Address—Craig Hayhoe
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Let's begin our meeting tonight with him #181.
Going to read the 1St 2 verses.
When Satan appears to stop up our path and fill us with fears, we triumph by faith. He cannot take from us the loftiest tried, the heart sharing promise the Lord will provide. He tells us we're weak. Our hope is in vain, the good that we seek.
We ne'er shall obtain, but when such suggestions are spirits of tried, this answers that all questions. The Lord will provide #181.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Then we have gone.
One day.
And then I'm.
Saying.
Love the Lord and our power and power flow.
Oh my God.
Let's look to the Lord for His help, our God and our Father. We come before thee tonight and great great weakness, owning Lord, Thy grace, thy mercy and thy goodness that has found us in the position that we are in. We thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for the cross of Calvary. We thank Thee, O Lord, that I'll just go there to suffer, bleed and die and pay a great price to put away our sin.
And Lord, we thank thee for each one here that is saved has been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
When, O Lord, thou has left us here for our journey.
Until thou just give the shout, or till thou dost call us home individually, O Lord.
We pray tonight that was helped by Thy Spirit, that we could look at a few things from Thy word and be encouraged to go on in a pathway that would please thee.
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You think, O God, of how Satan appears in our path so often.
And tempts us.
And tries to get us to step off the path, A narrow path.
O Lord, we ask thee that we would be built up in I word tonight it would be encouraged to go on for the.
We seek help from above or God, and thank thee that the Lord will provide. And so we just count on thee, O Lord, for the time ahead, and give thee thanks thy precious name. Amen.
I'd like to take a look tonight.
Genesis Chapter 34.
Genesis Chapter 34.
And Dinah, the daughter of Leah.
Which he bear unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
And when Shechem, the son of Hamor, the highlight Prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her and defiled her.
And a soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.
And Shekhar was spake unto his father Hamor saying.
Get me this damsel to wife. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter. Now his sons were with his cattle in the field, and Jacob held his peace until they were come.
And Hammer, the father of Shekhar, went out unto Jacob to command with him.
And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it, and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter, Which thing ought not to be done? And Haymark commune with them, saying the soul of my son Shechem.
Longest for your daughter. I pray you give her him to wife.
And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you, Ye shall dwell with us in the land, shall be before you dwell, and trade ye therein.
And get you possessions therein.
Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.
Ask me never so much dowry, and gift I will give according as ye shall say unto me, But give me the damsel to wife the sons of Jacob answered Shechem, and hammer his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.
They said unto them, We cannot do this thing to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised, for that were a reproach unto us. But in this will we consent unto you. If you will be as we be, that every male of you we circumcised, then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters into us, and we will dwell with you, and we shall become one people.
But if ye will not hearken unto me to be circumcised, then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone, And their words pleased Hammer and Shechem, Hammer's son.
And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was more honorable than all the House of his father.
A hammer, Shechem's son, came unto the gate of their city, and commune with the men of their city, saying, These men are peaceable with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein for the land. Behold, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us. For wives, let us give them our daughters. Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us to be one people.
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If every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised, shall not their cattle and their substance, and every beast of theirs can be ours only. Let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.
And to hammer and unto Shechem his son hearken his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of this his city. Every male was circumcised, and all that went out of the gate of the city came to pass on the third day, and they were sore. The two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon, and Levi died. His brethren took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly.
I slew all the males. They slew Hammer and shook him his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain.
And spoil the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep and their oxen and their ***** that which was in the city and that which was in the field, and all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives took their captive and spoiled even all that was in the house. Jacob said to Simeon and Levi. You have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites.
And the parasites, and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me, and I shall be destroyed. I in my house, they said, should he deal with our sister as within harlot.
And one more verse. Please just hold that spot. One more verse in uh Second Corinthians.
2nd Corinthians 11.
2nd Corinthians 11 and verse 2.
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin.
To Christ.
Well, this is a serious chapter that we have before us.
Like to talk a little bit about tonight?
And it shows how quickly something can go wrong in a family.
Something very fast can go wrong.
A child, Uh. Of Jacob.
Who was the Father in Israel?
He had twelve sons and he had a daughter. Not sure if there was another daughter or not, but he had a daughter, Dinah.
And something went wrong in that house.
You know when we become saved.
Satan doesn't stop attacking.
The brother who spoke last night had a real exercise in his heart in connection with.
Someone in this room does not know the Lord as their savior.
You know, I share the same exercise. I don't know. Very many people here probably know less than half.
I can't tell if you're saved or not.
You know, God said to Samuel, Man looketh on the outward appearance, and God looketh on the heart.
God can look down inside your heart tonight, and he knows.
If you accepted his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as your Savior.
If you repented of sin, you know I can't understand.
Why a child brought up in the assembly?
And going to Sunday School and enjoying the benefits and the privileges that we enjoy in our individual meetings and conferences and times like this could ever refuse or reject the Lord Jesus as their Savior. I can't. I can't understand how it would be possible.
Maybe perhaps someone here tonight thinks I just, I'll just put it off.
I'll just deal with it later on in life. Maybe they don't think it's really real.
Oh, it's so real. It's the most important decision you'll ever make in your whole life.
It affects eternity for you.
I trust that if there anyone here who does not does not open their heart for the Lord, that they will realize that they need a Savior. You know, if we turned over, we're not going to to Genesis chapter 3 and we read about Adam and Eve.
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And we saw how the serpent came along.
And tempted Eve.
And all she did is commit one sin.
And she was separated from God, Adam and Eve. They just committed one sin. That was it. And they were pushed out of the Garden of Eden.
And they didn't have fellowship with God like they had before. All it took was one sin. You know, all of us have sinned. At least more than once. A lot more times. I'd be ashamed to tell you how many times I've sinned. I couldn't count. I don't want to think about it. So we have sin on us. We need to be forgiven for it. We need to save your. We need to be saved.
Brother came to her assembly in Pine Grove. He gave this short little poem regarding John 316. God loved, God gave you believe and you're saved.
Pretty simple, easy to understand. God love, God gave you believe and you're saved. You know if you haven't accept the Lord Jesus tonight, just pray these simple words, Lord Jesus.
Forgive me, I'm a Sinner and he'll save you if you trust in him.
Well, here we have before us. Story here.
You know Satan doesn't stop.
He slithered into Adam and Eve's life, and it'll slither into yours and mine.
There's lots of things for us to tempt us.
To draw us off a narrow path.
Lots of little things steal away our time.
Take our heart to have it occupied with things all around us.
Lots of things in this world will defile us. You know that word is quoted in this chapter about four times defiled.
That's what Satan wants to do, want to particularly speak to the dear young people.
He wants to defile you and tempt you into sinning.
He wants to corrupt that which the Lord.
Has for himself. He's given you a new, a new, uh, a new nature that wants to please him. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
But he still works away at that old nature and he wants to draw us aside. He's got lots of tricks, he's got a lot of time and he's had a lot of experience. I was struck recently in Revelation.
It calls him that old serpent. I wonder why he calls him at the end of the Bible, that old serpent.
The beginning of the Bible calls in the serpent Genesis 3 believe it's because he's been around. He's had a lot of experience.
And he's had a lot. He knows the ways to get into our minds and fill us with things that distract us.
And keep us from enjoying the Lord and communion with him.
You know, here in our story.
It says and Dinah the daughter of Leah.
Would she bear unto Jacob?
I'll stop there.
Each of you have a father and a mother.
And probably a praying father and mother.
Probably someone who has nurtured you from a very young age and who loves you and has tried to guide you and direct you into paths that would be best for you.
When I was growing up, I didn't like a lot of things, my father said. He had too many boundaries.
I'll say it like this. If he had boundaries, it was about like this circle of boundaries. And the circle of boundaries for my friends at school was about like this.
A lot bigger and I didn't like the boundaries he set up.
There are many times where I snuck out.
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And I did things that I shouldn't have done and went against his will, My father and mother both of them.
And at first.
Perhaps it was pleasurable.
But after that it became the same old same old.
And I was trapped, sometimes addicted to things that I shouldn't have been addicted to.
But I have had a praying father and mother.
I I suggest that that Dinah had a praying father and mother too.
Sometimes boundaries are set in our life.
That we don't like.
But God gives them to us for a reason.
He wants us to be kept from the defilement of this world.
But you know, there's a responsibility on their part of Jacob as well.
If we turn back further.
Jacob was told to leave and go back to the land of his fathers, but he didn't go back. He stopped part way. If you look at the chapter just before.
It says uh verse 17 and Jacob's journey to succeth and built him a house and made booths for his cattle. Therefore the name of the place is called Suckas and Jacob came to Shalom, a city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan. When he came from Padanaram and pitched his tent before the city, and he bought a parcel of a field where he had spread his tents.
Jacob settled down in a place.
Where God didn't instruct him to settle down, he made a decision on his own.
He didn't go back to Bethel. He didn't go back to where he should have gone.
And he chose a place, and he bought a piece of ground.
You know, his father, Abraham was a very wealthy man.
And Abraham? The only piece of land that he bought was where he buried his wife.
But Isaac? He settled down.
You know that speaks to me.
Because I feel that for myself and my generation.
I settled down in this world too quickly and in generations ahead of me. They didn't settle down and have such an easy life as we have today.
As a parent, it speaks to me because I can put my children in a place in a position.
Where perhaps they're close or too close.
To some that might defile them, some that might tempt them.
Too close to a place where really they shouldn't be.
And so it says, And Dinah the daughter of Leah, would she bear unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the lands.
You know, we need to be very careful.
Who our friends are.
Because they have a tremendous impact on our life.
Good to have our friendship within the assembly, the Christians we know and can trust.
It doesn't say why Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land. Perhaps she didn't have too many friends.
Perhaps her friends that she had weren't very good to her.
Doesn't say. Maybe she wanted to buy some things and see what they were wearing.
I don't know.
Nevertheless, she made a decision to go out and see the daughters of the land.
Need to be very careful.
Says in James, friendship with the world is enmity with God.
You be careful who our friends are. If we go out into the land, we go out into the world. If we go past that boundary.
That God has set for us. Our parents have set for us. There's danger. Danger lurks.
And we don't expect it often either, but it's there.
And So what does it say?
And when Shechem the son of Hamor, the highlight.
Prince of the country saw her to stop there.
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Doesn't say that she went out to see Shechem.
When she went out to see the daughters of the land.
She had no intention to see Shechem.
But he saw her.
She went out to see the daughters of the land.
But Shechem saw her.
And he liked what he saw.
And you know, it's interesting. It says he's the Prince of the country.
You know, I'm not just speaking to the to the ladies here. This is to the guys, too.
But wouldn't we all like ladies like a Prince for a husband?
Sounds romantic, doesn't it?
The Prince of the country.
And the guys likewise.
When we like royal blood.
And we like to marry into that. Wouldn't that be special?
You know what? We're already have that we're children of the king.
The king is in his rejection right now.
But you're a child of the king.
Don't go into another Kingdom is danger.
She didn't expect to meet Shechem. She never intended to meet him.
You know.
There's a verse. Maybe we can turn it quickly in Ecclesiastes 10.
Ecclesiastes 10 verse 8.
He that digeth a pit shall follow into it, and whoso breaketh in hedge.
A serpent. She'll bite him.
I believe God puts a hedge around our families and around our homes. We return to the Book of Job and Job. Chapter one will find that God put a hedge around him and his family.
Set the boundaries around him and protected him.
And I believe that God has put a hedge around our families and around your life and around my life.
But when we breakthrough that hedge.
And go to into the land or into a place where we shouldn't go, says a serpent shall bite him.
That's the enemy.
Unintentional consequences. She didn't mean it to happen.
He saw her, he took her, he lay with her and defiled her.
How tragic.
Where was the power? She broke through a hedge, as it were. The power's all with him.
He saw her. He took her. He lay with her. He defiled her.
You know when we go beyond the sphere of where we should be.
In this world, we breakthrough the hedge and go to places we shouldn't go to.
Go into portals that we shouldn't go to, we breakthrough.
The powers with the enemy.
To be very careful.
Completely unintentioned by Dyna.
But it happened.
She was taken.
The file.
Then it says in verse 3, and his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter Jacob.
And he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.
Shechem spake unto his father, Hammer, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.
You know when sin comes into our life.
It doesn't just happen and then it's over.
1St 2 verses in this chapter deal with.
The sin that happened.
And then there's all the fallout afterwards.
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And affected the family.
It affected those around and it caused them to sin too.
You know, when I slip up in my life.
I affect others around me.
Often in a bad way.
And so this young man, he loved her and he wanted to marry her.
We are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
We know when we bend the rule once, we fall into something once or twice.
We begin to justify things in our life.
And we begin to say.
You know, I look at it a little bit differently than you.
Hammer here. Sorry. Shechem here.
Wanted Dinah for wife, her wife.
And then it says verse 7 and the sons of Jacob came out of the field. Sorry.
UH verse 5.
And Jacob heard he had defiled Dinah's daughter. Now his sons were with his cattle in the field, and Jacob held his peace until they were come.
I don't know about the wisdom of Jacob, How wise he was. Reminds me a little bit about David, how he dealt with Tamer.
And he tells his sons here what happened.
And the sons of Jacob and verse seven came out of the field.
When they heard it, the men were grieved. They were very wroth. They gave wroth folly in Israel, and lying with Jacob's daughter, which thing ought not to be done?
The whole family was stirred up.
How unsettling. How unhappy.
When we fall into sin.
It hurts those around us.
It hurts assemblies. It hurts families.
We all feel it.
And often the 1St.
First reaction is anger.
We're upset.
You know my heart.
I have a a heart that.
Wants to please the Lord.
Sometimes, but sadly, the old nature takes over.
An awful lot.
And I.
Want to do things that I shouldn't want to do and I fall pretty quickly sometimes.
And has had its effect on those around me.
Need to be very careful dealing with a situation like this.
And so.
Council Assad of Jacob and his sons and they decide.
What to do regarding this situation?
And so they lie, and they're deceitful.
And they con as it were.
Shechem.
Into doing something and say, Oh yes, you can come on into our family.
Just go and get circumcised.
Just go out and return your act like you're one of us.
But they didn't want them want him to. They didn't really want him. They just wanted to trick him.
And you know, it says here about Shechem that he was more honorable.
In verse 19, the young man deferred not to do the thing because he had delight in Jacob's daughter.
And he was more honorable than all the House of his father.
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You know.
Sometimes when we take up with men and women of this world, we don't always take up with the worst of them. We take up some with some of them.
That, in our estimation, are fair, fairly honorable.
But the standards of this world are different than the standards of God.
And Shechem wanted to do the right thing.
But he was tricked.
And in the end.
They came upon him.
And destroyed him and killed him.
The brothers and sisters. Oh, sorry, uh, Jacob's son. Two of Jacob's sons.
They took them.
In verse.
Verse 26 or verse 25.
It came to pass on the third day, when they were sore with the two sons of Jacob, Simeon, and Levi down his brother, and took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly and slew all the males. And they slew Hammer and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword. And Dinah went out of Shechem's house and took Dinah out of Shechem's house.
And went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.
And so the position of Dinah was no longer that.
She was in the family at this time.
She had moved out and she was with this man who had committed sin with her.
And you know.
As I said before, when we go into the world and we breakthrough a hedge.
The power is on the other side, it's on the enemy side.
And they have control.
Or they can have control.
In such a way.
That they can affect us and our life and our decision making.
And it can change the way we think.
And here the brothers come and breakthrough and take her back.
It was wrong for them to do what they did.
What was wrong for Dinah?
To go out like she did.
You know it says of Jacob 2IN connection with this.
It says verse 30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have trouble me to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the parasites, and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me.
And I shall be destroyed I in my house.
You know, we don't read of Jacob being concerned so much for his daughter.
He's concerned of how he looks.
That's a sad thing.
Sad thing.
You know, we see that in Reuben, his son, later on when Joseph was taken and sold.
Ruben said.
Aye, aye, aye. It looks bad on me.
Jacob here was concerned about himself.
You know the reason I.
Talk about this story tonight.
Is because I fear.
For you younger ones.
That the enemy is making an effort.
To tempt you and draw you.
Through a hedge in your life.
Through a boundary that has been set up in your life.
And he wants to bring you into a realm where he has the power.
Where he can defile?
And he can corrupt your mind.
You know in.
In the New Testament.
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The word uncleanness is mentioned in Galatians 5. It speaks about adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness.
Which is perversion, We'll say lasciviousness.
I am concerned.
About uncleanness.
You know, I mentioned that in Romans chapter one. Let's just turn to that.
Romans chapter one, verse 24.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness.
Through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their own bodies between themselves.
This is talking about the world.
I don't like that word uncleanness.
Doesn't sound quite as serious, perhaps, as adultery or fornication.
But it sounds very serious.
So does the word defile.
I think we need to be very careful to look within.
And question ourselves what is going on in our lives.
What are those things that we hide that are hidden?
That perhaps fit into this category of being unclean.
Things that we might not want those in the assembly to see or our parents to see.
That have a defiling effect on our life.
This world.
Is on a tragic horse.
Spiraling downward quickly.
And despite the efforts of.
Perhaps political leaders, although essentially they have been given over.
The momentum of the course of this world is gathering speed.
You know, you have here in America an election coming up.
And quite frankly, I don't envy your choices.
And both parties are offering.
And telling what they will do to help make your life better.
I don't believe it.
You know, I had a interesting American political experience happened to me this past year.
I was, uh, I'm from Canada and I happened to have a convention.
In Atlanta, GA for my work.
So I uh, I went down to Atlanta to let this convention.
And uh, it was at the UH, Georgia World Trade Center, I think it's called, and I went into it and UH, part of it was blocked off.
And I couldn't get into the place I need to get into because there were cops there and they blocked part of it off. And so I had to walk all the way around and get in. And finally I asked somebody, I said, what's the matter? What's going on here? Why couldn't I come in properly?
They said oh, Donald Trump is coming tomorrow.
So I said, and I went about my business and I went to my UH seminars.
Went back to hotel, got up the next day and more of the Convention Center was blocked off.
And there were police everywhere, and there were dogs everywhere and.
And I uh.
With surprise.
So I went up to another fellow there and I said, you know what's really going on here? He said.
Donald Trump's coming. You got to come and watch him. You got to come and see him. This is history in action.
So, I said. Hmm.
And I went to my seminar and I sat in my seminar. It was really long and boring.
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And then I went outside at lunchtime.
There are even more cops there.
And there's this huge line of people, tremendous line of people. And I thought, that's crazy.
So I went back inside to another seminar.
But all the while I was thinking, MMM hum.
The last seminar is pretty long too. I don't know if I wanna go to that one.
So I went outside.
And I saw the line was starting to move.
So I said, OK, I'll give it a whirl.
So I stood in line at the back of the line.
And started sneaking through the line long time.
Got up to the front. People were talking, by the way, about Trump and how great he was. And got to the front and got to the door and there were these Secret Service guys and they went all through my briefcase and they put wands up and down, me and all kinds of stuff. And then they said, OK, go in. So I went in with crowds, people.
Went down into the convention hall where I wasn't supposed to go, apparently for my convention.
And I went to this cavernous giant room and there were thousands of people. The thousands of people.
And over the front was a stage with American flags, and in front of the stage with lots of TV cameras and people with signs. And so I just sat there.
I was wondering what to expect.
So I had to wait quite a while.
And someone came out to the front and said, OK, now we're gonna sing God Bless America. So we sang God Bless America.
And they said, OK, now we're going to take the Pledge of Allegiance. Well, I'd never taken the pledge because I'm from Canada.
So I put my hand here and mumbled something and pretended I fit in.
I didn't really fit in, but I just mumbled along.
And then?
And then a little while later.
There was a huge roar of the crowd. I hadn't heard a roar like that in a long time.
And up onto the stage walks old Donald Trump.
And he's waving to people and they're roaring.
And you know, he proceeded to give a speech on how he was going to fix all the problems of America.
He was going to make America great again, and people were clapping and roaring and cheering, and he was going to build a fence and people were roaring and cheering. He was going to fix everything that ails America.
You know, after a while I got a headache and I left.
It was so loud. It was crazy.
But you know, I thought, that man is not going to fix America.
There's only one man who's going to fix America, and unfortunately, America and Canada and all the other nations.
The right for judgment.
You know, speaks in the end of First Peter about this world being reserved unto fire against the day of judgment.
All the material things that you own and that I own.
All those things we spent, we spend our time on.
All those things that we try to accumulate.
They're gonna be burnt up.
You know, I was speaking to some young people.
Couple weeks ago and read a verse. I'd like to read it. Matthew chapter six I think it is.
And you all know it.
Matthew 6 verse 19.
Lean out up for yourselves, treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves breakthrough and steal.
But lay out for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust.
Doth corrupt and where thieves do not breakthrough nor steal.
But where are your treasure? Is there where your heart be also?
The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
00:50:09
You know all of us in this. Not all of us.
Say I don't know what age, but a lot of us have bank accounts.
And often we're very aware of how much is in that bank account or how little is in that bank account, I should say because it comes in and it goes out awful fast, quick, quicker than it comes in.
But we're aware of what is in the number in the account pretty often in our life.
We're aware of what we own, we're aware of our material possessions.
Well, you know, I like to think of it in connection with this.
You know how much is in your bank account here on earth?
And perhaps you're laying up treasure for your retirement and your bank account here on earth.
But what are we laying up for?
For our bank account in heaven, as it were.
Lay out for yourselves treasure in heaven.
I wonder if that if we think about that.
How much of our day is spent on things that will never last?
Material things.
Possessions.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't go to work, because we sure we sure should.
But how much of our extra time is spent on creature comforts? This strikes me to the core.
And things that are going to be burnt up and how much time of my day.
Is spent on laying up treasure in heaven for the Lord that he can use.
That I can take that.
Though that gold, silver and precious stones that is referred to in First Corinthians 3.
Things that won't be burnt.
If her eye is single, her whole body is full of light.
There's so many distractions around us these days.
In my pocket here.
I have the world.
There it is, my smart phone, click of a button and I'm online. The world is in my pocket.
And I spend too much time looking at the world.
Far too much time.
How much time do I spend laying up treasure for the Lord? Is my eye single on him?
It's a challenge for me.
You know it speaks of the Narrow path and the broad Rd.
Is spoken of.
In Scripture.
You know, the thing about the broad Rd. way that leads to destruction? This is a downward course.
And if your eyes are focused downward.
That's not the place for them to be.
As we travel downward in this world, whenever you walk down a hill.
After a very short time, you don't hardly have to walk anymore because you're gathering momentum.
And you're moving automatically as you go down the hill. There's no effort involved anymore.
And this world is gathering momentum going downhill.
But the Lord wants our eye to be single on him.
Keeping our path narrow and upwards course.
Focused on things above and not on things around us.
I urge each one tonight.
Keep our eyes single on him and to lay up treasure in heaven, spend our time on laying up treasure for him.
00:55:04
I urge us each one and dear young people.
To be very careful.
About breaking through a hedge.
In our life about going and visiting those who are of the land.
She went to see those of the land.
But it ended up that someone saw her and took her.
Be careful of the boundaries that are set in our life.
There's danger on the other side.
We may feel that the boundaries set are too tight.
But if our path is narrow and our eye is single.
It won't be too restrictive.
Living for the Lord.
Means saying no.
An awful lot to things of this world.
And it's not easy to say no. I fail out too often.
Well, you know, we, you and I are down here in this earth for.
Short years, maybe 50 years, maybe 85 years, maybe 100 years.
That's all we have to do something for the Lord for all eternity He'll be doing for us.
Will share his glory, will be with him forever.
We have a few short years to do something for him.
Satan is subtle.
He's Slytherin around.
He's tempting you. He's tempting me.
Let's keep our eyes single.
Our paths narrow.
Let's not go visit those daughters.
Men and women of the land.
Let's show kindness to one another in our assemblies.
Go out of our way for one another.
Let's build up one another.
And encourage one another.
We see someone going astray or breaking through where they shouldn't be.
Let's grab them back.
It's tough to do.
Someone mentioned the verse that we mentioned the other day. Faithful are the wounds of our friend.
What wounds are in the Lord's hands for you and I?
Isaiah 53 says he was despised and rejected of men.
I'm not very despised amongst those in this world.
Lord was despised.
Can we be reproached a little bit for the name of Christ?
Don't breakthrough a hedge.
Keep yourselves in a narrow path.
I would encourage each one of us to please the Lord in our life and keep our eyes single on him. Let's just pray.
Our God and our loving Father.
How we thank the for that precious word?
We thank you for the stories in it.
We thank you, Lord, for the examples that we have in it. We thank you for the verses that speak to us, O Lord.
And our Father thou can see inside.
And can't see our hearts.
Lord, you know the struggles that we each have and that we each face.
And how difficult it is.
Sometimes to keep our path narrow and our eyes single.
How often her eyes are running to and fro all over.
And we're distracted and we're caught up with things around us.
Or God keep us, we pray.
We pray. We build one another up in our incur in our fellowship together. We pray Lord in our home assemblies that we would watch out for one another.
We pray, Lord, that we would honor those boundaries and those hedges that have been put in place for us.
And then we would reach out.
And pull back any of our friends or that we see who perhaps are breaking through.
01:00:06
O Lord, we are aware.
Of what a foe Satan is.
Help us, O Lord.
To let thee live through us.
We pray that we will be kept for the Eola. We ask thee for thy blessing on each of the young people here, on each one here. Keep us free, we pray.
We ask you for a blessing on the time together for the remaining time that we have here.
And thank you for this occasion, O Lord, in thy precious name. Amen.