When You Feel Like Giving Up

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

And all of God’s people said, Amen. And Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. And what a spiritual truth that is. That the moment that you and I turn our eyes upon Jesus, everything changes. The reality is, for most of us, our perspective could be summed up much like Holly’s perspective was before she entered back into the Church world. It’s much like this letter that says, Dear Pastor, If I could sum up my life in a single word, it would be conflict. It seems I must fight for everything. Everything is a battle. I battle with my kids. I battle with my husband. I battle with my job. It’s even tough with my walk with the Lord. She goes on to say, and we struggle as a couple, we struggle with our money, we struggle with our intimate life. We struggle even just understanding each other. In addition, I’ve got all of my internal struggles that Holly talked about as well. All my internal fears and battles. I just can’t seem to stick with stuff even when I know it. It’s the right thing to do. Why is life so tough? Will the battle never end? I really hope so because sometimes I just feel like walking away from it all.

And the question that Holly was asking and the question of this lady asking her letter is this, why is life so tough? Now, as we launch into this new sermon series, I want to just say to you and take you back to the very beginning. In the very beginning, life was not tough in the very beginning, in the Garden of Paradise, in the Garden of Eden, it was complete harmony. Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God. But do you remember what took place? Adam and Eve said, you know what? God’s perspective, God’s life, God’s way of living is not really the best way. Our way is the best way. And then they took on their own initiatives. And as a result of that, what took place, Adam and Eve, they sinned against God. And sin is doing your own thing and ignoring God’s way. And this disposition is what defines each and every one of us that’s in this room. And as a result of sin entering into humanity, the world, and the planet became broken. Now, this is nothing new, right, Ron? We all know this is that the world is completely broken. The economy is broken. I mean, the weather system is broken. If you don’t believe it, just live in Kentucky for a week or two, right? I mean, we can have 85 degrees, and then we can have a tornado, and then we can have a snowstorm, and now we’ve got flooding, and the weather is broken. Marriages are broken. There’s no perfect relationship. There’s no perfect friendship. Every family here is broken. I mean, folks, you just look around. The entire world is best described by brokenness. And maybe the best way to understand brokenness is that our own bodies are broken. I don’t know if you noticed that or not, but our bodies are broken. It doesn’t work perfectly. And the only thing that is perfect is the word of God. And God said to Adam and to Eve is that because you have decided to live life on your own, then you’re going to encounter all kinds of conflicts. You’re going to encounter all kinds of tension and pain and problems and trials and tribulations. And in fact, the reason why you’re going to have all of these trials and tribulations and conflict is because you’re going to have three enemies that you’re going to battle against every single day of your life.

Now, I want to tell you what these three battles are. They’re not on the overhead or on your outline. So you may want to take notes. The first one is the one that Holly referenced is the battle inside of me and the battle inside of you. We all face an internal battle that we deal with. It’s called the sinful nature. It’s called the flesh. Paul talks about it as the carnal nature. It’s that we desire to do our own thing. And the reality is, every one of us in this room, we know that there’s things that we shouldn’t do, that we actually do it. There’s deceitful things that we do and say that we shouldn’t do, but we do them anyway. There are things that are self-destructive that we do to ourselves, and we know they’re self-destructive, that we do them anyway. And so, Paul, God tells us the reason why we have battles. The reason why we have conflict is because, number one, there’s an internal battle that’s going on inside of each and every one of us. Then there’s the battle that is going on around us. And it’s called the culture, the world that we live in.

Now, I don’t know if you know this. The world is not for you. The world seeks to destroy you. The world says that your voice doesn’t matter. The world says, and the culture says that your opinion doesn’t matter. In fact, the world says that the only way that you matter. If you’re the most beautiful person in the world, if you’re the smartest person in the world and the most talented person in the world, and if you do not finish first, then you are not worth anything. You’re worthless. You’re no good. You’re no count. And this is the reason, let’s just be honest. This is the reason why many of us are busy trying to keep up with the Joneses, because we want to come in first. 

Can I let you in on a little secret about the Joneses? Can I do that this morning? Can I do that? Okay. I’m going to do it anyway, whether you like it or not. The Joneses just refinance. And the reason why they had to refinance is they’re about broke. So if you want to keep up with the Joneses, keep up with the Joneses. But they’re on their way out because they’re broke. Now, folks, listen to me. There’s a battle that goes on the inside of us. There’s a battle that goes on around us, but there’s also a supernatural battle that’s the invisible war that goes on around us and in us. And it is called the war of evilness. It’s the war with the Devil. It is the Devil is out to destroy your soul. The Devil is out to destroy your life. He’s out to destroy your marriage, your family. He’s out to get even with God. And the best way for the Devil to get even with God is by taking you and I out of the game. And because of these battles that we have, you have to understand that is why there’s all this tension. That’s why there’s all this conflict that’s going on. And if we don’t have the right perspective, if we don’t understand the bigger picture of the narrative that we’re in, then we’re not going to understand the doubts. We’re not going to understand that when we put our focus on the distractions of this world, then the Devil wins, and we have to refocus on Jesus. Now, Jesus knew this. God knew this. And this is the reason why we have the perfect word of God is so that it can instruct our lives. 

Now, in Hebrews chapter eleven, we don’t have time to read the entire chapter, but I would encourage you to go to Hebrew chapter eleven at some point today. And I just want you to read the first part, actually read the whole chapter. The first part of Hebrews chapter eleven tells us that there are men and women of the faith. There’s Abraham, there’s Isaac, there’s Jacob, there’s David, there’s Samson, there’s Gideon. There’s all the prophets, there’s all of these men and women who fought the battle. They won the battle, and they finished the race very, very well. In fact, Hebrews eleven has often been referred to as God’s Hall of Fame. He said, this is the men and women of great faith. And these men and women in the first part of Hebrews chapter eleven, they finished the race. Now, the reason why I mentioned this is because of this. I want you to finish the race. I want you to understand that victory belongs to you. I want you to understand that the Devil cannot touch you. You have nothing to be afraid of with the Devil and his demons. They cannot touch you because you’re protected by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ that covers your life as a Saint, as a Christian. And so you don’t have to worry about that. Now, what the author of Hebrews does is they tell us about the first part of the chapter, about all of these men and women who finished the race very, very well. And then he comes to the end of Hebrews chapter eleven. And then, he explains to us that there was men and women who ran the race, but they didn’t obtain everything that they should have obtained because the race is still being run. 

So look what it says in Hebrews chapter eleven, beginning in verse 35. But others talk about in addition to those in the beginning of the chapter. But others trusted God and notice what happened to them. They had tremendous faith. They walked with the Lord. They were running the race. They were running the race, but they were beaten to death, preferring to die rather than turn from God and be free, trusting that they would rise to a better life. Some were laughed at, and their backs cut open with Wilts, and others were chained in Dungeons. Some died by stoning, and some died by being sold in the tooth. Notice this, others were promised freedom. If they would renounce their faith, they renounced their faith. Then what happened to them? Then they were killed with a sword. Next slide. Some went about in skins of sheep and goats, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in dens and caves. They were hungry and sick and ill-treated. Now notice this. God says they were too good for this world. Wouldn’t you love for God to say that about you and me? That we are too good for this world? Notice what he says as we continue. And these men of faith, though they trusted God and they won God’s approval, none of them received all that God had promised them. God wanted them to wait and share the even better rewards that were prepared for us. Now, this is a very dark, depressing passage. Right. What a way to start a new sermon series. We’re talking about being tortured and dying and saw and two. Right. Beautiful. But here’s what I want you to understand as we jump into this sermon series.

There’s all kinds of spiritual truths, but in your outline, there’s three spiritual truths that I want to talk about. The first one is this faith doesn’t spare us from pain. In fact, you can be doing the right thing and experience pain. You could be doing the right thing, and you could be persecuted for it. Learning to live by faith involves pain. Now, folks, the real test of your faith is when you don’t feel close to God, when you feel that God is nowhere to be found. It’s when you’re under fire that is the real test of your faith. See, folks, let me tell you something. You know this Ms. Barks, better than anybody. He said it’s easy to serve the Lord when things are going good. It is easy to come to worship when everything’s going good. It’s easy to give to the Lord when everything’s going good. And you know what, folks, is everything can be going good in your life. And that does not mean that God’s against you. But you know what? But when things are not going every way in your life, then that’s the real test of your faith. Faith doesn’t promise an easygoing life. This is not heaven, this is Earth. This is the learning stage. This is the preschool. The second thing it says, God’s promises will be fulfilled in eternity. There’s a thing that you need to understand. There’s 7000 promises found in Scripture. Say that with me, 7000 promises found in Scripture. Now, in Jesus Christ, every promise is a yes. Every one of the promises found in Scripture is a yes to you and me, who are Christians. Now, the problem is we think they should be fulfilled in the 75 years that we live here on Earth. The reality is that God’s got all of eternity to fulfill his promises to you and to me because you have to understand that life on Earth is like a blink of an eye. It’s just a moment. We were not created for time. We were created for eternity, and we’re going to be with God forever and ever and ever. And then the third observation from this passage is that we are runners in the historical relay race. Now, Church, this is a very important concept for you and me to understand is that there’s been generations of men and women of faith who have run the relay raceway before we have ever appeared on the Earth.

And these men and women, they ran the relay race. They handed off the baton to the next generation. They would run their race, and they would hand it off to the next generation. And the Bible says that none of those men, none of those women has received their gifts or their rewards. It is because of why the race is still being run with you and me. And we are running the race, and we have the baton in our hands, and what are we supposed to do with this generation? Our responsibility in this generation is to do what Ron is to hand it off as we run our lab and hand it off to the next generation. And this is the reason why we’re developing Bunch and Micah and Carla and Brooke and others and other speakers, because while we want to faithfully hand off the baton to the next generation of believers so that they can run the race and then they’ll be able to hand it off to the generation after them. And so here we have these men and women of the faith that is there. There’s all of these men and women who ran the race. They finish it in flying colors, and then there’s another group of people who have some hard times, but they endure, and they finish the race as well. So all of that’s depressing. Now, what does it have to do with us? For some of us, our eyes are focused on our circumstances, and we’re asking the question because we’re full of doubt, full of disappointment, full of discouragement, and we go, how can you keep on keeping on? And then we move to Hebrews chapter twelve, verses one through four. In Hebrews chapter twelve, verses one through four gives us three principles of how to keep on keeping on even in the midst of trials and tribulations. Look what the author says. Therefore. Now, Miss March, you know this better than anybody. Whenever you see therefore there, you always ask the question, Why is it therefore right? And therefore he’s telling us about all the things that the author said to this point. He says, since we’re surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance, the race God has set before us.

Now, how do we run this race that God has set before us? We do this by keeping our eyes on our circumstances. That’s what it says right now, what does it say? By keeping our eyes on what? On Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects her faith because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility that he endured from sinful people. Then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives and struggle against sin. Now some of you are like, how do I keep on keeping on in a world that is so full of conflict? Three principles real quick. Number one, remember that heaven is watching me. And you remember that heaven is watching you and me. This is the very first thing the writer of Hebrews tells us. He tells us that there’s a cloud of witnesses that’s cheering us on. 

Look with me in Hebrews 12:1. And it says this. Therefore, since we’re surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith. Now, folks, we understand that there’s nothing about our life that is private. Now, a lot of you are private people. Can I just say something to you? There’s nothing private about your life. It’s that God sees everything about your life. Everything is revealed before him. There’s no secrets in God’s economy. We may think that they’re a secret, but they’re not a secret. There’s nothing that you do in private. Your life has an audience, and that audience is primarily God because Job tells us this in Job 31 four. He sees everything I do and every step that I take. God knows everything about you. God knows everything about you, my friends. He knows every sin that you’ve committed. He knows every good thing that you’ve done. He knows every bad thing that you’ve done. Let me say this to you. He knows every thought you’ve ever had. He knows every single thought that you had. He knew you before you were formed in your mother’s room. He knows the number of hair that you have on your head. He knows the number of days that you have here on this Earth. He knows everything about you, and he knows every part of your life inside and out. Other people may not know, but God knows it all. But not only does God knows it all, but notice what it says back in Hebrews twelve one. It says that there’s this huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith. In other words, there’s all of these witnesses in heaven. Who’s looking at my life and your life. 

Now, friends, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t understand how this works. God’s word says it. Therefore I believe it. I don’t know how it works, but can you imagine that right now, at this very moment, we have Moses. We have Abraham. We have David. We have Paul. We have Noah. We have all the great men and women of faith watching us and observing us. Now, just imagine that you’re complaining about a problem that you have. Can you imagine what Moses is thinking in heaven right now as you’re complaining about your petty problem? Moses said they’ve got a problem. Let me tell you what the problem is. It’s being sent to Pharaoh to lead out of 3 million men and women out of captivity that’s been in captivity for 450 years and lead them through the desert with no food and water and be the general of that. Now, that’s a major problem. So Moses is laughing at our problems. We’re bellyaching, crying. Do you know what Abraham is doing? Abraham is going to your problem. You want a problem? What about picking up your family and going to a foreign country that you’ve never been to before and starting a new nation in that foreign country with just a couple of people? That’s a major issue. And that’s what they are doing. They’re observing us this morning, and they’re not there to criticize us, but they’re there cheering us on. So how do you keep on understand that God sees everything that’s going on in your life? Understand that we’re surrounded by a cloud of witnesses that’s cheering and praying for us this morning. 

But number two, very quickly, you have to eliminate what doesn’t matter. You have to eliminate what doesn’t matter. You have to do a little decluttering. You’ve got to eliminate what doesn’t matter in your life in order to move forward. In other words, you have to simplify your life. Now, there’s a problem with simplifying your life because we believe that the busier we are, the more important our life is.

Now let me just say something to you. I hear people all the time say this to me. Pastor, I know you’re busy, but I was just wondering if you could pray with me. Folks, let me tell you something. I’m never too busy to pray with you. I’m never too busy to talk to you. I’m never too busy that you take a backseat in the Ministry and life of this Church. I’m here to be your shepherd. I’m here to help you and protect you and lead you and disciple you. And I’m never too busy. And don’t ever apologize for sending me a text message or calling me or whatever. I may not answer it at the moment, but as soon as I’m free and out of a meeting or whatever I’m doing, I will get back in touch with you because that’s why I’m here for it’s, to love and to help you to grow and develop in the likeness of Jesus Christ. But we don’t want to declutter. We want to stay busy. And you know what happens. 

Here’s the reality. You know this. If I have a battery up here and I hook a light bulb to a battery, that light bulb is going to do what it’s going to burn brightly for maybe weeks or months. If I put 15 of those light bulbs on that same battery, that battery is going to deplete very quickly. If I put 100 light bulbs on that battery, that battery is going to go out in moments. And many of you, you are burning the candle at both ends. And you think that you’re burning brightly. Folks, listen to me. You’re not burning brightly at all. You know what happens? Here’s the reality. You can put too many irons in the fire. And once you put too many irons in the fire, what happens to the fire? It goes out. And folks, listen to me, as your Pastor who loves you and cares for you and who prays for you, listen to me. You need to do some spiritual spring cleaning. You need to get rid of some things. You need to eliminate some things. You need to make some choices to eliminate some things. They’re not bad things. They’re just not things that are going to help you to run the journey. And listen to me. You can become so overwhelmed by all of your to-do lists that you can become discouraged. Now notice what the author says in Hebrews. Read it with me. If you don’t care, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. Now I want you to circle two words, weight and sin. Those are two different things. I just want to talk to you about each one of them. And this is what you’ve got to eliminate from your life in order to keep on keeping on is the first thing that you have to do is to get rid of weights. Now, what is the weight? A weight is anything that slows you down. Now, folks, await is not necessarily evil. It’s just not necessary. Do you understand what I just said there? It’s not necessarily evil. It’s just not necessary. 

See, most of you, your life is so full because you want to be so busy, and the busier you are, the more important you think you are. Listen to me, folks. You can be busy and not be productive. You can be busy and not be running the race. And listen to me, my friends, there are just things that stand in your way of running the race. It could be your job. I know people in their congregation that will not take another job because if they take another job or take a promotion at work and you know what happens, then they’re not going to be able to give the time that they need to run the spiritual race that God has called them to run. And I thank God for those people. There’s others of you, and you have a relationship, you have an extracurricular activity that you’re involved in. Again, none of these things are bad. They’re just things that are holding you down, that’s slowing you up and running the race that God would have you to run. In other words, I would say this, some of you need to focus on the majors rather than majoring in the minors of life. Most of you, you’re majoring in all the minor things of life and friends. And we need to focus on the major thing. And what is the major thing is running the race that God has called you and me to run. 

The second thing that I want you to understand is sin. And what is sin? Sin is knowing what to do and not doing it. And do you understand that there are things that you need to do right now, and you know that you need to do them, but you’re not doing them. For some of you, it’s a grudge that you’re holding a grudge against someone. You need to let it go. You need to go and ask for your forgiveness for something that you said. For some of you, you’re holding on to resentment and bitterness. Some of you, you need to let go of that. You need to forgive the person who’s asked you to forgive them. Some of you are here, and you are being disobedient. God has called you to do something, but you’re white-knuckled about it. And you know what? Whatever you’re white-knuckled about that is living and disobedient because you know that you need to do it, but you’re not doing it. How do I know that this is what sin is? Because look at what James 4:17 says. James 4:17 says, remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. And so if there’s something that you know you need to do and you’re not doing it, God says that you’re sinning.

So the third thing to keep on keeping on is this. Focus on Jesus, not my circumstances. Focus on Jesus, not my circumstances. When I’m going through a tough time, when I feel like throwing in the towel, when I’m at the end of my rope, and I cannot hold on any longer, you and I need to focus on Jesus and not our circumstances. We need to focus on the savior and not the problems. We need to focus on God and not the situation. Look what it says in Hebrews twelve one. Let us run with endurance, the race God has set before us. And can I just say something to you right here? Is that the race that God has before you and before me? It is your individual race. You are responsible. You are obligated. You have the personal responsibility to run the race that God has given to you. Now, some of you, you’re not running the race. And the reason why you’re not running the race is because you’re blaming someone else for not running the race. Now, let me just say something to you. You can blame me. You can blame the elders. You can blame the staff team. You can blame your life group leader. You can blame your serve team leader. You can blame your husband. You can blame your children. You can blame anybody that you want. But let me tell you something, my friend. On the day of judgment, you stand before God. God’s going to look you squarely in the eyes, and he’s not going to ask you, who was your Pastor? He’s not going to ask, who were your elders? Who was your small group leader? Who was your serve team leader? He’s going to look you in the eye, and he’s going to say, my child, my son, my daughter, why did you not run the race that I asked you to run? Because I’m holding you accountable for what I’m asking you to do. And it is your personal responsibility. It is your duty as a Christian to run the race. And in spite of all the obstacles that you encounter, you blame anybody you want to. That’s fine. But God’s going to hold you accountable on that day. 

Now, I don’t forget where I was. Let me see. Okay. Hebrews 12 okay, here we go. Let us run with endurance, the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects her faith. Some of you are here this morning, and you feel like you’re in unendurable circumstances. You feel overwhelmed by your circumstances. You feel like you’re drowning. The only way to endear unendurable circumstances is to take your eyes off the circumstances and fix your eyes upon Jesus. Cory Tinned Boom and her sister Betsy helped Jews to escape from persecution during World War II. And they were caught for hiding Jews out and protecting them. They get thrown into prison camps. Betsy actually dies in the prison camp. Cory Tin Boom, great missionary for the Lord who’s died and gone to heaven. Now, she survived the prison camps, and she wrote a book called The Hiding Place. And in that book, she makes this quote, if you look to the world, you’ll be distress. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look to Christ, you’ll be at rest. And what she’s saying there is that wherever you put your focus, that’s what you’re going to see. Some of you are here, and you’re discouraged.

Some of you are here, and you’re disappointed. Some of you, you’re here, and you’re full of doubt. You know what? As long as you keep your eyes on your problems, you’re going to continue to experience doubt, discouragement, disappointment. I would be, too. But you have an opportunity this morning to refocus on Jesus Christ. There’s a passage that I want to share with you in a moment from Jonah. How many of you are familiar with the story of Jonah? It’s four chapters in the Old Testament. And God came to Jonah, remember? And tapped Jonah on the shoulder and said, hey, Jonah, I want you to go preach to the nines. I want you to go preach the message of repentance and Salvation. And what didn’t Jonah do? Jonah said, okay, God, whatever you want me to do, I’ll do. Is it what Jonah did? No. What did he do? He got on a boat. He went in the opposite direction. Remember this story? There came a big storm, and God said, okay, if you’re going to go in the opposite direction, I’m going to indulge you with a little Mediterranean cruise. And so they cast Jonah overboard. And the scripture says, what happened to Jonah? That God had created a big fish. And the big fish came and swallowed Jonah alive. And Jonah was in the belly of that big fish. Not a well, but a big fish for three days, remember? Now, some of you are going. Well, I think it’s a well, I don’t think it’s a big fish. Let me just tell you something, my friends. If God can create the world, God can create a big fish with an apartment inside of it for Jonah for three days, okay? It’s no big deal. But in the midst of that being in the well, being in the belly of that big fish, these are the words that Jonah prayed, he says, when I had lost all hope, I turned my thoughts once more to the Lord. Let me just ask you to bow your head. You don’t have to close your eyes. No one leaving, no one moving. Some of you, you need to turn your thoughts and your eyes once more to the Lord. You need to do that. You need to refocus right now at this very moment. Let me just summarize what I’ve been trying to teach you this morning in the introductory of this sermon series.

It’s easy to trust God when things go great. The real test of faith is when life stinks, when life sucks, when you don’t feel close to God. That’s when real faith shows up. Anybody can serve God in the good times. Anybody can serve God when they sense and feel God close to them. Anyone can serve God when everybody’s healthy. But it takes real faith to serve God when things are hard and difficult. And let me just say something to you. Life is going to be tough, my friends, because we’re in a battle, the internal battle, the battle that’s around us, and the cosmic battle with Satan and evil. They’re never going away as long as we have a breath. 

And so the question is this morning, will you trust God? Will you do the right thing even when you don’t feel like doing the right thing? And some of you say, Well, I did it this morning, Pastor. I felt like just rolling back over and going to sleep when I heard the rain. But I got up. Thank you for doing that. Will you do the right thing even when it doesn’t make sense? Will you endure to the finish line? Will you finish well? Or will you stop in the middle of the race and walk over to the sidelines? I’m asking you, will you refocus your heart and soul on Jesus in 2022? Are you going to allow Satan and sin to win out in your life? Or are you going to allow your savior to win out in your life? See, that’s your choice. It’s nobody else’s choice. And can I be honest with you? There’s been some people at Eastside lately who’d been running the race. They’ve been running their lap. They had a baton in their hand. You know what happened? They just dropped the baton on the race track. They stopped running and they just walked over to the bench to the sidelines, and they’re just taking a seat. They’re not running anymore. They don’t even have the baton in their hand to pass off to the next generation. And can I be honest with you? I don’t want that for anyone. And the reason why is that the moment that you walk away from Eastside, the moment that you walk away from running the race, the moment that you walk over to the sideline, there goes your chances of living in the Allin life for Jesus Christ.

It all goes out the window. It’s all over. I’m not talking bad about any other Church, but here’s what I know about Eastside is that when you walk away from Eastside, your chances of living an all-in life for Jesus go out the window. Because you know why? Because there’s no other Church that I know of in this community in central Kentucky that’s committed to helping more and more people living all in life for Jesus other than Eastside. We have grit. We have determination. We have a Bulldog attitude. We’ll go after you, and we’ll chase you down, we will Hunt you. And when people walk away, they walk away for petty reasons. They’re blaming someone rather than taking ownership of their own spiritual walk, their own spiritual life. And Satan wins that battle because you know what cause now they’re no longer pursuing it all in life. Now they’re just focused on their circumstances. And so this morning, I’m going to ask you to make a commitment to stay focused on Jesus in 2022. I’m trying like, what’s the simplest thing I can ask you to do? And the simplest thing that I can ask you to do is just make it a priority to be here for the next four weeks.

I’ll just make it a priority to be here every Sunday between now and the end of this sermon series. We got seven weeks. We’re just really diving into this. Next week we’re going to talk about the inner battle and what’s the cost of that inner battle? And then, a week after that, we’re going to talk about what is the cure of that inner battle. And so I’m just going to ask you if you would you just be willing to make a commitment for the next four weeks, five weeks, six weeks to be in attendance? Because what better way to keep you focused on Jesus, to keep you having perspective, than being together in worship? And so this morning, would you make that commitment? Would you say, you know what, I’m just going to do the simplest thing. I’m just going to be in worship each week, so I can have perspective about how the battle is fought and how the battle is won.