Would you stand please as we sing? God, your spirit's in the office hours. God, you're making destiny with heart and mind. We think we'll surprise you when the Lord heads out. God, your presence Loads of boxes that we are called to wear. Count your many blessings every hour you'll find. And you will be singing as the days go by. Count your blessings faithfully in my heart. On the fourth verse, so. Please join me in prayer this evening. Our Father and our God, we are so grateful for what you have done in our lives. Father, it is indeed a pleasure and a treasure to be a child of God. I just thank you, dear Father, that we can look forward to the blessed promises, the blessed assurance that you give us of eternal life. and this blessed hope that we have of spending eternity with you in glory. And dear Father, I just pray that our hearts would be joyful in worshiping you and serving you. And Father, just having sweet fellowship with you each and every day. Father, we thank you for your blessed word that you have given to us that we can know and get a better sense of who you are and what you want us to do and how to live. Father, we know that you have a perfect will for each one of us and I just pray that it would be our desire to know what your will is. Father, we would come to you asking you tonight to bless Pastor Ennis as he is ministering to those over there in Japan and Brother Moriyama's church. Father, we're thankful that he can go there and be a blessing and ask that you give him, Father, just the encouragement that he needs and Father, just anoint him with your divine spirit, Father, to preach the word and be the encouragement that those folks need over there. And dear Father, we pray also for your anointing upon this service here tonight as we worship together. Pray for Brother Brian as he preaches, Father, Just again father just give him the message that is needed for tonight for each one of us and father we just want to commit this service to you now that you'll meet each and every need and For the fellowship to follow we want to give you thanks for it all in Jesus name. I pray. Amen You may be seated and then take your hymnal one more time Turn to page 65 And we'll be singing, All That Thrills My Soul Is Jesus. Let's sing the first, the third, and the fifth verses on this song. Page 65. ♪ You will share the heart of my Jesus ♪ ♪ Who by His presence only runs ♪ True and genuine, real and gracious, all are blessed, all in love. All that brings us joy, Jesus, He is more than life to me. ♪ One of my true creation ♪ ♪ Is a man of the Lord ♪ ♪ And my Savior and my Saviour ♪ ♪ In the garden they pursue ♪ ♪ All that fills my soul is Jesus ♪ He is coming back to me. All that fills my soul with Jesus, He is more than I can be. And compared to Him, nothing in my life I've seen. Before the choir comes, I just wanted to remind you, we have invitations to our Christmas program. They're out in the foyer. This is what the front side looks like. The back side has the information for our Christmas cantata that will be Sunday, December 14th at 6 p.m., part of our regular Sunday evening service. December 14th will be here before you know it. Before you know it, Thanksgiving week will be done, and Christmas will be on the way, and then New Year's Eve will be here right on its heels. So that is coming up on Sunday, December 14th. Then we have the Candlelight Singalong on Sunday, December 21st. So these are invitations. Please feel free to take as many as you can pass out to friends, loved ones, neighbors, co-workers, and invite them to the Christmas program. A clear gospel presentation will be in it, as well as some beautiful Christmas carols and such. So we'd love to have you take these and pass out as many as you can in your neighborhood for friends, neighbors, family, loved ones. And then please listen to the choir tonight as they sing, I Want to be Faithful. I want to be faithful. I want to be true. I want to be faithful in all that I do. I want to be faithful through every test. I want to be faithful. I'll give it my best. God gives to all his children talents both great and small. My gifts belong to Jesus. I'll let him use them all. I want to be faithful. I want to be true. I want to be faithful. I want to be faithful through every test. I want to be faithful. I'll give it my best. I want to live for Jesus. I want to please God's Son. If he has found me faithful, I'll hear him say, well done. I want to be faithful. I want to be true. I want to be faithful in all that I do. I want to be faithful through every test. I want to be faithful. I'll give it my best. Well, let's take a moment now and greet one another. Stand, if you would, please, before we sing another song. So let's greet one another with a good Christian handshake. ♪ Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ ♪ Okay, if you would please remain standing and find your hymnal one more time. Let's turn to page 241 and let's sing verses 1, 2, and 4 of "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus." Page 241, remain standing as we sing. ♪ And His Word comes to pass. ♪ O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him ♪ Let us all sing the same new prayer ♪ ♪ Let all the people of the world join in prayer ♪ ♪ Let all the people of the world join in prayer ♪ Thank you. Please be seated. Hey man, I appreciate Brother Don Quiring covering for Pastor Ennis and I, who's away. He's doing double duty. He did the song leading for us this morning and doing tonight, and I appreciate so much Brother Quiring. I have one special guest I would like to recognize. As the ushers come, we'll recognize our guests. My wife's Aunt Priscilla from Racine. Racine, Wisconsin is here. I always connoisseur Racine. I get things confused. Racine, Wisconsin. We drafted her for the choir this morning, so I didn't recognize her, but I want to recognize, rise you and welcome you. We're so glad you're with us this evening. And if you're visiting with us for the first time or the first time in a long time, if you could raise your hand as the ushers pass, yes, she should get one. It's got a marvelous message on there from our pastor. Get your little red rose bud. Anybody visiting with us for the first time or the first time in a long time, we'd love to give you a welcome folder that includes information on our church. If you could put the little red rosebud on your shirt, blouse, or lapel, we'd appreciate that so much. Now, by way of announcement, if you plan to attend the Thanksgiving dinner that's going on, Brother Mel Casildo is heading that up, and it's a group of people meeting. It's $5 per adult. Please sign up. Today's the absolute deadline. They need to know how many are coming. And they need to know if you're bringing guests. I remember Debra and I did it one year, and we had someone show up at the end wanting food, and there was no food left. Just because our group was very hungry. So please get signed up. It is Thursday at 2 PM. If your plans change, try to get hold of Mel. at home and let him know, but today we need a firm number. If you plan to come Thursday, please get signed up. Then the love offering envelope included in your bulletin this evening and this morning is for the Bob Jones University team that was here. Weren't they a blessing and an encouragement, the music, the testimonies. Oh, I was going to cry when the violinist was talking about, that was me that was with leukemia and all the problems. I'm like, wow, she got me. almost cried. It was such a blessing. We were able to take them out to lunch this afternoon and they're the same wonderful down-to-earth folks that they seemed to be when they were presenting this morning. But the love offering is for them. Please fill it out legibly. It includes your gift. We'll make sure that gets forward to those five students out at Bob Jones University. Now, be much in prayer for the pastor has been said many times. He is in Japan. He is preaching several times. So pray for him for energy and strength that he comes back in good shape. I always hate to see him go, because I never know what type of shape he's going to come back. Worn down to a nub or full of energy? You just never know. So be in prayer for him. He's celebrating the 45th anniversary of the Nerushino Baptist Church, pastored by Dr. Peter Maruyama. And that's also where Miss Martha Cochran, one of our missionaries. Brother John Bernson is getting the pastor's sermons online. If you go to sermonaudio.com, you can download Pastor Ennis' sermons. Dr. Bond that was here last Sunday night, he has sermons on there. Many, many, many good preachers are on there. Sermonaudio.com. We thank John for doing that each and every week. And also pray for Castle Point Ministries. I don't know if everybody knows, but they had their board meeting on Friday and they decided to close the conference center. They didn't see how they could get the $300,000 in for the expenses for the coming year. They didn't have reserves or fat to live off, so to speak, for the year to piece things together. They're decided to close. That's what the board decided. So be in prayer for Dan Pelletier and Chris and the whole Castle Point family up there. They made the decision to close the camp. So be much in prayer for them. There's also in your bulletin the yellow pages with the ministry opportunities coming up. The ladies have a tea party Saturday, September or December 13th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., their Christmas tea party. Ladies, please sign up in the yellow pages. Just tear the little yellow sheet off and place it in the offering plate when it's passed. So you have your Christmas tea luncheon coming up Saturday, December 13th. The Sages are having an activity on December 11th. They'll leave church around 1030, so please get signed up for that. The Singles are having their Christmas Dinner on Friday, December 12th in the Lower Auditorium at 7 p.m. Please get signed up. You can see Pearl Vienna, Sandy Moore, Archie Kiko, or Joel Avasa if you need more information for the singles. Then the couples, we're having our Christmas brunch and gift exchange at Marie Callender's the first Sunday in December. It's $13.95 each. Include your beverages. That's Saturday, December 6th at 10 a.m. at Marie Callender's at Saramonte Mall. You know about the Christmas book table. Bill was running that this morning, and I believe those are all of our announcements. Again, I just want to urge you, if you plan to come for Thanksgiving dinner at 2 p.m. on Thursday, please let Mel know. Please get signed up, get the envelope filled in, and get it turned in so they know how many to prepare for. We'll have the ushers come at this time. We'll receive our evening offering, giving back to the Lord a portion of what he so richly blessed us with. All right, let's bow for a word of prayer and we'll receive our offering this evening. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness to us. Lord, we thank you for your provision and your blessing and your direction. Now, Father, we pray for Castle Point Ministries and Brother Dan Pelletier that you'll lead and direct and bless them as they take care of the business that needs to be taken care of. We pray that you'll lead and direct and guide them and provide for them the finances they need to finish things up, if that's your will. Father, we pray for the offering here that you'll bless each gift, each giver. Dear Father, use the funds to honor thee and use the funds, dear Father, to promote the gospel and present the gospel here at Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco on the corner of Geary and Franklin. Lead and direct and bless us as we give, and we ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Take your hymnal one more time before Brother Brian comes and preaches, page 219. He leadeth me, page 219. Let's all stand and do a little stretching on this song, just so you... ♪ Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light, ♪ ♪ What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, ♪ ♪ I am thankful for the life I live, the life this earth gives me. ♪ O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, to Bethlehem. On the fourth verse. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Please be seated. Tonight we want to talk about a very happy, loving, wonderful subject. The title of the message is, Don't Be a Stumbling Block to Other People. Now what in the world do I mean by that? Well, have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night, for whatever the reason, and And somehow or another, your little toe finds the corner of a dresser or a bedpost or something you left in the middle of the floor that may be soft material, that little toe finds it and, whatever it is, attacks that little toe. That's a terrible, terrible thing to live with. I might have the wireless mic on if that helps. How many of you ever done that? I don't know how it is, but furniture loves to find those little toes. as we go along. And that is definitely a stumbling block. Furniture legs just seem to jump out, especially rocking chairs. We have several in our house. Those rocking chairs tend to hook as it stumbles us, causes us trouble in the middle of the night. Well, we don't want to be that way spiritually in the lives of other people. We don't want to be stumbling blocks. We don't want to be problems in the lives of other people. We want to look at a passage that teaches us how not to be. And that is in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter number 18. The Gospel of Matthew, chapter number 18. We'll find it in God's Word, we'll read our passage, then we'll dig into the Word tonight. So the Gospel of Matthew, chapter number 18, and we'll look at the first nine verses, verses 1 through 9 of Matthew chapter number 18. At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. And whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he was drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offenses. For it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. Wherefore, if thy right hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire." So here we have a very stern warning from the Lord about being a stumbling block in the lives of other people, that we should not be a stumbling block in the lives of other people. And he gives us the cure for it. here in this passage. So if we were to boil down those nine verses, I believe it would be telling us Jesus commands us to perform a radical amputation of any simple stumbling blocks that find their way into our lives lest we cause others to stumble. So we're to cut out anything in our life that causes others to stumble in their Christian walk. And where do we find this? Well, number one, we see it in verse number eight. The Lord tells us, Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off. and cast them from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life halter maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." So wow, powerful verse. What's the Lord saying here? Well, the hand. The hand is the part of the body used for movement. It's used for action. It's used to do things. It's used for expression. I remember taking a speech class that the speech professor said you can always tell a beginning actor because they never know what to do with their hands. Have you ever seen that? You've gone to a little community theater or whatever, the actors are constantly using their hands and talking with their hands or whatever. They don't know to keep them at their side and just express when you need to. Don't be doing all these things with your hands. Preachers are bad for that, talking with their hands and doing this thing, right? It's used for expression. Figuratively, it means power and authority and it pictures our accomplishments in life, the things that we've done by our own hand and our own power and our own strength. So if the hand is power, authority, accomplishments we've done in life, don't allow your prideful accomplishments or your prideful reveling in your accomplishments to cause others to stumble. So the hand, very important. than the foot. The foot's used for standing, it's used for walking, it's used for guiding our behavior and our actions figuratively. It means the course of action we take in life and the direction that we choose to follow. So what would the Lord be saying about that? I believe he's saying don't take a course of life or choose the broad way that leads to destruction, but always stay on the narrow course. The gospel tell us there's a broad way that leads to destruction, there's a narrow way that leads to life. Don't let your feet take you off the wrong path. Don't let it take you away from the Lord or away from walking with the Lord. And I think that's what he's trying to stress by the hand and the foot. So the hand being our accomplishments, the foot being the direction of our lives. So he's not talking about the literal hand with fingers and literal foot with little toes. He's talking about our life. And he tells us, if they offend, That's a very interesting word. The Greek word there is scandalizo. Now what English word would we get from scandalizo? What do you think? Causing a scandal. That's nothing but what goes on in our country these days, isn't it? In the U.S., scandal, scandal, scandal. We've been watching, I believe it's on Sunday nights, what is that seriously indomitable Mrs. Pritchard. And she just had scandal after scandal. This everyday lady was elected to be prime minister and she just had scandal after scandal after scandal after scandal hitting her. And she has to deal with those things and navigate her way through them. So the Lord is saying don't let your accomplishments in life that you did or you've done, don't let the course of your life cause a stumbling block or a scandal or an impediment in the life of someone else. And the verses before are passages that deal with the hand and the foot. The Lord puts a little child in the midst of the disciples and is trying to drive home the point. He begins speaking about the kingdom of heaven, doesn't he? The disciples come up and say, who's going to be in charge, Lord? Who's going to be the most important one? Who's going to be the second most important one? Who's going to be your chief of staff? Who's going to be the secretary of state? Who's going to be this person? Who's going to be that person, right? So he takes the little child and puts the little child in the midst of them. And he says, unless you humble yourself down, like this little child who innocently and humbly looks to me for guidance, who looks to me for his or her accomplishments, who looks to me for the direction of their life, you're in trouble. You're going to cause scandal. You're going to offend. You're going to be a stumbling block in the lives of others. So the hand and the foot don't let your accomplishments or the direction of your life be a stumbling block to others." Now, how do we keep from doing that? Well, the passage tells us pretty graphically what we're to do. We're to cut them off, literally to remove or eliminate them, and he says to do it right now. Do it before you blink another time. Do it right this second. Cut those things out of your life, and then cast them away to violently throw them out of your life and not care where they land. Anything in our life that causes others to stumble that deal with that pride, as the disciples were showing here in this interaction with the Lord, or pride in their accomplishments, selfish ambition, selfish achievements, look how great I am type attitude, that type of attitude needs to be cut out. People don't think twice about going to the doctor and having non-functioning parts removed from them. They don't think twice about having cancer removed. They don't think twice about having medical treatments done that removed disease from their body. But yet, are we willing to remove these bad stumbling blocks from our lives? Are we willing to do it? Are we willing to get rid of prideful ambition and greed and those type things that cause other people to stumble? Are we willing to do that? Some scandals that prideful ambition have caused, let's think about some, let's bring it to modern day. As the disciples were jockeying for power, that's the same thing that's going on in our country today, is it not? We have greedy financial advisors who are taking people's retirement funds and investing in things they know is going to crash, and they put the money in it. You've got U.S. investment banks crashing left and right. You've got the car industry having problems. I also thought back to when I was a little boy. My grandparents and my parents had some funds in a bank called Atlantic Permanent Savings and Loan. And that was back in the 80s, back when they had the savings and loans scandal, when saving and loans banks went under. And I was a little boy, I remember my mom pulling up to the drive-thru teller. Y'all don't have those out here, do we? We don't have those in California. You drive up and you send the little box in through this air tube and it goes to the teller. Whoa, those were cool, because they gave you suckers. You send your money in and the teller sends back lollipops for the kids if they're in the car. I used to love going to the bank and get free candy. but my mom would put a deposit through and I was sitting there looking on the side of this huge bank over off Indian River Road, Berns and John know where this is, Atlantic Permanent. There was this beautiful mural of the Atlantic Ocean and it had the phrase, as permanent as the Atlantic, you know, savings and loan, Atlantic Permanent Savings and Loan. Where are they today? Long time being closed. They were bought up by Virginia Beach Federal and that was bought up by someone else. And all these banks, they buy each other out. They're no more permanent than the people that are running it. But yet they got gobbled up in that saving and loan scandal back in the 80s. What about Y2K? Remember that panic and that scandal? Everybody said, oh, the computers are all going to explode. New Year's Eve 1999, the millennium bug, the millennium bug. Oh, what a scandal. What a problem. What happened? Nothing. So they raised everybody up, got everybody scandalized, everybody upset, and nothing happened. Then the dot-com bust that happened just a few years ago, the real estate bust that's going on. Scandal after scandal, what? Caused by pride and ambition for people who are walking their own way. They let their hands and their feet take them the way of greed and scandal and pride and ambition the way they want to go because they reject God, they reject Christ, they reject His way. So the hand and the foot is symbolizing pride and greed and ambition. The Lord says that needs to leave your life if you're gonna be my disciple. And if not, he told us in verse seven, woe unto the world. Woe unto the person that brings offenses in verse seven. So not only is there woe or destruction ahead for the world, there's destruction for those that cause Christ's little ones to stumble. Now literally he's talking about believers or figuratively the little ones are believers, those that know Christ as their personal Savior. He's saying woe unto anybody who causes them to stumble and lose their way and to fall away from Christ. Well it's better what? That a millstone was tied around their neck and they were cast into the depths of the sea. That's how serious the Lord takes this. Your testimony, your life, your example. Woe unto those that cause offenses. Woe unto those that cause stumbling blocks through pride and ambition symbolized in that hand and that foot. But you know what? The Lord doesn't stop there. He goes one step further. What other body part does he include in there in verse 9? So the hand and the foot symbolizing ambition and pride. What's the next part he talks about? The eye. So he doesn't stop with pride and ambition, he keeps on going. Verse 9. If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire. So we have the idea of the eye. Obviously, our eye is the organ of sight and vision. But figuratively, and that's how the Lord is speaking, using hyperbole, the eye is the gate to the soul and the mind of the individual. You know, you can tell if someone's lying to you, you look them straight in the eye, and they either will avert your gaze, or if they're a real brazen liar, they'll look you right in the eye and lie to you to the face, eye to eye. The eye is the gateway to the soul. I know I had a professor for an abnormal psychology class in college, and that man was abnormal, so he was the right person to teach that class. He always came in, he dressed very depressing looking, he was always coming to class looking depressed, and I had to go ask him a question one time, and I looked him in the eye. He had these very nice colored light blue eyes, But there was somebody at work in his life, and it wasn't the Lord, and you could see it in his eyes. There was something going on in him that just wasn't right. Like, if I look people in the eye here in the auditorium, you see that person. I can look Jose in the eye, and there's Jose. Someone that loves the Lord, someone that walks with the Lord. I can look him in the eye. I can look Ayla in the eye. I can look Crispy in the eye. I can look people in the eye. I can see Sandra in the eye. I can see Sister Ruby in the eye. I see your personality. I see you. There was some other personality in this man's heart and mind and you could see it in his eyes. His eyes just were not right. They gave you this weird, weird, weird sense about him because it's a gateway into the soul of your heart and mind. So the Lord is using the eye as a form of hyperbole to talk about, I believe, greed and lust. 1 John tells us all that's in the world is the lust of the eye, the pride of life, and so forth. So he's speaking of the eye gate. He's talking, I think, about lust and greed and the works of the flesh. figuratively when he's talking about the eye. So he's got it. If an eye offends, if it scandalizes, if it puts an impediment in somebody's way, pluck it out right now. You don't let your life go on another day living in a lustful, greedy way. as a believer. You do not allow that into your life. Pluck it out right now, cast it from you violently, and not care where it lands. Wow, a powerful statement. And we know that the Lord is not talking about literally doing this because look at His ministry. He healed the man with the withered hand. If He was for dismemberment, He would have just told him to cut it off. He healed several blind people. He gave them sight. He restored their sight. He restored blind Bartimaeus. He restored many other blind people. He healed the man by the pull of Siloam. His feet and ankles received strength and he was able to jump up. He healed many people with the same things, the same type of maladies, hand, foot, eye. So he's not talking about dismemberment, he's talking about the spiritual. And I believe the eye here is speaking specifically of things we lust after, things we're greedy after. instead of committing our life to the Lord and thanking and blessing Him for all that He gives us. Our passage in 1 John chapter 2 verses 15 through 16 tells us about that eye. 1 John 2, 15 through 16, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. The pride of life is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. So it's very interesting. That saying must have stuck with John a few years later in 1 John. He's writing about that. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life symbolized and our eyes and our view of how we view the world, what vision we have for our lives, directions we have for our lives. He wants us to remove any stumbling block that deals with pride or lust or greed. He doesn't want that in the life of a believer. He wants that out of our lives. And I'd like to read a quote for you from Adam Clark's commentary. He summarizes this very well, and he does it in a visual, illustrative way. I'd like to read that for you, dealing with this passage here about plucking out the eye, cutting off the hand or the foot, symbolized as greed and pride and avarice and such in one's lives. And Clark said, Men often part with some member of the body at the discretion of a surgeon that they may preserve the trunk and die a little later. And yet they will not deprive themselves of a look, a touch, a small pleasure, which endangers the eternal death of the soul. It is not enough to shut the eye or stop the hand. The one must be plucked out, the other cut off. Neither is this enough. We must cast them both from us. Not one moment's truce with an evil passion or a sinful appetite. If you indulge them, they gain strength and power and you shall be ruined. The rabbis have a similar saying to this. It's better for thee to be scorched with a little fire in this world than to be scorched with a devouring fire in the life to come. So if we're willing to take out things in our body that are cancerous, that are problematic, that are diseased, how much more should we do in spirit? Pride, ambition, lust, allowing those things into our life. And what are some of the ways we cause other people to stumble? By our testimony, if we don't take these things out of our life, what are some of the ways we cause people to stumble? Well, number one, directly by tempting them to sin. Your bad example is going to tempt somebody to sin because they see you getting away with it. Why shouldn't they? To cause them to stumble indirectly by favoritism or unrealistic demands or being extra critical, driving people to anger, driving them over the cliff, their anger, so to speak, causing them to stumble indirectly, passively, aggressively, causing them to stumble. By a sinful life example or simply by failing to lead them in the way of righteousness. Do you know you can be a bad example to a stumbling block not by throwing a stumbling block down, but failing to help someone come around it, according to what the Lord is saying here. So it's more than just doing wrong, it's failing to bring others along in the right way. And that's what the Lord is telling us. Woe unto the world because of offenses or stumbling blocks. For it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to the man by whom the offense cometh. And then he gives us the admonition to cut off, cut out, and throw from us those things which are stumbling blocks and cause others to stumble. And I'd like to leave you with a classic illustration as well that drives the point home I think very well and if you take nothing else home, take this little classic example home with you about being a stumbling block. The story is told of a man who was a flat out drunkard, an alcoholic. He'd work a job, he'd come home, change, go out to the bar every single night. Well one Christmas Eve, He came home and he paused for a moment and thought, well, should I go out? It's snowing tonight. It's awful cold. Maybe I should stay home. But then as he thought some more on it, no, the power of the alcohol, the power of the drink was drawing him. He says, well, I'm going to go out in the snow. I'm going to trudge through the snow and go to the bar anyway. So he gets dressed. He goes out of the house and he starts walking along his way and making his footprints. Then all of a sudden he hears, As he steps, he hears this sound behind him. So he turns around and looks, and he sees his little boy following him down the path. And he looks at him and says, what are you doing? And the little boy says, Daddy, I'm just following your footsteps. And then it hit him. It hit him that the example that he is living by being a drunk, going to the bars every night, is eventually going to affect his son. His son is going to follow his exact example, follow those exact footprints in the snow, following after his dad, following that bad example. It would make him have a stumbling block in his life. Well as the story goes on, it struck the man so hard, it got his attention so strongly that he stopped the drinking. and never drank another day in his life. Seeing his little boy following in those snowy footprints down the lane headed to the bar following right behind his example. The example we set, and is the example we set giving footsteps in the road, in the snow, wherever we're at, is it going to guide others to the place they need to be spiritually? Or are you going to guide them over the cliff? And that's basically what the Lord is telling the disciples. Cut pride, cut greed, cut ambition, cut selfishness, cut all these things out of your life and lead by your example. Your footsteps here in this example in the desert as they're going along on the New Testament world. The steps that you take are gonna lead my sheep, are gonna lead the sheep to follow you. What type of example are you gonna be? Are you gonna put stumbling blocks in their way? Are you gonna help them to walk in righteousness and follow the Lord and walk in all the righteous ways that God commands us and exhorts us in his word? And that's the challenge. Where is your example leading those around you? Are you putting down stumbling blocks? Are you guiding them in the way of righteousness? Amen? Amen, let's bow forward to prayer and we'll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, we thank you tonight that you're a wonderful Savior, a wonderful Heavenly Father that guides us along in the paths that we're to follow. You lead us, you direct us, you guide us. Father, we thank you for that example and for that direction in our lives. Father, may we be shining lights of the glorious gospel of Christ. May the example we set and the footprints we make be the examples of righteousness, and lead others in the same plain path toward righteous living in thee. Now, Father, I pray that you'll bless us now as we close our service. We especially think of our pastor that you'll bless and help and strengthen him as he's away from us. We pray for all those that will be under the sound of the gospel as he preaches your word. That you'll convict mightily and convincingly and clearly in the hearts of those that will hear those messages. That they might be gloriously and miraculously and marvelously saved from the preaching of the gospel. I pray that those that know you that hear him preach will be encouraged and stirred to serve you in a greater way, and that you'll bless him as he lays down footprints there in Japan for the saints to follow. Now lead and direct and guide us, Father, as we have our time of fellowship to follow in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll take for our closing hymn, hymn number 388. Number 388. If there's a spiritual need in your life, you just want to come and pray, Spend some time with the Lord. We'll open that up to you at this time. We'll sing all the stanzas of number 388. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. When you find your place, we'll all stand together for our closing hymn. And again, if you'd like to come and pray, if there's a burden on your heart, if you've never received the Lord as your personal savior, we'd invite you to come. We'll have a personal worker meet with you and take the Bible and show you how you can know for sure. that the Lord is your Savior, that you have those right footprints to follow for the direction of your life. Number 388, it's a small hymn. We'll sing all four stanzas. As we close our service, take my life and let it be. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. and the impulse of my love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice and let me sing of Always only for my King. Always only for my King. Take my lips and let them be. filled with messages for thee. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold, not a mite would I withhold. Take my love, my God, I pour, At thy feet each treasure store. Take myself, and I will be at your door. Amen. I trust that's a prayer of your heart. Lord, take my life and let it be. Take my feet, take my hands, take my lips, take my eyes, take my love and let it be, consecrated Lord. So we'll bow for a closing word of prayer. We'll dismiss our service. Thanksgiving dinner, Thursday at 2 p.m. Please make sure you're signed up with Brother Mel Casildo before you leave tonight. Pastors will be traveling back Wednesday. Let's mention prayer for him as well. Let's bow for a word of prayer and we'll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, once again, we thank you for your blessings and your direction in our lives. We thank you that we can consecrate all of our heart, all of our life, our hands, our feet, our eyes, our lips, everything to thee that you might use us and help us to be a blessing and never a stumbling block to another believer in Christ or perish the thought for those that are lost. Now lead and direct and bless us. Father, I pray that you'll encourage our hearts this week. I pray that you'll help us to be extra diligent and looking for those that need to know you at this time of year of the holidays when hearts are wide open and thinking of home and family and those that they love. Bless and help and strengthen and guide us this week. Father, once again, we pray for our pastor that you give him traveling mercies and a powerful ministry in Japan. And Father, we pray for those meeting on Thursday that they'll be encouraged by the fellowship one with another as we celebrate Thanksgiving. Father, we thank you for all your gifts and all your blessings to us. Help us through this week. And we ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.