WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.780 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:20.780 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.780 --> 00:00:24.920 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.520 for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.939 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:42.579 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.760 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.560 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.340 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.680 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.780 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:17.939 Let's bow our heads in prayer for a moment. Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would continue 00:01:17.939 --> 00:01:24.980 to fall upon us with gentle but very deep power. Father, we don't really know ourselves. 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:33.519 And so we ask, Father, that the gentle work of your Holy Spirit deep within us, that in light of the 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:40.120 gospel and knowing about Jesus and what He did for us on the cross and your great love for us in Him, 00:01:40.120 --> 00:01:47.780 your adoption of us by grace and knowing these things. Father, help us to so read the Bible that 00:01:47.780 --> 00:01:54.800 we know ourselves better and that you, Father, would help us to grow in freedom, in generosity, 00:01:55.400 --> 00:02:01.900 in love, in courage, in steadfastness. Father, for all of these great virtues, that you would grow 00:02:01.900 --> 00:02:08.460 these in us as we know ourselves better in the face of Christ and in the face of your Word. 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:14.060 And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:17.040 --> 00:02:24.900 So I have really good news for all of you folks here this morning. Sort of one of the several ways 00:02:24.900 --> 00:02:29.740 to summarize the whole sermon, the Bible text, and this really great news is that God has absolutely 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:37.280 no need for you. He has zero need for any single one of you, and I, by the way, include myself in this, 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:42.759 he has no need for me whatsoever. In the name of the Father, the Son, no, we won't do that. I mean, 00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:47.259 as we all know, that's one of the great things that we fear is that moment where people don't need us. 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:54.280 And in the context of most of human life, it is, in fact, a worrisome thing. It would be the type 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:59.020 of thing that you maybe talk about when the women gather together. For the women's group, the men gather 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:04.120 together. For the men's group, or your small group, or talk to me about is this deep thing, 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:08.580 is you used to be needed by your family, or your friends, or your work, and now nobody needs you, 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:15.200 and it's just, there's like a chasm, a pit in your life. But one of the messages of the Bible today, 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:20.379 in a very, very different context, in fact, in a very hopeful context, is the message, 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:28.780 God does not need you, period. Well, let's look. So if you take out your Bibles, and I'm using here the 00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:33.900 little, we still have a couple of them left, the free Bibles, if you'd like them, the journaling 00:03:33.900 --> 00:03:40.939 Bibles for the book of Acts. Acts chapter 17, beginning at verse 16, we're preaching through 00:03:40.939 --> 00:03:46.460 the book of Acts, and that's where we are, and I didn't turn on my timer, which is not necessarily 00:03:46.460 --> 00:03:54.699 good news for you folks. I have a lot to say, no. Now I have the timer on. And so, yeah, so let's go to 00:03:54.699 --> 00:04:01.899 that, and here's sort of the bigger story. Paul is on what we now call his second missionary journey. 00:04:03.019 --> 00:04:11.099 In these chapters, the chapter we looked at last two weeks, the gospel has leapfrogged 00:04:11.099 --> 00:04:20.060 into Europe for the very first time, and now Paul is in Europe, which at that time was deeply pagan. 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:26.780 And once again, he's had to flee, and one of the things which isn't very obvious in the text is 00:04:26.780 --> 00:04:32.699 there's been, in a sense, a weakening of Paul over the last few stories. Paul goes into Philippi with 00:04:32.699 --> 00:04:40.459 three buddies, three co-workers, Luke, Timothy, and Silas, and then after they have to leave Philippi, 00:04:40.939 --> 00:04:47.420 Luke stays behind, and so they go to Thessalonica and Berea, which we looked at last week. Paul goes now 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:55.420 with Pilate, Pilate, Pilate, Timothy and Silas. But after this last event of the crowds wanting to get 00:04:55.420 --> 00:05:04.460 at Paul, Silas and Timothy stay behind, and now the story continues with Paul all by himself, going into 00:05:04.460 --> 00:05:10.860 the city, which is the intellectual center of the Roman Empire, and he's eventually going to go into 00:05:10.860 --> 00:05:15.819 the very heart of the heart of the intellectual center of the Roman Empire. So let's see what 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:25.420 happens. Verse 16, now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him 00:05:25.420 --> 00:05:29.580 when he saw that the city was full of idols. And just sort of pause here for a second. 00:05:30.699 --> 00:05:34.860 You know, one of the things I try to do is to help us to see that this is a very human story. These 00:05:34.860 --> 00:05:41.980 aren't superstars. These aren't superheroes doing this. They're ordinary people. And you know, 00:05:41.980 --> 00:05:46.939 generally speaking, you know, if I get provoked, a lot of times that's not necessarily a good thing 00:05:46.939 --> 00:05:53.580 when I get provoked. And you know, sometimes I confess, I can be hangry. I don't know if anybody 00:05:53.580 --> 00:05:58.220 else can be like that. Like I'm hungry, and I get angry because I'm hungry. And you know, I should 00:05:58.220 --> 00:06:02.780 probably just go and have a bite to eat. So it's not the case that somebody could come up to Paul and say, 00:06:02.779 --> 00:06:09.019 hey, listen, don't be hangry. Go have, you know, we're in Greece. Gosh, they have spectacular salads, 00:06:09.019 --> 00:06:14.939 spectacular kebabs, and really good wine. Have a nice meal. You'll have like having a chill pill, 00:06:14.939 --> 00:06:21.099 you'll be a lot better. But the word for provoked here is the same word, the what we now call the 00:06:21.099 --> 00:06:26.859 Old Testament and our Jewish friends call the Tanakh or the Torah. That was translated into Greek about a 00:06:26.860 --> 00:06:34.139 hundred years before this. And in that version of the Old Testament, the word provoked comes up all 00:06:34.139 --> 00:06:42.220 the time. And it's always used of God being provoked at the idolatry of his people. He sees the idolatry, 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:48.939 and it just wounds him and crushes God that people are doing something that's so vain and so futile 00:06:48.939 --> 00:06:54.860 and so wrongheaded because he loves them. And that's the same word which is being used here. The other thing 00:06:54.860 --> 00:06:59.180 which is really interesting, the word full of idols, the end of it, full of idols, that also could be 00:06:59.180 --> 00:07:07.020 translated as submerged in idols. Ancient writers who talked about Athens at around this time said 00:07:07.020 --> 00:07:15.020 that Athens, which was maybe a city of about 25 to 30,000 people, there were north of 73,000 idols 00:07:15.019 --> 00:07:23.500 in Athens. In fact, some Greek writers at that time who were humorous would joke that when you went to 00:07:23.500 --> 00:07:29.899 Athens, it was easier to find and meet an idol than it was a human being because there were so many idols. 00:07:29.899 --> 00:07:40.060 So the whole city is submerged in idols. And so what happens? So Paul gets provoked, and we all know, 00:07:40.060 --> 00:07:43.979 at least a lot of people in Canada would maybe say, oh, a woman Christians get provoked, 00:07:43.980 --> 00:07:49.180 they throw a temper tantrum, they get very self-righteous, they get holier than thou, 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:55.340 you know, they go on rants, they throw fits. Well, what does Paul do after he's provoked? Well, 00:07:55.340 --> 00:08:05.980 let's look, verse 17. And what does it say? So Paul reasoned. He reasoned. He had a conversation. 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:14.220 Had a conversation looking at reasons. He reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons. 00:08:14.220 --> 00:08:21.500 Devout persons here means people who were pagans, who were beginning to be interested in the god of the 00:08:21.500 --> 00:08:28.620 Tanakh, but had not become Jews. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and these devout persons. 00:08:28.620 --> 00:08:33.980 And he also reasoned in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:40.940 So here you now have my biblical warrant to work in coffee shops, because that's what Paul does. 00:08:40.940 --> 00:08:47.340 He goes where people gather to just chat and relax, and he has conversations with them. So there you go. 00:08:47.340 --> 00:08:52.700 That's my biblical basis for going to coffee shops, or you guys can go to McDonald's or whatever it is. 00:08:52.700 --> 00:08:59.259 But he just goes, he strikes up conversations with people. Obviously, in a sense, he gossips the gospel. 00:08:59.820 --> 00:09:06.540 Verse 18, it continues. But some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with Paul. 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:15.580 And some said, what does this babbler wish to say? And others said, he seems to be a preacher of 00:09:15.580 --> 00:09:20.460 foreign divinities, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And the word for 00:09:20.460 --> 00:09:27.420 resurrection in this original language is anastasis. And Jesus is masculine, anastasis is feminine. 00:09:27.420 --> 00:09:32.780 And he was making such a big deal of the resurrection, the resurrection, they thought he was talking 00:09:32.780 --> 00:09:39.420 about a male and female God, like a husband and wife God and goddess. And the other thing about this, 00:09:39.420 --> 00:09:46.540 which is very important, is that, well, it would be like, and he did it like as a joke. There used to be a guy 00:09:46.539 --> 00:09:53.259 who came to the church a long, long time ago. And he was a Cambridge PhD, had that very, 00:09:53.259 --> 00:09:58.139 very upper crust British accent. And occasionally he would, I'd say something about Oxford. He said, 00:09:58.699 --> 00:10:05.579 oh, you mean people still go to that other university? I didn't know people did that. So you 00:10:05.579 --> 00:10:12.939 need to hear that tone, foreign divinities, like with that sort of a superior type of tone. 00:10:12.940 --> 00:10:19.180 Verse 19, and they took him, not, they didn't take him like grabbing him. This is just, they said, 00:10:19.180 --> 00:10:24.380 let's, and I said, let's go. We're going to go to the intellectual center of the intellectual center 00:10:24.380 --> 00:10:28.860 of the Roman Empire. Verse 19, and they took him and brought him to the Areopagus saying, 00:10:29.500 --> 00:10:34.300 may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? And so maybe some of them were hoping 00:10:34.300 --> 00:10:39.660 that he'd fall on his face and they could make fun at him and snicker. Maybe some of them were worried 00:10:39.659 --> 00:10:43.740 that he was doing something illegal. Maybe some of them were just genuinely curious, 00:10:44.379 --> 00:10:49.899 different motives. But they bring them right to the very center. And in verse 20, they say, 00:10:49.899 --> 00:10:55.100 for you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean. 00:10:56.379 --> 00:11:00.779 Now this next text is very important, verse 21, because it says, now all the Athenians and 00:11:00.779 --> 00:11:05.659 foreigners who lived there would spend all of their time on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 00:11:05.659 --> 00:11:11.819 Oh wait, no, it doesn't say that, does it? It's just like, Canadians don't spend all their time on 00:11:11.819 --> 00:11:17.019 what's new, by the way, right? So this is completely foreign world. Actually, really, like, the Canadians 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:21.500 just showed up. Modern Canadians who spend all their time trying to hear what, that's something new. 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:26.059 So here's just a very simple, not a throwaway point, it's a very important point. If you could put 00:11:26.059 --> 00:11:31.899 up the first point, Claire, that would be very helpful. When people put you down or are hostile to you 00:11:31.899 --> 00:11:41.100 because you are a Christian, bear witness to Jesus anyway. When people put you down or are hostile to 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:46.620 you because you are a Christian, bear witness to Jesus anyway. That's what Paul does. They're making 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:53.100 fun of him, they'd like to see him fall on his face, and he bears witness to Jesus anyway. 00:11:53.100 --> 00:11:59.580 Anyway, that's often what it's like in large parts of Canada nowadays. Bear witness to Jesus anyway. 00:11:59.580 --> 00:12:07.019 You're in a, just don't wait for it to get that they're really open. Bear witness to Jesus anyway. 00:12:07.740 --> 00:12:16.860 Anyway, what does Paul say? Okay, he has this opportunity. What does he say? Now, what we're 00:12:16.860 --> 00:12:21.899 going to see here is I think like 10 verses or something, and he probably spoke for somewhere 00:12:21.899 --> 00:12:28.539 between an hour to two. And so what you're seeing here is in a sense Paul's outline. That he would 00:12:28.539 --> 00:12:32.300 say, okay, I talked about this and I gave these arguments, I talked about this, gave these arguments. 00:12:32.300 --> 00:12:40.220 You get the flow of the argument, the substance of how he went about it. And so it's very, very 00:12:40.220 --> 00:12:45.420 interesting. This is the second and longest time in the book of Acts where you get an outline of how 00:12:45.419 --> 00:12:53.979 Paul talked to people who knew nothing whatsoever about the Bible. Zilch. And so it's very interesting. 00:12:53.979 --> 00:12:58.299 How did he go about doing it? How do you talk to people who have no idea whatsoever about anything 00:12:58.299 --> 00:13:03.819 to do with the Bible? Even if they've heard bits and pieces of the Bible, they might not know that 00:13:03.819 --> 00:13:09.099 it came from the Bible, you know. And so how does he do it? Well, this is what we see as a bit of an 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:18.139 outline. It begins with verse 22. Now, sorry. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, 00:13:18.139 --> 00:13:24.379 said, men of Athens, only men there at that, mainly men. There would have been bystanders listening, 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:29.740 but he's addressing the officials who in that day would have all been men. Men of Athens, 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:38.060 I perceived that in every way you were very religious. For as I passed along and observed 00:13:38.060 --> 00:13:44.299 the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God. 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:51.879 What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. Now, just sort of pause here. 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:57.980 He's done something which is very clever, which you can't get in English. In the original language, 00:13:57.980 --> 00:14:06.539 when he says, men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious, 00:14:07.580 --> 00:14:13.340 that's a phrase in the original language which has a double meaning. And it can either mean what 00:14:13.340 --> 00:14:19.740 it's translated to in English, a compliment, you're very religious, way to go. Or it could mean, 00:14:20.300 --> 00:14:26.940 it could be a put down. So I'm sure it really got everybody's attention because now everybody's 00:14:26.940 --> 00:14:33.660 looking and thinking, okay, one moment, is this guy just dissing us? Or is he actually trying to 00:14:33.660 --> 00:14:38.380 compliment us? So it's actually sort of a very clever beginning, but it also is going to get at 00:14:38.380 --> 00:14:44.780 some very profound and important truths. And the other thing about it is that in fact, 00:14:45.980 --> 00:14:51.740 Greek writers, pagan writers, Greek writers, bear witness to the fact that out of those 73,000, 00:14:51.740 --> 00:14:58.299 north of 73,000 idols, that there were in fact idols to the unknown God. We have independent evidence 00:14:58.299 --> 00:15:04.299 that that's actually something that existed in Athens. Now, what does he mean by all of this? 00:15:04.299 --> 00:15:10.460 And why does he begin with this? So here's how we have to try to understand it. It's going to be a 00:15:10.460 --> 00:15:16.060 little bit shocking to us. But here's the first thing, if you could put up the first point. 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:24.299 You were designed to worship the living God. You were designed to worship the living God. 00:15:25.500 --> 00:15:30.859 It's something which has been hardwired into us by God. And in a moment, we'll see, because Paul's 00:15:30.859 --> 00:15:36.459 going to talk about the doctrine of creation in the next little bit. But that's just the way God 00:15:36.459 --> 00:15:43.339 designed us. He designed us to long for him, to desire to be with him, to honor him, to respect him, 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:50.220 to put our trust and hope in him, to find our meaning in him, to find our joy in him, to understand 00:15:50.220 --> 00:15:57.100 that being with him is how we have success and how we flourish. And God hardwired that in to human 00:15:57.100 --> 00:16:03.420 beings. You will never meet a human being that that's not been hardwired into them. Now, obviously, 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:09.500 that is something which people aren't aware of, but that's in fact behind what Paul is saying here. 00:16:09.500 --> 00:16:13.899 And the second thing that goes with that, if you could put up the next point, is this. 00:16:14.539 --> 00:16:21.659 After the fall, every human being worships idols. So, you know, one of the things we can say about 00:16:21.659 --> 00:16:25.580 Church of the Messiah, come here because I flatter you all the time. So I've already told you 00:16:25.580 --> 00:16:30.860 that God doesn't need you. Now I flatter you again. Every single one of you are idol worshipers. 00:16:32.299 --> 00:16:36.299 There you go. I've just flattered you a second. I'm just joking. This is what we need to hear, 00:16:36.299 --> 00:16:43.740 by the way. It doesn't matter. Dawkins, Hitchens, leading atheists, idol worshipers. 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:53.859 The Pope, George, you, we all worship idols. You see, what happened is that when human beings fell, 00:16:53.959 --> 00:17:00.299 when they rejected God and desired to be God themselves, God didn't erase the hard wiring 00:17:00.299 --> 00:17:07.579 within us to be worshipers. He didn't erase that. It's still there ticking along. But now, 00:17:07.579 --> 00:17:13.259 because we won't worship the living God, we still worship. And so we end up worshiping other things. 00:17:13.259 --> 00:17:17.659 And these other things, because they're not God, are idols. And if you could put up the last question 00:17:17.659 --> 00:17:23.099 for this bit, number four, that would be great. So the question for every human being, every single 00:17:23.099 --> 00:17:28.119 human being that you will meet today, and every single human being you will ever meet, and every single 00:17:28.119 --> 00:17:36.679 one of us, the question is never, will I worship? The question is, who or what are you already 00:17:36.679 --> 00:17:45.000 worshiping? Who or what are you already worshiping? That's the fundamental human question. Now, 00:17:47.159 --> 00:17:55.719 I am a sinner redeemed by grace. I am both justified and a sinner at the same time. I'm clothed with 00:17:55.720 --> 00:18:01.880 Christ's righteousness. I have been adopted as his child when I put my faith and trust in Jesus as my 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:08.440 Savior and my Lord. And nothing can take me out of Christ's hands when I put my hands in him. And 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:15.799 these are all very true. But God has chosen in wisdom that while that's true of us, we still have to 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:21.740 become more Christ-like in our daily life. And in that sense, we need to, we struggle with the common 00:18:21.740 --> 00:18:28.140 human sins and all. So in a sense, what it's saying is this, is that if you think of a person as being 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:35.339 like a, as being like in a car driving, as a Christian, my desire is not that I'm in the driver's 00:18:35.339 --> 00:18:41.339 seat, but that Jesus is in the driver's seat. That, that in a sense, should be what I would, I desire. 00:18:41.900 --> 00:18:46.380 That as I go through my day, as I go through my life, as I make my plans, as I relate to my wife, 00:18:46.380 --> 00:18:51.500 as I relate to my kids, as I relate to the staff, to relate to people in coffee shops, that Jesus is 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:59.100 the driver. But what happens is, if I, and I don't recognize this, but my car doesn't just have Jesus, 00:18:59.100 --> 00:19:05.340 it also has idols in it. And, and often what ends up happening is that the idols put Jesus out of the 00:19:05.340 --> 00:19:13.420 driver's seat, and it's the idol in the driver's seat. And idols only ruin lives. An idol will ruin you. 00:19:13.420 --> 00:19:21.420 It gives you false hopes, vain hopes, vain promises that depress you, that make you unhappy, that make 00:19:21.420 --> 00:19:28.860 you more anxious. The more you worship idols, the more anxious you will be. And it's a complete, 00:19:28.860 --> 00:19:34.060 and one of the things I've really been thinking about a lot this week, but I, you know, you asked me 00:19:34.060 --> 00:19:40.140 about it later. I drove almost 1,200 kilometers this week because of the two things I did outside of, 00:19:40.140 --> 00:19:45.820 outside of the city. And I, you know, I realized I could probably think of a couple of idols that you 00:19:45.820 --> 00:19:53.259 have problems with, but I can't see them in my own life. It's hard to see them in my own life. 00:19:53.259 --> 00:19:59.500 That's part of the nature of idolatry. In some ways it was way easier in Athens. Oh yeah, that's my idol. 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:03.100 That's my idol. No, not that one, not that one. Oh yeah, that one over there, that's my idol. But in some 00:20:03.099 --> 00:20:10.379 ways it's harder in a place like Ottawa because idols are often invisible to us. And so there are 00:20:10.379 --> 00:20:15.419 things in my life that I think I need to have that. I need to serve that. That will give me meaning. That 00:20:15.419 --> 00:20:19.980 will give me peace. That will give me direction. That will make me whole. That will make me flourish. 00:20:19.980 --> 00:20:25.419 That will make me be a success. And what are those things other than the true and living God? And whatever 00:20:25.419 --> 00:20:30.939 those things other than the true and living God, those are the idols in my life, in your life. 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:36.220 So a lot of times, one of the things which is missing in a lot of counseling, and by the way, 00:20:36.220 --> 00:20:42.779 I know mental illness exists and addictions exist and alcoholism exists and there's things that go on. 00:20:42.779 --> 00:20:47.180 But one of the missing thing a lot of times in our conversations is a discernment about what the 00:20:47.180 --> 00:20:55.180 idols are in our lives. So the question is never what Paul is saying here when he says, I'm going to 00:20:55.180 --> 00:21:00.700 proclaim to you, you have this hard wire to worship, and I'm not going to take away that 00:21:00.700 --> 00:21:08.299 hard wire to worship. I'm going to reveal to you how it's gone wrong and what the solution, what the hope is. 00:21:10.539 --> 00:21:13.420 So how does he begin to do that? Well, 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:23.259 And why should we think that it's even true? Well, one of the things about Christianity is it's 00:21:23.259 --> 00:21:30.860 actually very, very deep and extensive and high and coherent and comprehensive. And we often don't 00:21:30.860 --> 00:21:38.300 appreciate just how glorious the big story of the Bible really is. And so Paul will now start to, 00:21:38.299 --> 00:21:46.539 you know, unearth some of this to us. Look at verse 24. The God who made the world and everything in it, 00:21:47.500 --> 00:21:55.259 being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, made by human beings. In fact, 00:21:55.259 --> 00:22:02.139 actually, literally, it says, does not live in temples made by human hands. You just think about it for a 00:22:02.140 --> 00:22:09.980 how could any human being make something that God could live in. Like the idea is actually absurd. 00:22:10.940 --> 00:22:19.420 But he continues, nor is God served by human hands as though he needed anything. That's where I got the 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:29.820 idea. Since he himself gives to all humankind life and breath and everything. God gives us absolutely 00:22:29.819 --> 00:22:36.379 everything, even our breath, even our existence. So if that is the case, how on earth could I possibly 00:22:36.379 --> 00:22:45.500 ever give anything to God that he needs? Verse 26, And God made from one man every nation of mankind 00:22:45.500 --> 00:22:52.139 to live on all of the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of 00:22:52.139 --> 00:22:56.700 their dwelling place. In other words, it's trying to communicate that the one God created the entire 00:22:56.700 --> 00:23:03.180 universe, everything that exists. And he also is Lord. He's not like a deist that created God, 00:23:03.180 --> 00:23:09.340 created the world, and then he's off on a holiday while it just works by itself. He continues to be, 00:23:09.340 --> 00:23:15.420 in a sense, active and present in his created order as Lord. And then it continues, verse 27, 00:23:16.620 --> 00:23:22.220 that they should seek God. So he's made one man, I'll read verse 26 again. God made from one man every 00:23:22.220 --> 00:23:27.180 nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. That's where we get this idea of human 00:23:27.180 --> 00:23:33.180 beings having these design features hardwired within them. And then part of that hard wiring 00:23:33.180 --> 00:23:42.059 is verse 27, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is 00:23:42.059 --> 00:23:49.180 actually not far from each one of us. For, now he quotes a Greek poet, in him we live and move and have 00:23:49.180 --> 00:23:54.140 our being. And as even some of your own poets have said, and he does quotes another one, for we are indeed 00:23:54.140 --> 00:24:02.380 your offspring. Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or 00:24:02.380 --> 00:24:10.140 silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of human beings. Now just sort of pause here 00:24:10.140 --> 00:24:17.580 for a second. You know, there's so many things, you know, I have to confess, one of the things I had to 00:24:17.580 --> 00:24:23.980 pray against in this, some of you know, I have a great, great, great love for Christian apologetics. 00:24:24.620 --> 00:24:31.660 And in some ways, I had to keep reining in how I'd like to go off on apologetics elements. And obviously, 00:24:32.220 --> 00:24:39.100 a lot of this is against the idolatry as practiced back then, but I have to stop that. But here's the 00:24:39.099 --> 00:24:42.859 things that we get from this. If you could put up the fifth point, that would be very helpful. 00:24:43.899 --> 00:24:52.779 What Paul is saying here is that the one God created one universe and one man, and from that one man, 00:24:53.339 --> 00:25:04.059 one humanity. The one God created one universe and one man, and from that one man, one humanity. Also, 00:25:04.059 --> 00:25:11.099 it's not relevant to his argument here, but he also created whatever that spiritual realm is of angels 00:25:11.099 --> 00:25:17.659 and demons who are fallen angels. So here's the thing. 00:25:21.659 --> 00:25:24.059 You should not believe anything because you wish it was true. 00:25:24.059 --> 00:25:31.659 But you sometimes need to ask yourself, why do I wish for certain things to be true? 00:25:33.179 --> 00:25:42.379 Like, why do those wishes and longings exist? So here's the thing. If you're opposed to racism, 00:25:43.180 --> 00:25:50.380 if you're opposed to sexism, if you're opposed to slavery, you should wish that Christianity is true. 00:25:52.220 --> 00:25:58.620 Because there is no, literally no system of thought, not in Hinduism, not in Buddhism, not in rationalism, 00:25:59.660 --> 00:26:05.980 the secular thought of Canadian society, not in Islam. There is no system of thought that so deeply and 00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:17.019 thoroughly rejects all racism and sexism, ageism. This is a profound statement of the unity of human 00:26:17.019 --> 00:26:23.740 beings as all being equally human. Everything, I know this is controversial, everything from the 00:26:23.740 --> 00:26:32.380 fetus within the womb to the moment of our death, all human beings have this profound dignity. There's 00:26:32.380 --> 00:26:38.860 only one humanity. And it's actually, even if you go back and you look at the other things in there, 00:26:41.740 --> 00:26:46.700 it's even saying that it was part of God's design that there would be different people groups all 00:26:46.700 --> 00:26:52.300 over the planet. In a sense, what you could say is that, you know, the fact that we are all of 00:26:52.300 --> 00:26:57.180 different colors isn't a problem. It's actually a design feature. 00:26:57.180 --> 00:27:01.740 That's God's intention. 00:27:04.299 --> 00:27:11.019 And who knows, maybe because of the fall, God curtailed our difference. So one of the things 00:27:11.019 --> 00:27:19.900 I'm going to probably tell to my granddaughters is that in our church, we have reindeers on the stage 00:27:19.900 --> 00:27:27.740 of the church with twinkly lights. So you should come and visit our church. And, you know, the, 00:27:27.740 --> 00:27:30.700 probably if they were here, if this was actually our church, they'd say, 00:27:31.740 --> 00:27:39.019 Papa, could we put sparkles on the reindeers? Because little girls like sparkles. Probably 00:27:39.019 --> 00:27:44.380 some little boys do too. And who knows, maybe if we hadn't fallen, there'd be sparkly human beings. 00:27:44.380 --> 00:27:49.900 Like, who knows how many colors there'd be. But it's actually a design feature. And so this is 00:27:49.900 --> 00:27:57.900 actually a very, very, very, very deep refutation of all prejudice, all racism. And it's only 00:27:57.900 --> 00:28:05.500 Christianity provides such a deep basis for the dignity of human beings and such a deep rejection 00:28:05.500 --> 00:28:09.259 of things like slavery and racism. And so even if you're outside the faith, 00:28:11.339 --> 00:28:18.619 you should wish that it's true. And as we can see in the world, as the world loses its Christian memory, 00:28:20.220 --> 00:28:27.180 racism becomes more rampant. There's more race, a whole other topic, call me for coffee. There's way 00:28:27.180 --> 00:28:32.779 more racism in Canada now than there was 50 years ago. Way more racism today than before. 00:28:32.779 --> 00:28:39.180 And another thing which comes out of this very, very brief section, which is really important, 00:28:39.980 --> 00:28:43.819 and it has to do with tragedy. So one of the things I try to do, and you could pray for me 00:28:44.460 --> 00:28:51.259 in this, probably like once a month, maybe every three weeks, somebody in one of my coffee shops on 00:28:51.259 --> 00:28:57.420 a Friday or a Saturday or a Sunday or a Monday will say, on Friday or Saturday, they'll say, George, 00:28:57.420 --> 00:29:02.539 what are you talking about on Sunday? This person who's outside the Christian faith. Maybe 00:29:02.539 --> 00:29:06.619 sometimes when I'm on my way home, I stop at a particular coffee shop where they know me and 00:29:06.619 --> 00:29:10.779 sometimes say, what are you talking about today? Or they'll ask me on Monday. So one of the things I 00:29:10.779 --> 00:29:15.899 try to do with all the talks is, what would I say to them? You know, I don't want to tell them that 00:29:15.899 --> 00:29:22.700 I'm discussing some obtuse, really, you know, exotic theological, biblical distinction, even if I do 00:29:22.700 --> 00:29:27.339 that. I'm not smart enough to do that. But so one of the things, actually, so just yesterday, 00:29:27.339 --> 00:29:31.980 a businessman that I knew, as he got his coffee was going out, and he said, hey, George, what are you 00:29:31.980 --> 00:29:38.539 talking about on Sunday? And I said, oh, I'm talking about how life is a tragedy, but we wish it was a 00:29:38.539 --> 00:29:45.179 comedy and the difference Christianity makes. He said, oh, he's a well enough off business person, 00:29:45.179 --> 00:29:49.819 just retired. He said, yeah, you know, I guess for some people life is a tragedy. I said, no, no, no, 00:29:49.819 --> 00:29:56.539 no, I think what the Bible, what we're going to look at is that all human life is a tragedy, 00:29:56.539 --> 00:30:03.899 because all human life ends in death. We want a comedy where it doesn't end in tragedy, 00:30:04.779 --> 00:30:08.939 but I think that's what I'm going to talk about, how the Bible actually points the way to have your 00:30:08.939 --> 00:30:15.179 life turned from tragedy to comedy. He went, oh, I never really thought about the fact he was going 00:30:15.180 --> 00:30:19.820 to lose everything the moment he dies, you know, and he went off, went off for his walk. Well, 00:30:19.820 --> 00:30:21.900 that's the next thing. If you could put up the point, that would be good. 00:30:24.779 --> 00:30:27.740 This is the beginning. There's going to be several ways that we talk about tragedy, 00:30:27.740 --> 00:30:36.060 but here's the first aspect of tragedy. Tragically, God, sorry, tragically, 00:30:37.180 --> 00:30:41.259 I gave the wrong analogy for that point. I just realized that. That's what happens when I talk and I 00:30:41.259 --> 00:30:47.180 don't read from a text. Anyway, we'll get back to it. Number six, tragically, God is very, very, 00:30:47.180 --> 00:30:54.779 very close to you, yet too far away for you to reach him. Tragically, God is very, very close to 00:30:54.779 --> 00:30:59.579 you, yet too far away for you to reach him. This is the first aspect of the tragedy which is talked 00:30:59.579 --> 00:31:05.099 about in the text. So where does that, that comes from that part of the text where Paul says that God is 00:31:05.099 --> 00:31:10.539 very, very close to us, that we might seek after him and potentially find him. But what's missing in that 00:31:10.539 --> 00:31:18.379 English translation is this sense of tragedy that we can't reach him. And so the image which is given 00:31:18.379 --> 00:31:23.740 is that in some ways it can be theologically true, biblically true, to say that God is closer to you 00:31:23.740 --> 00:31:32.859 than you are to yourself. God is closer to you than your breath is close to you. That's how close God is 00:31:32.859 --> 00:31:41.019 to you. Yet in the other hand, you can't cross that distance to God to reach him. And that's the, 00:31:41.019 --> 00:31:49.099 that's the human tragedy. And that's, that's what drives, you know, about two months ago I was listening 00:31:49.099 --> 00:31:54.539 to the testimony of a person who'd grown up in a Muslim household and become a Christian. And he, 00:31:54.539 --> 00:32:01.659 he said that when he was a 15 year old boy, he wanted to go on jihad. He was afraid of death. 00:32:02.379 --> 00:32:09.339 And he wanted to go on jihad because he knew from, from Muhammad that if he went on jihad and died, 00:32:09.339 --> 00:32:14.779 he would go right to heaven. And he was afraid of God's judgment and he was afraid of death. And so 00:32:14.779 --> 00:32:23.259 he thought the solution is to die nobly in jihad and go right to heaven. Human beings have this sense 00:32:23.740 --> 00:32:29.579 of this tragedy of distance and how they can somehow close, close that distance between God and human 00:32:29.579 --> 00:32:35.980 beings. And in a sense, you know, if you watch certain types of movies, you'll, you'll see some 00:32:35.980 --> 00:32:42.059 types of movies like mountain movies or adventure movies. You know, you see, you find out something 00:32:42.059 --> 00:32:47.500 tragic happens very early on and that's why they're now sort of retired and they get drawn back into 00:32:47.500 --> 00:32:51.980 this great thing that only they can solve. But, you know, it might be something like they're fighting 00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:56.940 and all of that and, and their, their best friend or their dad or their son or their daughter or their 00:32:56.940 --> 00:33:01.500 husband or their wife, depending on their, their sex. You know, maybe they're, they're about to fall to 00:33:01.500 --> 00:33:06.299 their death and you reach out to try to grab them and, and their fingers, you know, just come this, 00:33:06.299 --> 00:33:10.299 this close to each other that just can't reach them. They're really close. You just can't reach them. 00:33:10.299 --> 00:33:14.460 And then the person plunges to their death and throws the person into a tailspin. That sense of 00:33:14.460 --> 00:33:21.579 closeness, but unbridgeable distance is what's trying to be communicated in the text. That, 00:33:22.460 --> 00:33:27.339 tragically, God is very, very, very close to you, yet too far away for you to reach him. 00:33:28.619 --> 00:33:32.059 Now, Paul doesn't just sort of leave it that like that to depress us, 00:33:32.059 --> 00:33:38.619 uh, but how he moves to the hope is by talking about something that we're not allowed to talk 00:33:38.619 --> 00:33:48.059 about in Canada in polite conversation. He goes to the hope of this tragic depiction by talking about 00:33:48.059 --> 00:33:54.779 death and God's judgment. Two topics we're not allowed to talk to about in Canada. Look what he does. 00:33:54.779 --> 00:34:02.859 Verse 30. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 00:34:03.740 --> 00:34:10.219 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has 00:34:10.219 --> 00:34:18.779 appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from death. Now, a couple of things 00:34:18.780 --> 00:34:23.660 here about this. If you could put up the, um, the, the seventh point, that would be very helpful. 00:34:26.780 --> 00:34:31.820 Okay. So give me some mercy here, because I'm not going to express it very well. I don't want to say, 00:34:32.380 --> 00:34:35.740 like the way I was going to express it makes it think that if you don't think and feel this, 00:34:35.740 --> 00:34:40.220 you're not very thoughtful. And that's, I don't want to, I'm not, I'm not trying to say, 00:34:40.220 --> 00:34:43.820 I don't want to say that. I'm just, I have a problem struggling with the words. 00:34:43.820 --> 00:34:49.900 Uh, but in our heart of hearts, if we press in and really think about it, 00:34:51.660 --> 00:34:57.900 um, in your heart of hearts, you know that death is not natural, that death feels like the judgment 00:34:57.900 --> 00:35:04.059 of God. This is true. In your heart of hearts, you know that death is not natural. Death feels like 00:35:04.059 --> 00:35:11.260 the judgment of God. You know, it's really actually a, like an astounding piece of human psychology. 00:35:11.260 --> 00:35:18.220 There's nothing more natural than death on one level. But why is it that we don't think it's 00:35:18.220 --> 00:35:24.140 natural? We think life is natural. Death isn't natural. I mean, the scientists tell us, because 00:35:24.140 --> 00:35:28.700 of the second law of thermodynamics and because of the big bang, that in fact, the whole universe is 00:35:28.700 --> 00:35:37.100 doomed. The whole universe is winding down. And yet, why is it that nobody feels like death is really 00:35:37.099 --> 00:35:42.940 natural? No matter how much they talk, no matter how much they, um, they talk about made. By the way, 00:35:42.940 --> 00:35:47.420 I, I've come up with a new acronym. You know, like one of the, the, the big problems in our culture is 00:35:47.420 --> 00:35:51.420 that like, who wouldn't want a maid? Who wouldn't want government to give you a maid? Like, why wouldn't 00:35:51.420 --> 00:35:57.739 you want maid? It even sounds very helpful. That's medical. Like, there's doctors. So here's what the new, 00:35:57.739 --> 00:36:03.259 here's what the new word, we should start using a new word, scalp. Who wants to be scalped by the 00:36:03.260 --> 00:36:09.580 government? Nobody. Why? It's because what, what, what, uh, what they're doing is it's socially 00:36:09.580 --> 00:36:16.940 condoned, socially condoned administration of lethal poison. That doesn't sound nearly as attractive. 00:36:18.060 --> 00:36:23.020 Go to the government to be scalped. No, no, that doesn't sound very good. Anyway, uh, what's going 00:36:23.020 --> 00:36:28.300 on? But you see, we, we know that death isn't natural and, and some, in our heart of hearts and that it feels 00:36:28.300 --> 00:36:33.980 somehow just wrong, almost like a judgment upon us and we don't know where to go with it. 00:36:34.620 --> 00:36:39.260 And, and so here's the, if you could put up the next point, that would be very helpful. The, the human story 00:36:40.620 --> 00:36:47.740 is a tragedy, but Jesus came to change the story of your life from tragedy to comedy. 00:36:49.340 --> 00:36:54.860 The story, the human story is a tragedy. All human beings die. The universe will die. 00:36:54.860 --> 00:37:01.900 But change, Jesus came to change the story of your life from a tragedy to a comedy. You see, in a tragedy, 00:37:01.900 --> 00:37:05.980 even the word tragedy, it reflects a Christian understanding. Tragedies are about 00:37:06.860 --> 00:37:14.140 somebody who's, who's great and noble and excellent and yet comes undone and comes to a terrible end. 00:37:14.940 --> 00:37:19.980 And comedy also talks about people who, well, sometimes it talks about people who are overlooked 00:37:19.980 --> 00:37:24.780 because they don't seem to be important and they end up triumphing. But even if there is some type 00:37:24.780 --> 00:37:29.740 of greatness in human beings and it looks like it's all going to go wrong, it ends up in life. It ends up 00:37:29.740 --> 00:37:40.940 in, in, in, in laughter and in joy and in applause and in, and in marriage and in hugs and kisses and, and, and, and happiness. And, and, and the human story is a tragedy. But Jesus came 00:37:40.940 --> 00:37:49.500 to change the story of your life from tragedy to a comedy. See, this is what I was trying to get at with 00:37:49.500 --> 00:37:56.220 this business guy that I was trying to hint at. And the resurrection changes everything. Like, listen to it again 00:37:56.219 --> 00:38:04.699 when he says here, um, at the end of verse 31, uh, he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in 00:38:04.699 --> 00:38:11.419 righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising Jesus 00:38:11.419 --> 00:38:18.139 from the dead. And this word assurance here has a double type of meaning. On one hand, it means that 00:38:18.139 --> 00:38:23.099 the resurrection of Jesus vindicates him. You know that you can trust him, that when he tells you that 00:38:23.099 --> 00:38:29.179 you're hardwired for idolatry, you are. When he tells you that the triune God is God, he is. It 00:38:29.179 --> 00:38:34.219 vindicates him in his message. When he says, if you put your faith and trust in me, you will become my 00:38:34.219 --> 00:38:39.179 child forever and I will never let you go. You can trust him. You can have assurance about that. 00:38:39.179 --> 00:38:45.500 And at the same time as well, assurance is that if Jesus is risen from the dead, if one man, just as all 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:52.619 life, all humanity came from one man, if one man rises from the dead, there's hope for human beings. 00:38:53.500 --> 00:39:00.699 That the judgment that seems to be in death, the doom that is connected to death, and death itself 00:39:00.699 --> 00:39:06.699 in the person of Jesus and in his work has been defeated. It has been dealt with. We have assurance 00:39:06.699 --> 00:39:11.900 about that when we put our faith and trust and hope in him. If you put your faith and trust in Jesus, 00:39:11.900 --> 00:39:18.860 your life goes from tragedy to comedy. And who wouldn't want that to be true? 00:39:18.860 --> 00:39:25.340 True. But there's evidence that it is true, that it really happened. And the final point, 00:39:26.460 --> 00:39:32.460 you know, when I said that God doesn't need you, I have to end with that. 00:39:32.460 --> 00:39:40.860 You see, well, here, if you could put up the final point, that would be very, very helpful. God's pure, 00:39:40.860 --> 00:39:49.179 unfailing love for you is all a gift. It is never needy. God's pure, unfailing love for you is all 00:39:49.179 --> 00:39:58.139 gift. It is never, ever, ever needy. See, only Christianity is truly a religion of love. 00:39:58.139 --> 00:40:06.379 Hinduism and Buddhism has a fundamental problem at a very, very deep level because of, in a sense, 00:40:06.379 --> 00:40:11.579 of all is one or the one is in all things. It's in good and it's evil. It's in hatred. It's in love. 00:40:11.579 --> 00:40:17.339 It's in all of these things. And even though, obviously, Hinduism doesn't teach that type of indifference, 00:40:17.340 --> 00:40:23.019 it will encourage love and has love songs and all of those types of things at a very deep level. It 00:40:23.019 --> 00:40:29.420 has longings within it that are better than its overall way of thinking. And Islam is the same type 00:40:29.420 --> 00:40:35.340 of thing that, you know, Allah doesn't even want to talk to human beings directly. So he talks to an 00:40:35.340 --> 00:40:41.980 angel who talks to Muhammad. And at the end of the day, it's all about just becoming a slave to Allah. 00:40:41.980 --> 00:40:49.900 But, and how can everything be love if there needs to be another, something different than yourself 00:40:49.900 --> 00:40:54.940 to love? And that can't happen in Hinduism or Buddhism. And it can't happen in Islam. And it 00:40:54.940 --> 00:41:00.139 can't happen in atheism or secularism. But only Christianity says is that from all eternity, 00:41:00.139 --> 00:41:04.460 the Father has loved the Son, and the Son has loved the Father, and the Son has loved the Holy Spirit, 00:41:04.460 --> 00:41:07.740 and the Holy Spirit has loved the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the Father. And so they, 00:41:07.739 --> 00:41:13.579 they, they, they, they, there's this, there's this unending exchange and interchange of love. 00:41:13.819 --> 00:41:20.299 And there is no need within God. And so God, when he creates, he does not come out of any type of need. 00:41:20.299 --> 00:41:27.500 He creates out of the gift of love. It's out of his love that he decides as a gift to give existence 00:41:27.500 --> 00:41:33.699 to creatures that he has created. And he gives for us absolutely everything. There's nothing I can add to 00:41:33.699 --> 00:41:40.179 him, that, or give him that he doesn't, he can't make for himself. And so his love for me never comes out of need. 00:41:43.859 --> 00:41:50.259 That's, in, in light of the gospel and Jesus dying for me, that means that God not needing me ever, 00:41:50.259 --> 00:41:56.819 rather than being something depressing, is actually something that, as we reflect upon it, gives us 00:41:56.820 --> 00:42:05.940 greater confidence and rest in Jesus. Your love for me, Father, is always gift. There won't come a point 00:42:05.940 --> 00:42:09.300 in time you look at George and say, oh, well, he's not going to be a pastor anymore. I don't need him. 00:42:09.780 --> 00:42:15.300 Off with he goes. You know, his kids have all moved out. Don't need him anymore. Off he goes. 00:42:16.900 --> 00:42:21.940 You know, he's getting a bit really, really, really old and shuffling. Don't need him anymore. Off he goes. 00:42:21.940 --> 00:42:28.980 You know, he can't think as well. Off he goes. That's the deep fear. But when you understand the 00:42:28.980 --> 00:42:34.579 gospel and you understand what the Bible is saying here, that God relates to every human being purely 00:42:34.579 --> 00:42:40.900 as gift love, never as need love, you don't have to worry about no longer being needed by other people. 00:42:41.780 --> 00:42:46.740 And you don't have to worry about not being needed by God, because his love for you, as seen in Jesus, 00:42:46.739 --> 00:42:53.939 is pure, unfailing, unstoppable, unending gift. 00:42:56.899 --> 00:42:58.019 I invite you to stand. 00:43:04.339 --> 00:43:05.779 Let's bow our heads in prayer. 00:43:05.780 --> 00:43:20.980 Father, you know that every single one of us struggles with not wanting to love other people because we don't need them anymore. 00:43:21.300 --> 00:43:27.540 And you know how we struggle with friendships ending or relationships ending because they don't need us anymore. 00:43:27.540 --> 00:43:32.240 And their love was just a type of need love. And Father, you know how we struggle with that? 00:43:32.239 --> 00:43:39.279 You know the wounds and the scars we have from that? You know the wounds and scars we've inflicted on other people that sometimes bothers our conscience? 00:43:39.279 --> 00:43:47.599 You know all those things about us. We give you thanks and praise that, Father, in the person of your Son, when we put our faith and trust in him, 00:43:47.599 --> 00:43:51.159 that your love for us is just gift, never need. 00:43:52.459 --> 00:43:58.359 Father, we ask that you would tune our hearts and tune our minds to receive this profound truth and to rest in it. 00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:06.099 And Father, as we rest in your love for us, we return, Father, to that earlier part of the sermon. 00:44:06.099 --> 00:44:11.860 And Father, it's hard for us to see the idols in our lives that are bending us out of shape and breaking us. 00:44:12.740 --> 00:44:18.380 And so, Father, we ask that your word would so become real to us and form us. 00:44:18.420 --> 00:44:24.920 And your Holy Spirit would so be powerful and work within us that you might help us not only to dwell in your gift love, 00:44:24.920 --> 00:44:28.519 but to recognize the idols in our lives and to kick them out of our lives. 00:44:28.519 --> 00:44:33.740 And when they climb back into our lives, Father, help us to kick them out again and kick them out again and again and again, 00:44:34.619 --> 00:44:39.700 knowing, Father, that we should worship and trust you and you only desire our freedom and fullness. 00:44:40.260 --> 00:44:42.519 You only desire our flourishing. 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:47.960 And so, Father, we ask that you would do these wonderful works of grace in each of our lives. 00:44:48.019 --> 00:44:52.740 And we ask these things in the name of Jesus and all God's people said, Amen. 00:44:52.740 --> 00:44:52.960 Amen.