Lord, we come before you. We acknowledge the authority of this, your holy, eternal, inerrant written word. We are your servants, O Lord. Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies. You have prayed, O Lord God, sanctify them in truth by what is true. Use your word this hour your service and for your glory. O Father, the sower sows the word. Let your word hold supreme over all that is said and all that is heard this hour. Draw us now unto Jesus, O Lord God. Show us great and mighty things which we do not know. Let your word fall upon good soil. Protect us from Satan, who would snatch it. Protect us from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Let not the world's cares in the delight of wealth and the passion of other interests enter in the choked word and cause it to prove fruitless. Protect us, O Lord, from discouragements in the face of persecutions and difficulties, that your word would fall on rocky ground again, being fruitless. Instead, plow up the hard ground of our hearts. Let your word fall upon good soil, sending roots downward, bearing fruit upward. Let not your word go out and return void, but accomplish that purpose for which you have called us together and for which you are sending it out. O Lord God, spread your word before us as a banquet table. Let us drink deeply of the great doctrinal truths of your word. Let us eat meat, O Lord, that we might distinguish good and evil. Give us the heart of the prophet who cried, Thy words were found and I did eat them, and Thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts. O Lord God, we live in a dark and wicked age. Broad is the way, and many are on it that lead to destruction. There are ways of this world which seem light to man, but the ways are those of death. Make your word a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, that we might see that narrow way in which you would have us walk. As we run in the path of your commandments, O Lord God, enlarge our hearts. that we might love you and so loving you, obey you more fully. Make your holy, eternal, inerrant written word to us a mirror. Let us not be as those who take a look at themselves and go away and promptly forget how they were. Rather, Father, help us not to be forgetful listeners, deceiving ourselves, but rather active doers of your word. Drop the plumb line of your word before us and grant us that grace necessary that we would conform ourselves to it. O Lord God, because of our fealty to you, unsheathe now the sword of your Spirit. Judge now the thoughts and intentions of our heart. For because of our great love and devotion for your Son, we pledge our submission to every aspect of your Word. and we pledge our unquestioning obedience to its command. In the name of our Lord and resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Now, we finished with evangelical mysticism. Now, we want to make an immediate application to this study group, as you all are on Navigator staff, Then we would turn to your illustration. I'm not a Navigator staff, but it's a very good illustration, and this illustration can, however, circumvent to evangelical mysticism. For the evangelical mystic, for all of us, what are the four schools? I'm going to use a piece for evangelism to separate it out. Who's the center? Now, Christ is the center that requires knowledge, that requires doctrinal agreement, doesn't it? Christ cannot be the center of fellowship for Catholics, Church of Christ, Methodists, Christian Church, Baptists, and Pentecostals. It can't be the center, because they all believe something differently about Christ. It simply can't be. So, this is a doctrinal center of belief, isn't it? It is not simply a conceptual point. And then, what is the rim? What is the rim, Pastor Billy? To obey. Yes, to obey. Again, that is not mystical, is it? So, this is an illustration by which what we know about Jesus Christ, we experience that in our obedience. Now, for the evangelical mystic, these folks, they say there are two in-print spokes and two out-print spokes. Well, that just doesn't make sense. That's nonsensical in terms of the illustration. Christ is already in the center, isn't he? What's going in, what's going out, I'm not sure what that input-output-spoke means. It's nonsensical to the illustration. Spokes on a wheel is the law of physics. They are power transference. They don't go in and out. Does that make sense? But, for the evangelical mystic, spending time in the Word is spending time with God, and spending time with prayer is spending time with God. Then, spending time in fellowship and evangelism is spending time with people, isn't it? So we need to be recharged from that. Well, we have a problem with that, don't we? The problem is spending time with fellowship is spending time with God, isn't it? What does Matthew 18, 20 say? That's right. Spending time in fellowship is spending time with God, isn't it? And it's also edifying, isn't it? Hebrews 10, 24, 25 says it's edifying. So, how about evangelism? Is evangelism spending time apart from God? What does Revelation 3, 20 say? Now, when we're doing evangelism, we're spending time with Jesus, aren't we? What does Acts 1-8 say? Who has that? Ian? Acts 1-8. But you shall receive power. Did anyone know that? But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses. Now, God the Holy Spirit in John 16 is convicting the world of sin and righteousness and judgment and calling the world to Christ, isn't he? Jesus Christ said, my sheep hear my what? My voice. Jesus Christ said, all whom the Father has what? Given me. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are all actively involved in calling the lost sheep into the fold, aren't they? And when you do evangelism, God is making his appeal through you. Isn't that what 2 Corinthians 5, 20 and 21? We're ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through you. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Isn't that what that says? Yeah. See, for evangelical mysticism, for the evangelical mystic, asceticism also fills the void lost by doctrine. You see, in every believer, This is our believer. John 17, 17 is at work. So let's put in the center of that believer, John 17, 17. What does John 17, 17 say? So we have the Word of God here at work in the life of the believer. that can be manifested through Scripture memory. Psalm 119, 9, 11. How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to thy word. Thy word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against God. So we have this deliberate, and he's laying up God's word in his heart. That word is sanctifying him. To sanctify means to set apart, doesn't it? It means to set apart. So God's word is his word. As that pertains to prayer, The verse is John 15, 7. If you abide in me, and my word abides in you, then ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. If you abide in me is not talking about a mystical transcendental state. It's talking about the doctrinal reality that if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature. All things have passed away. All things have become new. Jesus Christ is our one mediator. effectively. We must be in Christ, right? 2 Corinthians 5.17, we don't interpret if anyone is in Christ, if anyone is in a transcendental state, do we? Is that how we view that? He's a new creature? No, we just say being in Christ is to become a Christian, isn't he? To abide in Christ is to be a Christian. So we have to be in Christ, don't we? But to have an answered prayer, what else do we have to have? The word, our plural life must be subject to the word. So, if we come along then, if we come along and we take the word out of the belief, and we take out John 17, then what's left? Well, one thing that's left is 1 Timothy 4, 1 and 2. mysticism, demodern perception, isn't it? 1 John 4, 1, 2. The first thing that fills the void when the sanctifying word, the word of God, is removed from the life of the believer, when we become non-doctrinal or anti-doctrinal, The second thing that fills that void is found in Colossians. Let's turn with me, if you would, to Colossians chapter 2. It's going popcorn. That's how you find it. Go eat popcorn in Thessalonica, Timothy and Titus, then you've got him. Or you can invite him along, too, if you want. Colossians 2. Now, in Colossians 2, verse 20, we'll start there. Ian, read verse 20, please. Why, as people who are living in the world, do you believe yourself to create such a thing? Do not try to do it, don't do it, do not try it. Okay? Now, if you're in Christ, if you're a new creature, why are you submitting yourselves to aesthetic practices? Why are you practicing this type of self-denial? Keep going. Which only, lots of things definitely perish from you. Okay, what type of religion? In Colossians 2, verse 23, we have what takes the place of the void of doctrinal prayer. It's self-made ideas, I think. And what comes hand-in-hand with self-made religion? What does it say again? Self-made religion. Self-abasement. Okay, keep reading. Yeah, they're of no value, aren't they? People say, I want to be set apart to the glory of God. What does the Bible say sanctifies us? Yeah, the Word. If, however, our life ceases to be based on the sanctifying power of the Word of God, John 17, 17, then two things spill the boiling. One is mystical experience. We seek a transcendental relationship with God that makes us a better Christian, or we Self-abasement, asceticism, they go hand in hand. Is it any surprise to us that the Catholic Church is characterized by these two things, since the Catholic Church is not worth sinning? Self-abasement and transcendental experiences. Mary appears to them, Jesus appears to them, shrines, statues bleed. Transcendental experiences, aren't they? extra-biblical revelation from the Mount of the Poles and bishops and carinos, all sorts of things, don't they? Well, the same man, unfortunately, appears in Charismatic and Pentecostal movements which lead the Word of God. What they end up is transcendental experiences which are supposed to propel them to spirituality, and also self-abasement, spending all night in prayer, fasting for 40 days, kneeling for long periods, Standing for hours in prayer, or kneeling for hours in prayer. Severe treatment of the body. Now, ascetic practice to get you closer to God is of no value, is it? What do you need to draw close to God in prayer? Words. Yeah, that's all you need, isn't it? You're already a Christian. Didn't we just look at Hebrews 4? If you want to pray, what do you have to do? You ought to be able to pray, right? You don't have to have an unknown tongue. You don't have to have a transcendental experience to get you closer to God. Nor, to get God to hear your prayers, do you have to suffer. You don't have to fast. You don't have to kneel. You don't have to stay up all night. You don't have to do these things, do you, to get close to God? You see, there are three major doctrinal deviances in the aesthetic practices of the Catholic Church, the Pentecostal Charismatic Church, and the Evangelical Mystical Churches. Three doctrinal deviances. The first is the sufficiency of Christ in terms of provision. Ephesians 1.3 says, Every spiritual blessing is ours in Christ. Do you need to stay up all night to get a spiritual blessing? Do you need to crawl on your knees before the stations of the cross No. Do you need to fast for 40 days and 40 nights to get a spiritual blessing? No, there already is. 2 Peter 1.3 says that through his divine power he has granted us everything that pertains to life and loneliness. Is God holding back from you spiritual power for purity or for a good life or for evangelism that can only be gained through aesthetic practices? Pastor Billy, is there the power for you to have victory over purity, but the only way you're going to get that power is to fast 40 days and 40 nights, stay up all night in prayer, give away all your possessions, kneel until your knees bleed. Is that going to happen? No. It's already yours in Christ, isn't it? The sufficiency of Christ in terms of satisfaction. We don't have to suffer to receive Christ's blessings. Who suffers? Yeah, that we don't have to suffer to satisfy God so that He will bless us. Hebrews 10, 18, we've come back to that over and over again heavily. That's because I don't believe you believe it. When there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering, any sacrifice for sin. totally satisfied in Jesus Christ. You say, I'm going to pray, but I might not get the prayer, but maybe if I suffer, God will give me the prayer. Maybe if I fast, maybe if I stay awake all night, maybe if I stay on my knees, maybe if I prostrate myself, Maybe if I just walk around in circles all night. Maybe if I just talk and talk out loud to God, till my voice is heard, hoarse, hoarse, and I'm dehydrated and I'm just ready to collapse. Maybe if I suffer enough. Maybe if I kneel before every station of the cross and move there on my knees and when I get up, my knees are flexed. Maybe, maybe, no! God has already been satisfied. You don't need to suffer. You see, the sufficiency of Christ is manifested in his sole mediatorial role, isn't it? There is one God and one mediator between them. But what's the second verse, who gave himself as a ransom for us all? The substitutionary death and sacrifice and suffering of Christ frees us from suffering and sacrifice in prayer, doesn't he? He already did it. Thus, we have the authority of God the Holy Spirit when it comes to suffering, to aesthetic practices, and prayer. And that's Colossians 4.23. Let's go back to that. Pastor Billy, please read Colossians 2.23, if you would. Yeah, harsh treatment of the body. If you're struggling with purity, will fasting 40 days and 40 nights, will it help you? No. Will depriving yourself of sleep help you? No. If you want to pass the bill now, read verse 18. Yeah, Jesus Christ paid the penalty, we don't have to pay the penalty, do we? We don't need Mary, we don't need angels, we don't need mystical experiences, but neither do we need self-abasement. That word false humility means self-abasement. You know, there's one thing to be humble, isn't it? This morning, Dr. McCauley came down of the Bible study I'm leading with a tray of coffee and some biscuits that he had fixed for them. Now, I have ministered, I guess, in about eight or nine international Christian organizations, and I know how country leaders behave themselves, and they don't serve coffee breaks to intern staff. But Dr. McCauley is humble, isn't he? That's different from Dr. McCauley sitting up in his office, fasting, and staying up all night in prayer and calling himself humble. That's not a melody, is it? That can even be a form of pride, can't it? Humility is expressed in our relationship with God and people, not in harsh treatment of the body. And we need to remember that. We need to remember it. Fasting is non-verbal communication with God. That's it. That's it. Now, in the old covenant, there were physical sacrifices, weren't there? We slit the throats of lambs, didn't we? And they had to suffer, didn't they? And if you wanted to pray, you had to walk to Jerusalem, didn't you? And if you wanted to offer an offering of sacrifice, you had to buy a lamb, didn't you? And if there were an entire nation showing up in a city, bidding for the lambs, it was going to get a little pricey, wasn't it? So there's going to be some pretty big sacrifices. Your feet were bloody, you were tired, you're already broke, now you're having to use the last of your money to bid on the sacrificial lamb. Then you've got to go give the lamb goodbye and give it to the priest, and now the lamb is going to bleed to death, and then the priests are going to eat it, aren't they? And then you leave. There was suffering and sacrifice in prayer, wasn't there? And if you fasted, that was part of that suffering and sacrifice. And ripping your clothes, and ruining them, and covering yourself with ashes. It was all part of that sacrificial system, wasn't it? But Jesus Christ fulfilled all of that, didn't he? So, where there is forgiveness, there is no longer an offering to sin. We don't have to walk to Jerusalem. Our feet don't have to be bloody. We don't have to lose four or five days of work and wonder what's eating our crops while we're gone, or a week or two of work. We don't have to spend good money to buy a lamb that some fat priest is going to eat. We don't have to do that, do we? We don't, do we? What do we have to do to pray? That's all we have to do. All we have to do is non-verbal communication. If fasting did not used to be non-verbal communication, used to, you ripped your clothes, you covered yourself with sackcloth and ashes, you suffered, and God heard your suffering. But you no longer suffer for spirituality, for God to hear you, because who suffered? So we do not suffer. Mystical mysticism, out the window. We don't need it. As soon as we pray, we're in the presence of God because we're the temple of the Holy Spirit. Asceticism, we don't need it. Jesus suffered in our place. So if you're fasting, and you get hungry and start feeling life-heavy, what should you do? Eat. Is that lack of faith? No, because where is your faith? In whom? In Christ. It's not in fasting and it's not in your belief system. Does it grieve God the Holy Spirit that if you're fasting and you realize you're treating your body harshly that you stop doing it? No, it doesn't grieve God the Holy Spirit because He's told you not to do it, hasn't He? If you're kneeling in prayer and your knees get sore, what does God want you to do? Get up! And if the worship leader says, you know, I just feel the Spirit moving, let's all kneel in prayer, and you've got bad knees, what are you supposed to do? Don't do it! You don't have to suffer. Jesus already suffered. And my heart always goes out to the elderly, to athletes, to arthritic people, when the whole church is made to kneel. And those poor people have the choice of either looking like they don't have faith, or feeling guilty, or suffering for no reason. Because God hasn't called them to suffer to pray. How about raising arms? The whole church is in a pray service. Everybody's raising their arms, and your arms get tired. What does God want you to do? Put them down! Just non-verbal communication. When you put your arms up in the air, are you closer to God? No. When you fast, are you closer to God? No. God says, well, I was listening to your prayers, but I'm really not interested. Oh boy, he's really suffering. He's fasting. He's kneeling. He's hurting. He's really suffering. I'll receive those prayers. Is that New Covenant theology? No. God says, why are you doing that? Come here. Come here. Come here. Have something to eat. It's not what goes into a man that makes him unclean. It's what's in your heart. Have something to eat. Get up. Get a good night's sleep. Wake up in the morning when your head's clear. Memorize some verses on purity. Okay? You're in an accountability bargain. Having to test you against the Word of God. Get up! Get up! It's not that foolishness. If you have agreed to pray all night and you find yourself getting right-headed and you can't stay awake, what does God want you to do? Go to sleep! Because to whom does God give sleep? Now, you see, all of these things, all of these desires that asceticism would seek to deny you of, you have these desires according to the manufacturer's specifications. You have the desires because of the manufacturer's specification. Best ability, you buy a car, you buy it from one of the deacons in the church, you're driving it around, and all of a sudden it stops. You call him on the cell phone, why did you sell me this piece of junk? You're my deacon. He says, well, tell me about the... Well, it just started, stopped. kind of stutter, and then when I turn it, it goes, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. He says, well, you see that little sign that looks like a battery? How's it doing? Well, it's right in the middle. Okay. There's a red light that comes on called the oil light. No, it's not on. Well, let me ask you this. There's a little deal that says E and F. Where's the needle? It's on E. Well, it's out of gas. He backs it up. Out of gas? I don't want a car that runs on gas. I already paid good money for this car. I don't want to grow good money after bad. I want my money back. What are you talking about, Jessica? It's made to run on gas, isn't it? The fact that it needs gas is not a sign that it's defective. It's according to manufacturer's specification. It needs gas, it needs oil, it needs electricity. It needs those things, doesn't it? It needs water. It can't run without those four basic things. Electricity, oil, gas, water. That's it, isn't it? It can't do it. Manufacturer's specifications. Well, we have been made according to our manufacturer's specifications, haven't we? One thing we need is food, don't we? Do we eat food as a result of the fall? Do we? No, I think it's a valid question. No. Adam was told he could eat whatever was in the garden. There was meat in the garden right there. There were insects in the garden. There were vegetables in the garden. There were roots in the garden. He could eat whatever he wanted, couldn't he? Couldn't he? It's not as a result of the fall that man eats food. You do not become so spiritual that you do not need to eat. Eating and drinking, Ecclesiastes said, is the reward of God. So we don't, in an effort to be spiritual, violate the manufacturer's specifications, do we? Now, we might go without a meal here or there. as a form of non-verbal communication, but God the Holy Spirit says, God, your body needs food and drink, never treat it harshly, okay? Don't do it. That's the first thing. Do we sleep because of the fall? Did man sleep before the fall? Did God ever put man to sleep? Yeah, so we know sleep's not bad. Not only did Adam sleep before the fall because there was day and night, wasn't there? Not only that, but God put him to sleep so we could end up with a woman, didn't he? Sleep is not bad. We do not become so spiritual that we do not need sleep. One of the great disservices that was done to me by an evangelical mystic when I was a young college student was he told me that if you Pray to God. God will wake you up in the middle of the night. And as soon as you wake up, don't go back to bed. Get right out of bed. Because God's giving you that time for Bible study. So when I would wake up at 2 in the morning or 4 in the morning, I would get out of bed and do Bible study. Well, what happened to me? What happened to me? Two hours of sleep a night? Three hours of sleep a night? Because you do it. Anybody wake up in the middle of the night? Never wake up, never go to the bathroom, noise, wake up and have a bad dream? Well, what if somebody has taught you that every time you wake up in the middle of the night, that's a sign of spiritual power? You're going to hop out of bed and do Bible study. Well, I got seriously ill, and the doctor asked me a few questions, and he said, are you crazy? You can't treat your body like that. You can't deprive it of sleep and food. And I began thinking about that, and I thought, you know, there's no verse in the Bible that says going without sleep is a gift of God. Isn't there? I mean, self-made religion has the sound. Self-made religion has the sound of being wise, doesn't it? And that's what Colossians 3 says. Self-made religion, self-abasement, severe treatment of the body. They have the appearance of wisdom. So he did me a real good service. You know when I found out about him later? He was a missionary. He had a complete nervous breakdown, a complete collapse. Boy, we should have had that before he got ahold of me, huh? And I'm glad God protected me from passing that on to other people. I really am. No, as we become more spiritual, we do not free ourselves from the need of food, from the need of water, and the need of sleep. We don't. is according to the manufacturer's specification. What else do we need to do? We need to work. Did God put His work as a result of the fall? No, work preceded the fall, didn't it? Work is a gift from God. I know people who are thinking, if I get spiritual enough, I won't need food, I won't need water, I won't need sleep, I won't need to work, I can just eat. That's monastic lifestyle as a gift. No, all of those things are gifts from God. I know people who think that sexual intimacy with someone with the opposite sex, that they can become so spiritual they don't need that. Is that true? No, that's as per manufacturer's specifications, isn't it? God created man, God created woman, and God created them to enjoy each other in the context of marriage. Now, if God doesn't lead you to get married, that doesn't mean you're sinful, does it? But if God does lead you to get married, that doesn't mean that you should try to become so spiritual that you don't have that. And if God gives you the desire for the opposite sex, and you are falling in love, and you have the opportunity to marry a fine Christian man or woman, you are not doing something spiritual by denying yourself that, are you? And I have known many young people involved in parachurch organizations who had the opportunity, and they denied themselves of that, thinking that they were doing something for God, when they weren't. They weren't doing a thing for God by doing that. Now, if you did not take advantage of it one time, that doesn't mean all your opportunities are lost. Romans 11.29 says its gifts and calling are irrevocable. They will never be revoked. You are never put on the shelf of God. But you should not be more conscientious than God is. Isn't that right? God says, burn your food on human dung. And what did the prophet say? Oh, I can't do that, it's against the law. God says, I wrote the law! I'm God! You don't have to be more conscientious than me, okay? I'm God! Jesus says, I'm going to be betrayed, I'm going to die, I'm going to rise again. Peter says, no, no, no, no! Don't do that! You don't have to be more conscientious than God, do you? If God says cook your food on human done, what can you do confidently? If Jesus said he's going to die, what can you do with confidence? Allow it to happen. If God sends someone to hell, what can you do with confidence? If God says you can eat, you can drink, you can sleep, you can work, you can enjoy sexual intimacy with the wife or husband of your youth, then you can do those things, can't you? You do not have to give yourself to asceticism. In each of the cases, fasting, kneeling, raising arms, praying, In each case, God's desired response is that we cease the activity which begins to treat our body harshly. We stop it. We don't do it. That's God's desired response. You see, we have to move prayer from man-centered mysticism to God-centered prayer. God-centered prayer finds its unity where, in Christ, and in the Word of God, not in ecstatic experience. If you sit down for a prayer meeting, and this man brought his priest with him, because when we get to the confession time, he wants to confess it to his priest, and this person wants to pray in an unknown tongue, and this person, he says, well, I need to be baptized first, because I've received Christ, but I need to be born again by baptism, and this person says, yes, and I've brought my homosexual lover with me, But it's not sin because we are faithful to each other. And this person says, well, I've lost my salvation. My first prayer I want to pray is to pray to get my salvation back again. And this person says, yes, but we can't really do this until the priest changes the wine to blood and the bread to water. And this person says, yes, and I've brought my statue of Mary. And that's who I pray to, and can there be unity at that prayer meeting? There not only cannot be unity, there should not be unity at that prayer meeting. And yet, all of those people can find unity if they ignore Jesus, and ignore God's Word, and instead give themselves to a period of ecstatic prayer campaign. Let's all just pray in our own way, in our own tongue to God, and we're just going to have some time to pray. Then all of those people can. They can pray to Mary, they can take the youth, they can transform, they can ring the bell, they can take Holy Communion, and then they all start speaking in unknown tongues, and there can be great unity. Then they can sing some songs and do some unknown tongues again, right? And have ecstatic experiences, and it can be a great prayer time. And then they can all agree to take a vow of silence for the day, and not talk, and not eat. And then they all go back into their cells, and they all pray in their own way to God. And everybody feels good because we've taken Jesus Christ and the Word of God out of the mix, and finally there could be unity. Is that what we want? No, and that's not what Christ wants. God-centered prayer finds its mediator in Christ, not ecstatic or ascetic experience. Fasting is not a mediator between us and God. Kneeling, raising our hands, or having transcendental experiences. God-centered prayer places its faith in Christ, not in its belief. I believe fasting will help. I believe raising my hands will help. I believe unknown tongues is prayer. I don't have any proof of it. I don't know what I'm saying. No one else knows what I'm saying. I have no idea. I simply believe it. Where is faith in? It's in belief, isn't it? We don't place our faith in belief. We place our faith in Christ. Christ is revealed in His holy, eternal, inerrant, written Word. God-centered prayer is always in conformity with the Word of God. God the Holy Spirit, His manifestations will never violate a proof of the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit, His teachings His words, His manifestations will never violate the teachings of the Holy Spirit, which is the Bible. It just won't happen. It's important for us when we go into prayer, when we go into our praise times, when we go into worship, we have to deal with the void that's created when the Word of God is removed. Because when the Word of God is removed, what fills that void is invariably mystical experience and asceticism, neither are needed for a fruitful prayer life. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this time together. We pray that you, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as revealed in your holy eternal inerrant word, that this would be our center and would shape our life. Free us from mysticism and asceticism. Let us not look to self-made religion, self-abasement, and deceiving spirits. Let us look to you as revealed in your holy word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.