[0:00] It's a blessing to be here this morning. I greet you all in Jesus' name. I've been blessed with that song that we just sang, and I felt that was very fitting with what Brother Aaron shared.
[0:20] It's good to have you with us, Richard. Welcome. Welcome. Yeah, what a blessing to be together today on Mother's Day.
[0:31] Think about our mothers. I called mine yesterday. Don't get to see her very often, but Lord willing, she'll be here, hopefully in this shop in June.
[0:44] We just found out last week that she's planning to come actually to our place here, so that's a real blessing. The message this morning is not necessarily a Mother's Day message, but I would like to talk to the mothers for a little bit in the beginning here, because we are thankful, are we not, for godly mothers.
[1:15] Thank you, Jeff, for going and being a servant this morning. It's a blessing to see you do that. But, yeah, for godly mothers, what a blessing.
[1:27] You are a life-giving part of the church, and your influence and your servant hearts are greatly appreciated. And we just want to encourage you to keep on in your journey, to not grow weary, and to be patient.
[1:44] Patient with your husbands, patient with your children, and redeeming the time. I'd have written down a few verses about reaping in Galatians.
[2:04] Galatians 6, if you want to turn there, you can. I'm going to read some of that, just relating to mothers here about reaping.
[2:18] It says in Galatians 6, verse 7, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Whether good or bad, we will reap.
[2:31] You know, we can't go against God. And this was not necessarily written to mothers only, but I'm just using it this morning to get to the positive of the reaping here.
[2:48] But some men believe that they are tough and strong and the most powerful beings on earth.
[2:59] But when reaping comes, we find out just how strong they really are. Think about that as men and women.
[3:15] And then in verse 8, it says, For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. So that's one reaping.
[3:26] But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. That's the other reaping. If you sow to the Spirit, sow to the things of God, we will reap life everlasting.
[3:45] You know, if anyone here this morning, I'm speaking to all of us now, if we think that we can sow a little bit to the flesh, have a little bit of sin here and there, then it's somehow going to be okay and there won't be any reaping.
[4:07] But it's not going to happen without reaping. There is always reaping whatever we sow. But if for those of you, especially speaking to the mothers now, that have been sowing to the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, sowing seeds of truth, seeds of kindness, forgiveness, patience, seeds of love, you too will reap.
[4:36] And it will be life everlasting. It's a promise. It is a promise. The next verse. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, meaning when the time's right, we shall reap if we faint not.
[4:58] You know, so many believers get so weary at times. Sometimes we get tired. And sometimes we might question, is it worth it?
[5:10] Is it worth it, all the hard work? But let's never get weary in well-doing, because it will be worth it. And we need to be willing to endure some hardship, but we will reap.
[5:26] You know, it's hard to raise a family. It's hard to raise children. It's hard to take care of them. We heard about it this morning in the testimonies, thanking moms. And we don't say that it's easy to always be on top and to always be feeling great.
[5:46] And there's times that it's a hard time. But the rewards are worth it all. That's what I want to tell you this morning.
[5:58] The rewards are worth it. And we get some of the reward here. The mothers, some of you didn't share anything. I figured you're probably waiting for Father's Day.
[6:11] But that's coming up next month, right? But the rewards are great. I watched a little video clip that one of our daughters sent to my wife this morning on the family chat, and I had to cry because of what she sent.
[6:30] And those are little rewards. But the true rewards are coming. One will be in glory, and you will be rewarded. We heard about that this morning, about the rewards that are in heaven.
[6:45] So let's not be weary. Let's stand strong and keep on doing well, sowing those seeds to your children, blessing your husbands and each other.
[7:01] Verse 10, it says, As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith, serving each other as much as possible.
[7:13] That's just some of my notes here. And I would say that, especially for a woman, a mom, a wife, her own household first.
[7:26] Doing good to others also, but you serve in your own. You serve your own. You're a keeper of the home. I like what Tim shared about his mom. You know, just what can I do?
[7:37] All of you had good things to share, but just looking out for those little details, you know, that we just so easily take for granted. Proverbs 31, we know that chapter is about a virtuous woman.
[7:52] It says, For her price is far above rubies. And it says, The heart of her husband does safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
[8:07] She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. That word virtuous, the meaning of that is, in Webster it says, Morally excellent and righteous.
[8:22] And I appreciate you young men and ladies here this morning that you're thankful for your mom and thankful for a mom that stands for truth and shows you the way.
[8:37] And you're thanking her this morning. Do that while you have her. Treasure her. Let her know about the positive influence that she is in your life.
[8:55] And the fact that she doesn't change, have you ever thought about that? They're just always the same, aren't they? I mean, I saw my wife change, but my children, they just have mom.
[9:09] She's just always there. And I think that helps children to understand a little bit better how God is. The Bible says God never changes.
[9:21] He is not one time this way and the next time this way. He's just, God's the same. And I think our moms, my mom was like that and very stable, always serving.
[9:36] Always serving. The influence that you have on your children and on each other is more than you know.
[9:51] And you will reap the rewards. God's word is true. We started out with saying, God is not mocked. What you sow, you will reap.
[10:03] So bless you mothers this morning. I know that was short, but I'd like to go now to what I've been thinking about the last week or two.
[10:18] We had a very good time. Thank you for allowing us to be absent for a while, my wife and I. We had a good trip.
[10:29] Visiting Mexico was probably almost the highlight. We really, really enjoyed it down there. The church people there in Mexico and just the community there and so on.
[10:44] And so, I'd like to just share some, we're going to go through some verses here, but about pride. Pride, and I've been thinking about pride and whether to call it spiritual pride, but the more I think about it, there's nothing, you know, how does spiritual pride work?
[11:05] It's just pride, right? But I've seen some of that, I believe, on our trip and seen some of that maybe in myself and I just want to talk about that this morning.
[11:21] So, in Proverbs 11, it says, let's see here. I have a different version here of the Bible, but Proverbs 11, 2, and then we're also going to turn to, well, we don't have to turn to these.
[11:44] Some of these are just one verses, but when pride comes boiling up with an arrogant attitude of self-importance, then come dishonor and shame, but the humble, the teachable, who have been chiseled by trial and who have learned to walk humbly with God, there is wisdom and soundness of mind.
[12:10] I believe this is in the Amplified, and I like this version where it says, the teachable who have been chiseled by trial. You know, you've been through things, you've learned some things in the journey, along life's journey, and we've walked humbly with God, hopefully, through that.
[12:32] Through that is wisdom and soundness of mind. pride doesn't come, or I'm sorry, pride doesn't care much about relationships, and we must have discernment for how to walk in truth and not compromise, but at the same time to not think ourselves better than others.
[13:01] we read that throughout the scriptures, and that can be very challenging, that we believe in the word of God as the truth, and we believe it with all our hearts, we know it's the truth, and we want to stand on the truth, walk in the truth, and so we lift up the truth, we want to preach the truth, and live it, right?
[13:27] But how do we do that without thinking that, okay, now over here there's some people that don't? Hmm, am I just a little better now, right?
[13:40] Do we ever experience that feeling of maybe looking down on, or rather than having a burden, and then other people will say, well, yeah, we don't want to be better than anybody else, so forget about the truth.
[13:54] That's the other ditch. And start compromising truth. We don't want to go there. But if walking in truth makes you a proud person, then you're probably not actually walking in truth.
[14:16] We're very likely living under the letter of the law and not under grace. at that point. If truth makes us proud or the knowledge of truth, the Bible says knowledge puffeth up.
[14:31] So to have just knowledge of truth, if it puffs us up, then we're not actually under grace. We're under the law. Standing on truth will also desire others to walk in this truth, and we will care about others.
[14:51] It will give us a genuine burden for those that are not walking right. Yes, there are times when we need to separate.
[15:03] There are times when, you know, we have to say, look, we don't want anything to do with those unfruitful works of darkness. And this is, brothers and sisters, is where we need discernment.
[15:17] We need great discernment on this. When is that? God, when do you want us to draw a hard line? Because that is very important. But sometimes if our flesh does that, then it's never right.
[15:34] But if the Holy Spirit does that in our lives, it's right. Proverbs 8, verse 13 says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate.
[15:53] God says that He hates a froward mouth. He hates pride. He hates arrogancy. He hates the evil way. And we, too, must hate pride that wants to sneak into our lives as much as any other evil.
[16:11] And I think pride is one of the most sneakiest sins of all. It's so sneaky that we almost don't know we have it.
[16:23] We're actually, many times, I believe, as Christians, we end up, we tend to think that, well, we're right, we're godly, and we, you know, but without humility, we're not right.
[16:36] We can have lots of truth, but if we're living in pride, walking in pride, we're still wrong. And my burden this morning is that we as a church or a brotherhood can have this right discernment that we were just talking about earlier, that we have this discernment that is of God, that we know the difference between a growing Christian, someone that is striving to grow in Christ, versus somebody that is just clearly rebellious and void of God.
[17:14] There's a difference. There are people that want to live the Christian life, but may be at a different place than you are, or that I am.
[17:27] But they do desire truth. And how are we with those people? Do we quickly cut them off, because they're not where we are on everything?
[17:40] We need to be very careful with that, and walk in the Holy Spirit. If there is an openness to the things of God, then we have a great ministry to further present Christ to them.
[17:57] Amen? Will we present Christ to people that are open-hearted in a greater way?
[18:07] God has a ministry for us.
[18:20] I have to think of, you know, ministry in Michigan. You know, slightly different, right? But open hearts, hungry hearts.
[18:31] God has a ministry for each one of us. But pride will hinder that ministry greatly.
[18:43] Paul had a great ministry and taught much truth. But I think that his open door to teach that truth was his humility.
[18:57] He even said, I am, he was describing sinners, and he said, of whom I am chief. He's like preaching the truth, preaching the gospel, but in the midst of that, he says, I'm the chief of all of you sinners.
[19:12] You know, he felt that way. He persecuted the church. He was against Christ. But so were you and I. We were against Christ, right? We mocked Christ with our life before we came to him.
[19:27] And yet, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 8. Justin, could I get some water, please?
[19:41] 1 Corinthians chapter 8. I'm going to read this, in part at least, in the Amplified. I don't know if I'll read quite all of this, but I just want to start reading in verse 1.
[19:56] Now about food sacrificed to idols, we're going to see Paul here. We know that we all have knowledge concerning this.
[20:07] Knowledge alone makes people self-righteous, arrogant, but love that unselfishly seeks the best for others, builds up and encourages others to grow in wisdom.
[20:22] If anyone imagines that he knows and understands anything of divine matters without love, he has not yet known as he ought to know.
[20:35] But if anyone loves God with awe-filled reverence, obedience and gratitude, he is known of him as his very own and is greatly loved.
[20:47] In this matter, then, of eating food offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, it has no real existence and that there is no God but one.
[21:01] For even if there were so-called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things and we exist in him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things that have been created and we, believers, exist and have life and have been redeemed through him.
[21:31] However, not all believers have this knowledge, but some being accustomed throughout their lives to think of the idol until now as real and living, still eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol, and because their conscience is weak, it is defiled, guilty, ashamed.
[21:54] Verse 8, Now food will not commend us to God nor bring us close to him. We are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better if we do eat.
[22:08] Only be careful that this liberty of yours, this power to choose, does not somehow become a stumbling block. that is a temptation to sin, to the weak in conscience.
[22:23] For if someone sees you, a person having knowledge, eating in an idol's temple, then if he is weak, will he not be encouraged to eat things sacrificed to idols and violate his own convictions?
[22:43] For through your knowledge, your spiritual maturity, this weak man is ruined, that is, if he suffers in his spiritual life, the brother for whom Christ died.
[22:58] And when you sin against the brothers and sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience by confusing them, you sin against Christ.
[23:10] Therefore, if my eating a certain food causes my brother to stumble, I know in the King James it says offense, but it actually means to stumble or to sin, I will not eat such meat ever again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.
[23:32] I believe in the King James it says, wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh, while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend, or to stumble.
[23:48] And the reason I read this portion is to show us that Paul had a humility. Paul ministered in humility. He didn't come across as one that, okay, yes, he has this knowledge, he has this freedom, he has the freedom to do this, but he is careful in not causing somebody else to stumble that doesn't have that freedom.
[24:17] And it's hard to find that in the church today, I'm just going to be honest. When church people have been, in our culture, have been liberated, are free in Christ, and they see that freedom, that are we willing to actually say, yeah, I have the freedom to do something, but I won't?
[24:36] Because I know there's people that would actually maybe cause to stumble. It could be hard for those that are weak in the faith. Just as a challenge, are we willing?
[24:48] I'm not saying, pointing to any particular thing saying you should. I'm just saying, are we willing? For the sake of our brother. And I will add that if we're not willing, I'll suggest to you that it's because of pride.
[25:06] pride. Because we're spiritually so much better off. And it's probably just pride.
[25:19] Do we walk in that same carefulness that Paul walked? Because this takes a great humility. God used to do it. Can you imagine the man that wrote most of the New Testament?
[25:36] It seems like God used Paul perhaps more, at least more scripture than any other man in the Bible.
[25:48] And yet he says, I am the chief of sinners. sinners. I think we could learn a lot from that when it comes to this thing of pride. He was redeemed.
[26:03] But without Christ, we need to remember that we are sinners. Proverbs 16. There are some verses there I'd like to read.
[26:14] in Proverbs 16 verse 1. The preparations of the hardened man, the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
[26:28] All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes. Did you hear that? All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes.
[26:41] But the Lord weigheth the spirits. The Lord says, well, it might look clean to you, but what spirit is it from?
[26:54] He tests us. Verse 3 says, commit thy ways, thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. Verse 4.
[27:09] The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.
[27:20] Though hand in hand, he shall not be unpunished. But the merciful and truth, I'm sorry, verse 6. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged.
[27:32] And by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
[27:50] Now, in case we thought that having a proud heart isn't a big deal, or you know, sometimes to us it's, oh well. But man can't see the proud heart, right?
[28:05] We can't see. I mean, you might be here this morning very proud, but I can't see it. I don't know if you are. But God does. God knows my heart. He knows yours.
[28:16] And verse 5, it says, everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. And there's another verse.
[28:28] Let's turn to James chapter 4. More familiar to us, perhaps. James chapter 4, verse 6. It says, But he giveth more grace.
[28:44] Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. So once God resists a man or a woman, what are you going to do about it?
[29:03] Does anyone here want to be resisted by the God of creation? Our great God. I don't want to be resisted by Him. I don't know what all that means even.
[29:19] But it's something we don't want to be resisted by God. But we need grace. So what does it take? He gives grace to the humble. Then verse 7 says, Submit yourself therefore to God.
[29:34] Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Don't we want the devil to flee from us? He comes at us all the time, but we want him to flee. The truth is we need to submit to God first.
[29:50] If we're not submitted to God, the devil will not flee. Let's just turn the verse around. The devil will not flee from those that are not submitted to God. He'll have free reign in your life.
[30:02] Verse 8 says, Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Make up your mind.
[30:14] Are we going to be a Christian or not? I think that's what double-minded means. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.
[30:27] Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren.
[30:37] He that speaketh evil to his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art a doer of the law.
[30:51] Sorry, I missed the word. Not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another?
[31:05] You know, many times we just need to commit people to God. I had a conversation the other night with a young man that we were somewhere and we were up late and we also saw the handiworks of heaven, the northern lights.
[31:24] But this one young man had many questions. And questions about people that don't walk in truth and what do you do with them and all those things.
[31:35] And I just said, you know, there's some of those things, some of those people that you're talking about, we just have to commit them to the Lord.
[31:46] We don't have to judge them. We don't have to try to correct them. We commit them to the Lord. You know, if they're not my responsibility, then, you know, our calling is to walk in truth and walk in love.
[32:02] And let God, because of this verse, there's one lawgiver who is able to save and destroy. Who are you to judge?
[32:15] And yes, we judge righteously. I know that verse, too, but I don't think we judge the people as much as we judge whether something is true or false.
[32:32] It ended up being a very good discussion, by the way. Romans 12, several verses there. I want to close here soon.
[32:44] Romans 12, we are very familiar with that chapter there in verse 1. It says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[33:03] And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
[33:14] For I say, through the grace given to me, to every man that is among you, not to think himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt every man the measure of faith.
[33:35] To not think more highly than we ought to think. I know Wednesday evening, I think we shared a little bit about being sober, being sober minded, serious minded about the gospel and about the things of God.
[33:53] But here he says, before he says that, he says to not think more highly than we ought to. That is one of the areas where pride wants to just slip in and just kind of, you know, I'm kind of living a pretty good life, you know, I'm walking in victory and, you know, these guys that don't walk in victory, wow, you know, so quickly the enemy comes and can try to make you proud.
[34:19] Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't walk in victory though, but to walk humbly before God. How are we doing with pride versus humility?
[34:36] Do we think we are better than others because we live more godly? Do we constantly judge those that don't walk where we walk and live quite like we do?
[34:47] If we are the ones that are spiritual, we are called to try to restore those that are fallen from grace. Our mission, our calling, our ministry is a ministry of reconciliation.
[35:07] Jesus gave us that ministry. But pride will hinder that. Are we proud that we know the truth better than others?
[35:29] That we understand grace instead of the commandments of men or the law? That we understand God's heart for modesty and many precious truths in his word better than others?
[35:46] Does that make us proud? Are we proud that God has blessed us with a church body? I'm talking to us. That has unity and peace.
[35:57] We get along. We can work together and all those things. You know, we may have all these things. But do we spend time praying?
[36:12] Let me just drop a few things in there. Do we pray as much as we should? By ourselves? Do we read the word like we should? What about our own weak areas?
[36:27] What about our own personal struggles? Selfish struggles and things like that? Should we be more open where we struggle in our own needs?
[36:44] And maybe discuss less the needs of others? I just want to say this, that if we are lifted up in pride, God is going to take these blessings away from us.
[36:59] I can prophesy that to us, that if we're going to be proud, God will remove his blessing. He's going to see that we are humbled and brought low if we allow any element of pride in our midst.
[37:17] So let us walk together in humility and brokenness before God and rejoice in what he has done for us. It's not about what we've done anyway.
[37:28] It's about him. It's about lifting up Christ and exalting him. The more we exalt him, the less we will be exalted. The more our focus is on Jesus, the less room there is for any pride, right?
[37:45] Have you experienced that? When there's pride and we just start worshiping him and seeing his awesomeness, thanking him for what he's done in our life, we realize that without him we're nothing.
[37:59] And like I said earlier, it can become complicated to discern when to walk with someone or try to or when to walk away because they're not open to truth.
[38:18] And like we heard this morning, why waste our time? Jesus said the rich young ruler, I have to think of him just now. I've often marveled at that story.
[38:31] The rich young ruler was like, what do I need to do to be saved? And Jesus just told him some things, told him to sell all his riches and go give to the poor and come follow me.
[38:41] And he just went away sad because he had great riches. And Jesus did not go after him. He let him go. There is a time to just let go and let God because he was obviously not open.
[38:58] So we need that discernment in our day. I have to think of the Pharisee and the publican. You know, Jesus gave that story there in Luke 18 about the Pharisee and the sinner and how the Pharisee, he thanked God for all those great spiritual gifts he had and all those things he did.
[39:21] And I'm glad I'm not like this man over here. And in the end, the sinner didn't even raise his eyes to heaven. He just smote his breast and said, have mercy on me.
[39:35] And Jesus, in the end of that story, said, that's the man that went home justified, not the other. Like Paul, we need to remember that we too are just sinners that have been redeemed.
[39:54] That without the blood of Jesus, we are nothing. Pride will hinder many things that God wants to do in his kingdom. And it will always push others away from us and possibly from God.
[40:10] To remember who we are, what we have been redeemed from, is key to walking in humility. No, we don't look back.
[40:22] We don't dwell in the old life and look back. But to remember what we've been redeemed from, to remember our Redeemer. Humility is great strength.
[40:36] It is never weakness. It takes strength to be humble. You know, and let's remember, as soon as we're humble, the devil will come and try to convince you that you are.
[40:52] But it's possible through the grace of God. Satan was lifted up in pride and he got a third of the angels on his side. But today they're all demons and we'll be in hell for eternity.
[41:06] Pride is never going to become acceptable with God. Let us be free from it. Asking God to reveal our proud heart so we can repent.
[41:22] You know, if we have this greater, I think we need a greater revelation of Jesus and who he is. If we have a proud heart, we need a greater revelation of who Christ is.
[41:33] And that'll take care of the humility part. Because the more we see him for who he is, the less pride we can have.
[41:46] But when we get away and aren't close to him, our tendency, our nature is to become proud. There is a way to walk in humility and still walk in truth before all people.
[42:04] So let's remember our calling and our ministry of reconciliation. Let's be a church that can be a place for a sinner to come home to.
[42:30] The prodigal. The prodigal. The prodigal's father. The farm that he kept. That prodigal always knew there's a place I can go.
[42:41] When I'm done and sick and tired of my sinful ways, there's a place I can go to. And we know that's our heavenly father. But I think a church should also be a place that a sinner can come to when they need help.
[42:59] Appreciate it so much. To not waste our time. You know, in the business world, they have this saying, time is of essence. In the legal world, time is of essence.
[43:10] You see that on documents and stuff. Like it's very important that this is on time. So let's let the joy of the Lord be our strength.
[43:24] You know, some people have so much joy and sometimes it's interpreted as being arrogant. But joy is not arrogance. It's just joy. And it overflows. It's contagious.
[43:36] And it wears off. When you all are joyful, I become joyful. But when you all are sad, I leave sad too.
[43:47] But it's contagious to be joyful. And it's strength. It's a strength in the body. So let's allow God to just show us our own heart.
[43:58] And I would be surprised if there's a heart here this morning that could actually say I'm never proud. So this message is for me and for everybody.
[44:12] It really is. God would remind us of these things. To walk in humility. To be, to remember who we are.
[44:24] Yes, we are somebody. We are worth dying for to Christ. But without Him, we are nothing. Jesus said, Without me, you can do nothing.
[44:38] So that should cause us to be humble in heart. Why don't we stand together and pray. Father, we come to you at this time.
[44:49] Lord, we just, we just want to acknowledge you, Lord. Acknowledge you as King and Lord of our life. And we thank you this morning for having died for us.
[45:02] The need, just the fact that you needed to die for us, should bring a great humility to our hearts. Father, I just thank you for that truth.
[45:14] And Lord, I just pray that you would give us a greater revelation of who you are and how mighty and great you are, Lord Jesus.
[45:24] and that you are the judge of all. And Lord, just help us to, like your word tells us, to humble ourselves and to just walk in that humility before you, Lord Jesus.
[45:39] Help us, Lord, to, to not look down on other people, but to see them as you see them, Lord. So many around us have needs and are hurting and, and need help, Lord.
[45:54] And I just pray that we could be a vessel in your hand, that you could use us, Lord, to bring hope to the hopeless and to bring food to those that are hungry.
[46:11] And truly, you are the bread of life. You are the only, you're the only truth that we have. You're the only source of life for those that are in great need.
[46:25] So, Father, just help us to have deep spiritual discernment and to know when it's right to talk with somebody about the truth and the gospel and to know where we may as well not waste our time.
[46:43] So, Lord, I just pray that you'd give us your eyes, your ears, Lord, that we would have your heart as we minister to others.
[46:56] Help us as a body here to just keep on serving and not be weary in well-doing. Pray for the mothers here this morning, Lord, that you would lift them up and that courage would be in their hearts, Lord, as they serve their husbands and their children.
[47:14] Lord, I just pray that you would bless them. Your blessing would rest upon them and they would be a strong force in your kingdom and that their influence would go far and wide.
[47:28] So, God, we just commit them to you, Lord Jesus. We commit each one to you in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I just want to share this yet that also that evening, and this are some things that God just spoke to me, that we were at this place where there was a lot of men and I guess this message is partly that, but there were some that were not open, you could tell, but there were a few that were and it ended up being just, yeah, there's this one man from another state, actually from Michigan, that was there and he started sharing with me about his wife and how she, he got a wife from Michigan, from your background, Dan, and recently she left him and now divorced him.
[48:31] And I don't know how long we stood there and talked, but probably an hour and a half. And he just shared and shared and, you know, it's all his side of the story, but I just kept bringing Christ back, you know, with him all things are possible.
[48:45] And then at one point, as we were talking to this other young man about all these different doctrines he had questions about, and he just asked and asked, and then about at that time, it was like the peak of this, what do you call them, northern lights, and right in the center, there's like a center right up above us through the trees and all around, lights shining right up into that center.
[49:13] And I just took that moment and said, that's what it's all about. It all points to the Lord Jesus. And if you get a hold of that, then these other things aren't a burden.
[49:27] It's all a joy. It's all, everything we do should be for him. He is the center of all of it. So, God bless you all and look forward to the rest of the day.
[49:41] Thank you. Thank you.