So, what I'd like to talk to you about this morning is the final challenge from 1 John chapter 5, verse 14 through 21. Every sermon, every epistle, okay, in the Bible ends with a challenge, right? begins with instruction, okay, and then it gives some personal practical things that we can do, and then it hits us with a challenge. This is the final challenge of 1 John chapter 5, verse 14 to 21. It will be the last message in 1 John. So stand with me for the reading of the word. And the word of our Lord says, now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask and he will give him life. For those who commit sin not leading to death, there is a sin leading to death. I do not ask that you should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, and in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Father, we pray that you would open up our hearts, Lord God, to this final challenge, Lord God, in 1 John. We've gathered, Lord God, so much from this great book. And Father God, now we pray, Lord God, that you would just challenge us and impress upon our hearts, Lord God, your word and what we need to do, Lord God, with what you've given us. For we pray this in the name of Jesus, amen. Abraham Lincoln would go to church on Sundays and Wednesdays. He would not sit in the congregation. It was a walk, a short walk from the White House. But he would sit in a private room with the door cracked, and he would listen to the sermons. One Wednesday, when he had gone, listened to the sermon, and when he left with his companion from the White House, his companion asked him, what did you think of tonight's sermon? And Lincoln responded, it was brilliantly conceived, biblically relevant, and well presented. So his companion said to him, so it was a great sermon. And then, listen to what Lincoln replied. He said, it failed. And it failed because the preacher, Dr. Gurley, did not ask us to do something great. He said, inspiring communicators always expect a lot from their listeners. Now, you will see that continuously through the scriptures. Whether it's Moses, whether it's the prophets, whether it's Jesus, whether it's Paul or Peter, Jude in Matthew chapter 7 24 through 27 I believe that the greatest sermon ever given the Sermon on the mount I don't know how much time you spend thinking about what Jesus said on the Sermon on the mount But it's what he really expects and challenges us to do in our lives But Jesus ended it this way therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them is I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house, and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on the house, and it fell, and great was its fall. Simple, right, simple challenge at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. You need to put into practice, right, what Jesus has given us. In John, Chapter 13 Jesus gives us a It's a life sermon by what he did he washed the disciples feet and the final challenge in this life example sermon It tells us this for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done most assuredly I say to you a servant is not greater than his master Nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him if you know these things blessed are you if you do them? put into practice, go out there, wash one another's feet, right? Go and care for other people, go and serve other people. Peter's sermon on Pentecost, again, he preaches this great sermon, right, before thousands of people, and again, here is the conclusion in Acts chapter 38 through 39. Then Peter said to them, repent, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord your God will call. So you will see this. You will see this repeated over and over again, right? Great messages are always followed by great challenges. I've had people sometimes say here at Living Word Community Church that we ask too much of you. Well, there's a church right down the street where they'll ask nothing of you. The day we stop calling people to step up, to be committed, to be servants, to be in the fellowship and in the membership of the church, to be worshipers, to be givers, the day we stop doing that is when the church dies. There has to be always, there has to be that challenge. So let's look at the text, five challenges, okay, that are given here in the final challenge. The first one, pray according to God's will. So in verse 14 and 15, now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we asked of Him. So praying according to God's will. To pray according to God's will is to be a credible, powerful prayer warrior. It is to pray effectively. It is to pray fruitfully. To pray in harmony with the will of God. is to pray productively and to pray successfully in your prayers. You will be receiving what you're asking for, whether for yourself or for others or for the world, but you're going to be receiving those requests when you pray in harmony with the will of God. If you're praying out of the will of God, right, you should not be expecting to be receiving the answers to your prayers. In Matthew chapter 6, 9 through 10, Jesus teaches in this manner, therefore pray, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus laid down, he really lays down the principles of prayer. And you see it laid down in the gospels where he teaches when we pray, we need to pray in relationship, right? With God, our father. We need to pray the will of God. We need to pray in the name of Jesus, right? He's the one who has abled us to be able to approach the Father. We need to pray in faith. We need to pray in obedience, right? If we're out of harmony with the Lord, we shouldn't be expecting to receive what we're asking for. And we need to pray, right? In accordance, right? In accordance with the will of God. So the question becomes, how do I know the will of God? that many many people come to me through the years and say okay so I need to be in the will of God I need to be praying according to the will of God how do I know the will of God I wanna show you a couple of passages Romans chapter 12 to it tells us and do not be conformed to this world the world is that which is in opposition to God that which is opposition to Jesus the world is under the control of the devil It is that which resists God, rebels against God, and the world is ever trying to conform you into its image, to make you this selfish, little, greedy, petty person. The world is ever trying to conform you to its image. If you are being conformed to the image of the world, do not expect to know what the will of God is. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So the key is to be transformed, to be in this, essentially this process and state of transformation. And when we are being transformed by the renewal of our minds, then we will know what God's will is. Now the question becomes, how do I get transformed? How does transformation of the mind occur I'm gonna give you one, I can give you, boy, we could go through this and be with this until 12 o'clock tonight from the scriptures. I'm just gonna give you one verse, okay? One group of verses. Psalm chapter one verse one through three. It fits right in harmony with what's being said in Romans 12 too. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Guess what he's doing? He's not conforming to the world. He's not tuning into the world. He's essentially tuning the world out. I want to say this is a principle that I live by. I will not allow anything that is going to interfere with my God-given purpose into my life. Nor will I allow anyone who is interfering with my God-given purpose into my life. I will not allow them to speak into my life. I will not allow them to have an influence in my life. Now, I may be ministering to people, but I'm not allowing them to influence me. I'm not going to sit in the council of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. Notice, though, the transformation, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. He loves the Word of God. And in his law, he meditates day and night. Now, what does that mean that he meditates day and night? Does that mean that he's got the Bible in front of him day and night? Obviously, you know what? You have jobs, you have careers, right? You have businesses, you need to work, you need to cook, you need to eat, you need to bathe, you need to exercise, you need to do a whole lot of things. But what essentially what it means is he focuses on the Word of God. He meditates on it, he thinks upon it, he reflects upon it. So the Word of God, right, he's into the Word of God, and guess what's into him? The more you get into something, whatever it may be, it gets into you. So he abides in the Word of God, and then the Word of God abides in him. And then notice the beautiful blessing in verse three, and he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. He's fruitful, he's prosperous, he's blessed, he's blessed, he's successful, she's successful. in what they do in life, in their marriages, in their families, in their careers, their success, in their ministries. They achieve success in these things. That is transformation. Now, how many of you are hungry this morning? I'll make you a little hungrier. I picked this salad out because I believe it is the most nutritious thing that we can put in our bodies. A salmon salad. Now I'm talking about salmon that's caught in the ocean, not farm-fed salmon. Farm-fed salmon is cheaper, and it's filled with all kinds of chemicals, antibiotics, and steroids. Salmon, rich in protein, rich in healthy fats, omega-3s, omega-6s, those polyunsaturated, monounsaturated fats. It's loaded with vitamins. It's a multivitamin filled with B vitamins, filled with selenium, filled with potassium. It's good for your muscles. It's good for your bones. It's good for your brain. It's good for your neural system. It's good for everything. It's really, it's good for your skin. Ladies, you want to improve your skin? Have a couple of servings of salmon a week. You'll see a difference in your skin. And it's going to affect you from the inside out and all the crap that you're putting on your faces every day. It's really much better, much better. And then you see there's avocados, right? Avocados are a superfood, just as salmon is a superfood. Avocados, again, they're like a multivitamin. They've got protein, they've got carbohydrates, they've got, again, those healthy omega-3 and 6 fats. And then if you look, you'll see all the colors. You see all the colors in the salad? You've got green leafy vegetables. You know, green leafy vegetables are just slightly off in their chemical makeup, their molecular makeup to our blood. I believe that they carry a molecule of, blood carries a molecule of iron, and green leafy vegetables carry a molecule of magnesium. And the average American, 68% of Americans, are deficient in magnesium. And if you understand the effects that it has, it has really horrible detrimental effects on your body. So you have green leafy vegetables, you got tomatoes, I see cucumbers, I see peppers. Again, all those different colors are different vitamins and different minerals. So when you make a salad, don't just use greens. Use reds, use yellows, use purples, right? You want to mix in. Hey, see that salad? I eat one of those, but there's four times as much vegetables in it as you see there. Right, Sue? I mean, my salad is like that. I eat that every day. And try to do salmon a couple times a week. So let me just, let me make my point. Where's he going with this? This is a, I'm doing a nutritional lesson with you today. You heard me talk about the salad. You see the salad. You can look at the salad. You can gaze at it. But it's useless to you unless you bite into it and chew it and swallow it and digest it and assimilate it. It's useless unless you bite into it, unless you swallow it. There are no health benefits. If you just simply look at it or listen to me, talk about it. It's totally useless to you. You know where I'm going. You need to bite into it. You need to chew it, right? You need to swallow it for it to be beneficial to you. You need to put it into practice. You could sit here in church and you can hear the word, right? Going out. You can sit into church and you can see the scriptures right up on the screen. They are totally useless to you. Useless! There is no change, no transformation. You will not come to know the will of God by sitting in church. Okay? It makes no change in you. And sad thing, I'll tell you this. Watching people come to church year after year after year after year, and they never change. They're always the same. Sometimes they get worse. They never grow. They're never being conformed to the image of Christ. They're never being transformed. into the very image of Christ. And again, the key is you must bite into it, right? Again, look at Matthew chapter seven, what Jesus said, it's he who hears the sayings of mine and does them, right? He who does not hear the sayings of mine and does not do them, that person is not going to be transformed in the renewing of their mind. So understand, we come to know the will of God through the word of God. And not just again, not just simply learning a scripture verse, but taking it and putting it into practice. And when we know the will of God and when we pray on the will of God, just like it said in 1 John chapter 5, 14 and 15, you will find that you enter in to an amazing prayer life where you will be experiencing God answering your prayers continuously. You will find that you will become incredibly effective in prayer. and you will become very committed to prayer. A lot of Christians, hey, a lot of people, right? I wonder if they believe in prayer because I rarely ever see them pray. I rarely ever see people at prayer meetings praying. If you really believed it, right? When I believe in something, I do it. When I don't believe in something, I don't do it. But when you truly are understanding the word of God, then you understand the will of God and you will find yourself entering into a very effective Prayer life. Okay, number two. Second, final challenge. Pray for your brothers struggling with sin. Pray for your sisters struggling with sin. Tough, tough verse. 1 John 5, 16 through 17. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin, which does not lead to death, he will ask and he will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. A little tough to understand, right? Got to kind of dig into it. There is apparently a sin that leads to death that we should not be praying about. So what does that mean? And I'll tell you, there's a lot of different thoughts on this, a lot of different interpretations. I'm going to give you what I believe this means. I believe that there are people in the church, and I want you to see, notice they're brothers. They're saved, but they have kind of drifted into a rebellion, and they don't want to hear it. They're not interested in turning from their sin. They're not interested in repenting. There's no confessing. There's no seeking of God. They've hardened their hearts, and they're just moving away from God. And that person, according to the passage, is heading for death, physical death. Now, you take the sin that does not lead to death, and that is a person who is struggling with sin. They're struggling with some kind of sin in their life. They're battling, you know, with that sin. They're seeking God, they're seeking help, they're seeking counsel, right? They're praying to the Lord. Look, it could be jealousy, it could be gossip, it could be greed, it could be laziness, or apathy, or lust, or pride, or some type of addiction with alcohol or drugs. But they're struggling with that, but they're battling with it, right? We all have at times sins we battle with, right? We're not just giving up to it. That is what I believe the passage is saying. And for that brother who's battling or that sister who is battling with sin, we are told here to ask God to give them life, give them victory. I was gonna say as a pastor, we pray this all the time for people. They come to us and they're sharing with us their struggles and their battles. And we now enter in to their life praying for them. So we're praying that God would set them free. Because again, there are sins that lead to death. We had a summer, probably one of the most difficult, I happen to love summer. Okay, I love, man, I love being outside. I love running and, right, swimming and just, I love summer. And it was a really tough summer. And we had four men here. I believe they were believers. And they all died. They were all under 30. And I do believe that there are times where God will take someone home. Because that's what I believe the passage is saying. If you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 29 through 32, This is the Corinthian church, and they were a rebellious bunch. When I deal with somebody difficult in the church, I'm thankful I'm not the pastor of Corinth, because they were just a bunch of scoundrels. They had turned the Lord's Supper into a drunken party. And it just, the word here, for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body, They were not discerning the Lord's body. They were being very rude and crude to each other. That's the body. We are the body. And it says, for this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. It's not talking about taking a nap. He's talking about Christian people. He took them out. For if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. I think this is a picture here of the sin leading to death. This is an unrepented, unconfessed rebellion against God. For the brother who is struggling, for the sister who is struggling, we are to pray for them. This is saying we're not to pray for that person. You ever meet people, I mean, I meet people, they are so hard, they are so cold towards God, and maybe one time they were walking with the Lord, but they are so hard, God's not gonna answer the prayer. There's another verse I wanna bring into this, and it's Galatians 6.1, and it says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in trespass, you who are spiritual restore such as one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself less, you also be tempted. And this is, again, this is us not just praying for that person who's struggling with sin, but really going and trying to help them. We're entering into their life to help them to get onto the straight and narrow. Or you got somebody struggling with, you know, they're struggling with sin. See, one of the things the enemy does, when you're struggling with sin, the enemy comes and he heaps shame on you. Or he tries to make you feel ashamed, and he tries to drive you away from the Lord's love and grace. He wants you to be ashamed. The Holy Spirit doesn't deal with shame. The Holy Spirit deals with guilt, and it's conviction, and the purpose is always to turn you back to Jesus. So the Holy Spirit, when he gives us that sense of guilt, he's always directing us back to Jesus so that we can receive forgiveness and restore our relationship with him. But the enemy, again, the enemy deals with shame. He gets people feeling horrible shame, and now the person feels isolated. They don't want to be in the body, right? They feel ashamed. They feel ashamed to pray. They feel ashamed to commune with God. And that's something that the enemy does. But again, the Spirit is always trying to bring us back, and we're supposed to be used. We're being used by the Spirit to help to turn that brother and sister, right, and to restore them, to do it, right, to do it gracefully with gentleness, and bring them and help them to get back to the Lord. So that is, again, that is the challenge, the challenge. We should be praying for our brothers and sisters who struggle with things. And when we see them struggling, we should try to come in gentleness and enter into their life to help to get them back on the straight and narrow. And we're getting involved in one another's lives with this challenge. The third, trust in the keeper. So verse 18 and 19, it says, we know that whoever is born of God does not sin. Let's just, if you're here and you haven't been with us through all the messages of 1 John, In the first chapter it says, for he who says he does not sin is a liar and the truth is not in him, but if we confess our sins, he's faithful and true to forgive us our sins, right, and give to us and restore us to his righteousness. So essentially, again, to understand what does it mean whoever is born of God does not sin? It's talking about people who sin with impunity. They don't care, they have no conviction, there's no rebellion. They're just in a place of rebellion. That's essentially what that's saying. It's not talking about us as Christians when we slip up and we say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing. God is always there to forgive us. We need to come to him. We need to confess our sins. But he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Now I just want you to notice those words. But he who has been born of God keeps himself I always looked at that passage as I have to keep myself. But I have a responsibility to, because I have been born of God, I'm born of the spirit, that I have to keep myself, that I have to be diligent, right, intentional in keeping myself. The more I began to dig into this passage through the years, I don't think that's what it means. Because if you look at the words, who has been born of God, the word is begotten. Who is the begotten one? The only begotten son, right? John chapter 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. So I believe it's saying that it is Jesus who keeps us. So look, this is the New Living Translation, 1 John 5, 18. I go through a Bible translation every year. I went through the NLT last year. It says, we know that God's children do not make practice of sinning, for God's Son holds them securely. Isn't that beautiful? God's Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. He's the one who keeps us. I'll tell you this, he's been keeping me for 42 years. And he keeps me. Jesus in John chapter 10, 27 through 30, talks about himself being a good shepherd. He says, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I am the father of one. Again, the good shepherd. Here's the picture. He holds us. He keeps us, right? That is His working. He holds us. You know what our responsibility is? To trust. Because if you're not trusting, you know what? You're going to be all anxious. You're going to have a lot of anxiety. You're going to have a lot of fear and a lot of worry. When He is holding us, right? We're resting like a little lamb in His arms. will hold us forever. We just have to rest in his strong arms. In Romans chapter 8, 35 to 39, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. What can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Nothing, nothing. He's holding us. He's keeping us. He's never letting us go. And then notice the text goes on and it says, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one, but he does not touch. And the word, listen, the word doesn't talk about the enemy coming over. You know, somebody gives you a little touch. It's a word used for an animal. that gets its claws into its prey. The enemy cannot get his claws into us and control us. He may tempt us. He can oppress. He tries to bring oppression upon us, make us fear, make us anxious from things happening on the outside. But he can't control us. And the word, I think of that word, haptou, of a man years ago in the town that I live in, he went into his garage and there was a rabid raccoon. And the raccoon jumped onto, you see raccoon, the claws, got onto his arm and literally ripped him. Like ripped his arm, he didn't die, but he ripped him up. And that is the picture, right, of this word. The word is haptou in the Greek, of him getting us and getting his claws. He can't do that. He can't do that. Why? Because we are in the keeping. We are in the faithful keeping and security of the Good Shepherd. And the wolves can come around, but they can't get us. We're secure. Again, that's His responsibility. Jesus' responsibility is to keep us. Father, I thank You for giving these to me, and I haven't lost one, except for the one right? Who was predestined right to damnation? Judas. By the way, Judas still had a choice in all of this. I hope you understand that. But that is his his safekeeping. He keeps us in his arms. And this is a wonderful place to be. It's a place of peace. It's a place of security. It's a place that is that is free with so much of the stress and anxiety that people right suffer with in the world. I want to tell you, I want to tell you another story. Tell you about the four brothers who died that summer. Well, one of them, one of them was a guy who worked with me as an associate pastor here at Living Word Community Church. Name was Rich. And Rich and I got saved at the Maranatha, well, I got saved before the Maranatha Church, and I went there, Sue got saved there, but Rich got saved at the Maranatha Church. And Rich was a heroin addict. And Rich would be, man, he'd be sitting in church, and he'd be shaking, he'd be shaking all over, he would've gone to the DDTs. And then Rich got, he got delivered from the heroin. And, He started studying for the ministry with me. Rich was brilliant. Rich was the most brilliant pastor we've ever had at Living Word. Rich was a scholar. And his mind, I mean, he had an incredible IQ where he, I mean, he could just remember books of the Bible. But a brilliant, brilliant young theologian. So he goes to Bible College. He worked with us for two years here at the church while he was going through a local course of study. And then he went off to Bible College. He graduated, just up in Boston, valedictorian of his class. And a short time after graduation, he was offered a full scholarship to the seminary. And they were basically going to groom him to become one of the scholars of the church, which is under a lot of stress. He went down into Boston. and he purchased some heroin. And I get a call from his roommate, it's like two o'clock in the morning, that Rich is dead on the floor. And he says, what should I do? I said, call the cops. I just wanna tell you, this is my interpretation of what God did. I believe that Jesus saved Rich He took Rich into his arms. You know, during that time, Sue got saved, I got saved, Rich got saved, Steve Leppert got saved as a guy who went on to become a pastor. John Cahn got saved from Beth Israel. We all got saved at the same time. A great move of God. I believe that Jesus said, you know what, my son, I lost you once. I ain't losing you again. And he took him home. It was this heroine that came out of Cleveland. And this guy, Sue and I were watching, actually 2020 one night, and we kind of put two and two together. This guy had produced this super heroine. Okay? Now you got fentanyl. So fentanyl is super, super opioid, killing everybody, right? It kills, what, 120,000, 100,000 people in the last year. But this heroin that this guy produced and he brought it to Boston, it killed 300 people that summer. I just think the Lord said, you know, I ain't letting you go back. to that life of being an addict. And he just, he had him, he never let him go. And he took him home. And Janet, you remember, Maurice remember, that funeral, there had to be 100 people standing in the, this is the graveyard over across from, used to be Bergen Tech, I don't know what it's called now. But it was a hurricane that day. And let me tell you, I mean, it was torrential rain. You couldn't even go over the bridge in Hackensack because the bridge had flooded out. But there we are standing there in the pouring rain. I'm doing the funeral. We're all totally soaked. It's cold. It's like 45 degree cold rain. And we stood out there. I don't know, we stood out there for an hour or two. And we just prayed and cried. Because we knew he was with the Lord. But we were so broken because God had such an incredible purpose for that man. But Jesus said, no, I ain't letting you go. If you're a believer, he will not let you go. He will not let you go. He will keep you. And that's what I believe. I believe that's what it's saying. Our thing, though, again, what is our thing? To trust, to trust. The fourth, nurture your relationship with God. Chapter 5, verse 20, and we know that the Son of God has come and given us an understanding. What has he given you an understanding of? Quantum physics? Anatomy, physiology? Today you got some understanding on nutrition, but that was from me, not from him. He's given us understanding of what? Of Jesus. He's given us understanding of his son. He's giving us understanding of his word. He's given us of what his son did for us on the cross and through the resurrection. He's given us understanding of who Jesus is and his will, right? The will of God. So notice the purpose of that is that we may know him, right? That we may know, right? Genosko, right? There's that word again. If you come here, you should know that word because it's so key, because it's all about a relationship with God. Genosko is, an experiential relationship. Not knowing about someone, right? You could have grown up in the church and you know, you know all about, you know, I know he died on the cross. Yeah, I know he died on the cross for me. Yeah, I know he was raised from the dead, right? You know all that, but it doesn't make a hill of beans in your life. It doesn't make any kind of a difference in your life because you haven't come in to that genosco relationship with him. And when you come into genosco relationship with him, right? That is again, that is an experiential relationship. That is an intimate relationship. It is a relationship of the heart, a living, trusting relationship with Jesus, right? That we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, and His Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. That is what eternal life is. Eternal life is a living, vital relationship with God through Jesus, right? That is what he has called us to, not to religion. I was sitting in the dojo the other night, and I get the opportunity to share it, sharing my testimony about my conversion. And I said, I looked at him, I said, you know, I'm not religious. And one of the guys says, I hate religion. And I was like, me too. I really do. Religion just confuses everything. It keeps people from coming to God. Religion, I think, is the work of the devil. I'm not a fan of religion. I'm a total fan of relationship. But that is what, he's called us to have a relationship with him, and that is something, see, a relationship to flourish must be cultivated. It must be nurtured. Think of people in your life that you have a loving relationship with. You're cultivating it, you're nurturing it. How many of you got grandkids? How many of you have the privilege of having grandkids who live close to you? Right? And you can be with them frequently. Right? So little Nathaniel, you see me with him all the time, Kathy said. Right? I'm his hero. Right? He's one of my best friends, that little guy. But he came into my life two and a half years ago. I'm really grateful for that. And I'm his grandpa. But I have developed this relationship with him. I've come to know him. He has come to know me, right? He's come to trust me. I've come to trust him. He hits a lot of people. He doesn't hit me. He says, I'm King Kong. Boom. But you know, we spend time together. And again, it's so wonderful with him and Giancarlo that because they live near that we can spend a lot of time with them. but you have to spend time, and it's not, listen, folks, parents, it's not just quality time, it's quantity time. I think I hear parents, well, I spend quality time with my kids. No, you need to spend quantity time with your kids. And sometimes that quantity time, right, it's not, look, it's not the amusement park, it's not the exciting moments, it's just, it's quality time that you spend with your children. But you nurture, and that's what we have to do with Jesus. You need to spend time with them, not just in church, You know, he's with you when you leave. He's with you when you're driving down the road. He's with you when you're at home, right, relaxing or cooking a meal or you're at the gym or you're in your career. He's with you. You know, the mindfulness is a very popular term in psychology. If you want to be calmer, you need to be, you know, be mindful of where you are. Not always thinking about yesterday or thinking about, right, tomorrow, just to be mindful, it reduces stress, it makes you healthy, it's good for your heart. Well, to be mindful of Jesus, that he's with you. That's a way of cultivating your relationship. All right, last thing, last thing here, the final challenge, keep yourself from idols. Verse 21, little children, keep yourself from idols. The word is faluso, it's the idea, guard yourself, right, protect yourself, Be vigilant of protecting yourself from idols. So when we think of idols, we think of a statue, we think of a golden cross. I'm gonna tell you a funny story, and if there are Catholic people here, I don't mean to offend you, but we had a brother, young kid, came from a very religious Roman Catholic family. Mother was a very, very religious woman, and she had all the statues. My mother, we grew up with this, Italian people, right? All the statues. They got a statue for every saint and every pope. And this young guy came to the Lord and then his mother called me on the phone and she was horrified because he went into her shrine and he cut the heads off of all the statues. He beheaded them all. The beautiful thing about this story is that eventually his mother came to church with him and would come here regularly. He cut the heads off the idols. We think of idols again, we think of statues. The Bible tells us an idol can be anything that takes precedence over Jesus in our lives. So this is a great illustration. Career, it could be family, culture, our possessions, our money, our power, right? Pleasure, approval, fame, religion, entertainment, yourself, success, comfort. Anything that comes before Jesus in 1 John chapter 521, this interpretation says, dear children, keep away from anything that might take place in your hearts. May take God's place in your hearts. That is idolatry. And we are supposed to be diligent in guarding our heart of allowing anything to take place. Why? Because God made you. You know, God drew you on his drawing board before you ever were conceived in your mother's womb. That's what it says in Psalm 139. He drew you on his drawing board. He created you. And then he knit you together in your mama's womb. And he was there when you were born. And he was there when you took your first step, right? And he's been there when you graduated grammar school and graduate high school. He's always been there for you, caring for you and loving for you. Maybe even when you didn't know him, you know what he was doing? He was drawing you with tender cords of mercy. Hosea says that. and he saved you and he died for you. Have you ever heard anybody die for you? He hung on that cross six hours, right? And he died for you, for you. I believe if you were the only person on earth, he still would have done that for you. That's the value that I believe he sees in us, right? We were created in his image and likeness. And again, we fall into sin, we can fall into ugliness, but that image and likeness is still there. And you know what? He redeems that. So He died for us. So He made us, He created us, and He died for us, He cares for us. That's why we keep Him as number one in our life. He is our number one. And we don't allow anything to get in the way. And you have to be diligent because that stuff comes into our lives, even people. So I want to conclude today, and I want to do something a little different with you in the next, just in the next three minutes, the final challenge. Okay, again. Key takeaways. I want to start challenging you, starting today, here on Sundays, I started this on Wednesday, with, like, what are the key takeaways that you got today? So whenever I am reading the Bible, or reading a book, or listening to a speaker, I always want, okay, what are my key takeaways from what I learned today? So this morning, I read six chapters in the Bible, and when I concluded, I had a great key takeaway from Zechariah chapter two, which is really an amazing prophecy about the destruction of Gaza, which I believe has been fulfilled in our day. You know what it says? They'll be living in caves. All the buildings are gone. They're living in piles of rock. And that is in Zephaniah chapter two. And then I was in Revelation chapter seven. And again, God gave me another takeaway about the way to worship and praise God. But I walked away with that. Read a book. You go up into my library, you'll see in the back, of the books that I have read, I always have notes of the, it's kind of create my own table of contents of what I thought was important, but that is my key takeaways. So you come and you hear, what are your key takeaways today in the message? Because this is what I see, most people, it's in one ear and out the other. They just, it's in one ear and out the other. Now listen, I see some of you and you take two pages of notes. The problem, again, that's good. That's what I do when I'm listening to somebody and there's something really constructive being said. I'll take two pages of notes. The problem is there's only a few takeaways though that are gonna come from those two pages of notes. So maybe today you're listening, you're saying okay, Pastor Frank talked about idols, and maybe there's an idol that you need to remove from your life. That's a key takeaway. Pastor Frank talked about nurturing the relationship with God, and maybe you're walking away and saying, that's a key takeaway. I really need to really work at nurturing my relationship with God. Pastor Frank talked about the keeper and trusting in the keeper. I need to rest in him more. I need to trust in him more. Talked about restoring, right? Restoring a brother through prayer or going to them directly. Maybe you're saying, hey, that's a key takeaway. I need to get engaged in that. Key takeaway, knowing God's will. So again, my expectation, I believe God's expectation is you're not walking away and saying, hey, I've got every one of these down, but what are the key takeaways that you're walking away with? So you're not walking out of here getting nothing. Because if you get nothing, you know what? You do nothing. And then it doesn't produce anything. So a key thing here, again, key takeaways. And the takeaways are the ones you want to put into practice. I do these motivational seminars. I've been doing this for, you know, now just 25 years, motivational webinars, motivational Zoom calls, and companies pay me to talk to people. And what you get, I call them self-help junkies. They're self-help junkies. And there are people who will come, and they come to an event, they have bought everything. They bought everything that I have produced over the course of 20 years. I spent $500. And then they come three months later, and they're asking me, anything new? Well, you just bought 20 years of study and research. Is there anything new? Have you even applied anything of what you learned? And again, they're self-help junkies. You know what you have in the church? Bible junkies. It's sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon. But they never put anything into practice. Now you just take one little thing and put it into practice. Let me tell you, you do that every week, you will be in a completely different person 52 weeks from today. Anybody ever read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear? It's a real good read. And it just shows how when you change little things in your life, maybe about your health, about relationships, about your career, right? It makes this massive difference over the course of time. So he tells this story. The German cycling coach, Germany dominates cycling for decades, and the British team is the worst team in the world. So they hire the German coach to coach the British team. And when he came to the team, what he did was he implemented one small change every week for the next 52 weeks. Now, here's one of the changes that I walked away with. They were getting colds all the time. So he brought in a surgeon who showed them how to wash their hands. Have you ever seen a surgeon the way they wash their hands? And he explains it, right? It's from the elbow down, right? And it's just a complete, like, soaping up and scrubbing. And I said, man, I don't want to get colds. I hate getting colds. So I walked away and I started doing that. One little change though that they made over the course of 52 weeks, they won the world championship at the end of that year. Incremental changes. If you just walk away with one thing today, how much deeper, how much more wonderful will your relationship be with Jesus a year from now? Did you hear? Did you have ears today to hear? Take that with you. Take it with you. Amen.