Take my soul and all its parts, and bear aside your great outcasts, for my tribulation. I've been on His precious path, a plain banishment from God. Jesus, thanks be to You. Jesus, all my trust is in Your blood. Jesus, rescue us through Your great love. Sweet the sounds of saving grace, Christ died for me.

Sweet the sounds of saving grace, sweet the sounds of saving grace. Next song, alright. Grace Sloan. We will finish it with, uh, we can put on Sweet the Sounds of Saving Grace, right? In there, yeah? Yeah, so in there we have Sweet the Sounds of Saving Grace, it's like that.

No outro? No outro. No outro. Oh, sorry. Got it. So we'll end off on the C on that song. We won't do the outro. Yeah. Alright, Grace Sloan. E, yeah. So just a heads up, on the bridge, there's a chromatic part, right? So it's, uh, so the way it goes, I was in darkness all of my life I lived a victim of the night Spiritual may I be saved I swore I knew the way of my own The rocks are hot, made of stone Spiritual music At your touch my life became a tune On my tongue the power of Christ is strong I'm into a kingdom that cannot be shaken Heaven and Satan by grace, grace alone So I'll stand, so I'll stand By grace, grace alone I will run the race by grace, grace alone I will slay my sin by grace, grace alone I will reach the end by grace, grace alone Go back to the intro?

Okay, yeah. Sure. Yeah. ♪ ♪ ♪ I was orphaned, lost at the fall ♪ ♪ Running away from what you call ♪ ♪ The father you were told ♪ ♪ I had no righteousness of my own ♪ ♪ I had no right to draw the unknown ♪ ♪ The father you loved and saved ♪ ♪ And in the light of your name ♪ ♪ He was the creation ♪ ♪ He raised me to a body as your own ♪ ♪ He was so high above my station ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ I left my home to seek out the lost ♪ ♪ Through the great terror of the cross ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're the greatest choice ♪ ♪ I've never looked my face down to the floor ♪ ♪ I think my day could ever be told ♪ ♪ By the Jesus you gave me ♪ ♪ I've never had redemption and salvation ♪ ♪ And won't you die that I might reap what you sow ♪ ♪ And you hope that I might be your new creation ♪ ♪ I am born again by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ I was a dying soul there ♪ ♪ I never knew the day crying and dying ♪ ♪ The spirit you made me see ♪ ♪ I swore I knew the way I knew ♪ ♪ I had all the rocks and heart made of stone ♪ ♪ The spirit you moved into me ♪ ♪ Jesus, your sleeping spirit was awakened ♪ ♪ Upon my darkened heart the light of Christ I shone ♪ ♪ I'm haunted to a kingdom that cannot be shaken ♪ ♪ I've been a citizen by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ So I'll sanctify grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ I will not praise by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ I will sanctify grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ I will raise the anthem by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ - You guys ending off on the A?

- Yeah. ♪ - Damn, you went easy. ♪ - I think it's up to... And then after... You want me to close the prayer or you want me to... - Nick! - Good morning, everybody. This is just a quick heads-up. For those of you who are out in the foyer, please start making your way in.

And there are a lot of seats right here up at the front, so for those of you guys who are in the far, far back looking around for a seat, please make your way forward and take a seat. We'll give you guys just one minute or so to get situated, and we'll begin our first session of this retreat.

Thank you. to begin. One final call for those of you guys who can hear my voice out there in the foyer, please make your way in. Because some of the rows are long, if you have seats that are open right in the center, please be sure to squeeze in or just look behind you and wave your friends in so that they can find a seat.

For those of you guys who are still by the snack area, you guys can grab your things and then make sure you come on over, take a seat. We'll get started in just a couple, one minute. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, good morning church family. Before we begin our service, let's just take a moment to prepare our hearts for coming before our Lord in worship. Heavenly Father, we thank you God for the grace, mercy and love that you've shown us undeserving sinners.

God, for some reason, God, you chose to love us and your son to die for our sins. God. So Lord, help us to respond accordingly. Worshiping you God, with all our hearts and gratitude and also holding your scripture God to our heart, the word that you've given us Lord, that we can come to know our God, our Creator, our Savior.

So Lord, as we sing these songs to You, God, won't You be pleased, we thank You again, and You sing in prayer. Let's all stand for worship. (slow guitar music) - Thank You so much. ♪ Some are you weary and troubled ♪ ♪ No light in the darkness you see ♪ ♪ There's life for a look at the Savior ♪ ♪ Life for a bondage and free ♪ (slow guitar music) ♪ Turn your eyes upon Jesus ♪ ♪ Look full in His wonderful face ♪ ♪ And the things of earth will grow strangely dim ♪ ♪ In the light of His glory and grace ♪ (slow guitar music) ♪ Through death into life everlasting ♪ ♪ He hath sent, we follow Him there ♪ ♪ Blessed and poor hath dominion ♪ ♪ For more than conquers we are ♪ (slow guitar music) ♪ Turn your eyes upon Jesus ♪ ♪ Look full in His wonderful face ♪ ♪ And the things of earth will grow strangely dim ♪ ♪ In the light of His glory and grace ♪ ♪ His words shall not fail you ♪ ♪ His words shall not fail you, He promised ♪ ♪ Believe Him and all will be well ♪ ♪ Then go to a world that is like you ♪ ♪ His perfect salvation to tell ♪ (slow guitar music) ♪ Turn your eyes upon Jesus ♪ ♪ Look full in His wonderful face ♪ ♪ And the things of earth will grow strangely dim ♪ ♪ In the light of His glory and grace ♪ - Turn your eyes.

♪ And turn your eyes upon Jesus ♪ ♪ Look full in His wonderful face ♪ ♪ And the things of earth will grow strangely dim ♪ ♪ In the light of His glory and grace ♪ - Say the things of earth. ♪ And the things of earth will grow strangely dim ♪ ♪ In the light of His glory and grace ♪ (slow guitar music) (slow drum music) - Praise is rising.

♪ Praise is rising ♪ ♪ Eyes are turning to you ♪ ♪ Return to you ♪ ♪ Your big, sturdy hearts are yearning ♪ ♪ With longing ♪ ♪ As you're releasing ♪ ♪ Your final strength to face the end ♪ ♪ And in your presence all my fears are washed away ♪ ♪ Are washed away ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ You are the God who saves us ♪ ♪ Worthy of all our praises ♪ - Hear the sound.

♪ Hear the sound of hearts returning to you ♪ ♪ Returning to you ♪ ♪ In your kingdom broken lies a big deal ♪ ♪ You make us new ♪ ♪ So we see you ♪ ♪ We find strength to face the day ♪ ♪ 'Cause in your presence all my fears are washed away ♪ ♪ Are washed away ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ You are the God who saves us ♪ ♪ Worthy of all our praises ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Come now, you reign among us ♪ ♪ Welcome you here, Lord Jesus ♪ ♪ In your presence all my strength are washed away ♪ ♪ In your presence all my fears are washed away ♪ ♪ So we see you ♪ ♪ So when we see you ♪ ♪ We find strength to face the day ♪ ♪ In your presence all my fears are washed away ♪ ♪ Are washed away ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ You are the God who saves us ♪ ♪ Worthy of all our praises ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Come now, you reign among us ♪ ♪ Welcome you here, Lord Jesus ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ The father's fear and unbelief ♪ ♪ Is not the father but a grief ♪ ♪ He's but the son for us ♪ ♪ Will the righteous judge our death ♪ ♪ And before that let us stand ♪ ♪ For canceled at the cross ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ All my trust is in your blood ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You rescued us through your great love ♪ Play the tone.

♪ Play the tone that you have made ♪ ♪ By our death, our fully paid ♪ ♪ The debt you paid above ♪ ♪ The wrath that waits for us to face ♪ ♪ Sheltered by your saving grace ♪ ♪ Sprinkled with your blood ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ All my trust is in your blood ♪ ♪ In your blood ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You rescued us through your great love ♪ The gospel.

♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Christ died for me ♪ ♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Christ died for me ♪ He's still my soul.

♪ He's still my soul and now he speaks ♪ ♪ The merits of your great high grace ♪ ♪ God, you're limited ♪ ♪ I've been on his precious path ♪ ♪ With you banished from God ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ All my trust is in your blood ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You rescued us through your great love ♪ The gospel.

♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Christ died for me ♪ ♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Christ died for me ♪ ♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Christ died for me ♪ ♪ How sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Sweet the sounds of your saving grace ♪ ♪ Christ died for me ♪ One more time, Jesus, all my trust.

♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ All my trust is in your blood ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You rescued us through your great love ♪ ♪ Your great love ♪ Amen, you may be seated. Well, good morning again. At this time, I'd like to give just one announcement and have the privilege of introducing to you our speaker.

We are so thankful to have Dr. John Street and his wife, Janie Street, with us for this weekend. It's gonna be a great weekend for us to fellowship in the word and thoughts of this topic of biblical reconciliation. Now, what I'd like to highlight real briefly is that we have these books, and I wanna just briefly mention them to you.

The first book, it's called The Biblical Counseling Guide for Women, and Dr. Street and Mrs. Street have put this together. This is a great book as a resource in your library as it goes over the most common issues and struggles that people experience with their mental, spiritual, or even physical issues.

And so it covers different topics, as anxiety, depressions, thoughts, and so forth. It's a great book to have that they've written. Also, similarly structured is this book called Men Counseling Men, and this book also covers various topics that you'll run into in the experience of trying to help care for souls of men, various struggles that we have on a common basis.

Also, most recently, Dr. Street has put together this book, Passions of the Heart. Although this book specifically deals with perhaps a stubborn and, again, pervasive sin of sexual immorality or lust, if you wanna go deep into the question of why sometimes we struggle so deeply, this book goes deep, asking the questions of what are the motivations, what are the idols, and unearthing those things.

And so this is a very, very valuable book to have. Thankfully, we have these books provided so that we can give them away to you. And the way that we're going to do this is, as you know, later this afternoon at 3.30, we're gonna be doing a Q&A. And the way that we're going to be receiving your questions and how you can submit those is by texting in a number that's going to be posted on our Community Retreat Facebook group.

That number will be posted, and so don't worry about it now. Once the session is done, whoever texts me first with a question, the First Lady will give this copy, and for the First Man, we'll give this copy. I'm gonna save the third copy for our next session. So after the session's done, when you hear certain things that you're curious about and wanna ask a follow-up question from the sessions, or you just have questions related to just a broader topic of biblical reconciliation and counseling, make sure to submit your questions, and again, the first persons who submit that will get a free copy, okay?

All right. And then at this time, I'd like to just highlight several things about Dr. Street, our speaker. In your programs, there are more information about both, you know, his past education and his ministry experience, but I'd like to highlight that he is currently a teaching professor and the chair of the Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling at the Masters University and Seminary, and he also teaches, flies out to Kentucky, to teach at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

At the Masters Seminary is where I first met Dr. Street. This was back in 2007 when I was young and not knowing what I was doing, and the class was so difficult, a lot of the students huddled together to complain, "Dr. Street, it's so hard." And then, first of all, I started to think, "Well, you know what?

I'm getting my money's worth." But Dr. Street really enforced on us, "When it comes to soul care and counseling, you're going to need this for ministry." And lo and behold, that's absolutely true. But what's more, at that time, I was in my-- just getting ready for marriage. I got married in 2008, and I said, "Forget ministry.

I need this now for marriage," because it was absolutely vital for my own soul. What's more, I want to also highlight that Dr. Street is the president of the Board of Trustees for the Association of Biblical Counselors. And as you guys know, a good number of our members go to the weekend of training.

A good number of you are signing up and interested in being trained through that way. Our hope and desire is that at our church, we continue to train people and disciple people essentially how to take care of other people, not according to the wisdom of the world, but according to the power of the Scriptures.

Amen? And so we really want to continue working with the ministry and making sure that people are trained and so on that end, Dr. Street has had over 40 years of ministry experience involved with training men for the ministry according to the high, high, powerful Word of God. And we are so grateful that he is here with us this weekend.

Let's give a warm, warm welcome to Dr. Street. Thanks, Mark. Wow, thank you very much, Pastor Mark. I really appreciate it. It's good to see you again, and you did survive the class, which is really good. And so it's a pleasure. I've already met some of you. Hopefully, you get to meet several more before this particular retreat is over with.

So good morning. Good morning. Thank you, both of you. Good morning. Good morning. That's better. I wanted to see if you were just awake. All right, we need to deal with a really critical issue that affects the Church of Jesus Christ almost anywhere you go in the world today, and that has to do with relationships among believers.

What we're going to talk about this weekend is going to, in a sense, lay the foundational bedrock for every kind of relationship, especially when it gets into trouble, and what the Bible says about bringing about genuine reconciliation. This is really critical. Now, before we do, let's go to the Lord in prayer, and then we're going to go right into Scripture if we can.

Gracious Lord, we're grateful for the opportunity of a retreat like this to spend some time focusing upon critical elements of the Word of God that deal with our interpersonal relationships with one another. And so I pray, Father, that you will use the Word of God, as only you can, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring about the necessary changes in our thinking and in our hearts in order to help us be more unified within the body of Christ.

With an increasingly hostile world, the unity of the body of Christ is critical. So we pray that you'll use this as only you can. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Now, if you take a look at the sheet that you probably have in front of you, we talk about in this first session, we want to talk about getting to the heart of conflict.

Primarily, we want to start there because when you read a lot of books, whether they're secular or Christian, whatever the case may be, in the area of conflict resolution, very little is talked about in regards to this issue. And in fact, it's almost not mentioned, even among the Christian books, which is a very sad thing because this is where everything is going to start and it's where everything is going to end if there's going to be real, true unity within the body of Christ.

This is going to affect a husband and wife relationship. It's going to affect a parent-child relationship. It's going to affect your relationship with your closest friends. It's going to affect the way in which you interact with people on the job. Everything that we talk about this weekend will affect every interpersonal relationship that you have.

So, we make the little comment in the paper there in front of you that every conflict within the church presents the pastor with a great teaching opportunity because every conflict within the church is a reminder of how much Christ is needed. The source of all conflict begins in the heart.

James 4, verses 1 through 3. We're going to come back to that in a little bit. With its cravings and dominant desires which fuel anger, slander, violent reaction, it denies the truth and the grace of the gospel in the Christian life because it positions itself in pride. It positions itself in pride.

Now, I want you to grab your Bible just for a moment and by way of beginning, let's go over to Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus talks about this. We're talking about biblical reconciliation. By the way, this is the way to think about it. The world talks about it in terms of conflict resolution, but that is a very short-sighted and truncated view on how to deal with interpersonal relationships.

Our goal as Christians is not to resolve conflicts. That's not our goal. Our goal--in fact, some conflicts are not resolvable. Paul even talks about that in Romans 12. If possible--sometimes it's not--as far as it depends upon you, sometimes it doesn't depend upon you, live at peace with all men.

All right? So it's not possible to bring about reconciliation or--what can I say? It's not possible to bring about some kind of conflict resolution in every situation. That's not possible. But that's not our goal anyhow. And in fact, Jesus talks about the fact in verse 9 of Matthew 5, "Blessed are the peacemakers." And you hear a lot about this.

You hear Christians talk about, "I need to be a peacemaker," and that's okay. That's infinitely better than being a peacekeeper. God has not called us to be peacekeepers. God has called us to be peacemakers, so that's really true. But that is only one step in the broader reconciliation process.

He starts there by peacemaking, but peacemaking is not the end. It's just one step in the process. What is the broader process? Well, if you take a look a little bit later on there in chapter 5, he talks about this. And in fact, he talks about the fact that in verse 23, "If there you are presenting your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and first not seek peace at this particular point." Peacemaking is only one step in the process, but the ultimate goal here, "But be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering." This is why we prefer to call this conflict reconciliation, not conflict resolution.

Conflict reconciliation, because the goal here is to not come to an agreement or dismiss the hostility of the conflict. That's not our goal. The goal here is to bring relationships together. That's what reconciliation means. That's what we must do. So when we're talking about this this whole weekend, we're looking at this as a broader process.

It's not going to be something that happens overnight. It's not going to be something that happens quickly, but it's a broader process. Now, in order to help us to understand this, and especially in relationship to what's going on in the heart, and by the way, real change, when there has been a disagreement between you and another brother or sister in Christ, real change begins on a heart level.

Real change begins on a heart level. Otherwise, it's superficial change. The heart's got to change before there is any step towards genuine reconciliation. Now, help us get started, and to fuel our thinking in this, let's go to James 4. We already mentioned this, but he asks the question, James asks in verse 1, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?" That's a great question, isn't it?

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? If you listen to most Christians today, you'll probably hear something like, "Well, you know, I'm a sanguine, and I'm married to a caloric, and that's the reason why. I'm married to somebody that has an adversarial personality. That's the reason why we have the problems that we have.

Well, men are from Mars, and women are from--oh, you know that, don't you? Men are from Mars, and women are from--that's the reason why there's so much conflict in this world today. No, that's not the reason that there is conflict in the world. There is no such thing in the Bible as adversarial personalities.

That doesn't exist. That's not the problem. And in fact, that whole personality theory stuff that's a part of contemporary psychology today goes back to ancient Greek philosophy. Hippocrates was key. Hippocratic Oath, medical doctors take the Hippocratic Oath. Hippocrates believed that your personality was a result of one of four bodily humors, that if you had an overabundance of one of four bodily humors, then all of a sudden that was the personality that you possessed throughout your life.

One is blood. If you had an overabundance of blood, then you had one personality. If you had an overabundance of phlegm, that was another personality. If you had an overabundance of yellow bile, it was another personality. If you had an overabundance of black bile, that was another personality. And the Latinized terms for them--of course, blood was sanguine, phlegm was phlegmatic, yellow bile is caloric, black bile is melancholia.

And Hippocrates says, "I can prove this to you. Take somebody who is outgoing, energetic, life of the party, drain his blood." Total personality change. Let's say if you have a person that's moody, sad, kind of irritable most of the time, too much black bile, so he would give people really strong herbal laxatives.

After you've been sitting on the john for several days, everything looks up. Your whole personality changes. Everything's different. Proof positive. Personality's related to your bodily humors. Now, we would never say that today, but it's amazing how many psychological tests are based upon that today. The Taylor-Johnson temperament analysis test, the Minnesota moldophasic personality inventories, all those tests are based upon that same kind of a theory that we have fixed personalities.

Nowhere in Scripture does that ever say, "If that's the key to our well-being, then God has left out a significant part of our well-being in Scripture." If that's the key to our well-being, it's not because, well, the Bible has a word for that, baloney. All right? Just baloney. That's not true.

In fact, if you take a look at what the Bible really says about personality, personality is fluid, it's not fixed. It changes as years go by. I'm not the same personality that I was when I graduated from high school, and I tell my students, "You ought to be happy about that." I'm not the same personality.

I'm a different person. This is what is referred to in Scripture as progressive sanctification. It changes us fundamentally, even on a nature level. Talk about more of that later. It changes us on a nature level. So, personality is not fixed. It's fluid. It changes as time goes by at best.

So, notice what he says here. He says, he answers his own question here in verse 1, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? It is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members." Now, by making that statement, he's basically saying, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts?

It has to do with what you think is going to bring you happiness. It's what you think is going to bring you happiness." And he says in verse 2, "You lust." That's a deep internal craving. This is not talking about sexual lust here. It's talking about deep passions inside.

You want something really, really bad, and you don't have it, so you commit murder. Now, I don't think the Christians were going around murdering each other here in the Jerusalem church. Why does he say commit murder? He's using murder in the same sense that Jesus, his half-brother, is using it in the Sermon on the Mount.

What is that? Well, if you hate in your heart, you're as good as a murderer, right? If you hate in your heart, you're as good as a murderer. The heart of a murderer and the heart of a hater is the same heart. No difference between the two. It's just one has acted it out and the other one hasn't.

But the heart level is the same thing. Just like the heart of an adulterer and the heart of a luster is the same heart, it's just one has acted it out and the other one hasn't. It's the same thing. On a heart level, it's the same thing. What God sees in us, it's the same thing.

Don't you love L.A. traffic? Isn't it wonderful? We came here yesterday. What was supposed to be a three-hour trip turned into six hours because of the traffic in L.A. We're just crawling down the freeway bumper to bumper. You go to some auto parts store here in the area, and you'll find you can buy these little things you can mount on the dashboard of your car, in order to help you in really heavy traffic.

It's a little thing that has buttons on it, and one button is labeled "missile," the other one is "machine gun," the other one is a "grenade," and you can blow up the cars in front of you figuratively. Why? Because those people are in your way. They're in your way.

That's why you're doing that. The heart of a hater and the heart of a murderer is the same heart. No difference between the two. Just the same heart at God's level, from God's perspective. So he says, "You are envious," verse 2 says, "and you cannot obtain, so you fight and you quarrel.

You do not have because you do not ask." The idea here is without proper motives. In fact, he says in verse 3, "You ask and you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures, on what you believe is going to bring you happiness." Now, in order to understand this, we've got to understand the human heart.

And we have a major problem, because what we do when we read our Bibles is when we come to the word "heart," we commit a semantic anachronism. That is, we import into the word "heart" a contemporary idea of what we believe the heart is, rather than allowing the Bible to define what the heart is.

And so we miss what the Bible's saying. That's a semantic anachronism. It's very easy to do, to take a late idea of a word and pour it into an ancient word, an old word. Old Testament term "lave," New Testament term, Greek term "cardia." What does it mean? How is it used?

And by the way, it's used uniformly from the Old Testament into the New Testament. The same concept in terms of the heart is there. It's just that we look at the heart differently. And so we miss it. What's going on with the heart? What's really happening? So we want to take a look at the problem of sin as it affects the worship of the heart, especially in conflict.

And Scripture says the source of this comes from those pleasures that come out, actually, of your heart. What does that mean? These pleasures that come out of your heart? Well, there's so many passages that we could take a look at here, but let's just take a look at a couple of them.

Let's go back to Genesis 6 and verse 5. Genesis 6 and verse 5. Here we're interested in what the Lord says about man before he sends the flood. And he says in verse 5, "The Lord saw," and by the way, in the Hebrew language, that word "saw" is in the continuous sense.

"The Lord continually saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth." And notice this now. Look at this. "And every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Now notice the way the heart is described there. It's described as "intending." It's described as "thinking." And it was only evil continually.

Kind of the American, European view of the heart is to pour romance into it, right? Feelings. When we talk about the heart, that's what we read into what the Bible says. We read "romance," we read "intense feelings," we read "intense emotions" into the biblical term of the heart, and yet that's not the biblical view of the heart at all.

The heart has very little to do with our feelings. It does affect our feelings, but the heart has very little to do with our feelings. It has very little to do with our emotions. It has everything to do with what we intend and what we think. We think with our heart.

We intend with our heart. We purpose with our heart. That's what we do. I know it's not on your list there, but let's go over to Proverbs 20. Proverbs 20, and we're interested in verse 5. Think of this carefully, Proverbs 20, verse 5, where it says, "A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out." So now, here, Solomon is saying that the heart plans, or we could translate this, "The purposes of a man's heart is like deep water." And, in fact, back in chapter 19, verse 21, it says, "Many plans are in a man's heart." Many plans.

Lots of planning, lots of purposing, lots of intending, lots of thinking. That's a whole different view. That's not a romantic view of the heart, not an emotional view of the heart at all. We know that because around Valentine's Day, what do you see? Lots of hearts, right? Big red hearts.

You know, ladies, if your husband says, "I love you with all my heart," you ought to slap him really good. It's not biblical at all. All right? Because all he's saying to you is, "I have lots of good intentions for you." All right? If he really wants to be romantic and he's going to be biblical, then he's going to use a different organ of the body, not the heart.

He's going to use the bowels. All right? Ephesians 4:32 talks about being tender-bowled, that deals with emotions. So he should be saying to you, "I love you with all my bowels." All right? Now that is true emotions. That's true romance. I told my wife--she's sitting right here. She's my girlfriend too.

I told her I want to create a Christian greeting card company with bowels on the front and Cupid shooting arrows through bowels. She doesn't think it will go anywhere, but at least it will be biblical. All right? "I love you with all my--" But now you're talking about anybody that's had constipation know how emotional that is.

The Bible's very realistic. "I love you with all my bowels. I love you with all my emotions." Now we're talking about emotions. But when we're talking about the heart, we're talking about planning, purposing, thinking. That's what we're doing, intending. "I plan, I purpose, I intend, I think with my heart." That's different.

And by the way, you can see this. Let's go over to Mark chapter 7. Even in the New Testament, this is the way that Jesus uses the heart. Mark chapter 7. Notice how what Jesus says, he says in verse 15, "There's nothing outside of a man which can defile him if it goes into him, but the things which proceed out of man are what defile a man.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." And then in verse 18 he says, and he said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him because it does not go into his heart but into his stomach and then is eliminated?

Thus he declared all foods clean," it says there. And he was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that's what defiles the man, for from within, out of the heart of man, proceed," notice this, "evil thoughts." There you go, right at the top of that list. Evil thoughts.

Fornications, thefts, murders, adultery, deeds of covening, wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. Now, the first six are all plural because they have to do with actions. The second six of these that are listed here are singular because they have to do with attitudes. First part has to do with actions, second part has to do with attitudes, but all of this proceeds out of the heart.

What a man thinks, what he purposes, what he intends. In verse 23, it says, "All these evil things proceed from within, and they defile the man." They defile the man. So, we have a problem. It is a major problem. The problem is our heart. It's what proceeds out of the heart, what proceeds from within that causes these quarrels, these difficulties, these conflicts, the difficulties and hardships that come in interpersonal relationships.

In order to kind of picture this, the Bible then would view the heart as essentially the control center of life. It is the control center of life. It controls everything in your life. And from this, it is your thoughts, it infects your will, your conscience, your motives, your desires, and all these things proceed from within.

That's very difficult to see this, but there's a dotted line just below that word "behavior." The heart is that which only God sees. The behavior is what other people see. And when your heart is focused upon self and what self wants in terms of what you believe is going to bring you happiness, what you believe is going to bring you joy, then it's always and universally going to produce bad fruit.

It's going to produce bad fruit in terms of attitudes and behaviors and words. They're going to cause all kinds of conflicts, all kinds of heartaches. However, when your heart is really focused on Christ, then it's going to produce good fruit. It's going to produce good fruit, things that actually are beneficial to others.

So, the location of real conflict starts inside, not out here. Real conflict occurs in us, not out here. I don't care how disagreeable that other person is. I don't care how angry that other person is, how hateful they are towards you, that other person is. The conflict begins in you, inside.

Because it's how you interpret that situation, how you interpret that particular person, how you view them as being an obstacle to what you believe is going to bring you happiness. Now, Scripture makes it very clear that the occupation of the heart is to worship. Every person on the planet has a worshiping heart.

The most avowed atheist has a worshiping heart. That's the way that God created his or her heart. It worships something. It can worship people or things. It can worship prestige or power. It can worship control. It can worship pleasure. There's lots of things that it can worship. I'll give you an illustration of that in a moment.

And the Bible talks about this in numerous places. We could literally spend the rest of our time just taking a look at all these different places. So the heart can worship peace and possessions and popularity and prestige and play and power and pleasure and people and protection and physical health.

All right, I'm really a preacher trapped in a counselor's body, but everything has to be alliterated if you're a preacher. You know, it's just part of the rules. Now, that's not an exhaustive list, but the heart can worship those things. These are things that we see in this world that we think are going to bring us happiness, and we believe that that's going to make our life complete.

It's going to bring me joy. God created every heart to worship. This speaks of what that person most highly values and what they really esteem and appreciate in their heart. So the location is the heart. The occupation is that of worship. That's the occupation of the heart. But that brings us to another thing.

The Bible also tells us that one of the big issues is that the heart lusts. And this is where idolatry takes over. Heart idolatry. This is where we elevate things to God-like level in our hearts. And we begin to look at those things as the most important things. And I get up in the morning because I'm trying to serve whatever I consider to be important in that day.

And I think about it and work on it all day long. And before I go to bed at night, that's the last thing I think about. Before I go to bed, how can I service that value, that esteemed, dominant value in my life? How can I do that? The heart worships.

And heart idolatry is a very serious issue. Let me illustrate this for you just for a moment. Take one of those passages. Let's go back to the Ezekiel passage just by way of example. Ezekiel chapter 14, you can see this in Ezekiel 14 where God speaks to the people of Israel because of their idolatrous ways.

And in verse 1 it says, "Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me and the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity.

Should I be consulted by them at all? Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'Thus saith the Lord God, any man of the house of Israel who sets up idols in his hearts puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will be brought to give him an answer in the manner of in view of the multitude of his idol in order to lay a hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from me through all their idols.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus saith the Lord God, repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all of your abominations. For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from me and sets up idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity and then comes to the prophet to inquire of me for himself, I the Lord will be brought to answer him in my own person.

I will set my face against that man and I will make him a sign and a proverb and I will cut him off from among the people so that you will know that I am the Lord.'" Now let me share with you the fact that Jesus, well in this case the Lord, the pre-incarnate Lord in this particular case is talking to Ezekiel and basically telling the leadership and the elders of Israel of how angered he is over the fact that they have set up idols in their hearts.

And he says, "When they come to inquire of me, I myself," the Lord says, "will speak to him." Now in the Old Testament that was a fearful thing because there was always an intermediary between the Old Testament saint and God. When the saint wanted to go to God, they went through the priest.

When the saint wanted to hear from God, it was always through the prophet. There was always an intermediary between them and someone else. But God keeps saying here, "These people who have set up idols in their heart, I'm going to deal with them personally. I'm going to deal with them personally.

I'm going to come to them." And then he says in verse 8, when he says, "I will set up my face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb and I will cut him off from among my people so that you will know that I am the Lord." There's only one other time that God says that in the entire Old Testament, and that's back in the book of Leviticus where God is dealing with the people of Israel who are offering their children as human sacrifices to the false Canaanite gods of Baal and Ashtoreth.

In other words, having an idol in your heart is on the same level as sacrificing children. It's the same level. To show you exactly how serious God takes the issues of having idols in the heart, something that you want so badly that you're willing to sin in order to get it.

Something you want so badly that you're willing to say hateful, mean things to people who you consider to be obstacles in your way. God says, "You have an idol in your heart. You're bowing down to that idol." That's not just true in the Old Testament. Same thing's true in the New Testament.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Paul addresses the Christians at Corinth, and he talks about Old Testament Israels wandering in the wilderness as an illustration. And he says in verse 6, 1 Corinthians 10.6, now look at this, zero in on this. He says, "Now these things happened as examples for us so that we would not crave evil things as they also crave." Do you see that?

You ought to underline those words "crave," that we not crave the evil things that they also crave. And as soon as he says that, then he says in verse 7, "Do not be idolaters as some of them were. As it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and to drink and stood up to play, nor let us act immorally as some of them did.

And 23,000 fell in one day, nor let us try the Lord as some of them did and were destroyed by the serpents, nor grumble as some of them did, and they were destroyed by the destroyer.' Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come." Wow.

Now, what is he talking about? He's not talking about just merely the idols of stone and wood and the idol of the golden calf. He's not just talking about, he's talking about the fact that they craved eating, drinking, playing, sexual immorality. They craved that in their heart. That's what they wanted.

That's what they wanted. Wow. It sounds like that's describing the 21st century contemporary American today, doesn't it? Eating, drinking, entertainment, immorality. Those are the things that they were craving in their heart. These were the idols that they were setting up in their heart. Verse 14 says, 'Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

Flee from it. Run from it at all cost.' This is really key because if this is the issue, if this is the problem, then what is it that's going on in my heart that's causing so many interpersonal clashes and difficulties? Why is it that I have a hard time getting along with other people?

I don't want you to think about the person sitting next to you. I want you to think about you. Why do I have a hard time getting along with people? What's really going on here? The Bible says there's something going on. It's going on in your heart. It has to do with your heart's worship.

It has to do with what you crave more than anything else. And whatever that is, that craving has reached a level that it is an idolatrous craving. Now how can I know this? That's a great question, right? How can I know this? Sometimes it's hard. The worst heart to exegete is your own heart.

That's the worst because one of the most disturbing things about the human heart is that it is so self-deceived. That's one of the most disturbing things about the human heart. It is blinded by its own self-deception. Even Plato used to say, "The greatest deception is self-deception." The greatest deception is self-deception.

Well, the human heart is easily self-deceived. It easily thinks that it's better off than what it really is. So I'm not talking about you looking at the people around you. I'm talking about you looking at you. How do I do this? How do I evaluate? How do I understand what's going on in the human heart?

Well sometimes you need help. God comes along and gives you help. You know how He helps you? He takes you through loss and trials, and then all of a sudden you find out what's going on in your heart. "Wait a minute. I'm more than willing to look at my heart, but I don't want to have to go through loss and trials.

I don't have to do that." Well, that's nice that you say that, but if you're truly going to be sanctified, then you've got to be willing to go through this. Go back to Deuteronomy chapter 8 just for a moment. Look at this. Deuteronomy chapter 8. This is just before the people of Israel enter into the Promised Land.

This is the second giving of the law, and during this particular time, God reminds them why He took them through 40 years of wilderness experience. Why did He take them through 40 years of wilderness experience? Verse 2. Deuteronomy 8 and verse 2. "You shall remember all the way which your Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." Now listen, God says, "One of the main reasons I took you through this entire wilderness experience for 40 years was to test you, to know what was in your heart." Now listen, God was not, follow me here, God was not testing them so that He could know what was in their hearts.

He's omniscient. He already knows. He was not testing them so that He could know what was in their hearts. He already knew what was in their hearts. He was testing them so that they would know what was in their hearts. And it took them a 40 years examination. And you think your medical doctor takes a long time.

This is a 40 year exam so that they could know what was in their hearts. Sometimes I say to counselees when I'm working with them, "Listen, this is what God does. He takes us through trials and difficulties to reveal certain things about our heart. I hope it doesn't take 40 years for God to reveal to you what's in your heart.

I hope it doesn't take 40 years." Took them 40 years. So how can we know? Well, one of the things is you have to be, listen to this, brutally honest with yourself. You have to be brutally honest with yourself. And you're going to have to ask yourself several questions.

This is a way to exegete your heart. Let me give you six questions to ask yourself. Well, they're not so much questions as evaluative statements. That's what they are. The question is, what idols are existing in my heart? That's the real ultimate question. What idols are causing me to act the way that I do?

What idols are determining my attitude and responses to people? What's really going on here? Well, one thing, pretty obvious, it's wanting something that God does not want or desire. Wanting something that God does not want or desire. Now that's pretty straightforward. If there's something that you want that God doesn't want or desire, you want a woman who's not your wife, you want a man who's not your husband, you want children that are obedient.

God doesn't want that. He gave you exactly the kids you need. He designed them especially for you. By the way, God has never made a mistake in all of eternity, and you are not His first mistake. You're not His first mistake. Wanting something or desiring something that God does not want or desire for you.

That's pretty clear. That's pretty straightforward. Anytime we desire something that God doesn't want, and it's clear in His Word, that's an idol. I'm craving that, and I think that that is going to bring me happiness. That's what I think. That's going to bring me joy in life. That's what I think.

Or what about this? Now it's going to be a little bit more complicated. It's wanting something that God wants or desires, but wanting it so bad that one becomes ungodly to get it, or ungodly if they don't. Is that possible? Oh, absolutely. My goodness. If I had a nickel for every time I had a woman say to me in counseling, "All I want is for my husband to love me," I'd make Bill Gates look like a poor man.

I mean, sincerely, she'll say to me, "All I want is for my husband to love me." Is that so bad? No. In fact, the Bible talks about that. Husbands love your wives. Can it become a sinful, idolatrous desire in her heart? Absolutely. How do you know? Because it's the first thing she thinks about when she gets up in the morning.

It's the last thing she thinks about before she goes to bed. It consumes her thinking. She craves it more than she craves being God's kind of wife, God's kind of woman. She craves that more than anything else. This dominates her thinking. And when she doesn't receive the love that she believes that she deserves, then she becomes angry, hateful, mean, vindictive, verbal, or maybe she swings the other direction and becomes depressed, withdrawn, moody, non-communative, both sinful reactions because she's not receiving the love that she believes that she deserves, and it consumes her heart.

I'm not going to let the men off the hook, ladies. How many times have I had a man say to me, "All I want is for my wife to respect me." Is that so wrong? No. The Bible talks about that. In Ephesians 5, verse 32, "Wives, phobos." That's the Greek term.

Phobos, your husbands, respect your husbands, reverence your husbands. The Bible talks about that. Can it become bad in his heart? Yes. When he doesn't receive the respect that he believes he deserves, then he becomes angry, hateful, mean, vindictive. He gets verbal and maybe even physical with her, or maybe he goes the other direction, withdraws, becomes moody, doesn't communicate anymore because he's not receiving the respect that he believes that he deserves.

That has become an idol in his life. Wanting something that God wants, but wanting it so bad that it consumes your heart. What about the Christian parent? What about the Christian parent who says this, "All I want is for my kids to love Jesus." Is that so wrong? No?

Not wrong. Can it become an idolatrous, consuming desire in that person's life? Absolutely it can. That kid starts to grow up, becomes a teenager. After you raise them, invested so much time and money and emotions and love in their direction, and they announce that they're walking away from the faith, you are crushed.

You're going, "I can't believe this. This is my son. This is my daughter, and they're walking away from the faith after I've invested so much in them. I took them to a great church. I brought them up under the teaching of the Word of God. How can they turn their backs on this?" When you all of a sudden see that happening in the life of your child, then when you see them walking away from the Lord, then you become angry and hateful and mean and vindictive and caustic with your child, or you swing the other direction and become moody.

You become withdrawn. You become depressed all the time. You don't see them following Jesus the way you and your spouse follow Jesus. Wanting something that God wants, but wanting it so much that it controls my life. It dominates my thinking. It dominates my heart, my purposes, my plans, my intentions.

It controls me. Now it's become an idol. I crave that more than I craved being God's kind of man or God's kind of woman or God's kind of husband or God's kind of wife or God's kind of father or God's kind of mother. I crave that more than anything else.

That's wanting something that God wants, but wanting it so much, so badly that you become an ungodly person when you don't get it. That shows that that's an idol. That now has elevated itself. That desire to have a spouse who loves you or a spouse who respects you or a child that loves Christ, now that becomes more important than being a godly man or woman.

So now that becomes the idol, that Christ now is second to that idol, as if my whole life, my whole pleasure and everything is wrapped up in my kid following Jesus when it shouldn't be. It should be wrapped up in Jesus. It's not wrapped up in my kid following Jesus.

It's not wrapped up in my wife showing me respect. It's not wrapped up in my husband showing me love. It's wrapped up in who Christ is and who I am in Christ. That's where it is. What about this? Being controlled by expectations and becoming ungodly and thought, word, or deed when that expectation is not realized.

Listen to this. Expectations are seedbeds for idols. Expectations are seedbeds to idols. What we expect in life becomes now a demanding necessity. I expect this to happen. Sometimes when I'm teaching seminary classes, I'll say to some of our students, I'll say, "Listen, I know what some of you guys are thinking.

I'm not Jesus, but I know what's going on in your head." Look at me like, "You've worked all day. You slaved around in library. You've been writing papers. You're doing your Greek and Hebrew exegesis and you're sweating blood all over the place and you're thinking to yourself, 'Man, I am working so hard.

My wife appreciates this. In fact, she's at home probably right now fixing a large dinner for me. And when I get home, I can't wait to have a big roast beef dinner with piles of mashed potatoes and gravy and piles of peas. And I just can't wait to be there." So he's all excited.

He thinks about this all day long. She really loves me. She really appreciates me. This is what's going to happen. So he comes busting through the door at the end of the day. He doesn't smell any roast beef. All he smells is dirty diapers. And all of a sudden he starts to think, "What has she been doing all day?

What has she been doing? I mean, I have been slaving myself to the bone. In seminary, I have been writing all these papers and I've been doing all this work and I've been doing all this research. My eyes are about ready to fall out of my head. I've been reading and reading book after book after book.

And what is she doing at home?" And so you yell upstairs, "Sweetheart, where's dinner?" She says, "There's some lunch meat in the refrigerator. Get your own sandwich." She doesn't appreciate me. She doesn't appreciate me at all. If she appreciated me, this wouldn't be happening. Expectations are seed beds to idols.

Whatever you're expecting in life, those are the seed beds that set you up for a fall. What do you expect? What do you expect in your life? What do you expect in your relationship with that other person? What are they? Are those really godly expectations? Listen, if I understand the Bible correctly, I hope I do here, but if I understand the Bible correctly, we must radically lower our expectations about other people and life itself and raise our expectations about what we should be like in terms of godliness.

Here's another one. What about this? Fourth, perceiving a deserved right and following through with ungodly thoughts, words, and actions to try to get it when that right is denied. Wow. Americans love rights. We even have a bill of rights. We have a bill of rights. We set up certain rights.

Well, I have a right to fill in the blank, whatever it is. I have a right to mm-mm. I have a right to mm-mm. What do you think your heart says I have a right to? If you really understand the way Scripture pictures you and I, we have one right, and that's to burn in hell.

It's the only right we have. We have one right, burn in hell. Back a few years ago, I was up doing a lecture with a bunch of Berkeley students. Some of them were not believers, so we had a Q&A afterwards, and one of them raised their hand. How can you believe that there's a God there that's good when there are terrible disasters that occur, tsunamis, thousands of people die, earthquakes, fires, floods?

How can you believe that? My natural response automatic is, "Wow, that makes me believe it even more in Him." How is that possible? Simply from the standpoint that your question assumes that all of us deserve to live. In reality, all of us deserve to die. God could take away all life on this planet and not for a nanosecond cease to be righteous.

The very fact that He preserves any of us shows us His mercy. Every fact that He does that. So your question is predicated on a false assumption. The assumption is we deserve to live. No we don't. Where do you get that idea? We don't deserve to live. And it can only come out of a pagan mindset.

That's the only way it can come. If you understand God as being absolutely holy, absolutely just, and also absolutely loving, that's the only thing that makes sense. Where's this thing we have to have a right? Or look at this, believing in something, a standard or rule that is not of God that leads to ungodly practices.

You know we can elevate a standard or a rule to non-compromisable biblical level and think that it's equal to the Bible and then all of a sudden that becomes an idol in our life. You go into a lot of youth groups today, you want to start a war in a youth group, just talk about dating, courting, or betrothal.

And they all claim biblical authority. All three of them claim biblical authority. Well there's no dating in the Bible, there's no courting in the Bible, there is betrothal in the Bible, but if you're going to practice betrothal, you have to be consistent with the way of the Bible. If you think that's normative for all believers of all time, if that's what you think, then remember when David was betrothed, or Michael was betrothed to David, then Saul gave him this impossible standard, "Give me the four skins of a hundred Philistines and you can have my daughter," which was an almost impossible task.

David did it. He did it. Now I had two daughters. I could have said to my future son-in-laws, "Listen, give me the four skins of a hundred Christian psychologists." And that would put a pretty good dent in the United States in Christian psychology. "Give me four skins of that." Now I didn't do that, but if I was practicing betrothal, I'd have to carry it through here.

No, no, none of it. But we raise those standards, we raise those particular standards to an uncompromisable biblical level. And that particular time, when we do those kind of things, then those things become our idols. We expect everybody else to obey them too, because that's something that I've come to a conclusion.

Well, that's fine. If you come to a conclusion on that, that's wonderful. Good, you can do that. But just don't universalize it to everybody else. Or thinking or having a mindset that is against the truth of God's Word that leads to ungodliness and thoughts and words and actions, any kind of a mindset whatsoever that is in your mind, because of time I've got to run on this one, but listen, "I must have or not have," whatever that is in that question mark area is your idol.

What is your heart saying, "I must have or not have," now becomes your ruling desire, your functional God, your controlling inner cravings that are my idolatrous cravings. Whatever that is, is your idol. Now go back to James chapter 4. No wonder James says, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?

Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members." It's what you want more than anything else that is not of Christ. When Christ is not worshipped in your heart, you're set up for conflict. You're set up for conflict. Well, we have much more to say about this, but the clock is my enemy.

So we've got to stop there and let's bow for prayer. Gracious Father, we thank you so much for your goodness, for helping us see our own hearts. It's as if the Scripture is the functional magnetic resonance imaging program of the metaphorical heart, because now we're able to see what's really going on, what's ruling and controlling me, those desires that I think are going to bring me pleasure, those must-haves or must-not-haves that tend to rule me more than Christ.

These are the very things that set the stage for conflict. Help us to be godly in response to exegete our heart and learn the importance of repentance. This we pray in Christ's name, amen. Let's all stand for the closing prayer. I was a boy who was lost at the bar Running away when I hit your car Father, you were a joke I had no righteousness of my own I had no right to draw near your throne Father, you lost me still And in love before you laid the world's foundation You predestined to adopt me as your own You have raised me up so high above my station I'm a child of God by grace, grace alone I hope to seek out the lost You knew the great and terrible cost That Jesus, your face, was set I worked my fingers down to the bone Nothing I did could ever atone Jesus, you paid my debt By your blood I have redemption and salvation Old you died that I might reap what you have sown And you rose that I might be a new creation I am born again by grace, grace alone I was a dark, I was a dark soul of my life I never knew the day from the night Spirit, you made me see I swore I knew the way on my own A head full of rocks, a heart made of stone Spirit, you moved in Natural touch, natural touch The sleeping spirit was awakened On my darkened heart the light of Christ was shown Called into a kingdom that cannot be shaken Heaven's citizen by grace, grace alone So I'll stand to faith by grace, grace alone I will run for raise by grace, grace alone I will slay my sin by grace, grace alone I will reach the end by grace, grace alone Amen.

Let's close this session by praying together. All right, God, we thank you for the call that you give to us, God, to be like you, Lord, to emulate your character. We recognize, Lord, there is much, much work to be done in purifying our hearts, allowing your careful eyes to examine us, the thoughts and intentions, but importantly, God, the many things we desire.

Father God, we collectively repent of the fact that in many seasons we just instinctually do and say whatever it is we want. But I pray, Father God, that those desires would thoroughly be washed by your word and spirit to make sure that it is of you, God, that is for your purposes and that ultimately, Lord, is something pleasing in your sight.

I pray, Father God, because our hearts often are locked up and accustomed to our own way, that you would help us through this process of examination and, God, that you would continue to lead us. So we thank you so much, Lord, for this time. It's in Christ and we pray.

Amen. You may all take a seat and then I'm going to invite Jason to give us some more announcements for what's up ahead. All right, before we dismiss you guys for your small groups, just a couple announcements. When you guys meet for your small group time, you can meet out in the foyer area, you can meet in here, and you can also meet in the dining halls, but just make sure you put the chairs back to how originally it was when you guys shifted around.

For Spock Young's small group, Susan Fong-Gray will now be leading your small group, so look for her. And also, another reminder to make sure you guys time it accordingly so you guys can pick up the kids from the nursery at 1140, 1150. And we understand it's a short time for the small group time, so maybe you guys can extend the time into the lunch time at 12 o'clock, okay?

Thanks guys. guys. Thank you.