But I wanted to try to encourage you with something tonight. I made the statement this morning when we were talking about the image of God and what that image looks like or looked like in the perfection that Adam and Eve were created in in the garden. I talked about that it was a spiritual image. It was not some physical makeup or some physical thing. It was a spiritual stamp of God upon Adam and Eve. And when in the image of God, all men, you, me, everybody who's ever been born, we are made in that image, we retain a portion of that image, but the powers, if I can call it that, of that, the privileges might be a better word, of that image are so marred in us because of sin, that when we're born, the Spirit of God through the new birth has got to begin to extract them out of us and teach us how to use them, what they were just instinctually created with. And one of the things that I made mention of this morning, basically I said it like this, it was divine and perfect understanding or perfect understanding of divine things. So let me say that again, perfect understanding of divine things. Now, you don't have to raise your hand, but you can if you want to. How many of you at one point or another in your life were under the feeling or the impression you would just absolutely love for God to roll back the sky and tell you what to do? That's what I thought. It would have been so much easier if God would have just split it open or just threw a scroll down from heaven that said, Ryan, do this on this date at this time between these hours. Breathe here. Blink here. And then if you'd have just done that, everything would have just been fine. Because we all, and you may be in a particular spot like that right now, you just wish you could hear an audible voice say, do this right now. And you could just do it and whatever the situation is would just be fine. How would you like to have existed when you never had to wonder what God was trying to do within you? You never had to wonder what his plan was. You never had to wonder what his will was. You never had to wonder what his ways were doing. There was never a moment where it seemed like he was silent. You had a perfect understanding of the divine will at all times. Would that not be absolutely incredible? That is one of the things that was lost in the fall. That's one of the pieces of the image that was lost in the fall. And to prove that, if you look back, and I believe it's in the book of Isaiah, the Lord says through the prophet, he says, in this time, this world that is to come, He said, before you call unto me, I will answer you. And while you are yet speaking, I will hear. Which means that when that image is restored, we will never again have to wonder, God, what in the world do I do now? What in the world do I do in this particular situation or in that particular situation? The answer will be always readily available because we will have that piece of that image restored. And the thing is, is it begins to be restored at our conversion. When we're filled with the Spirit of God and that image begins to be remolded and remade within us. But then it becomes an absolute lifelong process to learn how to listen to God. learn how to be intimate enough with him that you can understand his voice when he speaks and that in those situations you can tell the difference between the fire and the wind and the earthquake and the voice. Because it's really easy to hear the crackling of the fire, the roar of the wind, and the earth-shattering sound of the quaking But so often all we hear is that and we miss the little bitty voice in which God leads us along. And you will never learn the sound of that voice outside of the Word of God. You can sing all you want, you can be as spiritual as you want to, but you will never hear Him speak to you in the middle of your trial, your trouble, your situation, if you do not immerse yourself in His Word. And the more time you spend in His Word, and the more time you spend on your knees in front of His Word, the easier it will get to hear His voice. And so Paul writes in Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, I beseech you, therefore brethren, I beg you brethren, by the mercies of God, that you would present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. To understand the will of God takes a proving process. How do you prove what is the will of God? You present yourself a living sacrifice that's holy and acceptable under Him and you do it day in and you do it day out without fail. But it's not just the presentation of yourself to Him. It is the refusal to be transformed, the refusal to be conformed to the image of the world. Because the world has an image and then there's the image of God. And by our birth, we're conformed to the image of the world. That's the image of the earthy. And that thing is always trying to reach out with its little chain-like claws and grab you and drag you back over here to the image of the earthy instead of you moving closer to the image of the heavenly. And if we are constantly immersing ourself in the things of the world, we cannot and will not hear his voice. And if we're conformed to the world, we can't be transformed in our mind. Our mind can't be renewed in the things of God if it's being conformed to the world. And we'll never prove what the good and perfect and acceptable will of God is. And so yes, it would be greatly beneficial and it would be greatly easy and it would make everything so much clearer if the sky would open and we would just hear a voice that says, do this here, go here, don't do that, do this. But it does not work that way because learning to understand divine things requires the constant presentation of ourselves in faith and in humility unto God every day of our lives. Every single day of our lives. That's why that song So often we sing something like that and we don't even really think about what it says. Is he really Lord of all? Every decision you make, every decision I make, every ambition you have, every dream you have, every want you have, everything you have, is he actually Lord of all? Or do we spend the vast majority of our time, when we ought to be submitting ourselves a living sacrifice unto Him, do we spend most of our time fighting Him during that submission? Do we spend most of our time trying desperately hard to hold on to one little thing, not give up one little thing? Because if we do, we're not submitted in the slightest. You can't be 99% submitted to Jesus, you're either 100% submitted to him or you're not submitted to him at all. Just like you can't be 99% born again, you're either born again or you're not born again. There's no middle ground, there's no gray area. And you know, sometimes it seems like we have a problem, or we have a situation, or we have a struggle, and we've prayed, and we've prayed, and we've prayed, and you just can't get an answer. God won't do anything. It doesn't seem like He's doing anything. It doesn't seem like He's hearing you. It doesn't seem like He's answering you. And you find yourself wondering what in the world is going on, and you're at your absolute wit's end. You're angry, you're confused, you're scared, you're down, you're just miserable because it just seems like how long do I have to pray over this before you do something? And if we're all honest, we've all been there. We've all been there. And we have the tendency in our own selves that we get mad and we get angry. And there's not a single person that's ever been alive on the face of the earth that has ever had an actual right to be angry at God. Not a single individual. I don't care what they've gone through. I don't care what's happened to them. Not a single individual has ever had the right to be angry at God. I heard a preacher say one time, someone asked him a question. And they said, there was a tragic situation that happened in their life, and they said, you know, what do I need to do? I find myself, and they said they were a Christian, and this particular situation had come up, and they said, I don't know how to handle it. I just find myself angry at God for where I am. What do I need to do? And the preacher looked at him and said, the first thing you need to do is repent for your anger against God. Because you have absolutely no right whatsoever to be angry at Him. And it does not matter what the circumstance is, and it doesn't matter what the situation is. The Bible says He does all things well. Everything He does is perfect. And it also goes as far as to say, who are we to question Him? For who's known the mind of the Lord? Who's been His counselor? And who says unto Him, what doest thou? I may not understand what you do and you probably don't understand why I do what I do most of the time. And you have a right to question me because I work for you. I don't know if I have a right to question you but I do sometimes. But I have absolutely no right to question him. And that's where Job found himself at around chapter 38 in the book of Job. He had all these questions for God. Why did you let this happen? I would desire, he said, to reason with my judge. And God showed up and God did not have to ask, I wanna say it's 200 and something different questions that he asks. He asked one and Job's mouth was shut forever and he could not answer a word. And all he said is, where were you when I created the world? Tell me if you have any idea. Because God has this way of putting us in the place that we actually need to be. But I will share something with you that's tied into these verses tonight. If you are facing that particular kind of struggle or that particular kind of trial and you just can't get what you think is an answer, I will tell you this, that it's not because God has not answered you. Because God said, call unto me and I will answer thee. And I will show you great and mighty things that I know not. He promised to answer you. But he's already answered you with everything that you could possibly even think to ask him. And if you refuse to do what the Word of God tells you to do, it's going to sound and appear like He's not answering you. He's not going to wave some cosmic magic wand over your life and just snuff out the trouble. But he is going to watch you to see will you submit yourself to the dictates of his word in every single thing he's commanded you to do. And if you are saying, God, where's my answer? But then you refuse to follow what he says in your word, don't expect one. Don't expect one. Because until we get to the point where we are ready to humble ourselves and submit ourselves in absolute humility unto him, it's going to seem like there is no answer whatsoever. And the Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs, and I used this scripture this morning, that he who being reproved, hardeneth his neck, will suddenly be broken and that without remedy. See, there comes a place where God has told you the answer and shown you the answer over and over and over and over again. And if we just keep hardening our neck and hardening our neck and refusing and refusing and refusing to do exactly what Paul says here, present yourself a sacrifice to God. And as David said in Psalm, I believe it was 118, if it's hard for you, if it's hard for me to Get on the altar to be that sacrifice and climb on there and tie yourself down. Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. And don't give yourself away to get up. But it would be a terrible thing to go through something over and over and over again and actually have an answer and utterly refuse to do it, utterly refuse to submit to the Word of God, and then all of a sudden, between one day and the next, one blink of an eye and the next, everything in your world is broken and comes crashing down, and it's irremediable. You cannot put it back together again. And the thing is, is that it does not have to be that way. It does not have to be that way. God does not desire it to be that way. But He's waiting on us to submit ourselves unto His hand. I'll just be honest and I'll be open and forthright in front of you. I've been struggling a lot lately with irritation. I find myself between one blink of an eye and the next so irritated that I could almost throw something through walls. And I've been irritated at my children. And I've been so irritated that I've just, I've been snappy and harsh I asked my mom and dad the other day, I said, y'all, you've had three kids. I said, what age do they need to get to before my irritation goes away? And my dad goes, well, I'm not dead yet. Which didn't help any. And I say that as in a joke, and I think he meant it as a joke. He says he didn't mean it as a joke. But I've been so irritated at crying and whining and it did not help me to spend 10 years in the public school system having to deal, if I may say that, with those kids the way that I had to and have absolutely no control over them whatsoever. And that'll mess with you because then you go home and you say, I will absolutely not let my children turn out like this. You're harder on them than you mean to be. And you're more cruel with them than you should be. And I've fallen on my face and I said, I can't be this way. I will not have my children grow up and hate me because all they remember is how irritated I sounded with them all the time. Do you have any idea why it's so hard to just humble yourself in front of your little bitty kids? Is there any universe in which it ought to be difficult to humble yourself in front of a four-year-old? And the answer to that is no. But it is. Because somewhere down inside of me, I'm so full of pride And it is so hard. And I've told God, I said, I don't care what you have to do, you have got to get this out of me now. Because I will not live like this. And I really believe he's doing it. And I don't know, and that may not mean one thing to you. But maybe there's something in your life that your life is full of and you recognize this is killing me, it's poisoning my children, it's poisoning my family, it's poisoning everybody around me and something has to be done. Can I promise you there's a remedy? And it is offering yourself a living sacrifice unto God every single day. I've had to try to start making a mental note in my head that when I get on the bus in the morning, when I get on it in the afternoon, I have to pray, God, you're going to have to fill me with the Spirit of God and I need to have so much of the Spirit in me that I can't be irritated and be full of the Spirit at the same time. Sadly, I don't know, really know what they're doing behind me because I've determined I'm just going to drive down the road. But I've gotten off the bus in a much better mood lately. And I've went back home in a much better mood lately. And my oldest has reached the age where she kind of whines about a lot of stuff. And I've noticed that over the last several days, when The middle one is crying over something, and Jules is crying over something, and Gabriel's screaming because he hadn't eaten in five minutes. And I'm trying to get something done, and I can see that Brianna's about to pull her hair out. I've looked at them all, and I have loved them so much. Just listening to them scream. I've loved Him and I did not have that until I realized you got to be more full of Jesus than you are of the thing that you hate or there's never going to be any kind of relief. We all got to be more full of Christ than the thing that's trying to kill us, than the thing that's trying to destroy us and we will never get there. until we present ourselves as sacrifices unto God. It does not mean that between one blink of the eye and the next everything will just be fine. But it does mean that when you make up your mind, I will absolutely not let this thing destroy me, nor will I let it destroy my family, nor will I let it destroy my children, I'll not let it destroy my happiness, I'll not let it destroy my relationships with people. When you make your mind up, God's gonna answer you. He's promised that He would. And so tonight all I can do is just simply exhort you, present yourselves as living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable unto God. Because that is your reasonable service. Because everything else that you or I would do for the kingdom of God in our roles in the church, outside of the church, all of that other stuff is secondary. if we're not where we ought to be with Christ ourselves in our closets just between us. And if I'm not where I need to be, you're going to know about it. You're gonna see it. You're gonna be able to tell. And on the flip side of that, if you're not where you need to be, I can see it and I can tell. And I don't know what it does for you because I'm not you. But please know that it breaks my heart. It absolutely breaks my heart. And so I just exhort you tonight, there is an answer. There is a solution. There is a remedy. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Father, we thank you tonight for your word and we thank you for being in our midst. Lord, I don't have any idea if I said everything I needed to say or not. I just hope and pray that what came to my mind to say was what you wanted said. Lord, I know that if we were all honest with ourselves, every single one of us has got something in our lives that we're full of that we don't need to be full of. We've got anger, we've got malice, we've got pride, we've got stubbornness, we've got irritation, maybe it's selfishness, or whatever the case may be. Because, Lord, at the end of the day, there's none of us better than any other. We're all human. We all come from the same stock of Adam. We all sin. We're all sinners. And we are all in desperate need of the grace of God in our lives. So, Lord, I pray, Father, that you would use just these simple few remarks to touch the lives of your children, Let them go home and let it resonate in their heart and let them find somewhere that they can get alone with You. And Lord, as they begin to pray, help them pray. Help them as I pray You would help me lay myself down every single day. And Lord, let the fire of God fall and consume out of us. the things you cannot use and the things that displease you. Father, let us not be conformed to this world. This world, Lord, is full of hatred. It's full of bitterness. This world is full of poison. They're all the fruits of sin. They're all the fruits of arrogance and pride. The refusal to humble ourselves unto the Word of God and unto the dictates of God. That's what the world's full of. And if we're constantly going and looking at that, is it any wonder it's rubbed off on us? Is it any wonder, Lord, that we're full of those things too and we can't love the world and have the love of the Father in us at the same time? And so, Lord, I pray for this people. And I pray God that you would bless them and help them, strengthen them, hear their prayers and answer their prayers. Give them, Lord, every day of the blessed Holy Spirit. Fill their life. Help them to pay attention to the little things in life that they do. Father, that displease you, help me pay attention to those same things. And let us, when we see them there, confess them. And you promised you'd forgive us. Let us ask that you would fill us with the Spirit and you've promised that you'll do it above measure every time we ask it. And Father, let us live victorious lives for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Let us live, Father, absolutely victorious lives. And thanks be unto God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for those who've gathered here tonight. I pray that you'll touch those who were unable to be here for whatever reason. Lord, please bless them. Lord, heal those who are sick and afflicted. I pray for Brother Larry. You know the extent of the sickness, Father, that has landed him in the hospital, and I pray your merciful hand would be upon him. I pray, Father, that you would begin to strengthen him. Lord, cause the fluid, I pray, to disappear off of his lungs. Lord, help him to breathe. Father, help him to feel better. Give him rest. Give the doctors around him wisdom and understanding. And Lord, I pray, Father, for Miss Tracy, who I know was suffering so badly, and I pray, Heavenly Father, that you will touch her and help her and strengthen her, Lord, in all things. Lord, thank you so much for this day that we've been able to spend in your house. Use us, change us, sanctify us, and purify us throughout the remainder of this week. And Lord, be it according to your gracious and holy will, let us meet back again on Wednesday and Sunday to be in your presence. I pray, Father, for Brother David's family during this time. Lord, I pray your merciful hand of comfort would be upon them, Lord, as I don't know any update, but I pray, Lord, that you would just bless them with your peace, and Father, you would bless them, Lord, with your sweet Spirit, and give them, Lord, the grace that you know they need. We love you, Father. We thank you for salvation. We thank you for saving us and our unworthiness and for giving us, Lord, the promise of the world to come. And in Jesus' name, everybody said, Amen. Thank you so much.