Ezra / Nehemiah: Rebuilding Community While Facing Resistance (Part 11) Is All Sin Just Sin?

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning good morning but glad to be in God's house today it's a beautiful been a beautiful couple days strung together and it's nice to be able to gather together to worship and we hope that as you're here this morning that you're ready and that God's met you where you are again we we pray for you every Sunday before we come in and before you get here while we're worship practicing songs and we pray and ask God to bless us and to have us ready to meet him and to open our ears and our hearts and our minds so that we don't miss out on anything that he has for us today we'll pray and then we'll sing together father God we thank you for this day we thank you for your goodness for your mercy for your love we thank you for meeting us where we are God that's the amazing thing about you we don't have to put on errors we don't have to pretend because you see us you know us you see through our charades you see through the smoking mirrors that sometimes we put up in front of other people and you know who we are God I pray that today that you would speak to our hearts that you would um help us as we sing these songs God to praise you and to honor you as we open your word and we look at it today I pray that you would be glorified and father I pray that we'd walk out the door different than who we were when we walked in even if we were ready to meet you today God we could be energized we could be encouraged we could be ready we could be willing to go out and help somebody else understand why they need you in their life so God we ask that you would be the center of everything that we do this morning we ask that you would be the one that we give everything to Father everything because you gave everything for us we can't even contemplate the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross and what that cost but God you did it for each one of us and for everyone who will turn their life over to you what a special special gift you've given us Lord may we honor that gift this morning in Jesus name we pray amen all right let's all stand together we're going to learn a new song this morning it's called in Jesus name and it's got a beat to it so I hope you're awake if you're not you will be [Music] God is on our side he over he overcome we will not be Shen we will not be moved Jesus you are [Music] God is for us God is on our side he overc us he has overcome we will not be taken we will not be L Jesus you are [Music] our he has overcome yes he has overcome we will not be sh we will not be you [Music] are I [Music] will [Music] the the god [Music] he overc he over we will not be we will not be Jesus you [Music] are I will live I will not [Music] will I will be with you I n [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] pting up the [Music] king the name of Jesus and and we will sh cing out F ping [Music] back and we will it out it out [Music] [Applause] the ever and we it out it fting for Ping [Music] back it out it out not [Music] res I I will not die I will and live to I [Music] now next time we sing it we'll keep to the Clapping part there's a little clapping part to goes along with that song and I know sometimes when we start to clap in here everybody's good for about the first two or three stas and then everybody's tired of clapping um but this one's got a cool sound when we do it again the next time um let's tone it down just a little bit um a little swing sound here um just a closer walk with [Music] the I am weak but th are strong [Music] Jesus Keep Me From I'll be Satisfied as all as I walk let me walk close to the [Music] closer Jesus is [Music] my walking close to thee let it [Music] be let it be [Music] my people like his [Music] Lord for me will be no more God to th kingom to th close the gr Jesus is [Music] my walking to let it be let [Music] it you know we got to throw an oven like that in every once in a while huh how many of you know that from when way back into time machine anybody yeah yeah and uh you know there are songs like that that that have been updated like that with this nice little swing beat to it and it's something you just want to sing and you want to keep going I know there's more verses to that song than what's up there but two's enough for today and uh we're going to sing another song because we want to make sure that we understand that while we're gathered here the way that we hear from God is through his word and through the holy spirit that uses God's word and his presence to help us understand so the next song that we're going to sing is Holy Spirit [Music] there's nothing worth that could ever compos no can compare you're our living your presence [Music] i' tasted and S of the sweetest of where my heart becomes free and my shame is [Music] undone your presence Lord [Music] Holy Spirit you are here come this place and fill the atmosphere your glory god is what our hearts for to be overcome by your presence Lord your [Music] presence there's nothing more could ever come can compare you're living home your [Music] prence tasted and of the where my heart becomes free and my shame [Music] is your presence [Music] [Music] this place and will the atmosphere your glory god is what our hearts long to be overcome by your [Applause] [Music] presence [Music] your let's become more aware of your presence let us experience the glory of your goodness let us become more aware of your presence let us experience the glory of your good let us more of your presence let us experience the glory of good let us become more of your presence let us experience the glory of [Music] your Holy Spirit you are here this place and fill the atmosphere your glory god is what our hearts long for to be overcome by your presence Lord y'all can have a seat we're going to sing one more song this morning normally we only do three but we thought you on at the end of the service last week and we're going to sing it today um it's U God really loves us by David Crowder [Music] I've Got a Friend closer than a brother there is no judg Oh How He Loves Me I got a friend and he is my strength and he is my por with me in the valley with me in the fire with me in the St let all my life [Music] T [Music] Hallelujah we are not alone God really loves us God really loves us [Music] hallelujah oh praise my soul God really loves us God really loves his Mercy is his grace is [Music] suff so needing forgiveness or healing his mercies this is [Music] our theet has broken death is the Lord Christ is the Lord this is [Music] our [Music] hallelu we are not alone God really loves us God really L us [Music] hallelujah oh praise my soul God really loves us God really loves [Music] us oh [Music] oh what a father what a friend What A Savior he is what a father what a friend What A Savior he is hallelujah we are not [Music] alone God really loves us God really loves us hallelu Oh Praise My Soul God really loves us God really l what a father what a friend What A Savior he is what a father what a friend what a Savor he is what a father what a friend What A Savior he is what a father father what a friend What A Savior he is God we praise you we thank you that you are the one you're everything when you told Moses I am you basically said you're everything that we'll ever need to face anything that we ever have to face to walk through any Valley that we ever have to walk through and God we thank you that your strength is enough enough your grace is enough we don't need to rely on ourselves we can truly and completely rely on you and some people might look at that and see it as a weakness but God what we know is this when we rely on you we cannot be overcome when we love you and we trust you and we believe in you you equip us and strengthen us to stand against every storm that comes in life we're not alone when you're in our life we're never alone and father if we're feeling alone it's because we've not listened to you we've not looked for you and we've not grown close to you so help us Lord to understand that you are not only father friend and savior you're everything everything that we'll ever need thank you for that in Jesus name we pray amen we're going to take a little diversion today and build on what we were talking about last week in Ezra chapter 9 we'll be back in Ezra next week but I really wanted to stop and clarify some things um sometimes I think things that are said in church are that christianese language that people into church and insiders kind of sort of understand it or have accepted it that's the reality but not everybody understands exactly all the things that we talk about as far as our belief system goes as far as what the Bible says and about what it means to live in a relationship with Christ So today we're going to talk about um Ezra last week we said that he prayed and when he prayed he interceded for the people of Jerusalem he was praying for his people and over and over again he was asking God to forgive them of their sin okay sin we talk about Sin most the people in the world don't understand the concept of sin people who don't have any religious or religious understanding Christian understanding they don't have a real concept of what sin is and we know what sin is and for a long time you know people would be yelled at and called Sinners and things like that we have to understand that no argument is ever going to help anybody find their way into into heaven no argument but if we can help people understand that sin is something that separates us from from God and that sin is a real Concept in the real world and all of us are born Sinners aren't we doesn't the Bible say we're all born into sin the sin that Adam and Eve committed in the garden and a lot of people think that's just a nice little story a nice little myth but if you don't believe that's true you can't believe anything else in the Bible is true can you so the question I want to answer today is all sin just sin now we say that all sin separates us from God and we talk about the fact last week a little bit that there are certain denominations that think that there are mortal sins and venial sins mortal sins you're going to hell no matter what you can't even be forgiven to that and venial sins are stuff that you can ask for forgiveness for and and be forgiven but that's not how it's broken down in the Bible at all okay and we're going to talk about the fact that the biblical writers use different words to refer to sin in its many forms how many of you know that sin comes in many many forms different things that we are tempted by that we fall into temptation is not a sin but what we do with that Temptation can be sin okay Jesus said you don't even have to act it out for it to be sin if you've already done it in your mind it's sin wow man that's a concept we don't hold on to very much is it you know that when you're trying to keep yourself and keep your hands in your pockets cuz you already thought about choking somebody out you know um if you did it in your mind you did it you need to ask for forgiveness right we don't stop that way do we we don't think about stuff like that because we just figure well that was just a stray thought that ran across my mind well if a stray thought runs across your mind and you don't dwell on it it goes but if you think about it and you really are man yeah yeah you're in trouble cuz you just sinned you did and in Psalm 325 this one verse sin or iniquity and transgression are all mentioned now in the New Living Translation which I'm going to read to you first it breaks it down just a little differently there's no difference in the meaning there's different words that are used so we're going to find Psalm 325 to start out with and we're going to read what sin looks like from David's perspective of course David was the king of Israel all of Israel not just Israel and Judah or when they were broken up but the whole the whole country and David did some things that David shouldn't have done and he always that's how he became known as a man after God's Own Heart was that he always went back and asked God for forgiveness when he sinned um and in Psalm 325 in the New Living Translation it says finally I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt I said to myself I will confess my Rebellion to the Lord and you forgave me all my guilt is gone okay now as we look at that there are words there that are used sin guilt rebellion and guilt again now if we sin are we guilty yes if we sin are we rebelling yes we are and Rebellion is the same as Disobedience and the Bible says that's the same as witchcraft to rebel against God to be disobedient to God carries the same penalty as witchcraft think about that when you know what God wants you to do and you don't do it and you rebel against God you're just the same as somebody who practices witchcraft we don't like to hear that kind of stuff do we because we want to be the Arbiters we want to be the ones who decide how severe our sin is how much did I how far did I cross the line well you know what when you're picking your foot up to go across the line you've already crossed the line does that make sense to everybody we don't like to look at it that way and you know in a lot of churches out there in America today and across the world they don't even talk about Sin anymore they just talk about God's grace well if you don't sin you don't need God's grace do you if you sin do you need God's grace absolutely you do because without God's grace there's no hope for forgiveness for our sins and we need to make sure that we understand it and in the King James version I'd like to read that it says I acknowledge my sin to you I did not cover my iniquity I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin so the words there that are translated from King James to new new uh Living Translation of course sin is the same word guilt is Iniquity and transgression is rebellion and again iniquity and sin are mentioned in those words in the King James version it doesn't make it any different but it don't talk about transgression anymore do you when's the last time that you heard that somebody transgressed something H it's an old word when's the last time you heard about inequity iniquity not inequity iniquity when's the last time you heard of iniquity huh never we don't hear those words anymore so when the translators come through and they go back to the original documents to bring It Forward they try to find a word that people speak today that they understand understand it doesn't change the meaning guilt is guilt Rebellion is rebellion Sin is Sin correct but as we look at the scriptures there's always different ways in which it's presented so basically the three words communicate the same idea evil and lawlessness as defined by God evil and lawlessness is defined by God we don't get to be the ones who decide what's sin and what's not sin God decides that doesn't he we don't get to decide who's going to heaven and who's not going to heaven God decides that doesn't he he does and one of the things that God has told us and left for us is a scripture that says you will know them by their fruits that means you know whether somebody's surrendered to God by what comes out of their life you know whether somebody's living by their old sin nature or living by the new nature that Christ gives them by what comes out of their life now that doesn't account for that one time that you might see somebody fall down flat on their face make a mistake or sin on purpose but that's not generally who they are and they they ask for forgiveness I'm talking about people whose life demonstrates demonstrates unquestionably whether they're living in sin or whether they're living for God and that's the only two options that are really out there that's it two options we're either living for God or we're living for the world and we've talked about the fact that being a friend of the world makes us an enemy of God because we're doing what the people in the world are doing which means we're sinning just like them and if we're sinning just like them what are we doing to God we're rebelling against God correct does that make sense and we're going to unpack this a little bit more as we go down through today upon closer examination each word also carries a significantly but slightly different meaning so we're going to look at what sin is we're going to look at what iniquity is we're going to look at what transgression is based on what the Bible says not varying degrees of sin because it is sin different types of sin okay now let's do this there are different sins but you can take those sins and you can categorize them into three different categories General sin iniquity and transgression okay just like murder stealing gossiping you you've got different names for sins but there are also three different categories of sin and everybody said but Pastor Ron we just wanted to come in here and hear something good and fun and nice today we don't want to hear about this stuff do you know why I'm doing this today so you can help somebody else out there that you know understand what sin really is because if you don't understand what it is you can't help somebody else understand what it is and you know yesterday I went up by Pittsburgh and I went to the Renaissance Festival and of course I was all dressed up in one of my outfits and I was up there hanging out and I I'm just mind blown I cannot count on both hands and both feet how many men were there male born dressed like women women's dresses boier all that kind of stuff okay um women's shoes women's dress women's haird women's stuff in their hair men and let me tell you I can pick a man out I know the difference between a man and a woman anybody else in here know the difference and I watch that and I'm like my God has the world really gone that far do people really not understand that to make yourself think that you're smarter than God is sin and the thing of it is there were people of the opposite gender who were there with them females hanging out with these men who were dressed up like women acting like they were just one of the girls and I'm thinking finally I just had to walk start walking with my head down because I couldn't look up anymore I couldn't look and you know one of the the Renaissance festivals is one of those places where everybody lets their hair down if you've ever been to one it's it's one of those places where the rules are all thrown away and everybody pretty much does what they want to do there's body parts hanging out sometimes that you don't want to see at least parts of them that you don't want to see and you know there's there was belly buttons hanging out and everything else you can think of you know and and it's just one of those things where people go there and there's they're drinking and stuff like that I don't go for any of that stuff I go because I like to go look at things that are Renaissance related and I was looking at swords and I was looking at Armor and I was I was looking at a new Kilt that I might be buying and you know that kind of stuff and everybody's saying oh that's a picture we don't want to can't ever forget that one now well you haven't seen it yet I mean if you can look at Justin's legs you can look at my legs right I will own a kilt because when we reenact it's it's doing that it's that time period you know Scottish people came here Irish people came here they wore Kilts and when I go reenacting I wear that kind of stuff uh I even wear a loin cloth once in a while some people might walk around when I'm doing that and say oh my God you know that's the way I was going yesterday I don't want to see that I do not want to see that but I couldn't very well walk up to one of those people and say do you realize what kind of sin you're committing right now because that would not be the appropriate place to do that it wouldn't it wouldn't be the appropriate appropriate way to do that we need to help people understand the people that we know the people that we love the people that we have a rapport with the people that we care about we need to help them understand what sin is but if we don't understand what it is how do we know how to have it forgiven in our life does that make sense to everybody how can you have your sin forgiven if you don't know what sin is so let's look down through here a little bit sin means to miss the mark basically sin three letter word means to miss the Mark it's an old archery term and everybody shooting for the Bull's Eye if you're in a tournament and you're shooting at the bullseye and you miss the bullseye that's one sin against you okay so every time we don't get exactly what God wants the way exactly what God wants it what did we just do we sinned okay sometimes that's not on purpose sometimes that's just because we didn't think we didn't interact with it we didn't contemplate what might happen we just did something how many of you have ever done that just done something right it's kind of why they put all that fattening sugar stuff up in front of the cash registers at Walmart in the grocery store cuz they know you're just going to impulse by it put it in your buggy pay for it and go right and that's the way some sin is it's just an Impulse because there's still even though we have Christ in our life there is still an ability inside of us to sin do you believe that anybody ever have a problem with that I have sure I have you know there's there's that old part of me that just sometimes it's like it just jumps up out of the Grave like a zombie for one sentence or one thought and then it goes back to where it belongs but it just jumps up you know and I find that all the things I used to do I really don't care about doing anymore don't want to do that but every once in a while if I let my guard down boom there it is nobody else ever has that problem besides me right nobody the Bible says if you call somebody stupid or an idiot you're in danger of the fires of hell because you just judge them okay that's kind of stuff I'm talking about so if you've ever had road rage and you've said things going down the road that were road rage you might have been sined okay also it can refer to doing something against God or against a person we cannot only sin against God we can sin against other people if you look at the Ten Commandments the first five have to do with our relationship with God and the second five have to do with our relationship with people right when we murder somebody it's a sin against God but it's a sin against that person isn't it when we steal something from somebody it's a sin against God but it's also a sin against that person when we gossip about somebody or say something that's not not true because we want to make somebody look bad so we can look better that's a sin against them and do you know sometimes those word bullets will kill you dead than a bullet out of a gun does anybody believe that they absolutely will and we need to be careful that when we're living Our Lives the way we should be living them that we do what God wants and we are honored honoring God with our words we're going to look at Exodus 10:16 it says uh if you remember what was going on in Exodus God let the people go but before he let the people go there was a guy who was stopping that does anybody know what his name was Pharaoh okay we don't know which Pharaoh for sure but it got so bad when God was sending plagues against Pharaoh that he finally realized that something needed to be done about it in Exodus chap 10 ver 16 says Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron I have sinned against the Lord now listen to this I have sinned against the Lord your God because Pharaoh had all of his own Gods didn't he the Egyptians worshiped a Pantheon of gods he said I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you he confessed forgive my sin and plead with the Lord your God to take away this death from me what was going on there there was this giant plague of locust that was in Egypt and it was killing everything it was killing all the plants people couldn't get out of their houses they were sweeping them up they were there was death all around them and Pharaoh finally got to the point where he was starting to say well you know maybe there is some power to this God why don't you pray to your God and ask him to forgive me have you ever had anybody come up to you and say well you prayed why don't you pray for me because they know they can't pray why because there's God is not the god of the Bible I mean and we got to be careful when people that we know aren't living a life for Christ when they say they'll pray for us we should say that's okay never mind don't worry about it God ain't going to hear you anyhow if you want to get a look from somebody you tell them that one time what do you mean well the Bible says that the only one God hears are those who belong to him that's it the only first prayer that God ever hears from anybody that doesn't belong to him is I God forgive me for I'm a sinner I'm repenting of my sin that's the only prayer that God ever hears from a lost person you hear that and then once you become his the Bible says that when we pray God answers when we pray he answers and Pharaoh saw in Moses the power of God and he said you pray to your God that he'll stop this but then we know that Pharaoh didn't let the people go right it took the death of the firstborn of all the kids all the people of Egypt for pharaoh to finally break down and say okay get out of here take whatever you want and go but as soon as they were gone he changed his mind again right and a lot of people do that pray to God for me so I can go feel better about myself and I'm going to go back to doing what I was doing before did you help them if you did that no what you should do is pray and say God why don't you just convict them till they finally turn their lives over to you why don't you put whatever obstacle in their life whatever it takes and let me tell you what when you pray to God for whatever it takes you better be ready for the consequences of whatever it takes does that make sense you know we pray for our kids sometime and say God whatever it takes and then when Calamity happens or tragedy happens we wonder what happened and well you prayed that God would do whatever it took to get their attention okay and sadly sometimes hard things have to happen in people's lives for them to get for God to get their attention for them to realize it could have been a whole lot worse and that they could be dead and they have to stop and think about what do I do with my understanding of who God is do I really know who God is is God really part of my life you got to look at that and it happens to all of us at some point in our lives I would say that everybody in this room and everybody that's watching on Facebook and everybody who will hear this on the radio has probably had some situation like that happen in their life where you've had to contemplate is there a god or is there not a God and and you know if you have a good relationship with God and something goes wrong you're ready to be with him if you didn't and you don't you're scared does that make sense all right well as we look a little further here doing the opposite of what's right is also sin turn to Galatians chapter 5 if you would we're going to start in verse 16 Galatians chapter 5:1 16 doing the opposite of what is right is sin but in the world that we live in today you have to believe that there is right right and wrong not different degrees of right and wrong there it's either right or it's wrong right and wrong is very objective not subjective it's not open to somebody's opinion so Galatians chapter 5 we're going to start in verse 16 I'm going to read a little bit more than what you have on your notes there so I say let the holy spirit guide your lives then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves so if we already belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us we still have a battle with our sinful nature does anybody believe that this morning we do okay the sinful nature wants to do evil which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants and the spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires these two forces are constantly fighting each other so you're not free to carry out your good intentions and then look at verse 19 it says when you follow the desires of your sinful nature the results are very clear sexual immorality impurity lustful Pleasures idolatry sorcery hostility quarreling jealousy Outburst of anger selfish ambition dissension division Envy drunkenness wild parties and other sins like these let me tell you again as I have before that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God not my opinion not my opinion God's truth and it doesn't mean somebody who has done that once in their life that means somebody who when you look at their life that is the fruit of their life okay that's what I was talking about a minute ago that is sin all those things are sin but look at verse 22 but the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control verse 24 those who belong to Jesus Christ have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there since we're living by the spirit let us follow the spirit's leading in every part of our Lives let us not become conceited or provoke one another or be jealous of one another because you know what all those three things are sin if we provoke somebody poke the bear how many of you have ever poked the bear what happens when you poke the bear you might just get growled at you might get swatted or you might get bit right don't poke the bear that's Prov Ching somebody that's sin that's agitating and aggravating to get a negative response that's exactly what it is okay that's sin now teasing somebody's a different thing there's a difference between teasing somebody and poking the bear poking the bear you mean it did Heather just poke you the old oh the one on the end poked you she got a long arm dude you're sitting on the opposite end of the row from her there's a difference between teasing and poking to bear right if you're just teasing somebody and having fun with them but you know let me tell you there are some people you just can't tease with have you ever met somebody that you can't have fun with teasing them around let me tell you I've had people you know they say what's the matter Pastor Ron do you like me anymore I said listen the day I quit teasing you will be the day you know something's wrong between us because that's what I do it's what I do I tease people I pick on people there's a difference between that and poking the bear okay if you poke the bear you want a bad response also um it's doing something that will have negative results let's look at Proverbs Chapter 24: 33-34 Proverbs 24 33-34 and we're going to see that some of our behaviors are actually sinful behaviors because it brings a negative response let's look at what it says a little extra sleep and a little more Slumber a little folding of the hands to rest then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit scarcity will attack you like an armed robber why do we teach our kids responsibility why do we teach our kids to get up and go get a job why do we give them chores at our at home because we want to teach them to be productive individuals productive human beings in society what's Society doing now it's paying everybody to stay at home do nothing don't help and we'll just give you money okay well well it says here that if you sleep in instead of getting up to go to work if you just always tired and you're always just wandering around folding your hands not putting your hands to work to do anything poverty is aurity isn't it and the Bible also says that whoever doesn't work shouldn't eat if people have the ability to work and they won't work don't feed them but what do we have how many percent of our population in the United States get free money every month to feed themselves but they don't spend it on good food they feed it on spend it on whatever they spend it on and they just keep getting more money more money more money more money but they don't ever have to go get a job and they don't have to do anything to be productive in the society there are a certain amount of people that can't be productive they're either they they are physically impaired or mentally impaired or whatever but let me tell you we got some lazy people in United States of America lazy people and they need to get to work and they need to get a job and they need to be productive but what do we do we just keep giving more money away because that's how you buy votes isn't it you give money away to buy votes a chicken in every pot that's back in the 40s okay a chicken in every pot and it's been going now now you can get a car you can get a phone you can get whatever you want for free but guess what how many of you have ever learned anything that nothing in this world is free who else pays for Everybody's Free Stuff the people who are productive and the people who are doing things and so you know if somebody doesn't and I tell you I've known Generations like three and four generations of people who are living off the government Dole because that's what their parents did it's what their grandparents did it's what their great-grandparents did and now they're living off the Dole there are 18-year-old kids getting out of school wanting to go on welfare get a job it's a sin to do nothing does that make sense Pastor Ron you're not a very compassionate guy you just don't understand yeah I do I was raised in a different world than we live in today and I was raised that everybody is responsible for who they are and what they do and you can't blame your problems on anybody else you can't blame it on who raised you you can't blame it on where you lived you can't blame it on anything else but the decisions that you make but in our world today Satan has made it so that everybody has a victimized mentality and they can blame it on somebody else if that's the case why is it if you have three kids growing up in the same house one of them's productive one of them is kind of sort of productive and the other one's a freeloader one of them's never in trouble one of them kind of walks on the edge of trouble and the other one's always in trouble how is it that three different people coming out of the same home getting the same kind of input can have three different outcomes because the choices they make make and we've taken away personal responsibility and Christianity has taken away personal responsibility in that we just say okay let's pray this prayer God forgive me for whatever I may have done you know what you did why not just say it right God bless everyone in the world we do that kind of prayer when we pray for sin if you said something you shouldn't have said you go to God and say God I shouldn't have said that and if you said it to somebody you go to them and you apologize for saying it just like Pharaoh did he went to Moses and I don't really think Pharaoh was sorry I just think Pharaoh found himself in a crack that his Gods couldn't get him out of and he thought if that if you're God that's powerful you pray to him maybe he'll make this go away we don't like to hear this kind of stuff I know it's hard but you know it's failing to do something you know is right James 4:17 says if you know what to do and you don't do it it's sin if you know what you're supposed to do and you don't do it it's sin well what category of sin is that Pastor Ron well it's sin okay it depends on how much time you thought about it whether it becomes iniquity or transgression does that make sense to everybody you know if you just made a split decision and and it was a bad decision it's sin but if you thought about it and you knew what the outcome was going to be and you still did it it moves to a whole different category but it's still sin it's still Disobedience to God it is still disregarding what God wants God's truth and we need to make sure that our lives are such that when people see us they know that we're different from people in the world okay we all just want to fit in we all just want to get along it's okay to hang around people who aren't like yourself because the person I was with yesterday with me I'm trying to help him understand there's a difference in life between the world and relationship with Christ okay and it was so hard for me yesterday to not just go ballistic when I was walking around up there you know of course I had my boots on up to here and I had on my pants and my my my frilly shirt with the big puffy sleeves and my tri corn hat on you know I was a pirate yesterday I like to adult dress up I do but you will never find me in a dress or tights or a botier or any of that stuff because I'm not a very good-look guy and I make a really ugly woman and that's what I find is all of them look like men they don't look like women so how are you going to say that I'm something different than I am if everybody looks at you and says that's what you are how you going to do that because you've decided that you are the Arbiter of what's right and what's wrong in your life and you don't care about what God says and you don't care about what anybody else thinks that's not what it's all about that's not what it means to be a follower of Christ let's talk about transgression transgression refers to presumptuous sin all right that's failing to observe the permitted and appropriate guidelines or outlines you know when you are presumptuous hey they got invited to the party so I guess I can just come too Wedding Crashers have you ever seen that movie Wedding Crashers they just thought they would come to the party they didn't get invited but they came to the party and they came to the party to crash the party okay it's presuming that you have the right to do whatever you want to do regardless of any outcome any guidelines it's like when somebody is going down the road and they're just saying oh the speed limit says 55 and I'm going 80 you're just presuming there's not a cop somewhere that's going to stop you and give you a tick it right we presume that we can get away with it because if nobody saw it it didn't happen no harm no foul that's presumptuous sin that's transgression that's not caring what the outcome is because you're going to do what you want to do regardless of what the outcome is but you're thinking I'm going get away with it the Bible says be sure that what you do under the cover of Darkness will be exposed By the Light you hear that have you ever seen seen the commercial and I haven't seen it for a long time cuz I don't think it works anymore uh have you ever seen the commercial where if you get this certain little thing and you plug it into your car it'll determine what your insurance rate's going to be remember Geico used to do that Progressive used to do that they gave you this little Gizmo you plugged it into your car and it hooked into your car's computer and it told them how many times a day you speed when you go from one place to another it told them how many times you wed on the brakes because you were going too fast and didn't pay any attention my car my little red hot tamale that sits out here it's got a thing on it that if you hit the Rumple strip or if you just if you're weaving in and out of traffic going it'll puts a little coffee cup on there and says you should consider stopping and taking a break the first time I saw that I flipped out you should consider taking a break I'm thinking holy crap it's got a beeper in the front of it if you're coming up on somebody too quick it's got a beeper on the back of it if you're backing out and somebody's within a 500 yard radius or where you're backing up it's got something over here on this one mirror that goes when you're trying to get over and somebody's behind you it's got one over here that does the same thing and then I'm thinking okay okay I'll stay in the lane leave me alone leave me alone but you know the holy spirit's kind of like that that sometimes when we're contemplating sinning and we're presuming we're going to get away with it if we really belong to God there's that still Small Voice that impression that says M uh-uh no don't you know better H that scripture that you memorize comes back up or you know sometimes God has to give me a Jethro slap on the back of the head to help me understand that don't but how many of us are hard-headed enough that we still do we do okay it's The Human Condition but it doesn't mean that we ought not to try to do it better that we ought not to try to be who God wants us to be transgression is to choose to intentionally and willfully disobey God that means you know what's right you know what's wrong you know what God wants and you choose to do everything but what God wants that's transgression you choose on purpose intentionally with Vigor to do what you want to do nobody forced you to do it you couldn't you I was so weak I couldn't resist the temptation you know that was my dad's line he was in his older years he was diabetic and every time somebody would have something sweet he would get some of it and somebody' say hey you're not supposed to have that he said I can resist anything but Temptation how many of you have the same problem I can resist anything but Temptation well what are we supposed to resist temptation right and how we result how we respond to Temptation whether it's a Temptation in our own mind to do something we know on purpose that's not right or whether we decide to do differently that's on us that's on us and that sin counted against us do you hear that if we intentionally do something wrong that sin counted against us and the Bible says he who knows what is right and who has been forgiven by God if he goes back to sin and intentionally there no longer remains a sacrifice for that sin that means you got to ask God for forgiveness when you do that you just can't expect that he's going to forgive you for it do you hear me you got to ask for forgiveness God doesn't just forgive and let us go on and it's also to blatantly blatantly disregard God's Authority blatantly when you blatantly do something everybody sees it right most of the time sure sorry my me my meter keeps going off on me I don't understand why it's my Dexcom sorry if you you hear that beeping it's my Dexcom says it's not communicating this morning so um apologize for that let's look at iniquity all right we've already looked at sin we've looked at transgression let's look at iniquity that refers to the premeditated choice to sin and to continue in the sinful State without repentance so it's even one step further than transgression transgression is to contemplate it and to do it and iniquity is to stay there once you do it and not to ask for forgiveness so sin is a generalized category for things that are against what God wants transgression is presumptuous premeditated sin where we go and do it even though we know it's not right and iniquity is when we did it because we knew it wasn't right and we knew it was sin but we decide we don't even need to repent from that what spiritual state do we live in H each of us individually what spiritual state do we live in are we just living in general sin are we transgressing or are we living in iniquity because we did it and we don't care if God was mad about it or not well let me tell you if you can stay over there and never come back from over there where the iniquity part is where you decide to stay in the Sin you got to stop and question and say did I ever belong to God in the first place is God a part of my life is God a part of my life if everything you do is against what God wants God's not a part of your life if you're contemplating and presuming and you do something you've said God I'm going to be in charge for right now and I'm and but then you figure it out and the Holy Spirit helps you to understand you got to ask for forgiveness but if you find yourself over here you're no different than what you were when you're over there if you can stay in a in a place of unrepentant sin and not feel any sorrow for it or not feel conviction in your life then you've never had a relationship with Jesus Christ think about that with me would you so sin is all sin and it's all guilt and it's all apart from what God wants but how we interact in the sin that we are part of determines where we stand with God man it's quiet in here this morning it is quiet in here this morning because we don't we don't talk about this stuff enough we don't want anybody looking over our shoulder and we don't even want to look over our own shoulder because we're the worst accountability partner that we could ever have for ourselves aren't we we are because we let ourselves off the hook a lot don't we we sure do David Sim with Bas Sheba is a good example if you if you've ever heard the story of David and bath Sheba I'm not going to read those scripture to you they're there that you can look them up 2 Samuel 1112 David was up on the roof one day at his Palace and he looked over there and not too far away within eyes shot he saw this naked woman taking a bath on the roof of her house and David knew that she was the wife of someone else but David because he was the king and because he had the power like right He-Man said I bring her over here she and David had a little bit of extracurricular activity he sent her home she ends up pregnant her husband is David's personal bodyguard he finds out she's pregnant he says oh no what do I do now well I will call him back from the battlefield and send him over so he can have sex with his wife and that can be covered up and nobody will know that I was ever involved do you hear that so what happens Uriah the hittite bath sheba's husband comes home he knows his job over anything even having Pleasures with his wife is to guard David so he sits at the threshold of David's Palace he won't go home he's saving the man who had sex with his wife and he doesn't know it and David's conscience starts getting the best of him and God starts dealing with David and D David he's just going to try to cover it up so what's he do he tells his other commanders he says you go to the battle and you put him in the hard part of the battle and when it starts really getting tough you guys just all step back and let him die right there because he was trying to kill the man now to cover up his sin do you hear what I'm saying that is Iniquity David stayed in that state he was going to do everything he could to try to get away with it and not have to apologize or do anything because adultery was a stoning AFF uh uh you know response back then you got stoned to death if you were committing adultery and David was the king and he thought he could get by with it he thought he could have power kind of like our politicians in the world today they think they can do whatever they want to do and nobody's ever going to hold them accountable for it and they lie to tell you they didn't do it when you know they did and they say I didn't say that when you see the video and you saw him say it right same kind of thing every time somebody does that that's sin it's absolutely sin and as we see David and baseba David eventually after Uriah is killed he thinks he's going to make it look good and he's going to marry B Sheba and take care of his best friends his bodyguards child and God said no your sin cost you life of that child and when be Sheba was ready to give the baby birth something went wrong it said David laid on his face in front of God for seven days asking God to forgive him for what he' done just to save the life of that baby and basically God said too late that's what it cost that's what your sin cost the life of a child not only the life of a man but the life of a child and you know David had to go through all of that and he got up off the floor and he asked God to forgive him and then he became God's man again so when we do find ourselves falling into the state of transgression or iniquity there has to come something in our life some thing that God uses to get our attention to help us realize we must return to him we've got to ask for forgiveness and we turn our life back over to him and we ask him for forgiveness and here's the amazing thing about God God there's nothing God won't forgive if we're willing to ask him to forgive it and we mean it and we're sincere do you hear that so it sounds like all this stuff just gets us punished by God and separates us from God but there's a there's an answer to that it's repentance repentance that's what gets us the thing that God wants us to have in Micah chap 2 vers1 it says woe to those who plan iniquity to those who plot evil on in in their beds at morning's light they carry it out because it's in their power to do it David did that you know let me tell you most sin in our lives doesn't just happen does it how many of you were forced to wear what you're wearing today in here somebody said these are what you're going to wear today put them on what'd you do you chose to wear what you're going to wear today right and with everything thing we do in life we choose coffee tea soda water lemonade we choose what we're going to drink pizza chicken wings roast beef whatever we choose what we're going to eat to the movies to the restaurant at home to church we choose where we're going to go and when sin comes along and there's a possibility we can participate in it we choose whether we are or whether we're not okay now there's an old saying on all the cop shows you know somebody does something and they didn't know it was against the law and the cop says well we're going to write you ticket well I didn't know it was against the law and the answer is always what I didn't know and the cop's answer is ignorance is no excuse ignorance is no excuse but we try to use an ignorant excuse With God all the time God I didn't know was going to go that way God I didn't know it's was going to be that bad God you know ignorance is no excuse and everyone in the world has sinned and the wages of sin is death everybody who does not repent of their sin the people that you love the people that you rais the people that you hang out with if they do not repent of their sin and turn their lives over to Jesus Christ that sin will take them to a hopeless and a christless eternity separated from Christ forever in hell and then in the Lake of Fire you see this is serious business this is serious as a heart attack this is not words that we're playing word games that we're playing I'm not trying to parse words to say what's sin and what's not Sin Sin is Sin Hell is Hot and Eternity lasts for a long time everybody believe that who do you know that's headed for a hopeless and a christless eternity because of the sin that's in their life you don't get to judge them for eternity but you get the opportunity to help them understand how they need to repent why they need need to repent and what it looks like to repent and that's how you do it you tell your story how did I come to Christ how did I realize I was a sinner what do I do when I sin now you know when I make mistakes what do I do well if you try to sweep it under the rug that's iniquity isn't it when you did it on purpose and you knew what the outcome was going to be and you still did it that's transgression but we all have to ask for forgiveness and hopefully we don't have to go through too many hard times that God puts us through to bring us to there God doesn't Force anyone to turn from their sinful thoughts or deeds you know you can stand there and threaten your kid and say you will clean this room up or else and in our world today there are kids that look back at their parents and say well what are you going to do about it can I tell you there are people in our world today that treat God the same way what are you going to do about it CU God hadn't slapped him with a lightning bolt God hadn't knocked them out of out off the side of a wall or whatever what what God ain't going to do anything God doesn't care I'm do whatever I want there's no consequ quences for that and that's the majority of the people in our world today they don't think there's any consequences for any of the decisions that they make or any of the behaviors that they participate in but I'm here to tell you that when we commit sin it doesn't just affect us it affects other people around us when somebody's in an illicit affair with somebody else they can't act the same way around the person that they're supposed to be with there's a there's a wall there there's something that changes when somebody's looking at something they shouldn't be looking at they're the ones who are slamming the computer shut when somebody comes walking in the room or hurrying to make a page go away or whatever that's the person who does something they shouldn't be doing and all of a sudden they smell like they got dunked in a vat of perfume because they want to cover up the smell or they gargle real quick before they come in the house because they don't want anybody to smell it on their breath right we don't have that option with God God knows what we did he knows when we did it and he knows where we were when we did it he knows whether we were by oursel or with somebody when we did it he knows how long we thought about it before we did it he won't Force us not to do it you see that's the true definition of love you don't force anybody to do anything when somebody truly loves someone else they want to be who that other person would like for them to be God wants us to come to him he will not force us to come to him but he allows opportunities and he puts situations in our lives where we have to decide man what if that would have went a different way where would I be for eternity what if my life doesn't change does that mean I'm going to miss eternity we have to make that determination and the Holy Spirit guides us as we do that iniquity unchecked leads to a state of constant willful sin with no fear of God no fear of consequences no fear that you're ever going to have to stand in front of God here's what I want you to hear this morning the Bible says every person will stand before God at some point in time everybody whether it's at the Great great white Throne judgment for all the people who don't get into heaven and they try to make their case to God and say well you know I did this and this and this and this and this and God says yeah there's this book over here yeah you did that that was a nice thing to do you you helped somebody that needed a Cod or you you you know but this book over here is the one that is the Lamb's Book of Life and it doesn't have your name in it so it doesn't matter how good you were or what you did go to hell you think anybody wants to hear God tell them to go to hell and mean it because God never created hell for people he created it for Satan and all the angels that rebelled against him before the world began and people are going to end up there and it's populated and it's busting at the seams because people don't believe that sin is punishable by death Eternal death and we want to make sure that we help people understand who God is God judges sin but he forgives those who are repentant he does he forgives that's the amazing thing about the God of Christianity there is no Grace in Islam none zero no mercy no Grace I don't care what they tell you if you read the Quran there's no forgiveness no mercy no Grace it's totally based on how well you follow the rules and nobody who dies in that religion knows where they're going to end up nobody even the ones who blow themselves up who are promised Paradise for killing unbelievers they don't know for sure but here's what the Bible says if you have the son you have life if you do not have the son you do not have life I've written these things that you might know that you have eternal life that is 1 John 5: 11- 12 and that's what it says you'll know where you belong and the only reason we know when there's sin in our life and we need to repent is because the holy spirit is there to try to help us understand that what did we ask for today Holy Spirit you're welcome here come flood this place and fill the atmosphere SP right when we're in the presence of God our sin is revealed to us isn't it we know in our heart of hearts we know whether we're walking where God wants us to walk we know where we stand with God and what needs to be confessed God hates rebellion and iniquity but he gives people time to realize their wrongdoing and turn away from it up until somebody's Last Breath they can ask God for forgiveness the thief on the cross was right there he was a murderer he was a thief he was all those things he originally started out by making fun of Jesus just like the other guy on the other side of Jesus but then he saw the compassion in Christ and he saw the love in and he s kept hearing Jesus say father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing and he looked over to Jesus and he said hey when you enter into your kingdom can I go with you do you know what he did right there he recognized who he was and he asked Jesus for forgiveness in not so many words we don't get the whole conversation we just saw that that part and what did Jesus say no you were so bad no way ain't happening what did he say today you'll be with me today you'll be with me in Paradise think about that with me for a second here's the deal how many of you know the exact moment you're going to take your last breath how many of the people that you love and care about know the minute they're going to take their last breath because you know even when somebody's on a ventilator or something like that I've heard of people living for months after they've been on a ventilator they take it off their body's still fighting because the last thing your body your brain stem which is between your spinal cord and your and your head and your bra your brain that that is designed to make you breathe and your heart to beat that's what that that organism in your body does and it will beat and it will make your heart beat and it will keep you alive as long as you can suck air into your lungs somehow or another it wants that's that Primal part of us that wants to live and so that Primal part of us that wants to live is always in a battle against that Primal part of us that's heading for hell do you hear the difference our sinful nature is always wanting to drag us away from God evil and people who play with evil and people who influence by evil are always trying to convince us to don't do what God wants because what God wants doesn't really matter there's never going to be any consequences you just live and you die and there's nothing at the end well if you read the 139th Psalm and you understand that you are fearfully and wonderfully made and that you are Body Soul and Spirit why would God just discard that at the end why wouldn't he make that be something that supersedes even our life on this world the only way that we have hope for eternity is to have our sins forgiven and for believers we're going to have to stand in front of God and give an account for every stray word that came out of our mouth and everything that we didn't confess up until the time we die that doesn't mean we're not getting into heaven so what do we do every day we should ask for God's forgiveness Morning Noon night when you do something wrong ask God to forgive you then you won't have to stand in front of him so long saying yeah yeah yeah I know I did that I'm sorry I'm really sorry now I want to get to heaven and not have to ask God for forgiveness for anything wouldn't you we all have that choice God's angered by transgression but he's merciful to transgressors that seek his forgiveness we're going to look at David's life again Psalm 51 if you'll look there it's not in your notes Psalm 51 and we'll be finished Psalm 51 verse 16 and 17 I love to hear the Bible Pages turning out there psalm 51: 16 and 17 says this you do not desire a sacrifice or I would offer one you do not want a burn offering the the sacrifice you desire is a broken Spirit you will not reject a broken and repentant heart oh God and until our hearts are broken for the sin that we've committed we will never truly repent to God can I say that one more time until our hearts are truly broken over our sinful condition we will never really honestly and truly repent most people are sorry because they got caught most people feel remorse they don't feel repentance and it's very easy to say something about God even though God's not the important part of your life isn't it isn't it God knows God was watching God does does this God does that yeah he does but God has a requirement for those who belong to him and that requirement is that we confess our sins 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us form another word for sin all unrighteousness do you hear that if we confess our sins and a confession is you come clean a confession is not presumptuous a confession is not pretending that you didn't do it a confession is not act and not ever feeling bad about it a confession is coming clean coming clean to God and the only way that our sins are forgiven is when we come clean to God when we ask him for forgiveness when we truly look at ourselves and realize I am not anywhere near where God wants me to be I am not I'm not living my life for God the words that come out of my M mouth are not godly words the things that I do don't have any don't mirac God's desires for me at all and I just can't stand that anymore and I don't want to be in that place anymore I need to ask God for forgiveness right now and you know there's no time like right now right now but what will everybody think Pastor Ron if what everybody thinks is what it causes you to not get your forg sins forgiven by god wow whose opinion is more important God's or somebody else's huh whose opinion is more important well three or four of you believe that I'm not going to say it again because then everybody will say it out loud but we should say it we know it don't we if there's unconfessed sin in our life and it may be hidden sin that you don't remember until you're around that one particular person and all of a sudden it's like comes out and it wants to eat that person right or it's that one thing that you thought you had controlled and when when it comes into your life it's like you got to pull back you got to say no and you know I remember Mrs rean being on TV back in the 80s just say no how hard is it to just say no huh how hard is it to just say no we don't have much willpower when it comes to saying no do we we don't have much willpower when it comes to staying out of sin but we got a of willpower when God is calling us to him and we're fighting against him we got all kinds of willpower sin it's real Sin destroys sin can be something that you didn't recognize or realize with sin sin can be something you knew you should have done and didn't do it or didn't do and you should have and should should have done it or something that you did and you don't care and you're not going to ask for forgiveness about it you're just going to keep on doing it that's sin and I'm sorry if this was a bummer sermon for everybody and a let down sermon for everybody but how are we going to help people understand how they get a relationship with Jesus Christ if we can't help them understand what it means to have sin in your life and how to have it forgiven how can we do that and they may tell you shut up I don't want to hear it but you all you have to do is be the messenger and if they shoot the messenger they're not shooting the messenger they're still rejecting God and God is not going to force himself on them that's their choice and if they choose to go to hell that's their choice we don't want him to go there but some people will choose hell over Heaven some people will choose Eternal damnation and eternal punishment over a place where there's no sin no sorrow no suffering where we're in the presence of God forever and it's all beautiful more beautiful than we could ever imagine that's a choice people have been making ever since Eve went like this because she looked at it for too long and she pulled it down like this and she had a voice inside of her head saying go ahead go God's just keeping something from you just like all those people I saw yesterday who were trying to pretend that they were opposite of what they were born to be God's just trying to keep something from you and as soon as they bite the Apple their eyes are open and they know exactly what the truth was okay father we thank you for this day we ask that you would help us to look at our lives honestly to look deep inside ourselves and to say who am I really do I belong to you now have I ever belong to you is there unconfessed sin in my life that needs to be forgiven if so what can I do about it and the answer is to repent but if we take on the idea of well that's all just talk and I just heard it and I don't want to hear any more about it then we we're we're on our way to being seared in our conscience against you father nobody knows anybody else's sin except the person who's involved but the problem is the person who's involved in sin their sin does not just affect them it affects everybody else that they know in some way shape or form and God the one place where we can never be fake is when we're confronted by your Holy Spirit when we're in your presence you know everything about us God you know whether we've fallen into just the general category of sin you know whether we're transgressing your truth and you know whether we're living in iniquity so father I pray that you would speak to somebody's heart today help them to just get things straightened out with you help them to repent to turn their life over to you to become the person that you want them to be with all the blessings and all that it comes of being a child of God restore the one who may have fallen and let themselves be stuck in a pit of sin in a trap of sin when they ask for forgiveness restore them love them and help them to understand that you want a repentant heart a contrite spirit somebody who truly is broken because of their sin and father for those that aren't willing to respond to you in any way or shape or form I pray that your Holy Spirit would convict them do whatever it takes God whatever it takes to keep making them experience the the choice of whether or not they're going to live for you in Jesus name I pray amen all right we're going to sing one last song together this morning if you'll stand with me [Music] all are thirsty all are we come to the Fountain di your heart in the stre of life let the pain and the sorrow we washed [Music] away in the waves of his Mercy as Deep Cries [Music] Out [Music] sing Jesus [Music] come on [Applause] [Music] Jesus all who are thirsty all who are we come to the Fountain your heart in the street of life and the pain and the sorrow we wased away in the waves of his [Music] Mercy myself to come more J Jus for Jesus come come Lord [Music] Jesus Lord [Music] Jesus all are thirsty all are we to the Fountain your heart in the Stream of light and the pain and the [Music] being washed away in the waves of as deep rise out we sing GL jus [Music] Lord Jesus come Lord [Music] J Lord Jesus [Music] he's only ever a prayer away only ever prayer away all right uh as we finish up today we're going to I want to talk to you we have Bible study coming up on Tuesday night 6:30 men's and women's Bible study we'll eat together and then the ladies will go do their thing and we'll do our thing that's our second Bible study of the month we're contemplating starting up Sunday night bible studies again that'll probably not happen till the 1st of October because most of the people who usually come to our Bible studies have a couple things going on in September that they can't make it so if you want to pray about that and see if God wants you to be a part of it we're here's what we're going to look at how well do you really know Jesus how well do you know him what do you know about him what do you know about Jesus do you know everything there is to know about Jesus that's what we're going to look at for several weeks uh we're going to look at scripture and see who Jesus is because sometimes we we asent that we know Jesus but we don't really know Jesus and we really don't know what God wants uh also at the end of the month and in lie of our normal annual Church picnic we're doing something on the 29th of September and that is going to be um this is the first time in the 20y year history of Cumberland Community Church that we've been asked to host the associational annual meeting so there going to be people coming from all churches to come and be a part of a meeting but we're also going to have our church social that night we're going to have a dinner together anybody that comes can be part of that uh and we're also going to kind of have a little retirement party for Kenny Heath those of you who know Kenny uh he's preached for me many times since in the 20 years that we've been here he's the Director of Missions for the Western Baptist Association he's retiring after 27 years of just being here in the ministry not including what he did Pastor in churches before he came here and I just thought that for a servant like that somebody who's willing to sacrifice like that who's been to a lot of our stuff and who's been the lifeline for most of the churches in our association that he did shouldn't be given 500 bucks and sent on his way so I've already roasted up and smoked up a bunch of pork shoulder uh all we need to do is bring the goodies to go along with it that we've got like five or six weeks to get ready for it Terry's got a signup sheet in the back it's going to be church and then there's going to be a dinner afterwards and you may get able to meet somebody that you know that goes to another church that's part of our association you might get to meet somebody new that you don't know that goes to another church that's doing the same thing that we're doing so it's a chance for us to come together with some other Church churches and to bless somebody who's really been a blessing to our church so we hope that you'll be a part of that so thank you all have a great day have a great week God bless you be careful while you're driving out there all the kids are going back to school make sure that you look before you step on the pedal