Good evening everybody glad to see you here. I know I don't look like Pastor Alice because I'm not Pastor Al He had to go to Kansas City this weekend and didn't know if he was going to make it back in time. So he called me this afternoon and said, I may not make it back in time. So I'm on board tonight. So if you were looking for Al and the rest of his series, just keep looking. It's a good series. I know he's going to do good with it. But I'm not him, and I'm not going to try to do his series. All right. Now, I guess normally we sing, because usually I'm in youth group right now. So I normally sing a song. Is that what you do? No. We don't sing a song. Not normally. OK. Well, then I'll tell you what let's do. Everybody turn your hymn note to 25, because I'm going to read it whether or not we normally would do that or not. Number 25, OK? I love this song, and it fits what we're going to talk about tonight. I don't know the history of it, but whoever Walter Chalmers Smith is, using this traditional Welsh hymn, came up with a really fine song. It says this, so if you want to just follow along with me as I read it. Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible, hid from our eyes. most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise. And if you want to just say it along with me, you sure can, okay? So verse two. Unresting, unyielding, and silent as light, nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might. Thy justice like mountains high soaring above, thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love. I love that. Unresting. God rests but doesn't need rest. It's not because he's tired. He rests for a completely different reason. Unhasting. He doesn't get in a hurry about anything. He's an eternal God and He works in time with us. He's silent. You'll see the effects of it, but you don't see Him. He's not wanting anything. He's not in need of anything. He never learns. He never has to learn. He knows everything. He's not wanting anything, not in need, nor is He wasting anything. Every effort He gives, it completes the task He wants it to do. rulest in might. Let us read verse 3 together then. To all life thou givest, both great and small, in all life thou livest, the true life of all. We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree, and wither and perish, but naught changes thee. Great Father of glory, pure Father of light, thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight. All praise we would render, O help us to see, tis only the splendor of light hideth thee. Wow. Don't you love that? I just love that. It's just a great song, and I just want to be grateful for the guy who wrote it. Thank you, Father, for truth we get to sing about. All right, let's begin with prayer, and then I've got some things to share with you. Father, thank you so much for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the truth that's in him. I ask just now in the name of Jesus that you bless Al and Lynn with a refreshing trip, and that you be giving them rest this night, because I know what it's like to take trips like that. So I'm asking that you give them good rest. Thank you so much for their faithful ministry to us, for the way they take care of so many things. Then Father, I want to thank you for Randy Stufflebeam, and I ask in Jesus' name you'll minister to his need tonight, that you'll grant that he might find exactly what's going on with him and give good treatment or care. But we'd ask that you bring healing to him already right now. We lift up Charlene and Versi, two Ericas, Father Kathy, we lift them up to you and ask that in Jesus' name, you'll minister great grace and healing and strength to them, that your peace will be with them. For we know, Father, that when your peace comes, there's a whole lot of healing takes place just in that. We pray for Sheila and events coming up for her. We ask in Jesus' name you'll watch over others who we know are going to have surgeries or treatments and procedures coming up. So give to them. your good courage, your good comfort, and I'll thank you for that in Jesus' name. Now I ask that you to open our hearts so we might understand the good things given to us in the Word of God. In the name of Jesus and for his sake, Amen. All right. Tonight, turn your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6. Part of what I hope to do today is follow up on some of the things I talked about this morning, because I want to make sure that we're getting a hold of this great principle of the kingdom of God. And that great principle is that God is the source for everything. God is the source for everything. And his plan for us is to work in cooperation with him. We're not working independently. We're not given a task to do, and then have to go do it by ourselves. It's His Holy Spirit that works in us. It's the Christ that works in us. And all those things are extremely important to us. I don't care whether you are working at Berean Christian School, or whether you are working in Awana, you're working in Trail Life, American Heritage Girls, or you're working at another kind of job. teacher or you're doing any number of things. Maybe you're just doing work that's simple work. Maybe it's something you're doing just to clean up around the house or straighten up things there. Do all to the glory of God. Do it in a cooperative way. That's what I want to get across tonight. But I want to show you how we do that and what mindset is necessary to get that done. All right. So to do that we're going to turn to Isaiah chapter 6 and we'll start our looking here at verses 1 to 7 so here here's what we see Isaiah 6 1 to 7 in the year the king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up the trainers robe filled the temple above it stood seraphim each one had six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet with two he flew And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged. Also, I'm sorry, I want to stop right there. So I want you to see this. This is, first of all, the glory of God seen. When he looks at this thing, he is seeing that the, he saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up. He saw the train of his robe filled the temple. The train of his robe, that's the tail of the, so I'm thinking what he's seeing, he's seeing a throne, and it's got this enormous trail that's falling off of it there. Now, what's he call it? A train. He calls it a train that's coming off of there. So I see that as part of the glory of God that's filling the whole temple area. Further, he says, he saw this seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. With two, he flew. That seraphim, this is what's being seen by him. Now I'm going to remind you that in the tabernacle, these seraphim were embroidered in gold into the veil itself. So you had a curtain that went over the top of the tabernacle itself, and you had seraphim woven into that there. Then you had seraphim woven into the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. You had seraphim that were on the outside the gate that goes into the holy place. Now get the picture. Suppose that you were a priest that's going in there and your responsibility is to make sure the lights are all on. That's making sure the menorah is going. You've got to make sure there's enough oil in there, the wick is trimmed off good enough that the light is bright. Now, those of you who've had candles before or had light like that, what do you suppose that's going to do to the gold seraphim that are in the ceiling? What do you suppose it's going to do to the gold seraphim that are in the veil right there? So what do you think he's trying to picture for you? You just walked into the throne room of God. You follow that? And it's the seraphim that are surrounding you. It's the seraphim that are keeping you from going into the Holy of Holies, where the throne of God actually is. It's that that Jesus is going to tear at his resurrection, and you're going to have access to it. But as that man, that priest is walking in there, this is what he's seeing, as far as we can tell. Two wings, two wings, two. I don't know how they did that. I know this. Moses saw the seraphim because God told him, when you make the tabernacle, you make it exactly after what you have seen. I will guide you. I'll give my Holy Spirit to make sure the craftsmen get it done. But you make sure you do it this way. So here, like John later in the book of Revelation, here's a guy that's getting to come into the very throne of where God exists. And he's seeing the throne. He's seeing the seraphim. They're surrounding him. And he's recognizing something. shouldn't be here you know I'm in I'm in a big place right now and I don't deserve to be here so that's you say this there's the glory of God is seen secondly the glory of God is proclaimed look what he says here holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts that's what the seraphim are saying and I said three times because there is a Trinity holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory want to come back to that one in just a minute the whole earth is full of his glory because I want you to get this picture he they're making a proclamation that there is no place in the whole earth there's no place in the whole cosmos that's not touched by the glory of God the glory of God is filling it all all right going on further, the glory of God is experienced. Look what takes place with him. It says, "...and the posts of the door were shaken," verse 4, "...the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke." So he's in this temple and he's seeing everything shaking just because of the voice itself. And And it says that the house was filled with smoke. So I said, woe is me, for I am undone. Number one place. This is about redemption. This is about how God cleanses people. Number one, you start by knowing you're undone. You start by knowing you're not what this is. You're not what's going on here. The whole earth may be full of the glory, but you are not expressing it. And you are not one of those that's sharing it. You have come into a holy place, and you've recognized, I'm not holy. In other words, you're not coming in to bargain with God about what you'll do if God will do this. You have no bargaining chips. You understand what I'm saying? You have nothing to sell him. You've got nothing to make an agreement with. He's come in. He says, I'm undone. I mean, he's looking this thing over and saying, I'm broke. I don't have anything to bring here. I'm undone. Matter of fact, everything I've done is like trash to this. There is nothing I've done that brings me the right to be in this place. Can I tell you, that's where our salvation starts, kids. that's what he means by poor in spirit Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So we come to that place where we're not comparing ourselves to each other. We're not comparing ourselves to whatever model this world is set up as what's the perfect guy, what's the perfect gal. We're not setting ourselves up, what's the perfect performer. No, we are way beyond anything here. We're now into the throne room of God, and we hear the seraphim proclaim all this stuff, and we know we're undone. We don't have anything to bring into this situation. Well, notice next. It says, I am undone. because i am a man of unclean lips i don't have the right to speak anything here and i'd well in the midst of people on clean lips he says now i know that i'm a part of all i don't have anybody that that has any clean lips in this thing none of us can be here he says for my eyes have seen the king the lord of hosts he knows this that because of whom he is being in the presence of god he should be dead right now He's trying to figure out, how am I still alive? I have seen the Lord of glory. I've seen the Lord of hosts. I've seen the God. Why am I still alive? I'm an undone man. I have unclean lips. Nothing's right for me here. Now watch what takes place, because this is how the glory of God experienced then one of the seraphim flew to me having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar and he touched my mouth with it why is he touching his mouth he has unclean lips so what he's doing with this coal is burning off the unclean lips he's purifying this man okay behold this has touched your lips your iniquity what's iniquity Remember? That's how we're twisted against God. That's what creates sin in us. Iniquity is that perversion of what we're supposed to be. It's that twist away from what we're supposed to be. So he says, your iniquity is over, so your twistedness is done, and notice what it says, and your sin is purged. Wow. That's redemption. That's what each of you have experienced when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has cleansed you. Jesus has paid for your sin. He has borne your iniquity, taken it away. He has taken your sin and purged you from it. You're a clean vessel because of the glory of God. Now, if you can follow that, do you see why gratitude has to be our number one thing? Thank you, Lord, for cleansing me. I don't have a right, I don't have authority to be saved at all. I don't have any good reason to be saved other than your grace. Notice, this man, he's recognizing his condition, but he's not changing his condition. He knows he can't. Unless God somehow changes him, he can't change. Now you begin to see that principle I was talking about this morning in the miracle of growth. There is something going on here that you can't control. Just like the seed being on the ground and the soil and all that, it's a process that you're not in control of. It's one we don't have, we're not the source for. And source is a big word for us. Because what this is showing us, the whole earth is full of His glory. Why? Because He's the source. There isn't anybody that's made a contribution to that glory. There's not anybody that's added to that glory. It can't be added to. It's completely his and the whole earth is full of it. So if I was going to figure out how's the whole earth full of his glory when it's a sinful place, even in its sinfulness, the processes all work. All the things still work as they're supposed to work. God set the whole of creation up and it's still working the way he set it up. Is it as glorious as when he set it up? No, but it's full of his glory because it's still reflecting what he did in it. He's still saying to the ground, bring forth, and it's bringing forth. He's still saying to the vegetation, reproduce, and it's reproducing. He's still saying to all the animals, everything else in this world, bring forth, reproduce, replenish the earth, and it's happening. One of the ways we know it's happening, we still have so many people saying, we're going to have to kill off a bunch of people here. We've got too many people on the earth. Well, and we just keep having them. How crazy are we? We just keep having more people. We gotta kill a bunch of people off. We're gonna have to do them in some way or another. That's insanity. That is violence against the kingdom of God. Does that make any sense? Because he told us to replenish. That's where it's supposed to happen. It's violence against his kingdom to say, no, no, no, no, we got a better idea. We think we should kill people off. No, no, no, no, no, no. OK? So notice this. To be saved, humility and a proper evaluation. Listen to this. I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. So he's making a proper evaluation of who he is. That's what we need to do. Make a proper evaluation, first of all, who am I? And that's not in comparison to anything else but him. You follow that? Because you might rack up and stack up pretty good next to somebody else. Most of you in here are not serial killers. So you might look it over and say, look at that, I'm better than a serial killer. Yeah, yay. That's great. It's good to know you're not a serial killer. But what are you compared to God? You see, God's not a serial killer. He's a serial life giver. You can't do that. You can take advantage of his processes. You can have children. You can plant seeds. You can grow crops. You can have livestock and reproduce livestock. But you're taking advantage of what he's done, not what you're doing. You ever done this sometime? Look at this tomato I grew. Wait a minute. Let's back up just a minute. You grew that tomato? It grew on a vine that God had in the ground that came up and because of sunlight, because of his great work, because of air, because of the right water, because of the right sunshine on it, I'm pretty convinced I know why our tomatoes don't do real good. I've got shade trees all over the place and they don't get enough sunshine to ever get up big enough where they can actually get pretty red and pretty big. I won't go into that, that's a whole different ballgame. What I want you to see is simply this, that the whole earth is full of his glory because he's his source. Let me show you how that, let's go to Revelation 4 verse 11 just for a minute. Revelation 4 verse 11. Guys I get so excited about this, this is just, don't you just love this book? It's telling us the truth about God, it's telling us the truth about what's going on in the world we live. Verses 9, start with verse 9. guess let's go to verse 8 the four living creatures each having six wings were full of eyes around and within they do not rest day or night saying look at this holy holy holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come all right so they're talking about his eternality that he always was always is and he always will be so they sing that and whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne they are giving him glory why are they giving him glory because unlike them he was and is and is to come You follow the difference? There are created creatures, these living beings, who are recognizing, we got here, we're going to live a long time, but we didn't make ourselves. The one we're worshiping is the one that made us. So he was, and he is, and he is to come. All right? So that's why they're giving him glory. He's the source of everything. thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever. The 24 elders fall down then before him, who sits on the throne, and worship him, who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, you are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. Why? Look what he says next. For you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. Don't you stop just for a moment. Imagine what rebellion it is. Imagine what dishonor it is. Imagine what violence is when we actually believe we did something in it. When we steal the glory from God by taking credit for ourselves. Do you see what was the big problem with Satan's rebellion from this? He wanted to share the glory of God, even steal it if he could. That's why he's called the thief, who comes to steal, to kill, and destroy. He can't give life. because he's not a life giver. He can only take life. He was created by the life giver. The one who gave him life is the one he rebelled against, and that's what makes it violence against the glory of God. That reminds us we must never take credit for what God has done. And I'll show you in a minute how sometimes we might actually do that. So if you can follow me here, the miracle of growth I was talking about this morning, and that's why this is a follow-up on this morning. The miracle of growth I was talking about this morning is about the source of things. It's about what is your source. It's about understanding that the source of the growth, the source of the food that that man's going to eat, had nothing to do with him. He was merely taking advantage of the little seed that God had given energy to, that God himself was going to bring into conception. Or as he says in Psalm 139, when it's dealing with us, he's the one that deals with conception. He's the one that brings conception about. The Lord gives conception. So that's what's going on in all of this. So he's taking advantage of what the Lord has already done. You're not doing something on his own. So this man is cooperating with God, not doing something himself. He's simply scattering seeds, and God's glory is what's, because God's the source of that seed, he's the source of that soil, because he's the one who commanded them to do this thing, that's what's gonna come up. That's what he can reliably count on. If I can say it this way, do you understand that man's going to be scattering seed in faith. That's, I want to make sure we get that. Anytime you're planting something, you're planting it in faith. Why? Because you can't make it grow. You can't make it conceive. That's God. And that's how the whole earth is filled with his glory. Because only he can bring that about. That's why you're going to thank him for what comes up. If anything comes up in your garden at all, if anything comes up through, I'll even take it beyond your garden. If in your job, you're able to prosper in your job, can I say that's because he gives wealth? He gives that. So even at that, you don't say, it's my job. No, it's the assignment that God gave me while I'm here to provide for me, because God provides for me through that. give God glory. Am I making sense to you there? That's how, as he told us, we are to take everything and do it for the glory of God, to the glory of God. How do we do it? A mindset that says, I know that God is the source for everything. I am not. So I'm not going to take credit for what only God can take credit for. So you did a good deed for somebody. Deflect that praise as quickly as you can. Don't let people give you credit for it as quickly as you can. As a matter of fact, that's why you're told to do it in the name of Jesus. If you're going to give a cup of cold water, do it in Jesus' name. If you do it in your name, there's a possibility you could steal glory from God. We don't want to be there. Because people are giving you glory, not the God that you serve. So always tell them, I'll give you this in Jesus' name. You can have this in the name of Jesus. I remember one day, before we have a benevolence team, I was the benevolence team. And I'm not a good benevolence team person, OK? So man, my heart would get touched by somebody saying, I don't have anything. I don't have this. But then there was enough of, I guess, a sin nature on my part that made me suspect that maybe this guy's not telling me the truth. So one day, I gave a gift to a guy, and it did exactly what I normally do. I handed it to him, and I said, I'm going to give you this in the name of Jesus. From now on, it's between you and Jesus what you do with that. And he took it at first, and then he gave it right back. I said, what are you doing? He said, why don't you just keep it? I said, why? You told me you have a need. Yeah, yeah. But I'd rather be responsible to you than Jesus. I said, oh no, oh no, buddy, that's why I'm relieving you of that. And he said, well then, I'll take it, but I'll pay you back. And I said, stop. Don't say that to me. Because if you say that to me, I'm going to expect you're going to do it. And now that puts both of us in a sin. He said, what? I said, yeah, because I know you're not going to do it. And I know if you pay me back, then I have to have now the guilt of doing that. No thank you. I'd rather you just pass it on to somebody else. If you are prospered by it, then pass it on to somebody else. Do you know that guy came back actually about six months later? And he stopped and he said, I just wanted you to know, I got a job. And I'm taking care of myself. I have an apartment. That's my car right out there. And I got it because the money that belongs to Jesus, I passed on to some other people as well. He said, and then Jesus turned around and gave me a job. And now I have an income. I just want to say thank you so much for giving me Jesus' money. Nobody's done that before. That was an unusual circumstance. I'm going to tell you that happens. But I'm just going to say this. Deflect the glory. don't don't take it for yourself that's why jesus told us to do things anonymously don't let people know you've done it or even as he said brother reminded me the other day don't let the right hand know what the left hand is doing just don't brag about it give it in jesus name and let jesus take care of it that's the same way you're going to do with sowing seed do it that way does that make sense All right, let's see where the next thing I want to go is. Let's let's look at Psalm 929 to Psalm 29 to. There are just so many of these that I'm wading through, I'm trying to figure out which one's the one I want to present because there's they're just all over the place. Once you start seeing what it's about, not amazing. God set up a thing in the base of our brain that once we say, and I forget it's got some initials for it, but once we say something and we're indicating we want that thing, that gets recorded right in the base of this little thing at the base of your spinal cord here. And as it's recorded there, It now says he's looking for, you know, one day I said, I need some bricks so that I can build a little fireplace thing here. I need bricks. And you know, as I'm driving around, I see bricks sitting over there. I wonder what's going on with those bricks. I drive up there and the lady said, well, these bricks, yeah, you can have them. They've been here for a year and a half. I said, a year and a half? Why had I not seen those bricks before? Because I hadn't said bricks. You understand what I'm saying? If I had said, once I said bricks, now bricks is what's going to show up because my mind is saying bricks. Does that make sense? That's the way God set us up. And you'll find it the same way yourself. If you're going to complain, once you say complain, or I'll do it this way. If you wake up and say, this is going to be a bad day, that that's at the base of your brain says, oh, bad day. The master wants a bad day. The master wants a, and now he goes through the files and finds everything that's bad day. brings him up here remember the day when remember the day when remember the day when it was just like this day it will rain just like this day was rainy it did this is it and now every place you go the traffic seems worse than it was just like it was yesterday but because you said a bad day today now it's worse than it was yesterday it's not but you think it's worse than it was yesterday does that make any sense that's what he's made us to do you will say to yourself and say it meaning it that you're believing in your heart God is the source of everything in my life that changes everything about the way you look at it now you can give God glory because he's at the source of it so I'm 29 to let's look at that one just for a moment Well, let's back up. We'll do verse one to work our way into it. Given to the Lord, O you mighty ones, given to the Lord glory and strength. Now, I want you to note this. That's not because you have this pocket full of glory down here and a couple of pockets full of strength down here, and poor little God who doesn't have any glory or strength, you're saying, hey, let me give you some glory and strength here, Lord. No, what you're actually doing is, you're acknowledging that the one who has the glory and the one who has the strength is God Almighty. It's not you. You remember what messed up Nebuchadnezzar's life? Nebuchadnezzar got to be the king. Who made Nebuchadnezzar king? God Almighty did. He raises up kings. Daniel said that himself in chapter 2, that God raises up kings and he puts down kings. He raises up nations and he puts down nations because God had revealed the vision or the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. Now, later in that book, he reminds Nebuchadnezzar, hey, hey, hey, you be careful what you do, okay? Because God is watching you. The watchers have come down and they've seen you and they're watching your kingdom. And here's what they say is going to happen to you. Because of something you're going to do, you're going to have seven years where you're going to act just like an animal. Well, what was going to be that? So Daniel says, OK, here's what to do. Here's the way to offset that. God wants repentance from you. You're an arrogant man. You're a proud man. So God wants repentance. So now stop doing the things you are doing. Start caring for the poor. Start caring for the needy. Give yourself wholeheartedly to a compassionate heart. Well, one day Nebuchadnezzar is walking around the city wall, and you remember it, he looked out there and said, look at this great Babylon which I have made. Boom. Wrong. And it's at that point the watcher said, that's the words we were looking for, pronouncement made. it's now to the grass boy and he starts eating grass he's got now d for seven years he's in a pitiful situation because he took credit for what belongs to god if if you were coming from the same thing happened to hear it that same thing happened to a number of people throughout the when they start taking credit for what god alone has done never want to do that you never want to do that so All right, so here's Psalm 29, too, then says, given to the Lord the glory, do his name. So what you're doing, you're acknowledging what glorious thing has God done. You're backing up, and just like the angels, saying, man, the whole earth is full of his glory. Look at the way this snow operates. Look at the way the ice operates in this thing. Look at the way it's melting. look at the way what bob one day after we had uh... plowed also the parking on their still snowing in on it And maybe it was last Wednesday for Iwana. And there were people asking, are we going to have Iwana? Are we going to have Iwana tonight? Well, I drive in, and as I'm sitting down, I drive back in the afternoon, and I'm sitting down at the bottom. I look back up here, and the pavement here cooperating with the sun. This black pavement here cooperates with the sun and just absorbs the sun energy. And it started melting that stuff off. And there was water running down there. Now, I'm going to tell you, the temperature at that point was like 17. For those of you who don't remember, water freezes about 15 degrees before that. So it's like 32. And here it is 17, and I'm watching water flowing down the parking lot. And I couldn't keep from laughing. I said, the whole earth is filled with your glory. Look what you do with this. Old Saul is up there just shining, doing what he's supposed to do. And the black is just saying, yeah, give it to me. Give it to me. It's taking it in, melting the snow. I knew at that point, yep, we can have a wanna tonight. There's not going to be a problem with that. Because God's glory was at work. So the whole earth is full of glory. So give God the glory which is due his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. We'll talk about worship at another time. Now here's what I want to get to. Recognizing God as your source. So let's go to John chapter 15. You will give glory to God when you recognize God is your source for everything. And I'll tell you in a minute how that's going to change some practices in our life. John 15. Let's take a look at, let's start with 18. In 18, John 15, 18. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. So if the world hates you, that just proves you're in a family line. If they hated you, know this, they hated Jesus first, so that just makes you a brother of Jesus. Number 19, if you were of the world, there's your source, if you had as your source the world, the world will love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Okay, so he's letting them know what their source is not. There is a source that's called the world. And John tells us in 1 John chapter 2 that that world operates off of this principle, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. It does not like God. As a matter of fact, it goes on to say that whoever has this in them does not have the love of God in them. So if you are operating off the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, you do not have the love of God in you. Because you're human, you're going to have some of that going on in you back and forth all the time. But if your operating system is lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life, then it's time to repent and go back and figure out what is the source I'm supposed to have. Because what you have just said is, my source for living is the world. Jesus is saying here. You are not of the world I took you out of the world that you would have your source and let's look at first John chapter 4 then I'm sorry. Let's go to John chapter 3 first John chapter 3 verse 21 John chapter 3 verse 21 Jesus has just talked about it he'd be he's the light that's come into the world and that there are two kinds of people there are people who run to the light there's people who run from the light well he's saying this in verse 24 21 but he who does the truth comes to the light he's running to the light wants to come to where Jesus is that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God Now, here's a simple source. God is always previous. You were not looking for him. He was looking for you. He motivated you to look for him. He's always prior. Everybody follow that? He's always prior. So when you run to the light, it's proving that you have had your works done in God, that God's been doing a work in you, that the source for your life is not the world, because the world's going to run from the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're running to the light and you're wanting your deeds to be exposed, it's because God has started that work in you. Is that fair enough? Follow that? All right. Let's go to 1 John chapter 4. 1st John chapter 4, just for a moment. 1st John chapter 4, verse 4, listen to what he says. are of God little children and have overcome them because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world they are of the world therefore they speak as of the world and the world hears them we are of God does that make you sense so your source is God Therefore, you can give glory to God, because that's your source. That's what you'll want to do, is give glory to God. So take a look again at John chapter 1. John chapter 1. Go back to the Gospel of John. Let's go to John chapter 1. And we're going to pick up our reading at verse 12. listen what it says I guess we'll pick up verse 10 he was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him all right don't just stop right there this is its creator Who doesn't, it's creator, whose creation is not recognizing Him. That's how twisted and blurred this whole thing had become. That's how full of iniquity this thing had been. They couldn't give glory to God, they couldn't recognize God. Now look what it goes on to say. He says, uh, the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. They didn't recognize him, but watch this. But as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Kids, if you are a born-again believer, it's because of the work of God doing that. You didn't just become a new person that decided, I'd rather live a nice life than to live the life I'm living. I'd rather have good friends who kind of are righteous and nice friends than to have the friends I've got that are always stabbing me in the back or just partying all their life, and we're just wasting our life away. not you didn't make that kind of decision that's not what made you Christian now if that's how you got here can I just say go back and try again because that was that was the wrong wrong motive for getting here you were made you were born of God you are of God and therefore you'll give glory to God so all right and then of course first Corinthians talks about us no matter what you do Give glory to God. Why? You are not your own. You are born of God. You are made by God. So therefore, as a believer, Here's a step to take. Stop taking ownership of your life. Take responsibility for what you do, but stop believing it's my life. I can do with my life what I want to do with my life. I am fully in control. No, you're not. And if you are, you're in a world of hurt. If you're in control and God is not, then your destiny is just sealed. Stop that. back off of that and say, wait a minute, I need to come to God. So stop taking ownership of your life, such things as that's your time, your car, your home, your, and just whatever thing you want to put to there. One of the ways you can figure out how far along you are in the sanctification is to take a drive on Highway 64. Work your way into St. Louis. And the closer you get to St. Louis, you'll start understanding, how sanctified am I right now? Am I willing to let that guy actually move in and take that position in my lane? Can I remind you that's my lane. My tax dollars paid for this particular lane right here and this space in this lane right now, Pritzker told me. It's my lane. I don't know who this guy is, but he needs to stay in his taxed property and not in mine. If the first thing you want to do is hit the horn or say to yourself some less than gracious words about what person this is, about how this person has taken leave of their senses totally, or they had none to start with, then you're going to know you've got a little more work in your sanctification. Can I just remember this? You probably will get to your destination better if you're not so concerned about who cuts you off. Do you realize sometimes when that person cuts you off, you wind up passing them anyway? In other words, if you can be angry because of what somebody's done to you, then just go back and say, wait a minute. Who's my source? Because I just believed I'm my source. And somebody owes me. If I've got a right to be mad and make you pay for it, and be upset with you, and have you responsible to me, then I've forgotten who the real source is. I'm not my source. He's my source. I might just stop and say, Father, you saw what they just did to your kid. I'm your kid. And if that's OK with you, that's OK with me. I'm leaving them with you and Jesus Christ. You take care of them. Because the most I can do is maybe kill somebody. I'm not in control of what happens after that. But there is somebody that's in control of both sides of that equation. Which means put your gun back up and shut up, son. This is not your world. Let God take care of your situation. Don't get carried away with the guy that just cut you off in traffic. Don't get upset because somebody didn't say or acknowledge you the way you think they should have acknowledged you, or whatever. Are you following me here? Stop taking ownership of your life. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. You belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two. Abide in Christ, and I'm just going to say be faithful. If you're remembering who your source is, you're not trying to imitate the work of Jesus Christ, you're cooperating with the work of Jesus Christ. You're getting into the work that he's doing. If I can say it this way, if you take a step in obedience, And if you say, Father, help me with this work, the Holy Spirit will join you. That's what's called being filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will join you and complete that work so that it's done in the name of Jesus, not in your name. And you're not having to be the one that produced the work. You're the one that is bearing the work. Is that clear? OK. So abide in Christ. Number three. Enjoy the good gifts of God Enjoy the good gifts of God a lot of times. We're not we're not winning because we're not enjoying his good gifts and One of the ways to enjoy it. He said to Israel, you know if you guys would have just listened to me I Was so anxious to do if you had just listened to me. I You could have opened your mouth wide, and here, that's the picture of a bird in the nest. You ever seen that when there's a mama somehow or daddy somehow lets them know, and I'm not sure what sound they make. But if I walk up to the nest, the place is totally silent. But this bird can fly up to the nest, and all of a sudden, there's all this racket and all these open mouths there, just pink everywhere. He's saying, you could have opened your mouth wide and I would have filled it if you don't love me. He wasn't asking them to be conquer the world or any other thing. He was just simply saying to them, do what I say to do and open your mouth. I'll fill it. It would be my delight. I would have gladly done that for you. Listen to the way Jesus said it. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things shall be added to you. Are you seeing where we're coming? He wants to take care of you. He's not looking for you to create your own world and your own wealth. He's willing to give you what you have need of. He wants you to seek first his kingdom and righteousness. That's giving glory to God because you're recognizing he's the source. Number, what is it, four? Then give God glory, okay? By giving God glory, stop complaining because Biden did something. Stop complaining because Trump did something. Stop complaining because Pritzker did something. Can I tell you, these are mortal people. They can die pretty quickly. They can lose office. pretty quickly. You follow what I'm saying? They're mortal. And when we are acting like they are the source of my troubles, they are the source of my unhappiness, you have forgotten who your source really is. God is your source. He's saying, enjoy my kingdom. Now, even as I said that, I want you to get the picture, are we responsible for justice? Yes, we are. Are we responsible to be the citizens we're supposed to be? Yes. If somebody's doing something wrong, am I supposed to say so? Yes. Am I supposed to pray for them regularly? Yes. But as I do, I'm going to believe that my prayer is to the source. This is not just words that I'm punching up in the air with some Jiminy Cricket, hope so, wishful thinking kind of thing. I am speaking to the source. Dad, did you see what they're doing here? This is not to your glory. This is not to your honor. Dad, we need you to correct that. But while you're correcting that, would you give us the boldness to speak the word of God everywhere? So give God glory. So stop complaining. Start getting grateful. Start remembering, who's really in charge of this? It's God Almighty. You know, like it or not, this really is his earth. And I've chosen to live in the Fairview Heights area. God granted me a home in Fairview Heights so I could be here. He granted me an opportunity to work with all of you here. What a wonderful opportunity. But do you know, he can snow on this any day he wants. Because it's his land. And he didn't ask me to put highways there. He didn't ask me to put parking lots here. I put a parking lot right in the middle of his snowstorm. You know what I'm saying? He has plans about what he wants to do with this earth. So it's his. If he makes it inconvenient for us for a day or two, is that all that bad? Not really. Thank you, Father, for the snow. Thank you for the time to rest. Thank you for the time to recuperate, regather my thoughts. I've got some things I got to do. Thank you for the opportunity. I was getting lazy, and I wasn't exercising regularly. So thank you for the opportunity to shovel all this snow. Man, I got my exercise in. My heart's pumping better than it was before. This snow is beautiful. So thank you for the opportunity to move it. And thank you for how pretty it looks when it's gone. You understand what I'm saying? Just change your mind. Give God glory. So, reviewing, stop taking ownership of your life, abide in Christ, enjoy the gifts of God, and give God glory. Fair enough? Father, thank you so much for the joy it is to know Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Thank you for the goodness you've given to us. Thank you for the way you've watched over us. Thank you for the safety you've given to Brother Al and his family, making it way back home again. Thank you for the way you're going to take care of our brothers and sisters, because you are Yahweh Rapha, the Lord who heals us. Thank you that you're Yahweh Yira, the Lord who provides for us. So we want to thank you for the provision you're going to make for us this week. Please grant to us that we might be the people of God, revealing the works of God. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you. Thank you so much.