1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Jesus said, "Follow me." Let's pray. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:59,980 Jesus said, "Follow me." Let's pray. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Amen. 4 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:15,000 Amen. 5 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:21,000 Amen. 6 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:57,980 Thank you. 7 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:27,980 Thank you. 8 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:35,000 Amen. 9 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Amen. 10 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:54,000 I think my mic's on. How about now? Good? All righty. Good morning. We are so glad to gather to worship this morning. Just a couple of quick announcements. 11 00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:20,000 If you might pick up a bulletin, they are right on the back table there. Inside is a short sermon outline, if you'd like to follow along, as well as communion elements, if you are a follower of Jesus and like to partake with us during communion, those are available there. As well as on the back table, there are some snacks and some coffee and some water, if you do so. 12 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:44,000 We're glad that you are here with us, and we aren't just glad to be here and to gather to worship. We are thankful that we have this opportunity, and we know on this weekend, if we remember those who have lost their lives in service of protecting and defending and obtaining freedom, that we are also so thankful for that. 13 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:52,000 So, we're going to begin with a word of prayer, and then we will move into our time of worship this morning. Let's go ahead and pray. 14 00:04:52,000 --> 00:05:08,000 This morning, we thank you for how you have brought us together. We thank you for how you have prayed for us, and we thank you so much for those who have chosen 15 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:21,000 to stand between enemies and between danger and between struggle, and we thank you for the freedom that we have to gather and worship and sing and pray. 16 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:29,000 So, may we not take that sacrifice for granted. We thank you for what you have done for us. We thank you for Jesus' sacrifice. 17 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:36,000 Be with us as we worship together this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 18 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:42,000 As we're gathering to worship, we are on our second week in the book of Obadiah. 19 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:52,000 And if you don't know where Obadiah is, you are not alone. It's 21 verses, 444 words in Hebrew. Very, very short. 20 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:58,000 Even if you've done the "Read your Bible in a year" plan, it's generally the part of reading something else. 21 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:11,000 And so it's easy. At the heart of the book of Obadiah is God confronting and judging and dealing with the pride that is found in the nation of Edom. 22 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:19,000 A brother of Israel descended from Esau, Jacob's brother. God comes in judgment and pride. 23 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:36,000 And so as we gather to worship this morning, we want to fix our eyes on the goodness and on the greatness of God because pride in our lives is never controlled through force of will or the ability to sort of rein it in on our own. 24 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:48,000 In fact, that just multiplies more pride. We say, "Look at how great I'm doing at dealing with my pride." And so the antidote to pride is the transformation that is brought in our hearts by the gospel. 25 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:58,000 And by continually fixing our eyes on the greatness of God. So we're going to begin by reading a little longer passage than we normally do from Psalm 103. 26 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:11,000 We're going to begin in verse 8. We're going to read down to verse 14. And I want you to hear as we read together, I want you to hear these pictures of God's greatness and his love and his forgiveness. 27 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:17,000 Let's go ahead and be standing. Following this, we're going to go right into this is our God. 28 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:27,000 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 29 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:42,000 He will not always shine, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 30 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:52,000 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love for those who fear him. 31 00:07:52,000 --> 00:08:00,000 As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 32 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:09,000 As the Father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 33 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:14,000 For he knows our frame, and he remembers that we are dust. 34 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,000 This is the Word of the Lord. 35 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:44,000 He came, and he died, and he rose. 36 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:48,000 Those walls are rubble now. 37 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:58,000 Remember those giants we call death and grave? 38 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:03,000 They were like mountains that stood in our way. 39 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:08,000 But he came, and he died, and he rose. 40 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,000 Those giants are dead now. 41 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:20,000 This is our God. This is who he is. He loves us. 42 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:26,000 This is our God. This is what he does. He saves us. 43 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:32,000 He bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. 44 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:37,000 This is our God, King Jesus. 45 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:42,000 Remember that fear that took our breath away? 46 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:47,000 Faith so weak that we could barely pray. 47 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:54,000 But he heard every word, every whisper. 48 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:00,000 Now those altars in the wilderness 49 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:05,000 tell the story of his faithfulness. 50 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:13,000 He never once did he fail, and he never will. 51 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:19,000 This is our God, this is who he is, he loves us. 52 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:25,000 This is our God, this is what he does, he saves us. 53 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:31,000 He bore the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim. 54 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:37,000 This is our God, King Jesus. 55 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:43,000 This is our God, this is who he is, he loves us. 56 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:49,000 This is our God, this is what he does, he saves us. 57 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:55,000 He bore the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim. 58 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,000 This is our God, King Jesus. 59 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:06,000 He bore the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim. 60 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:11,000 This is our God, King Jesus. 61 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:51,000 You give life. You are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken. 62 00:11:51,000 --> 00:12:17,000 Great are you, Lord. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to you only. 63 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:43,000 You give up. You are loved. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. 64 00:12:43,000 --> 00:13:01,000 It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only. 65 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:09,000 It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. 66 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:19,000 It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only. 67 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:37,000 All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing praise. 68 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:44,000 Great are you, Lord. 69 00:13:44,000 --> 00:14:02,000 All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are you, Lord. 70 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:20,000 All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are you, Lord. 71 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:33,000 It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. 72 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:58,000 So we pour out our praise to you only. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only. 73 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:31,000 In Luke chapter five, Peter has just witnessed something that is impossible. The empty nets, not just his, but those who are fishing with him, are suddenly breaking with fish. And it's interesting because Peter's response at this point isn't gratitude or excitement. 74 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:48,000 There was fear. He fell to his face, and he says this in Luke chapter five. He says, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 75 00:15:48,000 --> 00:16:00,000 Peter here wasn't confessing a specific sin. He was recognizing the reality that he was in the presence of someone who was far greater than he was. 76 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:07,000 And then in that moment, he was not clean enough, he was not good enough, not worthy enough. 77 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:25,000 When it comes to our time of confession this morning and considering the brokenness of our sin, it has to begin with who God is, and his holiness, and his righteousness, and his justice. 78 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:40,000 Let's pray to God in prayer. Father in heaven, we see your greatness as creator and sustainer, one who hasn't just made this world, but the rules of the world. 79 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:50,000 It was designed for this world in just a way, a lot of glory and righteousness. 80 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:59,000 We have chosen to glorify other people, to chase after other people, to seek other people. 81 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:05,000 So we come this morning confessing our brokenness and our understanding. 82 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:11,000 We're seeing our eyes on Jesus, understanding and grateful. 83 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:27,000 I love what happens next. Jesus doesn't depart from Peter. 84 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:34,000 He didn't just simply say, "Peter, you're right, you are a sinful man," and then turn and walk away. 85 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:38,000 Look what Jesus does. 86 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:43,000 And so also were James and John, son of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. 87 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:50,000 And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching him." 88 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:57,000 That in his grace, he doesn't just leave Peter, where he's confessing his weakness and his brokenness, 89 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:05,000 but rather, he transforms him, gives him a mission and a purpose, and brings him along. 90 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:12,000 And so, what I love is that in the picture of confession and assurance that we are not dispensed, 91 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:17,000 we're not worthy because we're good, but we are worthy because God is gracious. 92 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,000 And as we come to the table this morning, we're going to start by singing at the cross. 93 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:23,000 Love, Rabbi. 94 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:48,000 There's a place where mercy reigns and never dies. 95 00:18:48,000 --> 00:19:00,000 There's a place where streams of grace flow deep and wide. 96 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:16,000 Where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood, comes flowing down. 97 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:28,000 At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in awe of you. I'm in awe of you. 98 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:44,000 Where your love ran red and my sin washed white. I owe all to you. I owe all to you, Jesus. 99 00:19:50,000 --> 00:20:12,000 There's a place where sin and shame are powerless. Where my heart has peace with God and forgiveness. 100 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:40,000 Where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood, comes flowing down. At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in all of you. I'm in all of you. 101 00:20:40,000 --> 00:21:08,000 I'm in all of you. Where your love ran red and my sin washed white. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. Here my hope is found. Here on holy ground. Here I bow down. Here I bow down. Here I bow down. 102 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:36,000 Here, arms open wide. Here, you saved my life. Here I bow down. Here I bow. At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in all of you. I'm in all of you. Where your love ran red and my sin washed white. 103 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:53,000 I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. Jesus. 104 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:18,000 I have a very good friend who is, especially when it comes to his tools, very organized. So I like when I have to work on something, whether it's a car or another kind of project, I like going to his house because I know where everything is. 105 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:26,000 Everything is organized. The screwdrivers are all in the same drawer. They're all organized by size. They're all pointing in the same direction. Everything is in its place. 106 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:42,000 And you can tell that he's not necessarily fond of somebody else messing up his organization because when I'm done with the tools and I put them back on the little cart that you take out that he has, he goes, "I'll put those away," because I always put the screwdrivers, maybe intentionally, facing the wrong way, right? 107 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:54,000 Put them in the right drawer, but I'll just, you know, just to poke a little bit. And there is something that is helpful and comforting about having things in the right place. 108 00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:13,000 The problem is some of us are not necessarily put things back in the right place kind of people. Rachel frequently will ask me, "Where is my favorite coffee cup?" And I'll say, "Oh, well, I took it to my office." And she goes, "Is that where it goes?" And the answer is absolutely not, right? 109 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:22,000 And I do that very, very rarely. Debbie, you don't answer that. But what happens? 110 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:40,000 It's like we're really good sometimes at putting stuff in the wrong, absolutely in the wrong place. One of the things that the Lord's Supper does to us and in us and for us is it reorders things back where there's going. 111 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:50,000 And I don't mean our external circumstances. We still might be struggling and hurting and in chaos, but it takes how we think. 112 00:23:50,000 --> 00:24:03,000 And it takes what we hold dear, and it takes how we act, and it puts us back in the right order, not through our strength, but through the goodness and the grace of God. 113 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:18,000 Paul says this in Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse 17 about Jesus. He is before all things. And in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. 114 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:32,000 He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. And the problem is, so often in life we are making something else preeminent. 115 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:45,000 We're putting things in the wrong place. It's what happens in Eden. In the garden where our desires are displacing what God has had for us in his preeminent. 116 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:50,000 That's what's happening in the book of Obadiah. We'll see in a few minutes. In Eden, right? 117 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:58,000 Desires and pride displacing what God has for us, what happens in our lives so frequently. We put things in the wrong place. 118 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:10,000 And so as we come to this table, this bread, this cup, to the sacrifice of our Savior, who picks up our sin, who dies in our place, who rises for our victory. 119 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:22,000 This meal in this moment is to recenter us, to transform us, to remind us that He is the head of the body of the church. 120 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:30,000 He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything, He might create Him. 121 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:38,000 For in Him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him, to reconcile to Himself all things, 122 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:47,000 whether on earth or in heaven. Just as we tend to put things in the wrong place, Jesus comes, 123 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:52,000 and to His cross, He takes things back in the wrong place. 124 00:25:52,000 --> 00:26:06,000 Father in heaven, as we come to this table, with our lives so often out of order, facing the wrong direction, 125 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:14,000 priorities that are out of whack, sin that seems like it so easily entangles and it's pride that lifts ourselves up. 126 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:19,000 We come knowing that you are the one who changes. 127 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:28,000 So we ask that you restore, refresh, renew us, and strengthen us in the good news of the gospel. 128 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:41,000 Let's see the eminence of your son. We will see the wonder, the gospel, the sacrifice, the cross, the victory. 129 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:49,000 We ask that you bless this bread in this covenant, proclaiming Jesus in his name, and in his name we pray. 130 00:26:49,000 --> 00:27:14,000 He would take the bread with me, as we take the cup, as Jesus said, covenant in his blood. 131 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:24,000 We are going to sing the gospel. On the cross, we are going to sing "Praise the Name." 132 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:41,000 I cast my mind to Calvary, 133 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:53,000 where Jesus bled and died for me. I see His wounds, His hands, His feet, 134 00:27:53,000 --> 00:28:08,000 my Savior on that cursed tree. His body bound and drenched in tears, 135 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:35,000 they laid Him down in Joseph's tomb. The entrance sealed by heavy stone, Messiah still and all alone. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our Lord. 136 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:56,000 Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. 137 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:24,000 And on the third at break of dawn, the Son of Heaven rose again. Oh, trampled him, where is your sting? The angels roar for Christ the King. 138 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:52,000 Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise, O Lord, O Lord our God. 139 00:29:52,000 --> 00:30:20,000 You shall return in robes of white. The blazing sun shall pierce the night. And I will rise among the saints. My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face. 140 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:48,000 Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. 141 00:30:48,000 --> 00:31:16,000 Oh, Lord our God. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. Oh, Lord our God. 142 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:23,000 Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. 143 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,000 Amen. 144 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,000 Amen. 145 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,000 Amen. 146 00:34:46,000 --> 00:35:15,980 God bless you. 147 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:45,980 God bless you. 148 00:35:46,000 --> 00:36:15,980 God bless you. 149 00:54:46,000 --> 00:55:14,000 In Obadiah chapter 1, which will say the entirety of this sermon because there is only Obadiah chapter 1. We are in week 2. We looked last week as we began to look at this book and to see what is happening. 150 00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:23,000 We see how pride tends to look down, that pride ultimately deceives, it deceives about our own ability and our own goodness. 151 00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:36,000 We saw how God ultimately opposes pride but gives grace to the humble and the picture and the hope being that God addresses our pride and confronts it. 152 00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:42,000 And He does so not to try to hurt us but to try to save us. So we'll be in Obadiah. 153 00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:49,000 We're going to pick up in verse 10 just here in a few moments and move through verses 10 through 14. 154 00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:54,000 We'll go ahead and have a word of prayer before we begin. 155 00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:59,000 Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus, and we thank you for grace, and we thank you for hope. 156 00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:04,000 We thank you for this word that you sent to your prophet Obadiah. 157 00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:11,000 We don't know who he is, but we do know the message that you have for us. 158 00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:20,000 And as we see pride in how it moves and how it grows in our life, may you help us to see your glory and your goodness, 159 00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:32,000 that you would, with the expulsive power of a new affection, that you would transform us and love you and follow you to walk with you, 160 00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:40,000 that you would warn us with this text and teach us with this text that you would move us closer to Jesus. 161 00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:44,000 In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 162 00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:52,000 I don't know if you've had those moments where you have looked at where you are and said, "I have no idea how I got here." 163 00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:57,000 Some of us may do that when we're driving. We're just sort of driving along, lost in our own thoughts, 164 00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:02,000 thankfully not lost on the road, and we get to where we're going, and I don't remember any of the turns that I took. 165 00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:09,000 I had a bit of a bad experience yesterday, is in the rain, I'm sliding down a real muddy hill 166 00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:15,000 in a field of horses skirting a flooding pond to go check on a couple horses that don't even belong to me, 167 00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:21,000 and to make sure everybody was okay, and at the same time, recording a little bit of a video about Obadiah 168 00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:27,000 for the church Facebook page to try to introduce what is happening, and part of my mind is going, 169 00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:34,000 "How did I end up like this, in the middle of a field, covered in mud? I've lost three of my fingers to frostbite." 170 00:57:34,000 --> 00:57:41,000 It's like, "How did I get here?" And maybe we've had that experience in life, and sometimes it happens in good things. 171 00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:47,000 We look at the things that God has blessed us with, and they're so beyond our understanding. 172 00:57:47,000 --> 00:57:55,000 We say, "How did I even get to this place?" And then there's times where it seems like maybe our bad decisions 173 00:57:55,000 --> 00:58:01,000 little by little have escalated, and we come to this place where we say, "How did I get here?" 174 00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:09,000 And maybe you have a friend like I do who, when you make those dumb decisions over and over again, looks at you and goes, 175 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:18,000 "Man, if only this could have been avoided." If there was only some way that you could have made a better decision and not ended up where you are. 176 00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:30,000 One of the fascinating things about pride is that it doesn't always move very, very quickly, but it does continue to escalate. 177 00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:42,000 And it continues to add up. It's a tiny step here and a tiny step there. And the next thing you know, we find ourselves in a place where we look back on where we've come from and says, 178 00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:48,000 "I have no idea how I have gotten to this place." And here's the thing we have to understand. 179 00:58:48,000 --> 00:58:59,000 And one of the things that the book of Obadiah does so well at helping us to see, especially in the passage that we're in this morning, is that pride cannot be controlled. 180 00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:11,000 It doesn't stand still, but it grows and it expands. And in some cases, and in the case in the book of Obadiah, we'll go all the way back to the end of the book of Genesis. 181 00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:21,000 And this has been growing, and it finally comes to a head like 1,400 years later. The pride does not stand still. 182 00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:28,000 And if you have the idea that you can control it or that you can unleash it, what you find is that we are so very mistaken. 183 00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:37,000 So I'm going to read our text this morning, beginning in verse 10. Go down to verse 14, and we'll talk about it in just a little bit. 184 00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:43,000 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. 185 00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:56,000 On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 186 00:59:56,000 --> 01:00:06,000 But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune. Do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin. Do not boast in the day of their distress. 187 01:00:06,000 --> 01:00:17,000 Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity. Do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. 188 01:00:17,000 --> 01:00:26,000 Do not stand at the crossroads and cut off fugitives. Do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. 189 01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:34,000 Now, if you're following along with me, you'll hear it read like I just read it, but in some other translations, depending on your translation, 190 01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:46,000 you will hear in that list, beginning in verse 12 and 13 and 14, instead of "Do not gloat," you might find it translated "You should not have." 191 01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:56,000 Or, if you're in the King James, "You shouldn't, shouldest not have." You might say, "Why is there a difference?" 192 01:00:56,000 --> 01:01:05,000 And one of the questions about this text is that God says, "Do not do this." Is He warning the nation of Edom, "Don't do this in the future," 193 01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:15,000 or is He dealing with what they have just done? And the answer is just simply yes. Well, you find in the first two 194 01:01:15,000 --> 01:01:28,000 verses 10 and 10. Here is what God says has happened. Right? He's bringing a legal case against the nation of Edom. 195 01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:32,000 And He says this, "Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you. 196 01:01:32,000 --> 01:01:37,000 You shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day strangers carried off his wealth, 197 01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:44,000 and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them." God is saying, "This has happened." 198 01:01:44,000 --> 01:01:54,000 We might say, especially when confronted with the judgment of God, "Is that fair?" 199 01:01:54,000 --> 01:02:06,000 So we have verses 12, 13, and 14, eight places where God says, "Do not, for you should not have." 200 01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:13,000 Verses 10 and 11 are the verdict. God reading the guilty verdict. Verses 12 through 14 are the legal basis. 201 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:37,000 The legal basis of what people have violated, as Edom stands in a distance, and then gloats, and then takes pleasure in, and ultimately participates in looting Jerusalem, stopping the fugitives and turning them over to their enemies. 202 01:02:37,000 --> 01:02:42,000 And oftentimes, you and I, I think we struggle when it comes to God's justice. 203 01:02:42,000 --> 01:02:47,000 And one of the lessons we learn from the book of Obadiah is that God's justice does not happen in a vacuum. 204 01:02:47,000 --> 01:03:03,000 Right? Eight times in verses 12 and 14, he says, "Do not." Eight separate charges, each place where Edom had a choice, and they did the wrong thing. 205 01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:11,000 What we're seeing here in these verses, first of all, is a picture of God's justice, and it's not just justice for Edom. 206 01:03:11,000 --> 01:03:33,000 Right? God is bringing justice and care for his hurting people. The people who are left over after the Babylonians have come and taken away the captives who are left after Jerusalem has been destroyed, that God's justice against Edom is care and protection and watching over his people. 207 01:03:33,000 --> 01:03:40,000 It's a word that is left to those who are left saying, "You are not alone, and you are not abandoned." 208 01:03:40,000 --> 01:03:55,000 The purpose of our spending time in this text this morning is not just simply to show you an example of how God legally and rightfully opposes those who do wrong. 209 01:03:55,000 --> 01:04:03,000 It's easy for us maybe to look at this text and say, "I'm not like Edom. I'm not standing at the crossroads. I'm not dealing with the captives." 210 01:04:03,000 --> 01:04:12,000 But what we find in the book of Edom is a story that goes back, and it's a story that traces the journey of pride. 211 01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:16,000 And so I want to walk through that with you. 212 01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:19,000 It begins quietly. 213 01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:32,000 And in order to understand what is happening here, we have to go all the way back to the beginning of Israel, Jacob, and Edom, Esau, their brothers, beginning of their story. 214 01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:42,000 And what's surprising is the pride that Obadiah, you see in the book of Obadiah, begins with goodness. 215 01:04:42,000 --> 01:04:54,000 This is where Jacob and Esau, they have been reconciled, and it's almost to the point where God has blessed both Jacob and Esau so much, they have too many things. 216 01:04:54,000 --> 01:05:04,000 And it's like two kids, and they're sharing a room, and they go, "We need a bigger room, not because I'm mad at my sibling, but because we have so much stuff, there's not room for it." 217 01:05:04,000 --> 01:05:22,000 And so what happens is that Jacob stays in the land that will become Israel, named after him, and Esau will take his wives, his sons, his daughters, the members of his household, his livestock, his beasts, all the property he had acquired in the land of Canaan. 218 01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:38,000 And he went into a land away from his brother Jacob, for their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of the livestock, so Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. 219 01:05:38,000 --> 01:05:50,000 So Esau's place, and where he lives, is due to the blessing of God. And I want you to understand the timeline here, because this occurs before Joseph, before Jacob and his family in Egypt, 220 01:05:50,000 --> 01:06:06,000 before the captivity in Egypt, before Exodus, before the wandering in the Promised Land, before judges and kings, before the northern tribes are taken away, and before Judah is defeated and Jerusalem destroyed. 221 01:06:06,000 --> 01:06:18,000 In fact, using the dates mentioned and times mentioned in Scripture, and the archaeological evidence that goes along with them, between Obadiah and these verses in Genesis chapter 36, 222 01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:32,000 or somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400 years before we get to the book of Obadiah. And if you think about our world, how much has changed in the last 1,200 to 1,400 years, right? 223 01:06:32,000 --> 01:06:46,000 Entire areas have risen and fallen. Empires that have seemed permanent and are now just archaeological oddities that we study. Languages have born and died. 224 01:06:46,000 --> 01:06:57,000 The map of the world has been continually redrawing. Nobody who lived in 700 AD can picture the world in what you live in now. 225 01:06:57,000 --> 01:07:05,000 That's how long Edom has been building. Has been living in the same place and in the same mountains. That's how deep their roots went. 226 01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:15,000 Over a thousand years of cities, and of farms, and of livestock, and of trade routes, and of generations, and family weddings, and family births, and family funerals. 227 01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:38,000 And what begins to happen over that time is they begin to miss what God has done. God has provided them a place of safety, a place of security, a place that has brought them material wealth through trade routes, a place that has more average rain than any of the areas around them, that has allowed them to grow and to build. 228 01:07:38,000 --> 01:07:44,000 And here is what has happened quietly. The pride of your heart has deceived you. 229 01:07:44,000 --> 01:07:51,000 You who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?" Right? 230 01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:59,000 The good things that God has blessed them with became my things that I have accomplished. Look what I've done. Look what I've felt. Look where I live. 231 01:07:59,000 --> 01:08:13,000 Not look at how God has provided. Not look at how blessed we are. But look at what I have done. And here's the reality. Pride often grows in the midst of good things. 232 01:08:13,000 --> 01:08:36,000 The very blessings that should have produced gratitude, ends up producing pride. And you see this warning in the story of pride in the nation of Edom, that it grows slowly and quietly. 233 01:08:36,000 --> 01:08:42,000 The next thing we see is that pride separates. Look at what it says. 234 01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:54,000 On that day, you stood aloof. On the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 235 01:08:54,000 --> 01:09:03,000 This is a deliberate choice to stand at a distance. This is not, "Oops, I had an emergency. Oops, I was busy. Oops, something came up that I forgot about." 236 01:09:03,000 --> 01:09:14,000 This is a deliberate choice as the Babylonian armies descend on Jerusalem and on Judah to stand back and simply say, "Not my problem." 237 01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:30,000 This is not accidental. And notice that in God's eyes, not getting involved is the same as aiding and helping. You were like one of them. 238 01:09:30,000 --> 01:09:36,000 And isn't it easy for us to stand far away and see that somebody else is suffering as their own problem? 239 01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:43,000 In some cases, we might even make the case that it's wise to not get involved in the suffering and in the problems of others. 240 01:09:43,000 --> 01:09:51,000 If you think about the parable of the Good Samaritan, and a priest and a Levite go by this man who has been taken by robbers, 241 01:09:51,000 --> 01:09:57,000 and he's been beaten, he's been robbed of all his possessions, he's laying there left for dead. 242 01:09:57,000 --> 01:10:03,000 It would be very easy to justify, as the priest or the Levite, to say, "If I stop and help him and he dies, 243 01:10:03,000 --> 01:10:09,000 I will be ceremonially unclean, and I can no longer perform my duties for the house of God." 244 01:10:09,000 --> 01:10:15,000 Right? It's wise for me not to get involved in this situation, because God's people will suffer if I do. 245 01:10:15,000 --> 01:10:24,000 It would also be easy in that place, as Jesus recounts in the Gospel of Luke, to say, "This might be a trap." That frequently happens, right? 246 01:10:24,000 --> 01:10:30,000 You leave a body out there that's kind of alive, and when somebody stops to help, you jump out and rob them, too? 247 01:10:30,000 --> 01:10:38,000 It would be easy to defend the priest and the Levite by looking at their distance from the man who has been beaten and left for dead, 248 01:10:38,000 --> 01:10:46,000 and say, "They're just being wise." And they pass by on the other side of the road. 249 01:10:46,000 --> 01:10:53,000 It's not what Jesus says that we should do. It's not what Jesus says love ultimately does. 250 01:10:53,000 --> 01:10:59,000 But it's easy, too, for us to become cynical. To look at people's struggles and say, "Well, it's their own fault." 251 01:10:59,000 --> 01:11:06,000 They cut themselves into it. They kicked themselves out of it. They did this to themselves, and we stand aloof. 252 01:11:06,000 --> 01:11:14,000 And do you see sort of the subtle deceitfulness of pride? It's not bad what I'm doing. I am being wise. I'm not getting involved. 253 01:11:14,000 --> 01:11:22,000 I'm doing my God-given responsibility over here, and I don't have time for all the foolishness that is happening over there. 254 01:11:22,000 --> 01:11:31,000 I'm stewarding what God has given me, and pride continues to grow. It starts quietly, then begins to separate us away, 255 01:11:31,000 --> 01:11:40,000 oftentimes under the guise of doing what it's been. We see the deceitfulness of pride. And then here's what happens. Pride then moves outward. 256 01:11:40,000 --> 01:11:45,000 That's what we find next. Do not gloat over the day of your brother and the day of his misfortune. 257 01:11:45,000 --> 01:11:51,000 Do not rejoice over the people of Judah and the day of their ruin. Do not boast in the day of their distress. 258 01:11:51,000 --> 01:12:01,000 Right now the progression moves from, "Look at what I've done. This is not my problem," to now pleasure in the suffering of others, right? 259 01:12:01,000 --> 01:12:07,000 Edom has moved away physically. They've built in the mountains. They've looked down from afar. They've minded their own business. 260 01:12:07,000 --> 01:12:16,000 But now the thoughts in their minds start to move from, "Not my problem," to "Look at how much better I am." 261 01:12:16,000 --> 01:12:26,000 This is not just an Edom problem. It's not just a pride for them that begins to move outward in public gloating over the misfortune of others. 262 01:12:26,000 --> 01:12:35,000 What happens when somebody who hurts us suffers? You may not say it out loud, but sometimes there's that flicker of emotions that you know they probably deserve. 263 01:12:35,000 --> 01:12:41,000 You know what they did to do? They deserve exactly what happened to them. 264 01:12:41,000 --> 01:12:48,000 Our culture has done so well at watching people's lives publicly explode almost gleefully. 265 01:12:48,000 --> 01:12:53,000 We treat it as an event that we should watch maybe with some power. 266 01:12:53,000 --> 01:13:01,000 Isn't that the premise of so many TV shows? I can feel better about myself because I'm not an idiot like that guy is. 267 01:13:01,000 --> 01:13:07,000 Their unlikableness translates to joy in seeing them fail. 268 01:13:07,000 --> 01:13:16,000 Floating here is not just simple pleasure taking joy in the sufferings of others because maybe they deserve it. 269 01:13:16,000 --> 01:13:22,000 It's a comparison. Look at how much better I am. Look at how ridiculously bad they are. 270 01:13:22,000 --> 01:13:27,000 Edom says, "Their walls fell. Mine are standing. Their kingdom collapsed. Mine is secure. 271 01:13:27,000 --> 01:13:31,000 Their failure ultimately is about me being better." 272 01:13:31,000 --> 01:13:36,000 They say, "I always knew that was going to happen. I knew they were heading in the wrong direction." 273 01:13:36,000 --> 01:13:45,000 Notice that Obadiah's word from the Lord is not just saying, "Is there an assessment?" 274 01:13:45,000 --> 01:13:49,000 "Is this assessment of Edom or Edom's assessment of Israel accurate?" 275 01:13:49,000 --> 01:13:54,000 "Why are you laughing?" "Why are you gloating about it?" 276 01:13:54,000 --> 01:14:03,000 It's gone from quiet growth to separating, but now it's gone to sort of public pleasure. 277 01:14:03,000 --> 01:14:05,820 Notice that pride doesn't stop. 278 01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:21,000 ...over his disaster in the day of his calamity. Do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. 279 01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:28,000 Verse 12 is about looking down, and in verse 13 has changed everything, right? 280 01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:35,000 And think about how easy this would be to justify. Pride doesn't ask permission. It sort of keeps getting bigger and bigger, right? 281 01:14:35,000 --> 01:14:42,000 It's like, "I'm not looting. I'm not profiting." Like, all this stuff would have gone to waste. 282 01:14:42,000 --> 01:14:45,000 It's only fair that I should benefit, right? 283 01:14:45,000 --> 01:14:52,000 There's a direct correlation between the distance of verse 12 and the participation in verse 13. 284 01:14:52,000 --> 01:15:00,000 The "do not gloat," and verse 12 is repeated in verse 13, "do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity." 285 01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:07,000 And what's happening is they're entering the gates, and they're looting wealth while they gloat. 286 01:15:07,000 --> 01:15:11,000 Like, threefold, three times in the day of his calamity. 287 01:15:11,000 --> 01:15:15,000 And then look, he estimates that he's participating in taking. 288 01:15:15,000 --> 01:15:22,000 "Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives. Do not hand over his survivors in the day of his distress." 289 01:15:22,000 --> 01:15:26,000 The geography, where Edom is located at the bottom of the Dead Sea, 290 01:15:26,000 --> 01:15:33,000 as people are running from Jerusalem and getting to those crossroads in the border of Edom, 291 01:15:33,000 --> 01:15:39,000 Edom stands in the way, blocks them, and then turns them over to their pursuers. 292 01:15:39,000 --> 01:15:46,000 And notice it's deliberate. How are you going to cut people off if you don't get there first? 293 01:15:46,000 --> 01:15:52,000 It's premeditated. And here's the reality. I don't think anybody wakes up one day and says, 294 01:15:52,000 --> 01:15:58,000 "Let's go find my brother and bring him harm. Let's loot all of his stuff. Let's sell him into captivity." 295 01:15:58,000 --> 01:16:06,000 It starts small, and it starts innocent, and it grows, and it separates, and it escalates into gloating and joy. 296 01:16:06,000 --> 01:16:14,000 And then ultimately what you find is that it begins to participate in the active oppression. 297 01:16:14,000 --> 01:16:24,000 Nobody plans to end up in verse 14 standing at the crossroads cutting off. That's what happens when pride begins to grow. 298 01:16:24,000 --> 01:16:30,000 Here's what I want us to see. What are we going to do with this? 299 01:16:30,000 --> 01:16:36,000 Sometimes our natural response is simply try harder, manage it better, be more aware about my pride. 300 01:16:36,000 --> 01:16:43,000 But that's the trap, because the moment we resist pride, we become proud about our resisting of pride. 301 01:16:43,000 --> 01:16:50,000 We don't need a better way to control our pride, we need a new heart. 302 01:16:50,000 --> 01:16:56,000 Listen to the promise. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, 303 01:16:56,000 --> 01:17:01,000 and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, 304 01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:06,000 and cause you to walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules. 305 01:17:06,000 --> 01:17:13,000 We need what here at Thomas Chalmers calls the "expulsive power of a new affection." 306 01:17:13,000 --> 01:17:19,000 He says the heart won't release one love unless it has another to take its place. 307 01:17:19,000 --> 01:17:28,000 Your heart can't exist in a vacuum. It's going to love something, and pride ultimately can only be its place. 308 01:17:28,000 --> 01:17:32,000 It can't be controlled. 309 01:17:32,000 --> 01:17:42,000 So as we consider this, and if you are in Christ, if this verse is a reality that I have a new heart and a new spirit, 310 01:17:42,000 --> 01:17:52,000 my heart of stone is taken away, and a heart of flesh is given, and that God's spirit lives and walks within me, and he's working in me. 311 01:17:52,000 --> 01:18:00,000 Let me share with you three things as Christians we need as we consider our new heart. 312 01:18:00,000 --> 01:18:05,000 First of all, thankfulness will turn our heart toward God. 313 01:18:05,000 --> 01:18:11,000 Right? Thankfulness transforms our tendency to put ourselves in the center. 314 01:18:11,000 --> 01:18:16,000 I think about Edom cities. Their greatness, their security, their provision was all real, 315 01:18:16,000 --> 01:18:21,000 but instead of being thankful to the God who provided, they simply said, "Look at what I have done." 316 01:18:21,000 --> 01:18:28,000 And one of the reasons thankfulness is so persistent in Scripture is because it's a continual way of reorienting 317 01:18:28,000 --> 01:18:37,000 ourselves to the goodness of God. In fact, being unthankful is the sin that moves us into rebellion for God. 318 01:18:37,000 --> 01:18:43,000 Remember Romans 1:21, "For all that they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks." 319 01:18:43,000 --> 01:18:47,000 They became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 320 01:18:47,000 --> 01:18:51,000 The road away from God starts when we stop them. 321 01:18:51,000 --> 01:18:57,000 Secondly, community fights pride. 322 01:18:57,000 --> 01:19:00,000 Think about how close this changes our response. 323 01:19:00,000 --> 01:19:04,000 Have you ever watched the movie "Home Alone" in any of its versions? 324 01:19:04,000 --> 01:19:09,000 Even in our house, we just really, really love that, specifically because of the traps. 325 01:19:09,000 --> 01:19:13,000 It's hilarious to watch somebody fall down the stairs on TV. 326 01:19:13,000 --> 01:19:18,000 They get their hat lit on fire with a blowtorch, and it's great to watch it there. 327 01:19:18,000 --> 01:19:26,000 However, like Friday night, getting ready for bed, I was like, "Hey, why is there a rope tied across the hallway at ankle level?" 328 01:19:26,000 --> 01:19:31,000 And one of our children, you might be able to guess who, goes, "Oh, that's my trap." 329 01:19:31,000 --> 01:19:35,000 And I was like, "Well, that's hilarious in Home Alone." 330 01:19:35,000 --> 01:19:40,000 It's far less hilarious when Dad lets the dog out at 4 a.m. and falls and breaks his hip. Take it down." 331 01:19:40,000 --> 01:19:42,000 And he goes, "Okay, I'll take that trap down." 332 01:19:42,000 --> 01:19:44,000 And I was like, "What do you mean that trap?" 333 01:19:44,000 --> 01:19:48,000 And he's like, "It's gonna take me like 15 minutes to take all my traps down." 334 01:19:48,000 --> 01:19:55,000 And then from room to room, by going and taking all the traps, and it's funny when it happens far away, 335 01:19:55,000 --> 01:20:00,000 it's far less funny when your bathroom is booby-trapped, right? Let me tell you that. 336 01:20:00,000 --> 01:20:08,000 One of the things that community does to us is it removes that distance. 337 01:20:08,000 --> 01:20:12,000 He says, "They deserved it. They had it coming." 338 01:20:12,000 --> 01:20:16,000 And it puts us right next to them, and it helps us. 339 01:20:16,000 --> 01:20:20,000 It's why we have one another passages in Scripture, right? 340 01:20:20,000 --> 01:20:24,000 Love one another. Bear one another's burdens. Be kind to one another. Encourage one another. 341 01:20:24,000 --> 01:20:27,000 Confess your sins one to another. 342 01:20:27,000 --> 01:20:30,000 It's real hard to gloat. 343 01:20:30,000 --> 01:20:37,000 Walking with somebody in their struggles and loving them and helping with their burdens. 344 01:20:37,000 --> 01:20:40,000 That's the third thing for us as Christians. 345 01:20:40,000 --> 01:20:44,000 Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. 346 01:20:44,000 --> 01:20:48,000 And that's the difference between Edom and the command for us as God. 347 01:20:48,000 --> 01:20:51,000 They stood at the crossroads and walked. 348 01:20:51,000 --> 01:21:00,000 And we're called to stand with our brothers and sisters and help them carry their burdens. 349 01:21:00,000 --> 01:21:08,000 If we are so focused on helping and loving and caring, it's very hard to focus on ourselves. 350 01:21:08,000 --> 01:21:15,000 My burden here destroys that distance where pride grows. 351 01:21:15,000 --> 01:21:22,000 And none of this ultimately begins with our willpower. 352 01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:25,000 It begins with the work of God in our life. 353 01:21:25,000 --> 01:21:34,000 In Lydia, in Acts chapter 16, it says the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 354 01:21:34,000 --> 01:21:39,000 That her heart was opened. 355 01:21:39,000 --> 01:21:44,000 Not "Look what I have done," but God was at work. 356 01:21:44,000 --> 01:21:47,000 It was my prayer that God opened your heart, but it's also my prayer that God opened your eyes. 357 01:21:47,000 --> 01:21:52,000 Remember Elisha and his servant, Elisha's servant knew God. He served the prophet of God. 358 01:21:52,000 --> 01:21:55,000 But in that moment of struggle, he goes, "What are we going to do?" 359 01:21:55,000 --> 01:21:58,000 And Elisha prays, "God opened his eyes," and the servant's eyes were opened. 360 01:21:58,000 --> 01:22:05,000 And he sees the armies of heaven arrayed around the prophets. 361 01:22:05,000 --> 01:22:13,000 May God not only open your heart, but your eyes to see what God has known to do. 362 01:22:13,000 --> 01:22:16,000 And God energizes your hands and directs your path. 363 01:22:16,000 --> 01:22:22,000 Trust in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. 364 01:22:22,000 --> 01:22:26,000 This is for God's people, is my prayer. 365 01:22:26,000 --> 01:22:31,000 That with new hearts, made not of stone but of flesh, with the work of the Holy Spirit, 366 01:22:31,000 --> 01:22:37,000 that God would help us and transform us. 367 01:22:37,000 --> 01:22:42,000 God doesn't oppose pride because he's petty. 368 01:22:42,000 --> 01:22:47,000 He opposes your pride. 369 01:22:47,000 --> 01:22:52,000 It destroys your relationships. 370 01:22:52,000 --> 01:22:55,000 It leads you to a place where you begin to destroy others. 371 01:22:55,000 --> 01:23:02,000 And when God says, "I oppose the proud," he's not only attacking your pride, but he is saving your soul. 372 01:23:02,000 --> 01:23:06,000 Pride is the thing that is killing you. 373 01:23:06,000 --> 01:23:11,000 And God is the one coming to pull it out. 374 01:23:11,000 --> 01:23:15,000 It's the same God who says, "Do not eight times to eat them." 375 01:23:15,000 --> 01:23:26,000 It's the same God who stands at your crossroad, blocking your path, not turning you over to the enemy, but saving you from your sins. 376 01:23:26,000 --> 01:23:32,000 He does so by picking up your burden, taking your sin, and carrying it. 377 01:23:32,000 --> 01:23:38,000 What I was saying last week about how the Father's love for us was saying this. 378 01:23:38,000 --> 01:23:42,000 What I gave you is to give an answer. 379 01:23:42,000 --> 01:23:46,000 Because I know all my heart. 380 01:23:46,000 --> 01:23:55,000 God opposes the crowd and does so to the rest of you. 381 01:23:55,000 --> 01:23:57,000 Sing. 382 01:23:57,000 --> 01:23:59,000 Take away your hard heart. 383 01:24:02,000 --> 01:24:05,000 Jesus said, "Crossroads, where you come." 384 01:24:05,000 --> 01:24:10,000 God, in your grace. 385 01:24:10,000 --> 01:24:13,000 For your sins. 386 01:24:13,000 --> 01:24:15,000 Rise in your hand. 387 01:24:15,000 --> 01:24:17,000 Stand between you. 388 01:24:17,000 --> 01:24:20,000 Father in heaven. 389 01:24:20,000 --> 01:24:25,000 For us who are you, Christ. 390 01:24:25,000 --> 01:24:31,000 Will you open our eyes to the glory of your grace. 391 01:24:33,000 --> 01:24:35,000 May you make us thankful. 392 01:24:35,000 --> 01:24:39,000 Those little seeds of pride that the enemy grows and plants in our mind. 393 01:24:39,000 --> 01:24:45,000 May you help us to see all the things that we're thankful for. 394 01:24:45,000 --> 01:24:47,000 May you be with the writing for us. 395 01:24:47,000 --> 01:24:49,000 May you help us in closing. 396 01:24:49,000 --> 01:24:52,000 May you bear one another's burdens. 397 01:24:52,000 --> 01:24:54,000 May you also, when we're carrying one's burdens. 398 01:24:54,000 --> 01:24:57,000 May you help us not to be proud and say, "I can do it myself." 399 01:24:57,000 --> 01:25:01,000 May you help us to be our brothers and sisters and sisters. 400 01:25:02,000 --> 01:25:07,000 May you open our eyes and our hearts and energize our hearts. 401 01:25:07,000 --> 01:25:10,000 In Jesus' name, amen. 402 01:25:10,000 --> 01:25:17,000 We're going to stand and we're going to sing, "Yet not I, but through Christ in me." 403 01:25:32,000 --> 01:25:59,000 What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give. He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom. My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. 404 01:26:00,000 --> 01:26:25,000 To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus. For my life is wholly bound to His. Oh, how strange and divine I can see. All is mine, yet not a birth through Christ in me. 405 01:26:30,000 --> 01:26:35,000 God, but I am not forsaken. For by my side, the Savior He will save. I labor on in weakness and rejoicing. For in my need, His power is greater. 406 01:26:35,000 --> 01:26:59,000 I am not forsaken, but I am not forsaken. For by my side, the Savior He will save. I labor on in weakness and rejoicing. For in my need, His power is greater. 407 01:26:59,000 --> 01:27:28,000 His power is displayed. Through this I hope, my Shepherd will defend me. Through the deepest valley He will lead. Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome, yet not I, but through Christ in me. 408 01:27:28,000 --> 01:27:57,000 The faith I dread, I know I am forgiven. The future's sure, the price has been paid. To pray and suffer for my part. 409 01:27:57,000 --> 01:28:26,000 And He was raised to overthrow the grave. To this I hold, my sin has been defeated. Jesus, now and ever is my plea. All the chains are released, I can see I am free. 410 01:28:26,000 --> 01:28:55,000 Yet not I, but through Christ in me. With every breath, I long to follow Jesus. For He has said that He will bring me home. 411 01:28:55,000 --> 01:29:24,000 And day by day, I know He will renew me. Until I stand with joy before the throne. To this I hope, my hope is only Jesus. Oh, glory evermore to Him. 412 01:29:24,000 --> 01:29:49,000 When the race is complete, it shall be made. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. To this I hope, my hope is only Jesus. Oh, the glory ever to Him. 413 01:29:49,000 --> 01:30:14,000 When the race is complete, it shall be made. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. When the race is complete, it shall be made. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. 414 01:30:14,000 --> 01:30:31,000 Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. 415 01:30:31,000 --> 01:30:39,000 I'm so thankful that you are here with us this morning. I'm thankful for those of you who are joining us online. 416 01:30:39,000 --> 01:30:55,000 We'll be back on Wednesday night, walking through some more of pride and in the desert, taking a look at this topic that seems to be such a difficulty, not just now, but throughout history. 417 01:30:55,000 --> 01:30:59,000 And we have struggled with it and continue to struggle with it. So that's Wednesday night, 6 p.m. 418 01:30:59,000 --> 01:31:07,000 Also coming up on Wednesday, the 10th of June. That's just three weeks away. 419 01:31:07,000 --> 01:31:14,000 We're going to do, we generally do this in the summer. We're going to begin, probably try to do at least once a month, a community activity. 420 01:31:14,000 --> 01:31:22,000 So we'll have a, on that Wednesday night, a community cookout. We'll have some more details over this week and next Sunday as well. 421 01:31:22,000 --> 01:31:26,000 But if you want to start thinking about that, that's June 10th on Wednesday night. 422 01:31:26,000 --> 01:31:32,000 We're going to go ahead and have a word of prayer. We'll read from Micah, chapter 6. 423 01:31:32,000 --> 01:31:38,000 Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and for grace and for how you have changed our hearts. 424 01:31:38,000 --> 01:31:45,000 May we, as we have fought and prayed in fellowship together, may you make us lights in this world. 425 01:31:45,000 --> 01:31:50,000 May you help us to see those opportunities and give us the strength and courage to take them. 426 01:31:50,000 --> 01:31:55,000 We thank you so much for Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. 427 01:31:55,000 --> 01:32:00,000 Micah, chapter 6, a very familiar, very familiar verse. Simply this. 428 01:32:00,000 --> 01:32:10,000 He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. 429 01:32:10,000 --> 01:32:20,000 So as we leave, and as we consider Edom, and if we consider Obadiah, the call is to walk humbly with God, not in our own strength, but in his grace. 430 01:32:20,000 --> 01:32:28,000 To seek justice, not from a position of superiority, but from the one and from people who have been forgiven much. 431 01:32:28,000 --> 01:32:39,000 To love kindness, not as a project we manage, but as an overflow of a heart of such great love and kindness, by God. 432 01:32:39,000 --> 01:32:57,000 Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. 433 01:32:57,000 --> 01:33:08,000 Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 434 01:33:27,000 --> 01:33:32,000 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 435 01:33:32,000 --> 01:33:37,000 Amen. 436 01:33:57,000 --> 01:34:04,000 Amen. 437 01:34:27,000 --> 01:34:34,000 Amen.