Because when you understand the greatness of God, it changes your disposition.

You might be jumping up and down doing cartwheels, but if you're standing before the Grand Canyon, you're going to respect the position you have in front of that Grand Canyon.

You have a fear for the Grand Canyon?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Not fear him like a tyrant, but just recognize and fear the greatness of God in the position that you have.

And I think to go back to answer your question earlier in regards to the sovereignty of God in the decisions that we make, I think so often we get stuck thinking that somehow again, this just goes back to your phrase demystify thinking that somehow we've got to unlock the code to figure out who I'm going to marry, what house to buy, what career to take, when God is our heavenly father and he's like whatever you do, do it to my glory, honor me in all of it.

Where you go, I will be with you.

There is so much freedom when you understand God as a sovereign father, a God who stands over you and with you.

Welcome to the Living Waters Can you Do Math?

Segment where we find out if we can do math.

Here we go, guys Ready.

Two plus two, four, four plus four, eight, eight plus eight, sixteen.

Sixteen plus sixteen, thirty-two, thirty-two plus thirty-two, sixty-four plus sixty-four, hundred twenty-eight, hundred twenty-eight plus hundred twenty-eight Two plus two, that's where it fell apart.

Oscar, you didn't even try.

I'm still in.

I'm 158.

158 plus 158.

316.

316 plus 316.

632.

No, oh yeah, pretty good Oscar, I have to admit Okay so, oscar.

So what's the purpose of this?

There's no purpose.

You're asking me what's the purpose to my openings?

Right, you haven't learned by now.

There is no purpose, but I did want to actually ask you, Oscar.

So you love books.

Obviously you're a big reader.

What were you like as a student?

Did you go to college or no?

I was trying to remember.

I did, but I didn't finish.

I was a terrible student.

Was it a homeschool college?

I was a terrible student, but it's not fair.

I wish I had a different experience.

But you have to remember my mom was 15 when she got pregnant, 16 when she had me.

She struggled with addiction my entire childhood and so no one ever told me to go to school.

So, like middle school, my attendance was like once a week, twice a week maybe it was like when I was bored and I decided to go, you know.

And so, yeah, I mean, you know, I got kicked out of three different middle schools, high school and I.

I often think back about it because I loved to read back then, but I just didn't understand the joy of education and I wish I would have been able to then, because I think it would have been.

I would have enjoyed the experience.

But most people don't understand the joy of education until they're older, that's fair, so true, you look back.

Yeah Now, ray, you hated school.

Oh yes, with a passion.

Yeah, I loved leaving it.

Nothing like leaving school.

Threw all my books about 15 feet in the air and crashed to the ground and went surfing.

Wow, I heard you skipped your last day of school to surf Kind of that's a story I heard.

Yeah Well, I got a revelation that life is just pleasure and if you're not, in pleasure, get out of it.

That was my revelation.

That's a good thing to say to our homeschool students who are here today.

Did you hear that, guys?

They were from Sun Talking BC.

Yes, of course, yeah, yeah, and Mark, you just cheated your way through school, right I?

did, did I mean, I attended 14 different schools?

All at once.

Not at one time.

That would have been difficult.

But several years I did go to different schools during that same year, except for high school.

I attended all four years.

Oceanview High School and Huntington Beach represent the Seahawks.

And you were kicked out of schools too, weren't you yeah?

Two high schools 0.32 GPA.

Two high schools 0.32 GPA.

What a loser At the end of my sophomore year.

We're quite the role models here I know, aren't we?

That's why we're doing this.

That's for our homeschool friends.

Thank you for joining us today.

Learn what you can.

Become friends, the foolish things of the world.

Have you welcomed the?

folks.

No, we're not going to.

Anyway, so Marika today, friends, we have with us the Kindred Homeschool Group, which is, I think, like 12 of you or something, with moms in tow as well.

Now let me ask you guys how many of you have listened to the Living Waters podcast?

Raise your hand.

Okay, the rest of you will share the gospel with you afterwards, so you can come to know us, so let's give them a big hand.

Welcome.

Welcome friends.

That's great.

All right Time for a cool, classy comment.

This is from Sarah H Owsley.

Hello Living Waters crew.

My name is Sarah Hayden Owsley.

I live in Prattville, alabama.

I was introduced to your podcast by my husband before we were married.

We've been married seven months and we've probably been listening to your podcast for the last year and a half.

Your podcast has been a blessing to our relationship both before and during our marriage.

The way you set out to serve and glorify God and all that you say and do inspires our walks with Christ each time we tune in to listen.

I can't begin to explain the impact you've made on us and the fire that has been ignited in my husband to go out and share the gospel with our community.

We plan to hand out your gospel tracks soon at a big city festival in our community.

This will be the second time we have gone out to share gospel tracks since we got married.

We look forward to doing this more and would love if you could pray for our time spent sharing the gospel with our community.

We are so grateful for each of you and we learn so much from listening.

Thankful for Living Waters, sarah Hayden Owsley.

How cool is that Wonderful Named after Spurgeon?

Yeah, and like we talked about, you know the fact that we're stirring people to share the gospel and to see it with a couple, you know, to start out their marriage that way, with the foundation of reaching the Lord, I like that our podcast is being used through premarital counseling.

To prepare you for madness, that's right.

Pretty much yeah.

To prepare you for madness, that's right.

Pretty much, yeah, yeah.

Well, thank you so much for writing in, sarah, and hey, if you're ever in California, come by and see us at Living Watch.

What are you guys doing?

We're helping out.

It's hot in here.

It's just right, yeah, just right.

All right, friends, and now time for a radically revolutionary resource.

This podcast is brought to you by the Ten Commandments.

It's getting worse, dude.

I know it's getting worse.

Isn't that great Scroll pen?

Listen, here, it's scroll friends.

You guys hear that.

That's easy.

You take that to the local gym.

That's my workout, oh Shoulder day.

It's an exercise machine too, friends.

Yeah, this is one of my all-time favorites.

It's an exercise machine too, friends.

Yeah, this is one of my all-time favorites.

It's adapted from the Albert Brainstein tract right Ray.

Yes, yeah, and it's super cool because the Ten Commandments are laid out in pictures that are designed in a way to remember them.

You can remember the Ten Commandments for life in four minutes as a kid.

Seriously, this is what I still use.

When I recall the Ten Commandments this is exactly what I use these images come to mind and they trigger it If you don't memorize the Ten Commandments in four minutes with this pen, Ray will send you $100.

Yeah.

All right, there you have it, friends, and don't forget what Ray Friends, don't forget what Ray Friends Friends Don't forget Living Waters mug, from which you can chug the evidence of a study Bible, from which you're liable to get revival.

Living Waters TV, all that, living Waters.

I feel bad for Rachel, do you?

Yeah, I mean, she has to live with that.

She's here, hi, honey.

Yeah, poor Rachel.

She must have just a mind Her psychiatrist bills.

For those that missed it, it was livingwaterscom yeah com, and don't forget the podcast YouTube channel.

Guys, I'm so thrilled about this, seriously, just that people can get little nuggets.

We'll do little segments that were impactful and then you get to see us as well.

Back to Rachel.

I think they should start giving poll surprises to wives.

She'd be the first she would.

First.

First she would First recipient, For sure.

All right, friends.

Today we're talking about how to make God-honoring decisions in life.

The moms are wondering now, did we make a good one?

bringing our kids to this insanity.

But guys, look within the faith.

I would say this is probably one of the most common questions that leaders and pastors get how do I make good decisions?

When we think about it, life is full of making decisions.

I mean, everything you do ultimately traces back to you having to to exercise your discernment skills and then finally decide whether to do something or not do something, or if you're going to do something or not do something, or if you're going to do something or not do something, what specific things you do related to it, and so this is an important issue to discuss, because I think there's a lot of misunderstanding and, I would dare say, a lot of mysticism infused into decision-making waiting for a feeling, waiting for a sign and things like that, rather than being a people who understand how God has designed us and that there is a way, biblically speaking, to make good decisions.

Yeah, I remember Vance Havner once saying that every decision we make it balances on a razor's edge.

Not that you're gonna fall off the cliff, but it heads you in the trajectory of maybe a direction where you should not take.

And this kind of goes hand in hand with our last podcast that we talked about, with discipleship and accountability and just being there for each other, because friends can look into your life and just say, hey, man, your trajectory is a little off.

Remember when we had breakfast with R Kent Hughes?

Yeah, and he was asked the question you know you've written 22 commentaries what has motivated you to do such a thing?

And he said well, I knew that with God, I can open up God's word, I can sit on my hands, I could put my guard down because I knew God was not going to lie to me.

And I open up God's word because and I start early in the morning because I know the rest of the day I'm going to be lied to yeah, Right, and for me the Word of God became my ultimate sanity in a very confused, photoshopped world.

So the rest of the world lied to him?

You're talking about the secular world.

The secular world yeah, like advertising and everywhere.

Every billboard has been photoshopped, every commercial that has been.

I mean millions of dollars spent on all sorts of advertisement.

You.

Every commercial that has been.

I mean millions of dollars spent on all sorts of advertisement.

You just don't know what is real anymore.

It's crazy.

In my book I talked about what would it be?

like.

What's the book called?

Oh, fight Like a man, a biblical battle plan for personal purity.

Yeah, I talk in there about how wonderful life would be if we had no enemies, like there's no sin in the world, no one is out to get you, no one is out to get you, no one's out to do you wrong, no one's out to.

But that's not the reality of the world that we live in.

I mean, we are constantly, you know, being attacked from different angles and we're being lied to, like you said, mark, and the problem is we're involved in gallibles travels.

We're gallible as human beings.

Gallibles travels, gullible's Travels, where gullible is human beings.

Gullible's Travels yeah, get it.

Did you come?

up with that.

Yeah, pride, yeah, but I just humbled myself immediately after it, so it's canceled.

So anyway, yeah, I'm incredibly gullible.

Just the other day I purchased something I thought this is can't wait until it comes, and it's about a quarter the size I thought it would be.

And I paid a lot of money Not a lot of money, but comparatively a lot of money.

Could it be that it's normal size for normal size?

people, but they photograph it to give you the impression.

This is a six inch high tube of something and when you get it.

It's like two inches and you think, oh, I got ripped off again.

I remember you and I, Ray, being in an airport.

I can't remember which restaurant restaurant it was, but you took a picture of the burger you got versus what was up on the board and it was pathetic.

My burger was just like someone has sat on it for two days, compared to the picture up on there.

It's like what is this?

Yeah, Crazy.

I love in the introduction that you use the word demystifying.

I think it's a really powerful word, because making God honoring decisions is not about unlocking some secret code or being ultimately what it's about.

Is about being shaped by the gospel, saturated in scripture, walking in community and being confident in God's sovereignty.

And the more that we seek God himself, not just his will, the more we become a kind of people that will naturally follow his will.

I love Keller's way of putting it.

He says if you seek God only to get guidance, you're treating him like a genie.

But if you seek him because you love him, you'll not only find his guidance, but you'll find him too.

Oh, that's so good and ultimately, that's the true desire of every believer's heart.

It's Lord.

It's not just I'm living this life and making decisions and doing this, and that it's.

How can I be in communion with you in every aspect of life, mark?

We talk about that often.

Every avenue of life, every opportunity that we enter into is really an opportunity to worship.

It is, I forget who wrote the book Practicing the Presence of God.

Was that Murray?

Practicing the Presence of God, Andrew Murray I think it was.

Thomas Kempis, the Imitation of Christ.

I mean, there's a lot of craziness in, I think, both of those books, but the idea is just simply always cognizant of the fact that God is with you.

Every step right, every step you take is a step closer to God.

Every breath you're breathing, every word that you're saying is being deciphered right.

I mean, that's how in tune God is with us in every single moment.

And the more we would realize that, the more it keeps us from presumptuous sins, the more it keeps us from entertaining things that we shouldn't entertain, for which Christ died.

For the moment we realize that Christ is with us and he looks out the very eyeballs in which we are looking at right, I mean just that close, we would be turning our eyes away from a lot more things.

We would not be entertaining a lot of things that maybe we entertained at two years ago.

We are works in progress and praise God for that.

But the fear of God, it clears the fog of confusion.

Proverbs 3, verse 5, we know it.

It's something not just to be highlighted and underlined.

I've often said that the Bible, for a lot of us adults, has become nothing more than an adult coloring book, and we stay within the lines.

We color, we highlight, we do everything and those things are really great.

I can never stay on the lines.

Actually, I just had to confess that trust in the lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

All your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your straight paths.

I remember this verse along with the verse where shall I go, lord?

You alone hold the words to eternal life.

Those two passages were just anchors, two sides of the same coin, where I would hold onto during my earliest formable days as a Christian.

Right Not having anybody speaking into my life Didn't have the disciples.

You and I, we didn't have discipleship.

We were left to ourselves to try to figure things out, and I thank God for the heritage inside this house.

You know where people are able to ask their parents questions and if they're not walking with God, you can ask your friend's parent a question because they are walking with God.

We didn't have that Right, right and that's just how important the community is and accountability is, and putting God first, fearing him.

Yeah, you know, ray, I'd love you to speak to the sovereignty of God in decision-making in the grand sense, in that I think sometimes believers are terrified oh no, I'm gonna make the wrong decision.

Oh no, what's gonna happen?

I've used the analogy before that I've heard of a cruise ship on its way to a destination.

The people on that cruise ship can make a bunch of different kinds of decisions.

They might go into the wrong room, or they might say the wrong thing or whatever, but that's not going to change the fact they're going to reach their destination.

The ship is still moving.

You can get a bunch of things on that ship, but it's still moving.

And so, ray, how important is it for believers to really grasp God's sovereignty over our lives, even if we might make wrong decisions at times?

Yeah, it's very important for believers to grasp.

I've got something.

The key is a surrendered will, total surrender to God.

You're no longer on your own.

You're brought with a price.

I've got to mention something here.

I've probably mentioned it before and I don't want to embarrass anyone but one of my kids I'm not going to say who it was because I'll embarrass her, but she was about seven years old.

I was just in the shower and I heard her call out Dad, I want to do a heading for my work at school.

What color should I do?

The heading Green?

And I said, well, this is so cool.

My daughter's coming to me and I was publishing.

Back then I had a Jesus paper and we're probably in our 11th issue, and so she knew that I had an expertise when it comes to color and make things stand out.

So I said, well, I said yellow on a black background can be great.

And she just called back what about green?

and so I thought, yeah, no, she doesn't like you know.

So, um, red is an outstanding color.

I called back and she said what about green?

I said green.

Then she says thanks, dad.

And it really was a lesson how we can come to God and say not your will, but mine be done.

I've got my mind made up.

I'm going to pray about this so I appease my conscience.

I'm going to come to my father and get his opinion, but I'm going to do my own thing, yeah, so it really comes back to what Mark was saying walking in the fear of the Lord.

Another memory when my kids were little our kids I built a playhouse and it was about 12 feet wide by about 6 feet long, or 12 feet long by 6 feet wide, who cares?

And I had zeal, without knowledge this is going to be a shock to you, ez, but I just went for it.

I didn't bother using a square for the foundation or a level.

Shocker.

Yeah, just duct tape.

I'm just going to do this.

So I didn't use a level or a square, I just went by my eyesight.

Yeah, that's level and this is square.

And what happens when I finish the whole thing in my whole life.

I finish the whole thing except for the door, and when I went to put the door in, it would not fit in because there was nothing square, the window wouldn't fit in, and so the foundation for our lives as Christians should be the fear of the Lord.

That should be the level, that should be the square, and everything else is built on top of that.

Se devil.

That should be the square, and everything else is built on top of that.

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added.

Oscar, there's a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to the fear of the Lord.

People hear that and they're like wait a minute, fear God, but God's our Father.

What do you mean, fear God?

So speak to that a little bit so people can tie in with what Ray and Mark are saying.

Yeah, there's many people that want to talk about the fear of the lord and they want to transition, to go.

You know reverence, respect, but to be clear, it does mean reverence, it does mean respect.

It also means a recognition of the greatness of god and your position before him.

Because when you understand the greatness of God, it changes your disposition.

You might be jumping up and down doing cartwheels, but if you're standing before the Grand Canyon, you're going to respect the position you have in front of that Grand Canyon.

You have a fear for the Grand Canyon.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Not fear him like a tyrant, but just recognize and fear the greatness of God in the position that you have.

And I think to go back to answer your question earlier in regards to the sovereignty of God, in the decisions that we make, I think so often we get stuck thinking that somehow again this goes back to your phrase demystify.

Thinking that somehow, again this goes back to your phrase.

Demystify.

Thinking that somehow we've got to unlock the code to figure out who I'm going to marry, what house to buy, what career to take, when God is our heavenly father and he's like whatever you do, do it to my glory.

Honor me in all of it.

Where you go, I will be with you.

There is so much freedom when you understand God as a sovereign Father, a God who stands over you and with you.

Yeah, and really that becomes the kind of filtering system or the grid through which we examine things.

And again we're looking as these finite, fallen, broken people who are seeking to do the right thing.

We're seeking to have something that's going to help us maximize decision-making in such a way that it comports with what's honoring to the Lord.

And that's why, having a vision in life I've shared, years ago I gathered my family in our living room and I unveiled for them the Zwayne Family Vision Statement to gladly and passionately glorify God in every thought, affection, word and deed, while constantly enjoying Him as our greatest pleasure and most precious treasure.

Rachel myself, all five of our children, have memorized that.

It sits in a big plaque in the middle of our living room.

Because when you are living for God's glory, you're not going to be haphazard.

When you're making decisions, you're not just going to be okay.

Well, I want to do this, because I want it.

It's like you're always filtering it through the grid.

Does this glorify you, lord?

Does this make much of God?

Does this honor you and bring you pleasure?

Because, 2 Corinthians 5, we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we're going to give account.

And he says.

Therefore, whether absent or present, we make it our aim to be well-pleasing to him, and that ties in with glorifying him.

Isaiah 33, 6,.

It says the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.

And it's always kind of stood out to me that we all have treasures.

We all have something that we kind of seek after.

And Zion comes along and he says well, we have a treasure, we have a desire, we have a single-handed passion it's the fear of God.

To walk in the fear of the Lord.

Oftentimes we talk to young people who say you know, I don't know what to do.

You know, I'm confused.

There's two roads that are dividing in my life.

Which one is the one less traveled?

I'll take that Maybe broad is.

I don't want to know, I don't, what do I do?

And we forget that the wisdom of God is not hiding from us, it's hiding for us.

And if we open up God's Word and we dig down deep, that is the safest place to be, the center of God's will, which is inside of the Word of God.

Who was it?

Justin Peters, who said if you want to hear God speak, read His Word.

If you want to hear God speak out loud, well, then read His Word out loud.

Right, we don't need to overcomplicate things.

So you want to be the wisest person in the world?

Read the proverb of the day and Lord, speak to me through your word.

You know, as I go through your word, I want your word to go through me.

Search me, try me, see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

And my heart's desire, my heart's cry, lord, is that you would use me now, before it's too late, before I have too many aches and pains and I'm just filled with more excuses why I refuse to march forward.

The army of God marches forward on their knees, and that's how we should be reading God's word as well, asking God to fill us with his wisdom.

Amen.

You know, mark, I'm so man, I'm so glad you brought that up, because again we compartmentalize in our minds.

Right, we think decision-making, and again we're always thinking about it in terms of the big things in life which school do I choose and which job do I take, and so forth.

But there are decisions that we make in the moral realm in terms of how we're going to respond to a given situation, to a specific person.

And when you fill your heart and mind with God's Word, this is how you're impacted in decision-making.

Okay, so someone comes at you and they're being harsh and rough.

Boom, proverbs 15,.

One pops in your mind.

You know, a gentle answer turns away wrath.

Harsh words stir up anger that moves you to make the right decision.

Because if you don't base the decisions you make on God's word, you're gonna revert to your own human wisdom, which is flawed and fallen.

It's always one of the two it's either your own contrived, man-centered wisdom or it's what God has revealed.

Someone is doing something towards you and you're feeling this bitterness rise up in your heart.

Boom, ephesians 4, 30 through 32, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Let our bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil.

Speaking Now, you're informed, so you're moved to make a decision that comports with what pleases the Lord.

Now you're going to be forgiving and not hold on to bitterness.

Right, it's that sort of thing, yeah, I mean, have you ever had that mindset of it doesn't matter what the world or what somebody does to me, that you're just like so focused in that moment it just doesn't matter what the world or what somebody does to me, that you're just so focused in that moment, it just doesn't matter?

It's like somebody comes to you and says, hey, I need to ask your forgiveness for something, and you quickly respond before they ever say anything.

Of course you're already forgiven.

Now what do you need to get off your chest?

That's how we are to live our lives with the people around us.

Let's talk practically.

So imagine, let's talk practically.

So I'm imagining, like you know, graduating college, like what am I gonna do with my career?

Or headed towards college, whatever the case, which is a conversation that I've had often with people and I love in every good endeavor.

It has what's called the vocational triage, in which he talks about affinity, ability and opportunity.

So he says, like affinity is what am I passionate about?

That's something to ask yourself.

Ability what am I passionate about?

That's something to ask yourself.

Ability what am I good at?

And then opportunity what door is God opening in front of me right now?

And what he talks about in that book is like to explore the vocational triage in the context of a community, to have elders and parents and friends and people at the church, to be able to come alongside you and help you recognize blind spots, passions, things that are truly in front of you, so that you're not reaching into an area that maybe you shouldn't be.

You know, if Ray came to us and was like I want to be a construction worker, we'd be like well, you have the affinity, but you don't have the ability.

We don't want to kill people, we don't want to have a hammer running around, oh man, yeah, no, that's good and I'd like to really kind of camp out on that a little bit that the role of counsel in our lives, in helping us to make good decisions, and I think that sometimes we seek out the counsel that we want to coincide with what we want to do, versus like I really want objective counsel that is right and coincide with what we want to do, versus like I really want objective counsel that is right and not just what I want.

What about green?

Yeah, what about green Right man?

You're putting Rachel sitting on display today.

Oh yeah, that's right.

What you just threw her under the bus.

She just heard about forgiveness, so I'll be fine, but she just heard about forgiveness, so I'll be fine.

Yeah, so, mark, counsel.

You and I have talked about this ad nauseum, the value of good counsel.

I love it when young people come, and I know they're not just coming to me, but I know they're going to multiple people to get their insight and input.

Speak to that.

There's wisdom.

In the multitude of counselors, it's easy to find somebody that will agree with you, right?

And we need to be careful with that.

I sent a text to Kurt Camerioni earlier today and his response was this is interesting.

It's a new topic to me.

I've spoken to several pastors and Christian attorneys about it.

I'm trying to really understand the issues.

And he just went on to say where do I go right?

And so if we surround ourselves with people who say, look, I only want God's will, as you speak inside somebody's life, and somebody else speaks inside their life and this person speaks inside their life, eventually they're going to find that balance of what's good for them, especially if they only want God's will, if they want God's will listen.

This is going to be a very easy thing, and that goes back to what I was saying before.

You're already forgiven.

What do you need to get off your chest?

We had a couple of friends that moved from California over to Arizona to be part of this financial deal and he just dropped off the map.

He didn't even say goodbye, he just took off.

And when he came back I hit him up and I said, bro, what happened?

Why didn't you tell us?

And he said well, I knew you would say no.

That's a hard place to be when you're afraid that somebody's going to say no, somebody's going to say this isn't wise.

No, listen, weigh out the matters, put everything together and then just make your decision.

He's a multi-billionaire, his name's elon musk and I'm like what are you doing?

It was elon.

We have to confess I love this we have to confess our tendency for yes men and women in our lives.

We gravitate towards the council that we want to hear right, rather than the council that we need to hear.

And you I mean taking a testation of your life is there?

Is there anybody in your life that we need to hear?

And I mean taking a testation of your life?

Is there anybody in your life that are willing to challenge you?

Everybody.

Yeah, I was just talking to a young youth pastor and we were just talking through faithfulness in ministry and my counsel to him was surround yourself, because in ministry especially, it's hard.

There's a tendency for yes men to gravitate around you, and I explained to him one of the most important things you can do for your soul is to surround yourself with people who are not impressed with you, because then they can know you and they can give you the counsel that you actually need, rather than the counsel you want to hear.

What are you two doing?

He makes me sick.

I'm not impressed with you.

Mark's giving me condescending looks.

I am surrounded by guys like that, seriously, very faithful men of God, who will just say what's in their heart.

I don't have to listen to them if I don't want to.

So it doesn't even matter what we say.

It reminds me of the account in the Old Testament where this one king had advised another king to call for a prophet named Micaiah and the other king said I hate him because he always speaks against me.

And then he calls him and Micaiah speaks against him and then he says did I not tell you?

He said I can only speak what the Lord has commanded me and I'll only speak what the Lord's commanded me and I'll only speak what the Lord's commanded me.

And I love men like that in my own life, who I know, because when you really want to please and honor the Lord, those are the people you're going to seek out.

All of us know intuitively who the yes men are.

All of us know intuitively who the people are that are going to just, they don't want to offend or they don't want tension, but those that love us and who are going to speak truth but who also do it gracefully right.

There's a way to do it where you're not going to be hurtful and offensive, but, brother, I love you, I care about you.

But here's honestly what I think and ultimately that's love right when we give the person not so much what they want but what they need.

I thought you were going to start singing a song when you sing what's love.

What's love got to do with?

it.

What have I done?

Mark, you're my favorite backup singer.

I'm always here for you, yeah.

If I can get Ray and Oscar to dance too.

Interpretive dance.

Yeah, it's not going to happen.

We haven't made.

So here's my question what did you say?

You haven't thought of the question.

You're right.

I didn't know that there's nothing in the brain, I know you.

What's for lunch, yeah.

No, but making decisions when it's not popular, when we know that now we talked about people advising us who may be uncomfortable to speak the truth to us, but when we need to make decisions that are not popular, that can be one of the most challenging things, mark.

What do we do to navigate that, to prep ourselves for those?

Hey, bow before my 90-foot statue, or burn right, stop praying to God for 30 days or get thrown into the lion's den.

Yeah, we need to determine in our hearts beforehand what we're going to do.

That's why, each morning, when I wake up and I just salute and I just say reporting for duty, lord, what do you have today?

If you're in the army, if you're in the military, you don't tell the generals what you're going to do.

You don't tell them how you're going to dress or how you're going to style your hair.

You're in a battle, a spiritual battle, and as a spiritual battle, as a battlefield, not a playing field, a battleground, not a playground, we have to realize that people are going to be people and we need to do what God has called us to do.

Spur said discernment it's not knowing the difference between right and wrong, it's knowing the difference between right and almost right.

So the more we inundate ourselves with the Word of God and with godly accountability and godly fellowship, we're not going to be making those poor decisions when they're coming before us.

Remember MacArthur.

He said his most joyous times in life is when he's in the middle of a situation where the Red Sea's in front of him, the army's all around him and there's no way out.

Where God has to come in clutch, where a miracle has to take place.

We have that famous quote from General MacArthur, when he was leading his team, his warriors, his soldiers, his men, into battle, and he went down into the valley and when he went down into the valley.

And when he went down into the valley, there were people coming up over the hill and they're now in a compromised position because they're down in the valley.

And then he looked to the left and there were people to the left of him and people to the right of him.

And then he looked back and there were the enemy behind him as well, and his response to the people were well, the enemy is not going to get away from us this time.

People were well, the enemy's not going to get away from us this time.

Right, that is the mindset that we need to have.

One with God will always be in the majority.

So when we are in the midst of difficulty, when trial is all around us, it's a good place to be.

Remember Vance Habner.

You know, sometimes God puts us on our back so that we look up.

Sometimes God calls you away from noisy sheep because they're just noisy, because there's just too much clamor going on.

You know what was it?

I mean it was only recorded that John the Baptist leaned on the breastplate of Jesus and heard the heartbeat of deity.

Who else heard the heartbeat of deity besides John the Baptist?

Who knows, maybe the others did as well, maybe they were close, maybe they were intimate in that fashion.

But if you want to hear the shepherd's voice, you have to get away from the sheep, and the more you're away from the sheep and you seek the face of God, you're not going to worry about the face of other people.

You're not going to worry about the applause or the plaudits or the promotion or the position of other people that are around you.

So it is a good place to be when you are by yourself and you're recognizing that you'll never be by yourself because he's always with you.

He goes before you and he's behind you and upholds you and he guides you with his eye.

We take refuge under the shadow of his wing and he is our strength and our horn, our salvation, our buckler.

Amen, ray, I'd love you in a minute to just speak to the role of prayer in helping us in decision-making?

Yeah, just one.

Ray's always in prayer.

But before that I did want to go back to what we were talking about in terms of the word and decision-making in decision making, when you know and understand the Word, it also limits your options when it comes to making decisions.

For example, let's say it's a husband or a wife and they're just struggling in their marriage and they just don't have these feelings or emotions of love anymore for their spouse.

They don't have to wonder would a divorce be right in this context, because they understand what scripture says that what God has joined together, let no man separate, that you're not to leave your husband or your wife, and so forth.

I think the word wedlock, tells us, contains the word lock, which means this is permanent.

Wed with lock?

Yeah, forever, yeah.

But someone who's like man this is permanent Wend with lock.

Yeah, forever yeah.

But someone who's like man this government stinks.

Should I pay my taxes this year or should I cheat a little bit, mark?

It's like the question that you ask.

I think you mentioned it before.

You'll ask Mormons is it wrong for me to steal a ballpoint pen, right, no?

Well then, I never have to ask God, should I?

And I never have to ask God, should I and you do that with the whole, like burning in the bosom or is revealed to me.

If you know, this is the Book of Mormon.

Is God's word or not?

So that's hugely important.

It's like don't ask God about where to walk if you're not willing to walk in obedience.

Ooh, that's good.

Is that original?

I think so.

That was terrible, maybe not.

And to add to that, and to add to that I've also heard it worded this way that God just seems silent to me.

I open up his word and nothing, just it's not bouncing off the pages like Braille, like maybe it used to at one time.

It's like I don't know what to do and I heard a pastor respond with well, is it possible that he's already told you what to do and he's not willing to give you the next set of instructions until you obey the first set of instructions, the first set of instructions?

They're very simple.

We tend to overcomplicate and over-spiritualize and mystify everything that's going on.

And it's a lot more simpler than that.

Yeah, amen.

Yeah, reading the word.

You just don't brush over it, you dig into it like you do a good meal, and I think that's when you get the most out of it.

Prayer, acknowledge Him in all your ways and He'll direct your paths.

I think I'm going to learn a lot from the world.

I'm overwhelmed with mysticism at how blind this world is.

That you can seriously talk to someone about a hummingbird and they don't see God's creative hand in it.

It just blows me away.

It just happens.

They don't even think deeply about sunsets, sunrises or even lightning.

One of my favorite things to do when I'm editing is talk about sinning against God and then turn my volume up, bring in thunder and lightning into a little video so it scares the living daylights out of the person that's watching it, because that really puts the fear of God in you.

If you're in a storm and you see real lightning, it really is terrifying what it is.

In a split second, fire comes from the heavens and thunder shakes you very hard.

I was in Reno I don't know if Rachel can remember this.

We were in Reno once and there was a roll of thunder.

I don't know if it's called a roll.

It wasn't a roll, it was like a it came instantly.

Can you do that noise again?

Do that noise again, Ray Like that.

And it shook the whole house Seriously.

The whole house physically shook with the sound of thunder and bring that into the fear of the Lord.

The Bible is like an instruction book.

I don't know about you guys, but I continually have a battle when I get an appliance.

I hate reading instructions.

Hallelujah, brother, yeah, you with me Amen.

Women don't mind it, but they're usually written in Korean and they're a one-point font and they're not even written so you can understand what they're talking about and you think bits are missing here.

So what I do is I put the appliance together and if it doesn't work, then I get the instruction book.

And that's what the world has done with the Bible.

It's the instruction book.

The whole world's in an absolute mess because it hasn't read the instruction first, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

So the question is how sold out are we to God?

Listen to what George Whitefield said A true faith in Jesus Christ will not suffer or allow us to be idle.

No, it is an active, living, restless principle and fills the heart, so that it cannot be easy until it is doing something for Jesus Christ.

I just love that because you can see it in the life of Whitefield.

He was totally sold out, and that's the key to being free as a Christian.

Ray, do you still pray every day, whether or not God wants you to witness?

He blew the door off the hinges.

Yes.

The shotgun's gone I think we just realized that Ray only shops at Timu, it's like .15.

Shops at Timu, right, it's like 0.15 font.

What's Timu Nice?

Yeah, okay.

So I want to get into an area that's a little more sensitive and that is our responsibility Ray's ribs, ray's, what Ribs?

Oh, that seems.

Rachel, come and help me.

I want us to probe a little bit the responsibility Oscar I'd love you to address this the responsibility of decision-making when we are in positions of authority, Because our decisions don't just affect us.

And I know that for us, I think, as fathers and as husbands, sometimes as leaders in different spheres, it's easy for us to forget that, you know, and we can sometimes become kind of lacking in charity as we think about how our decisions affect others, or we're haphazard in that we're not really seeking the Lord.

And it's interesting because sometimes I think, when we think about decisions that we have to make, we're usually thinking, oh, the decisions that don't coincide with what our family wants, our wife, our children.

But sometimes it could be the opposite.

We may know we may have to make a decision that doesn't fit what they desire and that might cause tension, and how do we navigate that?

Yeah, there's two different, I think, ends of that spectrum.

There's like the egalitarian father and husband that does not recognize that God ordained, calling on his life to guide and lead and disciple and protect his family.

Well, and whether or not he realizes that he is in some way, shape or form leading the family, even if he's submitting to something else, right.

But then there's the other end of the spectrum which is thinking that because you're a leader, that you have some and this is where pride comes in that you have some way and form of making a choice outside the context of what God wants you to do.

And I think one of the things that I encourage people all the time, especially men in marriage, is to recognize your wife is given to you as a helper.

Think about that.

That's not diminishing, that's not less than that doesn't mean my choice is primary and if you don't agree with me, then it's me and you got to submit to that.

Think about what God calls himself to Abraham a helper.

Abraham would never look at God and be like well, if you don't agree with me, just submit to me God.

God was a helper to Abraham to understand God's will.

So for husbands, a helper to Abraham to understand God's will.

So for husbands, your wife is a helper to help you understand the will of God, not for you to treat as a subordinate when you don't agree with her every single time.

That doesn't mean you won't always agree and you have to blah, blah, blah.

But obviously the point is is that God gives you your spouse to help you understand his will in his way and, I think, to really apply this.

I think about my life, like there's been moments where my wife and I will disagree about decision on schooling, about what house to buy, and she knows what to do In those moments.

Often what she'll do, she'll be like all right, I trust your leadership, and that's always like the oh no.

Like there's just like this, oh man where, and it often humbles me to recognize and see something that I didn't see before.

And so us, as leaders whether you're a leader in the home, a leader in the workplace, a leader at school, as a leader, we're here to serve.

Serve people, but primarily serve.

God's will in our lives.

I was imagining Kelly rephrasing that, as you're going to give account to God, that's basically what she does.

That would really work.

So, mark, I've talked often about how the world has this bully pulpit right.

It has such a massive avenue through which to impact our lives, or avenues, rather, whether it's television, it's social media, it's magazines, it's books, it's billboards, I mean the radio programs.

The world comes in full force and there is this propensity for us as people to catch kind of the way of the world in the way that we make decisions.

How do we combat that?

Again, we've talked about it.

Before you get a friend that moves to Texas, they come back five years later.

Hey how y'all doing what in the world happened to you?

But it's influence right.

So how do we counter the world's influence in our decision-making process?

I think for young ones it first starts with honoring your parents, listening to your parents, allowing there to always be an open door with your parents, that your parents have your best interest in mind, that they may not always make the best decisions.

Remember Scripture doesn't say to honor your mother, your father as long as they are not Right.

It says to honor your mom and your dad.

That's explicit across the board.

Unless, obviously, we have that caveat, unless they're asking you to sin, but to honor your mom and dad.

Because friends are going to kind of come and go, voices are going to come and go, shows are going to kind of come and go, but your parents they're just in it for the long haul that they're not going anywhere.

Last time I looked that fifth commandment honor your mom and dad.

It's one of the top 10, right?

So I think it really starts there Is that original Spence.

I don't know Pride, so you'll never outgrow that fifth commandment right.

So we need to do that.

Exodus 20, verse 12, honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you.

This is not a suggestion as well.

Your parents are the only ones that will continually be there as long as they are there.

Especially, consider a Christian household I was sharing with one of my kids earlier this week.

I said look, I give you my word that I'm going to be here, not as long as you're alive, but as long as I'm alive, because more than likely I'm gonna be gone before you.

What does this mean?

I really should be your best friend.

Yeah Right, there is nobody rooting for you.

Such good manipulation, it is right.

Go clean your room.

Make that bed.

Ephesians 6,.

It says children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Honor your father and mother, that it may go well with you.

God ties your future to your family.

He ties your future to your family.

That's really the way it is and I want, when my daughters get married, that they say I want to marry somebody who's just like dad.

When my daughters get married, that they say I want to marry somebody who's just like dad, who honors mom, who puts Christ first, who is quick to turn off that television show.

If it's not honoring to walk in the ways that they should go right, that's just what it is.

If you want to make God smile, obey your parents.

Yeah, you know something that we haven't really talked about, but it's sort of floating in the air.

Cereal Like you know something that we haven't really talked about, but it's sort of floating in the air.

Cereal Like fruit loops, honeycombs, Like fruit loops is the condition of our hearts.

As we seek to make decisions, we are always wrestling with the sinful nature of our hearts and think about, especially in our culture.

That tells us to follow our hearts.

That tells us to like buck off authority, to never mind what religion, what anything else says, to just do what's in your heart.

And yet the scripture contrasts that with.

Our hearts are deceitful, desperately wicked.

I've always thought about that.

What are our hearts deceitful to?

They're not deceitful to God.

God knows all things.

Our hearts are deceitful to ourselves.

Our hearts are deceiving us about what God's will is in our lives, and so so much of decision-making comes down to us submitting our hearts to the will of the Lord, because our hearts are naturally rebellious to it.

That perpetual idol factory Yep, that's right.

Luther said that our hearts are naturally rebellious to it.

That perpetual idol factory Yep, that's right yeah.

Luther said that our hearts are perpetual idol factories.

We make idols.

Yeah, no.

And again, you know, the world has mantras and that's what I'm talking about in terms of how we're influenced by the world.

The world has mantras.

One of those mantras is follow your heart, right.

I mean, that's what grandma and grandpa are going to write in your graduation card.

It's the go-to.

Follow your heart.

Proverbs 28, 26,.

He who trusts his own heart is a fool.

Right, I mean Jeremiah 17, 9, you just quoted.

The heart is deceitful above all else, and desperately I mean think of the language used there desperately wicked.

Who can know it?

You know, and so we have to step back and say no, we can't listen to the world's mantras.

God wants you to be happy, because those are the things that fuel decisions.

What are you doing, ray?

I'm not annoying.

You think someone steals notes.

Which you do have you ever done that, mark, maybe once or twice what?

are you going to say Ray Ace Charms?

Are you going to interrupt me?

No, I'm going to Finally something that makes sense.

No, but you know, it's those mantras.

God wants you to be happy, no, no, god wants you to be holy, righteous.

Happiness is a byproduct of that, but that's not, you know, because that translates into well, hey, divorcing my husband or wife, or having premarital sex or, you know, stealing this that belongs to someone else, that makes me happy.

God wants me to be happy.

Therefore, I'll do that.

I mean, with divorce especially, that is the most often quoted thing.

God wants me to be happy.

I know he won't want me in this marriage because I'm not happy man.

It's destructive.

And then you have you only live once.

Yolo, good old YOLO, right, yeah, you do.

But what does that mean?

Because you only live once on this earth, you better invest in eternity.

That's where scripture comes in.

In decision making, set your minds on the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, not on the things of the earth, right?

Yeah, life, liberty and the pursuit of righteousness that's what the Christian should live for.

I've told it before, but it's worth telling again because of what we're talking about.

Remember that famous kid's story called Tootle.

What we're talking about, remember that famous kid's story called Tootle, who they didn't even know about it?

It's famous.

Everybody knows about Tootle.

In the 1840s.

No, no, no, no.

This is a story, a kid's story, and it's really dumb, but it's good.

There's little trains coming down a hill every day and looking across these fields and seeing all these little ponies and lambs leaping about and having a great time.

And the train says to itself the train speaks at this time, I wish I could be free.

I wish I could be free, I want to be like them.

And so one day he comes down the track, he gets his speed up and he jumps the tracks into the field and all he gets is disaster, because he wasn't designed to leap around in a field.

He was designed to find freedom within the confines of the tracks.

We were designed to find freedom within the confines of the tracks.

Wow.

And the lesson is that God created us to be yoked to him.

Jesus said my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and that's where we find true freedom.

Listen to the Amplified Bible.

I'll read it louder.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, dedicating all of yourselves set apart, as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational, logical, intelligent act of worship.

So when you realize that everything you have comes from God every breath, your brain, your thoughts, your eyebrows, your eyelashes, your heartbeat, everything is from God, from Him and to Him, and through Him are all things, then it's your reasonable service to love him with heart, mind, soul and strength.

Oh, that's so good, Ray.

I love the visual.

I've always thought about the visual of what Peter is getting at here, the phrase living sacrifice, Because if you were reading it back then you'd hear Romans 12.

He says it and Peter says it in 1 Peter as well.

Oh, good, Good for you.

He's quoting Paul.

Yeah, they're both wrong.

This was in the Book of Mormon.

What are you guys talking about?

Come on, man, I think he's right.

Get with it.

The thing about living sacrifice.

So sacrifice, like they would have understood a sacrifice as on an altar.

That's what?

A sacrifice on an altar to God to be burned, Sacrifices are dead.

But Paul and Peter, and maybe even the Book of Mormon, Paul and Peter are like no, you are a living sacrifice.

By sacrificing, by laying down your life, those who lose their life will find it.

By sacrificing your life to God, you will find true life.

You will be alive in Christ.

That's what he's getting at with that living sacrifice.

That's great I love this quote by R Kent Hughes.

Mark referenced him earlier.

God-honoring decisions come from God-saturated minds.

That good yeah, I mean.

Be like a sponge satur.

Saturate your mind, your heart, with the lord, and then you know, like a sponge bob.

Hey, mr square pants yeah, so so, yeah, now, okay, I want to, I want to pivot a little bit, mark you, you actually have cited this a lot and you do it, uh, and that is.

You know you've talked about how Ray one of the primary things Ray always does in prayer is ask for wisdom.

So James tells us, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach.

So, speak to the value of that in decision making.

Well, I don't remember who said it, but if you lack knowledge, go to school.

If you lack wisdom, get on your knees.

You know, reading the Proverbs and reading through the Word of God and sifting through it and allow it to sift through you.

Right, I went through the Word, the whole Bible, within a year.

Yeah, but did it go through you within that year?

You know there's the balance.

We need to really figure that out.

That wisdom is what we're seeking more than anything.

When you enter into a counseling appointment, lord, give me wisdom on what to do.

What is it that you want to do?

What is it that you want to speak of?

When I'm talking to someone, I often will say Lord, place your spirit between me and this person.

If you want to speak to me, or speak to them, or rebuke me, whatever, what do you want to do, lord?

I recognize that correction comes from the most unlikely of characters.

I really I just want to live for you, lord.

That's what I want.

That was Jonathan Edwards right?

The first resolution I will live for God.

Resolution number two even if nobody else does, I'm still going to do it.

Yeah.

Right.

So I want to live for God and I want to seek God and I want to know God and I want to know God more than anybody's ever known God this side of heaven.

His thoughts for me outnumber the sand of the sea, and I've heard that it was 10 to the 25th power, which is like 100 million, billion, billion, billion.

That's a big number.

And the thing about God because God is God, he doesn't need to have the same thoughts for me that he has towards you because he's God.

And of course, they are all focused around the attributes of God, god, those things that make up who God is.

Let him, who glories, glory in this.

That he knows me and that he understands me, and this is life eternal.

That they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

That I would know God better today than I did yesterday.

That I may know God better by the time we're done here than I did when we began.

He knows my thoughts from afar and he knows my far off began.

He knows my thoughts from afar and he knows my far-off thoughts.

He knows what I'm going through when nobody else knows what I'm going through, not even myself, when everything just kind of seems confusing.

So may we be those people who live for God and just surround ourselves with people who want to do the same.

Amen, amen.

And you know it's the wisdom of the Lord, because James talks about that.

The wisdom from above is first pure, then gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Pure, peaceable, willing to yield.

You know, that's one of my favorite terms in the word, like that willingness to just pause yield, Because oftentimes, because we're self-willed, we're self-driven and so we just go forward like a bulldozer, just wanting our way.

But when we just yield and I'm guilty of this in times of just frustration or wanting to get something done or settle something, but just to pause, to hear others out, to listen, to ask questions, because that'll spare us a lot of heartache.

You know, and practically you can tell if you're willing to yield when you're in a conversation, a confrontational conversation, and you're only interested in speaking while the other person is speaking.

If you cut off the last part of their sentence, then you know you're not willing to yield, right, and the greatest thing to do is, when they say something, to reiterate back to them.

So what you're saying is this is that correct?

Yeah, you know, did I hear you correctly?

All right, well then, here's my response to that, and I want to get your thoughts.

I love what you guys are saying.

All of this comes back to wisdom, and I'm going to use myself as an example.

Right right.

Kind of embarrassing actually as a negative example, Speaking of lacking wisdom, did you know that I was in my 20s when I thought Albert.

Einstein wasn't a real person.

Stop, I thought he was a theoretical physicist.

Give it a moment.

Yes, I got it.

Yeah, let's yield and try to understand that one.

Yeah, that's good.

It wasn't good, actually, that was pretty good.

That was good.

Hilarious.

I like the owl one better.

Yeah, the owl one.

That was a good one.

Tell our friends.

The owl one Oscar.

Oh, there's someone here possessed by an owl who I stepped up to the plate.

Thank you, Ray.

None of them fell for it Not afraid to speak.

This show is sponsored by NyQuil.

Oh man, such good stuff.

Martin Lloyd Jones said this Joins.

Joins, joins.

Faith is a refusal to panic.

Who dropped that phone their.

Who dropped that phone in our studio.

That was a phone drop.

Faith is a refusal to panic.

Wait on the lord.

He always guides the believer who has surrendered.

I think at the end of the day, guys, this is really the whole sum of the matter.

It's are we surrendered to the Lord?

If that is our ambition, if that's our passion, it's to yield to Him, to surrender to Him, to be honest with Him, right, I mean?

Look Jesus in Gethsemane when it dealt with a difficult situation, when he was sweating, as it were, great drops of blood, where he was sorrowful unto death.

It says he cried out to the Father God, is there any way this cup can pass from me Three times right?

The second person, the triune Godhead, the living Son of God who spoke the worlds into existence.

He's now in the garden and he, as a human at that time, was crying out to the Father is there any way this can be removed that this won't have to happen.

But then he reverted to at the end of that yet not my will, but yours be done.

That's surrender.

That's the epitome of surrender.

It's not that we don't have desires and we don't wish something was different than maybe it seems like it's going to be, but it's the wisdom to understand.

God knows better than I'll ever know.

He loves me more than anyone can ever love me, cares more about me than I care for my own soul, and his way is better than my way, even if it's not the way that I want.

And so, at the end of the day, it's that total surrender, mark, I love it.

You've always talked about how, if our arms are full of other things, we can't fully embrace something else.

We've got to drop everything and, in that vein, fully then be able to embrace the Lord.

It's a life that says God, even though you slay me, I'm still going to serve you.

It's like Shadrach, meshach and Abednego right.

Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us.

They trusted in the power of God, but even if he doesn't, we still won't bow.

They trusted in the providence of God.

So they didn't have a word that we're going to.

Yeah, they were just trusting him.

no, matter what they're letting him know.

And why is that?

They trusted in the power of God and the providence of God?

Because they knew the person of God, our God, whom we serve.

They served him, and so they were able to be surrendered.

And did they want to burn Duh?

Of course not, but if God wills this, and this happens, he must have a greater purpose.

We can't grasp or comprehend, and so we still won't do it, because we're loyal to him.

It's so fascinating because GK Beale connects living sacrifice to that story.

They're on an altar to be sacrificed and they walk away alive, amen.

Speaking of that my conscience is condemning me.

I shouldn't have corrected you.

I should have let it go.

So please forgive me on you.

That's pride right there, because you felt you look bad.

Now you want to look better whatever ray whatever don't do that.

Salute in here, okay and, and let me just say, it's not on camera there's a screenshot for you okay, so um, but let me just say down a final note.

I love Daniel, you know how.

After he it says after he knew that the decree was signed that if anyone prayed to anyone else besides the king for 30 days they'd be thrown to the line.

After he knew it says he went up to his room, opened his doors, faced Jerusalem and, as was his custom, prayed with.

It says with thanksgiving.

I think he would have flung open the doors, but do you?

know what I'm saying.

That's surrender to the Lord.

Did Daniel have to?

Well, oh, but I might die.

Should I Lord?

What decision do I make?

Do I pray to you or not?

No, Remember, as you referenced Mark, we only disobey authority when we're forbidden to do something God commands, or commanded to do something God forbids.

This wasn't something he had to seek wisdom on.

Or what should I do or no?

I cry out to God, no matter what, that's surrender.

You can apply that to past mistakes too.

I love when Mark talks about it, like I was having a conversation with my wife and she was thinking about the past mistakes that she's made and I was like, man, you just need to embrace those.

And that's when she gave me a hug.

That one worked.

Oscar, good one.

All right, friends, there you have it.

I know you're wondering should we have made the decision to listen today?

It's too late, you can't take that back.

You didn't pray about it, did you?

Don't forget, friends, the Ten Commandments scroll pen, the Living Waters mug, the Evidence Study Bible, living Waters TV, all at livingwaterscom.

Don't forget the podcast YouTube channel and if you have comments, thoughts, criticisms for Mark, oscar and Ray podcast at livingwaters.

What in the world?

are you doing, Mark?

He tied a knot in my jacket Unbelievable Come.

Thank you for joining us friends.

We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters Podcast, where everyone in this room has no idea what they're doing, what you're doing, true.