Open—Brian Schoen
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Thank you, Sam. Just some brief thoughts from first and second. Peter.
Second Peter chapter one.
The last part of verse 2.
Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power has given unto us all things.
That pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. I'm sorry.
Thought it might have been the caterer. Sorry about that. My phone was going off.
So I just wanted to.
Further what Sam was talking about.
Never seen things like they are in society today. The social fabric of this country is being torn in shreds and Christians are being attacked on the right and the left. Now we know our home is not here, our home is in the heaven. But yet we're going to journey here for as long as the Lord has a purpose for us. And then I'm going home where the Lord's going to come first. And so as we continue this journey here and the Word of God continues to become.
Kind of discredited.
Or watered down and these crazy notions about, well, if God really loves.
Then just, you know, they got to, you got to love everyone no matter what they're doing. Well, that's not righteous. God is holy, holy, holy, and he's given a way for everyone to have access to him, free access, by the gift of eternal life through Jesus his Son.
And yet, as we journey on here, some of these things might creep into our minds. You know the the enemy from the very beginning in Genesis, right? Set out to deceive and and make you question.
And I encourage you to please not question, Please remember who you have believed and who we belong to. I am 100% certain beyond the shadow of a doubt. And I will spend time with anybody to tell you I absolutely know that Jesus was here. Jesus is the Son of God. He died at the cross for my sins. And I'm holding in my hands the inspired word of God.
There is nothing too hard for God. So to preserve this book, you know, the Gutenberg printing press was considered by Time magazine the invention of the Millennium.
The invention of the Millennium. What was the first thing they printed on the Gutenberg printing press?
The Bible.
Why? Because no one ever spoke like this man. No one ever did what this man did. That's why these people were willing to lay down their lives and do whatever it took to get the good news out. So as we journey on, don't ever let the nonsense around you cause you to question what is truth and what is right. The Lord's given us all things that pertain unto godliness.
And I've shared with some phrases that this Christian that I work with shares with me. And he says be careful. If you think you should be helped, become open minded because your brain falls out. So do not decide your own ways you get the light and all things that pertain on to life and godliness from this book.
Now very important thing Philippians chapter 4.
Philippians chapter 4.
Verse 13.
I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. So the other thing that the enemy sometimes will take us down the path of thinking that we can kind of figure it out ourselves and do our own thing. Well, we know in the day of ruin and we know back in Judges every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And you see that's what's going on today. And it's hard to not be sucked into the world around you. It's hard to not be sucked into the environment.
If I went off into an area, well, OK, my kids were in Hawaii when the when the volcano was going off, there was ash all over. I mean, you can't if, if that's where you are, you sometimes you can't help but be affected by it. But you can then take action and countermeasures to not have it affect you. We have the word of God. We have the power of prayer. We have each other. We have so much light that has been preserved to us since the recovery of the truth.
00:05:04
We are so blessed, but I can't do anything. As I've gotten older. I used to maybe sometimes think I knew some things. As I get older. I know I don't hardly know anything and so but we can do everything through Christ who shrinks in us. So don't lose sight of that. That is our resource and all that's going on. Then a favorite verse in Jeremiah 29.
Now we all probably know Jeremiah 2911. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, that I might give you an expected end, and that is a wonderful verse to commit to memory. But the other verse that is really enjoyable and I don't know that we get to enough, is verse 13.
And verse 13 says, You shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith the Lord.
And so I can absolutely promise you that if you commit your heart to the Lord, the Lord will guide your paths in ways that you never conceived of. Even the even the fact that we're sitting here in this meeting room. I've shared with some my short sightedness. Because I encourage us that we need to look vertically and not horizontally as we do things. But yet I was looking horizontally a few months ago when we were talking about whether we're going to have a conference or not.
And my daughter, who would have been here with her husband and my 2 grandsons, was asking me and said, well, we're going to have a conference because we need to go to Arizona to visit Ben's parents. I said it doesn't look like it's going to happen because the venues are closed and we can't get in and we're a little late in the season. Well, so I was looking horizontally and I was deciding things in my own strength. And then so they booked their trips to Arizona and about two or three days later, then someone said, well, we could have the conference here in this meeting room.
And so I'm just like the disciples saying, well wait a minute, even 200 penny worth of bread won't solve this problem or whatever the case is and and we need to change our view. Remember that He's given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. He loves you so much.
Nothing ever changes. This is love and today society is sitting there with.
Having no idea what truth is anymore because everyone just keeps making up their own version of whatever they want. But we have an anchor for our soul that tells us in Hebrews.
Today and forever. So in this world that is falling apart, the word told us it's falling apart, you don't need to and it's going to get worse. So there's no surprise here. You know, Sam talked about the way things were back in the 60s. I just have watched things deteriorate over the past 2-3 decades. It is going to get worse. But the word said that.
To almost 2000 years ago when Timothy wrote that. And so in the last days that's where we're living. But I would encourage you.
To take courage in the Lord to remember Proverbs tells us keep your heart more than anything that is guarded for. Out of it are the issues of life. So there's going to be a lot of things to distract us. As a matter of fact, society today can hardly be more distracted that than I and I can't even conceive right because found out 89% of the people in America.
Greater than 10 years old? Have a smartphone.
And and I don't, I'm not aware of a device that's more distracting. Certainly a helpful tool and I had in my pocket think indicators were calling a few minutes ago, right? But nevertheless, you won't believe. But people will spend the equivalent of about 7 1/2 years of their life looking at their smartphone. If that is not a distraction, again, it don't. Don't get me wrong, it's a great tool and I could do my Amazon order sitting at the traffic light or whatever I want to do.
But don't be deceived by the enemy. And so we have a wonderful God. He knew about this, right? God knows the end from the beginning. It tells us in Isaiah, and I think I heard this morning while I was in there. As for God, his way is perfect. And so we we know who we have believed. We can take great confidence in that. He could not love us any more than he does, and he wouldn't love us any less than He does.
So we are loved infinitely. Our heart is being challenged. Like Sam was saying, the enemy is pushing you in a different way all the time. We're being distracted. We're being discouraged. I have another thing, and I won't get into it now, but the deeds of the devil. And so the seat, discouragement, depression, distraction, and you can go on and on and on. And if you think about the things in your life that have left you in those low times, you can find that many of them began with AD.
00:10:16
And they are the deeds of the devil. But we belong to an amazing Savior, and there is nothing that will ever pluck us out of His hand. We have eternal security. We are sealed with the holy, sealed with the Holy Spirit. So that can't go, sealed that cannot go away. And so take courage as your journey on. The Lord loves us so much. Don't let society with their open mindedness.
And their brains falling out distract you from the path that we're on.