Excuses to Avoid

Hello, everyone! Great to see you. I don't remember this little pad. Do you have over here, is that like an ejector seat or something? A little scary, but it's great to be here. Actually brought the family this time, so they do exist. And a big thank you for those who are praying for Renee. Her blood clot is definitely getting better. She's able to move around a lot better, even being able to make the trip, so that's much appreciated.

So thank you so much. It's a beautiful day. I think Mr. Wright mentioned that. We decided to go a little bit early because we've never really watched the cherry blossoms around Jefferson Memorial. So we figured, oh, we heard it was blooming early and went over there and drove around with the many, many cars and people in shorts running around. I didn't realize I did paddleboats over there. That looks like a lot of fun, where you can get those little footboats and you can paddle your way around.

So maybe one day. Maybe one day. I'd like to start today's message with a hypothetical question that Max Locato asked in his book, just like Jesus. And the question he posed was this. What would happen if for 24 hours Jesus lived our life with his heart? What would happen if for 24 hours Jesus lived our life with his heart? Nothing else would change. Our health would still be the same. Our circumstances are scheduled. They wouldn't change. Our problems, they'd still be unresolved. The only thing that would change is our heart would be replaced by Jesus.

What if for one day and for one night Jesus lives our life with his heart? So for that period of time, his priorities would govern our actions. His passions would drive our decisions. His love would direct our behaviors. It's a fascinating question. Because if you think about it, what we're on earth for at this time is to grow and become more like God. Isn't that the ultimate barometer of a question? And it makes you wonder, how well are we doing? Would our family see something new during that 24-hour period?

Would our co-workers sense a difference? Would the less fortunate suddenly be treated with a little more compassion? Would our friends say, you know, you just seem a lot happier, or you're a lot more concerned about me than you ever used to be? Would our enemies respond and say, boy, you are showing a lot more mercy than you ever used to? And that's how we interact with others. But you could take to the next stage and say, what about our perceptions? How would our perceptions be different? Would we physically feel and see things differently? So, for example, would this transplant cause you to have less stress?

Whatever you're stressing about now, would you for that 24-hour period? Would you still dread whatever you're dreading? Would you be less moody? Would you be a calmer, temperate person than you are otherwise? You know, we can keep going on. The main thing I would say that really strikes me is, would we do the same things we had planned to do during that 24-hour period if Jesus was driving a heart in our actions?

If you would turn to Ephesians 4 and verses 21 to 24. I love the question that he asked because I think it really gets to what God is trying to do in our lives. If we were a car, God would want control of our engine. But since we're a human, God wants to control our hearts.

That is what his plan is. And his plan is nothing short of us developing a new heart. And we see that here, which is the verse you have in your announcement bulletin. Ephesians 4 and verse 21. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the older man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

God wants us to be just like Jesus. And that was kind of the theme that Max Peyto put in his book. He captured it in this one phrase that I think is provocative. It says, God loves us just the way we are, but he refuses to leave us that way. He wants us to be just like Jesus. And I think when we look at life from that perspective, it gives us— I hope it gives you a lot of encouragement, a lot of hope. Because if you look at that, life suddenly becomes a journey.

Life becomes this growth process that we're on. And it means we're not stuck with today's personality. It means that we are doomed to retain today's weaknesses. We don't have to die with the worries that we have today. So what does this all have to do with my message? Well, I think the reality is that we all would agree that if Jesus was leading our life for a 24-hour period, there would be things that are different.

Yeah? Certainly would in my life. I think one of the main areas that it would appear is excuses that we use for why we don't do what we should do, which would probably stop being used for that period of time. Right? There's a lot of excuses that we fall back to and we say, I'll always be pessimistic. Or I can't help the way I react.

I just have a bad temper. Or you can say, I'm just that way. It's just my nature. The dangerous thing to say, that's my temperament. I'm not able to change it. It may be your temperament, but our journey is to change. And I think I saw an analogy on that, which I thought was really good, because to show you how silly that concept is, let's take that same thought process and pretend we use it for something else, like our bodies.

Would we ever say it's just my nature to have a broken leg? You know, I can't do anything about it. Of course not. I mean, that would be silly. If we have anything wrong with our bodies and we go to the doctor and we look for how we can go ahead and correct it. Shouldn't we do the same thing with our hearts?

And I think those are the things that we would see change during that 24-hour period if Jesus was leading all of our decisions and our actions. Now, we all have different weaknesses we're prone to, but there's nothing that we can't overcome with God's help, and that's why we have to pass over. That's why we're asked to reflect and think on the things we're asked to think on in this time of year.

So with that perspective, I'd like us to examine six common excuses that we all have used, probably all continue to use, in our lives. The first four will deal with our inability to do the right thing. The last two will deal with the equity of us doing the right thing. So six excuses. And all six are phrases that we would never use if Jesus's heart was guiding our actions. Now, for each of these, I first started thinking I'd go down the path of showing you examples where Jesus overcame them, or didn't go down that path.

But I decided to go down the example of, let's use human people in the Bible, human people just like you and I, struggling through things just like you and I, and they face the same excuses, but they trusted God and overcame them. And so we'll look at those, and then we'll call some lessons from each of them. If you'll turn to Galatians 2 and verses 20, Galatians 2 and verses 20, the distance between our heart and God's heart doesn't at some time just seem like it is so far apart.

It's just you look over and you think, there's no way I can be like that. Well, when we compare, we definitely see room to grow. But one of the great promises of the Bible is simply this, that if we've given our life to Jesus through baptism, He has given Himself to us. And we find that in Galatians 2 and verse 20. It says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. So, with that as background, let's go ahead and start with the first excuse. No matter how confident we are, no matter how many blessings we have in our life, there's a time or two along the way where we will make the excuse and say, I don't have the strength. Have you been there? You were in those situations where you say, I don't have the strength. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you are feeling that today. And it's not a physical thing.

Sure, it could be, but I would say it's usually more a spiritual thing because when we're going through spiritual trials and tests, that's when our emotional strength starts to get worn down. That's when our psychological strength is tested. That's when our character is put on the line. And ultimately, it's when our ability to trust God, when bad things are happening to us, is put in front of us. And we're like, oh, I don't have the strength.

Well, with that, I'd like you to turn to Judges 6. I'm going to cover basically the whole chapter if you want to put in your notes, verses 1 through 40. We're going to jump around some. But we'll start with Judges 6 and verse 1. I think one of the great stories of the Bible, I've always adored this story, but especially when you think about not being strong enough, is the example of Gideon in the 300 minutes.

Because God used this small group to conquer the Midianites. And we'll get there. That's in chapter 7. But let's first put some perspective. Israel had rebelled. Israel had been screwing up, and God said, okay, we're going to make you pay the penalty. And so for years, they were being oppressed terribly. And we'll talk about what that looks like at these first few verses.

Finally, God decided that he was going to use Gideon to overthrow the oppressors. But Gideon was like, oh, hold on a second. You need proof to me. I'm a little doubtful here. And so he asked for a lot of proofs because basically in Gideon's mind, he was saying, I don't have the strength. We'll start in verse 1. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.

So the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Midianites for seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. So they were living in hollowed out caves. So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come, and also Malachiites and the people of the east would come up against them. Then they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as God would, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.

For they would come up with the livestock and their tents coming in as numerous as locusts. Both they and their camels were without number, and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. So basically, Israel was facing a bully and they were getting beaten up. God then goes to Gideon and tells him that he plans to work through him. The Gideon is terrified. And so he asked to be convinced. And if you look in verse 3, we're going to speed through this early part a little bit, but Gideon says, oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?

And where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. So at first, Gideon made excuses. And let's go forward to verse 17. And it says, then he said to him, if now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talks with me. So God had to work, first of all, through Gideon's confidence.

Then he had to remove some of the personal sins that Gideon had, because in the town where Gideon was at, there were altars to Baal. So we're going to jump forward a little bit, but what God does is he has Gideon and 10 men come and tear down the altars to Baal that were in his own hometown. Let's continue in verse 28. We'll see the reaction to that. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altars of Baal torn down.

And the wooden image that was beside it was cut down. And the second bull was being offered on the altar, which had been built. So they said to one another, who has done this thing? And when they had inquired and asked, and they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, has done this thing. Then the men of the city said to Joash, bring out your son, that he may die. I'm not strong enough. So again, Gideon needed more confirmation, saying, okay, hold on, God. That worked all right, I guess, but now I'm about to be killed.

Help me. So let's go ahead and look at verse 36. And we'll get to the famous test that he asked God to help with. He said, So Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that he will save Israel by my hands, as you have said. And it was so when he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he rung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

I think he probably did his own realization, said, okay, a fleece might have absorbed it, and the rest would go into the ground, and I wouldn't see it. I wasn't probably the best example to ask God, oh, let me try one more. So that's the Partian version of the Bible. Then God said, then Gideon said to God, Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more. Let me test, I pray, just once more with this fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.

And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on on the ground. God was helping Gideon trust him. He was helping Gideon build that trust that all of us need to have, because none of us are physically strong enough. But that's something we have to come to realize.

And while Gideon didn't start as this great strong man of valor, he developed that. And he developed that by putting his trust in God. I think that's something that we all can learn, because God proved himself to Gideon through little victories before he asked him to do the big victory. And the same is happening with us. And sometimes I think we even go through the silliness of watching somebody else succeed in a great victory and say, oh, I want one of those. Meanwhile, God's giving us little ones that we're taking for granted or we're failing. It's all about building that strength. And that takes us to the amazing story in chapter 7.

Now, the armies of the Midianites that were attacking Israel were 135,000 men strong. 135,000. Gideon assembled a fighting force to go and fight back. And this turned out to be 32,000 men who really weren't fighters.

How would you like to be one of those people? And would you say, God, I am not strong enough? Well, let's start the story. And the Lord said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands.

Lest Israel claimed glory for itself against me, saying, My own hand has saved me. Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, Whoever is spiritual and afraid, let him turn and departed once from Mount Gilead. And 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. A whole lot of people said, I am not strong enough.

It went out the back door. So now you're one of the 10,000 people.

10,000 people untrained, going against 135,000 trained armies. We'll continue in verse 4. But the Lord said to Gideon, The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will come, I'm sorry, then it will be, that of whom I say to you, This one shall not go with you. The same shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself. Likewise, everyone who gets down on his knees to drink, and the number of those who laps, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men. But all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped, I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hands.

All the other people go, every man to his place. So the people took provisions and the trumpets in their hands, and he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

So God paired his army down to three hundred. For those of you who like odds, the odds were then one Israelite against every 483 Midianites.

It might have been a fraction in there. You might have a half a Midianite. Each of them had to take on two.

That's pretty bad odds, depending if we physically looked at it. But God's intention was that when the battle was over, the people of Israel would know that it was God who was delivering them, and it wasn't by their own strength.

And that's what we have to learn. And I think that's a constant struggle that we get involved in.

So Gideon, we don't need to go there in verses 15 to 18. He asked for one more confirmation. And so he heard someone telling a dream about God giving victory, and then we start seeing the results in verse 19.

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the Middle Watch. Just as they had posted the watch, and they blew the trumpets and broke the pictures that were in their hands, then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pictures. They held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands were blowing. And they said, The sword of the Lord in of Gideon, and every man stood in his place all around the camp, and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp. And the army fled to Beth-Akesha towards Zarera, as far as the border of Abel-Mohola by Tzavas. And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.

So it's this perfect switch of irony. God used the confusion so that the enemy thought the army that was attacking them was way bigger than they were. Even though they were 135,000, it was 300. So they went and attacked each other. And whoever got away, then the small little army of Gideon took care of as they went up the hill.

And before we start discussing lessons, let's just close the thought up by having you look at Judges 8 and verse 10. Because this scripture confirms the scale of this battle.

So Judges 8 and verse 10.

And these names, I'm sorry if any of you are Israel scholars, I will probably butchering them, but we'll do our best. Now, Ziba and Zalmuna were at Kharkor, and their enemies with them. About 15,000, all who were left of all the armies of the people of the east, for 130,000, I'm sorry, for 120,000 men who drew the sword had fallen. And just from perspective, realized 120,000 died. That is not saying anything about the supporting men, women, animals. They would support the whole infrastructure of that army. So there could have been more than that that died, too. Because usually an army has a whole trailing support structure involved in it. Either way, it was a massive, massive win.

Do you ever feel like that's what you're up against? Do you ever feel like there's one of you and 483 millionites that you're having to overcome, and whatever your challenge you're facing is, and you go to God and you say, God, I am tired.

My body is sick.

I'm in bed a lot.

It hurts to get up. And when I'm up, I barely get even the essentials done.

And I want to go, and I want to be strong, and I want to finish what you gave me to do, but...

Do you ever do that?

Does that butt come out and things you say, I just can't do that I know I should do?

Do you know what happens when I approach God in that way? What God says to me, He says, Dan, unless the Lord shall build the house.

Because what's happening is, when I approach God that way, I'm the one who's trying to solve it.

I'm the one who's trying to look on my strengths.

And when trials come, it's very natural to get anxious, to get impatient, to rely on ourselves.

It's easy to get depressed and to question God.

But when we feel we aren't strong enough, usually what's happened is, we've forgotten that we never were strong enough.

And the whole point of our calling is for us to rely on God for our strength, for us to trust Him.

That's why the Passover every year reminds us, you couldn't do it on your own, you couldn't do it on your own, you couldn't do it on your own. It's his annual reminder. Well, Gideon's story is fascinating, because he started as this person who blamed God and felt abused, but he transformed into something very special.

If you will turn to Proverbs 30 in verses 8-9.

Do you ever feel like you try and you try to be like God, and you try and you try to accomplish His will?

Have you ever thought that that's the problem?

That you're the one trying too much, and you're not relying on God enough? In a sense, you're pushing Christ aside and saying, I've got this one. I can do it on my own.

And I'd argue when we get that level of confidence, what God does is, okay.

Satan, if you want to help him out a little bit, just show him. Oops, that didn't work, because it's this life of growth and understanding where our strength comes from. We can't live apart from Christ.

And I think this next verse is interesting because it shows the psalmist, Proverbs, the person who wrote the Proverb, probably Solomon, I'm not sure. It's getting toward the end of the Proverb, so there's somebody else writing some of these. But either way, recognizing that he didn't really want to be really, really poor, but he didn't really want to be really, really rich. He realized, I need to be able to keep my perspective. Don't give me anything, God, that's going to make me lose my perspective. Says, Remove falsehood and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food allotted to me. Lest I be full and deny you and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

God is always looking for men and women of faith who are willing to trust him.

He isn't looking for perfection.

He is just looking for people who want to be molded into his service. And he'll work with us and make us perfect throughout our lives and when we're resurrected.

Because people of fear make excuses.

But Gideon is the example of what God can do if we trust him. And so, I think that's some of the areas where you can't look at the odds too much. Sometimes you have to throw the odds away and trust in God.

People of faith are the ones who will say, Here I am, God. Choose me.

And then if we trust God, we'll be amazed by all the things that he will do for us and he will do through us. Both ways. Let's go to the second excuse.

The second excuse is another phrase that you would never say if Jesus was leading your heart. And the second excuse is this.

It's too hard.

Like I said, all of these, the first four are going to relate around our ability. So there's going to be connections between them. But this next excuse is for us to say, It's too hard. Whatever we're being asked to do, it's not an issue of strength. It's just too hard.

Now, I've certainly been there from time to time. I've seen people leave the church because of this. I've seen people say, I'd like to be a Christian, but what I'm being asked to do is just too much.

Which is really, again, silly logic. If you take that same logic and you put something else into it, it makes no sense. It's like saying, I really would like to be healed, but I don't want to give up my cancer.

Well, that doesn't make any sense. All God asks us to get rid of is things that are bad for us.

God wants us to get to salvation. And what He asks us to experience, He promises us, is not more than we can handle. So if you put all of that together, we don't ever have to say to God, if we're following Him, that's something He's given us, that's too hard. And we might put ourselves in a path that's too hard. That's different. But God won't give us something that's too hard.

So I think the reality is that we complain too often about life's challenges. If you will turn next to Ezekiel 4, verses 1-12.

When I think of a Bible character who was asked to overcome or to do some bizarre, weird things in his life, it would be Ezekiel. Ezekiel had just amazingly embarrassing expectations, I guess, that were asked of him. I don't know how best to put it. But throughout, I think he illustrates how we should approach things that are hard. We'll start in Ezekiel 4, verse 1. It says, You also, son of man, take a clay tablet, and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it. Set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. Moreover, take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel. So the first sign, you say, well, that's not that bad. He's laying on the ground, he's building like a clay model of Jerusalem. Then he gets these old people, he builds a battering ram, and he shows the city being destroyed. Keep reading.

Verse 5.

Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days. Three hundred and ninety days, so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

Ezekiel had to lay on his left side for over a year.

I can't lay in bed without rolling over a thousand times in the middle of the night.

Let's keep going. And that was regardless of the weather, too.

Verse 6. And when you have completed this, lie again on your right side, then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days more. I have laid upon you a day for each year.

Poor Ezekiel!

I mean, he was told to lie down for four hundred and thirty days to picture what Israel had suffered along the way, or would suffer. And if it wasn't difficult enough, there's more rules. He was told to be tied up in a rope so he couldn't turn.

But that's still not enough. He's eating too much. Let's control what he eats. Look at verse 10. And your food which you shall eat shall be weighed twenty shekels, or in other words, eight ounces a day from time to time you shall eat it. Well, eight ounces. I mean, that's... I don't even know, Big Mac? I don't know. But from time to time you can peck on your one Big Mac throughout the day.

And you shall eat it as a barley cake, okay? A barley cake Big Mac.

And bake it using fuel of human waste.

Actually, I'm sorry. No, the first one was a food that goes on. I skipped a verse there. You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hen, or two-thirds of a quart. So you're allowing a little bit more water. You get that two-thirds of a quart and the blistering heat while you're laying there on your one side. And you're going to cook this thing on human dump.

Well, I don't know what to say other than that's a miserable life.

I think that's fair to say. That's too hard, God!

Now, Ezekiel pushed back a little bit, but he wasn't really excited by cooking over the human dung, so God allowed him to cook on cow dung.

Other than that, we can keep going on. In chapter 5, Ezekiel was told to shave his head and divide it into three piles. One pile was burnt, representing the people being consumed. The second pile was cut by the sword, representing people who would be killed by the sword. And the third was scattered to the wind, representing those taken into exile. He said, well, it's not so bad. Do you like being publicly embarrassed?

Because shaving of the head was a sign of shame, especially for a priest. And it goes on. Chapter 12, he was told to pack up his bags and pretend like he's leaving Jerusalem, and it can go on and on.

Ezekiel just went through all these different situations to be an example to Israel of what they would be facing.

So, what do we learn from that example? What do we learn from Ezekiel?

No matter what hard things were asked of him to do...

Well, let me change that. No matter what hard things are asked of you to do, I doubt any of them would be tough to do what was asked of him to do. Try one night laying on one side and not turning over.

Never mind not getting up or moving for the next 400 days.

But I think the lesson is how Ezekiel approached it, because Ezekiel focused on the promises of God rather than becoming overwhelmed by the challenges of life.

He focused on the promises of God rather than the challenges of life. I think there's a lot of wisdom to help us through there. I read that there are over 30,000 promises in the Bible.

What exactly is a promise? But I think that's fair. 30,000 promises in the Bible. So, let's use a deductive argument.

A deductive argument, so you know, is basically, if this is so and this is so, then that is so. So, let's take that approach with this.

We know that God cannot lie.

We also know that there is no promise too hard for God to keep.

So, if those two are correct, then we can be certain that God will keep his word in every one of his promises.

As a result, yeah, we're going to face some hard times, but we can have confidence to approach God and know that he can help us with the way out. He can help us through that. There is no prayer that's too hard for God to answer.

Jesus said in Matthew 21 and verse 22, In all things whatsoever you shall ask, in prayer believing you shall receive.

There is no problem too hard for God to solve.

If you'll turn to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13, you could say that God specializes in the impossible.

That's his strength.

Now, where we struggle is that God may solve our problems in ways other than what we want him to, but God has the power to fix any problem. Nothing is too hard for him to solve.

And there's no person too hard for God to save if they're willing to repent.

I know the lesson of the Passover. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13, No temptation has overtaken you, except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

So, what limits God?

What limits God when we feel things are too hard?

We do.

Have you ever thought about that?

That a puny person, like you or I, can stop the hands of the most powerful being in the entire universe.

That's what the Bible tells us.

That this God who wants to bless us and has all power can be stopped because of us. Because of us limiting him. And let me share three ways that that can happen. First of all, we limit God if we have an unwilling spirit.

We limit God if we have an unwilling spirit. There was a man who was sentenced to die.

And so, some people went to the governor and they pleaded the case and said, because of all these reasons we plead with you, governor, let's go ahead and pardon this death sentence. And so the governor decided to do that. But the man who was sentenced to death said, I will not accept it.

Do you know what happened when that went before the high court?

The high court said that the man had to be hung.

Because the pardon was rendered invalid because he refused it.

Now, take that analogy and apply it to us, because it's frightening, but it's realistic. We have the dubious privilege to say no to God.

And if we're not willing, there aren't enough angels in heaven to be able to drag us to God.

So, do we have an unwilling spirit? We limit God if we have an unconcerned attitude. That's another thing we can face if we have an unconcerned attitude. And for that, I would say turn to Revelation 3 in verse 20.

It's a verse we've read over and over.

You can tell by the location that it's a message to the churches.

Now, do you think there is any door that God couldn't open? No, right? God could open any door that's set before us.

But there's something very interesting that's listed here. Revelation 3 in verse 20. It says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Look at that next word.

If anyone hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him.

If. So, this verse shows that Jesus has limitless power. But he stands at the door knocking until someone decides to open.

It's too hard. Finally, we limit God if we have an unclean lifestyle.

And that's one of those things that if we retain sin in our heart, then we limit God and keep him from answering our prayers. So, that's something we're working on all the time. That's what the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures. But God doesn't fail to answer our prayers because he's weak or because he can't hear us.

It's us that limits that from happening.

Our sin will separate us from God. But keep in mind there's nothing too hard for God. And God is there to help and he wants to help. So, with that, let's go ahead and move on to the third excuse. The third excuse is that I'm not physically able to.

Again, we'll switch on the same thing, but it all revolves around ability. I'm not physically able to.

And I'll tell you, I'm there. As I'm getting older, I feel the body getting creakier, and it's harder to get up, and it's harder to move, and the muscles in the chest tend to go to the belly or whatever else that phrase was. But I get it. Have you ever been there and somebody suggests something to you and you go, if I was only younger, I would be able to do that? Now, I'm not saying you disregard the fact that aging happens.

I realize that's reality. But I would argue and say that if Jesus was leading our decisions, we would probably be able to do things, and we've limited ourselves and said, I can't do that.

And that's what I want you to think on. What do you say, oh, I'm too old for that, that you really could be doing? And for this one, turn to Genesis 18 verses 9 through 15. Genesis 18 verses 9 through 15.

So, we're entering into the story when Abraham entertained three men, which were Jesus and two angels.

And when this meeting took place, Abraham was 99 years old. So, Genesis 18 and verse 9.

It says, Then they said to him, Where is Sarah, your wife? So he said, Here in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah, your wife, shall have a son.

Sarah was listening in the tent door, which was behind him. Now, Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age, and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also?

Now, context. Abraham had been promised a child since he was 75 years old.

So, we're talking 24 years later, knowing that promise was hanging out there.

And Sarah was well-passed the age of childbirth. There's no question there. The laws of science have taken place. So, let's go to verse 13. And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return to you according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a child. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, she was afraid, and he said, No, but you did laugh. So, the biological facts are what they are.

For a child to be born, you need a sperm from the male, and an egg from the woman. After menopause, the woman's body no longer contains eggs.

The science is what it is. How did Sarah have the child? We don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us that. But again, the lesson is with God, all things are possible. Genesis 21. Go forward a couple chapters and we'll start in verse 1. Genesis 21. We'll see how this ends.

And the Lord visited Sarah, as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah, as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Now, let's finish in verse 6. And Sarah said, God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me. She also said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse child, for I have borne him a son in his old age?

God had a purpose in mind, and his purpose was going to take place regardless of the physical limitations that we see and feel.

God can do the same in our lives. And I think that's something that's very impossible. There's no matter that is too big of a miracle for God to overcome. It's not like he can say, Oh, I just got a broken leg. I can't work with him now.

You know, that's not the way God approaches it. Miracles are simple to God. I would bet miracles are fun to God. They have to be. Well, I think it'd be fun. That's something I've always looked forward to. Wouldn't that be fun to be able to do a miracle and see people get excited?

One day we'll be able to. But for this one, let's... Before we go and start looking at the lessons on this, I'd like you to go to Romans 4 and verses 18 to 22. And what I want us to look at is how Paul described the faith of Abraham.

Because I think it's insightful.

Paul recognized what Abraham had gone through. At the age of 75, God promised Abraham a son. And it took 25 long years, longer than some of you have been alive, to go ahead and fulfill that. So, guess the big question is, what did Abraham do during that period?

Think of that as you read verse 18, Romans 4 verse 18, who, contrary to hope, in hope, believed so that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken. So shall your descendants be. And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead, since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was able to perform, and therefore, it was accounted to him for righteousness.

I think it's profound, because Abraham was able to face the fact that his body was dead.

He faced the fact, without letting it weaken his faith.

So it doesn't mean you're naive to say, I have broken legs, but you still have faith to say, but what should I do? What could I do to serve? Or to do the right thing?

And as a result of him not wavering in that unbelief, God blessed him. Do we do the opposite sometimes? Do we put up walls and limitations that don't need to be there?

Do we say, I'm too old, or I'm too young, or I'm too sick, or I'm too tired, or fill in whatever blanket it is that might apply for you?

Well, let's look at how Abraham walked in faith, because I think it's interesting. The first thing he did, we talked about, the first thing is he faced the fact. He didn't pretend. He didn't pretend that he was physically stronger than he was.

But, instead, the Bible says that he faced the fact that he was infinite. And that is the starting point of faith, because you can have faith if you don't face reality. But, you can't stop there, because if you do, then you're living in unbelief. The second thing that he did, is, well, let's go on. The second thing is he grabbed and took confidence in truth. And let me clarify that a little bit, because I think a lot of times people mix up facts and truth.

Fact and truth are two different things.

You get a doctor's... or a doctor sees you and gives you a prognosis. That is the fact.

You get a bill in the mail. That is the fact. That is not the truth.

God's word is the truth. And let's expand on that a little bit. A doctor's diagnosis can change depending on how the patient responds.

Right?

If you look at a bank statement, it can be down one month, and the next month it can be up. So it's telling you the facts at different points in time, depending on your cash flow.

That's different than truth. God's word is truth. It's certain today, it's certain tomorrow, it's certain forever.

And that's where Abraham's confidence was.

He threw out, kept his confidence in what mattered most. I think that's what Paul meant, and if you want to put in your notes Romans 3-4.

Paul said, let God be true in every man a liar. Because he was separating, other men might be pointing out facts. God is bringing up truth. And that's where he saw a separation. Because his promises, they're permanent.

They're reliable.

So, what do we apply from this lesson?

I think there is an endless range of opportunities that we can use to do the right thing at any age, at any health.

It may be praying.

It may be visiting those in hospitals, serving in food kitchens, visiting and encouraging people in other church areas. You fill in the blanks.

What are the things that you limit yourself because you say, I'm not physically able?

And revisit that and talk to God and say, God, could you help me get past this roadblock? Have I put this wall up? Or is it a real challenge that I'm facing?

And see what God shows you.

Because when we're tired and we don't want to do what we should do, is the times that we tend to put up those walls.

God can give us strength and energy in ways we don't always see. Let's go ahead and transition to the fourth excuse.

Again, another excuse that we would never use if Jesus was leaving our heart, leading our heart. And I'm sure you saw the similarities in the first three, because they're all about our ability. This fourth one, I think, really captures what I would say is the, it's the motivation, it's the ultimate fear about ability. And that is this. The excuse is, I can't make it.

And this, anytime you do something about ability, that's really what's in the back of your head. You're saying, you know, I just can't make it. I can say it's because I'm not strong enough, I'm too old, it's too hard.

At the end of the day, it comes down to that.

Internal feeling of inadequacy. So let's visit that one. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt like you're hanging on the end of a rope and you look up and it's tattered, and you look down and there's this bottomless pit and you're like, there's just no way. I give God, I can't make it.

And if so, I think this point is for you. But, you know, you reflect, you can, we get in those moments many times in life.

It may come when you're facing a problem at work and it seems there's no way out. Some of you may be there.

It may happen when you have more days left in a month than you have money in your pocket.

It may happen when you're facing problems with your children that you just can't solve.

It may happen when you've lost a loved one and you just can't escape that loneliness and that grief and that pain.

It may happen when your heart's been broken and you feel like all of your hopes have been dashed.

Or it can even be when you're walking through some, you just feel like whatever you're doing, you're walking through this spiritual wasteland and you're like lost.

And for all of those, I think this point can help out. I'd like you to turn to 2 Kings 4, verses 1 through 7. 2 Kings 4, verses 1 through 7. The passage we're about to read is about a poor widow woman who was at the end of her rope. She was really near death's door. She was struggling. And she had no idea where to go. So she did the right thing. She went to God and gave it to God and said, God, I need your help. And he came through in a really big way. 2 Kings 4, verses 1. A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, Your servant, my husband is dead. And you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.

So her husband had died and he not only left her with loneliness, he left her with some serious bills.

She was dead broke.

Now, understand the rules in Israel at that time were that if a person had debt, the creditor, the one who owed the money, I'll get that backwards. So the one who was owed the money could take the children of the person who owed the money and use them as slaves until they earned enough money to repay the debt. That's what's being referred to here.

Verse 2. So Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house? And she said, Your maid servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.

And I read in one place that that's literally like a flask. So if you think of something that small.

So Elisha's question was interesting. He was going through and helping her realize that we talked about some of the earlier points.

That she had her reassess her own strength, her own possessions, what she had, and tried to get a realistic perspective of it all. Now, at the same time, the widow wasn't looking at what she had as being what she needed.

But God used that.

That's what he ended up building the miracle on. God had already given her the very thing that he would use to meet her needs.

But she hadn't learned that lesson yet.

Now, so God first caused her to look at herself in the mirror and then kind of erased her faith in herself in her own ability. He then proceeded to expand her faith in the power of God. Now, there's a lot of ways this could happen. I mean, if you want to make life really easy, you could say, you know, Elisha could have just said, okay, sister, you've been through a lot. It's been really hard. Why don't you just go home, sit down, and God will do the blessing for you? And that could have happened.

But instead, what we see is that he first led her to recognize that she couldn't do it herself.

And then he expanded her faith by teaching her to trust, have humility, and obedience through actions. So let's start in verse 3. Then he said, Go borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors, empty vessels. Do not gather just a few. And when you come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons, then pour it into all those vessels and set aside the full ones.

So this widow was told to go door to door, knocking at doors, and saying, can I borrow a pam jar? Can I borrow?

Now, we have no idea what her approach was for that. It could have been, don't ask me, that crazy prophet dude told me to take this. It could have been, God's going to do a great miracle. I have nothing, but he says this is going to work. We don't know. But either way, we know that she did this. And she went door to door, I'm starting verse 5.

So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her. And she poured it out. Now, it came to pass when the vessels were full that she said to her son, bring me another. And he said to her, there is not another vessel. So the oil ceased. Then she came and told a man of God, and he said, go sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.

It's a fascinating story, because the woman and her sons filled one vessel after another until there weren't any more. I said, it's like this investment that keeps paying as long as you keep doing the work. You can make compounded interest at your own pace.

She began the day with nothing, and she ended with everything.

Well, I think all of us, at some point or another, every one of us in this room is going to face one of those low times, like she was, where you're hanging by that rope, and you're looking up and looking down and saying, I can't make it. There's just no way.

And during those times, one of the worst things that can happen is what usually happens. And during those times, Satan, the world around us, and I would argue even our overwhelmed mind will tell us that God doesn't see and God doesn't care.

Danger signs should come up, but you've been there. We've all been there. And that's something that we always have to be mindful of, because the truth is that God cares more than we know. And God is always aware of what we're facing.

I think the story of Elisha and the widow is designed to teach us that our problems, while they seem insurmountable to us, are really just opportunities for God in disguise. That's what happened with this lady. And it wasn't just a lesson within her life. Think about all the neighbors that she borrowed jars from. Talk about teaching a message to all of them. They learned a great lesson in faith through being a second-hand loner, I guess, of a pot and pan or a jar or whatever they had. But often God uses our trials or our burdens or whatever we're faced with to bring us to the place where we honestly see that we're not able.

And then that's where the magic happens because then we put all of our faith in Him.

And the danger is when we do the opposite. The danger is when we say, now God, I've got this one. Because I read a little phrase that's really simple but it's really insightful and it says, as long as we think we can, He won't.

That's interesting. I think there's a lot of profound truths to that. As long as we say we can, He won't.

So what we fail to do is realize that a lot of those times, you know, the parable of footsteps, is that what it's called? Where you see the two and really the hard times there's only one footsteps of the person yelled at God and said, God, why did you leave me at that time? And God said, I was caring at those times. You know, that's the areas where we can lose the perspective and why this story is so helpful. It's no matter what we face, we are facing what this widow faces, but we're facing something. And whenever we look at what we face, humanly, we probably have a magnifying glass in front of everything anyway, but it seems large.

And we have so much more than this lady. We have more than one jar.

But no matter, when we look at what we have, it seems too small. It seems like it won't work.

And during those times, I encourage you to factor God into the equation. You feel like you just don't have the strength.

Ask yourself, have I forgotten God in this equation for how much strength and how much I really am able to do?

And that, to me, is one of the things that stands out.

If you'll turn to Ephesians 3 in verses 20 through 21, Paul is a great example of this one. Because if you put Paul in perspective, he is this massive life of contrast.

He was diabolically against God as possible. Talked against Jesus, or actually, I should say against Jesus, but he was against God, knowing that Jesus was God. But he fought against Jesus entirely, but by the end of his life, he got to the point where he looked to Jesus as his sole source of strength.

How did he do that?

Well, it took being blind for three days. There were shipwrecks, two of them imprisoned men. There was nearly death-beating.

Different way to look at it. But you see the perspective that he grew to. Ephesians 3, verse 20. Now to him who was able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, this is the person who was in shipwrecks and beaten in near-death situations. According to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

What made the difference as he realized where his strength came from?

One final thought, and we'll move from this lesson. Did you notice that the oil flowed until the vessels ran out?

Did you notice that?

Did you notice that there was no limit given to the widow on the amount of oil she was entitled to have?

The only limit was the amount of vessels.

And I think there is a lesson there for all of us, because God is able to meet every need, move every mountain, solve every problem. His provisions are limited by nothing but our faith.

But that's where the rub comes, isn't it?

That's where the rub comes.

If we can trust God to take care of us, then we're able to achieve amazing things. In a sense, you could take that analogy and say we were able to put our jar under this flowing fountain of Holy Spirit, of oil that's coming out.

But let me give you a story to finish this one point that I thought was striking. It said, two men went down to a lake one morning to do some trout fishing, and they stayed there all day. But one man had a very strange habit. Every time he would catch a trout, he would pull out a little ruler, and he'd measure it. If the trout measured larger than his ruler, then he'd throw it back. So strangely enough, he kept all the little trout that he caught, but he threw back all the big ones.

Well, his partner watched all day long, and as they prepared to leave, he looked at him and said, I can't stand this any longer. I have never seen a man fish like you in my life.

You've kept all the small trout, and you've thrown back all the big ones.

And the man said, sure did.

Why did you do that?

And the man said, because I only have an eight-inch frying pan.

So, well, think about that. Rather than get a bigger skillet, he was settling for smaller fish.

Let's twist that analogy.

Are there times when God wants to give us 12-inch blessings, but all we have is eight inches of faith?

Something to think about.

If you feel, I can't make it, then give your vessel to God and watch him fill it up. Let's go ahead and move to the fifth excuse that we used. The first four dealt with ability. We're now getting into the issue of equity.

And excuses we use about equity for not doing the right thing. And the first one, I think, gets to the heart of it. The fifth excuse is, it's not fair.

Heard that one used that before. It's not fair.

In fairness, this is an interesting thing. It's one of these things that humans take great pride in. They think justice is central to life. You can go back if you read Aristotle. Aristotle said, all virtue is summed up in dealing justice. What was Superman's model? Superman's model was truth, justice, in the American way.

And at its core, justice and truth, they're pretty simplistic, really. They're this concept that a person receives what they do.

Pretty simple.

The challenge, though, comes in this whole issue that no one can agree on the criteria of what is or isn't fair. Especially when it comes to human interactions. That's when it suddenly isn't as black and white.

So, as a result, whenever somebody doesn't get their way, you can fill in whether it's a job, it's a promotion, it's a contract, it doesn't matter. Whenever that happens, somebody raises their hand and says, it's not fair. I read another fun quote about that. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, one man's justice is another's injustice.

And I think that nailed it right on the head.

That's the biggest challenge. So, the approach to fairness is very so much that you can almost say in every situation you're involved in, at least one person is going to cry out and say that wasn't fair. You run into that?

I certainly do. It seems like there's always, you always have a winning side. Whoever wins said, that was so just and fair. And then you have the losing side, which says, this was not fair.

Well, I think that takes us to our next biblical example. If you'll turn to Genesis 39, 1-23.

And the only way I think we can explain why we get so upset when things aren't fair is because we probably, somewhere else, are conscious, expect life to treat us fairly. I don't know how else we could get there. But undoubtedly, that is the way we tend to react. Genesis 39, verses 1-23.

Have you ever been accused of doing something that you didn't do?

I have. It's part of life.

Not a good part of life. We're entering the story of Joseph.

His life is almost full of these things. We've got a whole bunch of places where he was accused of doing things he didn't do. But we're stepping into the situation. He'd been sold into Egypt. He worked for a man named Potiphar who bought him as a servant. And amazing things happened there. We'll start at that point. Genesis 39, verse 1. Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there.

The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him oversee of his house, and all that he had he put in his authority. So let's go ahead and go to verse 7. And it came to pass, after these things, that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said to his master's wife, Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house. And he has committed all that he has to my hands. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me. But you, because you are his wife. Now then, can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her to lie with her, or to be with him.

So day after day after day, he was propositioned by this woman.

It's not fair. I mean, it really isn't. And so in time, this woman just became angry, and she came up with this really malicious idea. Let's go ahead in verse 11. But it happened after this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and ran outside. And so it was, when she saw that he had left the garment in her hands, and fled outside, that she called to the men of the house, and spoke to them, saying, See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came into me to lie with me, and cried out with a loud voice. And it happened when he heard that I lifted my voice, and cried out that he left his garment with me, and fled, and went outside. So she kept his garment with her, until our master came home.

Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, The Hebrew servant who you brought to us came in to me to mock me. So what happened is, I lifted my voice and cried out that he left his garment with me, and fled outside. So it was when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, Your servant did to me all this manner, that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph's master took him and put him into prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in the prison. Now you could stop there, but again you see the fruits of how God blessed him. But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and he gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prisoner committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison, whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's control, because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

There were a whole lot of, that's not fair, moments in Joseph's life. I mean, his life was just full of it. But the key is that he trusted God during these hard times, and he did two things that I'd say we have to always be mindful of. He didn't blame God when things weren't fair, and he didn't make his obedience conditional. Beware, if you ever get involved in those areas, because I've seen a lot of people leave the church and leave Christianity because of those two things.

They blame God, or they make their obedience conditional.

I'll stick with God as long as this happens. But, boy, if this doesn't happen, if I don't get my way, I'll know God doesn't exist.

Very dangerous, slippery ground, because life isn't fair. If you want to take it to the ultimate end, it wasn't fair that Jesus had to die, either.

Right? That wasn't fair, either.

But, we still go through life, and people tend to take this fairness argument, and then they push it toward God and toward religion. I know you've all heard the it's not fair arguments. There's things like, how could a living God allow innocent people to be killed in a terrorist attack? Right? Or, if God is so powerful, how come he didn't stop hurricanes from hitting?

Or, if God can do anything, then why can't that couple who wants a child so badly happen?

Or, why does the father die young when his children need him so much?

And you can answer all of those and say, it's not fair!

But that's missing the point of what God is wanting us to do. And the irony of this whole thing is, it's not logical.

Because, if you think about what's being discussed, when we say something isn't fair, it's when bad things are happening to us.

When good things are happening to us, that's fair. So, if you're going to use this same logic, can't you flip that and say, every time a good thing happens to us, we should say, God, that's not fair.

And we should be able to go through life and say, a hurricane missed us, God, that's not fair.

Right? Because you can't play it both ways. You can't choose your point or you choose your side on that one. And I think maybe the phrase, it's not fair, is missing the point.

Maybe the point in both good things and in bad things is how we react to them.

You ever thought about that? Maybe the whole point is about how we react to them.

What are we learning? Is the character of God being formed in us?

Passover. A love and bread.

That's what we're being shaped in, what we're being asked to reflect on. And when we face things that aren't fair, are we bitter? Or are we better? How are we responding when those things happen?

That's what we're being asked to review this time of year. And the only thing I know that really, really wasn't fair in this world is that Jesus, who lives sinless, had to give his life. But I will tell you, at the resurrection, I will not go up to God and say, it's not fair that you're granting me eternal life.

I'll tell him thank you.

So let's go ahead and go on to the final excuse that we use.

The final excuse that we can limit ourselves by is the excuse, I'll look foolish.

I'll look foolish.

Have you ever not done the right thing because you were afraid you'd be embarrassed or you'd be made fun of?

I've been, I've done that. And, you know, we were just talking on the way over about Drew experiencing peer pressure already at his age in school. It's a powerful thing. It surrounds us. And so there can be times where we look and we avoid being around certain people because they're ugly, because they aren't cool, because they smell bad, because, you know, we do it with all things in life. What do we avoid because we'll look foolish? Turn to Genesis 6, in verses 5 through 14.

Genesis 6, verses 5 through 14.

I think the Bible character who faced the longest period of harassment for being different was Noah.

Daniel was in the lion's den for one night.

You have Joshua, he walked around Jericho for seven days.

Daniel was way longer than that. I'm sorry, not Daniel, but Noah was way longer than that. We'll start in Genesis 6, in verse 5. It's going to go to verse 13.

Now, calculations based on Bible chronology and based on, you know, so-and-so lived so long, you put all the math together.

It's somewhere between 75 and 120 years that it took Noah to build that ark.

Now, during that time, you don't need to turn that, you can just put in your notes, 2 Peter 2, 5.

It says that Noah was called a preacher of righteousness. So Noah was to go and preach to the wicked people in the land and let them know, you know, you have a clock on you. You either change or something drastic is going to happen. 75 to 120 years, that's longer than most of us. If you go to the low end, none of us are getting there. That's an entire lifetime for one of us to be different and to be harassed.

Right? I mean, that is an amazing long period of time, not just for him, but for his family, to build this massive ship on dry land. I mean, can you imagine the harassment? That would have been phenomenal. And there's different things you can play into this one as well. And there's the argument you could say that the people in Noah's day may not have even known what rain was. Now that's a theoretical argument, but you do know that in Genesis 2.5 it talks about how there was a great water filled canopy that surrounded the earth, which is where the moisture came from. So did it do all the time and they'd never seen rain. Either way, no one had seen rain to the level of what was predicted to happen. But if you look in verse 22, you see whether Noah succumbed to the all the foolish argument. Verse 22, thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him, so he did. And Noah did this when he wasn't a young man. Genesis 7.6 said that he was 600 years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. That's an old man. I mean, granted, they lived longer then, but still. I'm sure he had some creaks in his bones, even for a spry 500-year-old.

So what did we learn? What did we take from this? And I bet you can remember a lot of situations where people made fun of you because of something you did or something you said. How did you feel at that time? For me, I usually felt like either taking it back or disappearing. I had that wonderful power just to disappear. It's an awful feeling. But one thing I think that's important for us to keep in mind is that it's not uncommon for people to make fun of God's people because we're different. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 20. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 20.

Now, Noah was amazingly brave to withstand 120 years up to a ridicule, but I think he understood this lesson that Paul is teaching here to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 1 and verse 20. He said, Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disfeiter of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Don't ever feel foolish or feel bad because you look foolish doing what God tells you to do. If I trip on the way and fall on my face, I'll look foolish and you're welcome to laugh. That's different. But doing what God asked us to do, never be afraid of doing that because it makes us look foolish. Jesus didn't back down because people said he was foolish, and people did challenge him. So I hope today has helped you look at some of the phrases we can easily just throw out there and say in a different light. If we don't limit ourselves by excuses, one day, just like I use examples from the Bible to tell the story of people overcoming certain excuses, maybe they will look and read the lessons from you all and tell those stories of examples in the future. Because that's what we're called to be. We're called to be future giants of God's family, future stories that can be told and people can learn from. But that is going to take us letting God lead our hearts rather than allowing excuses to stop us. And that goes back to the very first part of what Max Flocato said. What do we limit ourselves by that if Christ was leading our hearts, would be totally different? There's a song which I have on my iPod, and I think it's very funny. It's by a band called Acapella, and they sing it with like a calypso beat, and I'm not going to go there. But it's called Everybody Said But Nobody Did. And the chorus of it is this, Everybody said that anybody could do the important things that somebody should do. Everybody knows that anybody could do all the good things that nobody did.

I'll repeat that. Everybody said that anybody could do the important things that somebody should do.

Everybody knows that anybody could do all the good things that nobody did. And I'd say, sadly, that's too true for all of our lives, in large part because of the excuses we use, and the things we make up to limit us that wouldn't happen if Christ was leading us. Excuses like excuses on our own ability. I don't have the strength. It's too hard. I'm not physically able to. I can't make it. Or excuses related to equity. Like, it's not fair, or I'll look foolish. So reflect on those if those come your way because God's desire at the end of the day is to change our heart. God's plan for us is nothing short of developing a new heart. So I encourage you, don't let excuses stop him from achieving that.