Where the Rubber Meets the Road

I want to begin this message by bringing you up to date on how the recent General Conference of Elders affected Susan and myself of being back there for three days and three nights, or four nights, but actually three, whatever, kind of almost sounds biblical, doesn't it? Three days and three nights. And I would just say that it was a wonderful conference in so many, many ways. We had not been back for a while, and so this was double meaningful in a number of ways that I'll probably bring up here in the course of the message. You know, it's often you pray what you ask for. Sometimes you pray, and God doesn't deliver that. But if we don't ask, that will never receive to be able to go back there to Cincinnati and to be with our fellow ministry, fellow members, fellow disciples of Christ, just like you. A lot of people that we've shared life with, sometimes over 50 to 55 years, and to be with them once again. I think all of you know and have heard me say before that Susan and I always pray that when we go into an audience, whether it be this size or to the general Conference of Elders, that God will literally be our partner and walk with us. We always do that, whether we're coming down here, whether we're back there, when we're just traveling, we're going to take a little day trip tomorrow. We always ask God to be with us. He is our active partner. We invite Him and welcome Him to guide our steps, to help us to see things that otherwise we wouldn't see. I think when it comes to mixing with people, to guide us to people that help our sensitivity level come up by the spirit of people that may need what we have to offer, and not just simply because we're the quote-unquote pastoral couple, but that we in turn might receive from others and that we might gain from them what we can learn to grow and understand more. It really does work both ways, and that it was an amazing conference. I'll speak personally about it. We've been with a lot of people a lot of years, and to recognize the encouragement that we receive from people, encouragement from people that have been in our congregations over the years that we haven't seen for years, and hopefully to them, reconciliation. You know, we've spent a lot of time with a lot of people over the years, and we come and we go, and sometimes in even doing what we consider the work of God, there can be differences as we approach something. And sometimes those differences can separate us if we're not careful, and often do. And so, hallway by hallway and aisle by aisle, and person by person, it was renewing. It was refreshing.

Revival in that sense of relationships.

It was really wonderful. I'll just put it that way. And God is in the production of wonderful if we will let Him and follow His lead and ask Him to be involved. One thing that really struck me, probably the takeaway was right from the very beginning, and all of you were online last week during the song service that opened up, and the hymn that was sung. I think it was the first hymn. I may be mistaken, but it was called One Faith and One Love. And one faith and one love really, at least personally for me, set the tone for the entire conference. But beyond the conference, every day in my life, in your life, whether as member to member, whether as pastor to all of you, that it was bringing us together to recognize that together we are more than one. We do have individual responsibilities before God, the Father, and Jesus Christ, but there is also the body of Christ. And what I'd like to do just for a moment is I'd like to read through those lyrics to you. I know we kind of sing them. I know that we're kind of taking it in when we're trying to sing. The older I get, it's just harder to sing, so I'm kind of doing this for myself. But I'd like to just read through the lyrics for a second, because it will build upon where I want to take you in the course of this message. And Jim, to allow all of us moving forward from this day, I want to build upon your message, because there's going to be decision-making in the message that I'm going to be giving. It's called One Faith and One Love. Underneath it, it says Philippians 1, 27 is where it's basically taking from, stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith. Wow! You could take that apart word by word. Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith. From Philippians, first verse, just allow the words to kind of fall on your ears and trickle down to your heart and chew on them a little bit, okay? Throughout the earth, our Father, we revere Thee. Led by the Son, together we stand true. One faith, one love, Thy Spirit binds us firmly as sons and daughters, blessed in Thy view. From many lands, we raise our eyes towards Thee. Our voice is joined as one great family.

A lot to think about. Second verse, our many lives are woven, fitly blended, as tapestry created by Thy hand. In other words, we come from different sorts of fabric, but we're woven together by God's hand. That's His goal. Within each thread, Thy glory is extended.

God has not sting you with His glory and His love and His guidance in what He's trying to produce here. With every color, quality, and strand. Upon Thy womb, our differences become one, a pleasing tribute to Thee and Thy Son.

Verse 3. From many nations of the earth do we hail. With many tongues, we form our praise to Thee. Across the seas, from mountain isle and deep veil, Thy sons and daughters, in one love, agree.

And as we strengthen one another in Thee, Thy Spirit binds us in perfect harmony.

Wow! There's the vision. There's the goal. There's the invitation. There is the source of making this happen. And to recognize that God has elected us to be a part of this incredible work that He and the Christ are doing. What's that look like in further Scripture? Join me if you would in John 17 and verse 20. In John 17 and verse 20, again, at the end of what we call the Lord's Prayer. He's crescendoing.

I think I read this a couple of weeks ago, but I think we need to read it again. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

On that evening, Jesus the Christ is looking beyond the walls of that room, and seeing you and me here today being one of His disciples. This is what you might call—yeah, it's a God-verse, but it's an us-verse. It's a me-verse. It's a you-verse that God saw us and Christ saw us at this time. And notice what His sincerest desire was for you and me, that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. The unity, the oneness, the attention towards God of what He's doing.

Our individual belief as a witness that we really do believe that God the Father sent His Son the perfect sacrifice. Exactly what we needed that we too might be reconciled. And the glory which you gave me I've given them that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that notice again that the world may know that you have sent me.

Unity of heart and mind and spirit with God first and foremost, because you cannot have unity with man unless you're first united with God. Don't turn that one around. It doesn't work. I've done that sometimes. It doesn't work. And have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world. That was Jesus' sincerest desire on the night before he died. Have you ever prayed to our Father and you've really laid it all out there, put it out on the floor, laid it out?

Father, if you would just do this, this is my prayer to you. This is what I want. This is what Jesus Christ wanted. With that stated now, we're going to go forward a little bit. Are you with me? That's just laying the foundation. I have a question for you. Simply this. With that stated, with Christ, the one who is guiding us towards the Father, towards eternity. A question. 12 days out of Egypt, 12 days out of Egypt, 12 days from proverbially crossing the Red Sea and coming out of Egypt, a question about the Exodus and the pilgrimage that you're on towards the ultimate promise land.

What is our progress report since the spring holy days as we've moved into the wilderness? In other words, this is how you say it in Hebrew. How are you doing so far? 12 days out. That's a big question. Here, as we look at the typology from the Old Testament, the New Testament, we not only have Moses, but we have the second Moses. We have that greater guide towards that greater promise land in a new life. The one thing that I've been struck with, and I've been using this a little bit in my messages because I'm just reverberating to myself.

This is very important. The one thing that I've learned and kind of encapsulated in my mind, and I'm just sharing during this message with all of you, is simply this. A question. What is God calling us to? Is He calling us just simply to a better life of being a better person? I'm better now. I got into the water and came out alive, had hands laid on me, so I'll be better now.

Are you just being called to be a better person or a new person? Are you being called to simply go back to where you were, or are you being, do you see yourself as a new creation in the hands of God to be molded? A new kind of man, a new kind of woman, a new kind of creation that incorporates in this new kind of community, this new kind of community that Jesus was praying for in John 17.

And to recognize, as we make that decision and follow the guide of God, to recognize something very important in all of this as we move towards that ultimate promised land and something that is mentioned there about the wedding supper, and that is simply this. Are you preparing to be the bride of Christ at the wedding supper, or are you simply satisfied for being a guest? Are you preparing to be the bride of Christ?

As Paul lays that out, I have espoused you to Christ. Or are you just one of showing up to be a guest and watch all the action before you? Because that's really what it's all about. We're being called to be something very, very special before God. Our experience of recent date coming out of the days of 11 bread and the GCE led me to the next thing that I want to talk about. And to recognize that God wants us there, and so he brings things into our life that are are just incredible.

As Susan would say, she has a phrase when she thinks God has stuck his finger into her life or my life. She calls it a God thing. Have you ever experienced a God thing? It's really a good experience. I hope you get many, many more of them. You've prayed about something, and it came out of left field. What didn't come out of God's left field? He knew what he was doing, and all of a sudden the lights come on, the hearts open, the ears are hearing, and the reconciliation happens.

It is just a beautiful and a wonderful thing. I'd like to share a thought with you, simply this. Talking about God things. That's a Susan phrase, God things. I like it. God things. Because you know it's nothing we planned for. It had to be God. We can ask, but he fills in the blanks.

What I want to mention is that I hope that this time of wilderness, the continuing pilgrimage towards that ultimate promised land, that your life might be full of more God things by the decisions that you make. I have a question for you. What does where the rubber meets the road mean to you? It's a phrase. We've all heard that phrase, where the rubber meets the road. I'm going to introduce another one later on. Where does the rubber meet the road mean to you, and how does it apply to our journey, the road that we are traveling towards the kingdom of God? I want to go a little bit deeper for a second and offer a definition of what where the rubber meets the road means. It simply means this.

It's the moment when an idea, a theory, or a plan is tested in practice.

So I'll theory up to that point, and then it's put into practice to see whether or not it will work or not. Where the rubber meets the road is a metaphorical phrase that signifies that point of contact, in which an abstract concept is put into action or tested in real life. In other words, the phrase is a metaphor for the moment of contact between a vehicle's tires and the road, where the theoretical potential of the vehicle is translated into actual motion. It implies the transition from mere talk or planning to take concrete action. In other words, cause and effect, it's results-oriented one way or the other. Did you realize, as Christians, every day on our journey on the road towards the kingdom, God is looking as to see how the rubber meets the road in our lives. To come to realize that Christianity is not just theory, it's not just a philosophy, it's real, it's dynamic, it's to be put to use, it's to be understood. And we don't always, as human beings, we don't know when the point of contact is going to come, so we have to prepare for it. Maybe today, maybe in this hallway out here, maybe during the refreshment period, maybe on the road coming down when you had a point of contact when somebody cut you off on the freeway. And what came forth? Going home tonight with your mate, maybe seeing the adult children or the kiddies tomorrow at Mother's Day, and maybe everything doesn't quite go quite right, point of contact. You're going to have to watch him, you're going to have to make a decision. You're going to have to make a decision as to whether or not you're going to go to pieces or you're going to give it to God, and take that which is ill and make it fruitful, that God might understand, that you understand, how to act like Jesus Christ. Others have had this experience of where the road, excuse me, where the rubber meets the road. Everybody does, every human being does. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the rubber hit the road. The rubber hit the road. Noah, the rubber hit the road. Abraham, the rubber met the road as to whether or not God was merely theory or whether he was real and as to who we would obey. Israel in the wilderness, the rubber hit the road again and again and again, just like us as the spiritual Israel of God at times, again and again and again. The rubber hit the road most importantly in the Garden of Gethsemane on that night of nights when the great decision was made, when the contact moment as Jesus faced it made a decision, when he didn't say, my will but your will be done. And it is in that garden that brings the two outer gardens, the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Revelation 22, it is in that garden that is the come along that brings that total biblical experience together and to recognize that there's a solution.

The title of my message is simply this, where the rubber meets the road. Because I can almost guarantee you, during or after this service, tonight, you will hit a contact point as to whether or not God is just simply philosophy, theory, second in your life, or is all of your life. Let's notice God's instruction at the starting gate moving towards the 13th day, coming out of Egypt. Join me, if you would, in 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles. Just going to read through 2 Chronicles and let it fall on your hearts and ears and see where the rubber meets the road.

2 Chronicles 7, as we move towards there, it's the story of the dedication of the temple. Let's pick up the thought, if we could, in verse 8. Now, you say, why, Weber, are we going back to 2 Chronicles about the dedication of the temple? Well, you stick around for about 10 minutes and then we're going to explain it to you, okay? Because this was where God illuminated how we are to experience life when the rubber hits the road and the decision that will make hinged hinged on one word. And it's one of those little words that Weber always talks about, the little words. The little words are so important in the Bible. And you'll find this is—I'm going to use bad English to make a point—this is littler than little. This only has two letters and this is big. It says, at that time, verse 8, Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all of Israel with him, a very great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. So we're doing the Feast of Tabernacles. And on the eighth day, there's that term that we use in the United Church of God, referring to the festival that comes after the Feast of Tabernacles. God calls the eighth day loud and clear. It says that they held a sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. But it's on this eighth day that they were going to dedicate the altar, the altar which deals with holiness. Holiness. This is unique. And on the 23rd day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for his people, Israel. Then Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house, and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house. Now verse 12. Then, one of those words, we're going to have a movement to another chapter. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. Speaking of the temple that is going to be built, speaking of Jerusalem, Salem, peace. The same city of where Melchizedek was the priest-king.

But he said, notice what it says, and I've chosen this place for myself. Now notice very importantly, if you've never gotten into it, as a house of sacrifice.

And when I shut up heaven, and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence amongst my people. Notice what it says now in verse 14. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven. You can always hear the song, if my people. Beautiful, beautiful melody, wonderful words, because it comes right out of this. I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.

But what is the conditional word? What is the point of impact? Where does the rubber meet the road that makes the difference? God says, if.

And the biggest decision that we will make in our life, when the if word comes our way, is whether or not we will follow God, or whether we will follow ourselves. Let's continue down here. Now, my eyes will be opened, and my ears, a tint of prayer is made in this place. Think of that again in this place, just as he said he had created a house of sacrifice. For now, I have chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever, and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. God can't take his eyes off of it. His heart is there. Heaven and earth came together in the holy of holies. This was the touchdown spot. As for you, notice now again, if you walk before me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and my judgment, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom as I have covenanted with David, your father, saying, you shall not fail to have a man as a ruler in Israel.

But it goes back to...

What word? A little bit louder? Are you sure? If. Just like again, Deuteronomy 30, I placed before you life and death, blessings and cursings. Therefore, God's encouragement is always to choose life, but he lays it out. And if is like that... Remember when we used to teeter-totter? I did teeter-totter. We were all young at one time, you know, like this. I won't tell you what boys do with teeter-totters to get the other person popped off the other. How did it go? That wasn't in my notes. Anyway, teeter-totter. You know how the teeter-totter is like this. It's that pivot point here, that the if right here, going up and down as to what you'll do as you make contact with what's coming your way, even when you're not even prepared or even knowing what's coming your way, you are grounded as a child of God. Verse 19. But, oh, there it is. If you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you and go, and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot them from my land, which I have given them. And this house, which I have sanctified for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword amongst all the peoples. And as far as this house which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, Why has the Lord done so to this land and to this house? And verse 22. Then they will answer, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, embraced other gods, worshiped them, and served them. Therefore, He has brought all this calamity on them.

The very opposite of what he shares in Deuteronomy 4 and Deuteronomy 6, where he says, Why am I placing you in the middle of the Gentile pagan world, so that people might come to know and understand, What is it, how these people live? These laws that they live by, that this God, this deliverer God, has given them and plopped them right down in our midst, that they might be light and salt to us and flavor our region. What is it? Israel was liberated out of slavery, that they might be a witness that there is a God. And it all hinges around the word if. What do we learn about this? And why does this relate to us about the temple of old? I want to share a thought with you. On the road ahead of us, starting on day 13, 14, and 15, as we move towards the kingdom of God, we need to understand something. I'm sharing this with God's instructions at the starting gate on what to look for on the road test of how your rubber will meet the walk of Jesus Christ and that road that he traveled on. And he says, follow me. It's simply this. He puts us in specific lanes, and there are some speed bumps that slow us down and ask the questions and come back to 2 Chronicles 7. I want to share something with you. The word—and you might want to jot—this is a jot or downer if you're taking notes, okay? To take home with you. The word if is both a warning light and a guiding light. It's like the instruments that Jim, you mentioned about technology can be for good or it can be for ill. When you bump into if, and you're going to have to make a decision, and you heard what Jim said, not making a decision, and you don't always have to make decisions immediately. I understand that. But ultimately, if you're not going to make a decision, you're making a decision. So the word if is both a warning light and a green light. And the if factor has always been there from the beginning. Back to the Garden of Venus, we're talking about God when he created man and woman out of the dust of this earth. He gave us free moral agency right from the very beginning that faces the big if every day of our lives. God said what? Here's the tree of life. Excuse me, here's the tree of good and evil, and here's the tree of life. And as far as I can understand, there was no barbed wire around the tree. Does your Bible say there is barbed wire around the tree? Were there any alligators in the moat? No! But he did say about the tree of good and evil, don't partake of it, even though it looks incredible. You know, the tree of evil did not look like a barracuda cactus.

It probably looked like a sycamore tree in autumn. It was beautiful. It was colorful. It was good to the eyes. Probably even had fruit, pomegranates they often think, etc. I don't know who God told that to, but it's kind of come down through the ages about pomegranates and trees. So we look at that and to recognize then that there are two trees, two ways of life, two different gods, the god of eternity, the god of this age, and there are two different outcomes when you, the rubber meets the road, when you are in the if factor. And I can almost guarantee you this weekend, one way or the other, we will be in the if factor and we're going to have to make a decision.

There's a big challenge. All of you are here today and dedicated and love the San Diego church family and the Redlands church family and Las Vegas church family and everybody that Susan and I have ever been with. But we recognize that Christianity is not just about lecture.

It's a lab session of how to deal with life like Jesus Christ would. I will say this, and I really enjoyed everything that happened back in Cincinnati and appreciated all the classes and all the hard work of this and that and Mr. Shaby and Mr. Granchik that spoke to all of us last week and all the different people that we heard here and there and all the activities and the elders probably stayed on for all the different classes. That's great. Classes are good, but that's lecture. And lectures have no value unless you go into the lab session, unless you go into the laboratory, unless you see how the rubber hits the road when it comes, because everything the other is helpful, but until you do it, you understand. You don't understand until you do something until it comes to you, until you're at that contact moment as to whether or not you say yes to God, no to self, and obey Him.

How does that relate to us today?

We went to Solomon's temple and talked about the dedication of the altar and how God would preserve that and would bless Solomon if he went the right way. Let's understand that. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 3, please. We are the temple of God today. Okay. In 1 Corinthians 3, there we go, 1 Corinthians 3, and let's notice verse 16.

1 Corinthians 3, 16. Here we go. 2 Corinthians 3, 17. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

God refers to us to the temple. The term there is neos out of the Greek, n-a-o-s. When that term of the temple is used, that is speaking of the holy of holies. When you think of God of old, when heaven touched earth, it would be right there at the tabernacle later on the temple and in the holy of holies. The holy of holies was a cube. It was a cube. And in the Middle Eastern mindset, a cube represented holiness and perfection. So therefore, that is where God was when he came to this earth, when the Shekinah cloud presence came upon earth, where heaven and earth became one, and to the chosen people that God had called out of Egypt, out of slavery, to make them a new creation amongst the nations. That's where it was. He says today that our heart is where he dwells. Our heart is his presence in us. You can go to Galatians 2 and verse 20, where it says, wake up, God! No, you not! No, no, that's 2 Corinthians 13. Paul says, no, you not that Jesus Christ dwells. The I AM dwells in you. Now, I was actually thinking of Galatians 2.20, where Paul says, Jesus Christ exists in me, lives in me. So you see this symmetry between the temple of old and what God is doing with the Israel of God today, which is very important. Now, with the temple aspect, are you with me? We're going to go one step further. Remember, he said, God said back in 2nd Chronicles, it's going to be a house of sacrifice. Join me if you would in Romans 12, in Romans 12, and picking up the thought in verse 1. I beseech you. I'm, uh, beseeches, you know, sounds like Shakespeare. I'm earnestly crying, trying to grab your attention. I beseech you therefore, brethren, family.

Follow spiritual Israelites, whether you be Jew or Gentile, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove that which is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. With everything that God has done for us as we consider the thoughts towards the New Testament Passover of the ultimate Lamb of God, of He who did not need to die but was willing to die, that we might, He died for a time that we might live with His Father in Himself forever, and took that upon Himself which we richly deserved. And yet our sins were put on Him. So, we're to be a living sacrifice. We're not to be a dead duck. A living sacrifice means then that for you and for me that everything that we do as we walk towards that promised land, even as we're 13 days out of the last days of 11 bread, let's remember something I want to kind of—and people that are listening, they'll be listening down the weeks, the years ahead—that we look at this, that the days of 11 bread and the New Testament Passover are wonderful. They are events. They did happen. They did occur. We observe them on certain days of the week and we come, oh, we have this to go to. Oh, we have this to go to. But the New Testament Passover and the days of 11 bread and Pentecost and all the rest that you're throwing, it's not an event alone. It's an existence daily.

God has not called us to just simply rituals. Rituals are good. God tells us to assemble. Absolutely. But rituals without righteousness goes to the grave. God's not asking us just to pass through. Okay, it's— 2 o'clock in the afternoon—a little bit later than that—2 o'clock. Here I am. When can I go home? I've come. I've stayed. At least Jim Buller gave a good message. Don't know about Weber. But I'm going to hang on because there's coffee afterwards. No. We've been called to be godly inside out. And every time that contact point comes, I want you to go back to 2 Chronicles 7 and say that our loving God wants to bestow so much on us. And even when we faltered and even when we've said, if my people will pray, if my people will humble themselves, then I'm going to pour down blessings upon them. That's the kind of Father that we have in heaven. He doesn't want to write us off. He gave a son for us. What does that living sacrifice look like? Join me if you would in Mark 12. In Mark 12, the Gospel thereof. It is here that Jesus, a Jew, a rabbi, repeats the Shema. And he says in Mark 12, and picking up the thought if we could, in verse 28, He was asked what is the greatest law, greatest commandment. Jesus answered, The first of all commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord your God is one.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, and with all of your strength, at every contact point that comes to show that you believe that He is, and He's just not theory. He's not just a holy spook. He lives. He reigns. He knows us. He loves us. This is the first commandment.

And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And there is no other commandment greater than these.

To love your neighbor as yourself, even when they are unlovable. That doesn't mean to put up with unlovable, but to pray about unlovable. To pray for your adversary. To pray for your enemy. To pray for the person that said, oh, they're back in church again this week. I remember last week.

I know none of you have ever had those thoughts.

Looking at me like, what's with Weber? He must have issues. No, I'm people. I'm a person. Now, I tell you with what Susan and I experienced this past week, tells us that God is guiding us on the right course. We had such incredible times, building bridges, rather than ditches, praying for people, rather than being absent in duty of doing so. And things happened. I wish I could share all of it with you. And some other things that happened to people that we came into contact with, I came into contact, which is not where they were at the beginning of the week, but by the end of the week, things happened that were incredible and meaningful.

God does hear us. It's really incredible. I want to share one thought with you here then. And the thought I wanted to share is this. We can't start with the second commandment. The second commandment is going to falter on its own if we don't start with the first commandment. You know what it is? First things first. And as we're coming up to Pentecost, and I know you've heard this for 20 years for me, firstfruits put first things first. That's what makes a firstfruit. And, you know, if you don't put God at the top, when those if moments come, it's all going to melt. Let me use an example with Susie, and I showed love by using her as an example. No. But if over 50 years when we have challenges, if we don't go to God as a man and a woman, good luck down below. It's going to take much longer to come back together.

But Susan and I recognize that, yes, it takes two to tangle, but sometimes there's three in a relationship. And we actively look at Jesus Christ as the head of our marriage. We are a threesome. Now, there's only two of us that are human beings, but we're a threesome. I sincerely look at Jesus Christ being the Lord of our life and the head of our marriage. And if we don't go to him first and humble ourselves and repent and talk to him rather than just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, it's not going to work. You know, I have wondered—let me use an example. Have you ever gone to a Mexican restaurant and you know they have a really great cheese sauce or whatever with the tomato mix? Do you want to start by just putting it on the sides of your plate at the bottom?

Or we can go Italian and have spaghetti. If you're having spaghetti and meatballs, do you want all the sauce just around the rim of the—the rim? No, you start from the top. You let it come down from the top down and then flavor everything. You allow the sauce of God to flavor your heart, your mind, your soul, your actions. So that's why the first commandment is the most important. You can't start at the second commandment. It's always got to be at the first commandment that you start. That's how it works. Join me if you would quickly, and let's go to 1 Peter 1. Let's look at this in real—I'm just going to read 1 Peter 1. I'm probably going to stop at that then. I think it'll be enough for today. 1 Peter 1. What's this look like in real time?

And why do we approach that if with care that we might glorify God? 1 Peter 1, and picking up the thought, excuse me, in verse 13. Okay, here we go.

With all that I've spoken today, then, therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace, the favor, the ongoing love of God, that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lust as in your ignorance, but as He who called you as holy. He ain't better. God is not satisfied with better. Better may be spoken the will forward. He deals with holy. Be holy in all of your conduct.

You mean not every other measure of my conduct?

Of all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy for I am holy. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in these last times for you. He was made real. That's real. Is that he was made real. I get excited about talking about God. Sorry. He was made real to us. He was made manifest who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and your hope are in God. He was, come on our scene just as much as when Moses came back to Egypt. And he said, I've been up to the mountain and I've been sent by a God who says, let my people go. And the rest is history. And God, the father called you and he called me individually wrapped, but also brought into a seamless whole called the body of Christ, a spiritual organism that is but known to him alone to recognize that we are that tapestry, that we can't be like ancient Israel.

Oh, we can be. And there have been those have come amongst us and divided us. That's having time immemorial from the time of Israel to the time of John with diatrophes and third John and on and on and on. Because we have an adversary. We have an adversary. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. There is an adversary that with the truth that you and I have been given by God, but you're so illuminating. There must be something because in all my lifetime, I'll just be frank, haven't been in the middle of so many things that are way of life is that there must really be something very precious about what God is sharing with us through the Scriptures that Satan would like to extinguish and put out of business. He'd like to put us out of business individually. He'd like to put out the truth of God going out around the world. He'd like to extinguish that, this God of this world, this God of this age, this adversary, this one who exists in that unseen realm. And what I'm saying, one of the ifs that we've got to recognize, the if factor when it come up to it, that contact point, is to recognize that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but in a spirit world, in high places. There is an adversary. He will come, he will go. He did what Jesus in the wilderness, and then he went back, as it says, for a more opportune time. The lion will never just strike once. The mosquito is never satisfied till he comes back again and gets a good piece of your blood. Again and again. He wants to undo the work of God and us, in you.

He wants to calculate that when you come up to an if factor, that you will lean his way rather than God's way, and then make it a habit. It will be a habit of, rather than talking to God, it will be about talking about others.

It will be about, rather than asking God to intervene in the lives of others and your life, it will be just talking to somebody else about somebody else. It's in the breed. It's in our humanity. We don't just simply need to become better. We need to become holy. I'll just share something with you. This past year, I've been a minister for nearly 50 years. I have just done something very, very simple this year. You know, sometimes the hardest things are the simplest. I've actually been praying for people that I've had issues with. That's not a whole lot of people, please understand. But where there has been challenges, where there's been, unfortunately, space between us, I pray about it more than ever, and I see things happening.

Susan, I saw a wonderful situation this past week. As Susan said, you all know the phrase now, it was a God thing, because we couldn't do it by ourselves.

That's the God that we serve. What does this other side of if look like when we choose God's way? Notice chapter 2, verse 1, Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, evil speaking, and as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also then, as a living stone, are built upon a spiritual household, that temple, that tabernacle, a holy priesthood, a holy priesthood that is offering up sacrifices like Christ, not somebody else but yourself in the way of life that you no longer want to have rendered in your life, and you give your life to God.

To offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable God through Jesus Christ.

Friends here in San Diego and those that will be listening to this message, I realize some of the things I've spoken to you today. I'm striving to internalize this morning, even as I speak, and will continue to do so. I'm going to be 73 years old this year.

The time is short.

For all of us. I want to use another expression, then. Where the rubber meets the road, the one I want to finish you with is simply this. Put the pedal to the metal.

Put the pedal to the metal. It's time to accelerate. It's time to step on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

I only have so much time. God's given me three score and some of you three and some of you four and more. Not that I'm looking at Bob Gardner. Anyway, the time is short. What are we going to do about it? What will we do when we come to that warning light and that green light called if? I want to just conclude with one brief phrase to put in your hamper to take home. When we meet Jesus Christ, He's not going to ask us who we know or what we know.

But what we did, but what we did when the rubber hit the road and bumped into if.

And at the end of that sentence, it's simply this. And there are no ands or buts about it.

As Jesus, that righteous judge that we come before, and He wants us to succeed, please understand, there will be no ifs, ands, or buts. It'll be what you did with if, as to whether or not, like Esther, when the door was before her and Mordecai encouraged her, for such a time as now the kingdom has come to you. Will you cross through that door? Will you honor God, glorify God, and recognize as the if comes your way? That rather than a dead end, you've used it as a springboard towards God's glory and being His beloved child.