Faith Lesson 15 week 2
Mike Doyle · Sep 6, 2015
Faith, No. 34
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492651427918

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

OK. So we are in less than 15 and we were. Everybody have a less than 15. There's some more of them back there that Sue just put there. Did you get yours back, Courtney? OK. So as as we talked about last week, what's going to what's going to happen is over the next weeks, we're going to talk about. temptation slash trials and suffering.

We're going to do temptation first and then we'll do trials and suffering in upcoming weeks. So we talked about last week in question one, how is a believer tempted? Where does the temptation come from in a believer's life? What was that? I can't repeat it because you were talking. Where does the temptation come from in the believer's life?

Our own desires. It's worthy issue. It's not Satan, it's not as the Catholics used to tell us the occasion of sin. Don't walk by those bars, you're liable to go into one. at 10 years old. So it comes from our own desires and so we started to look at James chapter 1 verse 13 and 14. Let no man say when he's tempted I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he's carried away and enticed by his own desires. So who's the who? It's us. We're the ones that are tempted. And this tempted is the word perazzo. Remember what we talked about perazzo and dakimasu? Perazzo means what?

There's not a lesson in it. There's no growth in it. It's for condemnation. You're being tempted to fail. So we covered talking about Satan isn't on your case because he's not omnipresent, he doesn't know where you live, he doesn't know your last name, and he doesn't care at all. Because you've got to send nature, why is he going to get all worked up about it? You know, you're your own biggest problem, just like I am.

Question four, is there a power source behind the very strong temptations I experience? Is there? Yeah. What is it? Sin nature. It's a sin nature. What do we know in terms of powerful? What do we know about the sin nature? How powerful is it? What's that?

It's dead. No, it's not. Not dead. If it was dead, how could it be tempting you? I guess I'm dead too. There you go. But how about it itself? Here it is floating around inside of Russ. seeking to manifest itself, how powerful is it? More powerful than our ability to resist it in our own strength. That's a really important principle that we all need to understand. Helen's grandson Michael doesn't know that principle. He thinks that he can control his drinking. No way. It's not going to happen.

We got a sin nature when Adam sinned. We sinned in him. Romans 5, 12. By one man the sin nature entered the world and death by sin. Death passed upon all men for all men sinned in Adam. That's where you got it. Can you repeat the sentence that you said, sin nature is more powerful. Is the sin nature more powerful than your ability to control it?

Yes. Do you have the strength within you, just you? No. Okay. And oh by the way, when you go and say, God help me, is that good enough? Greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world. So when I'm being tempted beyond my capacity, do I go to the Lord and say, help me? Uh-huh. No. No? No. No. Well, I don't have a family. Who else am I going to turn to?

He's not going to help you. Why isn't he? He's not. Why isn't he? I can't just be making the old man better. He's already done it. He's going to do it. He's not going to help you do anything. He's going to do it through you. You see that? But he already did it. Sure he did. Through Christ. He always operates from a finished position. Always.

Do you understand that? Oh Lord give me patience. He's not going to give you patience. He's going to give you the Lord Jesus who is patient. Got that? That's another really important principle that you understand, that the person and the life you have within you is the Christian life. He is. And what do you do? You walk by faith. You rest in the facts. So we should never say, oh God, help me. No. We should reckon ourselves, whatever, we should say, okay, I understand what you're telling me and I believe you. And so let's talk about that.

Can everybody see this? If you can't, you can move over here with all the remedial people. This is the process of temptation and you should have this in your notes. Right here? That's as good as I could do with my skills in Word. So here I am, here you are abiding in Christ. You're just hanging out, loving the Lord, doing your thing, and here comes this strong desire from your sin nature. How would it show up? What would it show up in your life like in terms of what would it be like? What would be the desire?

And of course we men who are older still think we're going to have trouble dealing with sexual desires. Trust me, you're too old. Not an issue anymore. How about use something like anger to get real practical, is that okay? I want you to go over to Galatians 5, 19-21. Anybody there? I'm going to go down, this is a list of the operations of the flesh. And I think we might, I'm sort of lumping questions together but that's okay because it all goes together.

Now the D's of the flesh are evident, which are, the first one is immorality, which just means fornication. That's pretty simple. The next one is impurity, unless somebody else has a different word. And what that means is physical and moral uncleanness. It's not exactly the same thing as fornication, it's just kind of a scuzzy person. The next one is sensuality.

What do you think that means? The senses, like anything that probably sort of comes in through the senses that becomes sort of your master. Okay, such as. Give me an example. Would it be like anything that makes your heart beat fast? I have a friend who said anything that makes your heart beat fast, if it's like a sports car driving down the street, or maybe that's covetousness.

It's something to excess. You don't have any restraint about anything. It can be indecency. You take license with everything. You know people in your life that they just think everybody ought to jump to their own commands. That's called sensuality. We're going to do it my way and I don't care what it costs you. Does that have to do with feelings? Some. It has to do more with a mindset of doing everything to excess. Well, that would be then like drinking or gambling. It can be other things, too. It can be really good things. Oh, right. I want to be the best known whatever business I'm in in the country. Real estate agent? I want to be Donald Trump. Does he do things to excess? The next one is idolatry. What's idolatry? Putting something ahead of God, like maybe you're into astrology. No, no. Don't go there. You were right the first time. Anything in your mind that's against God.

Don't you find it interesting that when God introduced the Ten Commandments to Moses, what was the first one? I am the Lord thy God and I will not have false gods before me." Who was he talking to when he said that? Moses. Moses was the idol. The very first thing that God says is that sin nature and who you think you are, you're out. Do you see that?

It's very subtle because we think that God is going to help us be healthy, wealthy, and wise. That's not what this is about. Idolatry is that I'm the most important thing to me ever, and God's going to help me stay that way. And I'm going to make a decision about everything based on what benefits me, and God, you're going to have to take a step back.

Does that mean we should not try our best in things? Let's talk about that. Does everybody hear the question? Does that mean we shouldn't try our best in what we do. Can't say no without explaining. I guess when I think of that, I think of my own job and how much I don't like it sometimes, but then when it comes back, I go back to the scripture that says, Whatever you do, do it heartily as if unto the Lord.

And it changes who I'm working for. There you go. It changes who. There you go. And it completely, absolutely changes my perspective on what I do. Perfect. I'm not trying to do something for me. Or for the person that I work for. I understand. You're working for the Lord. That's right. That answers the question, I think, better than I could.

The next one in my book is sorcery. The use of medicine, drugs, spells, that kind of stuff. We don't have any of those problems in society today. Well, you think about it, those that are addicted, the number one thing is to protect whatever their focus on, whatever their addiction, like alcohol or drugs. It's a sin. And, you know, talk to somebody. I mean, you've all you probably all have somebody in your life that has an addiction problem. How do they deal with it? Here it comes. Where does it come from? Is it because the liquor store's got too many bottles in it? No. It comes from within. Isn't that too kind of where Christian scientists are like, no, No doctors, no drugs, no... Mennonites are the same way. Same way. So it's kind of making a law out of this stuff. Sure. Well, you have to work at these things. These things are sins and you have to work at them and they have a reward for you. You know what the reward is? Death. The next one is enmities.

Ever known anybody who just hated all the time? They're just hostile people. So if you've got that issue and your sin nature is coming at you with hostility all the time, I know people like this. Strife. You really like the quarrel. You always want to create rivalry or contention or wrangling as in the Church of Corinth. So you're cruising along abiding in Christ and somebody in your body of believers does something you don't like and here you go.

This is going to be an issue. I'm going to make them at least be contending about what they're doing. I don't like it. So I'm going to create some sort of rivalry about that issue because I just don't like it. Okay? Sorry to bring in contemporary stuff but Oh, and I won't. Are you kidding? I'm thinking of that woman who won't give the marriage license to that gay couple. It's kind of like, really? You're working for the government. You're in the world. I don't know. What happened to being fired, too? Why straight to jail? Just fire her. She's not doing her job. I don't think they can because she was voted in.

Oh, that's right. However, we might find things change in our life as she has in hers. When she came in, that might have not been an issue. But while she's on the job, it became an issue to the Supreme Court. get rid of all the old people down the line. You're the first to go. I'll let you know when it's live.

But I mean, do we have to change our thinking and beliefs according to, even if we're on a job, or do we not? Look at Peter and how they were jailed for their beliefs. You know, if this, like Claire was saying, about whatever you do, you work heartily unto the Lord, and if this woman has gone to the Lord about this issue, and he has said, look, you know, in the position you're in, you need to stand your ground.

She doesn't seem to be an antagonistic kind of a woman. Her statement is that what God has said is more important than what the Supreme Court has said. Did you read in the paper, oh you don't get the Denver Post, The judge said ideas of her own. He called it ideas of her own. Well, get ready. You guys can all get in line because it's coming your way.

Jealousy. Jealousy means to burn with jealousy, otherwise to seek eagerly to be moved by jealousy. In other words, and you see that within any group. There's jealousy for, you know, Joe got a new truck. I'm jealous about that. Or so-and-so is in a relationship with somebody else and I wish I was part of that relationship. I would like to be there.

And it just shows up. Outbursts of anger? We all know people who are, I call them short fuses. You know if you scratch them, there's going to be hell to pay. That's right. And they go from just sitting there with a smile on their face to road rage that fast. Where did that come from? No. No. Where did it come from? From ourselves. That's exactly right. It came from your own desire.

If somebody pulls up, and I asked this when I first started to church it, I said, Am I sinning, like when I'm driving, if somebody pulls out in front of me, I do say things. And then I say, when I say, Lord, I'm sorry I said that, but I really meant it. It might be a sin just for you to drive.

I'm getting there. You know, I mean, Donna must look over me sometime and think you're an elder. But, you know, there's there's I think that's one example. But there are people. that really are time bombs. I mean, if you scratch them, you are going to pay for it. And you're going to pay for it big time. Where does that come from? Sin nature. Now, it may not be in your sin nature, but it might be in yours. See?

You know, it's always when I was in high school, I used to work on the engine on my car a lot. And one time I the wrench slipped. I hit my knuckles real hard and I shoved the hood and took a big club. My 1956 Chevy just started. And I don't have that now. And I don't know. You realize you're paying for it.

I kicked the winch out of my car when the battery was dead. This is bad. What I'm trying to do by going through these is show you that within your sin nature lurks this really strong desire and I'm cataloging them for you so you can see them. You said anger or short fuse may be in your sin nature, but not in yours. It may not be mine.

Isn't it we all have all those things? Oh, they're all there. The works of the flesh are all there. In everybody. Sure. See, here's the thing. The sin nature grew up with you. When did you get your sin nature? When you were conceived. So it's been hanging around you and watching and controlling you your whole life. It knows what your triggers are. See, it knows that anger isn't going to get you, but I've got something else special for you, because every time I've pulled the plug, you went for it. So I know what your deal is. It's in our verse in the Bible, it says, be angry and sin not. Yeah. Angry about what? Oh, all kinds of things. We women, I know, I can only speak from my own experience. There's a righteous anger against sin. I'll take that one. I think we were talking, was it idolatry?

I'm having a problem understanding the way you just used the word sin nature. It knows, what is the sin nature? It knows something? I always just thought it was like a thing. It's not the force. Your sin nature knows exactly who you are. It's part of you. Your sin nature has spent its entire existence trying to manifest itself through you. It knows.

I get to think about that. I can't get it fixed. Yeah, the sin nature doesn't have its own mind. Yeah. No, but it's an entity that has strong desires. Okay. And it understands that there are certain desires it can get you with and others that it won't.

I always thought of it as just like a reaction. Like I will react maybe with anger where another person wouldn't or I was thinking, when Satan fell, didn't he say, I would be as God? Sure. And isn't that the mindset? There's a mindset of the sin nature. A mindset. And it's a power source, right? Yeah. Like we talk about in the spirit or the sin nature. Yeah, because Galatians 5 says that there's the spirit, the Holy Spirit has strong desires against the flesh, which is a sin nature, and the sin nature against the spirit.

So those two are competing. One's a person, the other's a nature, but they're competing for what? What are they competing for? Your attention and a latent thought. Well, they're competing so that they can manifest whatever their nature is through you.

Because if you don't have a body and a soul, you can't sin. What do you use to sin with? Your body. So the sin nature recognizes that it can get you to sin by getting the desire going, and we'll talk about when you go across the edge, and it can manifest what it is through you as long as you let it.

A non-believer doesn't have a choice. I mean even while they're sleeping they're sinning. Do you see that? That sin nature totally controls a non-believer. They sin 24-7. There's no time that they're shifted into neutral. None of that. They sin all the time. Why? Because they don't walk by faith. I kind of think of your example. We've got about three questions left. Okay, this is the end of the question. I think of your example of dogs.

You know, like their nature is to bark and their nature is to taste squirrels and horse poop and whatever it is. It's like if I yell at my dog, stop eating that horse poop. And he looks at me like, no, I'm a dog. This is what I do. But then for God, God can come in and say, You just don't like horse poop anymore. Well, not so much that you don't like horse poop. I'm going to replace the very core and the essence of who you are with my son. He's not into horse poop. Yeah. Yeah. Courtney, I'm not going to talk about horse poop.

You know, I guess this is, I want you to get through your list, but I want to get back to what Wanda was saying, because I really think we need to get that question answered. What can you pray for? I go back to Philippians 4. In everything, you can ask anything of the Lord. If I need strength or if I need anything, I can ask Him anything. I just want to clarify. It sounds like you can only ask within this narrow band. It ultimately is by faith of who I am and what I'm doing. But I think we can go to God the Father and ask anything. And I think, strengthen me, because I go back to what we prayed at the beginning of the class. Actually, Nick had this question. Why do we pray? So what? And I think we need to get down and answer that question.

If the truths we learn say going through Romans 6, at the end of Romans 6 God doesn't say ask me for help. What he says to me when it comes to sin, I want you to reckon yourself dead to it and alive to me. That's how I want you to deal with it. So I don't think it's legitimate to go to him and say, help me with this sin, because what's really going to come back to me is that I already did.

Right, but that's the answer to that prayer. And I think the other thing is, I'm going through Acts, and Paul is praying for all these believers. So that's a different thing. I can pray for believers. We just prayed for Lars. I just want to make everybody clear on the prayer. The prayer can be anything. We can pray for somebody in their ministry. We can pray for them to do anything. We can ask him anything.

That's why I just want to make sure that it's clear. When you can ask anything, he'll give you an answer. It still all revolves, and that's what this whole class is, Next week, by the way, Roger is going to do the main service. That's exactly what he's going to teach on. He's going to teach in Romans 8.

We don't know how to pray as we should. I do think as you grow spiritually, you get spiritually intelligent. I think that's it, but that's a growth process. As a young believer, we go and ask God to do all kinds of stuff. Right. And he'll do it. That's the amazing thing. He'll do it. But that's the growth process. That's what I'm saying. You can come with anything and he'll give you an answer that you're not controlled by that.

You're dead to that. Reckon yourself dead to that. The answers will all be for you to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus. So I just want to make sure Prayer can be anything. The answer may be, you know, what are you doing? You're dead to that. But you can ask anything, and the answer will come back to draw you to Him, to manifest Christ, and to glorify God. That's what the answer will be.

You may not like the answer, but I just think you can go with anything by these verses. And we'll learn in Romans 8, it's all according to His will. You know, I can ask for anything. I'm not going to use a car example because you don't like that one. Oh, thank you. I want to have... He's hoping that the pig gets roasted. The pig gets roasted. Then it's on time by noon tomorrow when we have the pig ready. But I can ask anything.

I just want to make sure that you understand that. Because I think that's important. I can go to God anytime. The more you have intimacy with Him, you grow in that. Why am I even asking that? Why am I doing that? I'm dead to that. And the growth process will illuminate you. I shouldn't even be asking that. And I think in sin, God's done with the sin. Why am I messing with it? He's done with it.

So anyway, I just wanted to share that prayer. But, you said the word help. You said, Lord help me with this. And I have to tell you that my big deal was always, Lord help me with this. I'm having so much trouble with this. And it's always like, personality issues, whatever, things that are coming out, not things that I want or things that I need help with outside.

And what Mike said, when I first came here, about the second week that I came here, Mike used the word believe. Believe what Jesus said is true. And I took that home and I thought about it and it helped me so much. And with the question that you asked, saying, Lord help me with this, I changed it. And I said, I need to believe what you said is true.

And I haven't been doing that. I've been asking for help. As if you don't care. As if I need to beg you for it. This isn't coming out right. But what you said helped me so much because then I changed it and I said, Lord, you said this. What is personal faith? And I need to believe it. Now, instead of asking for help, I want you to believe what you said is true. And of course, these are about specific things that he said about himself. And I started saying, just be Jesus in me. Because I already knew that he is patience. He is peace. He is no fear.

Those are the things I deal with. Fear and that kind of stuff. And I can't ask for help for that. He's never been able to help me with it. But when I started saying, you are these things that you said you are. You are not fear. You are love. I don't know. I can't think of them. But do you understand what I'm saying?

I just owned what he said about himself and believed it now I can't say that I'm emotionally feeling it but I'm hanging on to it and it really has changed the way that I now approach him in my prayer and I'm not saying that what Kortney said isn't true because that's like a different side of the issue we can pray for anything I mean I go to God and I say gosh I'm fearful and you said not to be fearful but I believe that God treats each of us with however far I have come. I mean, he's not going to take me well enough. You've asked me to do that before. No. No. I mean, and I'm not being funny. No. No, I understand. I'm not as far along as some people. Sure. That's right. But you're catching up. We all are, right? Right. Let me get through the rest of these.

So there's dissensions, which means that the believers are enjoined to mark those who cause divisions among you. We've had a few of those around here. There's factions, which has to do with a choosing or a choice, an opinion, especially self-willed opinions. people that are going to impose their spiritual will on you. You'll find that in any church, in any group of believers that you happen to hang out with, that there are those, or there are some that it's their way or the highway.

Envying the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing the advantage of prosperity that somebody else gets. None of you have ever done any of that kind of stuff. Carousing and that kind of thing. So here's what I want you to do. Give me a question. I'm going to back up a minute.

So, in this case here, where the strong desire comes from the sin nature, the next issue is drawing away. What does drawing away mean? What do you mean by drawing away? Changing your point of focus. It means to be lured. It means to be lured from one place to another.

I'm abiding in Christ. Now I have this luring business or this drawing away. We're being drawn away from abiding in the Lord Jesus to not abiding in the Lord Jesus. So all of the things we've talked about, plus some more we'll talk about, are designed specifically to do that. Bless you.

You understand that? So the drawing away is subtle and it can happen in a millisecond or it may be taking some time. So does the sin nature, and we've already answered this question, does the sin nature know what bait to use? Sure it does. We're drawn away and we're in touch.

Now, as an example, We talked about this with young men, it could be sexual desire. How about the idea of self-preservation? What about that? Yeah, Lord, I know, but I've got to take care of me. I've got to feed my family. I've got to do all of these things that I'm here to do. I have to preserve myself and those that you've given me. Self-preservation. Is that a legitimate Drawing away from abiding in Christ? Totally. Why? It focuses your eyes. Your eyes are off Christ. Your eyes are on yourself. On you.

It demonstrates that God isn't sovereign and He doesn't love you and you've got to take care of it. With His help, you've got to take care of things, right? Being a man, as a believer, and beginning to realize, I have to get up and go to work every day because I have to feed my family. How does that fit in with my not operating out of self-preservation? And I think Claire said it right. Who do you work for? Do I work for me? Or do I work for the Lord? As a dad, do I work for me? Or do I work for the Lord, as a mom, in my business, in my job, in whatever I do? Am I employed by the Lord himself, or am I doing this for me?

And so self-preservation is one of those luring, drawing away things that is very subtle, and we don't even know it's happening when it's happening half the time. You know, I gotta, and Lord you gotta help me. Really? When you discover that the Lord takes care of his own, maybe not to the degree you were hoping. You don't get the yacht this week.

So, how about fear? Yeah, let's talk about fear. How about fear? Is fear drawing you away from abiding in Christ? Absolutely it is. Don't we think that's legitimate? That whatever my song and dance is, and I'm afraid, Lord, you'll just have to wait. Because I'm fearful of whatever it is. Like God isn't sovereign? Like God isn't going to, you know...

Miles Stanford used to say, you know, we're all in that hand, and that's the hand that's got the hold in it. He gave his life for you. we shouldn't care about things? Such as? What's happening to our nation? We shouldn't try to uphold our Lord? What did Paul say we should do about our nation? Who did he say we should pray for? The people in the nation. Pray for the leaders. That's the word to pray for.

Let's take that one. Let's take being a political junkie. Does that draw you away from abiding in Christ? Sure it does. Why? Alright, let's run down the thing. Where are you from? Heaven. Where's your home? Heaven. Why don't you pay attention to that? That's where you're from. That's who you're a citizen of. That's where you're supposed to hang out and where you're going to be for all eternity. You don't get to live in Colorado forever. You're heavenly citizens.

Colossians says since you're risen with Christ, since that's true, what are you supposed to do? Seek those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your affection, your mind on things above and not on things of the earth. Why? Because you're dead and your life is hid with Christ and God.

So should I be a political junkie? Absolutely not. But you don't want to be a bum either. So my alternative is to be a political junkie or a bum? No. I mean, shouldn't we care about that? We should care. Let's say you and I went to Mexico for two weeks and we took Donna with us. And we could speak and read Spanish. Like my niece is down in Mexico for this semester teaching. Is she concerned about the Mexican government? Probably a little bit, maybe looks at a paper. But where's her heart? It's here. Because this is where she, this is her home. You see that? Should I be concerned? I mean, should I vote? Absolutely. But do you think that God is somehow, if I don't pray or am involved or sweating over politics, that God is not going to pay attention? He's a sovereign God. He rules everything.

Can I quick, I love the Bible quote, be anxious for nothing because you can't even do the littlest thing. That's right. So why are you worried about the big things because you can't even do Little things. You can even breathe on your own. That's right. And the other that goes along with that is that if he's already done the big thing for you, won't he do the little thing?

Okay, give me an example. Each one of you, bless you. Give me an example of strong desires that you may be aware of. Sex, money, power. Alright. Anybody else? Are you aware of those things? We can be aware. How about preserving your self-image? Is that sinful?

Whether I'm recognized or appreciated. The King James uses this term called approbation desire or lust. You know what approbation means? It's the desire to be noticed and admired. I have that sin. We all have it. You know what the greatest tool invented by man to propagate this sin is? Advertising? What do you think it is? Advertising? No. You deserve it? No. Facebook. What is Facebook all about?

It's about me being noticed and admired. Isn't that right? I mean I have to be tricky and crafty or here's all my family or here's whatever it is. It's all about me being noticed and being important. What was the word he used? Approbation. I think the world really promotes that. You better believe it, especially Americans. We're all about that. Isn't that part of the same nature? Absolutely it is.

So here I'm cruising along. Is that one of those things that's going to lure me away from abiding in Christ? If I'm abiding in Christ, who's the most important thing to me? He is. Not me. You see that? It's so subtle, I don't think we see it half the time. Isn't it tough to pick Facebook, politics... I mean, if we're not abiding in Christ, we can make anything... anything can... we can sin in anything. That's right. So it's... we can... Abide in Christ, walk in the Spirit, do Facebook.

We can be involved in politics and I don't know, it's tough. Yeah, and what you're after is what's the trigger there? In other words, and I know we haven't gone down this far, let's say Facebook is the issue and I'm drawn away and I'm enticed and I'm right here. How do I go here? How do I take the bait? I'll give you a personal experience.

For years I was a runner. And there were times that I'd be running and I'd be thinking to myself, why am I doing this? Am I doing this for me? Or am I doing it so I can stay in shape so I can serve the Lord? And that was something that banged on me for a long time. And I kept going. But I began to modify how much running I did.

Because if I sort of picked up that I'm doing this so that I can finish higher in the next race or I'll be lauded because I'm a runner, all you got to do is go to the gym and you'll see it. We've got a guy in our neighborhood that runs on Sunday morning. He's got the sunglasses, the hat on backwards, the sleeveless team shirt, and he never looks at us. He runs by and I say, there goes Mr. Wonderful.

Does that feed in with that, does it control me? That's where I was going. The issue is, does it control me? Is it okay to play golf? Absolutely. Does it control me? If it does, it's not okay to play. And that's different for everybody. Everybody. Is it okay to go on Facebook? Yeah. Does it control me? Paul says I'm free to do anything, but I'll modify what I do for your benefit.

I'm thinking, okay, really quick, let's say run in. You say, am I doing this to stay in shape so I can work for God? There are plenty of people who are not in shape, who are in hospital beds, who are working for God and don't necessarily need help. So it seems like in a way that question, am I running to keep in shape to work for God, is almost like, well... Here's the process that my mind went through.

Lord, I'm here to serve you until you take me home. And part of that is being physically able to do it. And if you want me in a wheelchair, that's fine. If you want me in a hospital bed, that's fine. But I'm not there. And if I can keep moving and walking, I admire the apostles. You know why? Because they walked everywhere. They didn't have to go jog. They used their feet and legs to move every day. So that was my train of thought. Do I eat healthy and do I keep my weight down?

For what reason? Because I'm a servant of the Lord. I'm here to serve Him no matter what He'd have me do. If I get sick, that's from Him too. I got a call, you know you get these phone calls. I got a call yesterday and this man, it sounded like he was drunk, he said, We've all had that. I don't have a computer. That's like the idiot that calls and wants to help you out with your timeshare. Let's close.

Father, how we thank you for your grace and how we thank you that we can objectively take a look at these issues that draw us away from you. We will trust you and trust that as we are indwelt by your spirit that it's his job to make these things aware to us and to lead us so that we may continue to rest by faith in your son the Lord Jesus and we pray in his precious name. Amen.