 Okay, 1 Peter chapter 5 and this is a great passage. I mean, look, Peter was a man who I really admire and I don't admire him because he was a great order like the Apostle Paul, although he did have some great speaking ability. I don't look at him and say, well, you know, he's really special to me and he means a lot to me because of, you know, sort of the fact that he was the leader of the early church, one of the leaders of the early church. I look at him because I see a man who was completely and utterly 100% incapable. I mean, the guy was a total mess. Okay, I mean, this was a guy who a little girl goes to challenge him and say, hey, aren't you one of Jesus's disciples? And he goes, don't you be, be, be, be, be, ask me that question. I don't know the Lord, I don't know what you're talking about. I mean, he was a coward and yet God took a man with that kind of weakness and used him for his glory in a way that is just astounding, right? And so Peter, of course, going through it, Peter going through such a series of turmoil and difficulties within the church. He got to see the church in its early stages. He was there on day one when Pentecost, you know, came forward during that season and he was literally, he witnessed everything and through that, he learned quite a bit. Of course, he learned quite a bit from his experience with Jesus face to face, but there are some exhortations that Peter makes that I think are significant. And I think that it's appropriate to bring up some of the things I'm going to bring up because they make a lot of sense when you put them in light of what God's word has to say in general as into how we ought to live. And it's no accident, I think, that things are getting crazy right now. It's no accident that times are forming and the way that they are and the world is the way that it is, but boy, let me tell you something. All it means is this. If there's anything you do not, if there's anything you're going to pick up from this study tonight, it needs to be this. Jesus is coming soon, so sober up. Jesus is coming soon, so wake up. Jesus is coming soon, so be watchman. Look what it says. First Peter and actually we're going to, for a little bit of context, I said that I was going to start in verse eight, but we'll just kind of get a little bit in front of that and look what it says in verse five. It says, likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be closed. Notice this, be closed with humility for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Now these are exhortations that I think are oftentimes overlooked in society today. Society actually respects arrogance. Society respects pride. Society respects people who come out and promote themselves and look at me. I'm the man and so on and so forth. I mean, this is the type of thing that society likes to do. This is the world that we live in today, but God says this. God says, I resist a man or a woman like that. And God says, pay attention to those that are actually older than you, that have been walking with you for a while, that have been serving for a while. Pay attention to those people because those people will speak wisdom into your heart and into your life. You need to pay attention and here's the thing. Here's the rule that God says. Lower yourself, right? And let God lift you up. Don't start up here and be broken. And I beg you, I know what it's like to be broken. It does not feel good, it hurts, it's not a bragging point. It's not anything that I would say, look at me, I was broken by God. No, no, no, that's not anything that I'm proud of. Because if I was broken by God, that means I was at a point in my life where I was uncontrollably arrogant concerning what God was doing. And God had to say, okay, I'm gonna take all of that away from you because I need to teach you a lesson before I can use you. And my prayer is that we would not be people like that. But that's sort of the foundation for what he's laying here. Look what he goes on to say, he says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you. Notice this in due time, the way this is worded in the Greek. If you were to read this in your Greek New Testament, which by the way, let me just say this about original language. I think you guys should know this. Taking it from a guy who understands original language, right, and has actually taught it at the college level, I would just say this. And you may have heard me say this on Pastor's perspective before, but our English translations are so remarkably good that so little of it really relies on understanding original language. But there are some times where it becomes really interesting, right? We can actually lay some insight into what's already said and maybe provide a little bit of an emphasis, but it says this, that he may humble you or that he may exalt you in what due time, which basically means the implication is when God is ready, not when you are. When God is ready, he will do what he wants to do in his time. And we need to rest in that. Now as we approach the new year, one of the things that goes through our mind is, oh, we're running out of time, so we need to do this, and we need to do that, and we need to be Martha's, right? We need to just be busy and all about. And yes, I think to a degree, we need to really focus on how we can serve the Lord, right? But most importantly, we need to understand that phrase, due time. We need to let God do what God wants to do and the timing that he wants to do. So the goal for us as we approach the new year is to get ourselves sober-minded, right? Focus on what God has for us. Notice what it goes on to say. Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. Now, being mindful of the fact that God loves you, being mindful of the fact that any concern that we could ever have, any need, any desire, anything that bothers us, anything that might cause us to be in a place where we're questioning something, anything that might affect us if there's hurts or pains or difficulties. Listen, go to the Lord because the Lord wants to hear from you what's going on, right? I've got to make a confession for you. This is bad. This happened to me once. It's actually happened to me a few times, and I'm not very proud of it, but I think it goes to illustrate something. I remember this one time sitting behind my desk counseling appointment was a pretty significant type of thing. And the person that starts coming to me and asking me for help, it's a married couple, and as they're talking to me, they go through this big huge spiel of what's going on. And something catches my eye on my computer screen, which was a little message that came my way. And that triggered off a whole series of other thoughts in my mind. And you guys know what's coming next, right? And as the couple is talking, my mind has gone in a completely different direction. And all I'm hearing is that Charlie Brown, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. And the couple finishes what they're saying, and I have no idea what they just said. Now, I had to eat dirt a little bit, and I had to say, hey, listen, you know what, I'm sorry. My brain just fried. Can you tell me what you just said again? And of course, they were a little taken back, you know? And they shared the whole thing. But the Lord told me something really unique that day. He said, you know, James, how your mind wandered because you cared about other things other than the person that you were talking to at that time? I will never do that to you. I will always listen to you even when you don't want to be listened to. So as my representative, pay attention to what that means. You know what I learned that day? I learned that I wasn't a good listener because I also was not a good prayer warrior to the Lord. I wasn't good at going to the Lord and giving Him my cares, which kept me from being someone who listened to the cares of others, right? But Peter is saying, listen, cast your cares upon the Lord. Why? Because he cares for you. Now, now that all that is behind us and we know that we're supposed to walk in humility, we know that we're supposed to cast our cares upon the Lord, then he comes into some serious exhortation, a series of commands that I want you to pay attention to. He says, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Two commands that he gives. By the way, if you look at this in the Greek and you actually parse these commands, they actually are what we would call the present active imperative, which means continue to be sober and continue to be vigilant. In other words, do not ever stop being sober and do not ever stop keeping your eyes open. Always be aware of what is around you. Always keep in mind what is going on and here is the reason why, because the devil hates your guts and he wants to destroy you. Now, let's talk about what it means to be sober and vigilant in today's world and maybe if you've been sort of not paying attention to what's going on in today's world, maybe I'll talk a little bit about what's happening. First of all, sober. I've been a, before I retired, I was a police chaplain for almost 18 years, actually a little bit over 18 years, Southeast Los Angeles County. The town that I was a chaplain in, 2.2 square miles, roughly population of almost 100,000, 92,000. You had 2,200 registered parolees that live in the city and 1,800 identified gang members. Not a very safe town to be in. And it's very transient because people drive through that town pretty quickly because there's a large casino in that town and people would drive through that town, they'd go to the casino, they get a little drunk, then they get in their cars and they drive home. And I remember one time, one of the very first times we arrested somebody who was a drunk driver who had actually killed somebody on the road. It was devastating to them and it was even more devastating to me because I remember this. I remember putting them in handcuffs and they were very good people. My partner did actually put them in handcuffs. The guy seemed like a professional businessman. Looks like he was going to some sort of a Christmas party. I don't even know what was going on. And the sad thing about it was we put him in the drunk tank and in the morning when he, when we pulled him out to transport him to Twin Towers, we asked him or he asked us, why in the world am I here? I don't even know why I'm here. And we told him that he killed two people. And it was like his life just fell apart before him at that moment. You wanna know why? Because the alcohol did what? It took away his ability to be sober-minded. Now we talk about drugs and alcohol all the time. Don't do drugs, don't do alcohol, that's a bad thing. Alcohol is horrible. I've never touched alcohol before in my life. I've never done drugs in my life, but I guarantee you I have been more drunk than anybody who has ever touched those things. Hands down at times in my life. You wanna know why? The number one thing, Christians listen to me. Jesus people community, listen to me, I'm gonna steal that by the way, I love that. Jesus people community, listen to me. The number one thing that takes away the sobriety of any human being on the face of this earth is what? Sin. If I do not walk in purity before the Lord, my ability to be able to discern things effectively go out the door. Some of you might be saying, well, I don't know. You know, when I go to church, you know, the pastor just seems to be babbling. He's talking about, I don't see what he's talking about. I don't understand what he's talking about. You know, most of the time when that happens, it's because you're drunk out of your brain and I'm not talking about alcohol, folks. I'm talking about sin. And listen, it's not, listen, sin is not, not sinning has nothing to do with saying, well, I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna do this. Sometimes we have to do that, right? But really, you know how the key to staying away from sin? Just serve the Lord and as you serve the Lord, you're gonna realize you're gonna do evil things less and less. Read the word as much as you can. Spend time in prayer. Listen to the radio. Grab the Chino Valley app. Listen to the Bible studies being taught, right? Do what it takes to get the word of God inside of you and the more and more you take it, the more and more you're beginning to realize, wow, what happened? I'm a new person. I forgot the day that I stopped cursing. I don't remember, it just happened. I forgot the time that I literally in my heart, my mind wanted to just like lash out and kill people all of a sudden. Well, that happens sometimes, every now and again, but you know what I mean. Like those habits are, they're just, that God took them away and it was in the midst of me serving him. And so there's a call to purity and then as you're sober, as you've sobered up, then open your eyes and watch. In case you haven't noticed guys, the world is changing and it's changing rapidly. You know, a year ago, I remember when I first started doing Pastor's Perspective with Don, we got hate mail over a particular show. Someone knew that my mom and dad were born and raised in Egypt. I think Don was talking about that and you know, he encouraged anybody that has any questions about Islam or any of that type of thing to call, you know, because of my background. And so somebody called and they said, Pastor James, what do you think about ISIS? And this is what I said. I said, well, they're Muslims, they're violent. What do you expect? But I would not be concerned with ISIS as much as I would be concerned with Iran. And I would not be concerned with ISIS as much as I would be concerned about the relationship between Iran and Russia. And this was before they were ever on the radar. For the first time in world history, six months ago, less than six months ago, Russian soldiers have planted themselves in Syria, hand in hand with Iranian soldiers. Some of you might say, well, the Iranians represent the Shiites. They are the 10% of Islam's. And what about the Sunni that's 90% represented by ISIS? Here, the bottom line is this. Regardless of the philosophy as into how infidel should be killed, the Quran tells people that you are to kill anybody who is in opposition to Allah. And the Lord is actually showing us right now as Christians that he is using Islam and he is using what is going on in the European world and going on in the Middle Eastern world to bring together the last days as we understand them. Folks, if you have not caught it, I cannot believe that we already have Russian submarines in the Gulf and the United States has made a statement that we will back away and not worry about it even though they are in cahoots with Iran. Two days ago, Iran fired a missile, fired a missile less than a thousand feet away from an American destroyer. And we said, stop it, you're bad boys. If this was 20 years ago, that missile base would have been destroyed. But we are allowing it to happen. And you know what President Obama has said? Listen, I'm not trying to be political here. I'm just telling you what the current events are. This is not a politics thing. He has said, because if it wasn't him, it would be somebody else that God used, right? I mean, God puts people in office, right? And he uses them like puppets. So Obama and his administration have continued to allow this to happen, only completely being apologetic when Iran seeks to have a meeting with the Obama administration, they take them in and yet when Benjamin Netanyahu knocks on his door, he tells them to get lost. In case you haven't seen it folks, Turkey has just told Israel. We will not be friends with you like we were five years ago unless you allow us to occupy Gaza. If you don't realize where Gaza is, that would happen to be the southern border of Israel where the Sinai is, where my peoples are, right? Okay? And listen to this. They're saying if you don't let us occupy that area, we won't be friends with you. Why does Turkey want to occupy that area? The same reason why Russia does, the same reason why Syria does, the same reason why Iran does because one day they will launch an attack according to Ezekiel 38 against Israel. They're even talking about Jordan of all countries. Jordan actually said, we will allow the Israelis to find a place of solace if they need to. If any time of unsettling comes. Now if you don't know what that means, let me tell you what that means. That means that eventually 144,000 literal Jews will escape when that attack takes place and you know where they're going to go? They're going to go into Jordan in a little place called the Rock City of Petra. If you do not see it setting up right now, you gotta be kidding. And yet we look at Islam and we run around and we say, oh, Islam is a religion of peace. It's a religion of love. It's not a religion of hate. Take it from somebody who's from the Middle East. I was born and raised here, but I was born and raised speaking the language. I've been to almost every Middle Eastern country, North Africa. I'll just say this. I am a biblical fundamentalist like your pastor. I believe in the fundamentals of the Bible. And the fundamentals that the Bible teaches me is to love and forgive and to reach out because God gave himself for the world I'm to be living sacrifice as well. If you are a fundamentalist of the Quran, you believe in death, murder, and deception. If you don't believe me, simply read through the Quran. The Quran teaches to kill and to overwhelm anybody who comes in the way of Allah, who chooses to do what? Who chooses to be an infidel. And the world that we live in today, which currently belongs to Satan, is allowing the propagation of this culture and of this religion to come forth. And it is coming forth in a way that is overwhelming. And it is simply because it is inspired satanically. Think this through for a second. We have been through some horrendous things as a country in recent years. 9-11, great example. Do you know that my dad and my brother were in Egypt during 9-11? Do you know how they found out 9-11 had happened, the terrorist attacks in the United States? They found out because they were awakened in the middle of the night by people in the streets celebrating on the attack in America. Shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. Should not be a surprise. Do you know the last words that were said by most of the pilots as they drove their planes into the towers? It was not, ah, it was, oh my God, what the, ah. Which is probably what I would have done. They were yelling at the top of their lungs, Yallilahi Allallah wa Muhammad Rasulallah. God is, Allah is greater and Muhammad is his prophet and they kept saying it and saying it. You want to talk about how deceived the world is today? Two months after 9-11, I'm on my way home, listening to KNX 1070 news radio. In our part of LA County, it's kind of like the radio you want to listen to if you want to know where traffic is and so on and so forth. This is before the days of the traffic apps and all that stuff, you know. And I hear this, we interrupt this newscast for a special public service announcement. And at that point, I hear the voice of a cleric begin to say at four o'clock in the morning, it's Salat al-Hayran minanom allahu akbaru Muhammad Rasulallah. Meaning it's better to pray than to sleep. God, Allah is greater and Muhammad is his prophet. We saw a lady, 9-11, that day was my mom's birthday, by the way, and that's when my mom was born. I remember being in a restaurant, sitting with my mom depressed, my dad and my brother were in Egypt and we were scared and we're looking up at the screen and the screen, there was a young lady who had her hijab on, she was covering her face and she was actually representing, she was literally representing Islam and she was saying, Islam is a religion of peace, please don't think that this is what we've been taught and so on and so forth, and me and my mom are crying, we're literally in tears and we're thinking, lady, if you were representing Islam in the Middle East, you know what they would do, they would take you, they would bury you in the sand to where your head is simply above the ground and they would kick you until you were decapitated. And you might know Muslims today, folks, that will tell you that they are full of peace and that there is no harm or there is no foul play and they're a religion of peace. They are taught to say things like that in countries in which they cannot overwhelm by force until they get big enough to do so because the Quran tells them. Anybody here that can understand Arabic, there's a little phrase that I copied from the Quran, Nasura, 354. It says, which means this, referring to the Jews in context. The Jews lied and deceived, so Allah lies and deceived and here's the reason because Allah himself is the chief of liars. The Quran, their own book says that. What does the Bible say is the chief of liars? I bring all of this to your attention. Simply to say, open your eyes, people. And I want to caution you when I bring this to your attention. Please follow me here. Take it from a man who has a very rich heritage in Christ. Both of my grandfathers were ministers in Egypt, not even Coptic. One of them was a Presbyterian minister for 65 years. The other was a Baptist for 35. They were evangelistic men who preached the gospel faithfully. One of my grandfathers died in the middle of a conference that he was teaching young people. Another one came to America from Egypt and started the largest Arabic fellowship in Southern California, who now is being pastor by a man that he discipled. In the Long Beach area, I have a rich heritage. Islam is treated to hate. They are taught, they're treated with hate. They are taught to hate and they are taught to deceive. What they need more than anything is they need the love of Jesus Christ. It's true. I think Donald Trump is a little entertaining when he talks. Have fun listening to him because it's kind of entertaining to listen to him. And when I hear rhetoric that angers, and I even see Christians getting angry and it drives me crazy. We need to close the borders and not let a single Muslim in the country. Look, we're gonna get attacked no matter what. Just accept it. Let me just help you. Satan is behind these things and we will get attacked. Same thing when people were kicking and screaming and crying about Mexico and these kids being allowed into the borders. People, be sober and be vigilant. You know what God is doing by allowing these people to come into the country? God is bringing the mission field to you. Show them the love of Jesus because that is the only thing that will keep somebody from blowing themselves up to bits. I spoke to a Muslim recently who was in tears and crying and I said this, you believe that if you martyr yourself, you believe that if you kill yourself, you will have this promise of things in heaven, but your own Bible, your own holy book tells you that Allah is the chief of deceivers. How can you trust Him? How can you trust Him? It says in the Greek in John 1-1, In Archi, In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He is the living, breathing word and everything that came out of His mouth and proceeded from His life is truth. Powerful words. And we have an opportunity to go to Muslims and we have an opportunity to say, I have something that you don't and I wanna give it to you because Jesus loves you. Folks, contrary to popular belief, you don't need to use the Quran to minister to a Muslim. Muslims know the Quran better than you could ever know it. When I was on my way to Morocco on a mission trip, actually coming back, I sat down by a young man who by the time he was age 16, which is indicative of the way most young Muslim men are, he had the Quran memorized from cover to cover. What he needs is he needs the word of God. He needs to be told and you know what he told me? This broke my heart guys. You know what he told me? He said, you know what James, I've talked to a lot of guys who said they've been walking with the Lord for 25, 30 years with your God and you know what, not a single one of them know the Bible enough to even know where some of the references are that I've referenced. As a matter of fact, you're the first person, this broke my heart. I was 16 years old, he told me this. You're the first person I've ever spoken to, well maybe 17. You're the first person I've ever spoken to that said you've actually read the Bible through from cover to cover. How sad. But we do live in a society that is very sensationalistic, don't we? Don't we? Even amongst the churches today, there's this movement that says let's be entertained and let's have fun and let's do this and let's do that. And there's nothing wrong with being joyful in that blooper video. I was dying back then, that's great. But one of the things that we need to do is hunker down and get into the word of God and be vigilant and be sober and keep our eyes open. Why? Because the enemy lurks around the corner waiting to destroy you, waiting to kill you. And in case you haven't noticed, Jesus Christ is coming back. Look at the world today, guys, listen. There is nothing in the Bible that has to happen. Nothing in order for us to be raptured at this very moment. The Lord can come from His church at this very moment. In Thessalonians it says this, it says at the sound of a trumpet, what? He will what? He will call His people to Him. He's literally referring to the rapture and you know what? I used to be all scared. I used to be in the night movies, you know? You've been left behind. I used to watch those things and get all freaked out, man. I'd go to bed and I'm like, God, I'm out of time. I'm gonna cut my head off because I'm not gonna accept the mark at all. And you know what the apostle Paul told the church that Thessalonians, he said, listen, those words, the story of the Lord coming back for you encourage one another with those words. Give them hope because our hope is in the fact that Jesus Christ is coming back soon. I said this, listen to this. I said that to somebody recently and they told me, but James, don't you wanna get married first before the Lord comes back? And I know what he was implying. We're all adults here, right? And I don't mean to sound disrespectful but this is what I told him. I said, think of the most pleasurable experience you can ever have and heaven is so much better that human words cannot even express it. So why in the world wouldn't I be more excited about Jesus coming back than anything else? And you know what? I know my fiance is not offended hearing those words. You wanna know why? Because she knows I love God more than her and she loves God way more than she loves me and you wanna know what, that's awesome because if I can love God more than I love her then I will always know how to love her. You see that? To God be the glory, you guys. I want you to focus on the encouragement of being sober and being vigilant. That is an important encouragement but I want you to focus more on the reason why we are told to be sober and vigilant. The reason is because the enemy wants to destroy us. Listen guys, he is looking for a way to kill us on a regular basis. He is watching us, he is studying us, he is learning our habits, he is learning our practices, he is seeking to understand us, he is seeking to know us and he wants to take advantage of every single loophole that he can find to destroy you. Listen to me, he hates your guts. He hates you. He wants to gut you and he wants you to burn in hell with him. If you think hell is gonna be some, oh yeah, party in hell, yeah. No, hell was designed guys, not for you, it was designed because of the rebellion that took place with the Lord and in front of the Lord by the angels. It was designed for the demons and for Satan. But because of our yielding to sin and our imperfection, we must be judged and because of that judgment, we belong there but because of the grace of God and the mercy of God, we don't have to go to hell and you know what, here's the beautiful part about that. Listen, Christianity is a lot more than fire insurance. Christianity is the opportunity to realize and understand that Jesus people community is a opportunity to realize and understand that God wants to give us a victory even though we have an enemy that wants to destroy us on a regular basis. Look at what he follows up with and I want you to pay attention to this and we'll close. He says this, he says, whom resist steadfast, notice this, in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world but the God of all grace who have called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that you have suffered a while may make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you to him be the glory and dominion for ever all men. There's an interesting word that we see here, it's grace. It's the same word where we get Charisma from, Charisma. The Greek word is Charis and what it means is this, it's very simple. God looks upon you favorably. You might be sitting here and saying, oh man, I can't do any of this, I messed up and you might even be sitting here going, I'm higher than a kite or you could even be sitting here and saying, I just murdered somebody. Do you know that God still looks upon you favorably? Do you know that he loves you so much that he desires to enter into your life and to change you? And part of being vigilant and sober is understanding this, you ready? That there is a world around you of people that are suffering for the name of Christ but they all share the same comfort and glory that Christ is with all, who serve and follow him. There is a hope, I love the phrase that he puts here. He says, you suffer a little while and what will he do, he will make you perfect and establish, strengthen, settle you. This is Elizabethan English, King James for saying, he's gonna set you in cement and you will be unmovable because that cement is founded in Jesus Christ. I don't have to get into the details, I'll just say this, as a young guy, I had an opportunity to sit down with the pastors that have been in ministry longer than I've been alive. I'm part of a group of men that serve in some areas with the Calvary Chapel movement and I'm privileged to be a part of that. Pastor Jeff has always been my Paul. He discipled me, Jeff Johnson, I love him so much and I'm privileged to be able to serve by his side and I had an opportunity to sit with some of the guys that have been around for a while, your pastor being in that group. And I said this to them, I said there's a lot of young people that are putting pressure about doing the trendy thing. They're bringing up things that we shouldn't even be discussing as pastors. They're wanting to know if it's right to drink as a pastor. Are you out of your mind? Are you crazy? Here's the thing I wanna tell you guys, you guys that have been established in the faith. For you, the best is yet to come. We need you guys more than we ever have. We need to see you unmovable. We need to see the firm foundation solid that as a younger generation, we may learn from the example because a wind of doctrine, here's the reason why I said that. There is a wind of doctrine that is coming upon that is causing our hearts to be hardened towards the gospel. And in doing so, the harder we become, the more movable we become. And as the wind blows by, what happens? We fall away. I love what this says because it says as you remain sober and as you remain watchful, understanding that the enemy seeks to devour you stays steadfast in everything that you've been taught. Apply it, practice it, function in it, live in it, immerse yourself in it. And God is gonna do this. Here's the promise. He is going to do what? Make you perfect. What perfect means is complete, whole. Not knocking anything, not seeking to get entertained by the latest and greatest, not seeking to move on to the newest thing. And notice what it says? To establish and strengthen and settle you. In other words, to put you in a place where you are unmovable. And once you are put in that place where you are unmovable, he will strengthen you in that position. And you know the best part about it is he's gonna settle you in that position. In other words, you're gonna be put in that position and you're gonna be at peace. Folks, in case you haven't noticed, the whole world around us is falling apart. San Bernardino is a perfect example. You look at what happened, folks. That was inspired satanically by a religion and a practice that is satanic in its origin and its nature. And the deception that is being founded out even now is continuing. Do you know that the leader of the mosque that that man belonged to, that the terrorist Mr. Faruk belonged to actually denied having any knowledge of him? And it recently found out that he was a fixture in that mosque and they were very close. Do you blame him? That's what their holy book is taught. And by the way, everything I'm telling you guys should not anger you. What it should do is it should inspire you to love God more than you've ever loved him to be open, to be vigilant, to stand strong, and to be that just silent, strong, powerful warrior for the Lord that is not moved. And you give them the hope that lies within you. I believe that the spirit of God wants to move in a great way and I believe the only reason why the spirit of God fails to move in our lives is because we don't allow him to. But I believe, brothers and sisters, fellow community members, that the spirit of God wants to move in you tonight. And I wanna beg you as we close this up. This is my, I beg you for this. Pay attention to the last exhortation here. He says to him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. In other words, eternally never stopping. Here's what I wanna beg you for. You might very easily be emotionally moved right now and listen, I can be a very emotional person. I kinda got that person, yeah praise the Lord, let's get on, I'm that kind of person. I'm very aggressive and I'm appreciative of the fact that people get moved and emotional. There's nothing wrong with the emotion but I beg you, please do not allow tonight to be a time where you're just emotional, you make a quick decision and then you fade off like a firework. Let tonight be the night where you can look back and say God touched me in a way that I will be transformed for the power of God in my life and I will be able to say to him be the glory forever and ever and to him have the dominion forever and ever and I will not be moved because God has established me. Brothers and sisters, may we be those people tonight. I wanna give you an opportunity. I think the worship group is gonna come up and I wanna give you an opportunity to make that decision. To say I want to establish the word of God in my heart tonight. I want to make that steadfast commitment. Can I just tell you, count the cost of that commitment, right? It might be a little painful. It might be a little hard. I'm not gonna promise you bliss. This may end up being one of the most difficult years of your life. I'm coming on the heel of having some of the most difficult years of my life but yet through it all I see the faithfulness of God. I see the sweet scent of God coming forth from my life and I'm seeing people's lives being changed and it's my prayer that you would be those people. May this be a moment where you completely even forget the way I look. Don't even think about me. Think about what God wants to do in your life. If he can change me, my God, he can change you and when you see the lost and dying world around you, when you see the news that another terrorist blew themselves up to kill somebody, don't be angry, be sad, be heartbroken. That's another life that at the very moment they said, Allahu Akbar, Muhammad Rasool Allah and they pulled the trigger and killed themselves, ended up hearing the words, go to hell, I never knew you. May our hearts break for those people. The enemy hates the work of God. He hates you but the way we overcome that is we let God protect us and we stay as close to God as we possibly can. One closing thing and we'll pray. I have a friend. They call him Abu Nazakariah. He is a very popular man in the Middle East. Actually he was an Egyptian Coptic priest for many years and he left that ministry so that he can do what? So that he could actually preach the gospel to Muslims. He is one of the most effective evangelists in the world today for Muslims. Right now there are sheikhs in Saudi Arabia that have a $280 million bounty on his head. This man is almost 90 years old. You think for a second the enemy is not working hard to take the lives of those that are effective? If you're here and you're struggling and you're having trials and you're wondering why there's a fog and you wonder why there's pain and you wonder why there's hardship and you wonder why there's difficulty, it might be because God is doing something wonderful in your life or is on the verge of doing something wonderful in your life and you know what he wants to use you but Satan hates you. May we bind together as a community of Jesus people and say, Lord God, change my life. Establish me firm in your word.