Luke — Luke 12

0:03 So, just wanted to say that I'm real excited to be here today have with the opportunity to present this message to you. My feet hit the floor about 05:06 this morning. Did my normal things, take the dog out for a walk, make some coffee before I sat down to review my notes. By about 07:00 this morning, was really excited to come up here to present this to you. What I'd like to do is I'd like to start with a little bit of a remembrance of nineeleven.

0:36 Now, it's interesting, we all know where we were when specific things happened in our lives, right? So, the earliest the earliest monumental period in my life where I remember something as it happened was the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior. That was the first thing that I can remember. Now, it's spotty how I remember that, but then Bobby Kennedy was was shot just a few months after that, and by the way, I was only five years old, but I remember that entire day. I remember I remember...

1:10 I'm emotional today for some reason too, so forgive me. I remember watching my mom weep as a result. I I was barely a couple months old when John F. Kennedy was shot, but there are some of you here that that experienced that and you can remember where you were. So, the question I have, do you remember where you were on nine eleven of of of two thousand and one?

1:34 And most of us will. I'm gonna share a story with you that I've only shared a handful of times and it happened one month to the day after 09/11. So at that point in time, you know, I was... I worked for what's happened to be the largest company in the world and I was in New York City quite a bit. And I was invited by the company that was actually doing the dismantling of all of the buildings in New York City, I was invited to do a tour.

2:05 I I can't really call it a tour because I had full access to go wherever I wanted to go and the funny thing is is the shoes that I'm wearing today were actually the shoes that I were wearing that... I was wearing that day as well. And I got as close to the tower as I was allowed to get without putting a respirator on. So if I would have went any closer, they they offered it to me. They said, you have full access.

2:31 Go do... Go where you wanna go. And I just I just sat there and there was still... In that pit, there were still flames. But the smell of death that existed, I will never ever ever forget.

2:51 It was a unique odor, but it was an experience, it's an experience that I will never forget. And my goal here is, when I get to the end, to bring the story back and use it as a little bit of a a little bit of a lesson for us. Growing up, my dad worked at Ford Motor Company. He worked at the Lorraine assembly plant. At the Lorraine assembly plant, they made cougars and T Birds.

3:26 Now, for those of you that are my age, I always wondered why they changed, these are supposed to be two sports cars and they became family sedans. But at Ford Motor Company, my dad's job was to put in the windshield. So, his responsibility working on the line was to install the windshields on these two vehicles as they came across. Now, if he did not do his job, if he didn't do what he was responsible for, none of these vehicles that came out during his eight hour shift would have windshields. Alright?

4:07 So Ford could choose to do one or two things. Put the windshields in at the end or sell them without windshields. But the fact of the matter is, it was his responsibility. That's what he was responsible for. He received a paycheck at the end of each week because he took he took on the responsibility to put in the windshield.

4:41 We ask you to bless this time learning from your word. We ask you to bless everybody's everybody here lord that you will allow them to take home a piece of this message that's going to suit them, and I just pray that you use me as the instrument of this today. So just bless our time together. We pray in Jesus' name. So, here's what I do.

5:13 Who wants to share? What are you responsible for? Yeah. You're responsible for yourself. That's right.

5:18 You're not responsible for your sister, are you? You you can't be. What else are we responsible for? If I don't make dinner, it doesn't get me. You're responsible to make dinner in order to eat.

5:29 Alright? What else? You're responsible to go to work. Alright. Your job.

5:37 You're responsible to go to work. Alright. The next question is, what are we responsible for here at Westlake Bible Fellowship? What is our responsibility? We are all here gathered together.

5:48 Most of us meet weekly and we're here but we, what are we here for? What is our responsibility? Yes. To worship the lord. To worship the lord.

5:57 Absolutely. What else? To love one another. Edify each other. Edify each other.

6:07 Feed my Feed my sheep and reach the lost. Create disciples. Create disciples. You guys are a lot better at this than what you're personally responsible for. But but I get it.

6:21 A lot of that has to do with personal responsibility too, right? What's it's what's that? It's Sunday? So, this is the the Sunday school answers. Anybody else have another one to offer?

6:31 Pray for one another. Pray for one another. Yes. Being here. For being here, for showing up, right?

6:39 Anybody else? Yes. Do god's word. To do god's work or do do god's word. What did you say?

6:45 Do god's work. Absolutely. Setting Setting an example. Alright. I love all of these.

6:52 Alright. Now, here's here's the here's the what I think is the most difficult question. There's two people here that could probably answer it better than I can answer it but still for them it's the most difficult question. And that question is, what are the elders responsible for? What what are the elders responsible for?

7:10 Take better speakers. Absolutely. Absolutely. Was wondering which two people. Yes.

7:34 And ministry of the word. Okay. What else? Yes. Absolutely.

7:48 Protect the flock. Alright. Those are all great great answers. Now, now what I want you to do is I want you to take a look at those three questions that I asked and let us look through the lens. Right?

8:05 I've got this nice little picture of a lens over here that's focused on the sunrise or the sunset. I don't know which direction it's going. It's actually going north. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required. So, if we take a look at that, that little bit of that verse in Luke 12 verse 48, just a small section of that.

8:30 Those one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 words means a whole lot. So, if we take a look at those questions, what am I responsible for? What are we, Westlake Bible Fellowship responsible for? What are the elders responsible for? And we look through this lens from everyone who has been given much, much will be required.

8:54 That puts a whole new focus on what we're responsible for. At least to me it does. To me, it puts a whole new focus on my responsibility because I feel that I have been given much. I feel that I have been giving given enormously much. My cup runneth over.

9:20 So, that means that I am required to do much. So that kind of puts me on my heels. Right? If if there was hair on the back of my neck, I'd be standing up right now. Right?

9:33 It's got... I just got that feeling running through me. What what what am I responsible for? What am I doing to prepare myself for that responsibility that I have and am I doing what god is calling me to do with the gifts that he has given me? So, just from those verses, let's let's take a look at this.

10:00 The more we have been given, the more accountable we are. The more we have been given, the more accountable we are. Nobody likes that word accountable but that word accountable, accountability exists. We are accountable for everything that we have been given. We are accountable for what we do with everything that we have been given.

10:40 What is your spiritual gift? You know what? You you will be held accountable for not using your spiritual gift. You will be held accountable if you can't identify what your spiritual gift is and therefore, you move on in life and don't use it. Alright?

10:58 There will be accountability there. We also have our skills, our talent, our time, our treasure, our interests, our desires. I put all of these on there. We could probably do a lot more than that. So, whenever we talk about, you know, what have we been given, a lot of us or a lot of people actually run right to money, right toward financially, right?

11:20 So I've been given... So that falls under treasures here. Notice I put that closer to the bottom, but treasures. So let's... So what I wanted to do is I wanted to take a moment and take a look at the affluence of the world.

11:35 Okay? So what I did is I I I used the Google. Alright? I'm not very technical, but I can still use the Google. And I used the Google and I I asked Google, what is the average income around the world?

11:47 Average income around the world. Alright. The average income around the world is $14.80 dollars a month. That's the average income around the world. Now if we take a look at the way that these countries are listed, Monaco is the highest from an affluent standpoint.

12:07 Their average income there is over $15,000 a month. That's average income in Monaco. Afghanistan is the lowest, $42 a month. Where do you think The US would be? What's that?

12:23 Middle of the pack. Rod, did you say something? Alright. The United States is number seven. So we're not in the middle of the pack.

12:32 We're way at the top. $5,869. Alright. So just from a treasure standpoint, just from a monetary standpoint, we have a lot more wealth than the rest of the world does and this... The the fact that we're here isn't by accident, is it?

12:51 Right? We were we were created to be where we are right now and the lord has put us there. So, we have, you know, this is from taking a look at that that small piece, that treasure piece. We are financially secure enough in this country where we should be using those assets to go out and do what god is calling you to do with the money, right? I'm not here to raise money for the church.

13:14 I'm not here to raise money for anything but I'm saying that this is a decision between you and the Lord, where do you spend that money? Where does that money go? Right? And we can take a look at your checkbooks. Right?

13:26 Give me your checkbook, George. No, I'm teasing. You know, we we could take a look at the checkbook and see where your heart is based on where the money is going. Right? If we look through that, know, let's say that you have a mortgage that's $1,400 a month and you give a mission $200 a month.

13:49 Right? It says something. I don't know what it says. I really don't because that mission missionary may be in Afghanistan where it's only $42 a year to live. But it gives us an idea of where our heart is.

14:22 That little snippet of that verse in this entire Bible, that little snippet of this verse, we are demanding by god to do with our gifts the most, the best that we possibly can. We are demanded by god to do that and take a look at this one. There is not a single thing in our life that escapes this principle. There's not. Alright?

14:52 So I I look at Christian. Christian's shaking his head. Christian's got this great coif of hair. Right? The Lord gave him that hair.

15:00 He kept me bald because my cranium is perfect, I guess, and as a result, we get to expose it. But I would love to have hair like that. Alright? But, you know, no no joking aside, what does first Corinthians four seven tells us? Go here.

15:27 First Corinthians four seven says, for who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn't receive? What do you have that you didn't receive? In fact, you did receive it. Why do you boast as if you haven't received it?

15:44 Alright. So, really what this verse does is it makes us take a look at the fact that, what did you have that you didn't receive? But the first statement was, for what makes you superior? Right? What makes Bob Markovich superior?

15:59 Absolutely nothing. Why am I not superior? Because the only thing that I have is what was given to me. Now the question is, it's my responsibility to take what was given to me and use it for His service in order to glorify God. So everything that we have is a gift of God and we're responsible, we are responsible for everything that we do with the gifts that he gives us.

16:53 Luke twelve thirty five, be ready for service. Alright? So the Lord Jesus is telling us be ready for service. So this boom, highlight, Be ready for service. Make sure that you're dressed.

17:05 Make sure make sure that you're sober. Make sure that you're ready. Make sure that you're energized. Make sure that you're fueled. Make sure that you're hydrated.

17:12 Make sure that you have enough sleep. Be ready for service. What's that? Amen. Alright.

17:18 I got an amen there. And have your lamps lit. And have your lamps lit. Why would we have our lamps lit? Just in case he comes in the middle of the night.

17:30 Right? Did you ever... You ever gone for a walk in the dark? You stumble your way more than you walk. Right?

17:41 You stumble your way and you don't know what is around you. You don't know what is around you. Has anybody ever been backpacking and you're backpacking while it's dark to get to your camp? When you're backpacking, you're surrounded by woods in most cases unless you're above the tree line. You don't even know what's going on in the woods around you.

18:04 Right? If you have no light, but if you have a lamp, you at least can feel a little bit more cautious because you have an idea of what's going on around you. Right? So, be ready and have your lamps lit. You are to be like people waiting for the master to return from the wedding banquet so when he comes and knocks, they can open the door at once for him.

18:28 Blessed or happy will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready. Have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. So the master is coming to serve them. If he comes in the middle of the night, write the lamp, even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed or happy are those servants.

18:50 But know this, if the homeowner had known at the hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. So, we have a little bit of break here. So, we're doing a compare and contrast type thing. If we knew when it was gonna happen, we'd be prepared. Most people that have normal thought processes are going to be prepared if they know when the thief is coming.

19:10 Right? If you know when the thief is coming, you're going to be prepared. You also, by the same way, you also be ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. So, we don't know and we've had a lot of teaching on that. Nobody knows except the Father when the Second Coming is going to be.

19:26 And then, my favorite Bible character, taking Christ out of it, Peter. Peter says, Lord, Peter asked, are you telling this parable to every... To us or everyone? Right? So so Peter wants to make sure that everybody understands what's being said.

19:41 He's asking for clarity. He's trying to trying, you know, asking a question, but the way... How does the Lord answer the question? Pretty much pretty much, I'm sure listens and then continues with the same type of a thought here. He says, who then is faithful and sensible manager?

20:17 I haven't seen the movies yet. But so, in Downton Abbey, there's a there's a gentleman, and that's the real stretch of the word that he was a gentleman. There was a gentleman named... I was right on the tip of my tongue. Carson.

20:33 There was there was a man named Carson. Carson was the steward over this entire house. Alright? Over the entire house. He was responsible for what they were going to eat, what type of wine they were going to drink with supper, when supper was going to occur.

20:52 He was in charge of the butlers. He was in charge of the footmen. Alright? Everything that he did was a steward because he owned absolutely nothing. But he was a steward.

21:05 And so that's what we're told here, Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time. Blessed is the servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. So again, taking care of what has been given to him to do and he is going to be happy when the master comes and seeing that he's doing the work. Truly I tell you, he will be he will be put in charge of all his possessions. So now all of a sudden, we see that this person will be raised up and given even more to do.

21:43 Right? We see that with with Joseph. How much he was given the entire kingdom to be to be the steward over. So, the more the lord finds us doing the work that he's called us to do in the fashion that he's asked us to ask us to do, the more we will be given. But, if that servant says in his heart, my master is dealing...

22:05 Is is delaying his coming. Right? Taking their focus off the Lord, my master is delaying his coming and starts to beat the male and female servants and eat and drink and get drunk. Alright? Taking his eye off of the lord.

22:25 That servant's master will come on a day he does not expect it like a thief in a night And at an hour he does not know, probably no lamps lit. And listen to this, he will cut him into many pieces. Now, if that doesn't make you stand up and and open your mouth and go, oop, Nothing will. So here's a servant that wasn't doing the work that was required of him. Here's a servant that actually took his focus totally off of the lord and he is going out and doing things without the proper motivation, with the wrong motivation, with the wrong focus, with the wrong heart, with the wrong effort, with the wrong energy.

23:08 He'll be cut into a million pieces. Now, this is interesting because Doug Torok has talked about these words. So he's be cutting a million pieces and assign him a place with with unfaith... With the unfaithful. So, cut in a million pieces and then be put with the unfaithful.

23:26 So maybe that that cut in a million pieces more separated. Right? More separated. I don't know the Greek here, maybe John can let us know, but he's not here, maybe he's on Zoom. Alright?

23:40 And and that servant who knew his master's will, get this, that servant who knew the master's will, so they... This servant was aware of what he was supposed to do, and did not prepare himself. Did not prepare himself. That I think this word preparation is extremely important. We we need to be prepared.

24:01 We need to be prepared. Right? We could have a gift. Right? So, I'm I'm looking at a couple people out here that I know that have the gift of evangelism.

24:09 Alright? It's a gift of evangelism. It comes easy to them. But they have to continuously be prepared for those situations where that gift is going to come into play. They cannot rest on their laurels.

24:21 They cannot sit back. And that's for every gift that everybody has in here. You need to prepare yourself. You have the gift but you can take that gift and you can raise it to a new level by by proper preparation. Alright?

24:38 And that servant who knew his master's will and didn't prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten. But the one who did not know... Check this now. So you wanna ignore all of this? You wanna ignore what your spiritual gift is?

24:52 You wanna ignore what God is calling you to do? That's fine. I'm not responsible for you. You're responsible... Like like Jenna said, you're responsible for yourself.

25:00 But the one who did not know and did what and did did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. So even if you didn't know what you were supposed to be doing, you're still gonna get beaten. It's gonna be a light beating. I don't know what a light beating is. I don't know, Lyndy, I used to give you a light beating.

25:20 Remember? I never I never used the full force of of my my hand when... I don't even know if I spanked you. Did I ever spank you? Okay.

25:28 So those were light beatings. Alright? From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected. Alright? So when we take a look at when we take a look at the rest of the verses, these are the observations.

26:00 Observation number one, be prepared for His coming. That's the Lord's coming. Faithfully obeying His commands, being watchful and ready for His return. And then I've got, where is your heart? Because that's where our heart should be.

26:16 Waiting for His return. So where is your heart? Now, the second observation, observation two. Be a faithful and and sensible steward. Faithful and sensible.

26:27 Number three. Don't give in to the lust of the flesh. Don't give... Man, it's a lot easier for me to say it than do it. But that's...

26:38 We're called not to give in to the lust of the flesh. Right? When put all of these together, that helps us to be more prepared, more prepared for... I have no idea what's going on here. Denzel, what did I do wrong?

26:54 I was trying to use your... So, now we go back to this. What are you responsible for? After we took a lot... Look at all those verses and we're told time and time again, be prepared, know what your gifts are, you're supposed to do, be be willing to do what God has called you to do.

27:14 The first question is, what are you responsible for? So, I want you to do is I want you to look at your neighbor and tell them what you're responsible for. Let me say it again. I want you to look at your neighbor and I want you to tell them what you're responsible for. Yeah.

27:38 Don't... And and and and be loving and kind and don't be critical of what they say. As I look at the Markovich family. Question number two, what are we responsible for at Westlake Bible Fellowship? Turn to your neighbor and tell them, what are we responsible for here at Westlake Bible Fellowship?

28:12 Now this is the easy one. Everybody scream out loud what the elders are responsible for. No. Look to the person to your... Look to your person next to you and tell them what the elders are responsible for.

28:42 So the Browns play today. Alright. So who is... Who do you think is the best head coach of all time in NFL in football? Bill Belichick.

28:55 Right. Bill Belichick. I don't I don't have a good Vince Lombardi so I'm going say Bill Belichick because I actually think that Bill Belichick is the greatest head coach of all time. Alright? So I've got a client, I've got a client that actually played for Bill Belichick.

29:09 He was an offensive lineman. Alright? And he and I were talking the other day and the the the conversation got to football. That wasn't the intent of it, but it got to football. And we started talking about about the the New England Patriots and how the New England Patriots do different than...

29:27 Are different than other teams. And so this young man mentioned to me that in the course of practice one day, he... I'm not even gonna tell you what position on the line he played. I don't wanna give his name away. And he made a a call.

29:41 So offensive linemen make calls. Right? Just to help them understand who they're supposed to guard. And so, this young man made a call and Bill Belichick blew his whistle. And he came up to him and he said, what's your responsibility on this play?

29:57 And the young man knew what his responsibility was. Then he pointed to Tom Brady and he said to him, what's Tom Brady's responsibility? Again, remember this word, responsibility, on this play? And knowing Bill Belichick enough, he gave an answer, but the answer wasn't the best answer. Alright?

30:20 Bill Belichick said, you need to watch this game through the eyes of your quarterback. Because if you know what the quarterback's responsible for, you know what you're responsible for. He said, why would you block this man? He needs to be in coverage. There's no way that that person is going to rush.

30:40 If they blitz him, we've got two guys here that are going be wide open. This is why New England has won so many Super Bowls. It's not it's it's not Tom Brady. I think Tom Brady is the best quarterback ever either. It's Bill Belichick because this is what he drives into the people on his team.

30:58 You need to look at the game through the eyes of the quarterback. Alright Bob, what does that mean here? We're a team. Alright? We're individuals.

31:08 Alright? But we're together here at Westlake Bible Fellowship, we're a team. And I'm gonna use this analogy, the elders are quarterbacks. Okay? They are part of the team.

31:24 They aren't any higher on a hierarchy. Yet, I would submit that we need to see through the eyes of the elders. Just like he needed to see through the eyes of Tom Brady. Because if we want to be the best version of Westlake Bible Fellowship that we possibly could be, We all need to come together as a body and as a team to be who we are created to be. Now here's the interesting thing.

31:58 Next week, Ray is gonna open up the book of Ephesians to us. And as I was preparing for this message, I realized that all of these answers are going to be presented to us, or I should say several of the answers to these questions. Several of the answers to these questions are going to be presented to us over the next several weeks as we go through the book of Ephesians. So I'm going to ask you I'm gonna ask you to be a great team player and be present when these messages are being delivered. When I say present, that just doesn't mean, you know, that you're sitting down and you're here.

32:44 Being present means that you're actually engaged. Alright? You're all of these outside forces that jump into your mind like, I wonder if Wendy's is gonna be open when I leave for lunch today. We've got to get rid of it because is that... I'm sorry, but that's just like beating the male and female servants and getting drunk.

33:04 Alright? You've got to be present. And if we work together as a body, as a team, it's going to benefit each and every one of us. So, all of this information, all of the answers or several of the answers to these three questions has in it is going to be presented when we go through the book of Ephesians. So, my my call out to you is that you will purpose in your heart to be present.

33:44 That you will purpose in your heart to identify what your calling is. To be purposed in your heart to identify what your gifts are. And then the most difficult thing, the most difficult thing is to prepare yourself. Is to prepare yourself. So in the first meeting this morning, Todd was up here and, in my opinion, gave a brilliant talk about the cross.

34:12 Alright? The cross. And as he was talking about that, my mind shifted. I was present, but my mind shifted to to what I wanted to present today. And you know what?

34:26 Our gifts are the cross that we're supposed to carry. Just because you're gifted doesn't mean it's easy. You may be the most gifted speaker there is, but you can always get better. Last week, Nancy and I and Maddie were were down in Florida. I was getting some training.

34:53 And for half a day, half a day I was in there on public speaking, getting trained, taking more additional training from a public speaking standpoint. Because I know that I need to get better. Alright? Roddy Gelbreath was the guy, the name of the guy that I sat with or that we we were with that went through it. And for the...

35:16 You know, John Maxwell was there as well. And John Maxwell... I don't know if you guys are familiar with John Maxwell or not. But John Maxwell was a pastor before he started this leadership organization. And he said that he would prepare ten hours each week for the message that he was going to present on Sunday.

35:33 He said, I could just mail it in. He goes, I'm that good, he said. I could just mail it in. I can create an outline the night before and give a great message, but it's not the best. It's not the best message.

35:47 Alright? It's not the best message. So I need to prepare John Maxwell, who knows the Bible inside and out. Right? Has a commentary.

35:55 Has a Bible... Written a Bible commentary. 10. Alright? So preparation is part of it.

36:02 So we need to understand what our gifts are. We need to understand what what our responsibility is. We need to understand what the body's responsibility is. We need to understand what the elders' responsibilities are so that we can work as a team and see the church through the eyes of the elders. Alright?

36:19 And, they would probably say, look at it through the eyes of the Lord, which is probably even a better way to look at it. Alright? But we need to be prepared for what we are are given. Now, me jump a couple of slides here. So I'm gonna stop with this one real quick.

36:34 I only had twenty five minutes, so I'm gonna go just a little bit over if that's okay. So, you may or may not be aware of this guy. His name is Neville Chamberlain. Neville Chamberlain was the prime minister of England after World War One. Neville Chamberlain had every ability that he needed to be a great leader, yet he went to Adolf Hitler and he wasn't prepared.

36:54 And he came back with a piece of paper and he said, there will be peace in our day. The next day, Germans invaded Poland. Alright? Because he wasn't prepared. He had all the skills necessary to be prime minister of England, but he wasn't prepared.

37:08 No. Poland. Then you have this guy. Alright? Winston Churchill.

37:15 Winston Churchill, again, every... Almost every aspect of leadership he had, very knowledgeable, very wise, great communicator. What did he say? Never, never, never, never give up. So, he he was able to take those gifts that he had.

37:39 Right? Gifts and skills. I'm not saying that they're a spiritual gift. I have no idea where he was spiritually. But, he was able to take this little island nation and motivate them enough to go out and beat Adolf Hitler.

37:54 Alright. So, if I had time left, were gonna go through a little bit of a story about Paul here, but I don't have time. So, here's a statement. Here here's an observation that I want to make from what I just said. God equips us to do the things we're supposed to do.

38:13 Alright? And along with that, whatever situation that we're in, God has equipped us to be in that situation. Have the courage about that. Whatever situation you're in, God has equipped you to be in that situation. Now, the story that I mentioned at the beginning, I've I've only told to a handful of people.

38:31 Alright? Or, I've only told a handful of time. I did actually told it to a group... A large group of people about a month after it happened. But, I mean, as I was thinking today, why why would the Lord give me the opportunity to be there?

38:46 And I actually started thinking in this process... In in this alignment, what what should I be doing with it? And maybe it was just to give an introduction for today, I don't know. But I want to make sure that I am prepared because God has equipped me to do what I'm supposed to do. And this this set me on my head when I heard it this week.

39:09 God's gift to us is our potential. And what we do with our potential is our gift to God. This isn't light work. Anything worth doing is worth giving 100% of the effort. Everything worth doing is uphill.

39:42 We can't mail things in. We can't mail things in. We need to be prepared. We need to have our lamps lit. We need to be ready for the savior when he comes, and we need to be ready today to do what he has called us to do.

40:02 And it's not easy. It's exhausting. Take a look. If you if you've identified that you have a certain gift or certain skill and you're good at it, imagine how much more you will be glorifying God if you become better at it. And it's just a little change every day.

40:26 This is something that without the power of the Holy Spirit, we're not gonna change overnight. And I think even with the power of the Holy Spirit, we're not gonna change overnight because we need to learn as we go through this process. But we need to begin setting our hearts and our minds on what God has called us to do and we need to exhaust ourself to do it so that we can give him the glory. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for this time together.

40:50 We just pray for the upcoming opportunities that we're going to have to fellowship with one another, eat some good food, and and play some games. Still don't see Timothy here. Pray that if he's coming that you bring him here when we need him and thank you for his desire to organize some of the games today. Pray in Jesus name. Amen.