True Fruit

[00:00:00] Good morning. I'd like to greet you in Jesus' name this morning. Job 8.32 says, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. My text this morning is Matthew 7, 13-29. I want to talk a little bit about truth. What is truth? [00:00:31] I've entitled the message, True Fruit. Harold brought a message a while ago about bearing fruit. I think that fruit can cover a lot of things. But I don't think it's only bringing people to Christ. I don't think it's only the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering. That list that is given there. I believe it's also, I think we can see that one of the fruits that God requires of us is obedience. [00:01:12] Let's go to Matthew 7, 13-29. I'll read that. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction. and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. [00:01:44] Do men gather grapes of thorns or pigs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. [00:02:18] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew And it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. [00:02:52] And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Enter ye in at the straight gate. Broad is the way. Many go in. Narrow is the way. Few find it. [00:03:33] I looked up the definitions of broad and wide and narrow and straight. We know the definitions of those maybe, but what the original word was. The broad and the wide are exactly like we would think of them. Just open, unobstructed, the gate is, almost the idea of the gate is gone. There's no gate there, it's just a wide open space. [00:04:06] It's easy to go through. The straight gate, the definition of that word is narrow. And I thought this was really interesting. I've always thought of the straight gate as being a narrow gate, maybe even like a narrow passageway. But it's narrow, and then in parentheses it says, in the Strongs, from obstacles standing close about. And that gave me the thought, you know, it's not that God has created this narrow gate and it's up to us to get through it. [00:04:40] I think the thought there is that God has made this gate, and we're trying to get through it, but there's a lot of obstacles. Satan has created a lot of obstacles. He's put things in our paths, and it is not easy to make it through those obstacles. We need to be on our guard. We need to be alert. We need to be aware of what there is that's in our lives that is becoming an obstacle that's blocking us from getting through the narrow, the straight gate. And then the word narrow. I would have just thought of that again as a narrow passageway. But that word narrow is literally to crowd. It's pressing in. It's also translated afflict, narrow, throng, suffer, tribulation, or trouble. [00:05:31] The way the word is used a lot of times is when somebody is oppressing you. Somebody is, when Paul was suffering tribulation, he used the same word. He said, but the Spirit has shown me that I will suffer tribulation in each of the cities I'm going to. I will be pressed in upon. I will be crowded. The gate where we're going, there is oppression from every side. It is not easy. It is not something that is a cakewalk. This is something that we need to try at. This is something we need to be aware, be awake, and it's not easy. [00:06:14] We need to be alert. I want us to be thinking this morning about true fruit in my own life, but also the whole idea of being deceived and how we discern truth from error and how we discern a true prophet from a false prophet, whether that's in our own lives or whether that's in the lives of those that we listen to. First we need to realize, thinking of the straight and narrow gate, that how popular something is has nothing to do with how right it is. [00:06:51] That many people can be wrong. We often hear the phrase, that many people can't be wrong. Usually I think it's used in the phrase of maybe a certain item is real popular or a certain brand. That many people can't be wrong. There's a reason everybody goes to that brand. Well, when it comes to a relationship with Christ, when it comes to right and wrong, that many people can be wrong. So society's view does not affect what the Christian believes or does at all. [00:07:27] Do we let society determine what we believe? It's all about serving Christ, and the only way to serve and please Him is to obey Him. We'll see later on that that is the fruit that we are required to have in our life, is obedience. A popular question today is, well is X, whatever it is we're facing, is it a salvation issue? And there's a lot of things that you can look at and say, I don't know if that itself is a salvation issue. [00:07:59] But I believe obedience to God is a salvation issue. When God has told us in his word, when God has shown us something that this is what I want you to do And we refuse to do that or we turn away from that Whether that issue itself or not may not seem like a big deal It's whether we're obeying God And I believe obedience is a salvation issue James 4.17 says Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin [00:08:31] And we would all say that sin can never enter there. The question is, is this issue a sin? Well, James says if we know to do it and do it not, it is a sin. We need to be very careful what we accept and what we do to associate with the popular opinion. Verse 15, beware of false prophets. Here I'm going to ask a list of questions. What is truth? [00:09:08] That's a very, I think there's a lot of people that really do wonder that and there's also kind of a cynical view of that. You know, what is truth? It's almost like you talk about truth. Well, I don't believe there is truth. What's true for you isn't necessarily true for me. Does truth change? By the way, I'm not saying that's my view. I'm saying that's a popular view. What is truth? And truth doesn't apply to you and me equally. Does truth change? Is what is truth for you necessarily truth for me? How can I discern truth? [00:09:48] Does the truth really matter? Does it matter? How important is it to have the truth? Can I always tell the truth from a counterfeit? Who or what can I trust? I would like to, us as dads, to talk to us as dads. I don't think I can overemphasize the importance of us teaching our children What the truth is. [00:10:21] If you read a Reader's Digest or read whatever, the popular thing is discovering yourself. You know, they interview actors or people in pop culture. And often they say, I had to go on my own spiritual journey. I had to discover myself. And I've finally come to a real place of peace where usually it's the idea of live and let live and it is so far from an actual born again experience which was the only way to have true peace and yet these people feel like they've found what they're looking for. [00:11:03] Or at least they express that, they profess that they have. Because they went off on their own and looked for truth, looked for meaning, rather than having the Bible, having the truth, the real truth, as a stake, a ground that they can go on. And I think it is so important that us as fathers and mothers, parents, teach our children. When our children get old enough, my children are 7, 6, and 4. [00:11:36] They don't really question what I tell them. They just simply believe it. If I tell them that this is truth, they are going to believe it. There's going to be a coming a time when they will question it. When they will have questions about this or this. Are they going to have been taught well enough that when this issue arises, Dad has explained that situation, Dad has explained that issue, and Dad has taught them what you do when they are, well, if they go to university, there are so many different popular explanations for different things. [00:12:16] Take creation for example. When my child gets to the age of 17 and he meets another guy that is thoroughly convinced that evolution is the true way that we came to be, is he going to know, he knows, yeah, God created the earth in seven days, six days, the rest of the seventh day, and he knows all that, but does he know anything about the evidence that we have to support it? Does he know how to argue that point? [00:12:47] Does he know that no matter what this guy brings to him, he has been rooted and grounded and knows, and I know that he can withstand these attacks because I have taught him and taught him well? Or is it up to him to figure these things out on his own? And there's a lot more than just creation, but that's just an illustration. What are we doing to teach our children and how much importance are we putting on teaching our children and making sure that they are rooted and grounded in the word? [00:13:20] Deuteronomy 11, 18-20 Therefore shall ye lay up these words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, and thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine house, and upon thy gates. That sounds pretty involved. First of all, he says, therefore ye shall lay up these words in your heart and in your soul. [00:13:52] Dads, we need to have these things in our hearts, not just giving them to the kids because it's good for the kids. These have to be something that's real to us. And then it becomes a part of us, a part of our heart and a part of our soul to where all we do is we teach them and children, speaking of them when we sit in the house, when we're walking, when we're, now we're lazy, we drive down the road, when we're driving, when we go to bed at night, when we wake up in the morning. This is something that my children hear dad talk about all the time, or they hear mom talk about it. How much is this a part of our life? Do my children know more about a sports team than they know about the apostles? [00:14:35] What's important to me? What do I communicate to my children? What is valuable to me, and what am I making sure that they are learning as well? This is not a place where experience is the best teacher. I remember often I was homeschooled and we'd go hauling hogs or whatever during the day. And people would ask my dad, well, why isn't he in school? And dad would say, oh, experience is the best teacher. And I think to a point that there's a lot to that. I learned a lot by actually being out there and doing things. [00:15:08] But I don't think that that is where, I don't think that's true in spiritual applications. They do need to experience a born-again experience for themselves. That's not something that we teach them and they just take from us. But they also need to be taught. You don't just say, here's the Bible, son, let the Spirit lead you. We teach our children. We teach them. They need to have the truth so ingrained in them that they have no doubts about what is really the truth. [00:15:39] I've heard, maybe we won't go there, but I think we need to just make sure that our children are rooted and grounded in the truth. They need to know ahead of time before they start to question things. I think it is very important that we teach our children young. Not say, well, we'll wait until they're old enough to understand it. Because by the time they're old enough to understand, maybe they've got some of their own ideas. [00:16:10] We need to really be sure that we are teaching our children the truth. Truth is not John Deere versus Case IH or Ford versus Dodge. It is not relative. It is objective. Relative means comparative. Measured or considered in comparison with each other or with something else For illustration, my dad had a much better experience driving a Chevy [00:16:43] Dad had Chevys and Fords If you go to a Stauffer get-together, or my siblings If we all drive our pickups, there's going to be four Chevys sitting in the driveway If you went to Harold's children's get-together, there's going to be that many Fords. Because I remember Harold saying he had a Chevy years ago that gave him fits. It's a relative truth. To Harold, Ford is better because he had better experience with Ford. [00:17:16] I've had better experience with Chevy. It's not something that you can look at it black and white and say one is definitely better than the other. That is a relative truth. What you prefer is what is best for you. The second definition of relative is changing with circumstances. Not permanently fixed, but having a meaning or value that can only be established in relation to something else and will change according to circumstances or context. [00:17:48] It's true to a certain point, but it's only a relational truth. A relative truth is big and small. That is a relative truth. If you compare me to an ant, I am big and an ant is small. If you compare me to this building, don't say it's an equal, the building is big and I am small. I went from being big to being small. If you compare this building to the earth, the building is quite small. [00:18:23] If you compare the earth to the sun, the earth becomes small. If you compare the sun to the solar system, the sun becomes small. If you compare the solar system to the universe, our solar system is small. It's a relative term. It's true for me to look at an ant and say, you're small, I'm big. But it's not true for me to look at the earth and say, I'm big. It's a relative truth. [00:18:56] I read a note, I tried to find it, I couldn't find it, but talking about the ant being small and me being big. If you would take, and I think I remember this correctly, if you would take an atom and enlarge an atom to the size of an apple. This is to give you an illustration of how tiny an atom is compared to an ant. If you would take an atom and enlarge it to the size of an apple, and then take a man and enlarge him by the same ratio, the man could hold the sun in the palm of his hand, and he'd need a magnifying glass to see it. [00:19:41] It gives you an idea how small an atom is. I thought that was really interesting. But there again, the ant standing beside me looked quite small. The ant beside the atom is huge. Relative truth. So we compare ourselves to others and I'm not as bad as him. I'm doing fine. That's relative truth. I'm not as bad as him so that they that compare themselves among themselves are not wise. We need to compare ourselves to God. We need objective truth. Objective is existing independently of mind. Existing independently of the individual mind or perception or what I believe. [00:20:23] What I believe does not change truth. My experience does not change truth. What I have come to understand about something does not change truth. Truth is objective. Truth is truth no matter if one person believes it or everyone believes it. It does not change the truth. Pop culture tells us today that the best way to discover what truth is is for you to experience it for yourself and arrive at your own conclusions. [00:20:55] There is little or no value placed on the wisdom and experience of others, especially those of the previous generations. I read this week of a lady that was interviewed, and she was asked who was the most influential person in her life, and she said, my mother, without a doubt. She said, my mother was so wise. She said, when I was born, my mother, or not when she was born, but when she got to be a little older, old enough to understand, I guess, her mother explained to her, you were born into America, into a Christian family, and so you're Christian, and we call him God. [00:21:47] If you've been born in the Middle East, outside of Israel, you would probably be Muslim and call Him Allah. And she said, what you need to understand is that there can only be one God, and we just all simply have different names for Him. And where you were born determines how you relate to this God and what you call Him. It's all the same thing. Now she believes that and she appreciates her mother teaching her that [00:22:17] And I suppose her mother is sincere And yet it's completely wrong It's not truth Because it's not based on anything except human wisdom This is something her mother figured out or heard from somewhere else Either way it came human wisdom explained this to her This is exactly where the devil wants us to be Open to anything, standing for nothing Have you heard the phrase, open mind? We need to be more open minded [00:22:48] We can't be so closed minded to everything It sounds so good It seems right You should be open to new ideas You need an open mind in order to relate to those around you There's a way where that may be true But we need to be very careful to not have an open mind when it comes to principles that are taught in God's word and right and wrong. We can't simply accept someone's sin because we have an open mind. [00:23:24] How do they train? I'm teaching the intermediate class and this was in their quarterly last week. I think I've read this before. On how to tell false teaching from true teaching. How do you tell the truth from a counterfeit? And it said that the way they trained bank tellers, you might think that they would take a bank teller and they'd say, now you're going to have to recognize counterfeit money. We've got a whole stack of counterfeit money in the back that we've come across over the years. [00:23:56] And we want you to go through that. This is what they do. These are different methods. These are different styles of counterfeit money that you need to be watching for. But they don't do that. They give them real money. And they have them work with that and train with that and handle it until they are so familiar with the real thing that anything false that comes through, they instantly recognize it. This is not the real thing. By being familiar with the truth, by knowing the truth in their heart, having it ingrained into them, [00:24:27] They can instantly recognize counterfeit. And I believe that here again, training our children, teaching them that knowing what truth is, is so important in recognizing falsehood. Not just simply going out and choosing between this or this, but knowing I have this and because of that I recognize that this theory, this idea, this notion is a falsehood. Speaking to the fathers again, maybe you say, I don't know what to say or how to teach them. [00:24:59] You better learn. It's important. It is vital. Proverbs 4, 7 says, Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding. We need to be able to communicate truth to our children. We need to know enough to be able to teach them to, and we may not always have the answers, but when our child comes to us with a question, are we just going to say, well, I don't know, [00:25:31] go ask somebody that we feel maybe would know this. Or do we say, son, let's learn this together, let's study, let's get the strong concordance out, let's look things up, let's see what the Bible says about a given subject. Train our children. Getting back to our text, verse 15 says, Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Deuteronomy 13, 1-4 [00:26:01] If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, Whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them. Now notice, the sign or the wonder comes to pass. He says it and it doesn't happen. It actually happens. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. [00:26:38] You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice and ye shall serve Him and cleave unto Him. The Lord tests us in our obedience to see whether we love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul. Something I just read here again, read this week, is a thought, it was a powerful thought I believe, I've never really thought about it. It says that come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. [00:27:12] The thought was given, what we do in the church is we look for ravening wolves. We're on the lookout for wolves. He says they come to you in sheep's clothing. That preacher we hear on the radio, he's got some of his doctrine a little messed up. But most of it is pretty good, and I can get a lot out of listening to him. Are we listening to a ravening wolf in sheep's clothing? We are being tricked into looking for wolves in wolves' clothing. [00:27:47] We look at a man and see his good deeds. A man that nice can't be a deceiver. Maybe that man doesn't know better himself. 2 Timothy 3, 13-15 says, But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. It's not only those that know better that are deceiving. They are also being deceived. [00:28:18] 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. Here again Paul is telling Timothy, listen to the things you were taught as a child. You know who you learned them from. You know that I've taught you. You know that it's truly from God. Don't go following other people that are seducing you, they're deceived. [00:28:56] They're deceiving and being deceived. It is not only those who want to deceive us we need to be on guard against. There are also those who don't even realize that they themselves are deceived and are deceiving others as well. You know, there's the preacher on TV will say, touch the cloth to the TV screen, send it in with $25 or $50, and we'll pray over it and send it back, and you'll be healed. They are purposely deceiving for the idea of deceiving people. [00:29:31] They want to deceive them in order to increase their gain, to make money. That's the whole drive behind it all. That's their way of making money is by deceiving people. But there are also others that mean well that are deceiving people. We need to be watching for sheep, wolves in sheep's clothing. Not only these way far out cult leaders, that it's so obvious they are ravening wolves. [00:30:02] We need to be watching for wolves in sheep's clothing. We need to be watching for sheep who have bad fruit. If you go down to verse 16, it says, You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? And he goes on down through there and talks about a good tree bringing forth good fruit. And I've always had a hard time with that because it seems like that means that any minister anywhere that is showing good fruit, [00:30:36] what we would call good fruit, is a good person to listen to, a good person to follow. And it sounds like it's easy to tell the bad ones because they're just obviously bad. But if you go down to verse 20, it says again, Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them And then he goes, it sounds like he completely changes subjects But he says in verse 21 Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven [00:31:10] But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven Now there again we get the obedience He that doeth the will of my Father And in 22 and 23 he lists some things that we would probably say That sounds like fruit Have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? Here again, it's not just those that try to profess godliness and fall flat on their face. These are people that are popular. They are getting results. [00:31:43] They are doing many wonderful works. And then will I profess unto them, verse 23, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Are these people being obedient in their lives? So then, verse 24, we have a therefore. When you see a therefore, you see what it's there for. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. [00:32:16] So Jesus is saying, we go right into the next story and it sounds again like he's changing subjects, but I believe this all ties together. First we are told to watch for wolves and sheep's clothing. Then we are told you'll know them by their fruits. And then he says, because you know them by their fruits, I will liken whoever obeys me, whoever bears the good fruit, unto someone who built his house upon a rock. [00:32:47] A wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and the beat upon that house, and fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. I won't go down through and read all that, but we know the story. Then the foolish man. He's the one that hears the sayings, the commandments, reads the scripture and doesn't do it. He's the foolish man. He builds his life. He says, I'm going to start my life right here and I'm going to choose to not obey some of the things that God says to do and I'm going to build my house from there up. [00:33:20] Jesus said, and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it. I believe those people had no fruit. They had not, here again, if you go back to the, in verse 21, 22 and 23, he talks about they're doing wonderful works. They're showing wonderful things. They're doing things in Jesus' name. And yet they're not being obedient. He said, you workers of iniquity. I believe that the fruit we need to look for in a leader's life, the fruit we need to look for in a teacher, someone who we're going to follow, someone who is influencing our way of thought, whether it's somebody in a position of leadership or somebody we go to and ask questions to. [00:34:14] If we're going to get counseling from someone or advice from someone, are they obedient to Scripture? Do we look at them and say, you know, there's two or three areas where I don't agree with them and I don't feel like they are following Scripture. But they have a lot of good things to say too. And I believe I can siphon out the bad stuff. I believe that they are a help to me because they do give me a lot of good advice. If they are choosing to not obey the few things, how do we know they're giving us good advice in the other? [00:34:50] I believe we need to look at the fruit, and the fruit needs to be obedience. 1 Samuel 15, 20-23 And Saul said unto Samuel, this is when Saul was told to go in and kill all the Amalekites, and the king, and the animals, everything was supposed to be destroyed. And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. [00:35:25] But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, [00:36:04] Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. Saul thought he did pretty good. He did almost everything God told him to do. Samuel said, what meaneth the sheep? I hear sheep bleating. What's that noise? You just told me you followed the word of the Lord. And then that's when Saul said, well, I did. The people kept a few things, but we're going to use them for sacrifices. Now doesn't that sound honorable? [00:36:35] Hey, look at this. God has asked us to give sacrifices. God likes perfect animals. These are good, healthy, wholesome animals. Let's take them back with us. Let's take them back with us and sacrifice them to show God how much we love Him. That's not what God told them to do. God said, I want obedience, not sacrifice. I want you to listen to me, not give me the fat of rams. Luke 6.46 And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? [00:37:09] Romans 2.13 For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. James 1.22-27 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Deceiving your own selves Be doers of the word and not hearers only Deceiving your own selves The way to avoid deceit is to obey [00:37:42] To do what the Bible says For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way And straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continuance therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleeth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is in vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction [00:38:20] and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Unspotted from the world. How much do we let the world's way of doing things, the popular church way of doing things, influence our thought, influence our convictions, influence what we feel is pertinent to today, is legitimate for today. Teach otherwise, that it just must be that it's not necessary for today. [00:39:00] How important is it that we obey what God has given us? Are we bearing the good fruit of obedience? And I think another issue is conviction. I don't feel any convictions for it. Do we need conviction in order to obey? If I ask my son to go and whatever I send him to do, go take the trash out. [00:39:31] If he goes to the trash can and sees it's only half full, he might say, you know, I don't feel like it needs to be dumped. It could easily be another day before that thing's full. Does he need conviction or does he need to obey? Hey, I think when God asks us to do something, we look back at what He told them in Deuteronomy. He said that when this prophet comes and tells you, don't do it the way you've been doing it. Follow other gods. Do other things. He says, the Lord proves you to see if you truly love Him. [00:40:07] We don't understand all God's ways. I heard somebody say this week, we can just be content. to let God know more about it than I do. If God asks me to do it, I'm going to do it. I don't understand everything, but if God asks me to do it, I'm going to do it. He knows more about it. He has a reason for doing it. How important is it to us to bear the fruit of obedience in our lives? What foundation are you building your life upon? Let's stand for prayer. Lord, I thank you for another day. [00:40:46] I thank you, Lord, for your blessings, for your faithfulness to us. I thank you, Lord, for salvation. Thank you for your blood. Thank you for your word, Lord, that we can know what you ask us to do, that we can know what you want from us. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to be humbly submissive to your will for our lives. Help us Lord to just follow you with all our hearts To obey even when we don't understand To be willing to obey even if it doesn't make sense [00:41:18] But to obey you with all our hearts Give us a real love for you A real desire to please you in all things I pray you'd be with anyone here that maybe is struggling In understanding your will or knowing what you would have them to do, I just pray, Lord, that you would minister to them, give them clarity of thought, and just guide them into truth, Lord. [00:41:50] I just pray that you would help us all, that you would guard us all from deception. Help us, Lord, to know your pure and perfect will for us. Thank you for caring and thank you for your love. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.