This will be an adventure. We'll see how this works. This is gone. Am I too low? Okay. Then y'all too high. I will go ahead. I was gonna save it to the end of the message, but I'll go ahead and tell you now, because I actually kind of want to use it to lead in to the, to the message. On Friday, I had a biopsy, and the needle was about this long. I'm not lying. From what I saw, no. But they go in, they go in through, in between the ribs, and that's something I'm glad to give to the doctor. But we are members over at Kaiser, and So went in and you sign all these forms, if you die on the, it's not our fault, stuff like that. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, so I got with the two nurses, these two guys from the Philippines, they were great. You talk about funny. We had a lot of fun. And the doctor, I'm not sure where he's from, Dr. Vien, but apparently two of the three were Christians. And we just had, we had a wonderful time talking. This one nurse, especially, not only was he Christian, but he was a biker. So we're talking bikes, you know, and we're talking places, ride, you know, and all that. And he's kind of a mountain bike guy and such. But, ah, You know, I don't know how many of you have ever been through a procedure like that, but before you go into surgery or before you go into something like that, they got the needle in you and they start giving you the happy stuff. So I got to telling these guys, I got to telling these guys that, you know, I remember when I had kidney cancer and I had the right kidney out, and some of you have heard this story. where, you know, I mean, it really hit me then. I mean, just as they're starting to wheel me, you know, into the operating room, they turn the knob, and man, all of a sudden it's rockets, red glare, bombs bursting in air, that everything is good, and there's the pink elephants, you know, and all that. And I got into that room, And they're doing stuff, things are banging away, you hear metal and stuff. And I remember a little bit of this. All of a sudden, I shot my right arm up and I said, excuse me. And just look, I said, can we have prayer? I said, okay. And on the happy juice, I'm leading all these people in prayer. I don't know what I said, but God blessed. It's just like, So as we're going into the room, I got to teasing about that. And I said, I remember the last time you guys gave me this stuff. And I told them the story and one of the nurses said, hey, why don't we have prayer? And we had a prayer time and it was awesome. I just, you know, I just, the doctor and the two nurses, and I think there was somebody else in there, Not sure, but it was just great. So, here's the deal. I'll tell you, and then I have a prayer request. Obviously, we haven't gotten anything back from the hospital as far as the results of the biopsy. But, number one, the doctor showed me the MRI. And it's weird to see, you know, you're going through your body, you know, and there's all that stuff. And they know how to, you know, say this is what it is. And so I saw the tumor in my liver. Apparently all I have is one tumor. And that's a good thing. You know, praise God. But here is the prayer request. And again, some of you know this, but others of you don't. But I would appreciate this. A few weeks ago, as I was studying up, because you know, hey, if you're gonna be going through something, you go to Dr. Google, you know, you go to YouTube, and there's always somebody there, you know, they've talked, well, So I'm looking at, you know, liver cancer stages, you know, this and that. And all of a sudden, a couple three weeks ago, there's a video that pops up from Hong Kong. And they said, you know, we have developed this procedure. They map out a place, they get into your body, they go into the vessels, And at first they map out a way that they can go in with a tube that becomes smaller, then smaller, then smaller. And they actually go right into the tumor in the liver. Now they can do it for other things as well, but they showed this thing, you know, for the liver. And they literally launch hundreds and hundreds of these microscopic things, one third the size of a human hair. They launch all these things into the tumor that are radioactive, hundreds of them, if not thousands, and they're there. And they start literally, over the next several days, they start literally cooking the tumor and killing it. Now, I've seen several, and you know, wow, boy, this is really something they've developed in, In Hong Kong, boy, if that works, that'd be something interesting. I'd love to see that, because I don't want to go through chemo, anything like that. But again, the Lord knows. So we came out of the biopsy. And again, I'm talking to this guy. We kept talking, it was great. He goes, hey, have you ever heard of Y90? Now that's the procedure where they do that. And I said, yeah, I've watched a couple of three videos on it. He said, we started doing it late last year. We specialize in it now. So here's my prayer request, that this is a situation where they can do that. Now, right now, I'm doing things right now that I believe are at least hurting the cancer. Those of you that remember the way I changed my diet 14 years ago for the kidney cancer, they told me the tumor was the size of a softball. When they went in, it was the size of a golf ball. I was literally with my diet killing the cancer. Well, we're doing that again. And not completely as we had been before, but I am on that cancer protocol. And so I would appreciate your prayers on that. I want to be around. There's people that I love. There's people I want to reach. There's people I want to irritate. So anyway, I do, and I appreciate very much y'all being here. Y'all praying for us. By the way, my wife was there, she was waiting at the hospital for me, and Marty came, and Marty Reyes, and the two of them did what two women do best, they talked. You ask them how much they talked, but they talked, and I appreciate that, I really do. So we're gonna be finishing this morning the message that I started last week. I want you to first turn where we were before. This is in review. Go to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. And you'll see why I started with telling what was going on. By the way, can I also make mention of this? You know, we've talked about this before. And it's worth mentioning again. You know, you praise God when people come in and they have something, you know, to celebrate like the Gilberts, you know, praise God for that. But you know, other people come in and you might not know it, but they have burdens, their situations. You can be celebrating something and have a burden at the same time. This is why we pray. This is why we love one another. This is why we do this. In the middle of October, I'm asking you especially to pray about this. I love the ministry that Tim Schmidt has. I love it. There were five of us that gathered just before we went to the hospital. Several other pastors and Tim and myself gathered here and they prayed over me. And I'll tell you what, it was such a comfort. But God is, like Roger said, God is doing something. Too often we wind up getting unbelief in the way. We're going to be having a Sunday through Wednesday meeting two weeks before the two minute warning with Tim Schmidt. I want us to be ready for that. I want us to be in prayer. We need to do exactly what we're going to be looking at. I don't know what all is going on, you know, over in the Middle East, but Bob and I were talking and something specific has happened that might have been a step ahead of anything that has ever done. And I'm telling you, this world is on shaky ground. On top of that, it might not be the person that you're voting for, but twice somebody has sought to murder a candidate for the presidency of the United States. This is the United States. That ought not happen. The wicked one is doing his worst. The people that can go to the throne of grace, the people that can go to the throne of grace, and find grace to help in time of need are God's people. That's all. The present administration is not. The media will not, the entertainment industry won't, and a lot of churches will not. We need to recognize what our place is. We need to get right with God. Now, let me ask you, Not that you're weaker than I am, nothing like that, but just let me ask you, what if it was you that had liver cancer? What would you be doing different? What would you be seeking? Remember where we started this from this thing of facing yourself. Psalm 119, 59, I fought upon my ways. Now I'm curious, I don't wanna raise of hands, but I'm wondering, how many of us, as we were reading our Bibles this last week, and I pray that you were reading them, because everybody here needs God's word. You cannot live this life without Christ. I thought upon my ways, but I went beyond that. Now listen to me. And turned my feet unto thy testimonies. What I saw in God's word made a difference. What I saw affected me. Like the man said, mine eyes affect my heart. There in the lamentations of Jeremiah. So, in the next several weeks, are we all willing to think on our ways and turn our feet to his testimonies? I believe I've got this cancer for a reason. Oh, by the way, let me tell you, there's still a small window. There's still a window that it might not be a cancer. It's something. Whatever it is, this needs to be treated. We'll find out more this week. But that's not my focus. God has my life. He is large and in charge. But I'm looking at some people that I love, and as far, by God's grace, I'm desiring that you hear this. Now, having read that, let's go back once again to James chapter one. James chapter one, if you hit the book of Hebrews, turn right, you're there. I'm thankful that Brad let me use this chair, but I hate this thing. So, where were we this last week? Well, first of all, listen up. Verse 19, wherefore my beloved brethren, Let every man be, what's the next word? Swift. Swift to hear. Slow to speak. You know, we all have an opinion on a lot of things. I get to looking on the news, I watch a video, you know, when it comes to the news, and boy, they're rapid fire. They're telling you everything that's going on. You know, I don't wanna be swift to hear that. I wanna be swift to hear him. And I wanna be slow to speak and then slow to wrath. Why? Listen, the Bible gives us what really matters in life. When it comes to God's word, let's be swift to hear. Let's be slow to give excuse. Let's be slow to form our own opinion. Let's be swift to hear. So, hey, guess what? The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. We get angry about what God is telling us. That's not good. Listen up. And then he says, lay it down. Look at verse 21. Wherefore, lay apart, again, remember, like stripping off your clothes, getting rid of defilement. Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness, with meekness, the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. That superfluity of naughtiness, again, an overflow of malice, of ill will desiring to injure someone else. That's plain depravity. I mean, I can't believe, it stuns me that 17% of people in the United States are flippantly saying, yeah, the nation would be better off if Trump had been killed. But you know something, at the same time, God's people have been guilty of the same thing. Every Wednesday, I pray for President Biden and Vice President Harris. You can't hate people you pray for. You can't do it. And we ought not to be hating. They're not the enemy. Listen, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. I can't wait to hear the final shriek of the wicked one as he is cast into the lake of fire. I hate the devil. But the devil was not He was not made in the image of God. We are. That means any one of us can be saved. I mean, mankind. So with meekness, with humility, the engrafted word, it means inborn. Now, we've seen, listen up, lay it down, look at verse 22. Work it out. But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. What's the next word? Can you deceive yourself? Yeah. Have I ever deceived me? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Maybe you have too. We're getting a warning here. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Now watch this. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. You know, I hope and pray that if you see something in your life that you don't forget what you saw, and instead you take care of it. He said, be ye, that's in the tense that means a command that is to be done continually. That is what we're to do. Jesus told the Jews, John 8 31, then said Jesus to those Jews, which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, if, Then are you my disciples indeed? Question, are we continuing in God's word? It's a good question. Doers, this is interesting. Doers carries the idea of not just doing something. You're talking away to somebody else, but you're doing something. You can do it without paying attention. No, it involves everything, body, soul, and spirit. be doers, and not just part-time doers, but full-time. It also conveys this idea. It shows more of what we are. Did you get that? It shows more of what we are than what we do. Now, what we do is important. But we do what we do because we are what we are. And as believers, he owns us. We do, we live the Christian walk, body, soul, spirit. 2 Peter 1.10, we'll be going to this later on as we progress in facing yourself. Peter told us, wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, and we're going to learn those things, you shall never fall. Conduct, excuse me. Conduct is the visible measure of true discipleship. You've heard that old saying. I've used it before. Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks. And you know, we need to encourage each other in that. That's what the love of the brethren is about. Let me ask you something. Is there anybody here that you would love to see fall? I hope and pray not. I hope and pray that doesn't happen. Now, please don't get your mind going on this. I'm gonna mention something, but don't, you know, I wonder if I knew the preacher. But there was a major situation that happened in America just recently, where there was a pastor that was highly looked up to by a lot of people. Wasn't an independent Baptist, but that doesn't mean anything. He was a good Bible preaching preacher. He fell. 73 years old, but he fell. You know, folks, we need to be praying for each other. Satan takes that kind of thing and he loves it. I mean, he gets the people doing this. Look, don't ever be that way with somebody. Even if you don't get along with them, don't ever wish someone else to fall. Ever. When we're hearers and not doers, we deceive ourselves. That word has the idea of incorrect reasoning, to cheat by false reckoning, miscalculate. We cheat ourselves out of God's blessing. God's given us an incredible amount. We've looked at these things and we're going to continue to look. By the way, I have to tell you, I get to thinking, okay, Lord, I mean, just getting ready to turn 71, I know my time is limited here, but if the cancer was stage four and it was just that much of a window, boy, Lord, what do I need to share with these folks before you take me home? I mean, you get to thinking stuff like that. There's a lot of things in this book. want to share because there's a lot of things that we need to be doing because we are surrounded by people who need the gospel. Well, they don't respond. I understand that. I had people talking to me this last week about coming here. We're looking for another church. Well, I hope and pray they're watching up there. And they just might be. I'd be glad for that. There are people that watch this. We don't know who they are, but I pray that the Lord reaches them. I'd rather they be here. But this is circa 2024. How do we deceive ourselves? Well, we rationalize about disobedience. You know, it's okay if I don't. serve the Lord. It's okay if I don't do what he just told me to do. We rationalize, we excuse, we blame other people. That's what we do. I like what Martin Luther said. The world does not need a definition of religion as much as it needs a demonstration. Let your light so shine before men, Jesus said. Why? That they may glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Let's do that. So work it out, but then work it in. Verse 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, He being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deeds. Note the word of God is called the perfect law of liberty. This is true freedom. This gives freedom that even the constitution of the United States doesn't give. Hey, that can be changed. This never changes. Praise God for that. So we get into the word, we work it out, but then we work it in. We let the word of Christ dwell in us abundantly. There was a missionary, not really all that long ago, there was a missionary that went to New Guinea. And what he found was incredible. Several years later, he came back and there was a man that he knew that met him. And the guy asked him, you know, what did you find? You know, we understand it was rough. It was quite the thing. What did you find? He said, it was awful. It was horrible. He said, I found situations where mothers would be carrying a baby. And if the baby would not quit crying, they'd throw it in a ditch and keep walking. A man would be walking with his elderly father. And if the elderly father broke his leg and couldn't walk anymore, the son would just leave him behind and let him die on the road. Wow, that must have been incredible. I know what you did. Boy, you just preached the gospel to them, didn't you? He said, no. He said, when a woman cast her baby aside, I picked it up. I loved it. I helped it. I fed it. When an old man was left on the side of the road, I took him to my home. I mended his leg. I did things. I wanted to show the love of Christ. Then the people started coming to me and they said, why did you do all these things? Why are you doing this in front of us? What is so different about you? He said, then I started preaching the gospel. He says, wow, what happened when you left? And he said, when I left, I left a church. The perfect law of liberty. Work it out. Don't quit. Then work it in. assimilate it, pray over it, meditate on it. And as it becomes our character, we can't help but be bearers of the light, bearers of his cross, bearers of the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Solomon wrote this in Proverbs 4. Ponder the path of thy feet. This is verse 26. Ponder the path of thy feet. This is another one of those challenges. Stop and think, where have my feet been taking me? Ponder the path of thy feet. and let all thy ways be established. Well, we know what Solomon meant when he said that. Established here. In closing, I love the book of Jude. I just finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd John this morning, and I'm gonna be reading the book of Jude tomorrow morning for my devotions. Verses 24 and 25 are, I just, I love them to death. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling. Now we talked about that when we talked about the armor of God. When we go to 2 Peter 1, we're going to recognize that we are instructed again to assimilate some things. And when we do it, Peter said, you shall never fall. It's actually in Christ, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. There's every possibility that I have something inside of me that's killing me. There's every possibility you have the same thing. In fact, you do. None of us are going to live forever in this body. One day, one day, either through death or through the rapture if we're saved, We're going to stand before Him. This is just reminding me again of what God has called me and others in here to preach and teach and encourage people because it is the greatest encouragement. Christ in you. the hope of glory, Paul said to the church at Colossae. So let me ask you something. Are you willing to take God's word and work it out and then work it in your life?