if you take your Bible and go to Hebrews chapter 12. We're just gonna try and finish this thought on discipline before we get into the last part of chapter 12. I'm gonna share with you some personal experiences that I've gone through in relation to bitterness. Discipline has a purpose. Many times, and we've talked about this at length over the past couple of weeks, we have this view of God that is incorrect in how he disciplines us. We think, well, you know, he is holy and there is no evil within him, so that means whenever there's any kind of evil within me, then God has every right to take his anger and be mad at me and discipline me in that way. We have to remember that all the wrath of God has been satisfied on Jesus. In fact, that's one of the glorious things about Isaiah 53, is that the wrath of God was poured out upon him and that by his stripes, what was put on Jesus, were healed. So now the believer who's put their trust in Christ has this opportunity to experience a very unique relationship with God. I understand why people cringe at that word relationship. I totally understand that it's abused. It's one of the reasons why I don't say that we can have a relationship with God. I know in our four-minute video we used that word, and at the time I was all right with using it, but the more that I get into what other people are teaching, that word relationship is abused because they make it a give and take part of salvation. How many of us have been in relationships that have ended? Okay, we've all experienced that. So there's kind of a connotation behind it, like, well, if I don't do my part, then why would he want to stay faithful to me? Why would he want to continue to be kind to me? He can just end the relationship and now I'm lost again. And I know that that may be a stretch and that might not be what people are thinking, but when I'm using the word relationship here, It is, it's a familial bond. You're a part of God's family. Next Sunday we're going to look at that, those two words, justification and sanctification. Then the week after we'll look at adoption and redemption. And it's beautiful, the very strong language that's in the scripture about what happens to the believer upon the moment of belief. But now we have this relationship with God in which he is a perfect father in our lives. Working with teenagers for almost 10 years, I learned a lot of things. Number one, none of them had real strong dads. None of them had real strong dads. Many of the kids that came to ranch, they maybe only came two or three times of the visitors that would come and visit. But they're in broken homes. Their dad is gone. Many of them are being raised by either a grandmother or a grandfather, somebody else in their lives who's kind of there because they need to be. They have to be there, someone has to be able to take care of them. And what happens is you get kids that they get saved, they understand the gospel, but they don't understand service yet. Because when you say, well God is going to be a heavenly father, automatically that word father is He's not there. My dad's not there. My dad left or my dad is abusive. Some of these kids, we'd have private meetings and some of the things they're saying are horrible, what they've witnessed. It breaks your heart. So you have to work through the failures of the earthly father and realize that our new heavenly father, he's gonna do right by you, okay? I don't like necessarily saying that God is on my side. I like to say that I'm on his side. I'm going to be where he's at. And the way that I can grow and learn is be ready to go through what he's asking me to go through. There is a point to discipline. It is not because God is upset and angry at you. It is to correct you, and you're supposed to take that correction and apply it, and this is where kids without dads, they're missing this part. They're totally missing this part, because they don't have an earthly example. That's why many of the kids that grow up without a mother and father in the home, especially without a father, they're more statistically leaning towards incarceration, or difficulties with the law, or difficulties maintaining a job, problems with authority. And psychology has taken a hold of this idea, and they say this is actually the root of everybody's problem. Everyone's got a dad issue. Well, that's a part of it, but it's not the root. What's the root of our problem? We have a sin nature, okay? And these things, they feed that sin nature, and it gets stronger. Look what it says here in verse 11 of Hebrews chapter 12. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. If you remember the discipline that you have received in the past when you were growing up, it wasn't pleasant, okay? I told you about the weird relationship I have with a wooden spoon. I don't know if it's a good thing in that I get to get all the cake batter off of it or if it's gonna come across my backside because I said a bad word. I know all the bad words are spelled because that's how my grandmother hit me. You know what I'm saying? Said a bad word, all the words, you know what I'm saying? All the letters of that word, I knew. But there was a purpose in that, even though it might not have been done the best way, there was a purpose in that. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but actually grievous. It's heavy, it causes us grief and problems. And we have to realize that God does discipline us with trials. There are things that come naturally as a consequence of our error, okay? You go out and you get drunk tonight, Okay, as an example, boy, someone's gonna clip that and say, can you imagine what he just said? But if you go out tonight and you decide to get drunk and you're driving home and you get pulled over, the law is within its right to prosecute you for driving while under the influence. Okay, that's a consequence of the decision that you made to go get drunk. if we continually disobey the Lord in our lives, there are natural consequences to that. That's not what he wants us to do. And so he will allow trials to come into our lives as a form of consequence. But on the other side, an obedient believer can also expect to receive trials. You're not exempt from it just because you're walking with the Lord. The Lord may bring trials. In fact, he will bring trials into your life. to make you stronger, to be able to come alongside those who have yet to experience what you're going through, and the Lord's gonna use that for his praise, for his honor, and for his glory. The case study of this is the Apostle Paul. He is the case study. When he was stopped on the road to Damascus, and he was asked the question, why do you kick against me? Guess what? He was blinded. He had to go to the home of, I believe it's Ananias, and he went in that home and guess what? He had to have some hard questions. He had to have some answers that he may not have enjoyed. And it is said to him that you are gonna, you're gonna see how many things you have to suffer for my name. And did he suffer? There's a list of what he suffered. Shipwreck, strikes, hunger, having shelter, having no shelter, clothing, no clothing, despised. But he was doing everything right. He was being disciplined, he was winning souls, he was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why would he have to go through difficult things? God used those things to help him be better. Famously, we have where Paul asks for his ailment. It's not specific as to what the ailment is, but he asks for it to be removed. And there's a purpose for the suffering when, in fact, he is told, in your weakness, there's my strength. And we have to recognize that as we go through difficult times here in this life, there are gonna be times where we are weak. And the ailments that we suffer from and the trials that we go through, they're not being immediately alleviated, but we can still be strong in His mercy. That's for the obedient believer too. And what we have to do right now is as we're all here tonight, and I don't know all the details of your lives, I would say probably many of us tonight, we're doing okay. We live in a great country, regardless of all the junk that's going on. We still have our freedoms. We have the ability to select where we want to go eat tonight. We have a wonderful ministry. We should never take Calvary for granted. The amount of phone calls and emails that I get, if I were to peel back the curtain for you, I think you'd be a little bit more appreciative of a ministry that stands clear in the gospel. I know many of you are. But we're not really suffering yet. So what I want you to think about is, are you gonna be ready to suffer? I think it's coming for all of us. Not saying in the form of like a tribulation style suffering, like the worst period of time we've ever seen type suffering, but there are gonna be things that you go through individually, and if you are not preparing yourself to go through those things, it's gonna stay grievous for you. It's gonna stay heavy, because you're not prepared. Look what it says at the end of verse 11. We just said that no chastening is joyous. In fact, it's grievous, but nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Now, we're not talking about the righteousness of eternal life. This is the ongoing sanctification that every believer experiences. We're gonna talk about that next week on Sunday morning. I'm gonna go into the three different tenses of sanctification. But as we walk in our Christian life here, as we walk in the Spirit and we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh, we are being sanctified. And what is said here is when you go through discipline from the Lord, if you have the right attitude, it will yield a peaceable fruit. Notice it doesn't say a solution to your problems or a ceasing of the trials. You can have peace. And some of you have already experienced this wonderful peace, the kind of peace that, dare I say, as it says in Philippians 4, passes understanding. The world looks at your circumstances and says there's no way that they can have joy in that moment, yet you and I can have joy in that moment because it's not about the circumstance. It's about something greater than the circumstance. This is all a part of our discipline. Verse 12 and verse 13 address the attitude, I believe, of those currently being written to in the audience. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down. Okay, now what does that mean? I think that's a comment on their posture. Someone who is defeated, someone who is going through a difficult time, maybe even slumped in a depression, I think you can see somebody pictured there with their shoulders down, not standing confidently, the hands being down. Lift those hands up, which hang down, and the feeble knees. In my mind here, this is a picture of fear. the knees knocking together, not being confident upon what we stand. And then, of course, this last one here, and make straight path for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. You ever seen a broken foot? I've watched enough sports and football to see some of these running backs cut one way and one foot stays in the ground. And you see a vicious snap either in their leg or in their foot. It is gruesome. And now they don't replay it anymore on TV. If it was a pretty gruesome injury, you'd have to go search it somewhere on YouTube. But you've seen, you ever seen something completely turned around? Maybe you've broken an arm or you've experienced a break yourself where you're like, that doesn't bend that way. You know what I'm saying? You can't even really feel the pain because you're in so much shock. What I see here is make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. That foot that's out of joint, straighten it up. You have the ability to help that process. Because if you take the discipline that you're receiving, and you internalize it, and you make it about you and the problem, it's like the person who can be healed, but they won't choose to be healed. The person who is experiencing a broken foot would be silly to think that they could walk on that foot. How much pain that would cause, how much damage to the rest of your body that would cause when a foot is out of joint. Instead, accept the healing. Accept the fact that this is what the Lord wants me to go through. He has a better understanding of what I need to learn than I do myself. I'm gonna trust him and be content. That heals that foot, so to speak. It helps you experience success so that you can have that peaceable fruit of righteousness. Verse 14, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. This is a comment on the fact that our lives and the way that we work with other people should be of peace. Sadly, this has been lost in today's culture. We're all politicized. Maybe not all of us here in this room or in the audience, but we know people where they live and die by the argument. They're looking for it. Kyla was telling me yesterday at the conference she went to, the guest speaker was talking about, she's a great cook, and she said when she invites her family over for Thanksgiving, it's a blended family. And that's one of the first times I've heard that phrase, and she didn't mean blended in different types of individuals, she meant, there's Democrats and Republicans that are gonna sit down and have a meal. And in the past, it's gotten so bad that she has said for this year, any kind of political talk or anything about COVID or the vaccine or anything like that, you can have that conversation outside of the dinner table. You can have that conversation in the garage. You can have it way down at the end of the street. You can have it in a private digital chat room, whatever it may be. But she was able to recognize it came to a point where this was a point of division. And this is where we are today, are we not? Isn't it amazing to see how charged everybody is about politics? I mean, you find out that someone supports a certain candidate and you're already putting them in a category. That is not how we as believers should be treating other people. What should be our goal when it comes to the world? We want to reach them. You can't do that if you hate them because of who they voted for. I'm not going to apologize for that statement. Yes, we have some pretty wicked rulers in our country, but let me tell you, Jesus is not sending people to hell because of who they voted for. People don't realize what Christ has done for them. People don't realize what is available to them. And if we are not careful, we could miss an opportunity to win a soul because we're more concerned about politics. I know that the same-sex agenda in this country is strong. It's getting stronger every year. You and I need to make a decision about how we're going to talk to people like that. Because they are among us. Are we going to hate them and say, I'm never, The Lord just never didn't give me that ministry. Really? This says peace with all men. And let me tell you, there is some wicked stuff going on in this time as well. This is not a new thing. America's not the first one to go down this route about sexuality. And I'll admit to you, it's difficult. Especially if you're entrenched on social media. Some of these individuals, and I'm not talking about homosexuals, I'm just talking about culture in general, is just against God. And it's hard because you are automatically treated with hostility. You gotta move past that though. This is why this whole series is called Better Than All. Jesus is the better example. I want you to think about what he had to endure as God in the flesh. what he had to endure just about persecution alone. Or the fact that he had to use 12 men to accomplish what he needed to accomplish, and one of them he knew was gonna betray him. He was patient. He still reached people. Some of the strongest stories in scripture is Jesus reaching the publicans, the sinners, the harlots. I think about the Syrophoenician woman that just touched the edge of his garment. I mean, powerful stories. He's our example. So the first part of this verse says here, follow peace with all men and holiness, then it says, without which no man shall see the Lord. This is not support for a social gospel. This is not saying, well, if you don't live in peace with all men and demonstrate holiness in your actions, then you're not gonna see the Lord. No, I believe what the author is calling to here is, you're only gonna be able to see the Lord because you'll be standing in front of him completed. So you should live that way now as the example. This is very strong teaching because all of us can have improvement in this area. There's a passage in scripture, we don't have time to go to it, but it's in Colossians and it talks about serving with eye service only. And it's on the outside, we look good, we sound good, we're all put together, and we care and we love about people, but on the inside, we hate them. We do disrespect to them. There needs to be an internal change of how you and I look at the sinner. And it's hard now because the sinner is very strong. But you know what helps you realize? It's that all sin is sin. It's all the same. but you're supposed to take what you have in this gospel message and package it in a way that they can receive it. I'm not saying you bend on the truth, and this is what's happened to a lot of pastors today. They've said, well, we gotta reach the culture. I still enjoy wearing a shirt and tie, okay? I don't see a time where I'm gonna come up here in a V-neck, and try to appeal to the culture. Because that's not my goal. My goal is not to appeal to the culture. But I'm not gonna stand up here and be totally separated from the culture. But a lot of ministries have sacrificed doctrine for the sake of we wanna reach people. I'll never forget one time that my brother brought one of his girlfriends at the time to come to church. And she said she had been down to a church down the road here. Big church. And she said, you know what I really like about Calvary is that the music portion is only about 10 or 15 minutes. And then the rest of the time, we're in our Bibles. I know. See, now you and I, we're spoiled in that way. But a lot of churches out there are running the same program. It's 30, 45 minutes of music to get you ready for a 10 minute little thing. I don't even know what to call it, an illustration, a heartfelt story, you know? Sermonette, praise God for my mother-in-law, she's helping me tonight. And it satisfies the itching, okay? It satisfies the itching. I remember I went to a conference up in Denver in 2014. I met some kids there, and someone had bought my ticket to go, and I was really excited, but what really disturbed me was the worship sessions. It was, in my view, demonic. Shouldn't use that word. Well, it wasn't of God. There were people that were I mean, weeping to the point of where it doesn't look like worship, it looks like they were injured, like something was wrong, they needed help. People who were teaching workshops were on the floor just sobbing. And I'm listening to the words of the song, and I mean, they're moving. I was moved by it. But that kind of reaction I don't think is godly. But this is how someone gauges spirituality. How well do you respond to a song? That means you're more spiritual. I love the Joy FM as much as the next person, but you listen to a lot of the stuff that's on there right now, it's not teaching holy living. You can't really identify what's being sung about. And we're in this culture today, and we're tempted to be culturally relevant. And this is how you get people like Rick Warren that wanna marry these two religions together. Look, that is gonna happen, and the person that does it is gonna have a little person that demonstrates, and they're called the beast and the false prophet. You don't wanna be joined up with them. The Antichrist is gonna bring these things forward, and we're seeing it today. We're seeing it today. If we were to stop Calvary Church for a month, and as a church, we went to different churches in this area, you'd be hard-pressed to find a ministry that'll preach about sin. Hard-pressed to find a ministry that'll teach the gospel. It's all practical living stuff. And so the temptation there is to bend to the culture. We're not supposed to do that. As this verse says here, we're supposed to follow with peace and holiness. We're gonna see the Lord in holiness. When I stand before the Lord, I'll have my new body and so will you. You will be holy. You will receive at the judgment seat of Christ. The payment for your rewards, whether they're profitable or unprofitable, they'll be tested by fire and the Lord will reward you. And what a wonderful time it will be, amen? I am looking forward to that. We were just talking to a friend on the phone today and had him on speakerphone and Kyla was talking about something. She said, we're not gonna be here for that. Something down the road, 10, 15 years down the road. She's like, don't worry about it, we're not gonna be here for that. I'm talking about someone who's looking for his appearing. It's Kyla Martinez, man. She's looking every day. Like, we got a mortgage payment. We ain't gonna be here for that. But you know, it's all joking aside, it's a wonderful truth that you and I can live in that knowledge. Look at what verse 15 says. Looking diligently. lest any man fail of the grace of God. This does not mean that you miss eternal life. This means that you take what the Lord has given you and you abuse it. And look how that abuse happens. Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. And this is where we're gonna camp out. I have seen bitterness in myself when I was learning ministry. I've seen it in other people. The best way that I can describe it is as cancer. It turns the mind in on itself. It gets to the point where the person is so bitter they can't even see someone offering forgiveness to them. They've turned everything inward and they've said, how could they do this to me? How could they treat me this way? Have I not done this and this and this? and there comes to a point where I've seen it, they're gone. And I'm not talking about they're gone physically, they're not here anymore, I'm talking about they're mentally checked out with all things spiritual. This is how I think you get little legalists. Because they've erred off of Jesus, and they've put their hopes and dreams in a man, and then the man fails, and their whole world falls apart. bitterness is a cancer and It will destroy you if you're not careful but look what it says after that statement about bitterness springing up and thereby Many be defiled It's not just you I've never been a part of a church split and I I pray that I never have to experience it But I've heard about them, and I've read about them, and they're vicious. There's the joke made where it's like, oh, the church split over the color of the carpet. It's never that. It's never that. It's something that the pastor said, and somebody who's already bitter didn't like it, and they talked to everybody else except the pastor. I've even heard where Meetings have been fulfilled for special meetings where they get 10% of the members together and the member these bitter members call a meeting and they vote people out Bitterness How does one become bitter you take your eyes off the Lord and you put them on to yourself? That's how it happens and it can happen to every one of you in here. It can happen to me, too if you think it can't you better check you better check yourself and Notice that that is described as a root. I don't think that's just a translation word. I think that is to picture exactly what bitterness is. It's a deep root that grabs on and it can become a problem to erase. Many times I've seen men who have shouldered tasks for years crumble in the matter of months. And what happened is someone did something to them, and they didn't address it properly, and they were out on a war path ever since. It's happened to two people in my life. Love those individuals. I think God is still using them in a mighty way, but they really missed an opportunity. And I've had to learn from that. There was a time when I was in college, I don't know how it happened, but the bitterness just started. Someone said something cross and it just ended up the way it was. I had to be brought into Dr. Arnold's office where he looked at me and said, look, you got a lot of pride. And how do you think a prideful individual responds to that? Thank you, appreciate it. No, no, no I don't. That's never a good position to be in. But it happens. The reason why I have in the title here Discipline and Bitterness is because I think the proper application of discipline erases the bitterness. Let's say the Lord is working on you, right? He puts you through a trial. Not saying a temptation, because he's not tempting you. He puts you through a trial. You're obedient, and here comes this difficult time. The cure is to take your eyes off yourself and put it on him. This is why James says, count it all joy. Now, if you do that, honestly, I'm not saying you walk in and oh, everybody sees you, you know? I'll just use Michael as an example. Oh, Michael, you know, he's always so happy and he's going through all this stuff, you know, his wife's sick and all this stuff. So hard, but he's got a smile and everything's good. But on the inside, you know what's happening to him? Bitterness. It happens to all of us. I'm not saying just in eye service. Talk about up here. The decision that you've made here has to be, I am gonna count it all joy. When my body is failing me or I'm not able to make ends meet, I'm going through a difficult time, I'm gonna count it all joy. Not just in eye service, but internally. If you do that properly, you properly submit, the burden is not, carried by you anymore. In fact, there is no burden. You're able to properly count it all joy because you're trusting in him. Now, here comes the same situation except the person is tired, and they're weak spiritually, and they've been run down. They haven't been in their word. They're not in normal church attendance. They're not praying. They're certainly not soul winning. They're kind of caught up in other things. And here comes this trial, and all of a sudden, you have this kind of thought. I don't deserve this. How many times have you had that kind of counsel given to you? You don't deserve this. This isn't fair. I really rejoice in all the counsel that I got last year. I would call people like Pastor Kakuza. I'd talk to Dr. Arnold. I talked to other men of God here in this ministry. Not one of them said that to me. Not one of them said, oh, you don't deserve this. Because those men knew this was not about me. This was an opportunity to trust the Lord in a new way. But sometimes we get advice like that. You don't deserve this. You deserve better. This isn't fair. Why would God allow this to happen to you of all people? You, you do right all the time. That's, guys, that's a little weed that you need to pull out. Because it's gonna turn into a big old tree if you're not careful. When you look at a problem that way, now you've got yourself inserted into the middle. So now you judge everything that you go through based on your merit. You become the world. And now, your sin nature is rearing to go in this situation. You may have done a really good job of walking in the spirit, but bitterness can spring up and it can destroy you. And the sad part is, as it says at the end of this verse, and thereby many be defiled. It won't just affect you. It'll affect this whole ministry. I love that our attendance on Sunday night and Wednesday night is going up. I love that. But if we're not careful and we abuse how we discuss with people, the things that we discuss with people, it can destroy the whole ministry. This is why I always tell people, even on the board, People that work in different ministries say, if you ever have a problem with me or something that I've said or something that you perceive that I've done, come and talk to me. Please do not tell everyone and their mother before you come to me, okay? That's like the worst thing you can do. Because now you've involved people that are not a part of the solution. Yankee always told me, he said, before you come in my office with a problem, have a solution. And at first I'm like, man, why you gotta make me work? But you know what? It's good advice. We shouldn't involve people that are not a part of the solution either. Look at verse 16. Lest there be any fornicator or profaned person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. I don't know necessarily how strong Esau was before this moment when he was weak, but he got to a point where he was willing to give away the thing that was rightfully his. The thing, the birthright, I mean, this is for you, you know what I'm saying? This is yours. You're born into that. In that moment of weakness, and I mean it, it was a moment of weakness there, he gave it up. But if you remember, he was weak because he hadn't been nourished. So he wasn't thinking clearly, he wasn't really ready to make a trade like that, but he made the trade. What's the application there? Nobody just falls. It would be comical if people fell like that physically, you know? When you trip over a rock or a root or something, you're trying to catch your balance a little bit and then you fall. No one just, bloop, doesn't work like that. There's a progression to your fall. And a lot of it starts behind the scenes. You start getting real weak in your spiritual talk, or excuse me, in your spiritual walk. You don't put the Lord first, you're putting other things first. You're taking a break or whatever it may be, and you're in prime season for an issue. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Couldn't change what had happened. It was a permanent mark upon his life. In fact, it went on to define his life. We need to be real careful as believers that we don't put marks upon our bodies that cannot be erased. That prison ministry, I'm going to keep hitting that prison ministry because you're going to run into a lot of people that have permanent marks on their life. Yet there's an opportunity for them to believe, but they're not going to be able to serve the way you and I can serve. They can still serve. They can be an example of God's mercy and his grace, but they've missed out on an opportunity because of the things that they've done. The individuals in my life that I've seen fallen because of bitterness and because of pride, they're not able to serve in the same way they've served before. And that's a sad thing. But that root of bitterness is strong, and the way that we overcome that is by rightly applying the discipline that we receive. And you have to remember that Jesus is the center of all of our lives. We don't move off of him and say, I'm gonna now dedicate my life to the rapture and to the tribulation, or I'm gonna dedicate my life to a translation study or whatever it may be. Those are things that you can study along your way, but you don't move off of Jesus. I mentioned this in my leadership class. What is the proper motivation for a godly leader? And it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. When a leader moves off of that, they put themselves at risk and the people that follow them at risk. Did Paul move off of Jesus? Follow me as I follow Bitcoin? No, I mean, it's silly. We laugh at that, because it's like, no, Paul would never do that. Why do we? Follow me as I follow success in retirement? Follow me as I follow health and wellness? or your thoughts on the vaccine, you gotta be careful. Follow me as I follow who? Christ. We stay on him. Because guess what, when we die, gonna be with him forever. He's the beginning and he is the end of it all. And it's a wonderful expression. And you know, when I prepare, it's hard to find illustrations like this. This is how I prepare. I pray that the Lord brings you through what you need to be brought through to learn and grow. Because these are things you don't learn by taking notes, okay? These are things you don't learn by highlighting and underlining your Bible. I mean, you may use them later, but you grow through experience. And many of us in here, we have a lot to experience. You've already experienced many things. Rejoice in that. And know that if one of these trials you end up dying, Was it really even a trial? I think sometimes people think they're gonna get to heaven and be like, oh, Jesus, hey, what's up? Whatever the greeting is, I don't know. And we say, oh, man, I was so excited to see you, but man, I just, can we talk about that one prayer request, you know? Like, what happened? My life was great, except you didn't really give me that. You think we're gonna have that kind of thought process in heaven? No, why should we have it here? Why should we have it here? Why should we live our lives in that manner of thought process? If I only had this, then I would be happy. Okay, you have eternal life, you have a home in heaven, you have the Holy Spirit and you have God's word. That's just a few. I'm sorry, you needed what? You needed what? Oh, pay off your debt. Cool, I guess your sin debt's not enough. Now that's dripping with sarcasm. But it's to illustrate the point. We've already got all that we need. Now next week, we're gonna go into this believer priest role as we wrap up chapter 12. And then I'm hoping we've got like two weeks left. of Hebrews. That'll bring us to a total of, excuse me, about 20 messages through Hebrews. I'd like for you to pray for me as I'm thinking about the next book to go through. We're leaning pretty heavy towards Romans. I know my mother-in-law wants Revelation. I said that may be like three years of study, you know what I'm saying, before I can even teach it. But I really like the book of Romans and we may do that. But just be praying for me. And I want you guys to know, I pray for you. I pray for you. I heard John say this when I was up there on vacation. He said, it's hard to keep a list of people. So he prays the way he sees where people sit. And I've been doing the same thing. I have a little picture in my mind where everybody's sitting. And when I'm praying, I picture you. I pray for you. whether you're here faithfully or you're here when you can be. I pray for you. I pray specifically for you to receive strength, that you have encouragement through God's word. Let me tell you, I may pray for encouragement for you from God's word, but if you don't read God's word, you're not going to get it. And I pray for strength because I think all of us are going through difficult times. I've seen some people that they joined the church last year and we prayed for them to get a job. and they got the job, and then they lost the job, not by their own, because they did anything poorly. And as a church, we can come alongside them and pray for strength. But I pray that you're ready to go through whatever the Lord has for you. And I pray also that you have a burden for souls, that you have a love for the lost man, because they are lost. And it's, we just don't have as much time as we think. I think we're all tricked into that right now. Tomorrow's always a guarantee in our minds. It's not. So that opportunity you have to talk to somebody, when you think about it properly, it may be the only time that you have a talk to them. I mean, how many of y'all are thankful that someone tapped you on the shoulder, or sat you down, or had a radio broadcast? You know? These things become important. But you're not alone through these things. The Holy Spirit is with you, and you've got people in this church that are ready to walk alongside you and help you. But embrace the discipline from the Lord. Know that it's from a place of love, and please guard against bitterness. Please, please guard against bitterness. When I see it in a person, I usually try my best to say, hey, what's going on? What's going on? And most of the time that conversation goes well. Sometimes it hasn't. Sometimes the bitterness is already there and they're lashing out at me because of whatever. Get a lot of bitter people on the email. You know what I'm saying? Like, wow. Do you have a right side of the bed or is it always the wrong side? You know, like, poor thing. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. My wallet represents sin. I'm gonna put this on top of my hand because the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God, he loves us, but he hates our sin because this sin, it separates us from him. In order to get to heaven and be with him, we have to be perfect without any sin, and that's not possible. We're all sinners. The Bible clearly teaches that the wages of sin is eternal separation, death, and a physical fire-burning place called hell. I think if we dwelt on that a little more, we would have more of an urgency. That's the reality for many people tonight who have yet to put their trust in Jesus. Many religions, they teach with good intentions, but it's really demonic. With good intentions, they teach you can work your way to heaven. You can water baptize your sin away. You can turn away from your sin, and that pays for it. You can start something and stop something, and that will take care of it. The Bible teaches that we're not saved by any works of ourselves. or saved by grace. What is that grace? This hand represents Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. And 2,000 years ago, he went to that cross on Calvary and he took all of your sin, laid it upon himself. He paid for it and he cried out, it is finished. He gave up his life. He was buried and he rose again three days later to prove that he was who he claimed to be. I've talked to this, I've made this point to some people recently and it's really opened their eyes. I say, shouldn't we know what Jesus says since he's the only person who said he was gonna come back from the dead and did so? Shouldn't we know exactly what he says and scrutinize it to make sure that we are totally sure that he's not it? But you know what? People don't wanna do that research. They're just going along with what the world says is right. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. The moment that a lost man puts their trust in Jesus Christ, they receive as a free gift everlasting life, and they can now rest knowing their salvation is complete. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heads are bowed please and eyes are closed. Nobody's looking around for privacy. If you're here this evening and you've yet to believe on Jesus, you've yet to take God at his word about what he said about Jesus. I wanna encourage you to do so right now. I'm gonna ask in a moment for a raise of hands. That doesn't save you, it just lets me know that you've put your trust in Jesus for the first time tonight. I look around and I'm fairly confident that all of you understand the gospel message and you have believed on Christ for the payment of your sin. I'm not sure about those of you who are watching on the Internet. I don't know when this message is going to be replayed again. I believe that it will be replayed in the near future. I hope someone gets saved as a result of it. But if you're watching on the Internet and you got saved tonight, would you just simply leave us a comment, click the button if you're on our Internet site? For those of you here in the room, if you've yet to believe on Christ, would you do so right now? For the believers that are already here, I wanna ask you a serious question. Do you have some unresolved bitterness in your life? Something that has happened to you? Or a trial that you're going through that you haven't handled properly? Maybe it's the loss of a loved one, or some poor health, or just the circumstances that we're living in today, in our country. Maybe you're bitter with our leaders. and it's caused you to be jaded against the lost man. I want you to get that right with the Lord. Come to an agreement with how he sees the lost man. He gave his son for them. You were once the lost man. I know the Lord's working on each and every one of us, but I pray for those of you here tonight who have some bitterness. I pray that you'll move off it, cut that root down, and get it out. Father, we love you. I don't know much else to say than that. We love you, Lord, and we thank you. We're thankful for your patience, for your mercy and faithfulness. Lord, please keep bringing lost people our way.