Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the profound love of God and the importance of surrendering to His will, drawing parallels between the lives of Mary and Paul. He highlights that true greatness, especially for mothers, lies not in perfection but in being a servant of the Lord and responding to His word with obedience. The sermon encourages believers to seek God's guidance in their lives, recognizing that true fulfillment comes from living through Christ rather than relying on personal strength. Beach Jr. calls for a deeper understanding of our captivity to self and the need for God's grace to free us, ultimately leading to a life that reflects Christ's image.

Hallelujah. Thank you, Father, for your faithfulness. Thank you for your presence, Lord, here in our midst. Our hearts are so amazed at how you would visit us, Lord, and we know that there's nothing that motivates you other than your pure love for us. Lord, we're amazed at your love. We're humbled by your love. And Lord, as we move on in this Christian walk, Lord, we feel ashamed because we see the great love that you have for us, and then you command us to have the same kind of love for you and for one another. And oh, Lord, how we fall so short, so short. And Lord, we struggle and try so hard and always fail because we constantly try rather than trust. We struggle rather than enter into the rest of faith and recognize that you are our life. Christ is the secret of the Christian life, not the strength of our religious commitment or the faithfulness of our Bible reading or our devotion to attend church. Christ, you are the secret, the mystery. And today in your presence, Father, we reaffirm because of the Holy Spirit's revelation that Christ is what it's all about. We look to you, Father, now to speak through your Word to our hearts that Christ and all of his splendor and all of his glory and all of his perfections might more and more and more and more fill us. In so much that we can say together with Paul, it is no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. Oh, Father, grant it, we pray, for the sake of your lovely Son. Amen and amen. Beloved, today in the presence of the Lord we are, and how he longs, how he longs to draw us ever so close to himself. We're looking to the Lord today to continue to minister to us through his Word and touch the very depths of our heart. Go into the very resources of our being and there disperse the wonders of his grace and the power of his presence, the healing of his Word, in order that he might secure more and more and more the likeness and image of his Son, Jesus Christ, in our life. Because that's really what it's all about. Jesus gaining more and more preeminence in our life. Now, I'd like to make a few comments. The first being, I'd like to simply make a statement from God's Word, and in this statement I want to accomplish two things. I want to give all moms honor this morning, but secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I want to show you moms how to be an exceptional, great mom. How many want to be an exceptional, great mom? You might not be a mom now, but someday you will be if you get married and have children. Please, I pray, Father, that you will take the words that are written and that you would write them upon the hearts of every mother, every mom that will be, and that you would help them to aspire. You would help them to desire the reality of this one statement from your Word, that they might be great moms. We pray in Jesus' name. To be a great mom is not to be a perfect mom. To be a great mom is not to be a super mom. To be a great mom is not to be a flawless, always spiritual mom, but to be a great mom. Luke 1. Luke 1, beginning in verse number 26, And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, or greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and casted in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. Husbands, fathers, do you want your wife to be a great mom? Then I encourage you to stand alongside your wife and pray for her, that what we're about to read in the Scripture here will be true in her life. And the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. And he shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. And then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? The angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age. And this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. Now listen moms, this next verse will show you greatness in the eyes of God. If you have ever desired, moms, to be anything, desire this, because this will enable you to succeed at anything and all the responsibilities that you have as moms. And failure to succeed, failure to obtain this which we're about to read, will inevitably result in failure in every department of life. Now listen carefully. God had just spoken through the angel Gabriel. And Mary said, listen carefully, a great mom is a mom who responds to what God has said. But she's very careful how she responds. And Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord. The handmaid of who? The Lord. What did Mary see herself as? A servant of who? The Lord. Husbands, do you want to help your wife to be great in the eyes of God? Remind her she's the Lord's servant. The Lord's servant. Not yours, not your kids. She's the Lord's servant. Now listen to what she said. Here's a great mom. Be it unto me according to thy word. Do you see here what makes a great mom? God speaks, and God has spoken, and mom says, I am your servant, Lord. Be it unto me according to your word. Now do you know that those one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight words, do you know what those eight words did to Mary? Listen. They affected the rest of her life with pain, suffering, misunderstanding. And ultimately, a sword was pierced right into her heart spiritually. Why? Because she was a great mom, and great moms, because of the grace of God say, be it unto me according to your word. That one quality of greatness in Mary resulted in her entire life bearing the reproach of having fallen into fornication. Did you know that? Come on. When Mary said, God, whatever you say to me, do it, it resulted in having to bear a reproach the rest of her life. Oh, right, Mary. Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit? Fat chance. Who was it, Mary? Come on, tell us. Who was it? Huh? Was it someone in the carpenter shop? You know, Joseph was a carpenter. Was it Joseph's best friend? Come on. Who was it, Mary? You don't have to make up a story like that. We'll forgive you. Just tell us the truth. Tell us the truth, Mary. Come on. Conceived of the Holy Spirit? Oh, the depths to which a woman will go, Mary, when she's trying to cover her sin all her life. She bore the pain of the cost that came with being a great mom. Let me tell you something. Great moms are not moms who have great careers, although a mom might have a great career. Great moms are not moms who have perfect homes. That's not a great mom. The culture will press you and push you into a mold that defines greatness in a way that God does not define it. I believe God wants to honor our moms this morning for these few moments, but I believe in honoring our moms, the Holy Spirit would want to remind every mom here, greatness is single, not many. The super mom, you know what the super mom thinks greatness is? Having all the bases covered at all the time perfectly. You can't live up to that role. You'll fail. You'll faint. There's no mom here with an S on her back or on her stomach or on her chest. Not only did this quality of greatness in Mary result in her bearing reproach, but listen to what happened with Jesus. John 8, verse number 41. Are you ready for this? What is a great mom? Listen to this. Jesus was talking to the Pharisees now. Listen to what he said. In verse 41, Jesus was talking to them saying if they were Abraham's children, they would do the works of Abraham, but because they seek to kill Jesus, Jesus says you're not Abraham's children because Abraham wouldn't do this. Listen to what their response was when Jesus started talking about children. Huh? Children. Oh, can you? I hope to God that he'll help us to feel this. This is not a doctrine. This is a doctrine, but always so further than that. Listen. Listen. This is the greatness of a mom right now, and they said to him, we were not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Do you know what they were saying to Jesus? We weren't born of fornication like you were, and what did Jesus do? I wasn't born of fornication. He didn't defend himself. You see what a great mom is? A great mom is someone who says, God, whatever you say to me, so be it. And look at the effects, the consequences it has. Jesus walked and constantly bore the pain and reproach of being called a child of fornication. Why? And so Jesus, we won't get into this, Jesus decided, well, if you want to talk about dads, I'll tell you who yours is. And he proceeded to tell them that they were of their father, the devil. Touche. I suggest you don't take on Jesus. There's a very, very good likelihood that you will lose. But he wasn't fighting after the flesh. He was speaking the words that father through him spoke. I think that hurt father. I think that hurt his father. And so father decided that he would tell them the truth about their birth, since they didn't know the truth about his son's birth. And so, beloved moms, I want to leave you with those words this morning. Aspire greatness. Don't do it by supposing that greatness is equal to being perfect or having everything look so wonderful and never having a problem. That's not greatness. Greatness is defined by God, by one thing, a heart. Every day before you begin your day, moms, before you begin your day, father, I am your servant. Be it unto me today according to your word. And if you follow God's word, you will not look always the way you look, the way people want you to look. Listen, you will not meet the expectations of everybody. You're going to disappoint people if you follow God's word, but you'll be a great mom and blessed. Before we go on, let's bow our hearts and let's pray for a special blessing upon our moms this morning. I hope and pray that you can be thankful to God for your mom. Now, I don't know who your mom is. She may have failed you. She may have hurt you. But I hope today in these few moments, before we move on, I pray God will give you a place of repentance where you can ask God to forgive you for holding a grudge against your mom for failing you. She may have hurt you. She may not have always been there for you. Forgive her and honor her today. Father, I pray for every mom here, the very special call that you have on moms, one of, if not the most important callings that the world will ever witness. I pray you'll encourage moms today. I pray you'll draw close to moms today and love on them only the way that you can. I pray that you will free moms today from what the world and the culture defines defines as a good mom. Free them, Lord. Free their heart. Free their heart from trying to please everyone. And I pray in this moment that you would draw close to them and speak into their spirit and say one thing is necessary. One thing. Be it unto me according to thy word, O God. I pray, Lord, that every mom here will be enabled by the grace of God to find her greatest comfort in your presence, her greatest encouragement from your word, her greatest love from your voice. I pray every mom here, Lord, will learn the secret of motherhood is not found in self-strength but in the strength that comes through the indwelling power and presence of Jesus Christ. May every mom here know the joy of hearing your voice every day. The many decisions that need to be made, O God, we pray for special wisdom on mom, that she would be led by you, governed by you, directed by you, that she would guard her heart, that it might be kept in a place of hearing your word. Do this, Lord, I pray for Jesus' sake. Amen and amen. Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. The captivity of the righteous is what we have been talking about over these past several weeks. I'd like to read some scriptures in order for us to see the inner quality that God is looking to produce in our hearts. And beloved, as the Lord moved in our midst this morning and as we sensed his presence and as our hearts cried out to him, beneath all that, deeper than that, deeper than that, there was his longing. You can be very happy about being in someone's presence. You might end up one day in the presence of a very important dignitary and that might provoke joy, it might provoke a sense of happiness, it might result in you telling your friends, guess who I was able to meet. But being in the presence of a dignitary or an important person does not in any way, shape or form mean that you have touched their heart, or you know their heart. They might carry an aura about them, they might just bring a sense of awe to your heart. And this is an earthly illustration to help us understand the heavenly truth. But you might not know what's in their heart at all. And likewise, today, so often, because the Lord loves us so much and because he is so kind and gracious, if we just give him a chance, if we learn, as one author said, how to host the presence of God, how to be a host, you know, how to make God feel welcome in your house. You invite guests over to your home and you learn how to be a host. You make them feel at home, you ask them to come in, you give them the nice seat, you tell them the refrigerator is open, you may go in and you learn over time as you deal in the earthly realm how to be a good host. Well, we learn how to host God's presence. We learn the things that make him happy, that attract him. And he comes into our midst and we sense his presence. But all too often when the Lord comes into the midst of his people, we sense his presence. Many different emotions will be stirred, such as an earthly thing with you coming into the presence of an earthly dignitary, President Bush or President Reagan or whoever, one of your favorite presidents, or someone you really honor, someone you might esteem. Maybe Timothy here, he might not be too impressed with seeing the president, but maybe one of those super football stars. I'm quite sure that he would be tempted, I don't know to what extent, but he would be tempted if he found out that the one football star that he esteemed most highly was going to be in Hackettstown. I think he would most likely ask his father if it was at all possible that he might be able to go and check it out. So when the Lord comes, we're excited, and that's good. But we must, as God's people, as the body of Christ, we must learn that the Lord comes into our midst not just to manifest his presence and to make us sense his presence, but he comes into our midst in order to communicate, share his heart with our heart. He wants us to know what he longs for. He's our father. I mean, think about it. You long to communicate with the one you love the most, don't you? I remember a few times when privileged to travel and I was engaging in fellowship and there was so much of the Lord's glory in his presence, I became grieved because I wished everybody I knew could be there to share in what was happening. And it almost felt like I was happy but I was sad because I so deeply wanted to communicate with those that I love and they could communicate with me and we can talk about what the Lord is doing. That's the Lord's heart this morning. He wants to communicate. And here's what he wants to communicate to us. Here's what he wants us to see as the passion of his heart. It was mirrored, it was demonstrated through one of his most precious servants, Paul. Tradition tells us, there's nothing in the Scriptures, but tradition tells us that he was bow-legged, short, and bald. Not really a man's man, huh? He wasn't a child in Heston. Short, bow-legged, and bald. But he was a great man because he met the man in glory. Now listen to what happened to him. Acts chapter 20, beginning in verse number 17. This is Paul's final words to the elders that were in the church at Ephesus. Verse 18, And when they were come to him, he said to them, Ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears and temptations, which befall me by the lying in weight of the Jews. Now by the way, not only does that quality we talked about regarding Mary and saying, Father, I am your servant and whatever you say, do it. Not only does that define a great mom, it happens to define greatness for all Christians. That's a quality that all Christians should aspire after. Because it's that very quality that put Paul in this state where he talks about many tears and temptations, and many things came upon him because of the Jews, and he was persecuted, and he was troubled, and he was beaten. Why did all that happen to Paul? Because there was a time in Paul's life when the Lord Jesus appeared to him, and what is it that Paul said to him? Do you remember Acts chapter 9? We're going to go back then to Acts chapter 20. But listen, we're building a foundation regarding the captivity of the righteous, the thing that holds us captive. The thing that holds us captive. Acts chapter 9, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priests, and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, that is, if he found any Christians, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near to Damascus, and suddenly there shined around about him a light from heaven. And he fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick up against the pricks. And he trembled and astonished, said what? Oh, greatness. What did he say? What will thou have me do? What will thou have me do? A great heart is a heart that cries out to God. What will you have me do? It's the absence of this quality. What will you have me do that is the root of our captivity? Because if we're not crying out, Lord, what will you have me do? Then what is it, in fact, that we are doing? Our own thing. And so it was Paul's testimony. What will you have me to do? That hurled him into the position where he could say to the Ephesian elders, You know what manner of man I was in your midst. You know the things that came upon me. 2 Corinthians 11. What will you have me to do? Here's the consequence, beloved, oh God, have mercy. Here's the consequence of a man who became great by humbling himself and saying, what will you have me to do? I challenge you, brothers and sisters, this morning, in the presence of God, I challenge you, I implore you, I beg you, through the love of Jesus Christ, dare to say to God today and tonight and tomorrow and tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night, dare to say to God, Lord, what will you have me to do? Mary said it. Paul said it. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. Now here's the result of saying, Lord, what will you have me to do? Here's the result of saying, I am not going to order my own life. Parents, listen, listen. The greatest deposit that you can put into the life of your children is the unquestionable undeniable reality that they are responsible to God not to do what the world thinks they should do, not to do what they think they should do, not even to do what you think they should do, but you are to teach your children to come to God when they grow up and get on their knees and pray and say, Lord, what will thou have me to do? What will you have me to do? And as we get into this message more, we'll see that as parents, God must touch our kids with his hand and to take them out of our hands so we can give them to him just like Hannah gave Samuel to the Lord. See, it's all about him. A great mom. Whatever you say, perform it. A great Paul. What shall I do for you? What do you want, Lord? A great parent. Son, daughter, pray to God. What do you want me to do? Verse 23, I am more in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one. Three times was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day have I been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness, in painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger, in thirst. I thought the Bible says my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. How can a man who wrote to the beloved Philippians and said, I guarantee you, Philippians, that every need that you have will be supplied, and yet here he was hungry and thirsty. Say, Lord, I give up the reins of my life. I give up the government of my life. I give up the rights to choose. There's a cost. You might be led to the place where you'll have to encourage people. God will provide your needs when you are hungry and thirsty and without any certain dwelling place. There's a cost. There's a cost. He said it himself. That is what the Lord would say to us. If we pressed through his presence and listened for his voice, in weariness, in painfulness, in watchings, in hunger, in thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, nakedness, Paul walked in a realm of spiritual authority because he allowed the Savior to bring him out of his captivity. You know what his captivity is or was? You know what your and my captivity is? God, you have to do this. God says, okay, I'll do it. Most of the time that's what he does because he loves us, but he's looking for those who will say, Lord, you don't have to do anything because you are all I need. You see, when Paul said, my God shall supply all your needs, he wasn't lying because he understood that that did not simply mean that God would give us enough food or keep us away from harm's way because Paul knew that that wasn't true. Paul was hungry. Paul was thirsty. Paul was naked. Paul had no certain dwelling place. Paul was in a sea during storms. His boat was destroyed. He almost died, but he saw his soul was brought to the place where he said, God is an ever-present help in time of need. When I am thirsty, when I have no water, when I have no home, when I have no money, when I have no certain dwelling place, God is still the answer. What promise can you claim that God will keep you from harm's way when your children are taken from you? What's the name, Collette, of the country? Indonesia. I saw a report on Indonesia and what the radical Muslims are doing to the Christians. And then I saw the shallowness and ridiculousness of American Christianity brought into the context of what these Christians are going through. And I saw stories of children, little eight, nine, ten-year-old children who had to watch their mother and father be killed and their limbs ripped from them in hopes that the children would go to a Muslim home for a new mom and dad so they can be taught the truth and taken from Christianity. My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory. I was old and now I was young, Paul said, or David said. I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed out begging for bread. Huh? Where's God? Where was God? Where was God when these children watched their parents martyred and crucified and murdered and mangled? Where was God? He was there interpreting His own word and totally destroying all of our shallow American interpretations of His word. He was there. He was the faithful one. He was the everlasting Lord. He was the one that loved. He was right there. Verse 28, besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Oh, we could take that and sometime we will. The care of all the churches. Paul carried in his heart every single Christian. He bore them. He bore their pain. He travailed for them again and again and again that Christ might be formed in them. He wasn't after their money. He wasn't looking to see how they could fit in to His kingdom. He didn't have one. He didn't have a kingdom. He wasn't honored by men. He didn't have a position. He was the off-scourge of the world. He was last. A spectacle to angels and to men. I fear that when God finally interprets to the American church what He is talking about in this word, most of what we see, if not all, will perish. The things that we seek after today the things that we aspire after, and then we go to God's Word and hear when men cried out, be it unto me according to your word, where God took them. Verse 23, Acts chapter 20, that's a little picture of what Paul went through. How could he go through it, listen, and not get bitter, not get angry? Not get bitter, not get angry. How about it, huh? How about it when Paul was in the prison writing those prison epistles? Which epistles did he write in prison? Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, maybe a couple more? Can you imagine Paul writing? And it is my saying, how can I say to these Philippians, my God shall supply all your needs. Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me. Certain death faces me. I'm being bitten by these rats, these worms. He was free from his captivity. Saul of Tarsus became Paul the apostle. This is where we're heading if we follow on to know the Lord. Now watch this. Verse 23, verse 22, and now behold, I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me. Right there, most of us would stop, wouldn't we? Because we got to know, don't we? We got to know what's going to happen. God, I can't go any further unless I know. Not knowing, not knowing. How do you do in the not knowing world? How do you do? I'll tell you how you'll do. You'll miserably fail. You'll miserably fail in the not knowing world. You'll be found out. But there's one that lives who is there in your failure. And he's saying, look to me. I will show you that I know the way in darkness. Now, you don't know the way. Paul didn't know the way. How could he be so strong? He was a sinful man like us, wasn't he? Absolutely. But he learned the secret of living by the life of another. Not knowing, except the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city that bonds and afflictions abide there. Most of the time, what motivates people to go forward is promotion and more money. Well, I think I'm going to go forward because I see some green grass. I see better promises, better horizons. I see good opportunities. Paul saw nothing but bonds and afflictions, and he went forward. But God wouldn't lead you that way. God leads us so that we can prosper. God leads us so that we can be enlarged, doesn't he? Verse 24, the secret. This is why God could take a man and shake the world. But none of these things move me. The captivity of the righteous is this. All of these things move me. How about you? The captivity of the righteous. We are righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. We are born from above. We're partakers of the Holy Spirit, and yet we are in need of a deeper work of grace because all things yet move us. Paul said, none of these things bother me. The things he was talking about was everything that pertained to his life, everything that pertained to his hopes as a man, his dreams as a man. He didn't care. So the captivity of the righteous is the state of all these things yet bother us. If, in fact, we have not learned the secret of reckless abandonment to Christ, reckless abandonment to God's will, reckless abandonment to the care of our Father, no matter what happens, no matter where we go, no matter who says what, what happens, reckless abandonment to Him, none of these things move me. Neither count my life dear unto myself. The word dear there means valuable or costly. The captivity of the righteous, all things move us, or everything matters, not just one. See, only one thing should matter with the righteous, and what is that? Mary, be it unto me according to your word, Lord. Paul, what would you, Lord, have me to do? Neither count I my life dear to myself. Valuable. The captivity of the righteous, all things matter, and number two, my life is valuable to me. My life is valuable. Let someone make fun of you and see how valuable your life is, how mad and indignant you get. Or how about it, parents? Let's let someone touch our kids. Let someone come and say, I want you to know something. You're so-and-so or you're so-and-so. They've got a real problem. You need to talk to them. Oh, okay, thank you. Who do they think they are? Who do they think they are? They don't have any right. Oh, they think their kids are perfect. Oh, my Lord, how we realize that our life is so valuable to us, isn't it? Count my life dear to myself so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of grace. Philippians chapter 3, I tell you, don't you love God's Word? Philippians chapter 3 verse 7, but what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. That's just another way of saying what he just said in Acts 20, isn't it? What things were gained to me, that is, at one time, everything mattered to Paul. At one time, his life was very valuable to him. At one time, all he did is live for his life. All he cared about was himself. This is the captivity of the righteous. Those I count lost for Christ. Verse 8, yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them dung, refuge, garbage, trash, insignificant, of no value if you measure it against eternity. Oh my, that I might know him. Now, I'm going to bring this to a close in a few minutes, but we're following the flow. Listen, go to Job now. I'm telling you, the book of Job will take on a whole new meaning to you. Go to the book of Job. Why, listen, why did God offer his servant Job to be part of this test? Why did he do it? Is God cruel? Is God mean? Think about it. Oh, thanks a lot, God. Think about it. I mean, you know, it'd be nice if you were volunteer to be the recipient of a car, volunteer to be the recipient of a, how about a Hawaiian vacation? Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, I'll take it. Come on, think, think, think, where would be the dream place of your heart? Hawaii? Spain? Somewhere in Europe? But here God is in heaven talking to the devil. Devil, where have you come from and what do you do? Go throughout to and fro throughout the whole earth. Peter said, look in whom he may devour. God said, hey, Job, have you considered my, or hey, Satan, have you considered my servant Job? There's none like him. He's a righteous man. He's perfect. Sounds just like the Christian. Because we are righteous in God's eyes. We are perfect in God's eyes. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that we stand just before God? Aren't you glad that because of Christ we stand righteous in God's eyes? He who knew no sin became sin that we through him might become the righteousness of God. Aren't you glad that God says we're perfect in Christ? But you know what? We're captive. Perfect but captive. Righteous but bound. And there's no, nothing you can do to untie it. It's all by God's grace and power, the only thing we do. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Because we can resist God all things. My life valuable. So what's the whole meaning of the book of Job? What's the whole meaning of the book of Job? The whole meaning of the book of Job is God is revealing his heart's desire to take the righteous and bring them to the place where nothing moves me. And my life is no value. It's not important to me. It's not the thing I'm living for. Job 42. Here is where we're going to end up when we're done. This is what God's going to do. And we're going to close now. Oh, Lord Jesus, thank you for your grace. Help us, Lord, to see your longing. Listen. Then Job answered the Lord. This is after the process that God brought Job through to bring him to this place and this place. And remember what God is after. He's after reproducing the likeness of who? His son, Jesus. That's the picture we see in Jesus, a man who walked on the earth and said, what, Father, I've come to do thy will alone. I don't care if people call me the son of a fornication experience. I don't care if people think I'm blaspheming the Holy Ghost. I don't care if people I don't care what anyone thinks. I want to do your will alone. Nothing mattered. And Job answered the Lord, I know thou canst do everything. You know what, beloved? Oh, Lord, shall we pray like Joshua did? Lord, stop the son. I know thou canst do anything. How many believe that scripture? Don't be too quick to raise your hand. Don't be too quick because you believe God can do anything as long as it's somewhere out there, right? But he can't do anything to you because all things matter and my life is valuable. So if God wants to touch my life, this is what we do. God, you can't do that. God, what's the result of this process of God in our life? What's the result? What's the result? We say, God, you can do anything you want. You can make me the off-scourging of the world if that's what you want. You can do whatever you want. My God, you know what that is? That's the beginning of God turning the captivity of Job, freeing him from his own captive self. Oh, happy day when the church in brokenness and in humility and contrition gets down on their knees and cries out, God, you can do anything. You can do anything. And Lord, you can do it in me because I have found that Christ is my life and through Him, I need nothing. The second effect, verse five, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the year, but now my eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. The righteous have already repented, but the righteous need further repentance. This repentance is not a repentance to God for salvation initially, but this is a repentance toward God for God's grace in showing the soul how captive it is to everything and how dear the life still is and how in sackcloth and ashes I abhor myself, Lord. I repent. I cannot believe, Lord. Though I stand righteous in Your eyes, I'll curse my brother in a heartbeat. I'll think evil of my brother in a heartbeat. When you touch my family, we're going to see next week that God touched Job in three areas of his life, three major areas of our life where these strongholds live. It is wealth, health, and family. Health, wealth, and family. We'll see next week how out from those three things, there's all different types of things that are affected, and God has to touch everyone, everyone in order to free us. And so that's what the repentance is. And here we close. And the Lord spoke unto Job. Verse 7, For you have not spoken of me, that is, he's talking to Job's friends, the thing that is right as my servant Job. What was the thing that was right that Job said? Not all the things he said from chapters 4 on to chapter 41. That's not what he's talking about. Because a lot of things Job said there wasn't right. It was the final confession of his soul. It was where God was bringing him. It was, listen, it was the cry of utter abandonment to God. Lord, you can do anything you want. Lord, I repent. I abhor myself. I despise how much I care about everything and how valuable my life still is. Lord, rescue me by thy Son. Let him be my life. That is the thing God is looking for. And that's where the double blessing is. God gave back to Job twice as much. Okay. That's all for now. You can ask Colette if she'll come up. We're only going to take a few minutes. We have to go. But listen, I know this is a lot, but God knows. Let's spend a moment or two in the presence of God. And let's ask him to speak to us and make his word real in our heart. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord, for Jesus Christ, our life. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our righteousness. Thank you for the blood of Christ that cleanses us from sin. Thank you that we stand in your presence justified, free from guilt and condemnation. Thank you, Lord, that you love us with an everlasting love. But oh, thank you also, Lord, that your work goes on in our life so that we might escape the captivity of ourself through living by your life and your son. We ask that you'll rescue us and work this in our life as by faith we simply say to you, Lord, yes, Lord, have your way in my life. Even now. Me because you died and rose again. By faith, Lord, we say yes to you. We don't have it in ourself. We're going to fail. But then Jesus appears in his word and says, I am your life. I am a selfless man. Look to me. You by my life. Out of myself into Jesus. Savior. He rescues me. Jesus, I'm sinking. Help me, man. Save me. Save me. Hallelujah. King Jesus, you Jesus, you you, my king would die for me. It's my joy to honor you.