[Music] so [Music] every day [Music] fear to fear [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] we are called to take his mind [Music] sharing my with god [Music] only we can is [Music] is [Music] as we must give our voices [Music] well we want that song to set the mood for the worship service good to see each of you this morning and our song we will begin with is 605. 605. oh it is wonderful to be a christian [Music] life has purpose now it never had before there is to each day and even more for a joy and p
eace i can explain is mine since i found new life in christ my lord divine oh and it is wonderful to be a christian known it's wonderful to make a shrine oh it to have is sin forgiven oh it is wonderful to be redeemed justified forever reconcile i can go directly to the lord in prayer he has told me i may boldly enter them and he listens as his promises like me [Music] oh it is [Music] oh it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven oh it is wonderful to be redeemed justified forever and the hope
of heaven's glory thrills me so where i live with christ forever more i know that is things of earth might loosely hold i'm eternal riches better for the gold oh it is wonderful to be a christian [Music] oh it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven oh and it's wonderful to be redeemed number 608 number 608 [Music] was far from god [Music] [Applause] [Music] christmas [Music] in me oh what a salvation that christ [Music] and love came forth from christ laughing in me christ [Music] [Applause] th
at christmas [Music] as [Music] so praise the god of truth and praise [Music] salvation this sacrifice [Music] [Applause] [Music] that cries [Music] [Music] in me [Music] [Music] if [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] is is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] to my knees [Music] the love [Music] [Applause] [Music] in every way [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] number 620 and if you're able we invite you to stand as we sing a wonderful song love lifted me 629. [Music] i was sinking deep in sin
far from the face for sure very deeply stayed within seeking to rise no more but the master of the sea heard my despairing crime from the waters lifted me now save me my love lifted me [Applause] else could happen love lifted [Music] me when nothing else could help love o my heart to him i give never to him i cling [Music] where is my soul's best songs faithful loving service to him they lost love lifted me lifted me when nothing else could help love [Music] love love lifted me when nothing else
could help love souls in danger [Music] he's the master of the sea below his will obeying may your savior be saved lifted me love lifted me when nothing else could help love lifted me love lifted me [Music] when nothing else would help love may we bow our heads for prayer at this time like this brother rob miller if he'll lead us please father thank you for this love that is certainly beyond what we deserve and after we sinned and disobeyed you uh you still yet cared enough to provide us an opp
ortunity to be able to be delivered from that sin and condemnation through the giving of your son the lord jesus christ offering his righteousness so that we might be accepted and came for the price of our sin on the cross of calvary i pray that we each would be recipients of that love of your saving grace and if we aren't today that today would be the day we would make that choice because we know not how much longer we will have to live our lives here be with the herdman family as they are copi
ng with and facing the reality of life where the death of their loved one is concerned we pray your comfort to be upon them we pray father that they would have peace in knowing you as their lord and savior and if that's not the case that this would be a good reality check and a wake-up call form bless the preaching of your work today may your will be accomplished through it in jesus amen please be seated [Music] so do foreign thank you saxon well we again welcome each of you you'd like to open y
our bible to psalm the 73rd chapter psalms chapter 73 i understand that glenn has awakened lynn hergmann and he's wanting to see us after church so i trust you'll pray that things may go as god would have them to there well we started out the service with people need the lord a song so we're going to read the uh 73rd psalm and it speaks much the same and we're going to dwell on that subject this morning people need the lord so we'll begin in verse 1 of psalm 73 it says truly god is good to israe
l even to such as our of a clean heart but as for me my feet were almost gone my step said well and i slipped for i was envious at the foolish when i saw the prosperity of the wicked for there are no bans in their death but their strength is firm they are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men therefore pride composeth them about as a chain violence covert them as a garment their eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish they are corrupt and sp
eak wickedly concerning oppression they speak loftily they set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth therefore his people return hither in waters of a full cup or rung out to them and they say how does god know and is there knowledge in the most high behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world they increase in riches verily i have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency for all the day long if i've been plagued and chastened every
morning if i say i will speak thus behold i should offend against the generation of thy children when i thought to know this it was too painful for me until i went into the sanctuary of god then understood i their end surely thou this set them in slippery places thou castest them down into destruction how are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors as a dream when one awakeneth so o lord when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image thus my heart wa
s grieved and i was pricked in my reigns so foolish was i and ignorant i was as a beast before thee nevertheless i am continually with thee thou hast told in me by my right hand thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory whom have i in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that i desire beside thee my flesh and my heart faileth but god is the strength of my heart and my portion forever for lo they that are far from thee shall perish thou hast destroyed all them
that go a whoring from thee but it is good for me to draw near to god i have put my trust in the lord god that i may declare all thy works from the very beginning and we just take you back in the book of genesis and your thinking the devil makes his proposal to people that there is something better for them than to obey and serve god you see that very quickly i don't know how long adam and eve were in the garden of eden but a very short time i'm sure until the devil arrived and so he convinced
eve that there was something better for her than to abide by the word of god you move on into the fourth chapter of genesis and the devil convinced cain there was a better worship for him than to abide by what the word of god had said you get over to the sixth chapter of genesis you'll find where that the sons of god got completely outside of god's realm of building their lives and they looked and thought there was a better way to go than to stay with the precepts that god would have for them in
life that led to the flood and the complete destruction of the race of mankind except for noah and there were eight people total there in the ark in the 11th chapter of genesis you find that after the earth has repopulated itself again they come to a point where they want to build a humanistic society with a tribute to man the tower of babel and of course that led to god confounding man's languages you know if you uh and i'm not a language student but once a while you'll hear somebody on the ne
ws that speaks a different language and you just think wow what a tremendous thing that was when god took the whole human race from one language to all these other languages and that's just something in itself is a marvel now the um proposal that um you know there's something better than serving god that comes with two strong points and i want to go over to the book of malachi and notice the two strong points that the devil has in making that pitch unto mankind in the third chapter of malachi an
d verse 14. ye have said it is vain to serve god and what prophet is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the lord of hosts and now we call the proud happy yea that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt god are even delivered so here's a way just in common terms i'm going to miss out on life if i walk the straight and narrow path okay that's kind of the way the devil would coin that and then well i'm getting along fine i'm getting along fine livin
g my life my way and you know i would put this question mark really really you're getting along fine living your life apart from god's will so we've come to the likeness of noah's and lots days with the earth being corrupt and filled with violence but just remember it's all racism it's all the gun that's the reason we have all of our troubles in our society i'm so amazed that nobody wants to admit the fact that it's sin that's the problem so satan has always pushed a lie that it's better to serv
e sin and satan than it is to serve god and his righteousness however everybody knows that's not true everybody knows that's not true deep down everybody knows that's not true in the seventh chapter of matthew and there in verse 13 and 14 enter in at the straight gate for wide is a gate and broad is a way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at so just think of a expressway the one that comes to mind is atlanta georgia and you go through there and you might have six se
ven lanes boy everybody's and then you think about an exit off of that expressway as far as the world is concerned they express ways everybody do their own thing but god's will god's plan of salvation is the straight that's the restricted it's restricted to god's plan we all know the final destinations then you go to psalm 73 which we read and there it talks about how that the wicked worldly ungodly seemed to have everything going their way until i went into the sanctuary of god then i understoo
d you know when you get with the word of god you're going to find that the world living in all of its glory is headed for destruction so you're not going to say well that's the best way to go when you get with the truth of god's word so will there ever come a time when the devil will change his tune and he will start speaking and acknowledging what is right revelation chapter 12 and verse 12 we'll answer that with the scripture in revelation chapter 12 and verse 12 therefore rejoice ye heavens a
nd ye that dwell in them woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time even though the devil knows where his final destiny is going to be he's not going to give in he's going to dig in and so we read in the 20th chapter of revelation that in order for the millennial reign of christ to exist on earth and all the goodness that god says it will bring to mankind the first two verses of revela
tion chapter 20 the devil is chained in a bottomless pit to where he can no longer work amongst people he can no longer work amongst the nations but after being there for a thousand years in revelation 20 and verse 7 he's loosed out of his prison for a short season and what's he do he goes right back to deceiving to deceiving the nations again and then he's cast into the lake of fire so he knows where he's going but he's not going to quit he's not going to give up and that's the way with the way
sin deceives a person a person can know i'm not right when i compare it to the bible but i'm not going to quit you know i'm going to win i'm going to get this thing my way one way or the other well rather than change even when he knows what he's doing and what the final end will be he just intensifies his opposition so christ spoke of him in this way in john chapter 8 and verse 44. and you know he's not somebody on some far off planet in a red suit with a pitchfork the devil's here this morning
in spirit uh he's going to do everything he can to try to contradict god's word he's going to persuade try to persuade everybody not to let god have his way and he's going to work on the lies he's going to work on the thoughts that are contrary to the way god would have them to be so here's how christ describes him in john 8 44 ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him w
hen he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it there is never going to be a time on earth as long as the devil is not bound that there will be any other attitudes prevailing in our world amongst men other than the attitudes that are prevailing so as long as the devil is active the attitudes that we see all around us about god about the truth of god about morals everything those aren't going to change they're just going to get worse as the devil continues to br
ing more people in into captivity so the attitude is it's a vain thing to serve god the attitude is you'll get what you want and get along fine by not serving god those things are not going to change that message is going to continue but you know the devil has another bill of goods that he sells very well in james chapter 2 and there in verse 19. in james chapter 2 and there in verse 19. it says thou believe us that there is one god thou do as well the devils also believe and tremble so here is
what the devil likes to do also he wants to give you his version of believing in god believing in the fact of god but not really receiving him into your heart as lord and savior so if you were to ask the devil do you believe oh yeah i believe in god do you believe that christ died on the cross for the sins of mankind well sure i do i was the one made it happen i believe the facts so here's the way the devil wants it to to go down i believe in god every time the lightning strikes i think about hi
m a little bit and every time there's a bad storm you know well lord help us every time something tragic happens oh man maybe i better look at my bible so i believe and i tremble i believe in a trouble not i believe and i trust not i believe and i obey but i believe that i tremble that's the way the devil wants it to be so in verse 20 will thou know o vain man that faith without works is dead in other words knowledge is not the same as faith knowledge is not the same as faith faith is actually b
elieving what god says faith is actually obeying what god says faith is complete trust and reliance upon god you know god says in hebrews 11 6 without faith it's impossible to please him for he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him in the fourth chapter of james and verse 17 therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin oh i believe in god do you obey him well all right knowledge is not the same as faith
and one of the favorite traps that the devil wants us to get in is to have all kinds of knowledge without obedience the more knowledge we have without obedience the greater his his hold is upon us and i think as a matter of fact the devil will even promote knowing more about god so long as a person does not obey god why that increases the sin burden to know more and yet not obey in luke chapter 12 and they're in verse 47 and 48. in luke chapter 12 and verse 47 and 48 christ expressed it this wa
y he said that servant which knew his lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and to whom men have committed much of him will they ask the more now i know christ didn't speak that out of despising people but to alert people to awaken people to how the captivity of the devil is
real and he works very much in every angle whether it's ignorance or knowledge it doesn't matter he can use either one to do his work so the devil has a way of using knowledge against us if we do not really accept it by faith and i want to read an account of that over in second peter chapter two in second peter chapter 2 and there in verse 20 it says if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the lord and savior jesus christ they are again entangled therein
and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them but it has happened unto them according to the true proverb the dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire now these are all quotes from god these are all things spoken directly from the lord to us so the more we hear withou
t responding that will result in our being able to ignore more that we hear so failure to respond will build up an immune system against responding and in hebrews chapter 2 in hebrews chapter 2 and there in verse 1. therefore we ought to give the more earnest he to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so
great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him so the devil would like us to think that we're in control it's a good strength to be able to stand up on our own and i know i i read a uh this has been a couple months ago but there was a school over in one of the counties around loveland somewhere over there and they were having satanists that were meeting in their classrooms after school and inviting children like grades one throu
gh six to attend their satanist meetings and there was an uproar about it and the school said well we can't deny anyone if if we allow anybody to bring a bible after school will we have to allow the devil to come in you know his group to come in too but here was one of the things that they said satan was the first one to stand up to god and demand his rights so that makes him a hero stand up and demand your rights you're strong you're on top of your life and i thought boy isn't that something ho
w that the devil can really get into the minds of people that it's really great to stand up for your rights and not let anybody tell you what to do in other words don't let the church tell you what to do don't let the preacher tell you what to do you stand up for your rights you be strong it's your life you do so the devil is the hero there now there is no preacher no church not even a powerful angel that's going to argue the devil down god's going to have to put him in his place and for that i
read over in jude and there in verse 5. in jude in verse 5 i will therefore put you in remembrance though ye once knew this how that the lord having saved the people out of the land of egypt afterward destroyed them and believed not and the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the day of judgment of that great day and even as sodom and gomorrah the people that wave the pride flag and the cities about them
in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh so there's your homosexuality all of that stuff are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh despise dominion speak evil live dignities and here's a verse yet michael the archangel when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of moses durst not bring against him a railing accusation but said the lord rebuked thee the only de
fense we have against the devil is the bible believing the bible other than that there is no defense he is able the devil is able to deceive anybody he's able to defeat anybody apart from the word of god he is a power greater than we are revelation 10 talks or chapter 12 and verse 9 and 10 talks about how that he accuses god's people night and day unto god so every day the devil has an accusation to make against you if you're saved and every day he will continue that and first peter 5 and verse
8 and 9 says that he's like a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may desire so you go to another reference in luke chapter 22 and i want to just uh reference this because oftentimes we may think well i'm pretty much up on what the devil can do but here in luke chapter 22 and verse 31 the lord said simon simon behold satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat he wants to take all the good out of you you know just leave nothing left but i have prayed for thee that thy fai
th fail not and when thou art converted strengthen the brethren and then in verse 33 and 34 he said unto him lord i am ready to go with thee both in the prison and to death and he said i tell thee peter the shall not crow this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me peter was not a weak person peter was not a ignorant person if the devil can get the upper hand over a person who wants to be loyal to christ even if i die doing it if the devil can get an upper hand over that person t
hink how much easier it is for him to have control over a person who just doesn't care you know peter cared some people always a car no he wasn't he was the first one to draw the sword and the lord said put the sword back put the sword back but what he did not do and what the others did not do peter denied him judas betrayed him all the others forsook him and fled and you know why because they did not watch and pray that they enter not into temptation they needed the lord they thought the lord n
eeded them they needed the lord and so we need the lord not as a last resort but as a first choice that's where the lord needs to be in luke chapter 16 we have two men in luke chapter 16 and they're in verse 19. there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day there was a certain beggar named lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table moreover the dogs came and
licked his sores it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into abraham's bosom the rich man also died and was buried and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments and seeth abraham afar off and lazarus in his bosom lazarus needed the lord but so did the rich man both of them now how would the devil speak of these men well in verse 20 and 21 ah there's that lazarus you know look at him he's out there at the laying at the front gate of the rich man he claims to be a
christian it's a vain thing to serve god that's how the devil would describe him and then the rich man well he's clothed in purple and fine linen he's fairing sumptuously every day what more could you want that's the way the devil would describe him but there's one thing the devil never talks about how things are going to turn out in eternity he never talks about that so lazarus he was in abraham's bosom in comfort and he had more than just a belief in god he had jesus as his savior that's the o
nly way to get there christ is the way the truth and the life the rich man had a belief in god so in hell he started praying but he did not have jesus as his savior he never repented you know knowledge is one thing but true repentance where you have a complete change of heart and mind about yourself and you turn from what you are and you turn to god and you receive him as your lord and savior that's another thing so he had never done that he knew about god so jesus is both savior and lord to a p
erson that receives him not just the deity that they believe in so the devil is the master of distraction he will appeal to human sentiments by focusing on fleshly circumstances which in lazarus case will if he was a saved person why did god do that to him why did god make him so sick why did god make him a beggar so that's the way the devil would frame that real quickly well that's very subtle is it not but i asked the question why is there sickness sorrow suffering and death in our world and t
he answer is the curse of sin the curse of sin the curse of sin upon mankind made him mortal made him corruptable the curse of sin upon our environment makes everything out of whack the storms the diseases everything you can think of the curse of sin brought all that to pass guess who promoted sin the devil he's the one promoted he was a sin salesman in the garden of eden not god god warned against him god says don't eat of this fruit of this tree and the devil comes along and says it's okay you
'll be better off if you do he promoted the sin that calls the curse that calls us all of our sufferings and death but he says god why is god doing that to you he's very subtle is he not so god did not do a thing to call sorrow suffering sickness and death that was all the devil's work but yet people turn against god say why if god had not done something we would all be left under the condemnation of sin with no hope we would have all of our troubles now plus more because you know the things tha
t god has done for mankind down through the ages has really put a stoppage to a lot of the things the devil is doing so without god we would have no hope so john 3 16 says that god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life who do you believe you know it comes down to that do i really believe in god to the point where i trust him to the point where i repent of what i am and i turn to him with all of my heart a
nd i receive him as savior and lord so am i really a person that has accepted christ you know second corinthians 13 5 says examine yourselves whether you be in the faith not just talk about it but whether you be in the faith and prove your own selves and know ye not your own selves how that jesus christ is in you except you be reprobates so i asked you this morning what is going on inside you know i i sat in church as a youngster for years and heard messages i knew i was lost i knew i needed to
be saved i had nothing against any of it except i was wishing the preacher would soon get done so i could go home that's the way the devil worked it on me may we bow our heads for prayer father we just pray that you'll bless your word today people need the lord i needed the lord even when i thought that i just wanted to get away from it all didn't want to be bothered with it i still needed you and it wasn't until that you really convinced me that i had no hope whatsoever without the lord jesus c
hrist and i saw myself just as your word describes and that is we've all sinned we've all come short of the glory of god our nature is at enmity with you our our nature will go against anything that the bible says and therefore i needed to repent and turn to you with all of my heart and accept christ as my savior and when i did you save me thank you but i pray that you'll help us all to realize no matter where we're at and we need you and that the the games that the devil wants us to play are no
t going to work they're going to hurt our opportunities perhaps ruin them and i just pray father there might be a desire there might be a love for you there might be a turning to you that would be the motivation of every decision made and may your spirit give the invitation for it's in jesus name i pray
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