In chapter 2 He has a he has a pastor's heart. That's what he is. He has a ministering heart Paul does and You'll see a little bit of that glimpse of that tonight as we look at this scripture together in chapter 2 Paul says right out of the right out of the gate in chapter 2 verse 1. He says for I would that you knew what great Conflict I have for you And then he adds, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. Now, before we move into the chapter, let's just talk for a minute about what would cause Paul, the apostle, a sense of conflict. Some of us might think, well, he has a conflict because he desires to be there in person. with them, the congregation. And I think that's been talked about. I think he has said that. I long for the opportunity to see you face to face. And so I think there was that mindset in the Apostle Paul, there's just something missing in my life. I want to be with you, the people of God. That's part of it, I think. I think that may be one of the points of conflict. I think another point of conflict would be that he's really concerned because there's so many new Christians that are coming to faith in Christ and he is concerned that they might get misled. that they might get kind of pulled away or drawn away from the faith, or that they might have somebody come into their life that would add, try to add stuff to their faith in God, and they would try to manipulate those new believers. Now, those of you who've been listening to me on Sunday morning, we know what Matthew says, or in the gospel of Matthew, what Jesus said. He said, woe to the one that offends one of my children. He talks about that. Y'all remember us talking about that in Matthew 18? And so it's the same kind of thing. I think Paul has a sense of conflict in his soul and his spirit for the well-being of those new believers. Those are like babies in Christ. Don't mess with them. Don't mess with them. Let the church flourish and grow in their understanding and their fear of the Lord. I think that was in the heart of the apostle Paul. But I think there's something else. And that is, I believe that there was a physical presence of Gnosticism. Gnosticism. Now that's a word that we don't use a lot, but maybe it'll be a word that you'll learn something tonight and say, now I've learned a new word. But the Gnostics were people who had a belief system that what they did was they would draw from different points of religion, and they kind of created their own philosophy out of it. Does that make sense when I say it that way? And what they did was they really didn't have one set thing that they believed, but they believed in everything. So they kind of hodgepodged it all together, and here's what they did. They were so convinced that they got a hold of something that it was almost like mysteriously something would come up in their mind and and they would they would philosophize I don't think that's a word they would share their philosophy with anybody that would listen to them and their goal was to get people to kind of lean into this new philosophy, but the only problem was the Gnostics really had a constant moving target. They were learning something new, and then they would try something else, and then they would learn something new, and they would try something else. And with the Gnostics, they were a big, big problem in the early church. They were a big problem because they were smart. You ever meet somebody that's smart, but they're not smart enough for their own good? You ever meet somebody that's got a lot of book knowledge, but they don't have any common sense? Anybody know what I'm talking about? They know stuff, but they really don't know what they know, right? And the Gnostics were like that. They would just kind of go out and share their philosophy. They would even have huddle times, right? They would get together Similarly to the early church, when the church was meeting from house to house and breaking bread from place to place, well, these Gnostics would do the same thing. They would get together and they would just sit there and share their philosophies with one another. And you said, preacher, why are you going into that so strongly tonight? First of all, I want you to walk away with a new word. But secondly, I want you to stop and think about what's happening in our culture right now. In our culture right now, there are a whole lot of people that know bits and pieces of different things, and they try to sew it all together. And the reality is it can be extremely misleading, and it can also bring a lot of emptiness to the hope that people need in our culture, right? Because if I've constantly got a moving target about religious ideas, then where do I place my hope? Where's the foundation, right? I'm so thankful that our foundation of our salvation is a person named Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful that he is the rock of our salvation and that we have an opportunity to have our name on the roll. That's why I call us rock and roll Christians. The idea is we have something solid to plant our life upon, right? And that is a relationship with God. And listen, the only thing that really moves is not Him. It's us. Can I hear an amen to that, right? Or, oh me, maybe. But we, we're the ones that move and kind of get things out of kilter. But God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so we look at the, and so I think that may have created some of the conflict for the Apostle Paul, he's saying, Man, I wish those guys would just keep their philosophy to themselves. You know, that's kind of the tension that I feel out of the Apostle Paul when he's concerned about the early church. By the way, here at Beacon Baptist, we've seen so many people that have been baptized. More than 50 souls have been baptized in the last five years. That's pretty cool for a small group of people like we are. But unfortunately, not everybody has stayed the course of their faith. And that creates some tension for a pastor too. That creates a sense of, did I say enough? Did I teach enough? Did I disciple enough to make them understand that this is a relationship that has to grow and be nurtured and it has to be deepened as you go forward. You cannot just make a profession of faith, get baptized, and then you never show up again for the feeding time around God's word. And so I can see all of those things playing into the life of the Apostle Paul for the church. He's worried about, I don't wanna use the word worry because some people would say, well, that would be a sin. But what he's expressing is this tension within his spirit that he feels some sense of obligation. He has a sense of protectionism for the people of faith. And so Paul says, he says, I wish you knew about this conflict. I wish you knew how severely God loves you and how deeply I want to help you grow in your understanding of the Lord. And then he comes to verse two, and this is why I've said what I've said. He gives evidence in the next couple of verses about what I've been talking about. In verse two, here's what he says. He says, well, let's reread verse one. For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh that their hearts might be comforted. But then he uses another phrase, doesn't he? Being knit together in love. Knit together in love. So he wants them to be comforted. And why do they need comfort? Because they've got all kinds of things jockeying for their attention and they're still learning and they're still growing. And by the way, they're still making mistakes. None of us make any, I know, but a person that's new to the faith, they're gonna make some mistakes. And he says, I want them to be comforted in spite of the persecution. I want them to be comforted that God still loves them. I want them to be comforted that God doesn't throw the clay away. I think about the image in my mind about the potter's wheel. And I think about the fact that Jeremiah was told to look at the potter working, he'll work on the wheel. And y'all remember the story, right? That potter is working and he's forming and he's making, and all of a sudden, the piece that's on the wheel becomes marred in the hand of the potter. And here's what the potter does. He balls it all back up. He applies a new sponge full of water and he begins to spin the wheel and he begins to remake that vessel. And God's lesson was, hey, Israel, can I not do with you like the potter does with that ball of clay? I thank God he doesn't throw the clay away. There's songs like that, aren't there? I'm thanking God he doesn't throw the clay away. We get a little lumpy once in a while. We get some dried out spots in our life once in a while, and it creates a lot of tension in the work that God is doing in our lives. But God doesn't throw the clay away. God keeps on molding your life and shaping your life because he knows the picture that he wants to see at the end result of your life and mine. Isn't it interesting, and I'm not trying to get off on this tangent too far, but isn't it interesting that when you talk to an artist, if they have an image in their mind, their goal is to take that image that's in their mind and put it on the tapestry, right? That's the way an artist works. or if a person is working a piece on the wheel. They already have in their mind what they intend for that to become. Did anybody participate in art class when you were a child? And it always became an ashtray at my home. Everything we made in art class, it became an ashtray. I mean, that was back in the smoking days, but everything just became an ashtray. I wasn't very creative at all. I couldn't think of what to do. They hand you a ball of clay and say, now make something. So I just put it together like that. There you go. That was all I could come up with. Why? Because I didn't have a preconceived idea in my mind, but a real artist, somebody that really knows what they're doing in their craft, they already have a preconceived idea, and they begin to make that thing come to shape. Or on the tapestry, they make it become something that they intend. Now, could they kind of change their mind about some of the details? Sure. But the overall when God spoke the world and the cosmos into his existence. God had a preconceived idea of what it would look like when it was all said and done. That's why he could say when it was finished, it is good. That's why he could do that because he preconceived something and it came to be out of the very artistic breath of God. It took form and God said, it is good. He said, preacher, why are you going into that? Because I believe your life is part of God's tapestry. I know some of us have heard negative things about our coming into this world, or some of us have heard negative things about our existence, but from God's perspective, the Bible says you have been fearfully and wonderfully made. That God had a plan and purpose for you. The Bible says before you were even in the mother's womb. What does that mean? That means that God had a preconceived image of what your life or mine would look like when it was all said and done. Isn't that pretty cool to think about? And I think, I think that that's kind of what the apostle Paul is dealing with when he thinks about the church. He's got it in his mind what the church would look like and how the church would function and how the church would be woven together. Look at what he says in verse two, that their hearts might be comforted, but also that they might be what? Knit together in love. I don't know about you, but when I think about knitting, I think about those quilts and stuff, right? I think about putting something together. You've got pieces of yarn or pieces of fabric and you put it together in a beautiful way. He goes on and he says, and I want them, he says that their hearts would be comforted, that they would be knit together in love and that, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You know what he's doing right there in verse three? He's confronting the Gnostics. That's what he's doing. He's looking at that group of philosophy people, and he's saying, you don't have all the wisdom that you think you've got. And so he's coming in, he's really standing up against the Gnosticism of their culture and saying, hey, leave the children of God alone. Leave them alone, let them grow in their fear and admonition of the Lord and the knowledge and the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let them continue to have their understanding, be enlightened by God Almighty in his son Jesus and the aid of the Holy Spirit. Let them be free to grow and don't mess with God's kids. He wants our hearts to be comforted. He wants us to be knit together. By the way, knit together. Can I speak to that for just a second? This image comes to my mind. Knit together. I think about a basketball team. I'm not a basketball player. I don't know a lot about basketball. I know the fundamentals. But the image always comes to my mind when I see that word knit together, because there is a benefit of each person for the other person. And I think about that in the context of being knit together. It's a tapestry. Every part has a part to play. Every piece has a part to play. And then I think about a tapestry, and then I think about a ball team. I want you to just imagine this for a second. When you look at a ball team, if you have one guy, and I'll just say guys instead of gals and guys, but if you got one player, that is always hogging the ball, and they're the ones always getting the hands on the ball, and they're always running down the court, and they're always the one to make the shot for the basket. Anybody see a basketball game, you know what I'm talking about, right? And it's always that same person. What do we call them? A show off. What are they operating in? They are operating independent of the team, right? They're not working together with the team. So a coach would look at them and say, hey, you can't be the one to always make those shots. You need to move the ball around. Why? Because what the coach is trying to create is an attitude and an atmosphere of interdependence. If you have a ball member, a team member that's dependent, what are they doing? Well, they're just kind of, they want the ball to go to that guy, right? Every time, if they get a hold of it, do it to that guy. Why? Because they're depending on somebody else to make the shot, right? They're operating with an attitude of dependency on everybody else. Stay with me, I'm almost finished with the analogy. But if you think about it, you've got the guy that's, Independent, you've got the guy that's dependent. What about the codependent guy or gal? That person is the one that says, I can't do it, but I wanna be a part of the team. And so I wanna just be claiming the victory if we win, and I wanna applaud the victory if we win, but they're not contributing very much at all to the overall team effort. You say, preacher, you're kind of going into this analogy with us. Where are you going with this? Well, I think there are a lot of people in churches that hold those different positions. I think there are people in churches that are dependent. I think there are people in the churches that are independent. I think there are people in churches that are codependent. And yet God's intention for the church is that we would be interdependent. What does that mean? That means you are gifted, you are talented, you are equipped by God in the aid of the Holy Spirit in a way that is different than the person maybe seated next to you. You still have something to contribute. In order for us to become a beautiful tapestry, every part has to function in where we are gifted or where we are able to contribute. Does that make sense to y'all tonight? There are a lot of congregations, hey, the pastor is the guy that everybody depends on. The pastor is supposed to do this and that and this and that, and we just depend on him to make the shots. But the truth is that's not what the Bible describes in the method of the early church. The method of the early church was there were pastors and apostles and teachers and preachers and evangelists. But the bottom line is, he says, God adds people to the body as it pleases him. The principle there is you have something you're supposed to contribute. I should be preaching this on a Sunday morning, right? That's what y'all are thinking out there. I can see it in the grins. Y'all say, preach that on a Sunday morning. Tell them what they should do, preacher. Tell everybody else how they should be a part of it. Well, maybe I'm supposed to just remind us. Some people say I'm too frail. Some people say I've been sick. Some people say I'm not as smart. Some people say I don't know how to preach or teach or I don't know how to do this or that. And I want to just remind you that God doesn't give us any room for excuses. He says, I will hold you responsible for what you can do and if you choose to do it or not. Interdependence is a mindset that all of us have something to contribute. Maybe just holding the door for somebody. Maybe just pushing the button on the elevator. Maybe getting somebody a cup of cold water in Jesus' name. Maybe just being stinking nice to somebody. Like smile. Just doing something that contributes to the overall well-being of the gathering of the church. Well, I've done enough metal and I can tell by your reaction, you want me to move on. So I will. But do you see what happens in verse four? Look at what happens in verse four. Now we begin to get a better idea of what Paul was really contending for, what he was really worked up about. He has a spirit of being a shepherd for the sheep. He's watching out for the sheep of God. And what he says is, and this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent of the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. And here's what he's saying, ladies and gentlemen, to beguile you literally means to mess you up. It's like walking up to a freshly painted tapestry and just putting your hand across it and just making a mess of the tapestry. That's what he's talking about. He says, I don't want somebody to come in and beguile you. I don't want somebody to come in and make you go astray. Are y'all listening to me right now? You see a preacher, I couldn't be led astray. I couldn't let, nobody could come into my life and convince me of something that I don't believe. The only way you know what you believe is when you're studying the scriptures, all right? And so somebody could come along and say, well, I've got another version of the scripture, or I've got another additional scripture that's out there, and it's been out there, and they didn't include it in the Bible, but it's written back in those days, too. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? There are other writings, and they come out, and every once in a while, you hear a lot of hoopla about it, and they say, well, you should read this. And the truth is, if it was intended to be in the Holy Bible, it would be in the Holy Bible. If it was intended to be a part of our sacred writings, it would be included in our sacred writings. The Bible was put together the way it was put together based upon one person's writing and the evidence that supported that writing. That's how we got what the word is used as canonized into the scripture, into the Bible that we hold in our hands. But if they were intended to be a part of this Bible, they will be included in this Bible. By the way, there are all kinds of what they call holy Bibles that are being misinterpreted into more modern translations. And ladies and gentlemen, that's more prolific than you can even imagine. It is out there in the culture. People say, Preacher, you're one of those old-fashioned guys, you still preach from King James. I had a preacher ask me the other day, he said, do you demand? I said, I don't demand, I don't have a right to demand anything. And he said, but do you demand that your congregation only read King James? I said, oh no, I preach from King James, I teach from King James, I study, I devote my time in King James because that's the most conservative Bible you can find, and it takes you to the deepest roots of our faith, and I don't apologize for that. But I let people make up their own mind, and you all know me well enough to know that I adhere to this as closely as I can. But why? Because there is a lot of other fluff and stuff out there that's trying to draw you away from the truth. There's a Bible out there, a version, I don't even want to call it a Bible, There's a version, a perversion of the Bible that makes God neither male nor female and gives the impression that he could be either male or female. There are writings out there that would mislead people that God, that Jesus is one of God's sons. And one of the reasons I love the King James Version of the Bible is because, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That is left out of some of the translations, ladies and gentlemen. Some of the translations don't even have certain verses in the chapters of the Bible. There are whole verses that are left out in some of the translations of the Bible. You said, Bridget, you got off on a tangent. Well, it's I'm telling you that it is the same problem that Paul was concerned about in the early church. What he was concerned about was there were people coming to faith in Christ, but there were these Gnostics and others that were trying to add to their faith something in addition. something else to add to their plate of rules and regulations. And Paul said, I don't want anybody to mess you up. You've got something beautiful on the tapestry of your life and your relationship with God. He's made you beautiful. Don't let somebody come and smear it all up. Don't let somebody come in and mess with you on that. And he says, excuse my voice tonight. He says, for though I be absent of the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit. This is verse five. In verse five, he says, for though I be absent in the flesh, yet I'm with you in the spirit. Now watch this phrase, joying and beholding your order. Now that phrase right there is like a general who lines up the military servicemen and women, and he lines them up and he pays attention to how they're dressed. and how they're ready for conflict and how they're ready to be prepared for whatever the day holds. He says, beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. How many of you would like to believe that you are holding on to your faith no matter what and that your faith is holding on to you no matter you could withstand the trials of the day as long as you know Christ is there with you. How many of you could say, I could face anything if I could just know that my God is walking through this fire with me by my side. It makes all the difference in the world, doesn't it? And that's what he's referring to, your faith and your steadfastness. That steadiness in your walk with God, steadiness in your belief in who God is, your belief that no matter what, he will not leave you, nor will he forsake you. Oh man, I guess I'm a little too carried away, huh? He then tells us in verse six, as a result of that mindset, in verse six he says, as you therefore received Christ, What's the next part, everybody? Wake you up a little bit out there. What's the next part of that sentence? Well, come on, I can't hear you. What's he saying? So walk in him. He doesn't say walk about him. He doesn't say try to walk around him. He doesn't say walk ahead of him. He doesn't say walk behind him. What he says in this passage of scripture is, as you have therefore received Christ, walk in him. Your question, my question needs to be, am I so identifying myself and my relationship with Christ that people see Christ when they see me? Do people see Christ when they see you? When you interact with your spouse at home or you interact with the children or grandchildren, when you interact with other believers in the church, when you're interacting with people in the culture, Even when it comes to our relationships in home, if God were to step in physically into your conversation, would He hear you honoring one another, respecting one another, revering one another, caring for one another? That's what He's talking about. He's beholding your life. He's watching your life. And He says, and here's the key, walk in Christ. Live in Christ. Have your being in Christ. If Christ were to eavesdrop into your conversation with other people, what would he hear? What would there be in your conversation that honors him? I guarantee you what he's looking for is how we honor each other. That's what he says. If you give a cup of cold water in my name, it is as if you're doing it unto me. It's the same kind of principle. Are we honoring each other? Are we respecting each other? And that's important, ladies and gentlemen, more now than ever. Can I hear an amen to that? I mean, it is. It's more important than ever. And here's what he says. He says, even though I've been absent from you, even though I'm not right next to you, I am with you in spirit because I'm beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith. As you have therefore received Christ, walk in him. And then verse seven, verse seven, very important verse. It's repeated in Ephesians. It's repeated in Galatians in some form and fashion. So Paul sows, verse seven, the concept of verse seven into his different writings to the different churches. And he says to this church, he says, you're to walk in Christ. And here's what it looks like. You are rooted in Christ. You are built up in Christ. You are established in the faith of Christ. As you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. So he says rooted, right? Rooted means my life is deeply rooted in the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ. So deeply rooted, so deeply rooted that when the wind blows against my life, when the fires come and the trials come, I may get pushed over, but I don't get uprooted. Right? He's talking about being rooted in your faith. In Psalms chapter one, he talks about being so deeply rooted by the water. Now, if anybody walks next to a body of water, like a creek, you know that those roots of those trees next to the water have to go even deeper. Why? Because sometimes those waters raise, don't they? Sometimes floods come. And so what happens is if those trees are not deeply, deeply, deep, anybody ever hear of the word tap root? The tap root has to go deep, deep, deep down in order to hold on so that when the storms come and the difficulties come, they're not moved. That's what he's referring to. He said, be rooted in Christ to such a degree that when the, how many of you faced a problem recently? How many of you had some difficulty recently? Anybody been challenged in your faith a little recently? Anybody looking at your life and saying, I don't know if I can take any more. I just feel like I just wanna give up, give out, give in. Man, oh man, Lord, can't I just catch a break? And Paul says, wait a minute. Make sure that you're rooted in Christ. Make sure that you're not trying to branch out the root system to attach to things that are temporary. Make sure that you're creating a connection between you and Christ that is unshakable, immovable, and you know that even in the deepest, darkest hour of your life, you can be assured one thing, Christ is with me. Christ will not leave me nor forsake me. Listen to me. I don't know who this may speak to tonight, but listen, I am absolutely convinced with every fiber of my being that in our humanity, we make a lot of mistakes and we do sin against our Heavenly Father. And I'm deeply convinced and so thankful that God doesn't give up on us like we give up on each other. I've seen far too many people have their feelings on their sleeves. They get their feelings hurt and they say, well, I'll just find another church to go to. and may be there. And the only problem is there are people there, just like there are people here. And when they get there, then they say, well, they hurt my feelings. I may need to find another church. And what happens is they're not rooted in Christ. If Christ moves you from one body of believers to another, hallelujah, trust him, believe him, he's got a reason for that. But if it's only about you and your desires and your comforts and your wants, if it's about pleasing self, then ladies and gentlemen, you need to stop and think about who you're tapped into. What are you tapped into? Because I don't know about you, but people can hurt one another. Can I hear an amen to that? People can get on your last nerve. People can aggravate you. The people can say ornery things and you're looking at it and say, where did that come from? I've never heard that out of you before. And all of a sudden we say, I'm not going to go around that person no more. Listen, he's telling the church, make sure that you're rooted in Christ. He'll never leave. I am persuaded that nothing, height, nor depth, nor principality, nor power, nor things to come, nor things present, nor things behind me. I am persuaded that nothing can separate me from the love of Christ, the love of God in Christ Jesus. You want to know where that scripture's referenced? It's Romans chapter eight. I'm paraphrasing it, but I know what it says. Can I just ask you, are you persuaded? that nothing can separate you. You go through a valley and you say, I just don't even know if God loves me. Well, how could God stop loving you if he loved you already to dial a cross for you and you placed your faith in that finished work and you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, then how could you ever imagine that he would begin to love you and then turn his back on you? God is not like that. What that tells me is that you're looking at mankind's way of love and you're not understanding God's way of love. And when you and I begin to put God in a manner that He is like man, we're gonna miss God every time. The Bible says his ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are higher than ours. Isn't that what you understand the Bible to say? And so you say, well, preacher, why do I constantly struggle? You struggle because you're in human flesh and the spirit of God is dwelling on the inside of you and there will always be conflict. You say, oh, but I hate the conflict. I know, but God is working to make you stronger. He's got something that he is going to do in your life as a result of the great stress that you're feeling. Just remain faithful to the one that you're rooted in. Trust the Lord. He knows where he's going to try to get you to. And it goes on and he says, root it and build up. By the way, you can't build something up unless you got a good foundation. Hello? If you don't have a good foundation, you can build a wall. But guess what's going to happen to the wall when the pressure comes? It's the same principle, right? You build up something that's rooted on the right foundation. God says, build your life on the rock of your salvation. Don't build your life on the sandy sand of the culture. Build your life on the rock. Okay. He goes on and he says, and he says, I want you to, I want you to understand where your root system is established. I want you to be built up in Christ. By the way, being more like Jesus, being more like Jesus is hard work. Would you agree with that statement? To be more like Jesus requires some hard work. I guarantee you, I have one of my sons that he's built a whole career of being able to get online. He learned some coding language stuff on the computer and he's made a whole career out of it. I look at that stuff, I read like a few sentences and say, oh, I can do that. And then I try it and it doesn't work. And he said, dad, you didn't read the whole thing, did you? I know, did you? Yeah, I read the whole thing. You gotta know what you're talking about before you go putting stuff in the computer. You gotta know. You're gonna blow up your computer, dad. By the way, I have done that a time or two. And he says, build up is a process that requires effort. Please understand me. Being the kind of Christian God wants us to be is not done by just simple osmosis. Can I just tell you something? As much as I love all of you and I'm thankful that you're faithful to be here tonight, can I just tell you something? The building blocks are being laid for you, but you've got to apply them. I can lay out the building blocks. I can show you in the scripture, but you've got to roll up your sleeves and put the blocks in their place. to be built up in Christ is gonna require effort. It's not just gonna come easily. As a matter of fact, sometimes it comes under a whole lot of pressure. A whole lot of pressure. Well, the last portion of that and I'll close is just the idea of having an attitude of thanksgiving. I have to, I believe that Much of what we're missing in our Christian faith is that we don't appreciate God like we should. And what I mean by that is I think our culture, and it goes back to the beginning statements that I was talking about, the Gnostics and Gnosticism, but the idea is I think our culture wants us so much to disengage from believing that God cares about everything in our life, that what they've done is they've tried to rob us of an understanding that God is in every aspect of our life. Do you know what I mean? We look at our life and say, thank God he helped me find my car. I couldn't remember where I parked it. And we look at that and say, that's silly, but can't we just pause and say, God, thank you for helping me. You go a little bit further and you say, I've prayed about certain things in my life and God didn't answer it the way I thought He was going to. But now when I look back on it, I realize that God answered it the way I needed it to be answered. Hello, y'all still with me? So I should be able to thank God for that. I should be able to thank God when he does stuff in my life that I'm looking at it and saying, there's no other source, there's no other place, there's no other aspect of my life where that could have came from, but God was watching out for me in that circumstance. And the attitude should be, oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Our culture wants to diminish miracles. Our culture wants to diminish the presence of God. Our culture wants us to diminish what it means to even bless God and worship God. Our culture wants us to see it's just a coincidence. Our culture wants us to believe that God really isn't for us unless we're perfect somehow, and none of us are that. So therefore, maybe the world is right. It was just coincidental. Is anybody listening to me right now? I'm speaking from my heart to you. I've encountered this in recent conversations. A young man was trying to convince me that much of what he was experiencing in his life was just coincidence, that really there's no God, and he didn't see it as the hand of God protecting him and watching out for him. And I said, young man, I said to this young man, I said, I believe with everything in me that even though you are not a believer, God has been showing favor to you because he wants to show you that he loves you. that he's got a plan and he's got a purpose for you. And if you will stop believing it's all just manmade coincidental stuff, if you could just open your mind just enough to believe that God has a plan and purpose for you, maybe you would stop seeing it as a coincidence and you would start seeing it as a providence of God to draw you to himself. Maybe God is trying to save your soul, is what I told the young man. I can't tell you that he prayed to receive Christ. I can't even tell you if he'll ever speak to me again. I have no idea if we'll ever cross paths again, but I know for sure God gave me an opportunity to at least speak that into his heart. Somebody here tonight just needs to be reminded. We need to be a little bit more thankful for what we see. And if it is coincidental, if it is coincidence, And I call it a blessing of God. Have I done any harm? No. It's okay. Either way, I still win. But if I thank God for everything that takes place in my life, then it keeps me connected to the source of life, and it keeps me always watchful for what God's gonna do next. keeps me alert, doesn't it? It puts me on awareness. God, if you can help me with something so trivial and so small, I know you can help me get through Monday morning blues. I know you can help me. Let's have a word of prayer together. Heavenly Father,