Now that I'm on Romans chapter 8, I'm going to look at three passages in pretty quick succession this morning. I'll give you a second to get turned to Romans 8. We will pray. We are talking about, we're studying, we're not just talking about him, we're trying to look at and understand from the Bible the ministry of the Spirit in our lives. It is crucial. He is not the silent, insignificant member of the Trinity. He lives in us. He teaches us the truth of God's Word. He is the reason we believe that God's Word is true. He is the instrument and the agent of our salvation and of our faith. And so to kind of discard him as insignificant in the life of the believer is a tremendous, tremendous error. And I suppose in some ways, like all things of God, that there is no end of I'm not trying to wind this down, but I'm going to take, I think, the next two weeks and try to deal with what really are a little bit more abstract ideas with reference to the Spirit. Let's pray. Father, we believe in you because you have given us the faith and your Spirit is the member of the Trinity who teaches us and instructs us, who anoints us. who gives to us understanding, and so we pray again for his help today to understand his work in our lives, and I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So two verses, and I'm just gonna begin by kind of reading them quickly without much comment. We'll read the two together, and then just a very quick comment. Romans chapter eight and verse number 14. Romans 8, 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And then Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5 and verse number 18. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now I don't have a lot of time, I'm not taking the time to develop this this morning, but I want to talk to us or begin to talk to us about the leading of the Spirit in our lives. What is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to us? And he is, of course, we are born out of the spirit. We are led into the truth of God's word by the spirit. We have an unction or an anointing from the spirit that enables us to believe the truth of God's word. His ministry to us is varied. And one of the things that he does is lead us. And I read those two verses because Paul is using that expression, led of the spirit, But he doesn't mean it in the way that I'm talking about it this morning. When Paul is using it in those two places, Romans 8.14 and Galatians 5.18, he is using lead of the spirit as a synonym for being saved. In other words, what would be the best way to put this? All truly saved people are spirit-led people. I'll truly say people are spirit-led people. But when we talk about being led of the spirit, I feel like this is what God wanted me to do. I felt led of the Lord too. That's just not what Paul's talking about in Romans 8 or Galatians 5. And I just think that a casual look at the broader context would help us to understand that. And with that, turn, if you would, to the book of Hebrews, chapter number one. And we will come to that in a minute. A couple of questions just by way of introduction. Does God really lead his people in an individual way? And again, I will go back and forth between this today, but all believers are led by the Spirit. And that leading of the Spirit, both within the framework of Romans 8 and within Galatians 5, is going to orient all of us around the very same things. In other words, to be stupid about it. It's not as if the spirit of the Lord leads some people to be nice and some people to be mean, or some people to be gracious with their words and some people to be harsh with their words. The leading of the spirit that Paul is talking about in Romans 8 and Galatians 5, is going to be the way in which God is always orienting all of his people towards the image of Christ to be like him at all times and in all ways. And so we're all gonna be kind of in uniformity to that. I'm talking about, as we talk about, does God lead us individually? Some people say no. I mean, some people just say flat out that God does not lead his people individually. He has given you a will, which is true. And he's given you a Bible, which is true. And so you're supposed to take your Bible and intersect it with your will. And you're supposed to make your decisions. At the far end of the spectrum, some people would almost take the approach that everything that we do should be the direct individual leading of the Spirit, that we're almost handcuffed unless we have some sense that God is telling us to do something. And I know I've told this a million times, it just kind of stands out in my early days as a Christian because I was listening to two, I was not only a freshman in Bible college, I was a very new believer, I was listening to two upperclassmen talk, And one guy was asking the other guy if he was going to take the position he'd been offered, and his response was, I just didn't have peace about it. Which is a very common approach that we take. Is God leading me to do this? Well, I don't really have peace about it. I would argue that there is virtually no evidence in the Bible that Everything that we do, every place that we go, every job that we take, every decision that we make is supposed to be attended by some sense of being individually directed and led by the Bible. There's just not any evidence of that. And I would always come back and ask this question. One of the things that the Bible magnifies is the necessity of wisdom in our lives. And if everything that we do is the result of being individually directly led by the Spirit, we don't need to be wise, apart from whatever wisdom it would take to know whether or not it was the Spirit of God leading us. And I think we all understand, folks, that the million dollar question to the individual leading of the Spirit of the Lord is just that. How do I know that it's the Lord? How do I know that it's the Lord telling me to do something? And when I recognize that one of the things that the Lord says about me that is my problem, right? What is one of my biggest problems in this life is that I'm driven by my lusts. Now, we don't call our feelings lusts, but I think God often would call our feelings lusts. We desire things, we want things. And we feel very strongly about those things. It's the nature of the desire to want something. So why is the Lord often talking to me about the necessity of walking in wisdom if he's just going to tell me everything that I should do? Should I do this? Yes or no? And then I have the, all right, I need the wisdom to know that it's the Lord, but then after that, right, a five-year-old needs to have the wisdom to know that it's mom talking, but they don't need to have any wisdom about the decision that is being made. Mom is making the decision on their behalf, at least in a home that we would, you know, I realize in our world, five-year-olds run the place oftentimes, but, right, in the world the way that it ought to be, The parents are making decisions on behalf of the young children. The children just need to obey. So how do we tabulate that? And I think I would just probably take kind of a hybrid approach. I would argue that the vast majority of things that we do, the decisions that we make, are just that. They are decisions that we make. and that we are confronted, that it is the will of the Lord for our life that we make many decisions. And this is the way that he has arranged life. He has given us resources and has revealed his will about things in general for us to make the right decisions. And then the basis of our judgment will be upon our skill in making and in interest, right? Well, we may look at the verse Paul Paul talks about the fact that our intentions are a huge part of the ultimate judgment process. God knows not only what we did, but why we did it. But I would not... Should we, I was gonna say... Is that the five minute rule and the bell is rung? See you next Sunday. But I would not rule out ever the fact that the Spirit of God does have a will and at times does individually deal with us about that. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is not an abstraction. He is indwelling. And one of the great questions, folks, and really one of the great mysteries and challenges of our Christian life is the way and the understanding between God's real spirit and our spirit and that interaction. And the Bible treats it as a fact, right, with reference, for instance, to the certainty of our salvation. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. So the Holy Spirit is not then just this impersonal being whom we have no sense. So it really is, I would not try to, you know, I would not try to ridicule the idea at all. I just think, and hopefully we can work through some of them, I think that there are some things that we have to recognize that are mandates when we're dealing in that world of, I think this is what God wants me to do. And I really think that it's of the Lord versus this is something I'd like to do and I think it's an okay decision to do it. So with that, let's just begin by turning our attention to Hebrews chapter one. Verse number one of Hebrews one, God, who at sundry times, which means different times, and in diverse manners, which means in different ways, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. He began by talking to us about the way the word of God communicated, and then quickly began just to magnify the incarnate word. Because Jesus is word. So again folks, God has spoken to his people throughout the course of human history. And God speaks to us as his people. And again the big question is how to know whether it is the voice of the Lord or whether it is the voice of myself or whether it is the voice of Satan to whatever extent Satan can directly interfere. I don't think that we have regular conversations with Satan. Let me hasten to put that in there. So, number one, folks, there have been times when God has led his people directly, when he has clearly communicated his will and his instructions to people and to individuals. He spoke directly to Adam. And the way that it is presented in the Old Testament is, I don't mean informally, but conversational in nature. God talked to Adam in the sense of God saying words that Adam could hear, not impressions upon Adam's heart. But God said things to Adam. Here's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The text comes across as if Adam heard the voice of God. say that God spoke directly to Abraham. Again, the text just kind of tells us that God said to Abraham. God spoke to Moses. And yet there have been times, folks, when God has spoken to people through dreams and through visions. Daniel. Ezekiel. In Acts chapter eight, the spirit of God told Philip where to go and what to do. The direct individual leading of the spirit, right? There is the great command, the great commission leading of the spirit, right? We're all led of the spirit. The great commission is applied to all believers. And yet Stephen had a particular specific ministry or Philip had a particular specific ministry that God gave to him, go here and do that. But those were rare instances, folks. They have always been on the rare side. Again, you know, we talked a lot about this when we talked about the filling of the Spirit, that we need to come to a text of Scripture and we need to learn to ask ourselves, is this a normal experience or an extraordinary experience? So that, again, to go back and revisit it, be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians chapter 5, is something that is treated as normal. All of us should experience it. John the Baptist filling with the Spirit from the womb is treated as extraordinary and not normal for any of us. not anything that we would have experienced when we were yet unborn, not anything that we should pursue for our children, for anyone who is expecting a child. It's not normal, it is extraordinary. So were those extraordinary instances or were they normal instances? Is it the norm in light, for instance, of the Great Commission that God would give individual set of instructions along that line. And yet, I think most of us would have times and experiences in our lives where we really believe that the Lord is dealing with us about witnessing to a particular individual person. Furthermore, these times when God leads his people directly, they tend to come at very transitionary times in the unfolding narrative of salvation. Joel 2.28, it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. So that's another one of those rather extraordinary events that's put within the framework of the entire eschaton, the entire picture of the last days. And one of the most significant things about that, folks, these things, folks, is that all of them came at times when the scriptures were not yet completed. It is the completed canon of scripture. that really is going to function to limit us in using that kind of language that the Spirit of the Lord told me. So if we're in Hebrews chapter number one, right, we have read that God has in different times and in different ways spoken to our fathers now has spoken unto us in the sun. Verse number five, for unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son in this day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth in the firstborn into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith, who make us his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But under the sun, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. They shall all wax old as doth the raiment, and as a vesture thou shalt fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. And then he goes on to talk about the angels. But what happens then in verses five through 12, folks, the Lord, right, the Lord takes us back to the spoken word and just begins to pepper us with questions that are taken right out of the Old Testament. So that you and I should never allow there to be a lot of distance between what God tells us and what God has said. His Bible is His word. And His Bible is His word whether we read it or whether we were to hear it audibly from one of His angels. The Bible is His word. It is the voice of God. and it speaks the word of God. Secondly then, God leads his people through the direct command of scriptures. And I don't think we would really fight about any of this, right? We all kind of struggle with this because nobody wants, no sincere believer wants to have an indifferent relationship with God in which we are ambivalent or indifferent to doing the things that the Lord wants us to do. I would hope that none of us, right, that when we're in that kind of state, if we're in that kind of state, that that is a source of grief to us. Not, right, so nobody wants a dead relationship with God. What does a living relationship, that's probably a bad way to put it, what does that look like? Well, God does lead us through the direct commands of scripture. And it is absolutely the will of God that we obey the commands of scripture. and to abide, I think, more broadly, right? Because when we talk about the direct intervention and leading of God, we're not talking about, I hope, in disobedience to the Bible, but realistically in conjunction with the Bible. We don't set aside the Bible because The Bible doesn't go away because we're sorting through whether God wants us to take a job or to enter into a marriage or to enter into a business dealing or to relocate our family to a different city. The Bible doesn't become incidental, but we are frequently looking for the direct leadership of God to help us with that decision. So we have absolute clear commands. We have mandatory commands. We have clear and absolute mandatory prohibitions. In other words, again, being kind of simplistic and stupid, it's never going to be the will of the Lord. God is never going to lead me to steal, and he is never going to lead me to lie, and he is never going to lead me to cheat, and he's never going to lead me to be an adulterer, because he has spoken clearly, and I have his word, and his word is his will on those kinds of issues. But I also have some broader constraints that come, right? One of them is, for instance, to do everything to the glory of God. So the scriptures do not even attempt to cover all the things that you and I could do in our lives. But it does constrain everything that you and I do in our lives. under, again, one umbrella that I would argue is an equally legitimate part of the Spirit's leading, that everything is done to God's glory. That everything is done to God's glory. That everything is done to give God the supreme valuation of what we do. Paul talks about, in Romans 1, the obedience of faith. And if we go to Hebrews 11 and work through Hebrews 11, a substantial amount of faith takes on the attitude of obedience. In other words, how do I know that I have faith? It is not a sensation or a feeling or an emotion. Faith is the response of obedience. God says, here's what I want my people to do, and we go, okay, then we will endeavor to do that. And that's faith. And that's true from the very beginning, right? The gospel really comes to us, folks, as a command. It's offered in the sense that you may be forgiven, right? But Peter will say, God now commanded all men to, Paul will say, God now commanded all men to repent, right? There's the command. Who repents? Those that have faith, those that obey in belief. So when we come to the text of scripture, and it tells me to do something, and we'll talk more about this after the first of the year, The acid test of whether or not I have true faith is whether or not I do what God says. And to go off on a little bit of a tangent, we tend to frame these things in terms of circumstances and obstacles. We tend, this is part of our problem, is that we tend to see those things not through the lens that God does, God says, do this, and we go, you don't have a clue. That's impossible to do. I could never do that. And God always turns it back to the way that it is. Well, you have a faith problem. You don't have an obstacle problem. You have a faith problem. And so part of being led of the Spirit is doing the things that God has clearly instructed all of his people to do in the scriptures. God tells us to do something and we obey him in the doing of it. Thirdly, God does lead his people equally providentially. And what I mean here providentially is that in reality, but usually kind of invisibly, There's very much kind of an unconscious element to it. It's a lot easier to look back on it in retrospect. One of the things, when I graduated high school in 1975, I was a terrible student. I was an unsafe teenager. The last thing I had any interest in doing or intention of doing was going to college. I was like many 18 year olds. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew what I didn't want to do. And I didn't want to go to college. And I didn't have a clear career path. And my best friend and I talked, we worked together, and we kind of talked, and he decided one day he was going to join the Air Force. And in 1975, the Air Force had a program that if you enlisted together, they would guarantee you'd go through boot camp together. We thought this was, right, we were great buddies, we'll have a great time, we'll go to boot camp together. Went down, enlisted, he enlisted, I went down to enlist. Long conversation, long process. The doctor said, you have high blood pressure, you get out. You can't be in the Air Force. Big to do. I was crushed, I thought this was perfect. But it altered the entire trajectory of my life. Now, I'm not saying God couldn't have saved me. if I had gone into the Air Force. But I didn't go into the Air Force, and then I met my wife, and then we got saved, and then the whole course of our life changed. And that what I would put under the providential intervention of God. I was trying to do something, God was doing something, and God was working for something. And, well, turn back to Isaiah chapter 45. We have in the book of Isaiah a couple of monumental examples of the providence of God in the lives of people. Isaiah chapter 45 and verse number 1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, which is the word Messiah to his chosen for a task, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, the king of Persia, whose right hand have I holden to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight, which, by the way, is something he also promised for John the Baptist. I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest know that I, the Lord which called thee by name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake, and for Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. So if you ask Cyrus of Persia what the secret of his success was, he would say, me, Cyrus of Persia. And if you ask Jehovah what the secret of Cyrus of Persia's success was, he would say, me, Jehovah. I opened doors for him. I made smooth paths for him. I gave him military victories. I had my own purpose and agenda in it. I did this for Israel. because Cyrus would become the man who would issue the edict to allow the Israelites to return to the land. And Cyrus doesn't even know who the Lord is. So, and again, it's not necessarily something that we appreciate at the time, and in fact, folks, it's possible when it is happening that it is a bone of contention with us, like Job. like Job. His suffering is the consequence of the providence of God. I'm not really trying to be funny, but it's obvious pretty early in the book of Job that he is not a happy camper. But his experiences are the direct result of the leading of God. That's where I'm going. It is the leading of God. It is not the leading that he likes. It is not the leading that he would choose, but it is the leading of the Lord. And there is a providential dimension to it. He is completely oblivious to it. And we'll get to it as we work our way through the book of Job. But one of the things that Job becomes insistent upon is an audience so that he might make his case and have an explanation that God would tell him what he has done or why this is happening. So things that just kind of seem, you know, things that to us, you know, again, we don't know, we know they're not coincidence. We call them providential things, but maybe how we met our spouse or how we ended up in the career path that we are and how we ended up in the city that we are. Not that God is not involved in these things, but we are not always conscious of His involvement, and sometimes we're not particularly happy at the way things seem to be going. And one of the reasons, folks, that Romans 8.28 can be true, we know that all things work together for good to them that are the called of God, to them that love God, who are the called according to His purpose, is because God is the one who's superintending all of those things. And this operates, I would argue, that God's providence operates in one sphere and one realm without stepping on the toes of the human sphere and the human realm. In other words, Joseph was able to look at the events of his life and say to his brothers, you meant it for harm. You meant it for harm. You were trying to hurt me, but God meant it for good. So the providence of God does not require God somehow secretly manipulating the will of men. It is using the will of men and the activity of men to accomplish his greater purposes. Fourthly, God leads his people as his spirit speaks to their consciences through the word of God. God leads his people as his spirit speaks to our consciences through the Word of God. The Word is His voice. And let me ask you now to go to a passage that we have looked at many, many times simply to illustrate what I'm talking about. Turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 14. Not the Spirit of God, speaks to the conscience of man through the word of God. So in Romans chapter 14, there are two issues that are being addressed. Romans 14.2, one believeth that he may eat all things, Another who is weak eateth herbs. And again, there's big, big controversy, folks, and I want to try and get into it, right, over whether Paul is talking here about the Jewish dietary restrictions or whether he's talking about Gentiles who, for whatever conscience matters, are vegetarians, will eat only herbs, which is not a requirement of the Levitical system. The Levitical system did not require you to be a vegetarian. But my point is just on this. Here's an issue, right? Here's an issue. Can you eat meat or can you not eat meat? There's another issue in verse number five. One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. So there are two issues that are driving, that are kind of carrying along Romans 14. What about food? What about days? Are some days more holy than others? Right, there are two positions that a person can take. Romans 14, 2. One believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. There are two positions to take. Chapter 14 and verse number 6. He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord. He that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not and giveth God thanks. So there are two issues, eating meat and observing days. And there are two positions. I will eat meat or I won't. I will observe days or I won't. But there's only one principle. There's only one principle, Romans 14.3. Let not him that eateth despises him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Or the end of verse number six. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks, and he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord. Whether we die, we die to the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are to the Lord's. Verse number 17, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, joy, and the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. So there are two issues, eat meat, don't eat meat. There are two possibilities, eat meat, don't eat meat. I mean, eat meat or observe days, two possibilities. Eat meat, don't eat meat. Observe days, don't observe days. And the scripture does not require us to embrace one or the other. It requires us to embrace this, that we are all the Lord's. So you can be the Lord's and eat meat, and you can be the Lord's and not eat meat, and you can be the Lord's and observe days, and you can be the Lord and not observe days. And that's the mandate that is levied upon us. God's Word speaks to our consciences through His Word. So, should you take the job or not? Should you accept the move or not? Should you buy the house or not? Seriously folks, apart from your decision to get saved, is there anything in life more important than your spouse? Is there anything over which you should have more clear evidence of the leading of God in the choosing of a spouse? And yet in 1 Corinthians chapter seven, Paul will say, Let them marry who they will only in the Lord. Marry who you want. I would go so far as to say this, folks, God is pretty clear that as long as it's two believers, you can marry who you want. Now, once you get married, right? Once you get married, then all of the mandates for married people become binding upon you, even if you get up one day and go, you know what? I really don't like you very much. And I've told you this before, but one of the things that I kind of do, and I'm just kind of curious, and I do it out of kind of a personal curiosity, and I do it out of a professional curiosity, is that when I talk to pastors, if the conversation goes on long enough, and we're friendly enough, I get around to asking them about their call to the ministry. Because here's a place in which I have never met a pastor who said, oh, I wasn't called into the ministry, I just thought it would be cool. And by the way, and I'm not really trying to be funny, and neither am I playing for the sympathy, but if you think this would be cool, let me just assure you that it is not cool. It will be cool for about eight seconds, and then it will stop being cool. So that invariably, when I talk to men about going into the ministry, they always have some story about believing that God had called them. But in conjunction with that, every one of the stories of the men that I've ever talked to, it has been accompanied in some way by some Bible verse or by some sermon off of a Bible verse. It has always been tethered to the word of the Lord. The Lord used this text. We had a man, this was many years ago, and their departure was very grievous to us personally when they moved away. And he just said, I just believe that this is like Abraham. He went out not knowing whether he went. Now, was I happy? No, no, not at all. but his testimony transcended just simply an emotional position. I gotta close, wind this down. So folks, let me try and give us some principles. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter number four. Just a couple of conditions and cautions. I would never say that the Spirit of God doesn't lead us because I believe that he does. And again, and I don't say this to be funny, right? Now, I would say all decisions have to be governed by the Bible. When my wife and I were sorting through the arduous, agonizing process of whether God wanted us in the ministry, We were still required, although I didn't know this at the time, I was still required to meet the obligations of 1 Timothy chapter three. And also I think the implied obligations of Acts chapter 14, which is, right, the scriptural criterion. I can't just say God called me and somebody go, but you don't meet the biblical qualifications. And I go, I just know that God called me, right? There's lots of that, you can't do that. And there were others then that validated, that's what I would call the Acts 14, right? There are others who recognized the activity of God in our lives and said, you know, you probably should, this is probably something that you should do. So, right? So some cautions and conditions. All decisions must be governed by the Bible. All decisions must be governed by the Bible. And I want to be very careful here, and I am not trying to be ugly. or difficult, but in 40 years of being a pastor, I have heard some absolutely atrocious decisions made by people that are explained by, well, this is what God wants me to do. And I would just take a hard line on this, folks. God never wants you to do anything in this world that will threaten or damage you spiritually. There's no amount of money. Jesus asked the question, what will a man give in exchange for his soul? How much money is your soul worth? How much money is your soul worth? How many job titles is a soul worth? And I just, I say it with sadness, not with bitterness. I just watch people make horrifically spiritually oriented decisions and go, but this is what, this is what God wants. I'm convinced this is what God wants me to do. And I'm convinced that God would not want you to do anything that contradicts his overall desire for the salvation of your soul. There is nothing more important in this world than our spiritual well-being. All decisions must be governed by the Bible. But usually you will have to make a decision that is just that, it is at the end of the day a decision. You pursue the will of the Lord, you seek God's wisdom, And I just would give you this folks, right? Because we tend to want to make these kinds of decisions in light of our consciences. And so let me tell you what Paul says about his very own conscience. 1 Corinthians chapter four. Well, let me start, I'm just gonna read quickly verses one through four. Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Moreover with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, Corinth, or of man's judgment, any man. Yea, I judge not mine own self, for I know nothing by myself. And what he means there is against myself. I don't have anything in my conscience that bothers me. And yet, And yet, he that judgeth me is the Lord. And if you look at Paul's life, folks, Paul killed people with a clear conscience. That's his testimony. I persecuted the church of God and I did it with a clear conscience. I thought I was doing God's service. Felt good, slept well at night. Paul, how'd you sleep with all that blood in your hands? Slept great, doing God a favor. So just our consciences, folks, right? We need to make the best that we can, biblically informed decisions. We believe at times, and I would never dissuade you from this, that the Lord is leading you specifically to do something, but it must be consistent with the clear text of scripture, and it must be consistent with the entire tenor of scripture, with the overarching concern of God for the well-being one soul. And I just will throw this out in conclusion. This is not any kind of a veiled attempt to keep you in Westwood Heights Baptist Church because God moves people and God leads people. But just do it in the right way for the right reasons.