What I Learned from My Summer Vacation — John 14

0:00 Hi. I feel like I should be body surfing right now or something. I don't know. What's the theme? Oh, it's something Ocean commotion.

0:11 Ocean commotion. Yeah. Amen. Cool. Cool, cool, cool.

0:17 Sounds like you're excited about it all. There's a what? It's not plugged in. I have to plug it in. I'll trip on the cord, so I'll be able to see it.

0:32 I'll be able to see stuff. I appreciate it, though. Thanks. Things have been going on since the last time we were here. We were here in 2015 at the end of the year.

0:47 So a lot of stuff has been taking place. Tim Skiles, one of our coworkers at the Ezekiel Project, is on his computer, and he looks at the computer and he's got bookmarked something that he did not bookmark. And so he hits the bookmark on his Apple computer, and what comes up is just absolutely amazing. It comes up a property for sale. And it was a Baptist church for sale in Richmond, Michigan, which is about seven miles from us.

1:26 And they wanted for 1.8 acres, they wanted in three buildings, one building almost 9,000 square feet, a pole barn and a house. They wanted $150,000 for it. We're going, something's wrong with this place. And it was a Baptist church that the pastor was there, and it just wasn't working. And for three years, they tried to sell the place.

2:00 They refused to sell it to different entities, non ministerial entities. They wouldn't sell it to a daycare center. They wouldn't sell it to those kind of people. They wouldn't do it. And they wanted people in fact, the city of Richmond wouldn't let them sell it to those entities.

2:23 And so it's an interesting thing. The upshot of it is we looked it over, etc. Offered them 70. We came in a little low. They countered with 80, and we we took it.

2:43 And the Lord provided every penny. Every penny. It's just absolutely like an out of body experience. It really was. It's like an out of body experience.

2:58 We just couldn't believe it. And so right now, we're trying to get this thing worked, fixed up and ready for school. Plus that opened up for us because we able to we have more room, of course. We went from 2,400 square feet to almost 9,000 just in that grouping, that one building, plus a pole barn, plus a house. And the pastor asked us, he said, Can I pay you rent?

3:28 And we said, No. He's 86 years of age. His wife is 86 with a touch of dementia. And we said, You can't pay us rent because you can stay there until the Lord takes you home or you make other arrangements. And so he's living in that house.

3:46 People go, wow, you've got a house now, Craig. This is fantastic. You can... Well, they're there. And it's in a residential neighborhood.

3:56 It is absolutely well, was a gift of God. God just did it. I mean, I don't know how else to say it. God just dropped it in our laps. And so we're offering now the Ezekiel Project.

4:12 We'll be offering a second year. So we have the Ezekiel Project year one and then the Ezekiel Project School of Evangelism year two. That year two will start next year, next September in 2017. And the lineup for some of our courses is just going to be spectacular. We have Mike Atwood coming for a week giving a course on the book of Romans.

4:37 We have Steve Price coming and teaching about how to shepherd. And we've got Rob Sullivan. I don't know if you're familiar with Rob. He's going to be talking about Christian evidences. And these are actual courses, not conferences.

4:54 They're not conferences. These guys got to read. It's a week long course. Plus we're having historical coloring I mean historical geography and some other advances of hermeneutics, etcetera. So that's what's been occupying us, in doing that we have to sell our home because we are on four acres approximately and we just can't maintain this footprint.

5:25 That's where our school used to reside in. So we're in the process of selling. In fact, right now they're having an open house, or our realtor is, for our place. And the Lord has also provided another place. Get this.

5:41 It's just amazing to me. The Lord has also provided another house for us, and the way we couldn't buy a house if our life depended on it, and it really was depending on it. But then the Lord shut door, shut door, shut door, shut door. And we were getting a little frustrated with trying to purchase another house, and the Lord opened up a house that was right across the street from from this building. We're going, this is really this is really interesting.

6:40 And so I'd like to title our little discussion today with What I Learned from My Summer Vacation. That's what I like to title it, What I Learned from My Summer Vacation, because it was really arduous and I got a cold at Mountaintop. And I got a blue light special. I think it was that Kmart one. And I asked for a really good one, they gave it to me.

7:10 Not that I'm blaming the Hiltons at all because they stay in their house at all. I'm not blaming them at all, really. But I've been feeling like I've been coughing up a lung and all this kind of stuff and feeling weird and which is normal for me, guess. Weird is normal. Right?

7:32 So in Kansas City, we did our seminar, two weeks of seminar, and I preached at the Bible Chapel of Shawnee over the whole month except for one Sunday. So that was like five times, six times I preached there. And it was an interesting thing. And then I went to Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp, and I did Kids three. I spoke Kids three.

7:55 And while I was doing that, JC was speaking to the staff. They have a staff speaker. While I'm speaking to the kids, JC is speaking to the staff. And he did a great job. JC did a great job, brought stuff in from Kings and lessons from one Kings.

8:15 And it was just really powerful. And that's from the staff. The staff, they're all youth. They're high school, college age type of guys, and they were just fantastic about it. They loved it, which is always difficult to be the father of a speaker like that, to come in after him because the next week I have to speak to the staff.

8:42 And how do you follow and act like JC? I don't know. I'm praying like crazy. So I asked one of the girls who had just listened, you know, she's on staff and listened to JC, and I said said, Heather, her name is Heather too, and I said, Heather, can you possibly give me any information what you think how we ought to approach this next week for the staff morning and evening? And she said something that was really interesting.

9:13 She said, Yeah, why don't you... This is after she really prayed about it, that's why I asked her. I know that she's a very serious young Christian woman. I said, Why don't you give me what you think, what we need? And she said, You know, with JC, this is after two days of praying about it, she comes up to me and she said, you know, after JC's talk, it was fantastic.

9:36 And it's talking about giving our lives to Christ and dedication to Christ and dedication from kings. This is just really a dedicated life to the Lord. She said though, but how do you keep this going? That's what I'd like to hear. And I thought, that's really good.

10:00 That's really good. How do you keep the first blush of being a Christian? How do you keep it going? And so I would like to just talk a little bit about this, if you don't mind. I'd like us to look at a passage of scripture, and we'll talk about it.

10:22 Mean, it's going to be a bunch of scriptures. Forgive me, I have not been smoking camels. And it's this cough I got from North Carolina. Sorry, I'm only kidding. Okay?

10:41 Relax. Take it easy. Okay. So I think that there's four characteristics that we could have in our lives to help us to keep it going. Because a lot of us are sitting here today and we're saying, okay, I've trusted Christ as my personal savior.

11:02 That's the only way to get to heaven. One of the most beautiful things about being a Christian is knowing for sure that you're going to heaven when you die. That is the thing. I mean, that's it. That's what a Christian is, knowing for sure that you're going to heaven when you die.

11:19 Yeah, you have the living the life and all that, but that's after you trust Christ as your personal savior. And this is... You you can't go to second base, you know, and the Cleveland Indians, they Chisenhall doesn't go straight to second base. He goes to first. The first base for the Christian is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.

11:56 And we need to be informed about and it's amazing to me in talking to the staff, and Turkey Hill has some keen young men and women that come. I mean they really do. They have good staff and they're really focused and this kind of stuff. But I was surprised how uninformed people are. The lack of knowledge.

12:25 My people die for a lack of knowledge, the scripture says. People say, they they say, you know, what you don't know can hurt you. Wrong. What you don't know can really hurt you. I mean, really hurt you.

12:40 And one of the things that is interesting, we need to be informed. And and I like us to look at second Timothy, that's in the New Testament, to the right a little bit. And second Timothy chapter two verse 15, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We need to be informed. We have in our hands we have in our hands a bible.

13:10 If you have one of these books, count yourself blessed. Count yourself really blessed. People have died for this book. People have gone to prison for this book. People have smuggled this book.

13:25 Why? Because it is the greatest book on the planet. I mean, we could talk a long time. We need to be informed of this book. We really do.

13:37 I feel today that we are uninformed. A lot of us are uninformed. We're uninformed regarding man's condition. Man's not getting better. He's getting worse.

13:52 That's what the bible says. We have new colors. We have new ways of looking at it. We got new trucks. We got new cars.

14:01 We've got new this, new that, new educational standards, new... You know, all this kind of stuff, but there's nothing new under the sun. And somebody once said somebody once said that we've got all this ability for communication, and yet we're more alone than ever before. You ever feel like that? And it's amazing to me.

14:24 We have all the things that we can do. I don't have it here, I've got the mic here, but I've got an iPad. I mean, I got over six to 900 volumes on that iPad of books. That's incredible. I mean, that's unbelievable.

14:44 And I remember looking at the Macintosh. When Mac first came out, you know, cute little box, right? You could draw pictures with it and 128. And I'll never forget sleeping. And I couldn't sleep because I had first I finally got my Mac.

15:02 It was really a lot of money too. A lot of money. I mean boatloads of money for me anyway. And I remember 128 ks, you put that little and put it in there and it took it right. And you just go, I remember, I'll never forget this, what a stupid idiot.

15:22 My watch has more, this watch has more memory and all that than that first Mac. I mean, no questions about it, right? And this is a Casio, it's not one of those smartwatch jobs, you know? I remember going 128 ks and I remember thinking, I could put my notes from theology in this. I could write letters with this.

15:45 I could do all this. What more could a man want? I mean, I really did say that. I'm going, this is it. 128 ks.

15:56 Then they came out with $5.12, got to get the upgrade. And then, you know, I mean, that's long gone. I mean, you know, if you don't have 7,000 gazillion gigabytes, you're nothing. You know? I've got at least 14 terabytes in this and it's this big.

16:16 You know? How's that? And you just go crazy. But we got all this junk. Right?

16:20 We got all this junk, and we're still uninformed. We're uninformed. We think man's getting better, and he's not. Man is not getting better. He's getting worse.

16:30 We see this. We see the results of this. I think this is the frustration that people in the world feel. They want man to get bitter. They want man to get going and get better, and everything's going to be hunky dory.

16:44 But yet the results of man's is the exact opposite. So it frustrates us. It frustrates us. So we need to be informed of man's condition, and we need to be informed of man's condemnation. You know, one of the things that I feel is that...

17:17 Feeling everything is feeling. Right? This is how we think. We think very existentially. But here's what the man's condemnation's going to be.

17:28 I mean, this is coming down. As sure as you're sitting here, this is going to happen. And second Thessalonians chapter one verse eight, and flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Ever being destroyed but never being consumed. I think a lot of people are uninformed about that.

17:59 Really. Think we Christians, go, I agree with you Chris. I agree that we're uninformed about that. But I'm thinking of my fellow believers at Lake Turkey Hill who sat there, and when I'd ask them a question, simple questions from give me a verse from the Bible that talks about they're just blanking. And I'm thinking to myself, if there was any information that we need more than ever before, it's the word of God.

18:38 I mean, if there was anything to memorize, it'd be the word of God. If there's anything to focus on, it'd have to be the word of God. We need to be informed. We're grossly uninformed. I mean...

18:51 And I mean that with everything. We... And a lot of times, we're really uninformed regarding the salvation that God provides for us, provides for mankind. Religion never got anybody to heaven. Never.

19:11 It's Jesus Christ. It's not religion. It's relationship. There's only one way to get to heaven. I talked to my mother in law's neighbor.

19:24 My mother-in-law is in a rehab nursing home in Medina, and we stayed in her condominium last two nights. And I talked to two ladies, one trusted Christ last night and the other one did not. She had no idea that Jesus Christ was the only way. She thought the way you get to heaven is to be the best person you could possibly be. And I said, okay, think about it for a moment, Karen.

20:04 Elderly woman and very infirmed. And I said, think about this just for a moment. How many good works would it take? If we could get to heaven by doing good works, how many would it take? If we could get to heaven by doing good works, why did Jesus die?

20:23 Why did he come and die on the cross? Why did he do this? And, I think to myself as we we look at this, she's uninformed. My job is to inform her. Our job is to inform her.

20:40 How do we or do we believe that Jesus Christ I'm talking to us Christians is the only way to heaven? Or did we buy what the world wants us to buy in terms of tolerance, that if you're a good Muslim, you're okay If you're a good zero asterisk person, you're okay. If you're a good follower of Confucius, you're okay as long as you're sincere. As long as you are really sincere. How...

21:13 Mean, we're misinformed on this. See, if I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way, and that's exactly what he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the father. But through me, some people might say, well, Chris, you're a bigot. You're a narrow minded bigot. Well, I guess you'd have to say then Jesus is the same too because he's the one that quoted.

21:37 He's the one that said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. And if I believe that that's true, and it is, whether I believe it's true or not, but if I believe that that's true, then what is my response to that, that information in communicating that to people who don't know this? What is my response to this? You're doing a vacation bible school.

22:06 Fantastic. For what end? Because every chapel you know or every church you know has a VBS, and that's what we always do at this time of the year? No. What is the end then of what all that you're doing, bringing the kayak in, bringing the the wind board in, bringing all this and painting and all, what's the end?

22:28 That boys and girls, moms and dads can come to Christ. Why? Because you believe what Jesus said in John fourteen six. You actually believe that. You actually believe without him, they will perish.

22:42 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall, what? Not perish, but have everlasting life. This is it. We need to be informed on this. You get the t shirts and they're ironed and nicely ironed and, you know, they won't stay that way for very long.

23:06 But we do all this. I want to ask you a question. Okay, we're doing this, you spend... And these aren't... They're nice.

23:16 You know, they're nice, comfy. To what end? And the chapel being here, let's just say the chapel being here, to what end? We need to be informed about this. Your life is not see, when you come to this place, it's not one of those, you know, that's where I go.

23:40 I really like it. I really like it. No, this is family. It's not building, it's not Westlake Bible Fellowship, it's a window jam, trim. They could take this and make it an office.

23:58 I mean, they can do that. What makes West Lake Bible Fellowship what it is? You. People. It's you.

24:11 And don't look at them, yeah, well, it's over him, and it's him, and it's them, and it's that. It's you. And we need to be informed about that. And so I think when we talk about being informed, I think we're grossly uninformed about this. And also another one too is we're uninformed on how great and how faithful God is.

24:47 He's really not doing this for me. I'm really upset. I'm thinking to myself, man, how faithful is God to us even when we have not been faithful to Him and we have actually blamed Him? Think how faithful God is that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for you. Think about that.

25:14 He sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for you. How faithful is that? And he ever intercedes, he always is pleading to the father on your behalf. He makes intercession without ceasing. The Holy Spirit's doing the same thing.

25:35 I mean, that's incredible. That is unbelievable. You know, like with this house hunting and all this kind of stuff, we're getting frustrated because we're under a time constraint. We've got numbers constraint, and we need to get so much for our property so we can buy enough. You know?

25:50 All this kind of junk. You know? All this kind of stuff. And we go roadblock after roadblock. This is a nice house.

25:55 Really like... Oh, you can't do it, and it's sold out from underneath us. You know? We're going, what's going on? What's going on?

26:02 And what we're really doing is we're trying to control the process. That's what we're really trying to do. And God, like a great parent, is not allowing us to do some stupid stuff. I say to the Lord, I want you to have control. I want you to do it, but I'm trying to wrestle it back from him.

26:24 And so Lord blocks here, blocks there, blocks this, blocks that, blocks this, blocks that, and goes, here it is. It's going to be perfect for you. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the father of lights, with whom is no variableness, no changing. He spoke the world into existence. You think he can take care of you?

26:50 Absolutely. But yet, we're uninformed about this. We're really uninformed. And I look at this, and not only we must be informed, but also, how's this one? We must be resolute.

27:07 Resolute. There's a word for you. Resolution. I am resolute. David put it this way, my heart is fixed, oh God.

27:16 Daniel... It was said of Daniel in Daniel one eight that he purposed in his heart. He has fixed conviction. I am convinced. I am resolute that what the Bible says is correct.

27:36 I want to hold to this. It's the only thing that is the only thing that'll make a difference. The only thing. And I want I want him... I want to be resolute in him controlling my life.

27:51 How about you? Ephesians five eighteen. Ephesians five eighteen. Be not drunk with wine, which is excess, but be filled with the spirit. Literally means to be controlled by the spirit.

28:08 Who's controlling you? Who is controlling you? Ourself or the savior? Who's controlling us? And we could say Satan too.

28:23 I mean, you know, I mean, there's a lot of people out there who are just absolutely evil. Oh, no. People cannot be evil. Well, you're uninformed regarding this, not only in terms of your experience, but also in what the word of God has to say. Man is evil.

28:38 Look at the world. People go, that gunman, why did he do it? Duh. He's evil. Oh, he can't be evil.

28:48 It has to be a genetic thing. His parents had to be mean to him when he was a kid. Maybe that's true. Maybe they... Maybe it is genetic, and maybe it is, but it's still sinful behavior.

29:01 And the world lieth in wickedness, the Bible says. That's the world. If we don't understand that, boy, you must not be in the security's employ or something. You must not be in that branch security. I mean, you know, you got one of your favorite sons.

29:21 What does he do? He goes and puts bombs on f sixteens, puts bombs on f sixteens, and he goes to Afghanistan, your grandson, you know. He does all this kind of stuff, and he comes back and was deployed to another place. Why? Because people are evil.

29:38 I have a friend of mine who's a b two bomber pilot. He's not doing it because it's cool. He's doing it because he wants to protect The United States from evil people. This is not hard to understand if we look at it the way it really is. And so we need to be resolute, and we need to be resolute in our conviction and in the control of the spirit of God.

30:04 We really need to have this because it is so important for us. It is so important for us to do this. This is what I'm learning on my summer vacation. How uninformed we are and how we can be non resolute. But I gotta tell you something.

30:30 If you're saying you're not resolute about God, you're resolute about yourself. You trust in yourself. And trusting yourself, big mistake. It's a big mistake. Trust yourself, it'll last not very long.

30:52 And you get really tired of it real fast. And you realize how empty life is. It really is. Life is very empty without Jesus. And I also want to be resolute in love.

31:29 Because you love people. And that's the spirit of God in the Christian loving people. That's it. And it's fun. It's fun.

31:42 It is. It's fun. But I think of that one guy in the... That one Russian dissident was sent to the gulag. He took a big fever.

31:58 He got real sick, and he goes to the infirmary, if you want to call it that, in this Russian gulag. And the ministering to him dared to witness to him and led him to Christ. And when Andre and Alexander Solzhenitsyn woke up the next morning, that guy was gone, never to be seen again at great cost. So Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and some of you know who I'm talking about, became a Christian because of that guy. It's incredible at great cost.

32:45 If this was going to cost us a lot to tell boys and girls about Christ, would we still do it? Resolute in our love. The love of God constrains me. The love of Christ constrains me. I do this.

33:02 I I can't help but do this at even some great cost to me personally in whatever way. And then the Christian must not only be informed and resolute but be obedient, not to get to heaven, but because we are going to heaven. Obedient. In fact, that's exactly what Samuel told Saul. Right?

33:34 Saul Saul thought he was really going to be smart. And he's going to do he's going to do for God what God never told him to do. God told him to wipe out everybody, wipe out all the sheep, wipe out all wipe out all this stuff, and God told him. And Saul thought, well, you know, wait a second. Let's think this one through.

34:00 We could take these sheep and these oxen that will save them and will make great sacrifices. This will be fantastic. This is incredible. I'm smart. I'm incredible.

34:10 This is great. Right? And Samuel, the prophet comes and says, what's... I hear this bleating. I guess that's what...

34:17 Not bleeding, bleating. The bleating of sheep. I hear this. And now what about the bleating of sheep? Why?

34:30 Hey. We're going to offer these up to God. God will be pleased with the sacrifice. It's incredible. And what was Samuel...

34:38 Actually, what was God's response to that? Samuel said, hath the Lord... This is second Samuel 15 verse twenty two and twenty three. Hath the Lord great and delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken to the fat of rams.

35:06 Hearken... When you hear the word hear in the Greek and in the Hebrew, it has a pre built into the word the idea of not only hearing it auditorily, but also with the predisposition to obey it. Hear, O Israel. Right? He that has an ear, let him hear.

35:30 It's not only hearing it, but it's with the predisposition to obey it. And that's exactly what Samuel means when he says he says, because thou hast... Okay. You know, it's it's... To hearken to the lord is better than the fat of rams.

35:48 You know, the smoke that you can put on a fire and offer that to god and say, this is incredible sacrifice. To obey is better than that. To obey is better than, in fact, isn't isn't that what Paul says in first Corinthians 13? Though I give my body to be burnt, though I can remove all mountains. And so I go and I look at at...

36:22 I'd be on CNN. I'd be on Fox. I... O'Reilly would have to say, pretty cool. You know, you'd have to say, well, this guy's incredible.

36:34 This guy's unbelievable. And have not love. As AT Robertson, the great American theologian, Greek scholar translated this, he said, I am zero. I can do all these things and have not love, I'm zero. Get my body to be burned and have not love, I am nothing, zero.

37:05 How's that for a benchmark? How's that when we compare our service to him, our love for him? How's that for us? If I don't have that love, I want to be resolute in my love for the Lord, and I want to be obedient to his word and to his will and to his work. And you think, well, that's not...

37:29 I mean, I I didn't obey this one time. Is that going to make a difference? Ask Eve. Ask Adam. Ask him.

37:43 One time. That's all it took. One time. Ask him. For by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin.

37:52 So death passed upon all men for all have sinned. Does God require obedience from us? Yes, He does. Loving obedience out of an informed heart of who He is, no questions about it. And will that make a difference in somebody else's life?

38:09 You bet you it will. Absolutely it will. Obedience is better than giving everything else over, giving all your assets everything. Everybody applauds you. Everybody goes, that's fantastic.

38:28 That guy is really, oh wow. They must be fantastic. They're something else. And have not love? I'm zero.

38:37 I'm nothing. Because the one who is controlling the universe and who spoke the worlds into existence doesn't need our junk. He wants our fellowship. He wants our relationship with him. That's why he sent his son.

38:59 That's what Karen asked me last night. Why? What's the purpose of Jesus dying for us? I mean, why did God even make us? It's a good question.

39:09 I told her so. I said, Karen, that's a good question. The reason why he's done that is so we can have fellowship with him, that we can be with him. I don't understand why he loves us so much. I just know he does, and he cares about us so much that he sent his son to die for me.

39:26 There's nothing better than this. I mean, think about it. There's nothing better than this. And it's just a matter of time. I guess the older you get, right Will?

39:46 The older you get. Isn't that right, bro? You're not doing things you used to do. Right, Don? Yeah?

40:00 And you young folks, at that gray hair, and look at their sagging, and look at this, that's just unbelievable. And they're forgetting things. Poor people. The geezers are really going. They're going fast.

40:20 They're really going, hey, you're approaching geezerhood. I don't care if you only are 20, you're going to just multiply that three times and you're 60, and you're going, oh my. And I guarantee this, I guarantee this, you'll be going, I guarantee this, you'll be gone when you're 64, right, bro? Crew of fifty two. That's it.

40:46 Born in '52. Right? You'll be going, boy, is it gone fast? Is that right? Like a vapor.

40:59 I guarantee it. I was telling my newly married brother with his beautiful bride, June, right? June what? '18. '18?

41:10 Okay. You haven't forgotten that yet, bro. That's good. Yeah. Okay.

41:15 June 18. I was married on 10/06/1973. Does that, for you historians, all ring a bell? 10/06/1973, that's when Egypt attacked Israel in the Yom Kippur War. That's the day I got married.

41:35 Do you, Chris Schroeder, take Barb Gruber to take you, you know, and... I mean, that's what was happening in The Middle East while we were taking our vows. Eighth anniversary, Anwar Sadat gets assassinated. The former... The late president now of Egypt gets assassinated.

41:53 Our eighth anniversary, and I looked at Barbara and I said, something's weird here. Something's weird. But that'll be forty three years in October, and it's gone by so fast, I cannot believe it. So you might as well yield to Him and let Him control your life. Might as well do that.

42:26 Because you may be beautiful now, but give it some time. I guarantee it. I got our wedding pictures. Barb, we should have taken the wedding pictures and put them in the drawer because there's an open house on, right? Dan Duvall, you remember Dan?

42:43 Dan Duvall? He's a military guy, and he's really blunt. And I showed him our wedding pictures. This is so sickening. That's not you.

42:55 That is not you or Barb. I'm going, yeah, it is. No way. Way. And I'm resembling that remark.

43:06 Yeah. It it was us. It was... That was us. And we were so...

43:26 But you know what? And we've talked about this before. The Christian needs to be passionate. If I can get passionate about, and the Cleveland fans do, 1,500,000 people go down there, they couldn't even bring the calves in. So many people, they didn't think about how are we going to get the Cavaliers?

43:49 Are just going to show up? What? How did they get in? Don't know, they helicopter them or what? They do big screen interviews from the studio?

43:58 I don't know how they did that. But people were on the sidewalks, they were in the street, it was a nightmare, I heard, when they had that big parade for the NBA champions. And that was just from the NBA champions. Wait till the tribe wins the World Series this year. Or the Browns take the Super Bowl.

44:21 That was a miracle too. Okay, sorry about that, but we can be passionate about the NFL. I told you, listen, my buddy John, he's a season ticket holder, and I'm just going to confess to you right now. Sometimes when I come here to preach, I will go to a game afterwards. I know.

44:47 I I say to John, he gives me the ticket, which is like $85 for just one ticket, and he's a season ticket holder. I go out there, Barb drops me off, and I'm taking off the tie, taking off this, you know, and I come walking in, and I can feel the vibration on the outside sidewalk. And then I walk in and these guys got footballs on their heads, orange and brown. Footballs on their heads, dog masks, and biscuits, and they're doing all this kind of stuff. And I'm going, and they call me a Jesus freak?

45:29 I'm a Jesus freak? Are you kidding me? My Jesus doesn't make freaks out of people, He makes people out of freaks. I walk in these lawyers and all the other, they're crazy, going crazy even when they lose. If I can be passionate, if people can be passionate about that, I can be passionate about the one who saved me from my sin, who gave me a home in heaven.

46:02 I can be passionate about that. In fact, that's the only thing I really want to be passionate about, because everything else is empty. Everything else is empty. Did I ever tell you that I had a ticket to the nineteen sixty four NFL championship game, the Cleveland Browns versus the Baltimore Cults? Did I ever tell you I had that ticket?

46:32 No. Yeah, never told you? I had a ticket to the Cleveland Browns game, and I couldn't make it. My buddy didn't even call... Was seventh grade.

46:42 My buddy didn't even call me. He and his father went, they could have taken me. The car was big enough. I actually had a ticket and couldn't get down there. The last time, fifty two years ago, that the Browns won anything, and I had a ticket to it.

47:01 Drats. And I think to myself, that's empty. Who in the world cares? Who in the world cares? You know what they're going say about the calves?

47:13 They're to do it again. We've got to be passionate for truth. We have to be passionate for the truth. I look at this book, and I want to be passionate about this book. I want to be passionate about that.

47:31 Is there anything to be passionate about? It's this: What lights your fire? What lights your fire? This ought to light your fire. Because it's the only thing that lasts.

47:47 It's the only thing for truth. And then also passionate for the lost. And we see this. This is cool. This is cool.

47:58 I really like it. Passionate for the lost. You've got all these tempera stuff. Tough to work with, this paint. We know.

48:08 But you're doing it, you're putting it on, you've got storyboards for this, and all the junk you need for this kind of stuff, because you want to see boys and girls come to Christ, and their moms and dads too. Listen, I really do not believe for one second that you're doing a VBS just to get people to come to this place. That's not why you're doing this. You're doing it that they would go to a better place, and that's heaven, by introducing them to Jesus Christ. I can get passionate about that, and I hope you can too.

48:53 So how do you keep it going? How do we keep this thing going? How do you keep your we need to be informed. We need to be obedient. We need to be passionate.

49:08 We need to have this. We need to have that love that God wants. We need to be resolute. We need to be men and women of conviction, not convenience. I don't go to a place like this.

49:23 In fact, we wish we had a building like this, but I don't go to a place like this because it's convenient. It's because the word of God says so. By conviction, not by convenience. Not because they got a great Awana program, which you do. And it's not because you got a great nursery, and I'm sure you do.

50:33 And I just ask you, Lord, that we would focus on your love, your faithfulness, and rejoice in that. Rejoice not that the demons are subject unto you, but rejoice that your names are written in the book of life. We thank you. Bless this endeavor of VBS. Bless our time that you have given to us here on earth as we yield ourselves to you.

51:05 We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.