2023 Laborers' Conference- Session 6 The Christian

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2024 Laborers' Conference

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And just like that, we're live. I wanna welcome everybody to the number six session of the

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Laborers Conference. And what a time we've had. We've had piles of encouragement given, everything from how we're to react, how we're to be in the home, how the marriage is supposed to be conducted inside a

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Christian home, how all of these things are supposed to be done. We've also had encouragement on what we're to do with the government, how we're to react when the government is coming, either coming against the church or how the church is supposed to respond or be in the government.

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What is the role of the church in the government? There's a lot of excellent, and a matter of fact,

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I haven't even gotten the chance to listen to all of it because the way our breakout sessions work, you can only be at one at a time.

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So I encourage you to go listen to these brothers. They have spent a tremendous amount of time studying and preparing their lectures so that there can be continuity to how it all flows.

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Again, we've said this several times. We wanna make sure that we're transparent.

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Vertical Life Church has been amazing to sponsor and host the events that we've been having. Speaking of Vertical Life Church, here comes the pastor of Vertical Life Church.

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They've been great, and they have really went above and beyond.

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And I don't know what next year's conference would look like, but that's a lot to live up to,

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I think. No, man, we've been very blessed. This is something we wanted to do and very thankful for you guys. You've been very affirming, and we've learned a lot in this conference.

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I think so. I think we've learned a lot, even just scheduling. Robert just said, one thing we're really good at today, we're consistent, we're consistently behind.

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So we've learned a lot in this conference, and I think we need to make more space to communicate and have conversation and things of that nature.

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Well, if we're being honest and being fair about it, the topics that's been covered from either behind the pulpit or even in breakout sessions, these are heavy topics.

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They are, they are, absolutely. There's been entire ministries dedicated to one of each session.

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Absolutely, absolutely. And it is, in a lot of ways, it's impossible to do justice to the topic.

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It is, it is. And be cognizant of the time at the same time, because we realize the people that show up to be in person, this is not no small expense to them to take away a

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Saturday. Ball games are going on. Sure. People have to work, and you've got a crew of musicians and a sound crew and IT guys that are around the clock, seems like here lately.

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Oh, yeah. And so I'm thankful. Thankful for you. I'm thankful for this church.

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I'm thankful for the things that I've learned. It ain't often the Church of God boy gets to listen to a Presbyterian preacher. Well, any of us, as far as I know.

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No, it's been good, man. I think overall, I think it's been very encouraging.

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I'm looking forward to more morning. You know, I don't know if you guys got it worked out to be here tomorrow morning. Yeah, I've got it worked out to be here tomorrow morning.

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Good, so tomorrow morning, you know, still gonna be doing conference mode tomorrow morning. So Jesse's gonna preach tomorrow morning, and then actually during the

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Sunday morning service, we're gonna be doing a Q &A, you know, during that time as well. So that'll be good tomorrow morning at 1030.

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You guys will be able to tune in on that. So Tyler's gonna be preaching on what it means to be a

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Christian, the authority of Christ in the life of a Christian. I mean, what do you think about that, John?

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Like, what's your first knee -jerk reaction when you hear that? It's one of the most foundational principles.

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I mean, if you're gonna identify with Christ, you need to understand how his authority is persuaded to you as an individual.

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Sure. I mean, it's easy to put it in context of the government or a home or an evangelism, but when the doors close and you get home, you take your hat off and the boots come off, you sit in a chair, what's your integrity like?

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That's right. How authoritative are you allowing Christ to be in your life? That's right, absolutely. That's it, man, and that's what it boils down to because even though husband and wife are one, it's still gonna be a half a decision.

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You know what I mean? A husband has to decide to be a husband, a wife has to decide to be a wife. And so that's what we keep boiling it down.

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We keep boiling it down in these topics through different things. Again, Tyler here in just a minute is gonna be preaching on the authority of Christ in the life of a

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Christian. He's been digging on this. I'm sure you have some big words for us, big words.

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What Tyler likes in high, if he makes up for it in the calculator. That's right, that's right. I'm sure that he's gonna do a good job.

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He did acquire some books for us and the mortification of sin and been talking about sanctification there and that.

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And so there are some resources that we have here on our resource table. So if you didn't make it to the conference and you're able to make it tomorrow to service, those things will still be available.

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So we wanna give those things away. We want them all to go away. We want them in the hands of believers to be equipping you and shaping you and to grow in your faith.

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So what time does the worship begin? 10 .30 a .m. Tonight. Oh, tonight.

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Tonight, I don't wanna walk over time. I think we're ready right now. So I think it's about time to jump over.

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So we'll go over and join our brothers and sisters in worship. One of the things that we wanna do, we're gonna leave the live stream going.

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Questions, prayer request, anything you can think of that I've said? Any kind of questions, yeah, anything.

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Anything you see in the sermon that you got a question about? Sure. Go back and check out some of the breakout sessions in the sermons.

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I can't wait to go back and see what all I missed out. I can't miss one place at a time. That's right, exactly. So I'm gonna go ahead and hit the mute button and I'll put this, we'll add them to,

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I said I was. There we go. Somebody's listening. Is that brother

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Garrett listening? I love it. I love it. So I'm gonna go ahead and mute right here. ♪

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This mountain of grateful hearts will say that day ♪ ♪

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Before heaven's dawn what would we say ♪ ♪

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There with endless wonder we will shout to ages say ♪ ♪

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Our God is worthy to be, hearts will say unto heaven ♪ ♪

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Jesus saves. ♪

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That he is King through and on this earth we live in.

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We thank you Lord and pray that we would continually seek out that living

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God, seek out our Savior and follow him daily.

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We thank you for your mercies that are new every morning. Lord, I pray that you would be with Tyler as he gives us a message now.

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Speak through him and use him, Father, for your glory. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. You may be seated.

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Well, good evening. Got a better response than my breakout group. There was more than two people.

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All right, let's go. You've got your

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Bibles and I sure hope you do. Turn to Proverbs chapter three. We'll be reading verses 11 and 12 and as we have done throughout the rest of today, let us stand up out of honor for the word of God.

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Do not despise the Lord's instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline, for the

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Lord disciplines the one he loves. This is the father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

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Father God, we are grateful for your word. We are grateful that you have revealed yourself to us, that you have been glorified to teach us, to correct us, to instruct us, to reveal yourself to us.

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And God, as we dig into this Proverbs, open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things in thy law.

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Those from the Truth and Love Network know that I have been with, I have been studying

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God with Solomon for about a year now. I have, on the podcast, I have taught through Ecclesiastes and Alfonso Solomon and I have kind of fallen in love with the

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Solomonic books of the Bible, of Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and the majority of Proverbs.

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And one of the things that I love about Solomon, the way Solomon thinks, the way they see under the inspiration of the

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Holy Spirit conveys theology to us, is that it's theology that is in motion. It's not just empty doctrines, it's not facts and figures, but it is a theology of verse.

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This passage right here, every verb in this text is what grammarians call an imperfect verb, which means not something that's just done and it's over, but it is a verb that is initiated in the past and has ongoing effect, that it is a verb that has, it is an ongoing reality.

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And that's largely how Solomon thinks when you get into the weeds with the Proverbs, which here are 3 ,000

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Proverbs. I don't think they're all in here, but he wrote 3 ,000 Proverbs and 1 ,005 songs.

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And what we have here is a very small portion of that body of text that God has sought to preserve for the education of us.

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And I think these two verses fit best when we take a step back and look at the context of the whole stanza.

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So back to verse five, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding.

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In all your ways know him and he will make your path straight. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the

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Lord and turn away from evil. This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones. Honor the

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Lord with your possessions and with the first fruit, going King James on you, with the first produce of your entire harvest.

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Then your barns will be completely filled and your vats overflow with new wine. Do not despise the

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Lord's instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves just as the father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

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And like I said, this is a passage of verse. It is theology of verse. We have trust, honor, know, fear, and then do not despise.

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How does that transition take place? Do we go from trust in the Lord with all your heart and it will go well for you to do not despise the

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Lord's instruction. Do not loathe his discipline. And how do we get there?

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What is the logic here? How do we get there? It seems almost like we entered into another passage, but it's just such a natural transition.

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I think part of it has to do with the way we look at discipline in the 21st century. Growing up,

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I was once a child. I didn't like to be disciplined. That's not a fun word,

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I think, on how to spend a weekend. I once got sent out to rake leaves on a windy day. That's not fun.

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But in Hebrew, because one of the important things about Hebrew poetry is that it's said in two.

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Theologians call this parallelism. They want to say it again. It's like you're reading in stereo. And so we have do not despise the

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Lord's instruction, first line. Second line, do not loathe his discipline. And so the subject here in the first line is the

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Lord's instruction. And in Hebrew, that literally means instruction. It's verbal reproof.

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While as the second line is discipline. And in Hebrew, it's physical discipline that we have verbal reproof and tactile discipline.

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Two things, two aspects of the way God operates. And it's attached to the statement, my son, that this is a family term.

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This is the way God relates to us as a father and a son. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves.

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Just as a father delights the son in whom, disciplines the son in whom he delights.

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And one of the harsh realities of God's sovereignty, we've been talking about sovereignty and Christ's authority all day.

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One of the harsh realities of Christ's authority is that it means he has sovereignty over the bad stuff as well.

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That when things get hard and things are difficult, that God is still sovereign. And it says that he disciplines every son that he receives.

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And so how do we get here? What is being said here? What is the therefore as we talked about last night?

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What is the therefore? In the very beginning of the book of Proverbs, it says the Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.

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So we understand this section, the first nine chapters of Proverbs, by the way, basically a sermon.

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We don't get into as much of the quote Proverbs as much as we have a nine chapter sermon from Solomon to his royal son.

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But we as believers looking back on the cross and seeing how it all points to Christ, see it's not just as the wisdom of Solomon to his son, but we see it as the very wisdom of Christ to the sons of God.

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The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, for learning wisdom and discipline, for understanding insightful things, for receiving prudent instruction in righteousness, justice, and integrity.

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We go down to verse seven, the fear of the Lord, it says, is the beginning of knowledge. The fool supplies wisdom and discipline.

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God disciplines his people. That is a fact, that is an ongoing reality that God disciplines us.

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He chastens the son in whom he loves. But the reality of that is that God disciplines from his sovereignty, that when we are experiencing suffering, when we suffer, when we have difficulty, it comes first and foremost from the sovereignty of God.

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Job 5 .17 says, behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth. Therefore, despise not thou the chastening of the

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Almighty, for he maketh sore and he bindeth up. He wounded, and his hands make whole.

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And among other things, the reality of suffering in the believer is understood that we are held in the palm of God's hand.

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That is something the non -believer does not have when suffering comes, when there is difficulty.

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It's me against the world. When I have difficulty, it is circumstantial. It is this, it is that.

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But when the believer looks at suffering, we recognize that God is in control.

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We recognize that God is sovereign and that God has placed this in our life for good.

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Romans 8 .28, it says that God has caused all things to work together for the good of those who love

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God. And sometimes that hurts. Sometimes the will of God hurts. But at the end of the day,

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God is sovereign in that. But he doesn't just discipline solely because he's sovereign, but he disciplines for our sanctification.

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You go to Deuteronomy chapter eight. It says he humbled you by letting you go hungry.

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Yep, that's God, ouch. He humbled you by letting you go hungry. And then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known.

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So that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

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That is actually one of the verses that made the bread of the word high task. That man does not live on bread alone but from every word from the mouth of God.

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And so when we read about manna in the Old Testament, we all know the story when

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God made bread and brought it down from the sky. This is something we've heard in Sunday school since we were kids. But manna, it's a parable,

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I guess you could say. It's an object lesson. It goes on to say in Deuteronomy 8 .5,

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honor this in your heart. God is dealing with you as sons. But there was a very distinct lesson in God giving the manna.

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But before he gave the manna, he let them go hungry. He exhausted their resources and said, okay, now you're going to go this way.

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This is how it's going to be. He disciplined

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Israel, not just by letting them go hungry but by feeding them. It's two -handed here in the same way that we have the

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Lord's instruction and the Lord's discipline, that tactile discipline and the verbal reproof, the verbal instruction.

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So we have it with manna. It's the same idea, it's the same model. That God is disciplining his people, not just in negative but in positive.

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But they are two sides of the same coin. He humbled you by letting you go hungry.

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Then he gave you manna to eat. Which you and your ancestors, being Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, never knew.

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In the same way that Moses knew God by the name Yahweh when Abraham did not.

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So the Israelites in the wilderness knew God as the bringer of manna when

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Jacob did not. They experienced God in a very different way because he let them go hungry.

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There was a different lesson he gave to the Israelites in substance.

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He was the same God. God does not change. But the way he dealt with the

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Israelites in the wilderness was unique in some ways because he gave them manna.

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He fed them, he sustained them. In the midst of that hunger, he sustained them. Manna went bad after a day.

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They couldn't store it up, they couldn't fall back on their own devices, their own ideas for how to live.

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How they could preserve themselves. It became a only by God can we live.

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If it had not been for the Lord, as we just sang, if it had not been for the

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Lord to bring manna, we would starve. Because man does not live just on bread, but on God.

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One of the things that suffering teaches us is that we cannot live apart from God. When it comes down to suffering, you're gonna find out very quickly how out of control you are in this scenario.

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When things get hard, you'll find out very quickly that you have no play here.

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There's not a playbook we can pull out and say, I'm gonna fix this. It is very humbling to endure discipline, to endure difficulty, to, quote, suffer.

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It may not be the extent of Job, but we as believers will suffer. Jesus himself said, if any will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

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We are believers of Christ, and our theology is the theology of the cross.

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It's a theology that implies we suffer. But unlike the world, our suffering is not the end.

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Our suffering produces something in us that wasn't there before. Suffering brings us nearer to the heart of Christ.

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Because God brings suffering out of his faithful love and accompanies it with compassion.

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Lamentations chapter three, it says, for the Lord will not reject us forever. Even if he causes suffering, he will show compassion according to the abundance of his faithful love.

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For he does not enjoy bringing affliction. And to be painfully literal with that line is he does not afflict from his heart.

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That is a very difficult text to wrap your head around. He does not afflict from his heart.

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He does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind. And that's not to say that God is conflicted, that he is somewhere in this emotional turmoil over what to do with us, but that God afflicts, that God brings suffering and difficulty into the life of the believers for their good.

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It's not just for the sake of suffering, for the sake of bringing bad stuff, for bringing calamity, but there is growth, there is sanctification.

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That's one of the ways that we grow as believers. We talked about this earlier today with the means of grace, but there is growth that we experience in the endurance trial.

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In his commentary on Hebrews, John Owen put it this way, that the patient endurance of divine chastisement is of singular advantage to the believer.

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If you can find anything from John Owen, get your hands on it, read it. This man knew what suffering was.

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This man knew what it was to be fully dependent on God. He had 13 children and not a single one of them outlived him.

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Some of his most profound theological books were written on what he believed to be his deathbed, one of which being an exposition about that thick on Psalm 130, on the reality of God's forgiveness that we may be feared.

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Sidebar. So we are not to despise the

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Lord's instruction because we see where it goes, we see what it produces. It produces the same thing as we saw in the succeeding verses in Proverbs.

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding. All your ways know him, he will make your path straight.

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Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. This will be healing for your body, strengthening for your bones.

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Honor the Lord with your possessions and it's the first produce of your entire harvest. Then your barns will be completely filled and your vats will overflow with new wine.

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In short, the idea of pursuing God, of trusting God is equally important when things are going well and when things are not going well from our perspective because God is sovereign and the reality is everything we say and do and think is under the sun, it's under God.

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So what Proverbs lays out for us, it's easy for us to think that Proverbs is just morality, that it's a bunch of good ideas to live by, it's rules.

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But Proverbs lays out for us a disposition. We might use the old English word piety.

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It's from the 1800s. It's only a few letters so I'm not sure it's a $5 word but it might be a $2 word.

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But the word piety in the Webster's Dictionary means the exercise of affections in obedience to a specific will.

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It is ordering your affections according to a will. It is an inward disposition that turns into action.

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That is what we have in Proverbs. Not just morality, not just rules but the fear of the

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Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Means everything that follows the fear of the Lord is the outworking of wisdom.

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Solomon goes on to say in Proverbs 15 I believe, the fear of the Lord is wisdom. You can't get away from the recognition that God is

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God. That God is who he is, who he says he is, who he's revealed himself to be, whether we like it or not, whether it is easy or it is difficult.

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God is God. He is the God, as it says in Isaiah, who brings light and brings darkness.

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I bring success and I bring calamity. I am the one who does all these things.

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But God brings suffering, when God brings suffering to his people, it is out of love and is accompanied with compassion.

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It is the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed for his compassion fell not there new every morning.

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And when we do experience difficulty, we are under the rod of God's discipline.

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There is mercy that meets us there. There is comfort because we are

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God's child. He's dealing with us as sons, that he is developing us as believers, that he is sanctifying us even in the most painful circumstances that we are being sanctified.

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Day by day, moment by moment, decision by decision, God is sanctifying people.

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And furthermore, when we do suffer, there's unity in it, twofold unity, because it testifies to our unity, not just with believers, but with Christ.

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One of the realities of suffering is that it's where we all go. And so in regards to church unity, there is nothing that unifies like having things go wrong.

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Some of you are laughing in the back, but the reality is when things go wrong, when we suffer, you find out very quickly just how little some of the other things matter.

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It says in Romans that, I forget the address actually, but Paul said that what is like one part of the body is like the whole.

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John Donne, a famous poet, once put it that every man's death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind.

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That when part of the church suffers because we're a body, it affects us all.

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When one is under the rod of discipline, we all see its effects, we all feel it. We grieve with those who grieve, we mourn with those who mourn.

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We rejoice with those who rejoice. We pray with those who need prayer. And so it unites us as a body when we see suffering.

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When things are not rosy and happy and perfect, it brings the body together. Because what does the church do when there is suffering?

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We pray, we gather, we co -labor, we serve. There's that beautiful passage in James, is any among you suffering?

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Then the elder should pray. Is any among you merry? Quote the

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King James, is any merry? Then he should sing psalms. So it brings us together as a body, but it also unites us to the

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Christ who suffered. Isaiah 53 says, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.

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The chastisement, the same Hebrew word we see in Proverbs 3, the chastisement for our peace is upon him.

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And with his stripes, we are healed. The reality of suffering is

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Christ suffered first. We are the people, we are

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Christians, we are, quote, little Christ, we are his offspring, we are co -heirs of Christ.

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In his life, in his death, and in his resurrection. Which means we will suffer.

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But Christ suffered tremendously more than any of us will ever suffer. And so when we do suffer, he draws us nearer to the heart of Christ who suffered for us, who was cut off from the land of the living, that we would be joined with him.

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Christ suffered to make us his. And sometimes being his means there is suffering, sometimes that means things get hard.

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But to say that we shouldn't suffer because we're Christians, to say that that is somehow now beneath us, would imply that we are held to a different standard than Christ.

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That Christ suffered, but I don't need to. I'm good, that isn't a dangerous place to be.

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But it is very freeing. When we suffer, when we endure difficulties in God's discipline.

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Because God didn't spare his own son, or poured it out on him. And so when we suffer, we are essentially invited further into Christ.

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Further into the heart of Christ. He is Alpha and Omega, that is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and the last.

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We are enveloped, we are bookended by Christ. And suffering is one way that we are.

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Suffering is one way that God continues to teach, admonish, and sanctify the church.

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It may not be the big extreme. It might not be cancer, it might be very little stuff.

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It might be stuff as small as breaking leaves on a windy day. It might just be those little fires that just keep popping up that are frustrating.

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It might be more extreme, but regardless, when things get difficult, God is sovereign, and it is for our sanctification.

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And number four, this prepares us for glory. One of my favorite passages in the entire

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Bible is Colossians 3, one through four. I just blanked for a second.

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Colossians 3, one through four. I don't usually do this.

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All right, we're going into the book. I, I had it memorized, and then

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I didn't. It's behind me. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God the

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Father. Set your affection on the things above, not on the things of earth, for ye are dead, and your life is paid with Christ in God.

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And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory.

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Lofty theologians call that union with Christ, that we are united with Christ in his life, in his death, in his resurrection.

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Those who are familiar with the bread of the Word podcast have heard the phrase, memento mori, memento vitae.

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It's Latin, and that's something I got, I became fond of saying. It means remember you must die, remember you must live.

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You must die and you must live, in Christ or in Adam. And we who are in Christ, we live in Christ, we die in Christ, and we will be raised in Christ.

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And suffering, as a means of sanctification, prepares us for glory, and we will worship

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Christ in an environment where pain does not exist, where sin does not exist, where the things that now entrap us, the things that get in our way, the things that seem to hinder us, or annoy us, or frustrate us, will not be.

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We will see him as he is, unfettered by a human body, unfettered by a sinful nature, by pride, or our own selfish tendency, but we will see

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God as he is. We will worship him in his natural environment, because he will make the whole world his natural environment, as it was in the garden.

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But right now, the world is broken because of sin, and he is redeeming the whole world to himself, day by day, piece by piece, decision by decision.

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And there's gonna come a day where God makes his dwelling place as man, as he did in the beginning.

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The last verse in Ezekiel talks about the city of God, and the name of the city of God is the

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Lord is there. And where we are as believers, in the midst of suffering, the

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Lord is there. In the midst of prosperity, the Lord is there. In the midst of everything we endure, the

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Lord is there. You can't get away from that, you can't escape it. He is everywhere, he is there.

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And in closing, I direct us to Ecclesiastes chapter 11.

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Ecclesiastes has a lot of hard verses, we don't always know what to do with. I am no expert on the book of Ecclesiastes, but it is a book

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I have kind of fallen in love with in the last year. It is so practical, it is so challenging, it is so Christ -exalting.

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But Ecclesiastes 11 .9 says, Rejoice, young person, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the desire of your eyes.

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But know that for all these things, God will bring you to judgment. God will bring all things into judgment, whether they be good or evil.

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Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

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12 .1, to remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say,

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I have no delight in them. In short, Solomon is exhorting the young person to remember your

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Creator while you are young. While things go well, remember who God is, because there will come a day where things get hard, and you will find out very quickly just how precious

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Jesus is to you when things get hard. When the honeymoon is over, when the work begins and life is hard, when following Jesus is hard, when you're not surrounded by all the stigma that makes it so easy sometimes, when it is a fight to worship, when it is a fight to get on your knees and pray

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Psalms. God becomes very real right there. And when all of this is said and done, there is a disposition that God is working in us for His good pleasure.

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That at the end of the day, it will all be worth it. You see the good and the bad, the easy and the difficult, because it will make us more like Christ.

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For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, just as the Father disciplines the son in whom He delights.

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Happy is the man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding, for she is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold.

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She is more precious than jewels, nothing you desire can equal her. Long life is in her right hand, and her left riches in honor.

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Her ways are pleasant, and all her paths peaceful. She is the tree of life. We talked about the garden a little bit ago.

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But through wisdom, who is personified as a woman, which is very interesting in the Old Testament, is likened as the tree of life, that we are going back to the garden.

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Why? Because wisdom is from the fear of God. Wisdom brings us back to God. She is the tree of life for those who embrace her and those who hold on to her are happy.

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For the Lord founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding.

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That we are, again, I say we are invited into the heart of God through the natural rhythms of our life, through the cycles, through the rhythms, through the day -to -day abiding in Christ.

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We are further invited into His very heart. So let us see things from that perspective.

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Let us recognize that suffering, prosperity, all these things set our creator before our eyes as we live in this world that is under the sun, that is under God.

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Let us live Coram Deo before the face of God. Because God has, through Christ, all authority in heaven and on earth over the government, over the home, over the family, over the world, and especially over Christians.

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Let us pray. Father God, may you instruct us as you do in the proverbs.

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May you discipline us as you do in your words with manna and with hunger.

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May you draw us nearer to your heart, to who you are and what you do. When things go well and when things are hard, you are

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God. And we are your people. We are the sheep of your pasture. You are our shepherd.

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In the light and in darkness, we are yours. Burn that anew in our hearts today,

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God. We take that back into the world next week, knowing that things are different.

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We look at things different because you have made us. We're back.

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Back at it. Back at it like mathematics. Thanks. So what'd you think?

44:31

Man, there's several things that Tyler touched on when it comes to Christian suffering.

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When it comes to suffering, John Piper helped me some years ago work through that, that especially if a man's gonna be faithful in missions, he better have a pretty solid theology and doctrinal perspective on suffering.

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There has to be, and unfortunately, I feel like a lot of Christians don't have a robust understanding of Christian suffering, you know, that something bad happens or, well, why does this happen to me?

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I didn't tip my hat to God. I gave my life to him, so why does bad things happen? You know, and why do

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I have to deal with this? And so, you know, so I think he's hitting on a lot of stuff dealing with that. I thought that was really good.

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And then, of course, he always impresses me with his memorization of everything.

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I told her, I said, have you ever seen anybody who just decides they're gonna quote, I don't know, Solomon, John Donne, Mr.

45:43

Owen, Spurgeon? That's right. No notes? I mean, he went up there with a flow chart.

45:48

Yeah, that's right, I'll tell you. I know. So he's up there quoting verbatim, word for word. So, you know, so it's a gift the

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Lord's giving. That's exactly right. And you know what? We ought to glorify God in that.

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Amen. And be thankful that God gives somebody that. That's exactly right. And I'm thankful for sure for Brother Tyler and his insight, because he most definitely has a,

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I want to say unique, but unique seems to be always looked at as negative lately. I don't think it's unique in a bad way.

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I think it's unique in a good way. Sure. The body of Christ is different members fitted together doing one job, and I need

46:26

Tyler. Amen. That's exactly right. Yeah, that's exactly right. And Tyler mentioned it,

46:32

Bread of the Word podcast, what I love about what Tyler does. A lot of podcasts, and we do these.

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You know, we'll take topics, we'll take different things. Man, he's taking books of the Bible and laboring through like the

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Song of Solomon. I mean, when's the last time you had somebody teach you through the Song of Solomon and just read through and commentary through the

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Song of Solomon? And so what's wonderful about that is you're going to get a real graph.

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You're going to get a real grip on the whole counsel of the Word of God. You know, because a lot of times as Christians, people fall prey to reading just what they want to read.

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Sure. Instead of reading the whole thing. Sure, absolutely. So I'm thankful for that in Tyler's life too. So very good.

47:14

So there's a, oh, I was going to ask you, we was talking about a Christian's view of suffering.

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You travel more than I have, obviously. How many countries? I don't know,

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I've lost count. So do you notice anything that may be different?

47:33

I'm semi -efficient here, but in any case, have you noticed a different approach that Christians in other countries have to suffering than what you've noticed here at home?

47:43

Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you don't know you're suffering because you never had it.

47:50

Well. You know, I mean, like we recognize suffering from a standpoint of we're wealthy, we're healthy.

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They need nothing. They need enough. I read about a group like that one time. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So, and then you go to a third world country.

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So, how they grapple with it and how they deal with it is different. What I'm talking about is more pointed.

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So let's take, we'll look at the church. We won't look at the secular society.

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So as we look at the church in Honduras, and the church in Honduras deals with the loss of children through sickness.

48:39

Do they approach the pastor of that church or any country as far as that goes, but I know you've got a church established in Honduras.

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Do they approach the pastor angry that you told me this wouldn't happen to me? That if I give my life to Christ and my life would be good?

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Because what I've noticed in this country is we hear a lot of why so many bad things happen to good people.

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The assumption that we're good is the preconceived idea that we're combating, right?

49:06

As ministers, we have to, we're reeling people in constantly. Hold on now, friend. Understand there's only one that's good.

49:13

Yeah, that's right. And we've said it how many times this week? What we deserved was death and hell, but because of God's compassion and grace, he's extended salvation and that's undeserved.

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Sure, absolutely. I can probably answer it pretty consistently. I'll be honest.

49:35

I think it depends on the discipleship and the gospel that's been preached to them. It really does.

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Because even in Honduras and a lot of Hispanic countries, Mexico, South American countries,

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Central America, there's a big movement of false prosperity gospel.

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And so as a result, they're saying, hey,

49:59

I'm gonna come to Christ. So I'm gonna get wealthy. I'm gonna come to Christ. I'll get healthy or those kinds of stuff.

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And so then, even more so in a third world country, it creates exasperation.

50:13

So we're cleaning up a lot of that. Does that make sense? Like a lot of our ministry and a lot of what we had there when we first, because everybody in Honduras, just like we'd say around here, everybody's a

50:25

Christian. Everybody believes in God in Honduras. I've yet to meet an atheist in Honduras. There probably are.

50:31

But I mean, if you say, Dios te bendiga y igual. And that's

50:36

God bless you. Nobody's offended. Everybody knows how to respond to it. Whatever you say as you go through those things.

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And so - If you just holler, Gloria Dios, somebody will holler back. And they'll holler right back. Gloria Dios, drunk or not. They know how to respond.

50:49

Amen. You know what I mean? Like, so what we found is they had a very legalistic, hyper charismatic very legalistic point of view when it come to God.

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So a lot of them were like, I can't be a Christian because I don't have nice clothes. Or I can't be a

51:12

Christian because I don't have enough money. Or I can't be a Christian because I have sin. I've sinned in my life. Or I'm not living right.

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You know, I can't be a Christian. I got to get all this right then. And so there's that kind of stuff.

51:26

So they have their own gospel. They don't have the message of grace. They don't have the truth of the gospel, the word of God.

51:33

And so, but it's the same thing here. That's why this is important. It is. It is. And it's the same way in America.

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Anybody that doesn't have a doctrine of Christian suffering hasn't been taught the whole counsel of God.

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I mean, Jesus said, if you follow me, you will suffer. So let's break it down.

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He says, nobody's better than their teacher. That's right. That's right. The world hates me. That's right.

51:56

So now let's think about it. If Christ is our example and you tell me anybody who was better to the world than Jesus and the world hated him, why would we sell a gospel that says the world will just be your oyster on the moment that you bend your knee to Christ?

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Whenever Jesus says, I'll give you, in this life you will have tribulation. Take comfort in this.

52:20

I've overcome the world. That's right. So I think that one of the things that Brother Austin Carnes and myself talked about this a bunch over the telephone over the last year or so is this concept of weighing our suffering against the glory that Christ has awaiting us in heaven.

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And I think that when you read Paul's letters, especially from prison, he's saying things like, I reckon the sufferings of this world ain't worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.

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He has an agent, the light suffering. That's the momentary light suffering affliction.

52:53

That's in 2 Corinthians. That's right. So yeah, something to the effect of, for we know that this momentary light affliction is working for us an internal weight of glory that he shall be revealed to us in last day, something like that.

53:07

I'm not tolerant. No, you're good. So in any case, Paul was continually using glory as the balance and scale to say, this is worth it.

53:17

That's right. And if there's one thing I know you would say, I know I would say, and I know that any of the men out in that sanctuary would say this,

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Jesus is worth it. Amen. Amen. That's exactly right. And there might be hard times our way, but we praise

53:29

God that he ain't gonna leave us alone. Yeah, well, what is a greater testimony? You get saved and all of a sudden you get the life of ease.

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How often would you pray in a life of ease? Oh man. Or how often would we cling to God in a life of ease?

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Or what if we were even, what if it even wasn't about us? What testimony bring to the world that you receive

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Christ and you get a life of ease? Who has a greater testimony? That person in a life of ease said, oh, how I love

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Jesus. Or the person that lays in a bed dying of cancer and just quotes that scripture, this light and momentary afflictions cannot compare to the weight of glory that's right on the other side here.

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Which one? I know which one. Does that make sense? I listened to a testimony of a 21 year old girl.

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It wrecked me to this day. This lady has gone on to be with the Lord. And so long as I have breath in my lungs and God's given me the opportunity to say this, when this topic comes up,

54:33

I watched it on YouTube. It floored me. I know that social media has its pitfalls, but used correctly.

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This girl suffered from terminal cancer from the time she was a child.

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I'm a dad with four daughters. I have a feeling I know what her dad must have felt like.

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So he took her to every doctor's appointment. If there was a new medicine, we're gonna try it. He took her to every tent revival.

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If there's a way God's gonna heal her, this man's seeing people healed in his tent revival, put her on a plane, let's go.

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I'll stop everything. I'll sell everything. What wouldn't you do for your kids? Sure, absolutely. So he's talking about your daughter.

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I'll go to no lengths to protect. There's not a length I won't go to to protect you. So he did it.

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He done all he could do. And her testimony at 21 years old after fighting terminal cancer, she said, we've stopped treatment because it's not working, it's not working.

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She said, but I am so thankful for my cancer. She said, because I know people say they trust

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God. She said, but I can't get up in the morning without him. She said, I hurt too bad for my feet to hit the floor that as soon as I opened my eyes,

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I have to pray and God is there. She said, I don't doubt in the existence and the grace and the glory of God.

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She said, what I doubt is that I would know him this way if I was well. She said, so instead of being angry that I have cancer,

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I praise God that I have cancer this way so that I have a relationship with him. And I wouldn't trade this relationship that this cancer has caused me to have with my

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God for any amount of cure. And that testimony mirrors what you read Paul say, wrecked me.

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That's right, it's worth it all. It's worth it all. And we've very loved ones. My wife's in the room from terminal conditions and the peace of people who know the

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Lord. That's right. It is mind blowing. Absolutely. I got a story too.

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I've shared, I make the cliff notes of it. There's a little boy that I preached his funeral, nine years old, died of cancer.

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And the families had taken him to doctors, took him to Texas, took him to all kinds of places. And that little boy was afraid to fly.

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And his daddy asked him, said, why are you afraid of flying son? He said, well, if I fly, I'll die. He said, why are you afraid of that? He said, if I die,

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I'll go to hell. And so his daddy called me and said, seems like something's happening here.

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Like he's coming around to a realization of what's happening as a young boy. And he said, what should

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I do? I said, well, tell him the gospel. He'd been raised up under the gospel, continue to feed him the gospel.

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So they did. And the little boy asked, he said, daddy, what do

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I gotta do? And he said, you call upon the Lord and he'll save you. My boy said, I'll be back in a minute.

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So he walked in our bedroom by himself, nobody else with him, walked in our bedroom in there for a little bit.

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He come back and he said, I'm glad that's taken care of. Let's go home. And to that day, that little boy received

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Christ, I believe with all my heart. And I talked with him afterwards. He come home, he went through multiple stages of cancer.

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And I was there beside his bed when he died. And not for once did he ever show fear again.

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Never even winced. I mean, at his last breath, never even winced. And that was hard, man.

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I watched that family weep and a mom and a dad hug themselves and even years later, struggled through that and family just devastated.

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But I know for that little boy, the biggest thing that I took away was there was no fear.

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And you had it nailed down. And there ain't nothing more important than having that nailed down. So then when suffering does come.

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And it will. There is a faith that we have. And so suffering is not something that God takes a gun and zaps people with.

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Suffering is a consequence of a fallen world. That's how I believe. It rains on the just and the unjust.

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This past weekend, it rained cats and dogs. And so if the worst rapist in the world stands outside or the most godly man stands outside, they both get wet.

58:54

So that's the world we live in. But there's a difference with the one who has no faith versus the one who has a promise that I'll never leave you nor forsake you.

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And so Robbie showed that in my life. I love sharing his story. And I know his family is okay with me sharing his story because he, when

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I left there that night, I had some hard questions for God. But at the end of the day, I learned in my own life, there was a discipleship that happened in my life.

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That little boy was discipling me that there's faith. And there's peace in the midst of the storm.

59:27

There's calm, having no fear. And - That's what that perfect love does. It does.

59:33

It casts out all fear. That's right. And whenever God, when you realize, if you ever get a glimpse of how much

59:41

God loves us, then you just, I've thought about my children so many times and with my relationship with God, I think about my wife and our relationship and how interesting the family, as you was talking about earlier, so many facets of the family life has this relationship with God being mirrored in it.

01:00:01

And I recall, it was one of my oldest daughters, Meredith, she was as little and we were at the beach and she wanted to get in the wave.

01:00:11

She's petrified of the water, right? And I said, well, I walk out there with you.

01:00:17

And she grabbed me by the hand. She said, don't let me go. And I said, I ain't gonna let go of you. And she put a tremendous amount of trust that there wasn't a wave could knock me down, that there wasn't no way

01:00:27

I could, as long as she was with me, there wasn't a wave. She didn't even say, she said, no, no, these waves knock you down, do the daddy.

01:00:34

I said, no, baby. I can't, I'm not daddy now. And we're walking out there and as soon as, if she thought for a second, like I positioned my hand different, she said, you ain't gonna let me go, are you?

01:00:44

I said, no, no, I ain't gonna let you go. And she said, and she would play and she had the most fun in the breakers at Carolina beach.

01:00:55

But as soon as there was a thought that I wouldn't be with her in that moment. And that's the way

01:01:01

I think Christ is with us. I haven't left you. That's right. I'm not going anywhere.

01:01:06

Go ahead and play. That's right. That's exactly right. You be what I've called you to be and what I've set you aside to do.

01:01:13

And I'm right here with you the whole time. Now you get out on some tangent on your own. That's on you.

01:01:18

That's on you. Yeah, but as long as you operate where I've asked you to do. Sure, sure. Well, and even then

01:01:24

I probably would recant that because even when I have got out on some tangent, he's over there still holding, still pulling, still drawing.

01:01:31

Then you get that chastisement that Tyler was talking about. That's right. It brings you back.

01:01:36

It's a different kind of thing. Exactly right. And that's a part of that. There is that suffering that comes with chastisement.

01:01:41

Sure, yeah, yeah. That brings grief. You say hard head makes soft backside. That's what my memo is.

01:01:47

I'm with you. All right, well, folks, I've got to go over and finish our breakout sessions. We wish you was with us, but come tomorrow morning if you want to, go back and look at the other sessions online.

01:02:00

And I'm just thankful for the unity we have here this weekend, Big John. I'm thankful for all that God's given us a freedom to do.

01:02:07

Had good preaching, good singing, and we'll be wrapping it up tomorrow. So I'm going to let you wrap up.

01:02:14

Final thoughts. Folks, I'm going to run over here to my class. God bless you. Do your thing.

01:02:20

Love you, brother. Love y 'all. So as he was saying, as the day winds down, there's been a lot of material cover.

01:02:30

There's been a lot of ministry happening in this place. And I don't want it to go unsaid that while we've sort of picked on each other, our differences, that there's so much unity that we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ amongst this group and amongst this church.

01:02:51

When you see brother Tyler break down that portion of scripture and talk about chastisement and suffering and the

01:03:02

Christian's response to that and God's authority over that, I want you to listen to somebody who

01:03:08

God has uniquely gifted to take portions of scripture. I don't know how often you've studied

01:03:15

Solomon or Ecclesiastes or the Proverbs. That is very difficult material to cover and then present to people who haven't spent that kind of time.

01:03:27

So we want to give honor where it's due. And I don't know whether he'll watch it or not, but Tyler, I want you to know how much

01:03:33

I appreciate you. And I appreciate your leading and teaching of me and helping me grow in my relationship with Christ.

01:03:42

And the same can be said for brother Jonathan Foster as he leads this flock and the elders of this church, how they've been so patient and so kind.

01:03:52

His brother, Robert Knipe has led us as the leader of the, even though he wouldn't admit to it because he's too modest, as the leader of the

01:04:01

Truth and Love Network. He has always perverted his brother over him.

01:04:08

He always takes the final place or the place that nobody else wanted.

01:04:14

And brother Claude and the elders that he's brought with him how they've just been a blessing.

01:04:20

Brother Claude has the heart of a servant. I've watched him as he gets out of the car, he's asking, how can

01:04:26

I help? I seen a child, I says a child walking through the sanctuary. He said, hang on young man, your shoes are untied.

01:04:33

And he stops to tie his shoes. I just see the same mind and the same heart that Christ has whenever he washes the disciples feet.

01:04:41

So many, so many points of view. I know that I didn't talk about everybody, but just a glimpse of each person and the things that I saw them do, how it warms my heart to know that God is still moving in his church, that God is still moving in the people that he sets aside, that God's still answering prayers.

01:05:03

I see absolutely zero questions on the stream yard. So I'm going to go ahead and shut it down for those who have been keeping track.

01:05:14

We thank you. I thank you. I know the rest of the guys thank you. For those who are listening online,

01:05:20

I'm blown away. I see that we continually have viewers watching even now.

01:05:27

I see that there's somebody streaming, watching live. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

01:05:33

We want to make sure that we give God the glory and the honor for everything because the glory and honor is due only him. But we do want to give honor where it's due and thanks where it's needed.