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[0:00] This morning, of course, we took a look at being in the presence of the glory of God, and of course, look at Moses in that and what God did with him and for him as a result of that and how that changed things for Moses and for the people of Israel.

[0:28] So, God giving Israel, you know, an indication of a couple of things. First of all, Moses had said, remember, that, Lord, if you let me see your glory, that will enable me to be a better mediator for them, for the people.

[0:44] And it did. And for the people of Israel, it gave them the assurance of the fact that God was present with them in spite of themselves. So that was good.

[0:55] And so, we kind of left off with the idea of Christ being the outreying of the glory of God. That if we want to see and get a glimpse of the glory of God, we see the Lord Jesus.

[1:11] We see, you know, who he was and what he did, what he said, all of those things, seeing in him those attributes that are within the Father being within the Son as well.

[1:28] And thus, we get a glimpse of the glory of God. And so, that does something for us as well. It should, anyway. And so, there are some things that I want us to look at tonight that I didn't get to this morning because of the time constraint.

[1:44] Plus, it gave me a good idea what I was going to bring this evening. And so, I always like leftovers. Amen? Yeah, I do. And so, some of the things that we see that are catching a glimpse of the glory of God can provide for us.

[2:01] And so, I've got four things listed here, and we'll see how we get along with those. But turn with me to Mark's Gospel, chapter 4. Catching a glimpse of the glory of God removes doubts.

[2:15] Removes doubts for us for a lot of things. Because we recognize then who Jesus is. Not just an intellectual assent to that, but when we catch a good glimpse of that, we have that buried down within our heart.

[2:32] To the extent that we will never deny that, but we'll have solid confidence in the fact of who He is. And so, as a result of that, it can remove some doubts within our heart and mind that may have arisen from time to time, or may still arise later on.

[2:53] One of those things, the first thing we want to recognize is that it removes any doubt about His love and care for us. Mark's Gospel, chapter 4, gives us a good picture of that.

[3:07] Familiar passage to you, beginning in verse number 35. Mark's Gospel, chapter 35. And the same day, when the even was come, He saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.

[3:23] And when they had sent away the multitudes, they took Him even as He was in the ship, and there were also with Him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

[3:40] He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake Him and say unto Him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And He arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.

[3:53] And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said, Why are you so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?

[4:10] Now, get the context of what's happening here. Jesus has been teaching the multitudes. They had gathered by the Sea of Galilee to hear and listen to what Jesus had to say.

[4:23] As usual, Jesus gets into a boat, and there uses it for a floating pulpit, and speaks to the people. This is, and some of those things He said in the earlier chapter, are some of the parables that He gave to the people.

[4:38] And in those parables, we see some teaching about the reality of being able to trust God, and see God for who He is. And so, the disciples now here, we're listening to that as well.

[4:54] Always keep in mind that the disciples, when they were in the presence of the Lord Jesus in His earthly ministry, the disciples were in a classroom experience.

[5:07] Because everything Jesus said was, yes, for the people, but I think more so, was for instruction and teaching to the twelve apostles. So they were learning, or supposedly learning, from the Lord Jesus, the truths that He had to teach to them.

[5:26] And that included the parables that He taught in the previous chapter. But now, it's even time. Realize, the earthly ministry of Jesus was a vigorous ministry.

[5:41] I mean, after all, most of the time, He walked everywhere He went. Amen? And teaching ministry is an exhausting ministry. Amen? I was exhausted this morning before the service ever started.

[5:56] And that's because of Mike's teaching in the Sunday school. He wore me out, man. He wore me out. And he was talking about preachers.

[6:09] It's the bad thing about it, you know. I told him, I said, I'm afraid to preach this morning from what you had to say. But it's an exhausting ministry all the time, every day, all day long.

[6:23] And so realize Jesus, in His humanity, was exhausted. He was weary from everything He's been doing to this point. And so they, being on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, they decided, I think the disciples decided, maybe even Jesus Himself decided, to go over to the east shore would be a relaxing journey and pleasant thing for Him to do to get some rest and relaxation.

[6:53] And so that's what happens here. Now take note what Jesus said. After He was finished speaking, He says to the disciples, let's pass over unto the other side.

[7:05] Well, fellas, let's just go over the other side. And so it sounded good to them. So they sent the multitudes away, and they took Him even as He was in the ship.

[7:16] Now the ship, or boat here, was a large fishing vessel, not just a little fishing boat, a large fishing vessel. All right? So He was in there, and so they decided they were going to head out and go.

[7:29] Now, this was a spur-of-the-moment thing, no doubt, because realize that in that time, they were just going to, you know, Jesus already in that boat, probably the boat He used most of the time, and we're going to go over to the other side, which is no short journey.

[7:47] But they made no provision for that. They didn't go into town and say, wait a minute, we've got to go into town and buy groceries, and we'll stock up. No, they just went, which is not really the safest and most wise thing to do going across the Sea of Galilee.

[8:07] But they did. And so you know what happens here. They sent them away, and now other ships followed, smaller ships followed along with them, because they just wanted to hear what Jesus had to say, even when He got to the other side.

[8:23] Now, look at verse 37. Take note what happened here. A great storm arose. One of the storms they called a Euraclidon.

[8:34] It's almost like a hurricane. It's that strong. On the Sea of Galilee, the wind can pick up just almost suddenly. And that's what happens here. All of a sudden, the wind's blowing.

[8:48] The ship is being tossed to and fro. The waves are beating against the ship, and even to the point, they're beating into the ship. To the point that that ship is now sinking.

[9:02] Almost even keel with the water. Where's Jesus? Yeah. Fast asleep.

[9:13] He's tired. He's weary. His body needs some rest. And that's where he was. It said he was in the hinder, or the back of the ship, asleep on a pillow.

[9:28] Now, don't misunderstand that term pillow there. It's not like your, my pillow thing. That's so comfortable and good and nice and relaxing.

[9:38] No. No. It could have just been very, that plank that he was laying on, or some kind of thing that they would just fold up together and stick there for a pillow. So it wasn't, well, it wasn't the plush, comfortable pillow you think of here.

[9:53] But he was asleep. That shows you how tired he was. Asleep with all this was going on. And they come to him. And what do they say? Master, don't you care that we perish?

[10:08] Or literally that we're perishing? Now, don't you care? What a sad thing to say. Amen? To the Master.

[10:20] Who they've been listening to for all this time. Supposedly learning the principles that he was teaching. They've already claimed him as Messiah, embraced him as such.

[10:31] Lord, don't you care? Don't you care? Now, realize something here. What did Jesus say prior to this?

[10:46] What did he say when he was finished teaching? Let's go over to the other side. Let's go.

[10:58] Okay. When Jesus said, let's go over to the other side. He didn't say, let's go out on the sea and wait for the storm to come and drown.

[11:10] He didn't say that, did he? He said, we're going to go over to the other side. As if to say, fellas, we're going to get there. We're going to get there. What a lesson of trust here.

[11:25] All right? All right? In essence, you've claimed me as your Messiah. You know that's who I am. And whether they really understood the full extent of that, probably not at this point.

[11:41] But he's God in the flesh. He's going to get them to the other side. And they need to realize and understand that. So what did he do?

[11:51] He rose up. Told the wind to be still. And told the sea to be calm. And instantaneously, it happened.

[12:05] Now, peace be still. Literally is to be silent, still, hushed, calm.

[12:16] I like this term. When he said that term, be still, tells the winds and the waves, be still. It's literally a term that means to close the mouth with a muzzle.

[12:29] Like an oxen. To muzzle it. So in essence, he said to the wind and the waves, be muzzled and stay that way. Amen?

[12:39] Amen? Probably never another storm rose up on that sea because of that. Be muzzled and stay that way. Stay that way. And it did.

[12:50] And what was their expression? They were frightened about that. They feared exceedingly. Looked at one another and said, what manner of man is this?

[13:03] That even the wind and the waves obey him. Wow. But notice what he had said just prior to their saying that.

[13:14] In verse 40. After he calmed the wind and the seas. I like that phrase that said, and there was a great calm. You could hear a pin drop probably.

[13:29] You realize how boisterous a storm can be. We know that in Oklahoma. Amen? How the wind sounds. And when you're on the water, the waves beating and crushing against the boat, making those noises and sounds that it does.

[13:44] And now there's a mirrored calm and nothing. No breath of air at all blowing. Look what Jesus said.

[13:57] Why are you so fearful? Literally, how is it possible? Not like that. How is it possible that you're so fearful?

[14:13] The word fearful means of one that is timid and thus fearful. How is it possible that you're that way? And with the idea, no doubt, with me in your presence.

[14:29] How is it possible for you to be so fearful here? Oh, ye. How is it that ye have no faith?

[14:41] Same thing. How is it possible that you have no faith? Now, recognize again with me. I've given you before my working definition of faith.

[14:52] I know what the scripture says. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. But if you'll do a study in the scriptures of people of faith.

[15:04] Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all those others. What you're going to find is this. Faith is a positive response, if you will.

[15:15] A response of obedience to something God has either said or done or in who he is. It's responding to something about God.

[15:31] It's not just something, boing, we decide we're going to believe. It has substance to it. Here, these men have been listening to Jesus.

[15:43] And undoubtedly, they had to believe from the tenor of his conversation and his voice. That it was a voice of authority. They knew as they had claimed him to be the Christ.

[15:58] Authoritative. So, they were to take everything he said with that authority. So, why is it that they did not respond positively to what he had said?

[16:19] That's why he said, how is it possible that you be without faith? How is it possible?

[16:31] Now, consider ourselves in that just a moment. Alright? If we want to be people of faith, then we're going to have to be people of response. Responding to what God says or does or shows us or respond to who he is.

[16:49] And we do that again by catching glimpses of his glory. As we see that expressed through the word of God. And the spirit of God in that then impresses that upon our minds.

[17:03] Enlightens our heart and minds to the reality of that. I'm sure that probably all of you at some point in time as you're studying the scriptures. That all of a sudden, God illuminates.

[17:19] Illuminates a passage of scripture to your heart and mind. And whether you do it verbally or not, you do it mentally. And you say, oh wow. Wow. Wow.

[17:30] I see that now. Amen? Now, that gives you a word from God personally that you have to respond to positively.

[17:45] And that's the thing we need to be sure we do. How are we responding to those occasions when we do? I don't know if I've told you this or not before. I was pastoring a church.

[17:56] Not Copan, but a different church at one point. Had been there 10 years. Tough. It was tough. I mean, it was like pulling teeth. Every Sunday morning, not right at the beginning, but about halfway through.

[18:10] About five years in. Every time I'd come out of my study for the morning service, the first thing I'd do is look out into the congregation and see if there were any public committees out there.

[18:22] Amen? Yeah. I was teaching one Sunday night. On Sunday nights through Paul's letters to the church at Galatia.

[18:36] The book of Galatians. And in there is a passage that says that Paul says to them, in essence, I will, God will leave me with you.

[18:47] I will remain with you until Christ be formed in you. Now you talk about God just, he did.

[19:01] I mean, to the extent I had to stop. I didn't utter another word for a little while. So, in my mind, I was saying, oh God, please no.

[19:14] Please no. But I knew what he was saying to me. Yeah. Yeah. So, we respond.

[19:26] Took me a while to respond, but I did. But we need to respond. That's what faith is. Trusting God in what he says and does to the extent that we then respond in a positive way to all of that.

[19:42] Now, so. Master, carest thou not? Sure he does. Sure he does.

[19:54] Amen? Yeah. Sure he does. Now, second aspect of that we find in 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 5, or excuse me, verses 6 through 7.

[20:08] 1 Peter chapter 5. Getting rid of the doubts about whether God really cares for us. 1 Peter chapter 5. This is where he's talking about submitting one to another.

[20:26] In verse number 6, he says, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

[20:44] Hmm. Maybe we probably need to camp here a little while. Amen? Cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you.

[21:00] The word care there is a translation of a Greek word that means anxiety or worry. Anybody ever do that? Surely not.

[21:12] Amen? Amen? Yeah. Cast it all upon him. The word all there has this idea in the original. It's not the idea of every worry that comes along.

[21:25] In other words, if something comes along tomorrow that worries me, I stop and I give that to the Lord. That's not it. The idea literally is cast the whole, W-H-O-L-E, the whole, the entirety of your worry.

[21:43] Worry upon him. Present worry. Worry. Future worry. Future worry. Okay?

[21:55] Cast that all upon him. Tonight, tonight, tonight, I cast all the whole, the whole, the entirety of my worries for the rest of my life upon him.

[22:17] Now, if I go out here tomorrow, and something happens, and Calvita writes me a note, she's gone somewhere, and doesn't tell me she's gone.

[22:31] And writes on the bottom, help me, help me. I would worry. The natural inclination would be to worry.

[22:44] But if I have already cast the entirety of my worries upon him, I won't worry. I'll stop and realize what I've already done.

[22:57] I could stop and say, Lord, here's your worry. Amen? This one's yours, because I've already cast it to you. That's the idea there. Do you realize that anxiety is really, is really out of place, and really an insult to God in the life of the believer?

[23:21] Just like Jesus in the back of the boat. Look, he not only knows us, Jesus, he dwells within us by his Spirit.

[23:35] If we're not trusting him with everything, before it ever even gets here, then we're stealing from him what rightfully belongs to him, and we're taking it upon ourselves.

[23:54] Yeah. Yeah. And that in itself is sin. All right? Cast all, the whole of your worries, present worries, past worries, upon the Lord.

[24:15] The word cast there, cast him upon him, is the word that means having deposited with him. And it speaks of a direct, once for always, committal to God of those things that give us concern.

[24:32] Now, this is the best part of it. For he careth for you. All right? That's the reason why we can do that.

[24:43] Literally, it is. For it is a care to him concerning you. The cares we have are cares that he has on our behalf.

[24:57] Because he's concerned about us. Literally, again, for it is a care to him concerning you, or for you are his concern.

[25:13] Now, we know that, don't we? We know that God's able to take everything we give to him and do something with that.

[25:23] Then why do we not do it? Somebody gave me a word. What is the word that causes us not to do that? Well, that's good.

[25:38] That's not the right word, but it's good. Yeah. Not what I'm looking for, I should say that. She said control. Pardon? Pride. Pride. What else?

[25:51] Fear. Anything else? Hmm? My wife got it because she's heard it before. But she forgot. Yeah.

[26:02] Really. It's unbelief. It's unbelief. It really is. Yeah. I've told you this story before, but you've probably forgotten.

[26:18] My youngest daughter, Darla, the one that lives up in Bozeman, Montana, that we went to visit in December. She lived in Hawaii for four years.

[26:28] As a result of ministry that she went to work with through OBU. She got engaged while she was there.

[26:40] That fell apart. Because she had a fear. And then when Calvin and I got married, there was a young man that was a member of her.

[26:53] His dad was a member of our church. And they had never met. But they met, Darla and Michael met at our wedding reception. Well, that got going good.

[27:05] Really did. And it was so evident to everybody. Everybody. That you two have been put together by the Lord.

[27:15] Darla had such a hard time with that. Because she had a fear. She had a fear of stepping out and doing something that was not directly in the will of God.

[27:28] She did not want to do that. She wanted to honor God with obedience, complete obedience. And I was glad for that. But she had such a hard time with that. And they were both at the time in seminary now in Fort Worth.

[27:42] And they had a friend that was going there as a pastor to get his degree. And go back to Africa where he lived and where he was from to pastor a church there.

[27:57] They called him. Darla said, I need to talk to you. They had such confidence in him and his spirit. And his relationship to the Lord and wisdom.

[28:09] She went to him. And told him what was going on. That I just cannot. I cannot get the liberty to do this.

[28:19] I'm afraid of that. And he listened to her. And you know what he said to her? This is Darla. With lions at the time.

[28:31] My daughter. Spiritual girl. He looked at her and said, Darla. You're living in unbelief. It startled her.

[28:46] I believe. I'm a Christian. I'm saved. And that's not what I'm talking about. He said. You believe in his death, burial, and resurrection for you.

[28:58] To save you. But you're living in unbelief about his ability to do what he wants to do with you and make it good. She pondered that for a minute.

[29:11] And boom. The cloud was gone. She calls up and said, Dad. We want to get married. Okay.

[29:23] That was in the first part of December. When do you want to get married? December 22nd. And we want to do it at the church in Copan. And here's what we want.

[29:35] Don't want much. This is a family thing. So we want five Christmas trees. All the same length. Same height. And white lights strung all over them. That's all we want.

[29:47] So Calvita and I have to go and find five Christmas trees the same height. And the bases to put them in. So we scrambled around.

[30:01] Finally found them. And so they came home. And we had already talked to both of them until we were blue in the face. So we weren't going to talk anymore. And I said, I'm sure about this, Dad.

[30:15] Okay. So come time for the wedding. Okay. I walked her down the aisle myself. And then turned around. And did the ceremony.

[30:28] Oh, I had so much fun as a pastor. Doing that with my son-in-laws. But anyway. Came time for the vows. You know how we do.

[30:42] Bride and the groom. Here I am. And they had all this planned out themselves. They did. They turned around. To look at each other. Hold each other in the hands.

[30:54] With hands. And I was keeping a close eye on Darla. I really was. You've seen the movie, Runaway Bride? That's what was in my mind.

[31:10] Michael said his vows. And in time for Darla. She looked him straight in the eyes. I was waiting to see what she's going to say.

[31:26] And without skipping a beat. She shared her heart and her vows. And I quickly said. You're married. And it's been sweet ever since.

[31:39] They walked together with God through thick and thin. And it's been glorious. And continues to be. But you see. That's what it is. To trust him.

[31:51] Not be in unbelief. But cast all of our cares upon him. Because he does indeed care for us. We are his concern.

[32:03] Amplified says in that verse. Casting the whole of your care. All of your anxieties. All of your worries. All your concerns. Once for all. On him.

[32:14] For he cares for you affectionately. And cares about you. Watchfully. Yeah. Yeah. Now. Not only.

[32:26] Does it remove doubt. About his care for us. But it. Removes doubt. For his provisions for us as well. Run to Hebrews chapter 2. And I'm sure Darla would not mind.

[32:40] My having said that to you all. She would have agreed. So Linda and Larry. If you want to tell her. Go ahead. They know her well.

[32:51] Yeah. Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 9. But we see Jesus.

[33:04] Who is made a little lower than the angels. For the suffering of death. crowned with glory and honor. that he by the grace of God. should taste death. And God should taste death for every man. For it became him.

[33:15] For whom are all things. And by whom are all things. In bringing many sons into glory. To make the captain of their salvation. Perfect or complete through sufferings.

[33:26] For both he that sanctifieth. And they who are sanctified. Are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed. To call them brethren. Saying. I will declare thy name. Unto my brethren.

[33:37] In the midst of the church. Will I sing praise unto thee. And again. I will put my trust in him. And again. Behold. I and the children. Which God hath given me. For as much then.

[33:48] Verse 14. As the children. Are partakers. Of flesh and blood. He also himself. Likewise. Took part of the same. That through death.

[33:58] He might destroy him. That had the power of death. That is the devil. And deliver them. Who through fear of death. Were all their lifetime. Subject to bondage. For verily.

[34:09] He took not on him. The nature of angels. But. He took on him. The seed of Abraham. Wherefore. In all things. That behooved him. To be made like unto his brethren. That he might be a merciful.

[34:20] And faithful high priest. In things pertaining to God. To make reconciliation. For the sins of the people. For. In that he himself. Now notice this. He himself.

[34:31] Hath suffered. Being tempted. He is able to sucker them. That are tempted. Ah. He himself. Has suffered.

[34:44] He has taken on that body of flesh. Literally. Likewise. Means to come alongside. And nearby. He took part of humanity. Or. Took part in humanity.

[34:56] So that he could suffer the things. That we have suffered. And he has. You know what that tells me? No matter what I face.

[35:08] No matter what comes up. Somebody's been here before. Amen. Yeah. There's no situation. No circumstance.

[35:18] No circumstance. That we might go through. That he has not faced himself. Somebody's been there before.

[35:30] And look what he says about that. Since he has taken on that body of flesh. And was tempted. Tempted. That word tempted. In the original.

[35:41] Has two different meanings. All right. One of them is. To be put to the test. To see how you come out. The other. Second. Usage of the word.

[35:53] Means. To solicit. To sin. Jesus. Faced. Both of those. Both. Meanings there. Are applied.

[36:05] In this word. In this. In this verse. Seeing he has. Been put to the test. To see how he came out. Working good or evil. Or.

[36:16] Being solicited. To do evil. You look at Matthew chapter 4. In the wilderness experience of Jesus. At the beginning of his ministry. What do you see?

[36:28] Him being faced. With everything. That you and I. Would ever face. Yet. Without. Sin. The key to that is.

[36:39] Jesus in that. Recognized what Satan was doing. All right. He recognized what he was doing. And he. By the power of the spirit of God.

[36:49] In his humanity. Was able to overcome that. Choosing then. To honor the father. Father. And not honor man. Or not honor Satan.

[37:00] Either. Now. Realize something. Jesus in that. Temptation experience. Did that. In his humanity. Wasn't his deity.

[37:11] It wasn't his deity on display there. It was his humanity. Directed by and empowered by. The spirit of God. Everything he did in his earthly ministry was that way.

[37:25] So that when he. Confronted. Was confronted by Satan. What did he do. What. How did he respond. With a scripture.

[37:36] Amen. But the key. The key to that was. He didn't just quote scripture for the idea of quoting scripture. The word of God.

[37:47] Had such a. Such a. A. A. Part within. His life. And his heart. That it was a natural thing to realize. I don't have to do this.

[37:58] Because I know what the father said. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. So what he says in his word. You see. It had.

[38:09] The word had such a real. Part in his life. He was living constantly. Day in and day out. Living the word of God. And that's what we need to do.

[38:21] And that's how we see. Glimpses. Of. The glory of God. Amen. You and I have that same capability. Because. Of the indwelling presence.

[38:33] Of the spirit of God. So why don't we do that. How many of you. I don't care if you raise your hand. And I know who you are. All of you.

[38:47] I do. Sometimes. What. What. What am I going to say here. How many of you. At some point. Not every day. But every once in a while. You wake up.

[38:59] And you say. I don't want to be. Spiritual today. Amen. Yeah. I don't want to be. Spiritual today. I'm spiritual.

[39:10] All the rest of the time. I just want to. Be myself. Whatever that means. Amen. Yeah. Yeah. We do. We just kind of.

[39:22] We just kind of. Throw a kink in the works. So we've got to watch out. For ourselves. We've got to be yielded to. Even if we have to force ourselves. Yield ourselves. To the work of the spirit of God.

[39:32] On a daily basis. So that we can then. Fight off the wiles of the devil. As Paul says. So.

[39:43] For in that he himself has suffered. Being tempted. He is able to sucker them. That are tempted. That word sucker. That. There. Means. To run. To the cry. And give aid.

[39:54] I like that. To run. To the. He's able to run. To the cry. When we are having difficulties. And troubles. And trials. Facing things. We cry out to the Lord.

[40:06] He runs to the cry. To give us aid. To get us through that. I'm glad that clock doesn't go loud.

[40:18] Tick. Tick. Tick. Now. Thirdly. It removes our doubts. About our desire. To submit.

[40:28] To the spirit of God. Now. Very familiar passage. Romans chapter 12. Verse 1. I beseech you therefore.

[40:41] Brethren. By the mercies of God. Or in lieu of the mercies of God. That you present your bodies. A living sacrifice. Holy and acceptable unto God.

[40:52] Which is your reasonable service. Present your bodies. A living sacrifice. The idea. The presentation. You realize. In the Old Testament.

[41:04] The head of the family. Would bring. That animal for sacrifice. To the temple. Or to the tabernacle. Whatever the case was. And present that.

[41:15] To the priest. To be slain. Same idea here. He said. Present ourselves. As a sacrifice.

[41:26] But instead of one. That has been slain. One that's alive. Present ourselves. As a living sacrifice. Holy.

[41:39] And acceptable. Under God. And that is our rational service. Present that. Unto. Him. Now.

[41:52] That's. Literal. Yielding. And surrender. To him. Lord. Here I am. Do with me.

[42:06] That's almost dangerous. Isn't it? Do with me. And to me. What you want to do today. To accomplish your purpose.

[42:17] Through me. Yeah. Somebody has said. But the only. Bad thing about a living sacrifice. On the altar. Is we always want to climb off.

[42:29] Yeah. Yeah. But to present ourselves. That living sacrifice. Holy and acceptable. Under God. Being our rational service.

[42:41] And then in verse 2. To go along with that. Said. Okay. If we're going to do that. Then. We're going to have to stop. Being conformed. To the world. But be transformed.

[42:53] By the renewing of our mind. Conformity to the world. Is. Putting on an outward expression. That's opposite of what the true inward nature is.

[43:06] If we're. If we're really born again. It's being saved. But trying to look like the world. But be transformed. Is this the opposite of that.

[43:19] Transformation. Is. Putting on an outward expression. Of what the true inward nature is. And that's the divine nature. He's speaking of there. Which is the spirit of God.

[43:31] So stop being conformed. To the world. But be transformed. And how do we do that? By the renewing. Of. Our. Mind. Mind. Letting God.

[43:43] Program. Our minds. To think the way. He thinks. Yeah. And the only way we can do that. Is to be. In. The scripture. Now.

[43:55] Philippians chapter 3. Quickly. Philippians chapter 3. The apostle Paul. Talked about.

[44:06] Earlier in the. In the. In the chapter. Chapter 3. The. If anybody. Has a right. To have confidence. Of flesh. He said it's me. And he gives the reasons why. But he says in verse 7.

[44:18] What things were gained to me. Those. I counted loss. And by the way. That's counted loss. Once and for always. It's the idea of having contemplated.

[44:31] What he was. As. Judaism's poster boy. And coming to the realization. That didn't matter. So I counted loss.

[44:43] I just throw it away. Once and for always. I count them. But loss. For the excellency. Of the knowledge. Of Christ Jesus. My Lord. For whom I have suffered.

[44:55] The loss of all things. Do count them. But done. That I may win Christ. And be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness. Which is of the law. But that which is through the faith of Christ.

[45:05] The righteousness. Which is of God. By faith. That I may know him. And the power of his resurrection. The fellowship of his sufferings. Being made conformable. Unto his death.

[45:15] If by any means. I might attain. Unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained. But either were already perfect. But I follow after. If that I may apprehend that.

[45:25] For which also I am apprehended. Of Christ Jesus. So brethren. I count not myself. To have apprehended. But this one thing I do. Here we go. Forgetting.

[45:37] Now. The older you get. The easier it is to forget. But here it's a conscious thing. Forgetting those things. Which are behind.

[45:50] Those things that are already past. Reaching forth. Unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark. For the prize. Of the high calling of God. In Christ Jesus. All right.

[46:02] Now. Realizing that God has some things. Laid out there. He wants to accomplish in life. In our life. He says. I reach toward those.

[46:12] That's my goal. To apprehend those. And to fulfill those. Now. Then he gives. A good thing here. He says in verse 15.

[46:23] Let us therefore. As many as be perfect. Or complete. Spiritually mature. Be thus minded. And if in anything. You be otherwise minded. God will reveal. Even that unto you. Nevertheless.

[46:34] Whereunto. We have already attained. Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Then be followers of me together. Not everybody is the same level. Of spiritual maturity.

[46:46] Hopefully we're all. Attaining. Or are striving. To attain to spiritual maturity. We're all at different levels. But whatever level we're at.

[46:57] Is where God wants to operate. Through us. Amen. And to make us continue to grow. And we do that. By continuing to submit. To the spirit of God. Then.

[47:08] One thing. Quickly. Psalm 42. Verse 8. Not only does. A glimpse.

[47:18] Of the glory of God. Remove doubt. About our submission. To the spirit of God. Our desire to do that. But it produces a song. In our heart. I like this.

[47:29] Amen. Psalm 42. Verse 8. Simply says. Yet the Lord. Will command. His loving kindness. In the daytime. And in the night. His song.

[47:40] Shall be with me. In my prayer. Unto the Lord. God of my life. In the night. There's songs. Amen. Amen. How many of you men.

[47:52] Have recliners. Yeah. But I'm talking about the men here. Just a minute. Okay. How many of you men.

[48:02] Ever sleep in your recliner. Why? There are times.

[48:13] When I do. Some of it's physical. But some of it's mental. I get mental. No. No. Oh.

[48:25] I should never say this. But there's nothing like honesty. Right? There are some times. I have some things on my mind. I just can't get rid of.

[48:36] Last night. For example. I got up about 1230. Said to myself. I'm not going to just lay here. And roll around. I'm going to go on into the recliner. I don't know what it is.

[48:48] About the recliner. It doesn't take long. Most of the time. To fall asleep in the recliner. But you see. I just had my. I had my mind. Last night. On the message. For this morning. I don't know how many times.

[49:00] I preach that. Through the night. But anyway. And sometimes. There are concerns. That lay upon our minds. That we can't get off. Amen. But instead of.

[49:10] Mulling over. What should we be doing? Listening to the songs. That God wants to sing. To our hearts. And our minds. Amen. In the night time hours.

[49:22] All right. So honey. If you ever hear me. Singing from the. From the recliner. Or even. Beside you in the bed there. You know what. What I'm doing. Amen. Amen.

[49:33] He cares for us. He wants us. To see his glory. Through his son. To remove all doubt. And realize.

[49:43] That he does care. And he wants to use us. For his glory. Amen. I've got. 20 seconds left. Amen.

[49:53] Let's pray. Father again. Thank you again. For your loving kindness today. Thank you for the time. That you've allowed us. To have together. Both this morning. And this evening.

[50:04] As well. Thank you for these precious folks. They love you. They love your word. And. They love each other. So father. Thank you for them. And. We know that all comes.

[50:15] Because. You love us. And. As a result. Then. We can love one another. With that same love. That you have for us. So thank you for that father. Now. As we go. At this place.

[50:27] Into. The world. Tonight. And then. This week. That God. You will bless. Our lives. That you will. Utilize us. And. Keep us.

[50:37] Ever. Mindful. Of. Your son. And. Your glory. Radiating. From him. Into our lives. That may. We may. Honor you. And rejoice.

[50:48] In you. Continually. Through the days. And. We'll. Thank you. For it. In. Jesus. Amen. . Amen.