The Ten Commandments
This week Pastor Gene takes us to the account of the giving of the 10 commandments as he asks: do Christian's have to still follow them today?
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good morning you guys have energy today it's going to be interesting if you're new here among us my name is gene i serve here at c3 church as your lead pastor and if you're new here to southwest florida welcome you may be on vacation more and more people are coming in we're out of season so some of the regular members are back up north but then there's vacationers naples is a vacation destination but it has been brought to my attention that some other places that weren't vacation destinations are now becoming vacation destinations why because a lot of people have placed themselves on permanent vacation people don't want to work i learned of a new term we actually have a worker shortage this is unbelievable i never thought in my whole life i would see such a thing back in the day you'd have to apply for a job and you'd be nervous waiting for the call back you'd go for the interview maybe another interview is a process but now people will just hire you no matter what you know how to do so it's frustrating a lot of employers they're putting out help wanted signs everywhere and some of them are kind of funny so i want to share some with you this morning ready let's let's check some of these out we need a graphic designer obviously that's a good one i like that i'll let you guys figure this one out for yourselves that's a decent one this one was funny got my attention now hiring cashier weekends must be 21 plus sign applications avail inside cannot look anything like skeletor from he-man dating myself there this next one looks like a pizza place up north server sober now i cannot read the fine print but maybe you can it must be funny sober asterisk sane non-dramatic experienced able to work mornings clearly appreciation of skillful sarcasm helpful this is the perfect job for heather all right so if you know her that's all funny here's some newspaper ads that's still a thing i guess surgeon wanted for a new health clinic opening in the area no experience needed must have own tools wow i'll bring my toolbox here's another one someone to grind or chew hay for horse saving money on the a with bad teeth just get in contact with good old bud really and here's my favorite scarecrow wanted all right a volunteers wanted to work as a scarecrow in a field near didcot i don't know where that is weekends only no previous experience again is needed as full scarecrow training will be given really must be able to stand up for several hours without a break and have no fear of birds the next line is ironic no time wasters please you can email them right there they didn't even scratch out the email all right all right we're going to change that because i'm not going to be able to concentrate so recently i told you a story about a husband and wife we've been following them along i told you this story before but you guys forget you don't remember what i say so i'll tell it again different angle on it though they've been cooped up for a while in the house and the wife really wants to go on vacation she wants to come here to naples but she's thinking of fancy things she wants to splurge she's thinking of the fine dining the shopping that we have here the beaches and so she proposes the idea to her husband hey we saved a lot of money we didn't go on vacations last year so let's do it right we're going to stay at the ritz carlton and she tries to tries to coax them in with the wings they have the best wings at gumbo limbo go eat them there they're great we moved down here for the wings at gumbo limbo but this doesn't work now what's going on in the husband's mind is i really want to improve the house i want to spend money on tools maybe i can get myself another job anyway he doesn't want to go on vacation spend the money instead of just saying that right so people do this type of thing they just don't say the real reason i just want to concentrate on the house right now kind of lazy not feeling the naples thing it's hot why go there no instead he gets religious on her legalistic and he says you know that's that's a lot of money don't you feel bad about spending that much money no she's like here we go i just want to have a good time you know they're christians and so he's laying it on thick he decides to keep pressing down on this point he says you know if we're going to spend that much money we should do something spiritually rewarding i think we should go to the holy land i want to climb mount sinai we'll go mountain climbing in the desert when we get to the top we can shout out the ten commandments wouldn't that be great she's like yeah it might but we might want to try actually doing the ten commandments first don't you think got him back there today that's what we're going to be looking at the ten commandments we're in exodus i'm excited about it we're going to do so spill exodus 19 through 34-ish we're going to be skipping around a little bit i told you about that we're doing the bible topically and that means we kind of have to skip over some things sometimes so we had the exodus last week and the passover account very important festival that we looked at and actually what's interesting didn't plan it this way we're on the eve in the jewish calendar of the next festival we're going to be talking about so i'm doing things by festivals the feast of weeks and that is to commemorate the giving of the law the initial giving of the law that's what the jewish people still do today and that's on the calendar we're on the eve of it tomorrow will be that holiday we're going to look at another festival next week and another festival the following week there are three pilgrimage festivals the jewish people are supposed to go to jerusalem to celebrate this is biblically mandated for them we see it in both the old and the new testament so after the exodus there's a three or two-ish month period you may be confused different bible versions say different things they're on a lunar calendar and even the name of the holiday here pentecost or shavuot which means weeks can be confusing in and of itself because it's 50 but it's really not 50 it's kind of confusing so 49 days in reality go by and here the israelites find themselves at mount sinai they've been paying attention this is significant the lord is going to appear again he appeared to moses in the burning bush in exodus chapter 3. now he's going to appear to moses and then the israelites at this very same place but did you know a little biblical fact for you guys moses is a mountain climber did you know that if you pay attention to the story the way most people envision this account is that moses goes up the mountain does his thing and then he's the one shouting out the ten commandments and all that that's it goes back down kills a bunch of israelites we'll get there anyway that's not quite how it happens moses goes up and down and up and down and up and down over and over and over again it goes in cycles so if you're reading the story and it's not being told to you it gets long it's pretty interesting so i'll save some time for you this morning but imagine this as i tell the story moses is no spring chicken he's 80 years old so you have to picture this isn't like a younger guy just strapping young lad going up the mountain you can't just get up there in like five minutes or something it's gonna take some time so it's an older man going up and down and up and down pretty vigorous guy the bible tells us that later about moses though so he climbs up the mountain the first time it says this exodus 19 4. you have seen what i did to the egyptians the lord speaking you know how i carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself now if you obey me pay attention to that if you obey me and keep my covenant you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on the earth for all the earth belongs to me and you will be my kingdom of priests my holy nation this is the message you must give to the people of israel so now moses goes down the mountain and he reiterates this and this is interesting exodus 19 8 and all the people responded together we will do everything the lord has commanded so moses brought the people's answer back to the lord climbs back up now the lord is speaking to him from a thick cloud so you have to just imagine that here could that get that in your mind and here we see some rules for the mountain this is interesting so he says don't even let anybody come near it touch it if someone touches it don't touch them just shoot them with arrows or stone them to death nobody's to touch it not even the animals okay so he climbs down not before the lord tells him get the people ready in three days i'm going to appear to you so consecrate them so it goes down the mountain gets the people ready they're to totally consecrate themselves abstain from intercourse third day comes on the morning of the third day now the lord appears he comes down on mount sinai in full power and glory so you have to imagine like all the natural disasters at once happening except like flooding except water disasters all the fiery disasters so it's like a volcano this mountain there's fire everywhere it's creating a furnace of smoke it's like a big billowing furnace lightning crashing down everywhere thunder the earth is quaking so this is like nothing you've ever seen before this is incredible the power and enormity of the lord so everything's going crazy the people are trembling moses can approach the mountain there's an interesting thing you're paying attention the lord initially says that the people can come up the mountain when they hear the ram's horn so along with all this stuff there's this increasing it's getting louder and louder this rams horn blowing while all this other stuff is going on it's a terrifying event but moses climbs up the mountain again the lord reiterates this command about not touching the mountain again over again and then he says something about coming up the mountain but moses is confused he's like no you said no one can come up the mountain not anybody but he says well next time bring aaron with you now at this point in the story i don't know about you but i'm kind of thinking if i'm moses because we know he kind of talked back to god a little right like who am i to speak i get tongue tied i'd be saying listen couldn't you have told me all this the first time right you know like just i know we don't listen all the time but why are you repeating this again it's not as if like he goes outside like i get kind of frustrated when i go upstairs i forget something i have to come back down the stairs i go upstairs i forget something i come back down the stairs and i'm like okay let me write a list because i'm tired this guy's going up a mountain getting these inside and now think about it for a second lightning thunder crashing this is not a pleasant experience going on here it's nuts so he takes the instructions back down to the israelite gotta be tired and now the lord gives the ten commandments comes from the lord's voice they hear it do you know the ten commandments it's kind of interesting some people no now i'll forget right now that i do this i kind of make a wise remark and i'm like oh no you'll have no other gods but me don't make any idols so back then it's a big deal you're going to carve images no carved graven images in the old language don't take the name of the lord in vain don't use his name or misuse his name wrongly keep a sabbath day all right even when god created the earth worked for six days took the seventh day off you are not better than him take a day off keep it holy to the lord honor your parents don't murder commit adultery steal lie especially in court or covet lust after your neighbor's goods the ten commandments then this is what happens exodus 2018 when the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram's horn and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing up from the mountain they stood at a distance trembling with fear and they said to moses you speak to us and we will listen right but don't let god speak directly to us or we will die don't be afraid moses answered them for god has come in this way to test you so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning both sides of the coin there we don't want to listen to god we'll listen to you instead so you just keep going up that mountain so then moses approaches the lord and here's where everybody drops off this is when people close the bible and they're like okay here we go but there's some interesting things in there so this is the way the old testament works the first five books especially you're going to have a memorable account and then either a whole bunch of or both genealogies and laws different laws which seem totally random but i'm going to try to give you a right way of thinking about this and it's interesting some of the stuff in here so what will happen is he'll start talking about building alters and how to do that there's some funny stuff if you have a good sense of humor he says don't make stairs because if you do they might be able to look up under your skirt and see your nakedness kind of interesting stuff in these laws they kind of make you laugh if you have a sense of humor but here's an easy way to think of this because it said that there are 613 laws in the law of moses i never counted them all because i ran out of fingers and toes that's about as far as i get but they say that after the ten commandments they're 603 if i can count other commands and people have done it there's charts and graphs and things like that you might think why what's going on here think of the ten commandments as like a table of contents it's what the whole chapter is about and then there's the text there's all the stuff explaining it or a contract or something like that where you have like the main bullet points and the rest of the fine print that nobody ever reads kind of like the rest of the bible like that right so you have your amendments and all these different things so you'll talk about slaves and the treatment of slaves it's hard to relate to because we don't have them today it's kind of a bad word but some of them were like servants right they would apply themselves to it and their stipulations about whether the person wants to leave or not sometimes a slave wouldn't want to leave they like their quote master and they want to stay with them they're a part of the family so it's kind of like that then you have commands about murder what is it what is murder what's the difference between killing someone and murdering someone well they connect it to stealing if a thief comes in and it's dark well it's not murder but if it's during the day time ooh you're a murderer so interesting things like that so you see how it's explaining the ten commandments thou shalt not murder well what if what if what if so you get all these different laws interwoven very important is idolatry about worshiping other gods it'll be all interwoven throughout it sexual sin testifying falsely in court definitions about those things and if you're paying close attention the sabbath is really really really important it comes up almost more than anything else and in ways in which people don't normally think about all the time in fact it says that this covenant here that's celebrated on pentecost that the sabbath sabbath is the sign of the covenant so remember abraham's covenant genesis 15 and 17 the sign was circumcision so this the sabbath is the sign of this covenant it is super super important now a lot of people will say well yeah that's great way of thinking about a gene i guess but what about the priestly laws ten commandments don't say anything about priests kind of because it talks about the sabbath well the priests are going to be the ones who not only help you atone for the sins with all the sacrifices if you break all these commandments or any of these commandments by the way the one for breaking the sabbath is death so there's nothing really they can do for you except kill you but these holidays they're really important they're sabbaths as well so you have a day sabbath but you also have like week-long sabbaths like the passover not supposed to really work except preparing the meal so there's definitions of the sabbath so the sabbath whether you know it or not is talked about a lot a lot in the old testament now in the midst of these laws the people again reiterate their commitment so you get three-ish chapters there all these different laws extensions if you will of the ten commandments and then you'll get kind of another story here exodus 24 starting at verse three then moses went down to the people and repeated all the instructions and regulations the lord had given him it's not going to end here either it can keep going going going all the people answered with one voice we will do everything the lord has commanded now this is interesting if you keep going then moses carefully wrote down all the lord's instructions early the next morning moses got up and built an altar at the foot of the mountain he also set up 12 pillars one for each of the 12 tribes of israel remember we went through in the genealogy the sons of israel then he sent some of the young israelite men to present burnt offerings and to sacrifice bulls as peace offerings to the lord moses drained half the blood from these animals into basins the other half he splattered against the altar and the people so do you remember the passover covered by the blood it has significance so this is what's going on here then he took the book of the covenant and read it aloud to all the people check this out and they all responded we will do everything the lord has commanded we will obey keep that in mind as we go through the rest of the story so then something really interesting happens i'll just summarize it for you there's a covenant meal and here's where it gets cleared up for us so it's aaron his two oldest children nadab and who and 70 or some versions say 70 elders remember they're 72 elders so remember that number as we keep going they go a certain distance up the mountain and they have a covenant meal in the presence of the lord they eat and drink in the presence of the lord and it says where he's standing looks like this beautiful gemstone lapis lazuli really gorgeous place so think about it so it's in the midst of all this craziness has it dissipated i don't know but regardless this desert mountain it's beautiful it's like heaven it's like this beautiful place of this covenant meal then here's where we clear up the confusion it says that moses goes the rest of the way up the mountain so apparently these consecrated people the 70 elders aaron his sons are priests by extension they can go a certain distance up but only moses can go all the way up now he goes up there and he spends a total of 40 days receiving instructions from the lord remember that now we learn more if we keep reading on there's all kinds of descriptions and this is what gets confusing i'll unconfuse it for you sometimes in the bible sometimes you're getting descriptions of things later to be built and so it's not necessarily being built right now but they'll describe like the arks the tabernacle all that other stuff so they'll tell them first how they are to build it and then moses will give those instructions he'll relay them going up up and down up and down the mountain so moses is on the mountain for a long time people get kind of antsy and they go to aaron and they say where is this moses guy make us gods that we can worship and aaron if you're reading doesn't really say anything about it except okay give me this is interesting the earrings of your wives and your children what he's going to do is he's going to melt him down and then make this golden calf mold the golden calf however he does it isn't that interesting take the things from your ears that you should be listening with and have them melted down so keep that in mind so he makes it they love it he builds an altar to it they celebrate a feast that says pagan revelry so they're worshiping this golden calf cut away seen to the lord and moses on the mountain god's like yo your people are out of control i'm done with them i'm gonna wipe them out completely that's it it's over remember this moses intercedes for them he's like no no it should remind you a little bit of abraham with sodom and gomorrah same type of thing where you have this kind of deal making and he goes through all these different numbers of people it keeps reducing the number making a deal he's kind of like a salesman there moses does about the same thing he goes through these different reasonings and the first one he uses is that well the other nations they're going to mock you right because you created this nation you setted them apart and then now they're just doing their own thing so god relents he says all right fine now moses it's his turn to go down the mountain and try to sort things out remember he's got the stone tablets with him and joshua is with him at a certain point we don't know where it doesn't say where he picks him up but we know he probably didn't go all the way up the mountain with him he comes down with the tablets joshua hears it first whoa they're celebrating something's going on or there's war in the camp what is it moses like no there's no war in the camp they're worshiping they're celebrating moses gets so angry he breaks the tablets he smashes them to the ground he's mad then he goes gets the golden calf burns it up grinds it into powder throws it on the water and makes them drink it why does he do that well he's going to turn that by them ingesting it it's going to turn that idol that fake god into excrement or garbage all right so that's what he's doing that's what this god is now then he goes to aaron bro what are you doing now aaron is completely unapologetic he doesn't care he's like wow you know how these people are they're crazy so they got all their jewelry together i put it in a furnace and i'll pop this calf kind of like that really great so what most people remember is that moses now along with the levites if you know the story kill 3 000 people that's where they go but there's something else that happens in there that's very very important to consider and remember there's actually a couple of things one moses gives them a chance he says all who are for the lord come here with me be on my side now the levites join him then they kill the people but think about it for a second moses has interceded for them god wanted to wipe them out completely he's done with them so the fact that they exist at all is good of moses right so good on moses the other thing is again moses had warned them come here on my side if you remember the exodus account it says there are six hundred thousand men that are redeemed from israel six hundred thousand men i told you it's probably scholars will say 2.5 million people so when you think about it's not good that anyone would die not good that anyone would die but 3 000 is a very small percentage of 2.5 million so it's not like he's wiping out all of the israelites so now we get another scene of intercession moses continues to intercede for his people keeps going and now moses wants to see god's glory so we get a scene of moses in god's glory god passes by him but not the front of him he protects moses with his hand and passes by moses gets to see the back of god now he spends another 40 days on the mountain receiving instructions from the lord people don't realize that it's not one trip 40 days it's a lot of trips and a total of 80 days two cycles of 40 on the mountain he gets new tablets now written by the finger of god he takes them down to the people but this time he's been in the presence of the lord and his face is shining he doesn't realize it at first but his face is glowing now do you remember last week it should make you think of the transfiguration and so this is a foreshadowing of what would happen in jesus his face is shining he's in the presence of moses and elijah so this happens but the difference here is that moses will now cover it with a veil paul talks about this in 2nd corinthians 3. then more instructions about the sabbath now many don't know that what happened in these chapters is the initiation the foreshadowing of what would come later on the celebration of this festival commemorating the giving of the law in the book of acts pentecost so the jewish peops but to us pentecost 50-ish so we talked about jesus's death fulfilling the passover he fulfills these feasts it's all fulfilled in christ he dies three days he rises from the dead but then he spends 40 days among his people just like moses 40 days on the mountain now if you couple luke and acts together acts as written by luke jesus gives some instructions both at the end of luke and the beginning of acts and essentially it is wait so you might think matthew 28 the end of the gospel of matthew go and make disciples of all nations that they immediately run out and do it but if you get to luke you realize he says but wait here in jerusalem again in acts for his ascension wait kind of important then we see that the disciples there are 120 others or about 120 people total they're hanging out in the upper room in jerusalem waiting very important that we understand that they choose matthias he has to replace judas who's killed himself he betrayed jesus and then killed himself then on the passover this is what happens or the day of pentecost this is what happens acts 2 1. on the day of pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place suddenly there was a sound from heaven like a roaring of a mighty windstorm and it filled the house where they were sitting sound familiar then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them and everyone present was filled with the holy spirit and began speaking in other languages as the holy spirit gave them this ability so pentecost celebrates the giving of the law now acts fulfills that with the giving of the holy spirit the fulfillment of that prophecy the prophets indeed said there would come a time and this is important think about and relate to that god would fill his chosen people with his spirit and no longer will they have hearts of stone but now hearts of flesh and on those hearts of flesh he will write his law on them the law is going to be within you so no longer is it on tablets of stone but in you that's what will cause you to obey them the holy spirit and this indwelling here so places like ezekiel 36 jeremiah 31 when we combine them now most don't know that the spirit operates and is active in the old testament as well we're going to see that in bezel it says that he's filled with the spirit to make these priestly garments and the tabernacle which is like the portable temple it's like set up church in the wilderness when they're with them but acts means that there's no longer this selective giving of the spirit for specific reasons it is an outpouring of the spirit now the holy spirit is available to all who come to christ very important to understand that all of you we all have gifts that we operate by the power of the holy spirit within us all of us who are in christ pentecost is kind of like a pouring a waterfall if you will of the holy spirit right so some believe that it's just not the same now it was just unbelievable in fact peter he begins to preach and he actually quotes joel chapter 2 where he talks about pouring his spirit the sons and daughters will prophesy so peter makes this very clear this is what's happening now we talked about how christ fulfilled the festivals and indeed we are under a new and better covenant in christ that bible study will probably get to hebrews 8 through 10. and we're going to see this christ has fulfilled it he's superior to all of these things he writes his law on our hearts so that this is the part that people don't like we obey him we don't like the word obey do we but jesus says it john 14 21 those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me and because they love me my father will love them and i will love them and reveal myself to each one of them said jesus so notice a couple of things there there's greasy grace christianity that teaches that ah i'm good i accepted jesus and now i can just do whatever i want and go through this repeating cycle do whatever i want up re-baptize do whatever i want recommend to jesus do whatever i want jesus says no if you're doing it you do not love me the ones who love me obey my what commandments a lot of christians want to just throw it away well there are no more commandments anymore that's it i do whatever i want but that's not what christian means christian means baby christ it was a joke in the beginning the romans would call them that oh you're little baby christians it doesn't mean we can do whatever we want all the time indeed christ has fulfilled the law but that doesn't mean there are no laws to follow we are under a new covenant but that doesn't mean we should be breaking for example the ten commandments and in fact for all of christianity these have been a standard kids in sunday school can recite them they can tell you what they are and if you say should i break that one i'm going to quiz you no i was going to make a joke about you guys being really brave you've been good though you've been better than some of the older people here hang in there i'm still going but think about it the kids in sunday school they can list them and if you said should you break that one they'd go no we shouldn't they know better what one of us would say yeah we should have other gods worship other gods great idea i would say it was a good idea to take the name of the lord in vain oh who shouldn't do that dishonor your parents no hey it's a good idea to murder just on the weekends commit adultery just on the weekends maybe um steal no lie no lust after your neighbor's wife or husband no no what's the problem here if you're paying really close attention you might have noticed something i skipped one who knows which one i skipped the sabbath that's because the sabbath is one of our favorite ones to break it's the only one we're prideful about breaking now i want to just say something i know about the new testament i know about romans 14 i know about colossians i get it we do not have to take a sabbath we're not required to but the context there is don't make fun of everyone who doesn't take a sabbath or does take a sabbath don't argue over stuff like that but it seems pretty important when we read the bible and again be prideful about breaking it pride isn't that interesting no here i work right we like to show everybody even jesus though jesus teaches us not to do that don't let one hand know what the other hand is doing who we love to and the other thing we like to do is control everything even though we know we're not god we kind of act like it sometimes don't we instead of just listening to the lord letting the lord operate we want to be both employer and employee the other word we don't like is listen we don't like obey and listen but god says we should and god says it's really important have you ever tried to hire someone have you ever been in that position now i worked in the business world so i had to hire lots of people at the church sometimes we have to hire people maybe you can think of some of like the worst employees you've ever had how about this guy you tell him what to do and he's the yeah butt guy the yeah but guy okay i need you to go and do the yeah but and that guy usually has a better way of doing things right but maybe we can do it like this i'm like yeah but that guy questioning the why guy why like can you do this isn't it why so i don't fire you why like just please do it people do not like to listen that is so common in fact it's so common that when i got employed people like my overseer he would be surprised i could just do something nothing more nothing less no added commentary just get it on probably the martial arts training i don't know but apparently that's a really rare thingwe talked about places that are hiring but maybe you didn't know the church is hiring the church is looking for workers it's looking for help and i mean the church globally not just here and it has from the beginning jesus sends out his 70 elders or disciples if you will he sends them out and when he does luke 10 2 these were his instructions to them the harvest is great but the workers are few so pray to the lord who is in charge of the harvest ask him to send more workers into his fields the church has always been looking for good workers now what are some attributes of a good worker humility obedience listening you see first and foremost a good worker is a good listener we talked about not listening last week and how it can kind of get you into some trouble jesus was teaching in the next chapter of luke chapter 11. and as he was speaking a woman in the crowd called out god bless your mother the womb from which you came and the breasts that nursed you jesus replied but even more blessed are those who hear the word of god and put it into practice we need to put it into practice but what well to find that out we need to stop and listen we need to carve out the time to read this to listen to the instructions and to pray to be in the presence of the lord we need to know when we are to operate in mark's gospel account he sends them when they come back jesus says get rest we need to take the time to do that to rest and be in the presence of the lord receive instructions be patient just be in the presence of the lord it's very important it's hard to do that when we're keeping ourselves so busy all the time you see aaron needed to wait you didn't need to be listening to the impatient israelites it's like that in our lives too you ever have someone pressure you into making a bad decision that's what happens here we need to turn off the noise wait listen to the lord a lot of people don't know praying means listening it's not always talking we like to talk talk talk talk talk talk listening and being in the presence of the lord receiving instructions from him think about it that's what moses is doing two cycles of 40 days what's he doing listening receiving instructions from the lord not doing very much except that it's very important in fact on the second account it says he has no food or water for those 40 days that's a miracle he can't go without water for more than a week or so but he's sustained by the words of the lord now if you know your gospels well you know that jesus initiates his ministry by fasting in the desert for 40 days now i'm not sure about the water but definitely no bread and guess what like the impatient israelites satan approaches jesus and tries him to make some get him to make some bad decisions we know it doesn't work he tempts him jump off a cliff basically i'll give you all these kingdoms but what's the first one jesus has got to be kind of hungry he is in human form god in human form so if you're really god's son turn that stone into a loaf of bread what does jesus say man doesn't live on bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of god that's important every word that comes from the mouth of the lord we need to be patient and wait because the lord has a better plan for us a good listener listens to god we have to shut off the noise around us the ideas of the world that get us into trouble all the time and listen to the lord so that's my encouragement to you this morning that's what i propose let's be a biblical church of workers devoted to listening to the lord and carrying out not our plan but his amen let me pray for you lord i thank you for this church i ask that you fill these workers with your spirit that is what enables us to carry out your plan your good work that they may be excellent vehicles of your love for the sake of the gospel i ask these things in jesus name
amen
amen