Children of God - George Solomon

Hey guys, Pastor James Murray here and I want to welcome you to the Abide Sydney podcast. This whole podcast is designed to help you on the journey of discipleship and our mission is to make disciples of the people of Sydney. But maybe not from Sydney, we hope this blesses you, so sit back, relax and enjoy this podcast. Hi, we are so glad that you can be with us today. We are getting back into our one John series and I want to get straight into it if that's okay with you for time's sake, but give you a bit of context before I get to the actual scripture, John's warning believers about every spiritual message because he knows that not all the teachers, not all the preachers, not all the words come from God. The true test, John says in this particular passage, is whether they confess that the real Jesus came in the flesh. And for John and his people, this was not unfamiliar to talk about spirits. In fact, they lived in a very supernatural world, not so much like we do today. We don't tend to talk about the spiritual realm and the different kinds of spirits that are out there, but maybe in the New Year, that's where we will go. But they lived in that kind of world. So what John is about to tell them was not a surprise, it was not a shock. So let's go there, one John chapter four, this is what John speaks into the church. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus came in the flesh is not of God, pretty straight forward. This is the spirit of the anti-Christ, in other words, a spirit that opposes the Christ, which you have heard was coming and now already is in the world. You are of God, little children, and you have overcome them, because He, the speaking of the Holy Spirit, is in you and is greater than He that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore they speak as of the world. In the world He is them, we are of God. He who knows God, He's us, and He who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So immediately in this passage John identifies two different spirits, although there is more. There is the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, and there is the spirit of error. I had to really think about this particular, what I was going to say next, why? Because it's a confession. I have a confession to make, and it was something of my past, I'm not proud of it, and to be honest with you, not to this morning 830, even my wife didn't know about it. But I thought this was a safe place. I will not take my wife on 101, I can tell you that right now. But it is the fact that as a younger person I actually cheated and got caught cheating. I think, yes, no, my marriage is good, are you okay here? Okay, good. You look shocked. Okay, look shocked. Look, it's not what you're thinking. Let me throw a picture up, maybe this will explain it. That's me on your right, my left, that's me in the green. It was year four. I know, and there was an exam, and I hate failing exams, and the reason why is because I actually don't study, I never study. I used to read conclusions to things or ask people, and that was the way I got my answers. And one day this exam came around and I was stuck on this answer, and I could not, on this question, and I could not for the life of me get the answer out. So in that moment, I knew two options. It was the stretch or the drop the pencil, one or the other. You stretch, like you're tired, big night, a year four, big night out, and you, as come up, look at the answer of the person next year. Or the other one, you just simply drop a pen, pick it up, and you, on the way up, look at the person. Well, I did one of those, and I got the answer. What was really annoying and really frustrating is when the exam came back. I don't know how for the life of me. This is what was on my exam. Jesus. How did she know? I had a friend next to me, Patrick, and I cheated, and I took the answer off him because I thought he knew the answer. But I didn't realize there was dumb, and there was dumber. I mean, I had no idea. But I was so desperate for an answer, I was willing to write it in, right? Because blank is not good, but at least I got a 50/50. Well, I was definitely wrong in all of it. And this is what John is warning us about, because sometimes we don't know the answer. And we wanted to be true. I was trusting the fact that he knew the answer. And I wanted an answer, and John is warning. This is the message. He's warning the people just because someone has an answer. It doesn't mean the answer is correct. We do it in arguments, have I had an argument with someone? Okay, Maria, we'll talk later. We argue with people, and we convince ourselves we believe our own lie that we are telling the truth. That's my perspective. No, that's what you said. No, that's not what I said. And you know you're wrong. You're actually lying to yourself, but you actually believe it's the truth. We do it. And deception doesn't always sound like deception. In fact, how do you know when you deceive? You don't, because you actually think it's the truth. And this is the problem. It can sound spiritual as it did back then. It can sound biblical as it did back then. The problem wasn't that they didn't believe in Jesus. The problem was, and the concern for John is which Jesus? And there are so many Jesuses out there today. And the world is promoting us so many different versions of Jesus. And John isn't the only apostle that is concerned about it. In fact, Paul writes to the church a very similar message, listen to what Paul says. But I fear Lee somehow as the serpent, I mean, he goes back thousands of years as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness. So your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. But he who comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you've received a different spirit or you've not received or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. John is saying, "Hey, my concern, yes, you're listening to another Jesus, but you're actually putting it up with it and you're tolerating it and you're willing to accept it, a different Jesus, a different gospel that comes from a, listen, a different spirit. It's a spirit of error that tries to mislead us. And what he is saying and what John is saying is this is the same strategy that the enemy used thousands of years ago still uses it today on us. Paul takes us all the way back to the garden with Eve. And he talks about craftiness. He's cunning, he's crafty. And how did he do it? How did he deceive Eve? He didn't come to deceive Eve and say, "Hey, God's not real." Now she knew he was real. So what does he say? Well, instead of coming and saying, "Hey, God's not real," he comes and says this. And he questions God's word. He puts a question on Mark, did God really say that? He twists God's word. He created doubt in her mind. And this is where the battlefield, it is in the mind. And then he distorted what God had said. The devil's strategy was simply to corrupt her understanding of God and his truth. If you open up a browser today to be quite honest with you, sometimes you don't know the message that you got, whether it's real or not. You can know, every time I open a bank webpage, I'm like, is this real or is this not real? Because they are so good at making the fake look so real. In fact, one day at work came the work and we had found that our programs and everything was corrupted. Someone had hacked into our system, got past the antivirus software. And then we get a note, or I think it was an email or something, that if you will pay us $10,000, we will take the Trojan out of there and we will restore your files to you. And this is the same work as the enemy. He wants to enter into our minds, corrupt our thinking, hack our thinking, our belief system, corrupt us and then he holds us ransom. This is what he does, this is what he does. The question is, how does the enemy get access? Well, Satan's strategy is to introduce a lie that gets access to our thinking. The battle is always in the mind. Sometimes we might not know God's truth, it might sound like truth. Sometimes it looks real. We trust the page, you trust the person like I did with Patrick, someone gave me information and I thought, oh, that's true. They don't know the real from the fake and we don't either, sometimes we, listen, sometimes we want the lie. We do, we want the life because the truth, because it appeals to our desires. It makes us comfortable and justifies our lifestyle. We are living in the age of justification and why we can do things and why we cannot. And this is what Paul warns about. Paul says, "We have itch in ears." He never had something that makes you scratch in itch and you just want to scratch it because it's so like, "people want to hear what fits their desire rather than what is true." Because the truth is sometimes uncomfortable. Listen to what Paul says when he writes to the church. For the time will come, speaking of our time, that they, speaking of believers, will not injure sound doctrine. They will not put up with it. But according to their own desires, because they have itch in ears, they will heap up for themselves, teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. The deception isn't convincing us that Jesus never existed. In fact, many other religions believe Jesus existed. It's convincing people to follow a different kind of Jesus who the Scripture brings to life for us. The devil is okay with you believing in Jesus. He's okay with you coming to church. The question is, "Which Jesus?" And it's not that hard to do. And Paul would not write it if he didn't understand that the enemy is very powerful, very cunning, very strategic. In fact, you know, when he tests Jesus, attempts Jesus in the wilderness three times, in one of the verses of the gospels, you know what it says that he waited for another opportunity. Like what do you mean he waited, was he hiding by a rock, was he following Jesus to look at his weaknesses? And this brings me to a movie which is called Come Sunday, if you haven't heard of it. It's a true story about a preacher called Carlton Pearson. Can you put his picture up for a moment? He led a church of thousands upon thousands in the US, believed in Jesus, loved Jesus, preached Jesus. And this is the danger we need to be careful what we listen to on social media, or even read, because it's just a thought the enemy wants you to catch. Could this be true? It sounds good. It appeals to me and all of a sudden, you're caught in a trap. Carlton, Pearson, started out believing everything that the Scriptures said. And then one day something happened in his life. He was asked to come to a prison where his uncle was incarcerated. And his uncle had asked him, could you write a recommendation for me, to which he said, no. I'm not sure why he couldn't, but he walked out of that place, and not there long after. A message came to Carlton Pearson and said your uncle had killed himself within the jail. True story. Maybe he felt guilty in that moment. I should have written it. I think in fact in the movie he says it, I should have, maybe if I just wrote the recommendation. He loved Jesus. But he couldn't reconcile that which what the Scriptures were talking about. He couldn't believe in that moment. Could my uncle potentially be in hell and separated from God for eternity? And he starts the questions and the doubts. Maybe there is no hell. Maybe there is no eternal consequence. Surely a loving God would not do that to my uncle. This is the point. And this is the point that John is really bringing us to. Which Jesus are you listening to? Which Jesus are you reading about? He ends up teaching Carlton Pearson ends up teaching a gospel called inclusion, the gospel of inclusion, or narcissism, or, sorry, universalism, universalism. What does universalism actually teach? And this appealed to him. He just brought comfort to him. Maybe it subsided the grief that was in him and the responsibility that maybe he was responsible for his uncle's death. I don't know. Here's Jesus says this, universal Jesus says this, everyone will be saved. And eventually everyone will be reconciled to God, cool, live like the devil and do what you want. If that's the case, what's the point of the cross? The real Jesus says this in Matthew 7, for why it is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. There are many who go in by it, but narrow is the gate and difficult is the way and few find it. Real Jesus. His Jesus says this, hell is not eternal conscious punishment. It could be temporary, it could be corrective, it can be just symbolic. But surely not a literal place of eternal punishment. That's his Jesus. The real Jesus says this repeatedly. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, the righteous into eternal life. Jesus puts, listen, eternal punishment and eternal life side by side. It is eternal everlasting, never ending. The same word describes the duration they just do not end. Real Jesus says this, speaks about hell quite often throughout the Scriptures, describing it as a place of judgment. Listen, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched, what John is addressing is so important to us because it is possible to sincerely preach Jesus, love Jesus, believe in Jesus, while our understanding of Jesus has been hacked, reshaped, corrupted by a virus that has been put into our belief system. Therefore, it's a different kind of Jesus in the Scripture. The issue isn't do you believe in Jesus. The issue is which Jesus of the gospel do you believe in? Because John says there is another Jesus. But it's not the Jesus you're talking about. There is a different spirit and there is a different gospel. In fact, Paul goes on later and say these kind of gospels, this other Jesus, it actually comes from a demonic spirit. He says, even if an angel of light appears to you and preaches another Jesus or another gospel, let him be cursed but adhere to the Scriptures that we've taught you, adhere to what we've shown you through the Old Testament. So there is another Jesus. The problem is this, deception is so dangerous. It doesn't normally look like deception. That's the whole point of it. The enemy doesn't want you to know the real Jesus. Why? Does he know something we don't know about Jesus? Does he know that if we know the real Jesus, we will find the power, we'll find the grace, we'll find the mercy, we'll find eternal life and so does he know that? In fact, maybe the devil believes more than we do because he's forever trying to stop us and reshape our thinking. They are so close together, same, same but they are so different. Let me quote a scripture to you and I'm sure if you've read the Bible enough, you would have heard it, right? Blessed are the strong for they shall possess the earth, have you heard it? You know who quoted it? No mission for sure. Anton Levay, the head of the Satanic church, that's the Satanic Bible verse. Sounds like Jesus? Jesus said, no, the mixture will inherit the earth. Anton Levay say, no, the strong will inherit the earth. In other words, your depends is in yourself. If you're strong enough, you can inherit the entire world and the power there of it. Jesus said, no, it's not the way it comes. It sounds the same. But we need to unpack what we read through the scriptures. This warning wasn't relevant just 2,000 years ago, it's relevant today. Listen to what Paul says about today. The Spirit says, expressly, that in the latter day, some will depart from the faith. You have to be in the faith to depart from the faith. Giving heed or listening to deceiving spirits, listen and doctrines of demons. The closer the counterfeit is to the genuine, the harder it will be to recognize. This is what John is saying. Do not believe everything you hear. Do not believe everything you read. You know, it's in says in Jesus, ask His own disciples, who do the people say that I am? You are John the Baptist, you are the prophet, you are this, you are that. And then He brings it back and makes it real personal. He says, but who do you say that I am? Because that matters. Jesus knew that mattered because there are other gospels, there are other spirits influencing a different kind of Jesus, another kind of Jesus. So John says, test the spirits. It doesn't mean go have a conversation with the demonic. Can I say something? Test the spirits? Listen. What you're hearing, test what you've been taught, test ultimately what they are saying. One says you should test to see whether they Jesus came in the flesh. I actually did this literally one day at our church, not this church. We used to be at a church and we had a prayer room. And in that time, lots of people would come and there would be crazy manifestations. And we would throw them into the prayer room because we didn't want to distract the church. And they would go into the prayer room and the first thing we would say, do you confess Jesus Christ in the flesh? They would say, yes, I confess they are in the flesh. I'm confused because John says confess them to see if they are of Christ or if they are spirit of a deal. And they're confessing it, the demonic spirit is confessing that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. In fact, I'll prove it to you. Watch this. When Jesus is going to heal someone, what is it? is a demonic spirit that cries out from a man, it says. Jesus, we know who you are, the son of the most high God. Have you come to torment us before our time? Even they knew who they were dealing with, the real Jesus. That's why they want to introduce to fake Jesus. "Test the spirits," he says. And I'll tell you what John was actually addressing in that moment, but this is what he says. You know the Spirit of God. Every Spirit that confesses Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Well, what do you mean? Because I already did the test and they confessed it. Like, it's quite easy to say, actually. Okay, what John is addressing is something called "nosticism." They had believed that the flesh was absolutely evil and corrupt, and that the Spirit was pure. Therefore, Jesus could not have come in the flesh that would make him corrupt and evil. In fact, they would say, when Jesus walked, if he was of the Spirit, he wouldn't even touch the earth. He wouldn't even leave footprints behind. Because did that gave him permission to go do what they want? Well, say, well, my flesh is corrupt. I'll do what I want. And God will redeem my Spirit. This is what he is speaking to, false deception. If God is pure Spirit, the struggle is to believe that God could truly become a human and take on flesh. They could not accept that Jesus was fully God and fully human. They taught that he only appeared to be human. I don't know what that even means. That when he went to the cross, the Christ that was in him, left. Because it's flesh. Because Jesus took on the sin of the world. You can't take on sin of the world, flesh is corrupt. And then when he rose, it was a different kind of Jesus altogether. Now, why does it matter? Because if Jesus didn't die for our sins, if he did not come in the flesh, then if there is no cross, there is no resurrection. And if there is no resurrection, there is no eternal life. If there is no eternal life, then there is no hope. And we've lived our life in vain. If the enemy can get you to believe that his job's done, why does it matter? In fact, when Paul preached to a group of people called the Bereans in a place, Berea, you know what they did? Everything that Paul was saying, this is something we need to do. Before you go to YouTube and take a note and say, oh, man, I've got a revelation. No, no, this is what you got to do. They searched the scripture daily to find out where the Paul was telling the truth. This is testing the spirit. They examined the whole message. Not one line out of context. We do not build a doctrine out of one sentence and say there is the entire message. And this is what people do. This is what the enemy does. Just get you to one doctrine. I just need you to get you to believe one doctrine. The problem today is we consume so much digital content. We read so many different books that isn't leaving us confused. Maybe with a question, is this possibly real? Because a lot of people believe everything that I just told you. We need to read the word of God. And I know some people say, I don't understand it. And I don't. And I'll say they read it. And I don't remember it. I don't. And sometimes it's hard and difficult. And maybe you think, oh, that's actually quite boring. In fact, I skip all the genealogies. Because I go like, I don't understand. And I can't retain it. But remember, the word of God is spiritual. So although you read it, it's not about feeling. It's doing something, retaining something. Because the promise to you is in that moment, the spirit of God will bring things to your remembrance. And you will know within you, oh, this does not sound right. Even if you can't quote a chapter in verse. But the spirit of God, the word of God, is a seed within us that's growing. And the enemy would love to put you to sleep while you read it in your bed. I'm gone in two minutes. I will never lie down. I'm going to be like, we need to read the word of God. I'm going to show you a picture of an NFL player called Patrick Maharns. Can you bring it up? Probably one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He has a wristband that he's wearing on his left hand. You see it? They're called cheek coats. They're shortened coats for certain plays that he will play out. There's at least 50 to 100 there. And there's more that they've got to learn. And they've got to study why? Because when they come up against a certain opposition, depending on what is coming out them and how they are seeing the game unfold, they will pull out one of these coats. And they will go, this is what we're playing. That's those coats where you hear quarterback call out. They've got a play set. Listen, they're not prepared in that moment. They prepared way before that moment. They understood the opposition. They knew the opposition. They would watch videos on their weaknesses. And then they would write the plays there. And when that moment came, they were already prepared. And they pulled out a play. He doesn't wait. Patrick Maharns didn't become the player that he was because he waited until game day. He studied, he trained, and he practiced those plays over and over and over. Why? Because sometimes he forgot them. Sometimes he didn't execute them well. But he was preparing himself for the moment that he would step on to a field. And maybe we need to prepare ourselves when we step on to this field. And the spirit of deception comes. And the spirit of temptation comes. And the spirit of lies come. And the spirit of every other negative word that comes your way. And you will know you'll be able to pull out the truth and say, no, no, that's not what God says. It doesn't line up with all of the scripture. It doesn't. Here's the most important part. Is the enemy wanting to take your house? No. Is it the flat tire? No, no, no, it's just a flat tire. Like seriously, what does the enemy want from us? If you can get to your house to get to you, maybe. But what does he want? What's his ultimate goal? We've seen how he works, deception, cunning, doubts, questions, all of that. And I'm not saying questions aren't wrong. They're OK, but we've got to go back to the scripture. So what do you want from me? Let me show it to you. Peter and Jesus are having a conversation. And Peter comes to Jesus. Jesus comes to Peter and says, God, bad news for you. He says, Satan has asked the sift you like weep. In other words, he wants to shake you violently. He wants to see what your faith has made of, Peter. He wants to test you. Whether that's through temptation, trials, not really sure. It can come in a thousand different ways, but he wants to sift you. You know what Jesus responds? It's OK. I've held him back for you. There'll be no temptation, there'll be no test, there'll be no sifting. He doesn't say any of that. You know what he says? I've prayed for you. Listen to the power of prayer. I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail you. That's what the enemy wants from you. He wants your soul. What is God from us? Our soul. What does the enemy want? Our soul. What is God pleased with? Our faith. What is the enemy displeased with? Our faith. Does the enemy know something about us that we actually don't understand? Don't even believe sometimes? This is the enemy's plan. Sift you like weathe. I'm going to close with this. I've written down 10 core things that are non-negotiables for Christianity and Christians. There's probably more, but I'll pretend. Can you put them up, please, yeah? 10 things that we should know about Christianity, non-negotiables. There is one true God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We're good, right? Jesus, eternal Son of God who became flesh, sin, humanity has fallen into sin, cannot save itself. Cross Jesus died at Tony's sacrifice for our sins. And these are things that a lot of people don't believe, so that's why they're up there. Resurrection, Jesus physically rose from the dead. Next one. Gospel. Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Christ Jesus, not by human, Herod. Grace alone by faith alone through Christ alone. Scripture. Bible is God's final authority, revelation, and the standard by which teaching must be tested. Scripture against Scripture. Exclusivity. Jesus is not one way to God. Only one way. He's only one way. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except for Him. So you can have an opinion. You can have your thought. You can go and find another Scripture, but remember, we've got to take the entire Scriptures. So when you're studying a Bible and you want to know what salvation says, go and look at every Scripture on salvation, not one, and then the answer will come to you. Judgment. There will be real final judgment and eternal consequences. Also for those who reject Christ as His Lord and Savior. Return. Jesus will return. The dead will be raised. Evil will be judged. That's what we want. Judgment evil, God. And God will make all things new. These are not things we drift from because they become uncomfortable for us. Just not talk about hell. People leave the church. I love what one preacher said, David Wilkinson, a New York Times Square church. I'd rather you hate me and go to heaven than like me, go to hell. How many people like Jesus? Not many? Are you leaving too? Do you not like what I said? No, they didn't like it because it didn't fit with their kind of Jesus. We want a Jesus that conquers all things, over throws the Roman. We want Jesus to do so many different things for us. But that's not the real Jesus, it's not the real Jesus. I want to encourage you this week, pick up your Bible, read it. Even if you don't understand, it's spiritual. It's feeding your spiritual soul, and you don't even know it. And here's some reasons maybe why you should read it. Study, show. Viewing pornography, reading your Bible four times a week. Not pop up too, not one holy, you version, scripture, and I'm done. No, no, no, no, read the Bible, read the Bible. Viewing pornography drops by 59 percent. Loneliness drops 30 percent. Feeling spiritual, dry, and stagnant drops by 60 percent. Feeling unable to please God, have you been there? Not worthy. 44 percent. I wish I could say there are 100, but they will be 100 at some stage. When we can't face the face with Him, all of these will be 100 percent. Come on. Biddeness drops 40 percent. Destructive thinking, 32 percent. Forgiving others, 31 percent, discouragement, 31 percent as well. These do not work if you read the Bible and you don't want to know the truth. If you justify your actions while you're reading the Bible, there will be no transformation in your life. That's the truth. So when you read your Bible, I want to encourage you to do this. Holy Spirit, teach me what it says. Help me understand your Word. That's simple. And sit there and just read it. Just read it. Why don't we all stand for a moment? Because that's what's going to count. There are influences so powerful beyond our strength that only the Word of God can combat. And can defeat. We will not be able to. And it is the Word of God that it becomes like the anti-virus software to our brain, to our minds, to our soul. That's why we encourage people to get around someone like minded because I am sharpens, I am. We need it. We need one another. I don't know if you watch the news. I don't watch too much of it. But they are targeting Christians. They are targeting Christians. We are becoming, listen, a minority. Why? Why is the enemy so afraid of Christianity? Why is Jesus Christ the only name that will blaspheme in use? Why not anyone else? What does the enemy know that we don't know? You know someone told me this week that works behind intelligence, which shocked me. Sorry, not this week. He shocked me. He said, do you know that Christians are on the most wanted list? The most dread? I said, are you kidding? He goes, why do you think they are trying to bring in new laws? And he says, you know what he said? He said, they disguise them as other things. But they are targeting you. I said, you are kidding as yes. This is a man who has wealth of knowledge behind the things. Maybe every eye closes every head bow. Maybe you don't pick up the Bible, whatever it is. It doesn't really matter. Pick it up. If you've drifted, come back. And maybe you're here and you go, I don't know this kind of Jesus. The one that died on the cross and rose for me, forgives me of my sins, loves me unconditionally when no one else did. Maybe that's your version, or maybe you have a version of a different Jesus from a different religion that says, try harder and keep on trying. And hopefully you'll get there. No, that's not the Jesus that we serve. He's full of grace, the Spirit. Scripture says, full of mercy, full of truth, full of love. That's the Jesus we serve. And all you have to do to start this journey with the real Jesus is ask Him into your life. God, you don't even have to have 100% faith. How good is that? Doesn't it make sense that only Christianity is the only one that gives us equal opportunity and same plain feel that says, if you will believe in me, you shall be saved. Not that I have to work for it or travel somewhere and do a missionary trip or do so many things to earn His grace and earn His salvation. Why is it? Why is it? That's what makes sense to me. Okay, cool. If that's what I have to do and not on my own merits, then that makes a lot of sense to every other religion and every other gospel and every other spiritual, influenced message that I've ever heard. Do better, George. Fix yourself up. He doesn't say that. He says, come, come as you are. So every eye close, every head bow. If you've never accepted Christ into your life, let this be the start of your journey. You have to simply say, well, you might easily say, Father, I believe you're a, I believe there's a God. I believe Jesus died on the cross and rose again for my sin. Come into my life. That is the start of it. Then pick up your Bible. Get connected with someone. But maybe you're here today, you're a Christian season, maybe you're a dry and stagnant, like that stat said, or maybe you've wandered, maybe you're so busy, you've got so many other things you've just haven't had time or haven't, haven't prioritized the time to pick up the rule Jesus. He left us His Word, His biography, His roadmap, His playable, He left us everything so we could come and know Him and know true life. So we could find wisdom and find peace and find joy and find understanding in some areas and find strength and find everything that we need. It's all in His playbook. Father, just thank you. Thank you for what you do and what you will continue to do. I thank you, God, for the cross and for the resurrection. I thank you for paying the price for our sin, Lord, and we could not pay it. I thank you that you loved us unconditionally and welcomed us so. I thank you that we now belong to you and we become more like you, God. Lord, I pray you're blessing over these people. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make His face shine upon your migrations towards you. The Lord lift up His countenance and give you peace in Jesus' name. Amen, amen, amen. Monday morning, let's pick up the Word because we are picking up Jesus. You need prayer for anything? Absolutely anything. Come up the front if not. God bless you. Have a great week. Go into the foyer, Mingle. See you next week. Well, we hope this podcast has inspired you on your journey of discipleship to Jesus. If you want to know more about our church, just go to abide.cidney. We'd love to get to know you. If not, you're from another place. Hey, why don't you share this with someone else and hopefully it helps them as they continue to follow Jesus. Have a great week. (upbeat music)