God's Provision for Perilous Times

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Well, it is a blessing to be here this evening, and I trust that in some measure it's a blessing for you. Trust that the Lord will be honored and glorified by the time spent here this evening and these coming evenings. [00:00:33] I did enjoy the singing greatly and was especially blessed by that last psalm, Building Up the Temple. Just, it's a simple little psalm, but it is profound. Say, brother, won't you help me? Sister, won't you help me? Do what? Build up the temple of the Lord [00:01:05] So, yes, I trust that that's what you and I are here together I trust that's partly why at least you and I together are here together this evening is to learn how to work together to build God's temple God's kingdom Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer Father, you have been so good to us. We just pray that you would open your word and that you would be in charge of everything that's done and said here. In Christ's name, Amen. [00:01:42] Maintaining sound doctrine and, well I might get in trouble here, and good relationships at the same time. Something like that. Maintaining the importance of sound doctrine Tonight we want to look, by God's grace, at some of the broader issues related to sound doctrine And I've entitled the message of the evening, God's Provision for Perilous Times God's Provision for Perilous Times And the next two evenings, Lord willing, we'd like to look in turn at specifically how these issues relate to how we relate within our congregations, within your congregation, singular. [00:02:30] And then also how we should be concerned about relating to other congregations and other congregations with whom we are neighbors. There's a quote early in the Daniel Kaufman's book, The Doctrines of the Bible, that says, and I quote, But the right keeping of the teachings of the Word of God necessarily depends on the right understanding of the truth. [00:03:04] Well spoken. I think it bears repeating. The right keeping of the teachings of the Word of God necessarily depends on the right understanding of the truth. So how many of you think we're living in perilous times? You don't have to answer, but I saw a few hands right there. Feel free to raise your hand. I believe we are, and I'm not sure that we are alone in that consideration. I think there are many of us who think we're living in perilous times, and I think our fathers thought the same, and probably our fathers' fathers thought the same. [00:03:40] However, I do believe certainly that we are living in perilous times. I would invite you to turn with me to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and I'm going to be reading this this evening. Before I read, I'd like to make another few comments, sort of background. You know, historians generally refer to that period prior to 1500 or so as the Middle Ages. And then in that period from the 1500s to the late 1800s is often referred to as the modern age. [00:04:18] There's different ways to refer to that time period. It's the modern age or the age of enlightenment, the industrial age. Well, there's just different ways. ways, age of reason, that was the one I was looking for. Age of reason, a time when there was a heightened awareness of logic and etc. There's other ways to think of that. Maybe it also coincided with the advent of the printing press. [00:04:54] And so the cultures were transformed to more literate cultures, to moral cultures. And so that's the modern age. And then long in the late 1800s, I believe it was about 1883 or so, Neitzke declared that God is dead. and so people like Karl Marx and Neitzke and others sort of introduced a stream of thought that became known as postmodern thought and so that was in postmodern simply describing that period that followed the modern age [00:05:30] which we recognize as having ended in about 1880 or 90 or somewhere in there and of course the postmodern age is where we are now And the ideas that were championed by the Marxes, etc., Marx and Neitzke and those, have sort of morphed and rebirthed themselves again and again into different manifestations of similar thought patterns. Postmodern thought is often characterized by at least two things. [00:06:01] By relativism, that is just an interpretation of truth depending on. Now, that's relativism. And by a rejection of absolutes. By a denial of the basis of absolutes. And so, I believe we are living in perilous times. But I do admit that I reserve the right to think that they're a little more perilous than they used to be. But I also grant others who lived in other eras that same privilege. [00:06:32] But I do believe that the postmodern thought that we are influenced by, I mean, we wish we wouldn't be, but I do think we have to recognize that it does have an effect on you and I. And by extension, those congregations that we fellowship with. Let's read 2 Timothy 3. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. [00:07:25] from such turn away for this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins laden with sins led away with divers lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth now as Janice and Jamrys withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their fathers also was. [00:07:59] But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived [00:08:29] But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of Knowing of whom thou hast learned them And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation Through faith which is in Christ Jesus All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. [00:09:02] Does this describe the first verses? Do these verses describe the world today? I think we have to agree that it does, at least to a great extent. It describes these last days we're living in. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. And then the description. But maybe the more important question is, not so much, how does it accurately describe the world we're living in today, but maybe the question should be, does it describe me? [00:09:38] And so I think it's appropriate and fitting that we get a little introspective when we look at these sorts of things. These sorts of scriptures. Does it describe me? Am I? Am I? Let's just go down the list. I won't spend a lot of time with each one. But it says men shall be lovers of their own selves. Am I selfish? Am I a selfish person? Boy, I don't know about you all, but I've got that tendency. [00:10:14] Something that we really need to work on. How about covetousness? Covetous. Isn't covetousness really, at its root, simply a dissatisfaction with God's provision? You see, God, you know, we're okay with Him being all-knowing and all-wise and He's sovereign, etc. But somehow, when I'm covetous, I think that I'm basically saying that in spite of who God is, He hasn't figured out that this is something that I need yet to make me happy. [00:10:54] Or something that I need yet. So covetousness is essentially rooted in a distrust of God's provision. Boasters, proud, blasphemers, the list doesn't get any better. Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. Truce breakers, false accusers, and I ask again, is this talking about me? Incontinent or without self-control [00:11:29] Fierce Now fierce isn't a word that I use often to describe people But I have known some people sometimes that have a certain edge to them Fierce Despisers of those that are good Traitors Heady Someone who's brash High-minded Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? [00:12:02] I don't know. I don't know if we have more love of pleasure in today's world than they did 100 years ago or 2000 or 50. I don't know. But one thing that I do believe is evident and that is one of the sons of affluence that has come home to roost is that it is easier for us with our financial resources [00:12:33] to cultivate our love of pleasure in some ways than it used to be. And of course we understand that generally speaking what we feed grows. Generally speaking, what we feed grows. A form of godliness, but denying its power. How is it with my life? Maybe we think we've got pretty good form. But how is the life that I live all alone when nobody sees? [00:13:10] Is my life a life of victory? Is it one that is a testimony to the saving, keeping power of God? Or is it an empty form, having a form of godliness but denying its power? Verses 6 through 9 describe false teachers. Won't comment a lot about that. But in the midst of this dark picture, verses 1 through 9, I believe I hear God saying through the writer Paul who is encouraging Timothy [00:13:46] He says, but wait, God has a provision for you in these times And I'm going to say that there are three words that I would like for us to consider as God's provision for these times And they are these three words. The word remember, the word watch, and the word follow. Remember, watch, and follow. First of all, remember these two things. [00:14:21] He says two things that I'm highlighting to remember. Keep this in mind. Verse 7 points out that it is good for us to remember that the accumulation of knowledge doesn't always equate to the assimilation of truth. Talks about false teachers in this case, but ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. And so remember, remember the accumulation of knowledge doesn't always equate to the assimilation of truth. [00:15:02] The explosion, the explosion of the accessibility to information, knowledge, in this world is just mind-boggling. We have at our fingertips a dizzying amount of knowledge, of information. But this is often referred to, the time we're living in, as the information age. [00:15:38] But I'm not sure that we can say that there's a parallel explosion in embracing of truth. And so, this verse said that. Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. I'm concerned sometimes that we don't let this murky, this murky churning sea of information, all this knowledge. [00:16:09] I'm concerned sometimes that we don't ever let that settle enough for true wisdom to emerge. And there's different ways to understand wisdom. Or to define wisdom, I should say. But I'm choosing to define wisdom as a proper response to truth. Is that okay? Wisdom is a proper response to truth. [00:16:43] But I have a concern that in this information age, we don't become people who are so in love with information, with knowledge, that we don't let it settle and allow the clarity of wisdom to emerge. And frankly, I think it's a little bit dangerous for us to solely, and probably none of you, this probably doesn't apply to any of you, but for us to, I think we need to check ourselves. [00:17:13] We shouldn't solely just pursue knowledge, but we should also exercise ourselves in the pursuit of wisdom. And there's a whole other conference, if you want, wisdom, the pursuit of wisdom. But I believe that raw, unharnessed knowledge can actually be a little bit counterproductive. [00:17:47] Raw, unharnessed knowledge, or knowledge that isn't tempered with wisdom. I had a friend who was a classmate of mine, who in 6th grade, I believe he was about 6'2", and he was a big boy in many ways. He was the kind of person who, as he was growing and had all this raw power, he didn't have a very good handle on how to really challenge that. [00:18:21] How to channel that is what I meant to say. And so there was a time when he was probably more dangerous to himself than anyone else. Just because of a lack of coordination. there came a time when he was able to sort of channel some of that and then he was the kind of person you didn't want to line up opposite on the line at football if you were playing football unless you enjoyed waking up on your back but then there came a time when this good friend of mine [00:18:55] he's a wonderful man But he developed a, I'm not sure exactly how to say it, but he uses his strength and his ability for the greater good. He's learned how to put that to use and to channel it. But the period of time we refer to when my friend had all this energy, but no coordination, was puberty. [00:19:29] And I wonder, if we don't find ourselves, societally at least, and see if it applies to you or your church, But as a society, I wonder if we're not in danger of sort of staying trapped in perpetual intellectual puberty. Where we have all this information, but we don't know how to use it. Not you, but maybe someone. [00:20:02] Anyhow, think about it. Information overload. Remember in these times, remember the accumulation of knowledge doesn't equate to the assimilation of truth Remember also, this is sobering folks, for someone who doesn't like pain It says remember persecution shouldn't be a foreign concept to the believer Yea, in all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution [00:20:33] That shouldn't be a new idea to us So remember, the accumulation of knowledge doesn't equate to the assimilation of truth Remember persecution shouldn't be a foreign concept to the believer And now watch, watch the faithful example of others You notice how Paul said in verse 10, he says But thou, verse 10 and 11, thou hast fully known my doctrine [00:21:03] And he goes on and enumerates a number of things. The fifth verse of this epistle, Paul calls to mind the example of Timothy's mother and grandmother. Remember those people. I would like to propose that it is easy for us to understand and embrace the truth when we see it fleshed out in other people. When we see it put to work. When we see it living. And so there is another part of God's provision. [00:21:36] Watch the faithful example of others. And follow. This is the biggie. Follow the Holy Scriptures, which can make us wise. They are the overarching truth that makes sense out of information. It is the Scripture, the Word of God, that can give us order in this world that we're living in. [00:22:12] The Word of God can make us wise to salvation through Christ. That Word of God is inspired by Him. It is God-breathed. I suppose that's not a new idea for you. But it isn't just God's message to us, but it is the essence of God to us. It's more than just writing a letter from Him to me, it is His message, it is His transmission, it is God breathed. [00:22:46] And it is very, very, very profitable. It is profitable for what? For teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction of righteousness. To what end? That the man of God may be what? It produces in us perfection or the quality of completion. I don't understand the word perfect here to imply that it is free from any sort of defect. [00:23:21] But it does imply a completeness now lacking nothing Produces in us perfection, completeness, maturity So that we can be equipped for good works That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished, equipped to good works That's God's provision for us Remember, watch, and follow. [00:23:53] Now, I made some comments earlier in the evening about the Middle Ages and the Modern Age and the Postmodern Age. I've given this some thought, and you don't have to agree with me, but I wonder, do you think, Many of us here have our roots, either personally or as a church, in the Amish church. The Amish church, there's some very good things about the way they do things. [00:24:30] But they would be characterized by a, there's some similarities, I believe, between the way that they do things and the Middle Ages, the predominantly oral culture, with its strengths and weaknesses. And I wonder if there's a sort of parallel between the Beachy movement and the modern age. Something of a time of enlightenment. Something of a time where we understand now that our salvation isn't in being part of the church, but we're personally accountable. [00:25:09] And there's some really, really good things about that emphasis. We don't have to depend on what the priest says about the scripture that he reads in a language we can't understand. But I think there's some ways in which the churches we find ourselves among, in, might find ourselves in a bit of a postmodern age. And I wonder if our church history, the stream of our faith, and what happened from the Middle Ages to now [00:25:46] Has in some measure at least sort of been compressed into the last 50 or 100 years for you and I I think maybe that's part of the deal I think that's helpful Judge that, think on it It's not a, it's a, I invite your input. I think it's probably about ten years ago, a brother from another state who I deeply respect made this comment. [00:26:16] He said, you know, I'm thinking probably the beachy churches have seen its better days. I didn't really like that. And I don't know why he said it. He didn't say it to me. It was told me, he said. Probably within the last five years, another brother, another church leader See, you know, there's people in our church who just, we don't, they just don't want to be told anything Just a pretty individualistic approach I have wondered if some of these confusing things that lead us to results that aren't particularly comfortable to talk about [00:26:57] If some of these things aren't related to an incomplete understanding of how truth, principle, and application relate to one another. And so this, I'd like to look at something with you, and I wonder, thank you very much, on the ball. I'm afraid that maybe not everyone in the back can see this. [00:27:29] Can you? Raise your hands if you can see it back in the back. I'll probably be trying to read it as we go along. But truth, principle, and application. Now, I forgot a pen. I can use this to point if I need to. Um, what is truth? And, and I understand that, uh, well, I would just like to help us understand. And this, by the way, is still in evolution. It's in process for me. And I've, I preached this at home and got some helpful input and, uh, and I think helped clarify some things for me. [00:28:13] So I'm expecting you afterwards to come to me and say, now I wonder if it wouldn't be better said this way, or if this doesn't belong, or whatever. So you please help me as we go along, because this is unfolding for me. Truth, principle, and application. Let's think of truth simply as being God's word and his person. That is truth. And principle is doctrine, or the teaching, or the position of truth. [00:28:49] There are some other words that we'll look at later on. But doctrine is essentially the teaching of truth. And application is our response to truth. See, if we have truth and real good principle, and that's as far as it goes, Why, we have pretty good theory. See, truth, what, let's ask the question, what is it? Truth is a settled fact. And if any of you, you can't see this, I'm sorry. If you would rather sit over there and miss it, that's fine. If you'd rather sit on these benches, it won't hurt my feelings if you come over here. [00:29:31] But anyway, so truth asks, well you ask the question, what is it? Truth is a settled fact. And principle asks the question, how does it work? And it is a theory, a proposition. And practice says, how does it look? And that is simply the result of the theory, the proposition, etc. etc. Now, I also would like to just recognize here that I'm not sure that I always know the difference between those two. I think the line between truth and principle can get kind of fuzzy sometimes. I think when it comes to application, it's easier to see the difference between application and the other two. But I do believe that the line can get a little bit fuzzy. [00:30:22] But you know, when we come into this world, our default settings, the way that we intend to process is we discover through experiences how truth is. But when it comes to spiritual matters, we run into a lot of problems if we try to determine truth, if we try to establish truth backward through the kaleidoscope of application and principle and arrive at truth here. [00:30:59] No, we need to start at truth and move from there to principle and from there to application. Because it can be really confusing if we just start with our application and there will be some other words that we look at that I think explain that a little bit better. But it can really lead to some false, if we start with application, it can lead to some really, really false conclusions. For instance, a little baby, I said we come into this world and that's kind of the way we operate, but a little baby discovers through the experience or through the application, if you will, of touching a black fry pan that's hot, that that hurts, that's the first thing. [00:31:45] And so, well, that black thing hurt me when I touched it, so I better not touch anything black. Or maybe better not touch a fry pan. And avoid things that are unnecessary to avoid based on that experience, a distorted view of truth. We used to have some electric fences. and little dogs learn at some point in time [00:32:19] if they're around electric fences that that's not a good thing to be playing with. We had a little black dog that got shot at some time or other. I don't know when or how. But we were, I was needing to fix something. I was wiring up a gate. I don't know what I was doing, but I was dragging a piece of wire and I didn't think anything of it but I was dragging a piece of wire out to where I was going to do what I was going to do and all at once this wire came in contact with that little pup [00:32:53] and such a yipping and howling that dog took off like it had been shocked. I think he thought he was but he hadn't been at all. What's the problem here? This little dog, he got shocked. And so he figured out wires are bad news. And he didn't understand all that went. So he started out here from his personal experience and built a, it's funny, it's funny. [00:33:31] And he wouldn't have to be scared of that wire at all. But he thought he was done for. And he wouldn't come anywhere close to me as long as I was doing something with that wire. Dogs. Dogs are interesting. I don't know if any of you children or any of you, period, ever read any stories about Hank the Cowdog. Hey, we got some people here. [00:34:03] They've been a favorite choice of some of our children at different stages in their development. And our five and eight year old right now have a real appreciation for his wisdom. Hank, Hank's wisdom that is. But Hank, he's a ranch dog and this story is written with him from his perspective. And part of the thing that makes it so funny is because he arrives at these ridiculous conclusions based on his experience. [00:34:36] I don't know how he figured it out, but he somehow had it decided that he needs to be up every morning to bark the sun up because it won't come up if he's not there to do it right. And just funny. But the thing that makes it so funny is because he takes experience and application and builds an idea of truth around that. It's totally ridiculous. And it's not funny when we do that about something. We need to start from truth. We need to start from truth, from God's person and his word and go from there. [00:35:12] I said our default setting is to start with experience and go back to truth. But it is faith. Faith. Believing what God says at face value. That's a very different thing. That's simply saying, God, you said it. And that's enough for me. That's not an automatic thing to do. That's a learned response. The other response is our natural response. This is a learned response. [00:35:44] That is faith. saying, God, since you said it, that's good enough for me. Let's go on down. Truth is universal. It's absolute. Principle is a little more general. But application is personal and experiential. And it's subjective. It depends. The application of truth depends on some other things. Truth doesn't depend on anything. Truth is absolute and it's universal. Truth is authoritative. Principle is descriptive. Truth is authoritative. Principle describes how truth looks. [00:36:34] This, an application, says this is how we should do because of truth, because of the principle. And there's different schools of thought on how churches should be run. Some churches are basically on terms of faith. They leave it with describing, with their position of faith basically describing how we are. There are others who say this is how we should be. That's application. This is principle. This is descriptive. Truth is singular. Principle is plural. There's one truth. There can be several principles built on that one truth. [00:37:21] Truth and application is varied. Truth is abstract. Not that it's not. Now you say, now what are you saying here because truth is authoritative and absolute. Now you're saying it's abstract. Well, I'm saying that it is not something that we see. We can understand in our mind. That's what I mean by abstract. It's no less real than if we could see it. But it is something we see in our mind. Principle is theoretical. Application is shoe leather. It's concrete. Then you know what it looks like. Truth stands alone and needs no defense. [00:38:04] Principle is better understood when it's observed in context. And application is powerfully shaped by context. I don't know if you caught on what I said in the second point under the point on watch the faithful example of others. It might be helpful to just look at that example very briefly. I'm calling the truth of this passage as, Timothy, you had faithful examples. [00:38:41] That's the truth. The principle that I was extracting from that was we learn better when we observe the faithful example of others. And the application is you and I should watch and observe the faithful example of others. Just a little for instance. Faith is rooted in truth. Here, principle, living faith finds expression in day-to-day life. [00:39:13] And for application, culture is a vehicle. You could also say tradition. Culture or tradition is a vehicle that expresses our faith. I don't know how that makes you feel, but I find that tremendously freeing. Faith is rooted in truth. That's where our faith is grounded. And, you know, that faith, really, the truth doesn't really need us to defend it. But our culture, our tradition, if we can see that as, yes, it's a right response to truth, ideally. [00:39:52] But we do these things imperfectly. And it doesn't need as much defense on my part, if I look at it that way. Some people ask me sometimes, why do you do things the way you do? That's a good question. But I think it's appropriate when we can answer and say, you know, the reason I do so and so is because I believe that the Lord calls us to, I should probably have thought of a good example, but cite the principle and the truth behind it. [00:40:25] And say, this is the way that I choose to apply it in my life. And if usually most Christians will agree on truths and principles, many of the same truths and principles. And I think an appropriate follow-up question might be if the situation is right. So how do you apply that in your situation? See, it doesn't necessarily have to be applied everywhere the same way, but I think that's a freeing thing. I appreciate that. [00:40:56] Now, believing something is true when it is not, putting something over here in the truth column, has pretty bad results as well. A lot worse results than just a silly dog running after a wire you're dragging along the ground. The postmodern age very well, I believe, describes or fulfills the result of this backward philosophy as trying to work at truth through application, through experience, through... [00:41:28] This is the guide instead of this. Because in the postmodern stream of thought that says there are no absolutes, in the postmodern stream of thought that says there are no absolutes and everything is relative. There is no room for the meta-narrative, which is simply the overarching truth that holds everything together. [00:42:00] In the world in which there are no absolutes, there is no room for a God that is. You see, God is the ultimate reality. God is. When Moses had that encounter in the burning bush, he said, I am. And I don't understand the Hebrew very well, and I'm not prepared to explain it very well this evening, but it's my understanding that that phraseology, I am, had potent significance for the Hebrew people. [00:42:34] It meant something for Moses that it probably doesn't for you and I because he didn't say I was or he didn't say I will be and he didn't say I am present only but the I am has an eternal overarching significance. Eternity past, eternity future, the I am. That is the universal truth that holds everything together. and so the evolutionist doesn't have room to consider that [00:43:09] and so he really has no alternative except evolution because there is no overarching truth there is no metanarrative there was a guy who was being witnessed to and they said the fellow who was witnessing said he was going well he said you know I just I tried to explain to him that you know The reason you need God is because there's this gap between you and God. And he said, oh really? How do you know? Well, the Bible says, you know, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. [00:43:45] He said, well, you know, if that's what your Bible says, that's cool, that's good for you. You know, I don't think there is a gap between God and us. You see, there was no awareness that there is this God who is the I Am. Where do you go with someone like that? It's a good question for us to consider. Because that is the world we're living in. That's great if you want to do that. [00:44:15] Not me. I'm fine. Truth to you is truth to you. Truth to me is truth to me. And we're all happy, folks. We've got to be really careful about that. So as we look at these things, I would like to propose, we've got to bring this to a close, that our focus should be on discovering truth, not deciding truth. See, there's nothing like new truth. Okay? Our focus should be on discovering truth, not deciding truth. [00:44:47] So when we come to the Word of God, our attitude should be on discovery rather than deciding. Okay? Discover truth. It should be on understanding principle. Discovering truth, understanding principle, rather than creating or constructing principle. So we discover truth, we understand principle, and we build application. Think of those three things. Discover truth, understand principle, build application. [00:45:19] Build application that has relevance and is consistent with the context that God has placed us in. Because the application will vary from place to place, from time to time, from people to people. But always remember that application needs to bow to truth. Application must be subjective to truth. Application must bow to truth and not vice versa. Application must bow to truth and not vice versa. [00:45:54] Principle and application can confirm and clarify truth. I think it can be helpful, but it can't determine truth. And folks, I believe we have big problems. When we consider application being absolute and truth being subjective, I think we've got big problems. When we consider that application is absolute and truth is subjective, subject to context, no, no, that's not the way it works. [00:46:32] That's application that's that way, not truth. So as we consider these things and how to best put application, how this truth should find application here in my life, I'd just like to suggest very briefly that we cultivate a sensitivity to inner controls, to the Holy Spirit's nudging in our hearts. And how do we do that? How do we, you might say, well, how do I know when it's him talking? Well, that's a very good question. We won't plumb that one very deep. But I think it's helpful to start by being sensitive to the wishes and directives of those that God in His sovereignty has placed over me. That's a good place to start. I didn't say... We talk about this at home sometimes. When there's a failure to, and we got pretty good children, but they're pretty normal, but when there's been a failure to honor what was expected of them, and I probably said this when I was their age, I don't know, but, well, Dad, that's not what you said, or Mom, that's not what you said. [00:47:51] But the real question is, and what was said, the question is, did you understand what was expected of you? It is our goal to honor the wishes of those. And I'm a preacher, but that doesn't exempt me in any way, shape, or form. This is not a directive that is only for children or only for people who aren't ministers. [00:48:24] It's all of us. Those whom God has placed over us. And those of us who are on a leadership team, it's the team. We don't ever outgrow this. But a good way to cultivate sensitivity to the Spirit is to begin by being sensitive to those that God has placed over me. And it is also simply, do what I know. I remember some tormented times in my life when I wondered, what does God want me to do? [00:48:58] And wondering, is this the right thing? Well, start out by doing what you know. That's such a helpful thing. When I thought of that one time, that's a good place to start. Start with what you know. I read at the beginning that quote from Doctrines of the Bible. The right keeping of the teachings of the Word of God necessarily depends on the right understanding of truth. And I'm calling the right keeping as being application. [00:49:29] So the right keeping or the application of the teachings, which is the principle of the word of God, which is truth, necessarily depends on a right understanding or principle again, doctrine of truth. There was a John Stone Street, and I don't know who he was, but he said, Moral values not grounded in truth that transcend one's context no longer make sense when the context changes. [00:50:07] And so, brothers, you and I don't know what the world will be like 10 or 20 or 50 years from now, or if it will even be standing. We don't know where God will call you and I. Some of us might find ourselves in another country. Some of us might find ourselves elsewhere. But remember, wherever we go, moral values that are not grounded in truth that transcend one's context. And this is that truth. Moral values, I'm going to say, not grounded in the Word of God. Not grounded in truth that transcend or go beyond one's context. Don't make sense anymore if the context changes. So let's take that to heart, that our values are grounded in the un-inherent Word of God, His person, His Word, and Paul told Timothy that it is that Word that can make you perfect and equip you to do His works. Let's pray. [00:51:14] Father in heaven, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for your provision for these perilous times. You know, we just understand, we're just aware, Father, that we don't understand some things about what is going on today. But we are so happy that we can know you. We have that overarching truth, the I Am, the I Am, that can help us, that can bring order to the complexity, that can bring direction among the confusion. [00:51:55] Thank you for that. In Jesus' name.