hunting or whatever you guys do. Sometimes, like I heard a a health coach saying, sometimes the most the most important thing and the most valuable thing you can do for your health is go out and eat some pizza with your friends because physical health isn't just all these nutrients, but it's also the mental health. Eating pizza all the time isn't good for you. But sometimes it's a little thing. So, I'm not saying wake up every morning and think, "Hey, mom, how can I help you all the time, but that the principal theme of your life is to how can I better myself in order to help others? It's so ironic that many so many people in the world would live their lives thinking, "Well, the happiest I can be is to drink, smoke, and do drugs." And it's so ironic. I have another friend who I still can't get him to come to church. He recently got a month of medical leave from work. He's like, "Oh, I'm really going to come to church now. I have plenty of time." It's almost done, and he still hasn't come to church yet, but he's great at talking about it. They drink, he drinks, he smokes, he has all these different things, and he's miserable as can be. And it's so sad because I asked him about God, he's like, "Oh, God's got me. God's got me. I already made a ride with Jesus years ago and God's got me. And I wanted to say to him that that's not the program of God, man. And it's God is not just He didn't just die at the cross at a get as a get out of hell free card. That's not the gospel. I don't say, "Hey, the reason I like Jenny is my girlfriend's cuz I I just don't want to be single. She's my get out of singlehood free card." No, that that's part of it. But the real thing is a great, amazing, wonderful relationship. Conflicts and everything and it all. Yeah. Jesus doesn't just want to save us. He wants to be in a great relationship with us. It's the great Why do I live for God? Not the not going to hell is the least of it. The most of it is it's the best way of living. Satan's way is though you get to be God. But ultimately it produces death and pain. But it feels good initially. It feels great. I'm not going to say, "Oh, drinking is just the worst. It's all bad." Like no, it feels I've never drank myself, but does those of you that have is it awesome initially? Yeah. But does it lead to death? Yeah. But did you keep on doing it? Why? Why, Dad? Why did you keep doing it when when you knew what it would do? Because in your life, within your hierarchy of value, of how you viewed life, somehow something in you thought, "If I want value, I'm going to drink. Even though it's hurting me, even though it's killing me, I'm going to keep on doing Satan wants to present his way of life as, oh, it's all pleasure. Like, no, it's actually suffering. And the way to live for Jesus is also suffering. So, my question tonight is, which suffering are you going to choose? That's good. Jesus doesn't lie in his approach. Satan says, "Oh, it's all great and it's all amazing. Live for me. Live for the world. Live whatever you want. It's all awesome." And then the small small letters at the bottom of the screen that he doesn't want you to see is this is going to result in you going to hell. you're ultimately going to fail. You're ultimately going to feel like garbage and you're not going to have all the riches of the world. This is the worst possible way you could live your life. But God doesn't have small letters. He actually advertises the hardest part of it as if it's the greatest thing. Luke 18:17, "Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." A certain ruler said, "Good master, what can I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? None is good, save one that is God. Now thou knowest the commandments. Don't commit adultery, kill, steal, bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother. Then he said, I have kept all those. And Jesus heard those things. He said unto him, you lack one thing. Sell all you have and distribute it unto the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. He's telling him, hey, shortterm, you're going to be broke, but you're going to follow me and you're going to have riches, unbelievable riches in heaven. And he just he was very sorrowful. He was sad because he was very rich. And being very rich leads to having a view on life that you're actually God almost. Right? And literally he's talking to God and saying I got to give up my godhood. I don't think I want to do that. No, I know better than you, Jesus. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?" It's easier for a camel to go through needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 2 Corinthians 12:8, this is Paul talking to the Lord. He said, for this, he just lists all the terrible things he went through. And he said, for this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in drinking and smoking and then I get to sleep around, do whatever I want. Like, no. in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses. For Christ's sakes, for when I am weak, then am I strong. I'm become a fool in glorying. Ye have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you. For nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. 2 Corinthians 4:16. For which cause we faint not, but through our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, workketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but that the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. James 1 and2 my brethren count it all it all joy when you enter into diverse temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith workketh patience but let patience have a perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing that sounds great right that sounds awful but actually that's depends on your frame of mind Satan's way actually is suffering God's way actually is greatness verse 12 blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Romans 5:3, "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation workketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." Brother Brandham said in Revelation chapter 5, part one, he said, "What if every person in this world was a Christian? What if everybody was a a spiritfilled Christian?" Now, Satan wants to present his program as immediate pleasure, immediate whatever you want, and that's great. Ironically, that's not someone says, "Why is there all this suffering so elementary?" If you really get understanding, you know how you get great value? Suffering. You want to be really happy, Dad? Be really sad for a while. You know why I'm able to be so much happier than everyone else sometimes is because I've suffered more than other people have in in certain areas. When I like last night, I was trying to get some water. This is a strange analogy, but I feel to tell it. I was trying to get some water. I forgot what time of the night it was. I just was really thirsty. I was walking through a little part of the camper and I forgot that there was a door I had taken off of its hinges and I kicked into it. There is a cut on my foot. There is a scrape right here. There is a scrape right here and there's a scrape right here. And I just went and got my water and I had to go through those terribleness in order to get the water. And I made a deal with myself when I was way younger. I don't care what pain I go through. I'm just going to be a tough guy and I'm going to, you know, take pain medication, go to the doctor or whatever. But I'm not going to. Oh, it hurts so much. And I said, "You know what? I'm healed no matter what it is." And then I went and I got the water. It tasted so good. It tasted even better than if there wasn't that obstruction in the way. And so then I looked, I have a cut about this long on my foot. I was like, "Well, it's not bleeding. I'm just going to go back to sleep. This water tastes real good." Went back to sleep. It meant more than if I hadn't gone through that pain to reach that water. You want great joy? Get ready for some real suffering. And that's not because it's God's weird and sadistic like, no, you want great patience, he's going to give you great opportunities for patience. You want great strength, he's going to give you failure in your muscles to get stronger, right? You guys are gym people. You get more muscles by failure, right? Awesome. I I've never went to the gym. I don't know you know those things. Why? We wouldn't need any faith anymore. Wouldn't need any faith at all. And faith is is the very thing we're saved by is faith. And that's the reason there has to be some disagree with it so that we can exercise faith. Oh my goodness. Please listen to that part. What if every person in the world was a Christian? What if everybody was a spiritfilled Christian? Why? We wouldn't need any faith anymore. You wouldn't need any faith at all. Faith is the is the very thing that we're saved by is faith. And that's the reason there has to be some disagree with it so that we can exercise faith. Do you understand it now? You got to have the other side. See, you got to be have a bad woman to make a real one stand out. See, there's got to be a lie to make the truth positive and make it shine good. If everything was truth, it would just be so common. See? See? But you see, it's something royal. It's something real. When truth and faith and so forth, now there we are. Now, we got to have these pros and cons. That's the way it goes. You got to have good days to make you enjoy or bad days to make you enjoy the good. You got to have a little sickness to make you enjoy good health. See, and you got to have your values to make you enjoy the mountain tops. And so then some of those days it'll all be mountain top. It'll all be health. It'll all be gone. It'll all be joy. But there'll be unending joys. But until that time, see, we got to have this pro and con. So when you say, "Oh, David, I'm so depressed. I'm so lonely. I'm so just hopeless." I'm not going to tell you, "Oh, we'll do something to make you feel better." You know what? Do you know what I would tell you? Go ask other people how you can help them. Go volunteer at a homeless shelter. Go volunteer at a whatever. Go read your Bible more so that you can understand it better for the next person. The way you can help yourself feel less lonely is by asking someone else how you can help them better. It's ironic that the very thing to make yourself feel better about yourself is to help someone else. And Satan says, "Oh, well, hey, give this temporarily help yourself to make yourself feel worse long run." Because drinking doesn't just hurt you temporarily after a temporary joy. It also hurts you long term, right? your liver, your kidneys, whatever other things that you have that it hurts smoking, other things. I feel, you know, I've had that in my life. I'm I'm not People often say, "Oh, you never struggle with drinking or smoking. How can you know?" I've struggled with having big big reactions to people baiting me. And I've had to get over that. Someone will go me and go me until I'm like, "F, you know, and they got and then all of the all of the entire focus won't be on them manipulating me into that reaction, but it'll be on my reaction. And I've had to learn that. And actually, I can be addicted to the pain and the and the actually the uh the intensess of the intellectual discussion that I'll go over it over and over and over and over in my mind. But then I'll have to say, you know what? This isn't actually helping me. I need It's not that I'm going to try to stop doing that wrong thing, Dad. I need to start doing the right thing instead. Well, I feel lonely. I feel depressed. Go help others how you ask others how you can help them. All right. Now, in closing, um, if you musicians have come up, let's look at something else. Jesus was in such agony at the cross. I want to look at one final situation because one thing that we can go through is is we're in great suffering. So, it's all about me. It's me. I want to tell you, I don't care if someone just died. The best way you can deal with suffering is by helping someone else. I want to read a description of the condition Jesus was in on the cross. It's not in the It's not in the projector. You can close your eyes. You can look blank. Whatever it is, just imagine this picture in your mind. I want to give you the picture of what's going on the scripture I'm about to read. Jesus already weakened by sleeplessness, interrogation, and the fgging was forced to carry his own cross, or at least the horizontal beam, likely rough and heavy through the streets, giving him con. Imagine the rawwood digging into his lacerated back with every step, the weight pulling on his weakened muscles. At Golgtha, the executioners would have likely have thrown him onto the ground. They likely stretched his arm out, his arms out along the beam of the wood that he had just carried with heavy iron nails, hammered them through his riffs, wrists, often piercing nerves, causing excruciating pain with every movement. His feet would have then been either nailed separately to the upright post or one on top of the other through the ankle or through other parts of his foot. The driving of these nails would have been accompanied by the tearing of flesh and the splintering of bone. As the cross was raised and dropped into its socket, the full weight of his body would have been hung from the nails in his wrists and feet. The suspension would have caused unimaginable agony. Dislocation. His shoulders and elbows would have likely dislocated under the strain. Breathing difficulty. The position would have made breathing incredibly difficult. To inhale, he would have to push himself up with his pierced feet and pull with his nailed wrists, a movement that would have sent searing pain through his body. Exhalation would have been a slow agonizing collapse, muscle cramps. His muscles would have been cramped and spasm from the unnatural position and the immense strain. Blood loss. The nails would have caused significant blood loss and the scourging before the crucifixion would have already left him severely weakened and dehydrated. Flies would have swarmed his open wounds. Thirst, dehydration would have been intense. His mouth and throat parched and dry. Nerve damage. The nails would have driven through nervous areas would have caused constant searing, throbbing pain that radiated throughout his limbs. Suffocation. Eventually, exhaustion and the inability to properly breathe would have led to a slow and agonizing suffocation. To get a final breath, he would have had to exert tremendous effort, pushing up and pulling each moment a fresh wag of agony. Humiliation added to the physical torment was the public humiliation. Naked, exposed, and mocked by onlookers. Death on a cross was not quick. It was a prolonged torturous process designed to inflict maximum suffering. Jesus endured this for hours. His body slowly failing under the weight of his own flesh. The relentless pain and the crushing inability to breathe. Eventually, his body would have given out, likely succumbing to aphixxiation, shock, and cardiac arrest. To hasten death, the legs of the crucified were sometimes broken, preventing them from pushing up to breathe, leading to quicker suffocation. This is a stark and brutal picture, but it reflects the horrific reality of crucifixion and the immense suffering Jesus endured. Now that you understand what he was going through, I want to look at what he did throughout all that suffering. Luke 23 and 32. And there were two other malifactors lived with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. And the malifactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." And they parted his reignment and cast lots. And the people start stood beholding, and the rulers also with them derided him, saying, "He saved others, but let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God." And the soldiers also mocked him, and coming to him, and offering vinegar, and saying, "If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself." And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew, this is the king of the Jews. And one of the malifactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save yourself and us. But the other, answering him, rebuked him, saying, Dust not thou fear God? Seeing thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, we deserve this. We receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man had done nothing a miss. And Jesus, in all of his suffering, was listening to them. He wasn't paying attention to his own pain and suffering. He was still paying attention to everyone else around him. Praise the Lord. Amen. In so much that he said, "Verily, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise." It is about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour, the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was right in the midst. And when Jesus cried with a loud voice, he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Living, dying, buried, rising, coming. Brother Brandham says it's been some long time ago. I was speaking to someone about this and it was a scientist that said there was only way one way that could have happened. And it was not because of the Roman spear that he died and neither was it the loss of blood that he died because there was still blood in his body. What he died of was not because of the Roman spear or the nails that was drove in his hands or the thorny crown they placed on his head, but because he died of grief. because he came to his own and his own received him not. He died of a broken heart. When he knowed the very creatures of time that he would redeem, had spit in his face and he was rejected of man. In the most agony anyone ever endured, the reason he died was because of a broken heart because people rejected him and he did his best. And even in those moments, he was still listening to everyone else around him thinking, "How can I still best serve others? Lord, let me live in such a way that no matter what suffering I'm going through, I still do my best to live for others. Or I try at least because if I do it that way, Dad, I'll always win. I can't lose. Neither can you. Living for others is the battleground that Satan will always lose. And you will always win. God bless you. That's that's it. [Music] Do we have that song keep me near the cross? The one that Anna is singing or playing. I really enjoyed that. We go through a lot of things sometimes. Think of my buddy brother Mike there. He called up. He said, "Well, this happened." Well, that happened. Then he's getting ready to come and he has a big giant seizure. He says, "Well, I I'm out for the count for a little while and then this happened." I'm glad to see you, Brother Mike. Answer the prayers. Quite a gospel we serve. Living for others. I think that's just really good. I think that's exactly right. living for others because Jesus was the ultimate example of someone who lived for others and he knew his creation was lost. He knew that there'd be nobody in heaven unless he made them innocent and he didn't send somebody else. He come down himself come in a form lower than an angel just like you and me. And he overcome all those temptations and he overcome fear and he overcome everything. He overcome for the weakest person deciding if they're going to be a Christian. It had to be. He had to overcome. And when he was going up Calvar's cross, I'm so happy to say tonight that I know what he was thinking about. He was thinking about me. I can serve a God like that. He was thinking if I don't continue this, Tom Cresin will not make it. He'll not have a marriage that he can keep. He will not have fine children, sons and daughters. He'll not have he won't come to salvation. They were screaming at him, you're going to quit. And he looked over and he's thinking of me. He says, "For this purpose I come," see, to love him. Let's sing that little song. Keep me near the cross. near the cross. So far that cannot see down from me at the foot of the cross. Well, I wish we had that one on the overhead. Let's sing that little song though because he lives and then we'll pray and dismiss. So glad to have you here, Sister Fay. Amen. So glad everybody's here tonight. God bless to you online. Been talking a little bit to brother Bob Palmer. He greets everybody and sister Teresa. And uh let's sing that little song. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Oh, if we only knew what heaven was. If you only knew what heaven was. Sister Fay, if you could get Ed back, but you could actually know what heaven was like, you'd say no. Let Ed be in heaven. Be a lot better than here. Because he lives. I can face [Music] tomorrow because he lives. All fear is gone because I know he holds my future. And life is worth the living just because he lives. Amen. I really enjoyed that sermon. Living for others. Fighting a battlefield that you're going to win. I like that. You find the will of God and you fight from there knowing it's the will of God. You're in the safest place on the whole earth. God bless you all tonight. Let's dismiss in a word of prayer. Take this message home with you tonight. Just it'll make you a better person. Amen. It'll help us through all our trials and give us purpose in life. Father, we thank you, Lord, for a purpose-driven life. That purpose, Lord, to lift you up, to put you back on your throne where you belong, Lord, where you are, where you deserve to be, Father. And Lord, at thy feet, Lord, we worship you. We thank you, Lord. And we ask, Lord God, that you'd place us, Lord. Put us in that position, Lord, so we can win, Lord. And Lord, if it has to be through trials, if it has to be through tribulations, Lord, let thy will be done and not ours, Lord. But teach us, Lord, to avoid some of these traps, Lord, that we might be effective teachers, Lord, and examples of a good life, Lord, for others. Lord Jesus, thank you for the mercy you gave us when we didn't deserve it. Thank you for paying the debt we could have never paid and the debt that you didn't owe. Thank you, Lord, for taking our place at the cross, for taking on our sin and giving us your righteousness in return. Help us to live Lord that life. We'll give you all the praise, all the glory, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen. You're all dismissed in the name of the Lord because he lives. I can face [Laughter] tomorrow because he lives. All fear is gone. [Music] Father, Lord God, this church loves. We ask, Lord God, that you would touch her physically, Lord, that you take this in firmingly, Lord, this well, Lord, if you were here, it' just be done in a moment. But Lord, you gave us directions. You said believers would lay hands on the sick. You said churches would pray for the prayer of faith, Lord, and people would be healed. Father, I ask that you touch your sister Faith. Bring that body back to normal. Lord, kick that old devil away. Father, may the devil see the blood of Jesus Christ and become afraid. And Father, we place our love and our faith to our sister Faith and ask Lord that you would confirm your word, Father. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. You just believe that and that can happen. Went to a church once as a smoker and I left the church a non-smoker. Can't explain it. Do you love them? God bless you. Take the message home with you in Jesus name. [Music]