Thank you. Yes, I thank God for Him growing and maturing me. You know, we all have that opportunity to grow and mature in Christ, and that's ultimately what He wants, right? God sees us and He forms us in our mother's womb, and He creates us and He puts all these things inside of us and He sees our finish line, He sees the end. And that's for me is like, hey God, I want to be who you created me to be. Make me into the man that you've called me to be. I, you know, I surrender my life. I thank God for Pastor Barb and Pastor Brent, and I thank God for a place where we can grow and mature, and the word is rich, and the worship is alive, and our faith is alive. Because in this atmosphere, that's where you begin to change. When you begin to see God and you begin to have a heart after God, and you say, God, as Pastor Barb said today, you know, surrender to Him as we surrender our lives, as we surrender our will to His will, bit by bit and piece by piece, and day by day, and moment by moment, and year by year. The months go by, the days go by, the years go by, and we begin to change. We begin to transform from glory to glory into something that we look back and say, wow, look what the Lord has done. Hey, look what God has done in my life. I used to be this way, and now I'm like this. And over the years, God has spoken and He continues to speak. And I hope that He's speaking to you. And He continues to speak. And my prayer is that our hearts would not be so hard that we wouldn't hear His voice. You know, that we wouldn't hear His leading and His still small voice. And I pray that our relationship with Christ grows and grows and grows deeper and deeper, and we become stronger and stronger. And we just keep pursuing God. And that's a part of my message today. Rev kind of talked about a little bit of what I wanted to say last week. He kind of was, I hope, when I was sitting there and he was talking a little bit, I'm like, don't steal my thunder. Don't steal my thunder, Rev. So we're gonna recap a little bit of what he kind of said. And uh he was talking about Jacob and Esau a little bit, right? And uh that's the story I wanted to talk to you today about Jacob and Esau. And we see in that story about a choice that one made, a decision that Esau made that changed the course of his life forever. And we've already heard today that, you know, uh Pastor Barb saying about this freedom and about freedom in this place. And you may have a choice today as you hear the word of God spoken over you, you will have a choice, a decision to make that could change and alter your course forever. Amen. That's what the word of God is supposed to do. It's sharp, it's like a sword, and it cuts and it pierces to our hearts. And if we're open and if we're yielded to the word of God, it is supposed to transform us, supposed to change us, it's supposed to root things out from our heart and supposed to cleanse us from the inside out. And that opportunity is here this morning. Amen. Father, we just pray over this sanctuary, over your people. I pray over your word. God, that as it exits my mouth, it it goes into people's hearts and minds, Lord. Your word does what it's supposed to do. It is heavy, it is true, it is alive, it is sharp, and it pierces our hearts. And so, Father, I just pray for hearts and minds today to be open to your word. God, speak to us the message that you have today. We surrender, we yield, Holy Spirit, come, have your way, have your way in me and through me in Jesus' name. Jesus' name. Come and have your way. So, choices and decisions. We all have choices to make, and I Googled this, some little facts for you to jot down. A human adult, okay? Some of you might not be adults, some of you may be 65-year-old children, you know, middle-aged. I'm still young, but I consider myself an adult, but I still young. What do you consider young? You know, the Bible says we're supposed to live to 120 years. Woo! I see Shirley LeRock down here jumping and on fire and dancing at 92, 91, something like that, man. Praise the Lord. So we make decisions every day, and this is what it says 33 to 35,000 decisions a day an adult can make. So there's micro decisions, and these decisions, these little micro decisions, it's like a 20 to 30,000 a day, and they're automatic subconscious choices, choices. Uh, it's like our sensory filtering, our senses, our hear, our smell, our taste, our breathing, our sniffling, Pastor Brent. Blinking, you know, physical adjustments, all these little crooks and crannies, these many decisions that we're making. We don't even think about it. 20 to 30,000. And then we have operational decisions. And it says there's about a thousand to three thousand semi-conscious decisions, you know, what to wear. What to wear, our words that we speak, our everyday habits, our movements, our walking, our choices like that. And then it says we have conscious decisions. There's about 50 to 200, and they're intentional choices requiring mental effort. Like what to eat, you know, food, what to do, how to respond to somebody, how to respond to the word today, how to respond in worship today. Uh, you know, and uh, you know, these choices, how we live our daily lives. We have to think, you know, and put a thought into some of it. And then it says we have high impact decisions every day. Zero to five. So some days you might not have these major decisions, but zero to five. And they're uh choices that require deep thought, deep meditation. And uh I know I've had a few of those decisions, and um they've changed the course of my life for good, for bad, whatever it is. And so we choose how we're going to live our lives, and God has given us a free will, a free choice. You know, he's not down here dragging us to church with a collar on our neck and saying, get to church, young man. You know, we have a free choice. We have a free will, and we made a decision to come to church today. And like Pastor Barb says, we we have a choice to lift our hands, to worship, to open up our mouths, to sing, to dance, or we decide not to. Plain and simple. To hold on to the seat, to be silent, to not give God our everything, to not surrender, to be silent, you know, to basically hold on to our worship, to hold on to our will, to not let God move in our lives, and that's ultimately what we're doing. And these decisions they impact our lives, whether we know it or not. It impacts our future. My prayers from yesterday and last week, and my worship today affects my future. It affects my future. And if I decide to stay silent and miserable and disappointed because of my problems, because of the worries of life, and I'm not gonna worship, I'm not gonna do that. You don't know what I've gone through. I'm tired because of all these decisions I've had to make. You know? No wonder we come home from work exhausted. We've made decisions we don't even know about. But uh each choice reflects who we are or who we will become. I love how Pastor Brent kind of set this standard that this church is gonna be a church of worshiping warriors. You know, when you think of worshiping warriors, I talked to my son the other day, I said, Wow, you prayed a good prayer tonight. I said, You are a prayer warrior. And he said, What does that mean, dad? It sounds cool. I said, Yeah. I said, we pray, we fight, we put on the armor of God, just like a warrior who battles the flesh, but we are battling in the spirit. You're a prayer warrior. We're chopping down things, you know, in the spirit. We're speaking, we're worshiping, we're making waves in the spirit. And so some people don't understand. Maybe what a worshiping warrior is, what a prayer warrior is. They don't see the value and the importance of it, but it's going to affect your life. It's going to affect someone else's life. And the reality is, uh, yeah, that we have choices to make. What are we gonna do? Do we feel like doing it, worshiping or praying sometimes? No, we don't feel like it sometimes. Because of all the decisions and the choices that we have to make. But when we decide, hey, this is my, you know, like this is my, this is who I am, whether I feel like it or not, you know, God sees that and he honors it and always has always given me strength, has always given me life when I do that. And so I called this message temporal or eternal. And Rev mentioned the story last week about Jacob and Esau selling his birthright. What a decision he made. What a decision. So we're gonna look into it a little bit. Everybody know the story, Esau, Jacob, right? They were born twins, and uh Rebecca, Rebecca, my lovely wife Rebecca, right? I was reading these all these stories talking about uh, anyways, it doesn't matter, but let's stick to the program here. So uh Rebecca goes to the Lord and says, Hey, what's this quirling inside of my stomach? And God spoke to her and said, You're gonna have twins. You're gonna have two boys, and they are fighting in their stomach, and they will continue to fight. They will turn into two great nations. But your younger, your older will serve the younger, right? That's what he said. So she knew the secret, she knew the promise, she knew what God was saying to him. So sure enough, the boys come out, and here's Jacob grasping at Esau's heel, right? And so it's just a picture of this scrambling, this fighting, this quarrelsome stuff that's going on. And then it says in verse 27, as the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home. I love wild game too. I like shooting deer and moose and elk and uh, but we shouldn't pick sides, right? Shouldn't pick sides because one boy is a hunter and one boy is more timid and quiet. Uh just saying, we shouldn't pick sides. So Isaac loved Esau, yes, but Rebecca loved Jacob. Huh. Anyways, family, yeah. Family. We're gonna talk a little bit about family here. So um one day, says, one day. Can you say one day? One day, when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. All those hunting decisions he had to make, right? Where's the wind going? Where are the deer? Where are we gonna go? How are we gonna do this? All these decisions to make. He comes home exhausted and hungry. You know, when your wife is exhausted and hungry, watch out. You know, I'm just sorry, honey, but it's time to take a nap. I'm sorry for what I did when I was hangry. Hey, how many are how many of you get hangry out there? Anybody? So Esau said to Jacob, I am starved. Give me some of that stew. All right, Jacob replied, betrayed me your rights as the firstborn son. Look, I'm dying of starvation, said Esau. What good is my birthright to me now? But Jacob said, First, you must swear that your birthright is mine. So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling his rights as the firstborn son to his brother Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread, lentil stew. Esau ate the meal. Look at this. Esau ate the meal, got up, and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn son. I love that. Because he came home hungry, he came home exhausted, he was tempted, I'm exhausted, I'm hungry. Give me some of that stew. And Jacob's like, he's a liar and a deceiver, right? We know the story. Says, yeah, I'll give you some if you give me your birthright. And uh, so they they scramble here, and he says, Yeah, what good is it to me? Just give me some. And he he he ate it, he moved on, and it was over. His birthright was gone in an instant. It says, one day, one afternoon, one meal, one piece of bread, one bowl of chili, one moment, and he decided to change the course of his life in that one moment. A temporary fix for an eternal price. You know, he gave up his birthright. And what, you know, what he gave up as his birthright was a double portion, okay? Back in the day, it was a double portion of the inheritance. So if there's three sons or if there's two sons, a double portion to the firstborn, then single portions to the rest of them, you know? So if there's three, double portion for the firstborn, quarter and quarter for the other two. And so it wasn't just wealth, but it was the resources to lead the family. And that's the number two point is that he gave up his birthright as the leader of the clan, of the leader of the family. God had promised to Abraham and to Isaac. He said, I will make you a great nation, and all people will be blessed through you. The promise is passed on from Abraham to Isaac, and supposed to be Esau. Supposed to be, but he gave up his birthright, and now Jacob. We hear of it, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right? And so the promise and the birthright meant becoming the heir of God's covenant. It meant the promised land, it meant God's covenant relationship, it meant the blessings to future generations, and it ultimately meant and led to the family line to which Jesus, our Messiah, came. And Esau treated it like nothing. He despised it, it says. This is what God said to us. Do you believe it or not? We're gonna get a promised land because God promised us. And God promised me that, you know, the favor of God, He promised a blessing over me, and you get to carry this line. And Esau probably heard this preaching over and over and over. And he says, What good is it to me? I don't want anything to do with it. Rejected it, despised it. He showed that he had no true reverence for the divine destiny that God had placed on his family line. And if you look out in the world today, you will see that there are people who have no regard for God. Where is this nation gone? Where is our moral compass? We grew up with morals, you know, raised up in church, a generation, old generation, Bibles in our school, the prayer in our school. Where has our nation gone? Our moral compass. It's okay, you know. Uh in this day and age, it happened once in a while where people would sell their birthrights. They would sell it. And it was, it was not uh, it was not common, but it was, it happened. And so people settled, and and and today we see like, you know, no regard for God at all. No regard for the things of God. No regard, yeah. How you know it's it's amazing. I don't think anybody in this world, I maybe I'm wrong, has never heard about Jesus, has never heard about church, has never heard about the Bible, the word of God, and uh, you know, especially in our country, you know. But if it is being lost, it is being lost, and because society, and mostly, since I'm preaching to the church, mostly the church has said, you know, as long as I have Jesus, I'm okay. As long as I have the Lord, I'm okay. Right? We come to church and say, I'm okay, I'm good, I live my little Christian life in my corner. I don't want to raise up any alarms or tell anybody because, you know, I'm just okay with God over here. But God has told us to live a life that reflects his glory for all the world to see. He's told us to be a light shining in a dark and perverse world. And so we have to let our faith rise up and not treat God's promises, not treat his son like worthless, like useless, like uh a casual thing. And that's what Esau did by casually selling it off for a meal, walking away with no second thought. I think that this was a decision that he had premeditated over and over again. One of those zero to five choices, and one day he compromised and he just said, I'll let it all go. And God saw the oath that he made and he kept that oath. Because as you know, the story goes when uh Isaac was getting older, right? He was blind, and it was time for him to pass on his blessing. What happened was he called in Esau, and I don't I don't think Isaac knew about this transaction that inspired, but God knew, right? And so he allowed this to happen. He allowed this oath to stand because he went and he said to Esau, Go get me some wild game. I'm about to die, I'm about to pass on my blessing to you. Go out into the field and hunt me and make me a meal, come and I'm gonna bless you. And so Rebecca overheard it, told Jacob, and what happened was Jacob, she schemed up and they schemed up this plan to go out, get some goats, slaughter the goats. I'm gonna make a meal, I'm gonna give it to your father. And he says, What do I do? You know, how I'm not gonna be like, I'm not hairy like him, and I don't smell like him. And she says, He can't even see, anyways. Just just put some sheepskin on your on your forearms, you know, put put Esau's clothes on. Then you'll smell like him, you'll you'll feel like him, you'll smell like him, and and we'll bring him this favorite meal that he likes. And so the story goes, right? Uh Jacob comes in there, and Isaac says, Who's there? And he says, It's me, your son, Esau. He says, Doesn't sound like Esau, sounds like Jacob. Well, here's some food that I made you, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he goes and he says, Come a little closer. He feels his arms. Oh, wow, feels hairy. How much hair does a guy have to have, you know, for a sheep like how or a goat? Wowzers. He Esau must have been a hairy man. Holy. So And then he goes, Come a little closer. Come a little closer. Smells them. Smells like Esau. Wonder what that smelled like. No showers back in the day, no washing machine, or you know, tide scent, uh, you know, what does that smell like? Dirty clothes. We're gonna get there a little bit later, but uh yeah. So he says, ah, smells like Esau, tastes like Esau, he feels like Esau, all these different things. He says, Okay, I'm gonna bless you. And he blesses Jacob, thinking it's Esau, and God lets it stand. God lets it stand. And when Esau comes back, right, what does he say? He says, Oh, here I go, here I am. And then he's like, Well, who did I just bless? So, and then he screams and he's crying and he's shouting, right? And he's so mad and he's so livid. Uh, Esau is that he said, I he decided that he was gonna kill Jacob. He decided in his heart that he is gonna kill Jacob. And uh so Esau, so anyways, I don't know how far I want to go with the story, but Rebekah sends Jacob to go off to another land to go get married because she didn't like these women in this country. And you know what it says? That Esau had married two wives and then a third wife that that caused Isaac and Rebecca heartache. You know, you miss on you miss out on some of these things, but Esau he despised God, he despised the birthright, he despised the promises of God, and then he just had no regard. And he's like, ah, whatever, I'm gonna go marry whoever I want. You know, his his parents didn't matter to his parents, and so he went and married some uh foreign girls. And uh, no regard. And so, just to further the story of Esau, his family turned into, right? Because God said, your two nation, two sons are gonna turn into two nations, and they're gonna fight. And so Jacob, we know, turns into Israel, right? The children of Israel. And Esau's family line turns into Edom, the Edomites. And uh, you know, I learned this in Bible school this year, learning about the the old prophets, and uh, I put the plug in because Bible school, I mean, if you think you know the Word of God and you haven't studied, go to Bible school. Man, things just come alive. Things come alive to you, and uh so yeah, and especially I love Lorna's classes. Lorna is a great teacher, uh, she's got a lot of wisdom in there, a lot I love them all, but I I've taken a lot of Lorna's classes, and so I'm thankful for her. And uh, so she taught me some of this stuff. And it says that uh the Edomites, or however you want to pronounce them, they fought against their relatives, the Israelites. Hundreds of years later, after Jacob and Esau, uh in Numbers 20, it says that uh they were they left the land of Egypt. Moses was leaving the land and they were going for the promised land, and they come into the territory of the Edomites and they send messengers to the king and saying, Hey, we want to pass through this land. Our close relatives, friends, you know, we want to pass through this land. And they said, Not a chance. We're not letting you through here, you know. Oh, well, we just want to take the king's road. We won't get off any road. We're just gonna go through. We're gonna go through the promise and we're gonna go. And they said, nope, not a chance. He says, Okay, well, what if, you know, we go through your land and then we will pay you if we drink your water, we'll pay you. And they said, not a chance. They actually marched out with an army to force themselves on them and said they made the children of Israel go back. That's their family, right? See how this squabble is? They said, stay out. And then later again, it says, when the children of Israel were being exiled, and Babylon came to invade Jerusalem, instead of helping the children of Israel, their close relatives, they took advantage of their crisis. And they they blocked the children of Israel were escaping from the Babylons. And and and uh they escaped. And it says that the Edomites they would block the escape routes, and they plundered the city, and they celebrated the destruction of the temple. And I want to read from Obadiah, which this is what it says. This is what God says about that nation. In Obadiah, uh, it's one chapter. Maybe go study it a little bit. In verse 10, I believe. Yeah, in verse 10, this is what God says because of the violence you did to your close relatives in Israel, you will be filled with shame and destroyed forever. When they were invaded, you stood aloof, refusing to help them. Foreign invaders carried off their wealth, wealth, and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem. But you acted like no like you acted like one of Israel's enemies. You should not have gloated when they exiled your relatives to distant lands. You should not have rejoiced when the people of Judah suffered such misfortune. You should not have spoken arrogantly in that terrible time of trouble. You should not have plundered the land of Israel when they were suffering such calamity. You should not have gloated over their destruction when they were suffering such calamity. You should not have seized their wealth when they were suffering such calamity. You should not have stood at the crossroads, killing those who tried to escape. You should not have captured the survivors and handed them over in the terrible time of trouble. It says, the day is near when I, the Lord, will judge all godless nations. As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads. Just as you swallowed up my people on my holy mountain, so you and the surrounding nations will swallow the punishment I pour out on you. Yes, all you nations will drink and stagger and disappear from history. You know, I thought this was so amazing when I read this. Like, here's Esau and his lineage and his nation, and from him and from his decisions, and from his choices, and from his uh uh uh contempt of the Lord and his uh disregard of the things of God. This is who his nation is. When the children of Israel are in trouble, when the church is in trouble, they they mocked, they scorned, they were arrogant, they thought they were better, and they actually had a where their land was was a mountainous place, high up in the hills. And it says that they thought they were secure and they were safe and they had a fortified city. Nobody can touch us, we're way up here, and nobody can destroy us. That was their thought. And God said, I am going to destroy you from history. And what happened was God destroyed them from history. I'm not gonna give you a history lesson today, but he wiped out their whole nation, and none of them are here, none of them have gone on. But the children of Israel, even in their destruction, God said, He said that uh those who have been rescued will go up to Mount Zion in Jerusalem to rule over the mountains of Edom, and the Lord Himself will be king. And so I just thought that, you know, look at Esau and his arrogance and his pride, and it went into his whole nation. It went into his family line, and arrogance means treating others with contempt. And it and the Bible says, or the NLT says that when uh Esau ate his meal, he he treated the firstborn of the birthright with contempt. So see that arrogance, that that thing following through generation to generation to generation. And if we don't deal with some of the things that we have in our hearts, it'll be passed down from generation to generation. If we have ungodliness in our lives or an ungodly trait, no regard for God, guess what happens? We get wiped off the face of the earth with no legacy left, with no impact. And sometimes I feel like church people, because I'm talking to church people, that we can be proud, that we can be arrogant, overly proud, looking down on people, saying, I've got it all together. I go to church three times a week, I have a prayer life, I got a good wife, I got a good house, I got all everything, all my cats and dogs, all my things in line. And we look down at others saying, you know, get it together, buddy. Get it together. But we don't lend a helping hand. And you know, like they, these guys, they saw Israel in trouble. They saw Babylonians coming over, invading their city, taking them captive, ruining and and and and killing their kids and raping their wives and doing all these things. And their close relatives, the Edomites, they stood and laughed and they mocked and they thought, huh, serves you right. You remember what your great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather Jacob did to me? Serves you right. Serves you guys right, ha, you know. And lots of times, sometimes I think people hurt us, and we secretly despise in our own hearts. I hope God gets them. God, go get them, you know. Oh, and we see something, something harsh happening to somebody, ah, serves them right. They shouldn't have done that to me. You know, you sow what you reap. I understand that. But we as Christians are called to erase a multitude of sins. Right? I was like, get it here. Uh we can't allow that pride and that arrogance to slip into our lives. And the New Testament author in Hebrews, chapter 12, gives us this warning. It says, make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal. You know that afterward, when he wanted his father's blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance. And even though he begged with bitter tears, it was too late. You know, it doesn't say that, ah, he was hungry or he was unlucky, he was a misfortunate. You know, some people say that everything happens for a reason. And most times, everything happens for a reason is because of the decisions that you have previously made to get you into the position that you're in. Right? And so when we live godly lives and we make godly decisions, and we say, God, this word is a lamp unto my feet, and I will make my life according to your purpose, according to your will, according to your will, I probably won't get in a decision or I won't get into a mess because he promises that he'll be with me, that he'll look after me, that he'll take care of me, right? And so it says that Esau was godless and his actions proved it. His godlessness extended through his family and through his legacy to the point where they got wiped out of history. Treating holy things, the word of God, prayer, worship, acts of service, treating these things as nothing, as common, as ordinary, as everything everybody does. And what eternal promises have we traded away in exchange for temporary satisfaction? John 2, 15 to 17 says, Do not love this world nor the things it offers you. For when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving, only a craving of stew, a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. See, there's a pride too that the world offers. And we have to be careful that we don't fall into this pride of achievements, pride of accomplishments. Hey, look what the Lord has done to me, look at what the Lord has done to me. You know, it's good to say I have a testimony, but we can't treat it as a carrot over someone's head, thinking that we're so better, thinking that we're so mighty and awesome. Right? Because God didn't do that, Jesus didn't do that. It says, These are not from the Father, but are from this world, and this world is fading away along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever, and that is the key. Anyone who does what pleases God, this word, anything that does, you know, like I said, it takes a lifetime, a process of getting this word to changing our hearts, to melting before him, to letting us letting him form us and shape us, you know, really digging in to God. Hey, what do you want me to do? Not just here on Sunday and out the door, right? People are exchanging their purity for a moment of pleasure. They're changing their integrity for money and greed. They're exchanging prayer for entertainment, they're exchanging worship for comfort, obedience for convenience, and God's approval for the approval of men. And the enemy doesn't ask us to reject God straight up. He just invites us to settle for something that feeds our carnal nature rather than the eternal. And back to Hebrews 12 in verse 14 at the beginning, when it says, Don't be like Esau, don't be godless, it says in verse 14 in the NLT, it says, work. Can you say work? Work at living in peace with everyone. Huh. Let's not just read over that, but work at living in peace with everyone. And work. Can you say work a second time? Yeah, there you go. Work. Work at living a holy life. For those who are not holy will not see the Lord. And it says, look after each other so that no none of you fails to receive the grace of God. You're supposed to look after. We're supposed to look after one another. Not think, hey, hopefully they fail. Make me look better. We're supposed to look after everyone. If someone's down, pick them up. Encourage people, right? It says, uh, look after each other so that no one fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. Corrupting many, that bitter root, just like Esau had. Just in his family line, that bitterness, that root that corrupts so many, that destructs so many. So that word work, you know, what is our definition of work? My work and what I do, you know, I'm shoveling, I'm sweating, I'm putting out some work, you know. I don't do that anymore. I sit in an air-conditioned truck on the computer, and so my work is pretty easy, pretty laid back. So, so what is your definition of work? Some people sit in an office all day, and uh, you know, what is your definition of work? And uh the definition of work here is uh to intensely pursue or to eagerly follow or to run after something. So it means to run after God, to run after holiness, to run after peace with everyone. So if you have a problem with someone or something, someone did something, we don't run away from church, we don't leave the church, we run to pursue peace. We run to pursue peace. We run to live a holy life, we pursue a holy life, a holy living. We pursue people who are decide to walk away. Well, we pursue them, we help them, we try to help them. It's not something that we labor for, it's not a paycheck that we're earning, it's not through self-effort, it's not a time, it's not a job that you finish and you say, okay, I'm done that job. It is a lifelong journey, it is a lifelong pursuit of holiness, and it's like getting from one stage to the next, right? It's continuous, a lifelong process. Choices and decisions and thoughts and relationships uh with God's word and his character. So we have to protect what God has given to us. He has given us his spirit, he has given us salvation, he has given us his son, and we have to protect it. We have to protect it, we have to pursue it, we have to run after God, right? Build our faith. It sounds cliche, and I've said it before, but we have to purposely spend time with God, purposely spend time in prayer, in war in his word, in worship, in doing acts of service. And so we can't slip into spiritual laziness or allow that bitter root to uh ruin our faith. It says that that bitterness will corrupt many. And the problem with the bitterness is that you stopped you stopped growing. A bitter field, nothing will be planted, nothing will grow. And so when we have a bitter heart, when we have an arrogant heart, when we have a you know a contempt for the things, thinking we're we're better or anything else, our hearts become hard and we can't grow, and we can't change, and we stay stagnant, and we stay who we are. With no growth. And God wants us to change into the people that He's called us to become. Here one more scripture, Romans 13, verse 11 to 14. It says, This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is, that time is running out. It says, Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone, and the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes and put on the shining armor of right living. See, there's a there's a contrast here. Armor of right living, and there's dirty deeds, and the sinful nature, and our carnal nature is like putting on dirty clothes. You know, can you imagine Jacob putting on those dirty clothes? Esau's dirty clothes. That's what God says is like, you know, dirty deeds, the things that you hold in your heart, the bitterness, the grudge, the addiction, the anger, the unforgiveness, the impurity, the immoral things. It's like dirty clothes. He says, take them off. Take them off and put on the armor of right living. There's a right way to live, and there's a wrong way to live. Amen. And so there's urgency in this scripture, and it says, because we belong to the day, we must live innocent, decent lives for all to see. It says, Don't participate in darkness of wild parties and drunkenness or in sexual promiscuity. I think that's how you say that word, and immoral living, or in quarreling or jealousy. You know, I think. Think like how many of us are out wild parties, drunkenness? You know, maybe not at it, not maybe not a lot of us. You know, we've narrowed down our lives that we don't do that. But what about quarreling? You know, bickering back and forth, arguing and bickering, you know, maybe in our marriages, we're bickering back and forth, we're quarreling, we're fighting, or maybe with our siblings, or maybe with our aunts or uncles, or I don't know, you know how many family families are distorted and dysfunctional because of quarreling, fighting and arguing, and not letting things go, and we're standing tall and our pride is in the way, and we won't yield, or we won't ask for forgiveness, or we won't apologize, or we, you know what I'm saying? There's a lot of family arguments and fights because of this. What about jealousy, too? You know, we may not be in sexual promiscuity or drunkenness of wild parties, but what about jealousy? Seeing what our brothers and our sisters have, and you know, intently or thinking we want that, or what you know what I'm saying? Just comparing all these things. It says, instead of all that junk and garbage, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and don't let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires. So it tells me that you think, don't think about ways to indulge your evil desires. Again, choices and decisions. What are we thinking about? What are we thinking about? Is God on our mind? Is the word of God on our mind? Is what His will? Is that on our mind? Or is, hey, what we're gonna do, you know? What like what that person did to me, what they did to me, they deserve this. You know, what's on our mind? What are we thinking about? Clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's an urgency to this scripture. It says, time is running out. It says, wake up, wake up and check your hearts, throw it off. Take off these dirty clothes, take off these rags, remove these deeds, and get those dirty clothes off. Yeah. You know, you've been working all day. Working all day, sweating and grinding, B-O, stinky. I love, you know, sometimes I throw my clothes in the corner, I pick it up. Oh my gosh, what is going on in there? And that's what it's like. That's what God says. These dirty clothes, these filthy rags, get them off. And there is a stench, a stench to dark deeds. It is a stench to God. When you hold on to these clothes and you keep these clothes on, you say, I'm not getting rid of this bitterness, I'm not getting rid of this jealousy, I'm better, ah, whatever. My life is okay. I don't need to change, I don't need to get away. These people need to change. And there's a stench with that. And it's not a pleasing aroma to God. He says, take these clothes off and instead come to Jesus. Get in his presence, clothe yourself with Jesus. Ben, you guys can come up. It says that, you know, like I mentioned before, Jacob, he received his firstborn blessing. He got the double portion, and it's in him that the Messiah, Jesus, our Savior, came through the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the covenant promise all the way came down to him. He put on the goat's skin on his arm so that he was hairy like Esau. He made a meal that Isaac liked, and he put on Esau's clothes so that he smelled the same way Esau did. Who knows what he smelled like, like I said. But God honored the oath that Esau made to give away his birthright, and God blessed Jacob. And now we read of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not Abraham, Isaac, and Esau. And the blessing and the covenant and the promises. We sang about the promises this morning. Promises of hope, promises of healing, promises of salvation that God made to Abraham, and he passed down from generation to generation. And God sent his son, his one and only son. Get this God's firstborn son. Christ is called the firstborn over all creation. He's called the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. You see, Jesus possesses the rights as the firstborn son. And unlike Esau, Jesus never traded away his inheritance. He laid aside his glory, not because he despised it, but so that through his obedience of death on a cross, he could bring many sons and many daughters to share in his glory. Think about that. And because of our faith in Jesus, because we belong to Jesus, because we clothe ourselves with Jesus, we inherit the great and precious promises. Promises of forgiveness of sin. He promises to heal us of our brokenness, of our pain. He adopts us into his family and calls us his sons and his daughters. He gives us his Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us. We have access to the Father. We have a hope of a resurrection. We have hope of eternal life with God. And so much more. He is such a good God. When we clothe ourselves with Jesus, there's healing, there's forgiveness, there's hope, there is resurrection power. He sets the captives free. He sets the bondage free. He takes away bitterness. He takes away grudges. He takes away addictions. He takes away hurt. Esau despised his birthright. And I don't believe that anyone wakes up one morning intending to walk away from God. But it happens one compromise at a time. One sinful habit, one unforgiveness, one secret addiction, one relationship, one look at this, one look at that, one selfish ambition, one pursuit of the world after another. And little by little by little we trade our eternal blessings for temporary things. But today, God is calling us back to reshape and relign our lives to His. Lord, we just we come to you today, God, and we put on Christ. We take off those dirty clothes, the pride and arrogance and selfishness and ambition and anger and addiction and jealousy. We take off hurt and pain. We take it off, God. Cloth us with your Son. Not our will, God, but your will be done. Your plans, we surrender to your plans. We surrender to your will. God, not my will, but your will be done. Your will be done. I believe the Lord is showing. Why don't you just close your eyes for a minute? Allow the Lord to show you something that you need to change. I believe He's already been talking to you and ministering to you. God, you're the most important in our lives. We don't want to trade away our eternity for these things that we've held on to. God, take them away from us. We lay them at your feet, Jesus. We lay them at your feet. Maybe you're here and you've never decided to give your life to Christ, you've never surrendered to him and made him Lord of your life. Maybe one step at a time you've traded your salvation for the things of this world. It's time to come back to the Lord. Or it's time to draw closer to him. Let's just stand all over this place and let's pray this prayer together. Keep your eyes closed, and let's just look to the Lord. Let me lead you in a prayer. Lord Jesus. Today I lay my life before you. I surrender to your will. Forgive me for choosing the temporary things of this world. Instead of walking by your spirit, today I turn from my sin and I turn to you. And I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe you died for my sins, and that you rose again so that I could have new life. Wash me clean, make me new, fill me with your spirit, clothe me with your presence. Jesus' name. Lord, I just I believe the Lord wants to do a work. He wants to work in your life. He wants to remove things. And if any of this message spoke to you, we're gonna have people who can pray individually. If you if you want to come up and come forth, you know, and ask God to start melting your heart and changing you, surrendering. What is standing in the way of you becoming all that God has? Maybe it's pride, maybe it's arrogance, maybe it's anger, maybe it's unforgiveness, maybe it's that bitter root against somebody, maybe it's something, maybe it's nothing, and you just want prayer, you just want more of God. Prayer warriors, come on up. And if that's you, then come forward and we're gonna pray. We're gonna pray a blessing over you, the blessing and the promises over you, the promises of freedom, the promises of healing, the promises of hope, the promise of resurrection. We're gonna pray all those promises over you today. In Jesus' name.