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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you on the first you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you heart the voice of God is calling to the heart is calling you live as much when God is in it may be not for those who may but as a family if you will praise your Savior brother Michael, brother 397 on the second song number 397 on the second yes, let's sing it out on the second C.C. go ahead 24 on the third 24 on the third as the last song for favorites long my imprisoned spirit and can it be that I should gain let's sing it out on the last long my imprisoned spirit and can it be that's bound in sin and it shows nigh nigh I get through some wicked way I will look at the light my heart must be I will look at the light amazing love how can it be that now love is time amen amen all right well let's take our bulletins tonight we'll look at some announcements if you do not have a bulletin just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you if you need a bulletin just put your hand up and we'll get one for you the verse this week 1st Timothy 2.7 where unto I more than a preacher and an apostle I speak the truth in Christ and lie not the Gentiles in faith and verity that's a good verse there we like that if you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m. we had a wonderful service this morning of course we're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service and we do invite you to be with us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study our midweek service the Sunday night service is the most exciting service of the week and the Wednesday night service is the most encouraging service of the week and we encourage you to join us for the midweek service if you look at our main times our main sowing times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. and then we have additional soul winning on Thursdays and Fridays and Sundays at 2 p.m. don't forget if you're a soul winner to add your salvations on your communication card mark them on your communication card so that we can update the bulletin if you have a map that you did not finish or if there was something wrong with the map please clearly mark what was done and what was not done or what was wrong and add it put it in the bin in the foyer so that the staff guys can go through and fix it and recycle it back out so we can finish that and if you're running late to any of our sowing times don't forget to call us or text us at the number there 916-868-9080 let us know your plan on being there but you're running late that way we can make sure we have a map and a partner and all the things that you need we of course are a family integrated church what that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the service we don't separate children from their parents for any reason we do have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience so if you have a child that's being distracting during the service or if you need some privacy we would encourage you to use those rooms as needed and of course if you're a first time guest if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church we're very glad you're with us we have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building tonight if you go out the main foyer or the secondary foyer you'll see a little table set up and on that table you'll see these little gift bags please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight there are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have the one I like to highlight is this documentary that our church made it's called Being Baptist it's very well made very interesting we think you'll like it want to give you this gift want to give this to you as a gift for being our guest tonight so please make sure you don't leave here tonight without grabbing one of those gift bags and if you are a guest we'd ask that you please take a moment and fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin and if you need a pen just raise your hand one of our ushers can bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen and we would like to just have a record of your attendance and we'd like to actually send you a little gift so please take a moment to fill the card out with the announcements we're going to sing a song and when we're done singing we're going to receive the offering as the offering plate goes by you can drop this card in the offering plate if you need to be baptized please let us know the baptistry is filled the water is warm and we've got everything you need to be baptized and we'd love to take care of that for you tonight you can do that at the end of the service while we're singing the last song after the preaching you can step out that door one of our staff guys will meet you there or you can check off on your communication card that you'd like information about being baptized and we'll follow up with you in regards to that if you look at the announcements and upcoming events of course today this morning specifically it was our family and friend day and our church celebrated twelve years in ministry and we had a great time with that and praise the Lord it was a good day let me just give you a few numbers we of course had a special soloing push the last couple of days on Thursday night and Thursday night at 6pm we had 72 soul winners out and then on Friday we had 73 soul winners out on Saturday we had 126 soul winners out and then of course this morning we ended the service with 310 in attendance for the morning service so praise the Lord for that people keep asking me and I have to go back but I'm pretty sure that's a new record for our church obviously not including like the red hot conference or something like that just a normal Sunday morning so praise the Lord for that and we appreciate everybody's help and all the work the choir sounded great and the food was good and there was a lot of work that went into all of this and we appreciate all of you the special music and just everybody that helped in all the different ways you know getting the invitations out obviously through soul winning and then we had a group that went out and got invitations what was left over after soul winning they put them on cars we had many of you helped us with the mailers and all those things and we appreciate all of you and the work you do there if you look at the announcements there of course we have the young men's workshop that's this Tuesday September 20th at 10 am so all the young men ages 8 to 17 years old and their dads if they'd like are welcome to or invited to a workshop to learn just the basics about how to work with their hands and tools and things like that so we're having that on Tuesday and if you'd like to attend you can sign up on your communication card we are going to be providing lunch so we'd like to know that you're coming so we could prepare for that and if you have any questions you can see brother Joel Usher and he's helping us with that of course and then we have also a baby shower for Miss Esther Davidson this Saturday September 24th at 3 pm and she is having a girl she's registered on Amazon it is a potluck so if you can please bring a dish to share and if you'd like to attend you can sign up on your communication card and then we have a men's preaching and pizza night coming up on Friday October 7th at 7 pm and all the men are invited for an evening of preaching pizza and fellowship we're not having a sign up for preaching because we have so many guys that didn't preach last time we're just going to have them preach this time so if you did not preach last time we should have already contacted you you should have got information about that but you should plan on preaching if we have not contacted you then contact us please and let us know homeschool group they start their PE class this Thursday September 22nd at 10 am and then you can check for your name if you're part of the cleaning crew we appreciate your faithfulness there there's other things there for you to look at please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody if you look at the back of the bulletin birthdays and anniversaries for the month of September today is my son's birthday Joel Jimenez and tomorrow Matt Maple's birthday September 19th also brother Matt Taylor's birthday tomorrow September 19th brother Jacob Chaboyan's birthday September 21st brother Nate Deacon's birthday September 22nd brother Graham and Miss Michelle Scott have an anniversary on September 22nd and brother Ray and Miss Denise Anderson have an anniversary on September 23rd praise report money matters all those things are there for you to look at and I do want to just say this if you did not get a mug we wanted to make sure that every family got a mug this morning if you were here this morning and you did not receive a mug please see one of our staff guys brother Oliver or brother Shaw or brother David and let them know because if you did not receive a mug then we will just order more and make sure you get one but we just want to be aware of that so if anybody did not receive a mug please let us know so that we can take care of that and I think that's it for all of the announcements so we're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week as we prepare to receive the offering tonight and we'll sing Rejoice in the Lord and this is the kind of song you want to sing on purpose and with passion so let's go ahead and sing it out together on the first God never moves without purpose or plan when trying and serving and holding Amen Give thanks to the Lord though your test leads to war give in the song Lord rise in the Lord He makes us stay in all the end of each path that I take for when I am tried and warm I shall come born as born I could not see through the shadows ahead so I looked at the loss of life in your interest I'm bound to the will of the master and reign in all the end of the world He makes us stay in all the end of each path that I take for when I am tried and roaring high I shall come born as born Now I can see testing comes from above God's reign and purpose in love God's last and I trust His name I will marry open voice in the Lord He makes us stay in all the end of each path that I take for when I am tried and glorified I shall come born as born Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do come to you tonight asking that you bless the offering. Lord, we thank you for the offering. And Lord, I pray that you'd bless this evening service and the preaching to come. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. In Luke 13 and verse 12 the Bible tells us this. Notice that Jesus reached out to her. In verse 12 the Bible says, And when Jesus saw her. If you're taking notes I'd like you to write this down. First he sought her. He saw her and he sought her. Aren't you thankful for that? Amen. Luke 19 and verse 10. You can turn there if you'd like. Or there in Luke 13. Luke 19 and verse 10 the Bible says, For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. And by the way, this is true of everybody here. The reason that you and I are saved is because Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. You don't have to turn to 1 John 4.19 if you want to jot this verse down. But 1 John 4.19 says this. We love him because he first loved us. Amen. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Amen. I always think it's funny when people say, I found Jesus. You didn't find anybody. Jesus wasn't lost. You were lost. You didn't find Jesus. Jesus found you. We love him because he first loved us. He saw us. He saw her. The Bible says. But I want you to notice, not only did he see her, he also summoned her. Look at it. Luke 13 verse 12. And when Jesus saw her across the room, there she is, he's teaching. He's probably on some sort of a platform like I am right now, teaching maybe in an elevated way, looking at the crowd. He sees this woman bound for 18 years. He saw her, the Bible tells us. And then the Bible says he called her. He called her to him. He saw her. He summoned her. I think it's interesting. I mean, hear this woman. She's been bound for 18 years. We don't know how old she is. She obviously has this disability. And Jesus says to her, hey, come over here. I mean, isn't that kind of rude? Wouldn't you be like, no, Jesus, you go to her, look at her, she's disabled. He looks at the woman who's physically disabled and says, come over here. And he expects her to go. He sees her. He summons her. He called her. Notice, notice. And then he spoke to her. Look at verse 12. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said unto her, woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. I realize that I sound like a broken record. I realize that you come here and you hear me preach, many of you, and I'm thankful for it, three times a week. And I try to preach different sermons, and we preach on different topics. I mean, we're going verse by verse through Luke. I feel like every sermon is different to the extent of what we're dealing with. But the themes that continually come up seem to be very similar. Go to John 17. You might think, I feel like Pastor just says the same things over and over. I feel like Pastor says the same three things over and over. I feel like he just says the same five things over and over. And sometimes, you know, what I want to tell people is, hey, once you get those five things down, we'll move on. The problem is, you've been working on those five things for 18 years. Why is it that every time I come, I feel like I hear the same thing over and over? Here's why you feel like you hear the same thing, because there's only one thing. There's only one message. And I preach this, and I say this, and I realize that you don't believe me, and I realize that you just roll your eyes, sometimes just spiritually and sometimes physically, and you think like, ah, whatever, he's just up there doing what pastors do. But I'm here to tell you something. If you would spend time with Jesus, if you would go to him when he summons you, if you'd allow him to speak with you and commune with you, and when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And I realize that I'm sure you think I'm lying to you, but I'm here to tell you, if you would just spend time, you say, how do I spend time with Jesus? Well, Jesus is the Word, you've got the Word of God right here. If you would spend time in the Word, if you would read the Bible, if you would gain biblical knowledge, look, it's not complicated and it's not magic, it's not this hocus pocus. If you would read the Bible, learn what the Bible says, and then actually act upon it, actually apply those principles to your life, actually begin to live the way God tells you to live, and do the things God tells you to do, and think the way God tells you to think. I'm here to tell you something. Jesus would set you free. It would change your life. It would revolutionize your life. John 17, 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is true. There is no secret. I know some of you think that if I just go to church long enough, eventually it's going to happen, the Holy Spirit is just going to take over, the Holy Spirit is not going to take over. We're not Calvinists. You say, why did he summon her? Because God expects you to come to him. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. But you've got to draw nigh first, crippled. You say, you expect me to come? Look at my condition. You expect me to come? He looked at the woman bound for 18 years. He said, hey, come here. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He said, call upon me. I'll help you. I'll answer the prayer. I'll help you get through it. There is no magic bullet. It's just reading the Bible, learning what it says, and deciding every day to apply it to your life. Deciding every day, I'm going to do what God tells me to do. I'm going to stop doing what God tells me to not do. I'm going to start thinking the way God wants me to think, and I'm going to start living as though it is God who is in charge of my life. And here's what I'm telling you. If you did that every day, every day, it would change your life. Jesus would look at you and say, thou art loosed. Go to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. You open up your Bible just right in the center. You'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalm. Psalm 119. Do me a favor. When you get there, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there. Because we're going to leave it, and we're going to come back to it. Psalm 119. Notice this word, wherewithal. You see the word wherewithal? It means from where? From what source? From where shall a young man cleanse his way? How can a young man cleanse his way? How can a young man get over a pornography addiction? How can a young man get over an alcohol addiction? How can a young man get over just being a thief or being dishonest or being lazy or just whatever character flaw? Because I'm here to tell you something, and I know this hurts your feelings, and I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but there's something wrong with you. There's something wrong with you. And there's something wrong with me. And there's something wrong with all of us. And you can live your life bound, or you can be made free. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? If there's no secret, there's no magic formula, by taking heed thereto according to thy word. It just, you know, it amazes me because people, and I understand it, and I appreciate it, and I'm thankful for it, and I'm not saying this in a negative way. Please understand this, but people will often look at my family and my wife and I, and they'll say, Man, your children are so well-behaved, and they're so respectful, and they're so nice, and I think to myself, Your children could be the same. There's nothing special about my children. Other than the fact that they're my children, that makes them special to me. But if you just did what God told you to do, your kids could be the exact same way. You guys have such a wonderful marriage. My marriage is a mess. Well, it doesn't have to be. If you would read the Bible, learn what it says, and then apply it to your life daily, if you would read the Bible, learn what it says, and wake up every day and say, I know I don't want to, I know I don't want to, nobody wants to, but I'm going to do what God tells me to do, I'm going to not do what God tells me not to do, and I'm going to think the way that God tells me to think, it would change your life. People would look at you and say, Why? You're a different person. They would take knowledge of you, and they would say that you have been with Jesus. He saw her, and he summoned her, and he spoke to her. He reached her, and then I want you to notice, he released her. Keep your finger there in Psalms. We're going to come back to it. Go to Luke 13. Luke 13 and verse 13. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight. Notice what she could not do for 18 years. He did through his word. Immediately she was made straight and glorified God. Go back to Psalms, Psalm 125, if you would. Psalm 125. Psalm 125 and verse 4, the Bible says, Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts. You see the word upright? Are you upright in your heart? Or are you bound? To them that are upright in their hearts, verse 5, As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity, but peace shall be upon Israel. Notice how the Bible differentiates between an upright heart and crooked ways. Go to Isaiah 42. If you go to Isaiah 42, you're there in Psalms. You go past Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah. Isaiah 42 and verse 16. Here's what my wife and I have learned over the last 12 years of ministry. We can't change you. I can't change you. If I could, I would. Trust me. Trust me. I would. I don't know, pastor, I have a problem seeing where I'm crooked. Ask me after the service. Don't ask me a question you don't want the answer to. You know, I've learned one of the things, the most frustrating things about ministry is that you can't change people. You can't make anyone do anything. And one of the most frustrating things that my wife and I have had to do over the last 12 years of ministry is watch people get backslidden and quit on God. And realize that there's nothing I can do about it. I can't change you. You say, how do you deal with that? We just have to learn that people come and go. Look, that's just the reality of church life. People come and people go. Don't get too upset. So and so quit. Yeah, well, have you been here long? People come and go. Well, often I tell people, you know, we have pastored here, I have pastored here, and we've been the pastor of pastors throughout this church for 12 years, but to be honest with you, we feel like we've pastored like several different churches. Because people come and people go and people come and people go. I feel like I've pastored multiple churches. Don't ask me which one I like the best. But sometimes, I mean, this church feels a lot different than Verity Baptist Church four years ago. And three years before that. And two years before that. I'm just, what I've learned is that I can't help you. I can't do it. I can't pray over you. I can't anoint you with it. I can't make you do anything. Only Jesus can. And you've got to come to Jesus and let him do it. I can't change you. Only Christ can. And until you allow him to, there's nothing we can do but watch and pray and reach out and ask how you're doing. But you're going to have to make the choice to let God change you. And it's not God reforming you. It's God turning you into a different person. Because there's something wrong with the person you are. Isaiah 42 and verse 16. He says, And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not. I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them. And crooked things straight, these things will I do unto them. This is the Lord speaking. And forsake them not. What I've learned is that I can't change you. What I've learned is, to be honest with you, I mean I'm to the point in my ministry where I just think to myself, people ask me biblical questions and biblical advice and my wife and I do the best to give biblical advice. Can I just be honest with you? After 12 years I kind of just need therapy if that's okay. I've just gotten to the point where people ask me biblical questions, biblical advice, biblical counsel. I tell them, well here's what the Bible says, here's what the Bible says you're supposed to do. And then they walk out the door and I think to myself, 99.9% of people are going to not do what the Bible says to do. They're just not. I mean this is amazing to me. I tell people like do X, Y, and Z. And then the report comes back and it's like A, B, and C. And it's like what? I mean it's funny. It's hilarious in the sense that you actually did the exact opposite of what I told you to do. I told you to go there and you went over there. I told you to say this and you said that. And here's what I've realized. What I've realized is that crooked people are crooked. You can't direct them. You can't tell them. God just has to transform them. Sometimes I want to tell people like hey, I will give you the advice that you need. I will tell you exactly what the Bible says to do in this situation. But before we do that, let's take eight weeks of you reading the Bible for an hour. Let's take eight weeks of you fasting and praying. Let's get eight weeks of you actually confessing the faults and the sins in your life and repenting and getting right with God. Let's take eight weeks of you actually getting right with God. And then I'll tell you what to do. But here's the thing, by then I won't need to tell you what to do. Because the problem is you're crooked. The problem is you're a liar. The problem is you're a thief. The problem is you show up late to work and you put on your time card a different time. The problem is that you're doing things and you're hiding it from your wife and hiding it from your husband and hiding it from your children. The problem is that you're a crooked person. That's the problem. And you can't be helped. I can't help you and you can't help yourself. Only Jesus can. But He won't come to you. He summons you. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Luke chapter 13. We saw the woman. We saw the Savior. Like you noticed early tonight, the devil. I want you to know something. This woman was not demon possessed. Luke 13 and verse 16. And not, not this woman. This is Jesus responding. We're going to look at it here in a minute. But you've got the ruler of the synagogue throwing a fit about the fact that Jesus healed her and made her stray. Jesus responds. He says, I'm not this woman, being the daughter of Abraham. Now that little phrase tells us there that this woman was one of the children of God. She was the daughter of Abraham. I believe this means she was saved. Obviously this is before the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Is it still under the old covenant? Jesus says, look, this woman is a daughter of Abraham, but He says, whom Satan hath bound. Look at verse 12. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said unto her, woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. In verse 16, He said, and I'm not this woman, being the daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound lo these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day. Please understand this. And I don't think Christians really get this, and I'll do my best to help you understand it. Just because you're not possessed, you say, I'm saved. I'm not possessed by the devil. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in me. Whatever. Just because you're not possessed doesn't mean you're not oppressed. Just because he's not on the inside messing with you does not mean he's not on the outside binding you. And for all practicality, you're just as messed up. I'm not demon possessed. I'm not demon possessed. But are you oppressed? Are you bound by Satan? Is the besetting sin the yoke upon your life that you can't even see? The answer is right there, and you won't even ask for it. John 8. Luke. John. John 8. So what are the major takeaways of the sermon? Number one, you got problems. You think I'm kidding? The reason you have problems in your life is because you've got problems. And until you can acknowledge your own problems and deal with your own spiritual issues, nothing else can help you. Only Jesus can. John 8.30. As he spake these words, many believed on him. Men said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word... You keep saying the same things over and over. I'm just saying what Jesus said. Don't get mad at me because he keeps preaching about the two same sermons. Soul winning and read your Bible. Soul winning and do what the Bible says. Soul winning and do what the Bible says. And if you just did what the Bible says, we can stop preaching on soul winning. Because you'd be doing what the Bible says. If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. Verse 32. And ye shall know the truth. Don't miss it. Mr. Bound by Satan for 18 years. Don't even see it. Mrs. Bound by Satan for 18 years. Don't even see it. You're used to living that way. You can have Jesus in the same room with you. You won't even ask for the help because you don't even see the problem. And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, we be Abraham's seed and we're not in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? That's what some of you are saying. There's nothing wrong with me. Here's the funny thing. Let me just go ahead and help you with this. If you're sitting in this room and I say, you must be tired of my husband. There's nothing wrong with me. You're the one I'm talking about. You're crazy. They answered him, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them very clearly saying to you, whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin. I'll do what I want. No you won't. You'll do what Satan wants. Whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin. You can live your life bound or Jesus can make you free. But you gotta come to him. And there's no magic bullet. There's no secret recipe. We're not Catholics. I can't tell you, just pray four Hail Marys and three Our Fathers and everything will be fine. It doesn't work that way. You say, how do I change my problems? Well, here's the thing. You're the problem. How do I change my problems? Change you. You're the problem. You wanna change your problems? Change you. Tomorrow morning, you open up your Bible. And not just tomorrow morning, Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning and Thursday morning and Friday morning and Saturday morning and Sunday morning and every morning for the rest of your life. You open up your Bible and you read it. And you don't read it so you can check off some list somewhere that you read it. You read it so you can actually learn what God is trying to tell you. You bow your head before you pray and you say, Lord, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. You say, Lord, will you? I'm gonna look into the perfect law of liberty in the mirror. Would you allow me to see myself clearly? Would you allow me to see what my problems and my issues? Would you allow me? Would you speak to my heart and show me what you want me to do? What you want me to stop doing? How you want me to think and how you want me to stop thinking? Will you show me the attitude that you want me to do? And then you decide, I'm gonna try to do that today. I'm gonna try to live the way that God wants me to live. And you do that Monday and you do that Tuesday and you do that Wednesday and you do that for one week and you do it for two weeks and then you know what? You get to 12 years of ministry and you say, how did I get here? You didn't get here, Jesus did. Or you can come and go. Because they all come and go. And the sad part is that I love many of you but many of you will not be here 12 years from now. In fact, some of you are so on your way out now that you won't even be here next year. Enjoy your mug, it's the last one you're probably gonna get. Because there's no secret formula. He already saw you and he summons you. And if you come, he'll speak to you and he'll mold you and he'll change you and your problems will begin to go away not because your problems go away but because you go away and you become a new person. And they'll say, man, last time I saw you, you seemed different. I've been with Jesus. Go back to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. Let's just finish the story up real quickly. We see the humiliation of the enemy. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. This is what we're about to see is what you call passive aggressive actions. This guy wants to say something to Jesus but he doesn't have the guts to say something to Jesus so he just says it to everyone. Like those messages you put out on Facebook about pastor, you don't say them to pastor. You're like, I just wish that pastors would. I thought you weren't on Facebook. The Holy Spirit told me. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation because that Jesus healed on the Sabbath day and said unto the people, I just wish pastors would. When you got a pastor, you're like, idiots. That's what this guy says. There are six days in which men ought to work and in them therefore come and be healed and not on the Sabbath day. I just think it's so ridiculous what this guy is saying because he's like, there are six days in which man can work and you come get healed on those six days. I want to ask this guy, how many people exactly are getting healed in your synagogue? He's like, you healed on the wrong day, Jesus. What, you're supposed to heal on the six days? Do you normally have people getting healed on the sixth day? And the Lord then answered him and said, thou hypocrite, does not each one of you on the Sabbath, here's the key word, lose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? Jesus, don't you have animals that are bound and on the Sabbath day because they have to drink water, you unloose them, you unbind them and you let them get water? Don't you do that? And not, not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whose Satan is bound, lo, these 18 years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day. And when he has said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed. Notice the humiliation of the enemy. But I'd like you to notice also the celebration of the people and all the people rejoice for all the glorious things that were done by him. So here's the question I have for you. If we were to physically see your spiritual condition, what would we see? What would we see? What would we see? Because it's easy to judge this woman because her physical problem was a manifestation of her spiritual condition. And it's easy for us to get away with our issues because we get all dressed up and look nice for church. Here's how Jesus said it to the Pharisees. He said, outside you're white as sepulchres, but inside you're full of dead men's bones. If we could physically see your spiritual condition, what would we see? Would we see you bound? Would we see you crippled spiritually? And what are you gonna do about it? Jesus is right there. I'm not saying I'm Jesus. I'm saying he's right there. Would you ask? He calls you. He summons you. Will you come? Will you go to him, commune with him, speak with him, and let him turn you into a different person? Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for the Bible. Lord, I pray that none of us would be so arrogant to walk out of this room saying, we have problems. We all have areas we can work on. And you literally have the answer to all our problems. But our problems are not our problem. Our problem is us. I need to become a different man. Lord, I pray you'd help us to be transformed into the image of your dear son every day as we spend time with him, as we walk with him, as we read his Word, as we fellowship with him, as we apply these principles into our lives. We actually try to live these things out. I pray, Lord, you'd help us that those sins, those attitudes that have found us for years would begin to disappear. And that we might hear the same words that this woman heard, thou art loosed. We love you. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen. We're going to have Brother Matt come up and lead us, excuse me, Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song. And of course, I just want to thank all of you for family and friend day, for the help. I hope everybody, we appreciate everybody's help with everything in regards to that. And then of course, I want to remind you, if you for some reason did not get a mug, please let us know so that we can order one for you or we might have, I don't know, I don't think we have any, but we might be able to find one and get one for you. And if you had this thought earlier and you thought, I got a mug, but I'm going to tell them I didn't, that's what I'm talking about. That's the problem. But if you really did not get one, please let us know because we want to make sure you get one. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know in the final song. Amen. Let's grab our songbooks and turn to page number 390. Song number 390. Have I done my best for Jesus. Song number 390. Let's sing it out on the first. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. Who died upon the purple tree. To think of each great sacrifice I now own. I know my Lord expects a best for me. How many on the cross that I have lifted. How many on the chain I've held to free. How many on the chain I've held to free. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. When He has done so much for me. Because that I have wasted our sure and near. Because I said I'll bless you dear. Because of all my lack of faith. Because of all my lack of love for Jesus. I wonder if His heart is breaking too. How many on the cross that I have lifted. How many on the chain I've held to free. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. When He has done so much for me. Sing it out on the third. I wonder have I cared enough for others. For have I left them not alone. I might have felt a wonder to the Savior. For I see the precious life I might have sown. For I see the precious life I might have sown. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. How many on the chain I've held to free. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. When He has done so much for me. You guys are singing well. Let's finish strong on the last. Sing it out on the third. I will say without value. I find too much in my sorrow. The world is dying now for what's on someone. To tell me on the same as last. Let's sing it out. How many on the cross that I have lifted. How many on the chain I have held to free. I wonder, have I done the best I can, when he has done so much for me? Amen. Great singing. Brother George, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer? Thank you. Thank you.