Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for those who have come out this evening to hear your Word. Father, may your Word touch a cord in each one of us. Give us something that we need, that we may not even realize that we need, and just show us your will through your Word, by your Spirit. that we might focus, concentrate upon your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, the celebrity of the universe. and the only role model for genuine spirituality, as we watch him in the days of his humanity, as we hear him, the words that he spoke directly, and the words that he inspired in his authorized spokesman, and in particular, the Apostle Paul. who gave this magnificent truth that we might hear it and mix faith with it and apprehend it, assimilate it, and apply it in very practical ways. Father, there are certain things that you said you will do for us and we claim those promises and there's other things you tell us to do. And unless we do them, then they don't get done. Because, and we do them not in our own power, by our own strength, but by the Spirit, in faith, trusting you, and operating in accordance with the power that you keep pouring into us. by the powerful word, deeply persuaded by the powerful word, and taught deep within by the Holy Spirit. who has joined himself to our human spirit so that we're one spirit with you, Lord. We want that unity and solidarity that we might, by all means and in every way, Maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace Father we pray that you would magnify your son and our Savior Jesus Christ in our midst. We recognize his presence here We're two or three are gathered together in his name. So we welcome you Lord Jesus and it's in your name That we offer our prayer in Jesus name. Amen I've entitled the message this evening. It's probably going to be a little bit on the brief side, but that's okay. I This one I did for Kevin and everybody else here. It's called Stop It Now. Tuesday, December 17th. I wish Denise would have never prayed about smoking. I don't get it. Leave me alone. That's what I used to say to the Lord. Leave me alone. And he'd say, in a still small voice, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13 5. It's Tuesday, December 17th, 2019. Social security checks come out tomorrow. We can have fun, can't we? Sure. The Lord has a great sense of humor. Look who he's chosen. All of us. Yes. How about that? Well, you might not like me the way I'm going to lead you tonight. This is going to be a very unusual session this evening. I would say it's like none other that we ever had. and I am personally very excited about it. I really didn't expect it to come this way, but it has, and I am rejoicing in the Lord my Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, before we go to our Colossians passages, because we're going through Colossians, we're up to Colossians 3-5. Before we go to our Colossians passage, I want to tell you a little thing that happened here. On Sunday morning, when Michelle Sherba came in, you know who Michelle is with the kids, Dimitri and Lilia and Vincent and Yitzhak. She came in to church. She asked me, she was very concerned, and she goes, how's Lynette? How's Lynette doing? And in fun, and in my twisted sense of humor, not thinking she would take me seriously, I said to her, she passed away. That's how I joke about stuff like that. And I forgot that Michelle's very serious, so she wouldn't take that as a joke. So I could have, yeah, poor Lynette. When's the services? When's the service? I could have never anticipated her reaction as she immediately gasped and nearly collapsed on the floor, thinking I was serious rather than joking. You got to be careful. So I immediately apologized and comforted her. with the good report that Lynette was feeling better, much better, and to date with the testing that she had, et cetera, that there were no significant findings. So she felt better after that. But I think she still was in shock the whole time. This is a prime example of just how stupid and insensitive I can be. Therefore, in all such cases, I need to be much more serious and much more careful. I'm never going to say to you again that you can't believe me unless I'm in the pulpit. I've always said that. Don't believe a word I say unless I'm in the pulpit. Because I'm always joking and joshing. But that has to change. So a pastor, a poimen in the Greek, which translated means a shepherd, is responsible to lead by example the flock that God has given him. And in no small way should he ever, in any way, shape, or form, lead them astray, cause them to doubt God forbid, cause some to stumble. He's charged by the Lord never to give offense to Jews, Gentiles, or the Church of God. James 3.1, therefore James says, Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a far stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. But if anyone does not stumble, that is in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well as his tongue. These, to be sure, are tall orders. And therefore, as James cautions those who may be considering the office of pastor, that not many should be pastors, as such they are subject to a much stricter standard of conduct than the rest. All of us, regardless if you're a pastor or just a member of a congregation with no title, no official position, all of us are a work in progress. We're the workmanship of Christ in Ephesians 2.10. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them. That's Ephesians 2.10. All of us are a work in progress. Yes, likewise, pastors, by the grace of God, he brings us along and continues to remove the things from us that are stupid, careless, and offensive that affect others in the church. Now we can go to Colossians. Having said all that, Colossians 3.5. This is what the Apostle says, by the word of the Lord, by the inspiration of the Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who is the source of Paul's truth, 100%. He uses Paul and Paul's personality and Paul's learning and understanding, and brings Paul along too, believe me, like he does every one of us. He says, Paul says, Necro. You know what necrotic means? It means dead. Here it means put to death. Put to death. And he says, un, which is the coordinating conjunction, therefore. Therefore, put to death. He says, the members. Those upon the earth. The members here are melos, or melee. which are your limbs, literally, and refers to what we do with our limbs or what they're used for, what we use them for. Jesus said, if your hand causes offense, cut it off. Or if your eye is evil, he says, gouge it out. Not literally. we are to refrain at all costs from hindering, or offending, or hurting, or harming others. In Matthew 5.30, Matthew 18.8, Mark 9.43, and 45. So he says, therefore put to death the limbs, your limbs, those upon the earth. Gase is earth. Epites gase, upon the earth. Those upon the earth. Epites gase, those upon the earth. Talking about our physical bodies, our mortal bodies, the bodies that we have here on earth. Our bodies, we're told, in many passages of New Testament Scripture, belong to the Lord. He bought us with a price. We're to honor him and glorify him in our bodies and our spirits, which belong to the Lord. Our bodies belong to the Lord and our vessels to hold his word, containing his spirit, and our spiritual life that we bear around in these bodies, the life we live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, et cetera. Our bodies belong to the Lord and are vessels and vehicles for carrying out his will, and to use them for any lesser tawdry or sinful purpose will not be tolerated past a point and will incur discipline. Once we realize, and it takes us a long time to realize certain things, what we are doing, and or if we resist the Lord in arrogance. The Lord is patient, long-suffering, where ignorance is concerned, but addresses arrogance head-on. And that is once we know what his word says, once we know what his will is. That's James 4.6. God resists the arrogant believer. but gives grace to the humble believer. The humble believer is the one who kneels before God. In the kneeling posture of the soul, receiving his word, he's teachable, he's malleable, moldable. He knows that he's clay, and that Jesus Christ is the potter. And he'll mold and make him any way he wants to. So he says, put away, put to death, he says, We use the word, put to death, the closest English word is mortify. Mortify the members, your members. Consider them dead, those upon the earth. He says where pornia is concerned, that's pornography. Then he says akatharsia, which is impurity, but it really means perversion. Pornography, perversion. And then he has pathos, which is unbridled passion. And then he has epithumia, which is inordinate desire or lust. And then he says kakain, which is kakos, which is evil. That's evil motives. And then he says pleonetsia, which is greed. And he says of greed, he says, which is tantamount to. idolatry. Greed is idolatry. You say, well people don't worship idols today, they worship money. Greed is idolatry. And then he goes on to say in verse 6, he says, through these, or for it is because of these, that the wrath of God comes upon those who are sons of apathy. The words of Pythos, or Pythia, where we get the word apathy, it means apathy or disobedience. It says, because of these, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of apathy, or disobedience. This could be sons of the wicked one, or it could be sons of the Lord, who are sons, who are all sons by faith in Jesus Christ, Galatians 3.26, but there are some sons that are disobedient and apathetic. As a matter of fact, the final era of church history is characterized by widespread apathy in the church of Laodicea. They say, we're rich and have need of nothing. They're idolaters. Jesus said, I counsel you, most directly and urgently, that you buy from me gold refined in the fire, white raiment and eyesalve, so that you can be really rich, so that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and so that you might not lose out or miss out. the great and the high stakes of eternity, time and eternity. The believer cannot lose his salvation. If he's a believer in Jesus Christ, and God knows those who are his, if he's a believer in Jesus Christ, he cannot lose his salvation. He didn't do anything to earn it, he just believed in Christ to receive it, and therefore it is a precious gift. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. can't lose his salvation, but he can lose everything but his salvation. I hope you've gotten that so far. Behold both the kindness and the severity of the Lord. The Lord doesn't deal with us according to our iniquity, but at the same time we suffer the consequences, the unintended negative consequences of the wrong that we do. That's why he tells us not to do it. It doesn't affect him, but it affects us, and he says stay away from it because it'll hurt you. It'll kill you. Some things will kill you. So, he says, the wrath of God comes upon those sons of apathy or disobedience. Believers can do as they wish, they can do as they like, but not without consequence, not without great peril. In some instances, in many instances, they can do anything that unbelievers can do. You think it's possible? Absolutely. I'm here to tell you because I've done them in the past. They can do more wicked things than believers can. Should they? No, they shouldn't ever do that, but they do in some instances. And there's great powerful spiritual forces against them. And if Satan gets a hold of you, you give him the opportunity and invitation to do so, he can wreak havoc through the life of a believer. But they can do anything that they want, they can do more than a believer can do, an unbeliever can do, but we are not permitted to do that, to go there. And by doing so, we invite severe discipline, and with long-term apathy or disobedience, we can certainly lose everything except our salvation, die miserably, painfully, and even shamefully, for some will withdraw in shame when they stand before the Lord, it is coming. In James 2.28, 1 John 2.28, 1 John 5.16, and following James 5.16, dying with what's called the sin unto death, which is dishonorable discharge from this life. We don't trifle with the Lord. Rather, we're encouraged to kiss the Son. honor him supremely take the word from his mouth come close let him breathe out his word and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation kiss the son lest he become angry with you and you perish in the way when his angers kindled just a little little trifle with the Lord Jesus Christ he was here meek and mild but he's coming to avenge every enemy we don't want to be those who imitate the enemies of God in any way. We would come apart from them and be separate. Believers can do anything they want. They can even be worse than unbelievers in terms of morality and their moral life, but we're not permitted to do so and invite severe discipline with serious consequences. Without the Word, without the filling of the Spirit, correction, instruction, and subsequent adjustment all from the Word of God, things will not go well for us. Those who trust in the Lord with all their heart and acknowledge his right to rule will experience great deliverance and will make steady or uninterrupted progress. Those who do not will experience trouble at every turn, disappointment, along with great unhappiness, even sickness. in many instances, long-term sickness, just so the Lord can get and keep your attention, so that you'll have to turn to the Lord. Nothing else can help, nothing else will work. I'm not talking about things like people have gone through here recently. I'm not talking about those things. Those things also have the purpose of getting our attention, keeping our attention, turning our attention to the Lord. The only one that can help us, doctors don't know what's wrong with us, but the Lord does, and He'll bring it to pass. He brings it on, brings it to pass, and you're strengthened by it, you're encouraged by it, and facilitated or capacitated by it. Capacitated to trust the Lord. So, have you ever known any believers who are like this? In other words, you just disregard the Lord? They're apathetic, indifferent toward the things of the Lord, the things of the Word? I have. I was one. Therefore, it's imperative that each one learn how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. In 1 Thessalonians 4.3, the Word of God says, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. That is to be set apart from sin, from the continuous engaging of the flesh, according to the old life the old things the old habits and be Renewed in the spirit of your mind and be that new creation that Jesus Christ made you to be in a fiat flash in a moment of Resurrection life on the inside So this is the will of God your sanctification. That is that you abstain from sexual immorality that each of you know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification and honor not in lustful passion like the Gentiles that is the heathen who do not know God and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the mat in the matter because the Lord is the avenger of all these things just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity perversion or sexual immorality, but in sanctification. So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Do not grieve the Spirit, do not quench the Spirit, do not do despite to the Spirit of grace, because the discipline is very severe. Now verse 7, he says, in them also You used to walk around. You formerly, pote, walked around. It means you used to, but you don't anymore. You formerly, in them, that is in these sins that he listed there, you formerly walked around. When you lived in them, that is before you lived in Christ, before you were in Christ. Then he says in verse eight, but now, You must lay aside, yes you, all these things. Wrath, now he's going into mental attitude things, before it was physical things and sins of the flesh. Wrath, anger, then sins of the tongue, evil blasphemy, The words blasphemia, which is blasphemy, evil, kakia, blasphemy, evil blasphemy, blasphemous things that you say, like taking the Lord's name in vain, et cetera, like that. I know believers that still use that as an expletive. In almost every conversation, not only do they think there's nothing wrong with using gutter talk, like the F word, every other word, but also the Lord's name in vain. You're sure to hear them Jesus Christ something sooner or later. Far too often. Instead of honoring that name, the name above every other name, the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, we honor that name supremely. We don't use it flippantly in vain or as a curse word. Nothing chaps me more than when I hear that. And if you hear a believer do it, you want to choke them. What? What was that? You know, they really don't know him if they use it. They might be saved, but they don't know him. They don't know him very well at all. And shame on them. You know, I give them the big shame on you. Shame on you. Get a great big shame on you. So anyway, then he says shameful speech. It's eiskro logi, a shameful talk. From your mouth, stop it now. Then he says in verse 9, do not lie. Stop lying to one another. then he says this. This is a word that we've seen three times in the last two chapters. In 2.11, this is the word apekdusai. Apekdusai is the stripping off of your sinful flesh, your sinful nature when you got saved, and That's in Colossians 2.11. In 2.15, Christ stripped off principalities and powers and disannulled their power, disarmed them, when he went through the atmosphere, so that Satan can't touch you unless you invite him to do so. And you're not careful to stay hidden in Christ, in the Word of God. And God will do that for you, so that the wicked one can't touch you in 1 John 5.18. He has no claims to you. You belong to Christ. So he says he stripped off principalities and powers. And here's, those are two things that Christ did. And this is one that you're supposed to do. You're supposed to strip off. Apec doucides, the same word. Colossians 2.11 and 2.15, what Christ did for you. 3.9 here, what you must do for yourself. In obedience to Christ, he says stripping off the old man. That is Pelion Anthropon. Pelios means the decrepit, obsolete, worthless, or useless. It's an adjective. And Anthropon, the person that you used to be, that which we're told in 2 Corinthians 5.17 is parachemi, which means which passed away. All that is old, Pelios, passed away. All that is new, has come to stay. So you don't take up those things that belong to the old order. The old thoughts, the old ways, the old patterns, and the old practices. He says you strip them away. Easier said than done, isn't it? Then he says, not just the thought of them, he says, but with the practices of them. Oh boy. I wish he wouldn't say things like this. It's too convicting. Strip off the old man with the practices of his. See, there won't be any of those things in heaven. So he tells us to get rid of them now. So I say to the Lord, convince me that it's necessary. Convince me that it's so. Then I say, take it away, take it away, take it away now. Isn't there a song like that? If you're not careful, I'll recite a modern song. So don't test me. Everybody has something that he needs to strip off or lay aside. And if we're willing to do so, he's able to bring it about. that we might have greater fervor, power, and progress in Christ to the glory of God. These things hold us back. That's why he tells us to do it, because they hold us back. They don't affect him, but they affect us. So he wants us to get rid of them so that we can experience the fullness. joy and spiritual and grace, the fullness of grace and the fullness of glory in Christ. The things he wants to remove are the things that hold us back, and if we let him take them away, if we're willing to strip them off, We'll finally be able to forge ahead. They've been holding us back for a long time. The things he wants to remove are the things that hold us back and limit our happiness. That's it. Make us the miserable creatures that we are and yet we want to hang on to them. He says get rid of them. Strip them off. Some of us need to stop lying. Some of us need to stop scheming. Some of us need to stop thinking about and viewing pornography. Is that possible? You bet it is. Some of us need to quit cursing, gossiping, judging others, taking vengeance, refusing to forgive, holding grudges. Others among us need to quit drinking, to quit smoking, to quit overeating, watching too many news broadcasts, day and night, to the exclusion of the Word of God. You know, they don't spend any time in the Word of God, but they listen to CNN all day long, and they're just politically interested, but not interested in the one who controls human history, Jesus Christ, which shouldn't be. And whatever it is, get rid of anything that holds us back or holds us captive. There are things that we do every day that are so deeply ingrained that have become bad habits, even addictions that control our lives. Harmful things. that enslave us, some things that have the potential to make us very sick and even kill us, yet we still do. Where these things are concerned, there comes a time when the Lord says, that'll be enough of that. It's time to strip it off. It's time to quit doing that. Do it now before it's too late. He will also show you how to break the vicious cycle. See, it's these things that you do all the time, every day, that keep you in bondage every day. So what do you do? And what does it take to break the chain that binds you to the negative, hurtful, harmful, and sinful practices that the Lord has asked you to strip off or get rid of? Well, here's what you do. You stop doing for one day what you do every day, just one day, 24 hours. And it will dawn on you that you can do it with the complete backing of the Lord. Then next, you do it again the next day. And with two days under your belt, you will know that it is entirely possible to let it go and never do it again. Only takes two days. Not one, two. One day, okay, two days, takes two days. These things are things you would not do if Christ were present. You would not do these in his presence. But the fact is, he is very much present with us, moreover, in us. Therefore, all of us are at all times in his presence. And so it's those things that we would not do in his presence that he commands us to put away, to strip off, to put down, put down, kill him, mortify him, and to let go. Let's see if this is practical and powerful, starting right now, tonight. Now, I do not expect anybody here to do anything that I would not or could not do myself. For years, as a believer, even as a believer, my wife can testify this, but she'll cover me, I drank, I did drugs, oh yes, I was prone to sensuality and lust, but am no longer plagued or inclined to these things, the Lord delivered me from them substantially. And I know what to do. As soon as I have a thought, I cast it down. Cast down imagination, every high thing that exalts itself against the true knowledge of God. Oh, he's given me so much, and I don't want to jeopardize it in any way. I'm very, very careful what I think about, what I look at. But I have other problems, as you do, too. I was set free from these. and no longer desire them having left them far behind. And until now, there are other things that I do that I realize need likewise to go bye-byes. Now, you have to understand, God accepts us and accepts me just the way I am. Whether or not I do this or that, And should I continue to do certain things, it would not affect his love toward me or his grace toward me, and it would not either benefit or affect him if I did. But the fact is, it does affect me. And therefore, in his will for me and his desire to make me whole, And to keep me well, he wants me to stop doing these things that control me and diminish my testimony and impact as his minister and representative before this congregation and as ambassador to the general public, the people in this community. Therefore, starting now, in your presence and with your help and prayers, I'm laying my cigarettes on the altar. I've never done this. And if you want to join me, I don't have any, they're gone. We can help each other overcome our gripping addiction to tobacco. Curse you, Sir Walter Raleigh. So let it be known from now on, you didn't see me go out back, did you? I'm hurting. Let it be known from now on, you're going to have to bum cigarettes from someone else. Verse 9, do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self. with its evil practices and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. The word of God is available and the Holy Spirit of God is available for immediate application when finally we're ready to trust God and make a decision, no biggie. We're going to make a decision. He told us what to do. He said, strip it off. Jesus doesn't smoke, nor does the Apostle Paul, nor will any of us when we get to heaven. I remember my uncle said that. I said, why did you quit smoking, Connie? He goes, there's no smoking in heaven. I want to get ready. He was gone. He was gone. He was on total dialysis for 17 or 19 years. I forget how long it was, and became a believer. No kidney function whatsoever. Had dialysis equipment in his home. His wife administered it, and he lived as long as he could. Only it was terrible back then because the equipment wasn't as sophisticated as it is today, and there was all kinds of residual medical problems with your extremities and he had to have his feet cut back and cut off eventually and just terrible things happen. But he knew where he was going, he had to quit smoking. He said, there's no smoking in heaven. So, Jesus doesn't smoke, nor does the Apostle Paul. That impressed me. Nor will any of us when we get to heaven, so let's get it on and get it over with. The Spirit of God is here to accomplish his will in sanctification and mortification of the flesh. I'm not talking about anything hyper-spiritual. I'm talking about if he shows you what he showed me. He's been here all along. But we must choose to let or allow him to finally have his way and to receive strength to finally do his will. There are certain things that the Lord takes away immediately and other things that linger and lag behind. What did the Lord do with you, Dan? Did he take your cigarettes off you when you got saved? What, two weeks after you got saved? Never had another one? Oh, one year later, okay. Gone. Oh, after he quit drinking. Then he quit smoking. Of course, you can't smoke and not drink. And not drink and not smoke! But some things he takes away all of a sudden, miraculously and immediately, and other things linger, lag behind. When I was ordained in 2001, it's going on 19 years, almost 20 years, I asked the Lord if it would be okay for me to smoke a while longer because I enjoyed smoking and did not consider it to be detrimental, mind-altering, or detrimental to my fulfilling the call to preach his word and lead his congregation. But the time has come for me to mortify it and to cast it away, to strip it off. You may say, how do you know you can do it? Because I know the Lord is in it. And therefore, I have suddenly become very resolute and determined, even excited about it, And by faith in the truth and reliance upon the spirit of God, I've made no reservations or possibility of failure. No reservations for the flesh, no possibility of failure. And that's why I'm telling you about it, because I'm accountable to you. Then he says this, and having, you never heard a preacher talk like this, have you? I want to be honest and real with you, as real as I can be, because it might just help you. What people do in pious platitude doesn't help anybody. All it does is give them some false sense of something. You don't even know what it is. It's all a lie. It says, stop lying to one another. He says then next, he says, and having put on the new, the one being renewed unto Epinosis, full knowledge, spiritual knowledge, full apprehension, assimilation, and application of spiritual life truth that is not falling short or coming short of application. He says, according to the image or likeness of the one. having created him, that is, having created a new man, who is who? Jesus Christ. Unattached, untethered, unencumbered, unaddicted, like Jesus, who doesn't smoke. I do not want to be mortified when he comes, so instead I decided to mortify the flesh. that which I am, all of the sudden, willing and able, by the grace of God, to do. If he came today, I'm afraid I would make him wait until I finished my cigarette. I'm serious. This is not something I'm asking you to do. It is something that the Lord impressed me very strongly to do to demonstrate that it can indeed be done with very little trauma and with far-reaching positive results proved to be the right thing for me to do at this time in my life before it kills me. By the way, I apologize for not having done it sooner or for being cavalier, that is arrogant, about it until now. No one knew, including my wife, that I was going to do this tonight. Only the Lord, he told me to do it. I was going to do it before, a couple months ago, and you probably got an inkling of it, but I chickened out. Because I am, in and of myself, a very weak man, and was a sniveling coward until now. But no more, not in this area. I realize that some of you like the fact that I smoke, But there are many more that will be relieved that I quit. I'm not going to judge you if you still do. Don't worry about that. I'm not going to be the worst kind of smoker, which is an ex-smoker. They're the worst. I believe this to be the answer to the prayer that we've been recycling in our Tuesday evening prayer meeting. I must admit that I secretly hoped that Denise would stop praying that the Lord would grant our request that some of us, if not all of us, that smoke would be empowered to quit. Every time she started, I'd go, oh no. I agreed with it, but I didn't know the Lord was going to do it to me. But I promise not to be the worst kind of smoker, an ex-smoker, where others are concerned. I, for one, cannot deny it any longer, and will pray that the rest can likewise find the motivation to do the same thing. And now, I will no longer be able to say, as I have said far too many times, I'll quit smoking when they pry the last cigarette from between my cold, dead fingers. because there will not be one there to pry. Likewise, there are many other things that we harbor from the old life that hinder us and hold us back from fully seeking or serving the Lord Jesus, and as a result, limits the fullness of peace and joy accompanying our devotion to Him. Is it sinful to smoke? Not necessarily. The Bible doesn't say don't smoke. unless you do so in defilement, without faith, or are condemned by doing so, or if after the Lord beckons you to quit, you insist or persist on continuing until the inevitable negative consequences of sickness come to roost. And it's too little too late. how patient he has been thus far in keeping us relatively well, despite our continuing to flirt with disaster. All such things the Lord wants to remove and has promised to accomplish, which according to our passage he will not do by miraculous deliverance, but rather by strengthening our desire and resolve to leave the realm of fleshly indulgence and by faith enter into new realms of trust, and reliance with the greater grace benefits he provides for those who eventually humble themselves under his mighty hand so that he can exalt them in due season. My present to you this Christmas is that I quit smoking, and I believe that since it was holding me back from being the best version of myself, that the Lord made me to be and called me to be, I'm expecting many more years, if the Lord tarries, of fruitful service and wonderful insight from the word of God in order that together we might benefit more than ever from the word and message of Jesus Christ. in this place, and that perhaps the Lord will grant that more people would be drawn without offense to our church to receive and enjoy to a maximum degree God's abundant grace. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for these things that are real, that are right, that are true, that honor and glorify your Son, Jesus Christ. Father, we pray, not that we would do or continue to do things in and of ourselves, but we are completely relying upon you. And we know that you will guard us, and garrison us, and strengthen us, and keep us from bad choices and excuses. and to press on. We are not going to turn back. You must help, as you well know, and as you have promised to do, and that we're relying upon entirely. And we thank you for these things. If I could have my ashes, please, Father, bless the offering in Jesus' holy and precious name. Amen. That's on tape. That's on tape.