People Get Ready - Jesus is Coming

1 (5m 14s): Way. When was the clues? When I look at the space between what I used to be and this record, I know I'm never be standing next to me. There was another in holding back the scene and shoot, I need reading of how I've been set free. There is a cross that bears the bird died for me. 0 (5m 60s): my dad left no, the name, the name that he who was and still is, and be may in the space between all I know would be, I know I'm closed all stuffing us. 0 (11m 49s): 2 (19m 28s): Yes, Lord. That is our aim today. That is our goal, as we gathered together, or thank you that you are Dan from the beginning, that Christians would gather for the purpose of worship. Lord, we worship you today for the purpose of being a witness to the world. How awesome, how mighty, how wonderful you are. Thank you. That you've put us here also to do good works and to be about your business. As we just desire every day, just to be filled by you, to love you, to serve you. And so Lord week, we give you our lives, a fresh thank you for meeting us here today. 2 (20m 11s): We are gathered together in your name. Your word tells us that you are here, you are with us in our midst, and we welcome you. We look to you for everything we submit to you, and we bless you in Jesus name God's people said, amen. Amen. Amen. So go ahead and have a seat. That would be wonderful. So just a little bit of background information, pastor Steve and his family, they, they try to take an annual trip to bass lake. And so they are gone for about a week. So pray Steve Henry and his, his clan. They couldn't go last year. 2 (20m 51s): Can you imagine why they couldn't go last year? Reason? None of us could go anywhere last year. So anyway, my name's Ron, I get to share with you today. So I want to welcome all of you in the sanctuary and also in the loss and in the patio and online, it's an amazing thing that we can really touch the world with the message of the gospel through technology, you know, and it's kind of an amazing thing. So as we begin this morning, as you know, yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the events of nine 11, the terror attacks of nine 11 being on the west coast, not on the east coast square at all took place. 2 (21m 33s): It's easy to be kind of disconnected, but just know this 2,977 people lost their lives on that day, 20 years ago on nine 11. What I've done this past week, just as a way of, I love history, but I want to know, I want to know what happened more fully be reminded about what happened 20 years ago on nine 11. And so I watched the documentary, it was done by national geographic and it's I think six episodes where they take you through day one. So it's just prior to, you know, the first Northern tower getting hit by, by the airline and then, and then it all unfolded from there. 2 (22m 21s): It, I think it's important to, to approach our lives and our world through a good sense of, of history of who we are, and not only 20 years ago, but certainly prior to that. And when we experienced something like that, it's becomes part of our lives. It's etched in our, our mind. Can you remember where you were on nine 11, 2001? Probably almost all of us can remember where we were, but out of that documentary, that documentary that I watched national geographic, it gave me such a overwhelming sense of appreciation for first responders, especially firefighters, and mainly because as everyone is pouring out of the buildings, they're rushing into the buildings to rescue people, to bring people to safety and not only the fireman, but also the medics and the police, you know, anyone that is a first responder. 2 (23m 24s): And it was so amazing to me to see their commitment to rescue people's lives in them, even in the midst of the potential of their own loss of life, but the, the comradery between them, between the firefighters. I, I've never known that the only I can even compare it to, and maybe, maybe the camaraderie that we share as believers in Christ in a moment of crisis. And so I'll tell you very quickly where I was on that day 20 years ago, DJ and I were actually, as it turned out, we'd spent a few months preparing for a fundraising event for lifeline crisis pregnancy center. 2 (24m 8s): And it was a fundraising event that we did for many years. It was a golf marathon. And so we were putting on this event and it landed on nine 11. And so we're all there at dairy Creek golf course up by quest college on highway one. And we got there really early, about five 30 in the morning because we had to get things set. And when you have maybe 30, 40, 50 people there golfers and, you know, raising money for lifeline and all the volunteers. And so we're in the cafe area, getting all the tables set up and the TV was on in this cafe area and a little after 6:00 AM, we heard some commotion and we walked in there and we see the Northern tower on fire. 2 (24m 48s): And of course, nobody really knew what was happening at that moment. And so we're sort of in awe, a shock and I guess, of, of what was going on. And then shortly after we see the plane going into south tower, and now this sense of soberness come, came upon us. And so, as we're thinking about what to do that day, do we cancel our event? Do we do, how do you do business as usual, knowing that on the east coast, 3000 miles away is this trauma, this tragedy that's unfolding that we, you know, we cannot comprehend. 2 (25m 30s): We weren't there. I wasn't there. And so what we decided to do, we gathered together for breakfast and to pray. So we prayed and we decided we're going to, we're going to go ahead and, and have our event. And we felt that in light of what was going on that raising money, raising funds to help save babies alive was important. But the strange thing about that day, there was roughly again, 30 or 40 golfers. So we go out on the golf course, we're all on a different, we all start in a different hole. We pair up, but it was this surreal feeling of we're playing golf, beautiful sunny day at dairy Creek, knowing the suffering that was happening in New York city and also at the Pentagon and also with flight 93. 2 (26m 24s): And, and one of the people in this documentary pointed out, you know, the, the terror attack was to bring about two things. It was to bring about an undermining of our freedom in America. And secondly, it was to establish a sense of fear among the people of America to undermine our freedom and to bring a sense of fear, to have us live in fear. So fast forward 20 years, I think we're still dealing with that feeling like we've lost some of our freedoms. Literally we have, and many people, not only from that tragedy, that terror event, but also what we're experiencing now. 2 (27m 11s): And so what I want to talk about this morning in a moment let's pray, Lord, we cannot fully understand the events that take place in human history. We can't fully understand what the people there experienced, what the first responders experienced and that they carried that with them after nine 11 and how it impacted them. And then with the events in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Florida, it's, it's almost too much for our us to handle, but Lord, we look to you. You're the one that makes sense out of things that don't make sense. 2 (27m 54s): You're the one that brings a sense of peace where otherwise there would be no peace. And so Lord, as we think about, even now, the people that are 20 years later are still suffering Lord, that you would give them peace, give them rest, Lord and father bless our first responders today. Lord, thank you that there are men and women, even in our midst that they're trained to go towards the danger to protect lives and save people. Lord bless them. We thank you for them in Jesus name. Amen. So what I want to look at today is we're going to be continuing where pastor Steve left off. 2 (28m 35s): So what we typically do at harvest church, as we go through books of the Bible and we finished one week, you know, go into the next one. So we've been going through the book of Titus. So if you want to turn to the book of Titus, we are in Titus chapter three, beginning with verse one. Now the way this typically works. So I knew that I was going to be speaking today about a month ago. And I, I wasn't sure where Steve was going to end off, but a few weeks ago he was his plan was to go through chapter two in one Sunday, but that didn't happen. And so he finished it last week. And so I'm looking ahead, I'm thinking, well, I'm going to be in five Lehman, which is the book right after Titus. So I realized, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to be in Titus chapter three. 2 (29m 16s): And I read verse one and I call Steve, Hey Steve, get your Bible out. Have you read Titus chapter three, verse one. So he reads it like, that's not fair, big. And I'll, I'll, I'll tell you why it's not fair and just a minute. Okay. And, but that's just the way it goes. And the beauty of teaching through books of the Bible is you have to hit everything. You can't, you can't say, well, I'm not, I'm uncomfortable with that. Or I don't understand that or be best to, you know, that's gonna make people upset or whatever you can, you can't do that. And it's a blessing. It's God's word. It's all. It's all good for us. So in the letter, this is a letter that Paul wrote to Titus. 2 (29m 59s): So Paul was a apostle. We know that everywhere he went, he's planting churches. So you spend some time on this island of Crete. It's a very big island. There's lots of cities, they're major cities. And so he's ready to leave. And he has left at this point and he appointed some people to be in charge of the churches that he planted. Well, one of them is this young man named Titus. So he's telling Titus, I need you. I need you to do a few things there to establish these churches, to help them grow, to become vibrant communities of believers. And so just by way of review, I'm looking at Titus chapter one, verse five, the scriptures will be up for you as well. So he says this to Titus. 2 (30m 40s): He says, for this reason, this is why I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking. So there's still some things that need to be done there. And I want you to appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. So church leadership is super important overseeing the work that God was doing. And so Titus was responsible to help establish leadership in these churches that were planted. And then, and then he continues in this letter. He says to Titus, Titus chapter two, verse one, he says, but as for you, so now he's speaking directly to Titus speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. 2 (31m 21s): Titus. I want you to focus on doctrine, teaching establishing a solid firm foundation for these believers. He's talking about teaching the Bible. Now they didn't have the new Testament in that day. So it was, it was the new Testament. I, sorry, they didn't have the new Testament in that day. They did have, they had the old Testament scriptures. They get that right. Second time. Okay. So they had the old, old Testament books of the Bible. And that was sufficient because the holy spirit was speaking life into the words from the old Testament and illuminating them to show how they transition and fit and establish what would become the new Testament and sound. 2 (32m 3s): Teaching sound doctrine is super important. And then it continues in chapter two, verse 11. He says for the grace of God. So now he's going to talk about a bigger picture thing for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust. We should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age. So now he's talking really, I think to the, to, to the believers there through Titus believers, followers of Jesus, he says you've received salvation through the grace, but it teaches us something. 2 (32m 43s): And it taught them something specific 2000 years ago, roughly. And is speaking the same, the same thing to us today. What did he say? It teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly less. We are to live soberly. That is, we are to be, clear-minded clear thinking. We, we understand who we are in Christ. We are educated in the word of God in the scriptures. We are wise, we are discerning. We understand what's going on in their world. They understood what was going on. And in our world, we understand what's going on. 2 (33m 25s): And he also said, I want you to live righteously and godly in the present age. So we're going to fast forward because now we're, we're taking that. What Paul wrote to Titus is saying, this applies today, believers, we need to be thinking about this and applying this in our life as well. Living soberly, righteously, the righteousness of God and Christ, not our righteousness of course, and godly in our, in our present age. And then he sort of concludes that again, this is all just for intro chapter two, verses 13 and 14, w you know, why should we be doing all these things? Well, he tells us here looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. 2 (34m 13s): Sometimes we get caught up in the muddle of, of just life and, you know, Christian life and day-to-day life. And, and yet he, he wants us to keep in focus, something that is promised to us that will happen. And he says, what is it? It's the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us, set us free from every lawless deed and purify for himself, his own special people who are zealous for good works. So again, one of the things I want us to take away from this this morning is that we have purpose in the world in which we live today. 2 (34m 58s): I like in, in a king James version of that same verse, you know, new king, James says a special people. King James says a peculiar people, and I can test you a peculiar bunch of people. Okay. But if you think about it, we don't fit in. You know, we don't w we kind of go against the flow of the world against the stream. We resist some of the worldly things that are being indoctrinated into the world system today. And, and part of the teaching is we don't have to accept all the things that the world is, is, is telling us. We have to comply to these things were we're set apart. 2 (35m 39s): We're special, we're peculiar. But one of the things that we all were all zealous for his good works, we're going to talk about that. You may remember there was a song. I think it was done by crystal Lewis. It was either the eighties or nineties, but the sermon title for today is, is the title of her song. The song title is people get ready. Jesus is coming. People get ready. Jesus is coming. It's inevitable. It is a fact is a prophecy that will be fulfilled perhaps in our lifetime. We don't know. So now we're jumping into Titus chapter three. So there's four words that we're going to look at this morning. 2 (36m 18s): The first two are things that, that, that we're being encouraged to do. And the last two are things we're encouraged to be, to be aware of. So the first one is remind, we need to be reminded of some things and, and also affirm the other, another word is affirm, affirms some things in our Christian life. And then the other words are avoid certain things we need to avoid. And other things we need to reject. Now, if things are consistent in second services, they were with first service. I'm probably not going to get to the things that you need to resist and avoid. So you're probably going to ask steady that on the, on your own. Sorry about that. All right. So look at me now, Titus chapter three, verse one, Paul is talking to Timothy to Titus, sorry, Paul talking to Titus. 2 (37m 6s): He says, remind them, remind the believers to be subject to rulers and authorities, and to obey and to be ready for every good work. Alright. So part of the reason that Paul wanted Titus to be reminded or to remind the believers about these things is because Crete, the people of Crete, they had a long standing reputation of being very corrupt. It was a corrupt society, a corrupt culture, corrupt leadership, even it was part of their culture, but their culture needed to change. You see wherever the gospel goes, we're not looking to westernize people. 2 (37m 47s): We're not looking to bring democracy to people. We're looking to transform their life and their culture, which is going to set them free. And so Paul is reminding Titus. This is what it's all about. They were corrupt society that needed to be transformed. So once again, he says, remind believers to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey and to be ready for every good work. So Paul talked about the same thing in other letters that he wrote, which I want to unpack just a little bit. The scriptures will be up on the screen for you. Romans chapter 13, beginning with verse one, it says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 (38m 40s): It's kind of a sober thought. Isn't it? Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who resist will be bring judgment on themselves for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. So here we have a little bit of a breakdown now of what leadership is supposed to look like. Even civil leadership. We're not even talking about godly leadership, civil leaders in a civil society. It says here, rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good? And you'll have praise for the same four. 2 (39m 20s): He's talking about whoever's in authority for he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid for, he does not bear the sword in vain for he is God's minister and Avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience sake for, because of this, you also pay taxes for their God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. So what thing are they continually this very thing attending, attending to what thing are they attending to continually? 2 (40m 7s): And again, it's for his God's minister to you for good render, therefore to all their due tax, their due taxes to whom taxes are due customed to whom customs and fear to whom fear honor to whom honor. So the premise here is that leadership is intended to give a foundation for a civil society and it rewards good people, and it has consequences for evil. All right? And he brings in there. He says, and also, I want you to do this for conscience sake. You see I've found in my life. When I violate the laws, pick a law. 2 (40m 49s): When I violate a law, my conscience says red light alarm. What are you doing? Stop? Because I say, we have this intuitive understanding that, okay, this is the law. And as a, as a good citizen, or we would say, as a godly Christian person, we obey the law. We want to do. What's good. Peter also talked about this in first, Peter chapter two, beginning with verse 13, he says this submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king, as Supreme or to governors as to those who are sent by him by the king for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 2 (41m 44s): We see the same thing Peter's talking about encouraging good behavior and punishing evil doers for this is the will of God. That by doing good, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free yet not using Liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bond servants of God. And then he concludes with this honor, all people love the brotherhood, fear, God, and honor the king. So there's a bit of a hierarchy there. And both Paul and Peter talked about, Hey, the authorities that exist, God ordained these authorities for a certain purpose, but then he says, you know, honor, people love the brotherhood. 2 (42m 30s): I think he's talking about the community of believers, fear God, and honor the king. So what is our, what is our priorities in all this? And again, I'm kind of unpacking this to answer that question of Titus chapter three, and look at it, maybe in a more relevant way that you and I are facing right now. So remember Jesus, he was confronted by a religious ruler and you know, the religious Lew said, Hey, what, you know, what's the most important commandment of all, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses. So Jesus replied, you must love the Lord, your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. 2 (43m 11s): The second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself, the entire law and all the demands of the profits are based on these two commandments. So Jesus is affirming that same thing. Number one, love the Lord, your God. Everything flows from that with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is impossible to love our neighbors as ourselves, without first loving God and honoring him. So back to what Peter said, honor, people love the brotherhood, fear, God, and honor the king. And so if we want to prioritize all those things, fearing God is on the top. 2 (43m 51s): Loving the Lord with all our heart. Soul mind. Strength is on the top. Everything flows from that. So based on that verse, I read a moment ago, first Timothy three, remind them to be subject to sorry, Titus chapter three, verse one, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities to obey, to be ready for every good work. First question of the day. Is it ever appropriate to disobey those who are in positions of authority? Is it ever appropriate to disobey those who are in positions of authority? So the answer is yes. 2 (44m 31s): Okay. When is it appropriate to disobey? When by submitting to and obeying those who are in authority, we're actually disobeying God. The Bible has a number of examples for us of this very thing. I'm not going to have the scriptures up. I'm just going to read them to you. And the first one is in the book of Exodus, chapter one, you guys know the story. So Pharaoh's the king of Egypt. He's like the dictator of all. He gave this order to the Hebrew midwives and it names, the midwives Shipra and poor. This is what he said. When you help the Hebrew women, as they give birth watch, as they deliver, if the baby is a boy, kill him. 2 (45m 19s): If it is a girl, let her live. So again, the king of Egypt, the Pharaoh has made this decree to these midwives, but because the midwives feared God, they refuse to obey the King's order. They allowed the boys to live too. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. Why have you done this? He come, he demanded. Why have you allowed the boys to live? The Hebrew women are not, this is their response. The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. The midwives replied they're are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly. The, we cannot get there in time. 2 (46m 1s): So not only did they defy Pharaoh's decree to kill the boys, they actually lied about it to what was the response. So God was good to the midwives and the Israelites continued to multiply growing more and more. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. He blessed them as a result of the fact that they refused to obey the command of Pharaoh. Another example, you guys know this one. Well, this is in the book of Daniel chapter three. And it's when Nebuchadnezzar had made this golden statue that I think was about 90 feet tall. And the command was given that everybody needs to worship this statue. 2 (46m 44s): He had created all the officials came and stood before the statue that came that never set up. And then a Herald shouted out people of all races and nations and languages listened to the King's command. When you hear the sound of the horn flute, zither Lear harp pipes and other musical instruments, bow to the ground to worship king Nebuchadnezzar, his gold statue, and anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. You know the story, there were three Hebrew, young men who, who basically said, we're, we're not doing that. 2 (47m 26s): Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied, oh, Nebuchadnezzar. So they're speaking to the utmost authority in the land of Babylon. At the time they said, we do not need to defend ourselves before you, if we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your majesty, but even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue that you've set up. 2 (48m 6s): You know, the rest of the story, similar situation. Now we're in, in the book of acts where the disciples, the apostles, they're going all over predominantly in Jerusalem at the time. And they're declaring what had occurred. That Jesus had been crucified that he'd been put in a tomb. And then he had risen from the dead. And they also blamed the religious authorities that they were the ones that actually put Jesus to death. So they brought the, the religious leaders, brought the apostle before the high council where the high priest confronted them. Didn't we tell you never again, to teach in this man's name. 2 (48m 49s): He demanded, instead you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death, but Peter and the apostles replied, we must obey God rather than man, or rather than any human authority on to say that again, Peter says, we must obey God, rather than any human authority. The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message. 2 (49m 29s): Jesus is the Messiah question. Once again, is it ever appropriate to disobey those who are in authority? The answer is yes. When is it appropriate? When by submitting to an obeying, those who were in authority were actually disobeying God, and why is this well? Because we ought to obey God rather than any human authority. All right. Remember the verse I read earlier, it was Titus chapter two. It says that we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age. So let's fast forward. 2 (50m 9s): Now. Now we're talking about real life. We're talking about the things that you and I face decisions. We make things that we're being told to do restrictions that are being placed upon us mandates that are being put upon us. And we have to make a decision. And I want to say, I'm not going to tell you today what your decision should be. I only know what my decision is and what I have discovered in my life, personally, something about my personality, my character, which I didn't really fully understand before. Is it the more I'm being told? What I must do? 2 (50m 50s): You must comply to this. You must, this is a mandate upon you. I find what I do is I just dig my heels in all the more, and I'm not trying to be obstinate about it or rebellious about it. But in my spirit, in my conscience, I'm sensing God does not want me to do this. And at some point I think it is our responsibility to push back. Maybe not about everything. And I'm going to talk about that in just a minute, but what I have here in my hand right now, it's a document and it's titled order. Number six of the county health officer requiring face coverings in all public indoor settings, attributable to the rise in SARS, cov two Delta variant. 2 (51m 35s): So this was put in place September 1st, what what's today? The 12th. So 12 days ago. So I'm going to read one paragraph. This order directs that face coverings shall be worn regardless of vaccination status over the mouth and nose in all indoor public settings, venues, gatherings, and workplaces, such as, but not limited to offices, retail stores, restaurants, and bars, fitness centers, theaters, museums, personal care services, family entertainment centers, conference centers, and government offices serving the public. 2 (52m 17s): So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to give you two things. I'm going to give you my personal opinion on some things. And I'm going to give you also the position that harvest church, the leaders of harvest church have taken concerning some of these things. And so I'm going to give you, first of all, my personal opinion, let me backtrack. So at harvest church, what we typically do is the elders gathered together. The elders of harvest church are Steve Henry, Jim Erickson, Nilo Hagen, Gary Tucker and myself. We take these things very, very seriously. So we, not just this, but we, we gathered together. 2 (52m 59s): There's a decision that needs to be made, something that needs to it's impacting our church and we pray. And we, we, we communicated about it and we, we attempt to always be unanimous in our decisions about what's best for harvest church. And just please know that whatever decision we come up with, it's something that we feel that God is having us do a direction to take a decision that's made for the benefit of the church. Now things may happen. And I'm sure in any church, things happen where we might not understand, or we might not agree, or why are they doing that? And I don't think they should do that and whatever, and that's totally fine. If you ever have a question about anything that we decision we make, but feel free to come and come and talk to us about it. 2 (53m 43s): But more importantly, please be in prayer for, for the elders of harvest church, because it's a, we have a big responsibility. We're responsible for God's people. And, and we want our church to have a solid foundation and we want all of us to grow and, and just be confident that as a, as a body of believers, we're, we're on the right track. So personally, back to the mask mandate, all right, personally, I don't have a problem wearing a mask. If a business establishment requires me to wear a mask, I will gladly wear a mask. I don't have a problem with that at harvest church. 2 (54m 26s): So now we're talking about our church in particular, we've chosen to leave the decision up to you. So the decision is up to you, whatever you feel is best for you. So I want to go backtrack this a little bit. Remember it was, I believe April and may of 2020, where we were told. In fact, I think all businesses, all churches, we are were told, you must shut down and everything came to a screeching halt. You guys remember that? And we complied. We stopped having church. We did everything online. We didn't gather our, our space was utterly empty. 2 (55m 5s): And so w w for a couple of months, we agreed to do that. But, but then we began to sense that God was wanting us to do something different. And so he began to meet again. Now we, we removed a bunch of chairs. We set up a big outdoor venue. We encourage people to sit outside, you know, wear a mask. If you want to have some distance between you. So back to if you'd like to wear a mask in any of our venues, we encourage you to do so. And that is perfectly fine. 2 (55m 46s): In fact, backtrack just a little bit when we were doing church outside exclusively, I think we did it for like about three months, four months. I remember I thought it was super fun, mainly because we lived on the central coast of California, where you can pretty much have our outdoor church all the time. You know? So I have fond memories of that. But at harvest church, our leaders have chosen not to mandate the wearing of masks and our worship venues. We leave that decision up to you see all along, our default has been. How about if we let individual people, individual families decide what they're comfortable with, what is safe for you, safe for your family and those around you. 2 (56m 28s): So in that regard, we are pro choice. We're pro choice. It's up to you, we're supporting a Christian's right to choose. So now back to my opinion, in my opinion, it's really not about the mask mandate. That concerns me. Perhaps you heard our president last Thursday, he is putting in place. I'm just reading from my notes here. He's putting in place vaccine mandates, not only for all federal workers and contractors, but also for all businesses with 100 or more employees. And again, to be clear, in my opinion, I don't necessarily have a problem with the vaccines. 2 (57m 12s): I do have a problem with our government potentially forcing us to get them. And by the way, by definition, they're not actually a vaccine. They are in fact gene therapy, which is a new technology, never been used before. A new technology that has no long-term data to determine its safety. In fact, a person who is fully recovered after having COVID has a superior immunity against the virus and all the variants compared to those who have been fully vaccinated. 2 (57m 59s): Again, that was my opinion. So ultimately what I personally have a hard time with is the sense that we are being manipulated. We are being lied to about many things. I have the feeling that we're being set up. And in my opinion, our leaders seem to be sewing and fueling division and discord within our country. I don't know if you guys are aware of this. There's the thing is called the Nuremberg code. The Nuremberg code was established prior at the end of world war two, when they were holding those accountable for the atrocities of the, the Nazis, the Germans, and one of the things that was being done during world war two is the Nazis were doing experiments, medical experience, experiments on Jewish people and, and others without their consent. 2 (58m 55s): So the Nuremberg code, which was established and voted on by the international community, this is international treaty in the Nuremberg code. It is said that you cannot, no nation can coerce or force its citizens to take medical procedures that they, that they do not want to receive. So it's international law and it's in violation of our laws as well. So it seems to me that our leaders are sewing and feeling division and discord within our country. Do you remember what Jesus said about this in Luke chapter 11? 2 (59m 38s): He said this every kingdom, every nation divided against itself is brought to desolation. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Do you remember the, the two things that the terrorists, those who committed the terrorist attacks on nine 11, they, what they wanted to do is they wanted to undermine our freedom and they wanted to keep us in fear. I see that same thing, continuing, and, and maybe even being more impactful now in our day now, to be clear, I'm not ignorant of the seriousness of COVID. 2 (1h 0m 26s): In fact, about two weeks ago, one of our dear friends died from COVID and he's 58 years old, relatively healthy guy. So I'm not in any way saying that this isn't a serious health issue that we need to be dealing with and, and praying about and ask God how we should approach it. But again, the census that we're being manipulated and lied to my opinion, is that as much as we would all like things to get back to normal, things are never going to get back to normal. 2 (1h 1m 16s): Things are quickly moving in the direction of what the prophets foretold in the Bible. One world leader, one world government, a cashless global economy that is controlled in such a way so that a person cannot buy or sell without receiving a special mark on their right hand or on their forehead, back to Titus three, one, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities to obey. But here's the thing I really want to focus on this morning to be ready for every good work, to be ready for every good work. 2 (1h 2m 1s): So as Christian men and women, we are all about being a godly and a good influence in our community and in the world. We're all about being ready for every good work I trust. God will give us the wisdom, the discernment, the ability to make these decisions as we need to make them. But we're all called in whatever area of life you live, whatever sphere of impact you have to be ready for every good work. In fact, actually, I would say this, you were born for this Ephesians chapter two verse 10 for we are God's workmanship. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. 2 (1h 2m 44s): You're born for this, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Perhaps we are here today for such a time as this, when I would pray, we would pray that people's hearts could begin to be opened up to the gospel message. Maybe such as never has happened before. Jesus talked about, you know, the fields there they're ready for the harvest. He said, but you need to pray for laborers to go out into the harvest and to bring them in. Jesus is returning that that is the first certain thing. We don't know when, but until he comes back again, I think our priorities should be bringing the gospel, taking the gospel to as many people as possible in our world and bringing them to Jesus who will give them that sense of living a life without fear, living in the freedom and the Liberty, where in crisis set us free. 2 (1h 3m 47s): Finally, this is the last scripture want to present to us today. And this is from Matthew chapter five, verse 16. Jesus said, this, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your fathers and head that isn't heaven. Lord, I pray father that you would instill in us. Lord a sense, not a fear, but a sense of victory. Lord, I pray that as there is this, I don't know if I'd call it a conspiracy, but this movement to undermine our freedom in America, undermine our liberties. Lord, I pray that you would help us understand that if any man is in Christ, that we are free, our freedom comes from you and Lord. 2 (1h 4m 36s): I also pray that as we are confronted with all the decisions, the mandates, the challenges, the forcings upon us, that comes our way. Lord help us to make the decision that is obedience to you, where we need to comply, help us to comply, where we need to disobeyed, help us to do that with humility and Lord, I know many of us in our workplaces, we're being mandated to do these things. And it's a difficult decision about either complying or, or losing our job. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to come to the conclusion that obedience to you is far superior than a job that you will provide for us, no matter what happens, no matter what threats might come our way or because we belong to you. 2 (1h 5m 26s): So Lord, we just look to you for everything. Build us up in our most holy faith, give us in this day, discernment like no other. And we bless you. We thank you in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. Amen. Let's all stand. We're going to continue to worship this morning. 1 (1h 10m 45s): I'd like to invite the prayer team up. I think now's a good time. And then if anybody would like to respond and just receive some prayer, what we're going to have, we're just going to have them up here during the last song. 0 (1h 10m 57s): Good morning. 1 (1h 14m 3s): Thank you, Lord, for setting us free. Thank you. That like true freedom from, from sin and death only comes through Jesus and we have it right here, Lord, I just thank you for the access we get through through Jesus.