The 10% Problem: Why Partial Obedience is Total Disobedience

• Justification and Accountability [00:36:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the human tendency to strategize how to justify wrong actions to others, using this as a bridge to the theological concept of justifying disobedience to God.
• Church Core Values [00:38:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the church's six core values, specifically highlighting the tension in 'loving people unconditionally' and 'taking the Bible seriously' when human behavior contradicts these ideals.
• Biblical Exegesis ([1 Samuel 15](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+15&version=KJV)) [00:40:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the story of King Saul to illustrate how a leader must justify his disobedience to the Lord, setting the stage for the sermon's scriptural foundation.
• Disobedience and Partial Obedience [00:42:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses how believers become comfortable with small disobediences, using King Saul's gradual drift from full obedience as the primary example.
• Repentance and Heart Posture [00:47:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes Saul's attempt to justify 90% obedience as sufficient, contrasting it with God's requirement for complete obedience and the condition of the heart.
• Practical Application of 'The 10%' [00:50:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor applies the concept of the 'last 10%' to modern areas of life including dating, integrity, drinking, and speech, challenging the congregation to examine their specific areas of compromise.
• The Condition of the Heart vs. Perfection [00:52:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God does not demand 100% perfection but focuses on the '10%' of imperfection, using it as the ultimate indicator of a person's heart posture.
• Justification vs. Repentance [00:53:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > Contrasting Saul's heart, which sought to justify disobedience, with David's heart, which sought God's search and correction, highlighting the difference between excusing sin and aligning with God.
• Heartless Sacrifice [00:56:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using Isaiah 66 to explain that external religious acts (sacrifices) are detestable to God if the heart is not humble, contrite, and trembling at His word.
• Finances as a Heart Indicator [01:03:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > Connecting the principle of the heart to finances, citing Jesus' teaching that where treasure is, there the heart will be also, emphasizing trust over the money itself.
• Heart vs. Perfection [01:04:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God is not looking for moral perfection or logical justifications for one's life, but rather the surrender of the heart.
• Repentance and Transformation [01:05:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > Illustrated through the story of Saul becoming Paul, showing how giving one's heart to Christ transforms a persecutor into a leader of the faith.
• Salvation by Grace/Faith [01:07:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > Uses the example of the thief on the cross to demonstrate that salvation is not earned by a lifetime of good works or theological knowledge, but by trusting in Jesus at the moment of death.
• Total Surrender [01:12:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to move beyond partial commitment (e.g., '10%') to a full surrender of every part of their heart to Jesus as Lord.

• Sermon Illustration [00:32:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a childhood story from when he was 13 or 14. He and his friends decided to 'teepee' (toilet paper) a neighbor's house for his birthday sleepover. Before leaving, his friend Dan accidentally crashed his bike into the pastor's mother's new minivan, scratching it. Instead of confessing immediately, they decided to TP the house first and 'justify it later.' When they returned, the pastor tried to strategically apologize to his mother while his friends were present to mitigate anger, but his mother recognized it as a strategic apology rather than genuine remorse, asking if he was sorry because he was truly sorry or because he got caught.
• Sermon Illustration [00:48:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal childhood anecdote about the 'clean plate rule' in his house, describing how he tried to hide the last 10% of vegetables (specifically baked carrots) by cutting them up, spreading them out, or claiming they were undercooked/burnt to trick his parents into accepting it as 'close enough.'
• Sermon Illustration [00:52:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the metaphor of a '10%' imperfection to describe the universal human condition of sin, noting that everyone has some 'stuff' and the focus should be on how one handles that portion rather than achieving perfection.
• Sermon Illustration [01:01:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the biblical figures of Saul and David. Saul is depicted as someone who justified his disobedience (claiming he would sacrifice the animals anyway), while David is portrayed as someone who prayed for God to search his heart and reveal any grievous ways, surrendering his whole heart to God.
• Sermon Illustration [01:05:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the New Testament Saul (Paul), who persecuted Christians before becoming a follower of Christ, illustrating a complete heart transformation from persecutor to apostle.
• Sermon Illustration [01:05:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a story about his seven-year-old son asking if the Apostle Paul was a 'good guy or bad guy longer' to determine if he is in heaven. The pastor notes that Paul was likely a 'good guy' longer, but uses this to pivot to the idea that our standing before God isn't based on a tally of good vs. bad deeds.
• Sermon Illustration [01:07:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The story of the third criminal crucified alongside Jesus. Despite having no good justification, no knowledge of the law, and only hours left to live, he asked Jesus to remember him. Jesus promised him paradise, illustrating that giving one's heart is sufficient for salvation.

• Pastoral Charge [00:40:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > Open Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 15
• Pastoral Charge [00:59:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > Surrender one's heart and specific sins ('10%', '3%', or 'half a percent') to God.
• Pastoral Charge [01:16:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > To verbally pray a prayer of salvation, confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior and committing to follow Him.
• Pastoral Charge [01:16:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > To personally surrender their heart to Jesus as Lord and Savior.

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:17:44] We worship and adore and will we exalt. Father, we stand before you in your presence. Father, may your love just wash over us. May your mercy wash over us. May your grace wash over us this morning. Father, we want to have control over all the areas of our lives. We want control over our jobs. We want control over our families. But Father, you alone are worthy.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:24:40] alone are mighty god may it be our prayer this morning that we will seek your ways above ways and may your spirit guide us in all that we do father we love you we praise you and in jesus
[00:25:03] mighty name we all say amen amen well church why don't you take this moment greet somebody around you and grab your seats. Well, good morning, church. My name is Josh, and welcome to The Cove.
[00:25:23] If you're joining us for the very first time, we're so glad that you're here. Don't leave here without letting somebody know. There's a few ways that you can get connected. Right now, you can take out your phone, scan the QR code on the seat in front of you, and click New Here, and then come
[00:25:39] find us in person after the service. Our first-time guest area, it is right by the front door. Our team members, they would love to meet you. They want to hear your story, and they even got a welcome
[00:25:50] gift for you just to say thank you for being here today. Church, one of our core values is that we are generous, and church, your generosity, it has a lasting impact here in our community, but all
[00:26:03] across the globe. Tithing is a biblical principle in which God calls us to give our first and to give our best. If you'd like to be a part of all God is doing here at The Cove, you can give online
[00:26:16] at covechurch.org slash give, or in the silver boxes in the back of the room or in the atrium.
[00:26:22] We have an amazing summer coming up, and we want to highlight one thing first this morning, and that is our third annual kids camp coming up. That is called Kingdom Quest. This is for grade school, so kindergarten through fifth grade. It is July 13th through the 16th, and it's a
[00:26:41] half-day camp. It is 9 a.m. until noon. Now, the deadline to sign up for this camp is this Tuesday, so if your kids are that age, they are not signed up yet. Now is the time. Don't miss this. The cost
[00:26:56] is only $50. It's four days long, half day, and your kids are going to see life change. Maybe your kids are already signed up or you don't have kids that are that age. There's an opportunity for you
[00:27:10] to be a part of that life change and you could come serve at our kids camp this summer. So if your kids are coming, come serve. If you're free and you're like, I can pour into some of these
[00:27:21] kids this summer, come serve. The deadline for all of that is going to be this Tuesday. And then coming up in the entire month of July is one of the most exciting things of the whole summer,
[00:27:33] and that is Movies at the Cove. Come on, who's excited for Movies at the Cove? We are going to be kicking this off with our movie build, which is going to be on June 28th. For those of you that
[00:27:46] are newer to the church and do not yet know about this, this is a four-week movie message series in which we show different movie clips every single week, and we preach biblical truths based upon their stories. This is the best time to invite someone that may not normally come to church, a
[00:28:05] friend, a family member, a neighbor. We've got candy. We've got popcorn. We've got movies. It's an absolute amazing time for the entire family. And there's an opportunity for all of you to be a part
[00:28:18] of that. So first is our atrium build on June 28th. After our 1130 service, we are transforming the entire atrium into a movie set. The theme this year is Toy Story. So whether you are a professional
[00:28:32] contractor, a professional arts and crafter, or like myself, you feel like you have absolutely no skills to offer whatsoever, we've got a place to you where there's a job for everybody to do, have fun with the family, be a part of community and fellowship, get to know other people in the
[00:28:49] church and transform the atrium so we can transform lives this summer. So as you are leaving today, we're going to be handing out some cards to serve all throughout the month of July. Hundreds of
[00:29:01] families come to know Jesus Christ through Movies at the Cove every single summer. So it's a great time to start serving along with your family as well. You can be that smiling face in the
[00:29:13] parking lot, the one to hand them that candy or that soda or help them find their seat for the very first time. Come to our Movies at the Cove promo area. It's right out there in the atrium,
[00:29:24] invites for everything and all the details that you could want about Movies at the Cove this year.
[00:29:29] But for now, let's welcome our lead pastor, Will Kranz, to the stage as we continue our series,

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:29:35] the tension. All right. Good morning, Cove Church. How are you guys doing this morning?
[00:29:45] It's good to be together. Hey, before we jump into the message, I want to stop and pray for our students. We've got our student camp coming up. Middle school and high school students are going to Vertical Element. They leave tomorrow. Come on. Let's give it up for our students.
[00:30:02] I don't know if you remember what it was like to be in middle and high school.
[00:30:04] that's a different time man so this is a special week where we get to stop and just invest in them and uh and hopefully uh just get to see the holy spirit moving in our students lives so we're
[00:30:16] praying for our students and we're praying for our leaders who are crazy enough to go out there they're taking a week off work to go hang out in those cabins let me tell you you're gonna have fun
[00:30:27] you're gonna have fun leaders i led that camp for 10 years i love it i love it i'm going up there for a few days myself next week.
[00:30:34] So let's stop across all of our campuses and can we pray for our students at Vertical Element.
[00:30:38] Father God, we come to you today and we're just so thankful for the students that we have in this church.
[00:30:44] Our middle school, our high school age students.
[00:30:47] God, we're thankful for the passion that they have.
[00:30:49] We're thankful for just the life that you've given, the energy that they bring into the room.
[00:30:54] And I just pray for this week for them specifically.
[00:30:58] we remember what it was like to be in in in those years and there's a lot of uh uncertainty there's a lot of um could be's there's a lot uh going on lots changing all around us and
[00:31:15] and lord we just pray this would be a week that they would be able to just slow down slow down and just be in your presence unplug from all the everyday distractions unplugged from all the things
[00:31:27] that consume our time so easily and just that this would be a week that Holy Spirit, you would be moving in the lives of our students, that our students would come to see you, that you'd speak life into our students,
[00:31:40] that some students would come to know you for the first time, that other students would hear a calling from you so clearly for the first time.
[00:31:47] Lord, we pray for the leaders that are going out and maybe feel in over their head or feel like they don't know what they're gonna say with certain moments. And I pray that Holy Spirit, you would lead our leaders to be able to express
[00:32:00] the gospel to our students and to lead our students in wisdom and walk with our students.
[00:32:05] And God, we're just praying for safe travels for them, a blessed week for them. And we love you and we want to worship you with everything we do. We love our students. We pray that you bless them
[00:32:15] during this week. We come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Let's take a second.
[00:32:21] Can we welcome all of our campuses right now?
[00:32:23] Mooresville, can we make some noise and welcome our campuses?
[00:32:27] Statesville, make some noise.
[00:32:29] Denver, Salisbury, it's good to be together as one church.
[00:32:35] You know, I was thinking about that time of life when I was in middle school, high school.
[00:32:41] One story that came to life for me that ties into the message today.
[00:32:45] I remember when I was maybe 13, 14 years old, My parents let me have a sleepover for my birthday.
[00:32:52] We had a bunch of the guys over from the neighborhood and my mom even agreed to allow us to go teepee a neighbor's house.
[00:33:00] Does anyone remember teepee in houses?
[00:33:03] Come on, do they do that anymore?
[00:33:05] Is that a thing?
[00:33:05] I haven't seen a good teepee.
[00:33:07] Okay, I got a yes down here.
[00:33:09] Okay, you've done some teepee.
[00:33:10] All right, good, I'm proud of you.
[00:33:12] I don't know if I'm supposed to say that or not, but yeah, my mom, she was like, you know, I think she, I think she let the neighbor know that we were going to do it, but we,
[00:33:22] we, we didn't know all that. So I remember, uh, we were getting ready and we were all excited and there was one rule that night. I'll never forget this. Uh, my mom had just gotten a, a newer
[00:33:33] car, uh, and it was a minivan. Um, so living that minivan life. And the rule was don't go anywhere near that car that day. Cause we were riding around on our bikes and stuff and the car was in
[00:33:44] the garage. So there was no reason for us to be anywhere near that car, except on this day, we were going to put our toilet paper plan together right next to the car in the garage. We thought
[00:33:53] that was a good idea. And I'll never forget this moment. We're all standing there. We're on our bikes, kind of hovering over our bikes. And my friend, Dan, Dan, I don't know what he was doing.
[00:34:05] I don't know what he was thinking, but all of a sudden Dan just fell. He was just standing there with his bike and he fell right into my mom's car with the bike, like the edge of the guardrail on
[00:34:17] the bike, right into the car. He panicked. He tried to stand up by pushing on the bike and that just dug this thing right into the car. And I'll never forget, there was a scratch about this big on her
[00:34:29] new car and there was immediate panic. I mean, I remember just being like, how am I going to justify this? How am I going to explain this? And we agreed the best way to justify this was to
[00:34:39] do it later. Right? Can I get an amen? You know, let's do the fun stuff first. Let's go TP someone's house first. You know, we'll tell her about it later. And I remember we turned off the lights
[00:34:51] of the garage. We got out of the garage, acted like we had never been in the garage, you know, and started going. And I started kind of doing the math in my head. And I started thinking about,
[00:35:00] you know, I'm going to have to justify this. And I need to have a plan for how I'm going to explain, because there's no way she's not going to see it. I'm not going to wait for her just to find,
[00:35:09] I got to tell her. And I thought, you know what? I'm definitely going to tell her today. It's my birthday. You know, I mean, that might buy me a little time, right? Like that might, she might,
[00:35:16] I'm going to tell her while my friends are here, you know, that she probably can't get too mad about that. And then I'm just going to point out it was Dan. It wasn't even me, you know? I mean,
[00:35:25] I don't, Dan. And so we came home. Toilet paper mission was a success. Um, came home and I told my mom, hey, you know, you got to come see this. And I showed her this scratch in the car. And I,
[00:35:41] you know, I think she saw right through my plan. I think she realized what I was doing, that this was a strategic apology, not a genuine apology. This was an apology about how do I get this out
[00:35:53] here without actually getting in trouble for it, you know? And I remember my parents used to say this to me all the time, you know, because I was like, oh, I'm really sorry about this. And I remember
[00:36:02] my mom said, you know, are you sorry because you're actually sorry? Or are you sorry because, come on, finish it. You got caught, right? Because you had no other choice. And yeah, I mean, I want
[00:36:17] to say I'm sorry because I was really sorry. I was sorry because I knew she was going to figure out about it. That's why I was really sorry. You know, have you ever had, I know you have,
[00:36:25] you've had those moments in life where you know you've done something wrong and you're going to have to justify it to somebody else. And if you ever had that moment where you have to like
[00:36:34] strategize, how am I going to justify what I've done? How am I going to justify what happened at school today to my parents? Can I get an amen if you've been there before? How am I going to
[00:36:45] justify to my boss these numbers and what's happened this quarter? How am I going to justify the actions that happened at work to my coworkers? How am I going to justify to my spouse how much
[00:36:57] money it took to play a round of golf. Can I get an amen? How am I going to justify that money that I spent when I was out with the girlfriends? You know what I'm talking about, right, church?
[00:37:08] We put a plan together of how are we going to justify. This series is called The Tension.
[00:37:13] And today we're talking about this very real tension, that a time is coming when we feel like we're going to have to justify to God the places in our life that we didn't live up to what he
[00:37:26] called us to do. You know, we try not to think about this too much, but there are places in our life, if we're being honest, we know we haven't lived up to what God's called us to. And we've
[00:37:37] gotten comfortable not doing what God's called us to. And a part of us goes, well, one day maybe I'll have to justify it, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy the journey and I'll figure that
[00:37:48] out when we get there. And today we're talking about that tension in life. How are we going to justify to God some of the things that we've done. You can cut the tension with a knife in here
[00:38:01] today, huh? That's why it's called the tension. We're talking about these different core values and the core values of the church. There's six of them. I want us to actually read them together.
[00:38:13] And you know, on face value, they all look great. And you're going to read them and go, yeah, I love that our church is all about these core values are the six things that we hold dearest, that we
[00:38:22] strive to be in our everyday existence as a church. So let's put those up there. Here's the first three. Let's just read them together across all of our campuses. Here at the Cove Church, we want to,
[00:38:32] we love God passionately. We love people unconditionally. Let me just stop here for a second. You know, that sounds great on paper, but can I tell you, there's some tension with that, isn't there? There's some tension with how do I love God with all my heart, but also love people
[00:38:50] when they're so stupid sometimes, you know?
[00:38:52] I mean, have you seen what Knicks fans are doing to their own city right now?
[00:38:55] I mean, what are we doing?
[00:38:57] You gotta love them unconditionally though.
[00:39:00] How about this?
[00:39:01] We take the Bible seriously.
[00:39:05] Again, there's tension with this.
[00:39:09] You know, on face value, you'll look at that and go, I love that, but the reality is, how seriously do we take it?
[00:39:15] There are some things in our life that we know we aren't taking as seriously as we'd like to say we are. Let's read this one. We stay united. We are generous and we keep it
[00:39:30] real. You guys are going to like that sixth one. We're going to do that one next week. All right.
[00:39:34] Let me just, let me just tell you about that. But this week we're going to focus on these two core values of we take the Bible seriously and we are generous because I think they come back to the
[00:39:44] same matter. And the reality is we all like to say, yes, I take the Bible seriously, but we all know there are certain areas of life that don't totally line up with scripture. And, you know,
[00:39:57] how do I sidestep that tension? Sometimes we can just sidestep that tension. Today, I want to lean into that tension. What does that really mean when there are areas of our life that we just
[00:40:06] haven't aligned with God? We haven't taken the Bible seriously and we haven't really tried to either. You know, to understand this, we're going to look at a point in scripture where a man named Saul, King Saul, if you got your Bibles, you can open them up to 1 Samuel chapter 15. And Saul is
[00:40:25] a king and he has to look in the eyes and justify his disobedience to the Lord. And we're going to talk about how that went for Saul. And a little bit of history before we dive into the scripture.
[00:40:37] So if you've got your Bibles, I want to encourage you, open them now, 1 Samuel chapter 15, because it's a longer passage that we're reading today. Now Saul is the very first king of Israel. Just
[00:40:48] so you have an understanding, Israel is God's chosen people. These are the descendants of Abraham. They have already gone through the journey of slavery in Egypt. They have crossed the Red Sea. They have spent their 40 years in the desert. They finally have inherited and gained
[00:41:04] their land and they are ready to become a nation. And during this time, God tells them, hey, I don't want you to have a king. I'm going to be your king. You don't need an earthly king like all these
[00:41:16] other kingdoms. And with time, the people of Israel begin to desire a king of their own. They say everyone else has a king. We want a king. God says, I'm your king. If I give you a earthly king,
[00:41:28] that earthly king will never be as good a king as I would be to you. You know, he will eventually actually mislead you. He will become selfish. He will become corrupt. He will actually harm you.
[00:41:41] But the people of Israel continue to claim, we want a king, an earthly king. And so the Lord agrees to give them an earthly king, not because that was his desire, but because that's what they
[00:41:53] kept requesting. And so the first king he chooses is a man named Saul. Saul is the very first king of Israel. And when Saul first becomes king of Israel, he is humble. He is a little bit afraid.
[00:42:07] He hears the call of God and he is willing to just serve God. He doesn't know how to do this.
[00:42:14] He's scared, but the Lord is with him. And Saul sees all these amazing victories. And Saul has a season where he actually seems like he's a really great king. But as he stays as king,
[00:42:27] as he becomes comfortable as king, as he becomes comfortable with the power of God.
[00:42:33] You know, he still sees the power of God.
[00:42:35] He does not doubt that God is powerful, but he becomes more and more comfortable with little disobediences to God.
[00:42:42] And he becomes more and more comfortable with doing things his own way and saying, this is close enough to what God's saying to do.
[00:42:50] And I wanna say this to those of you that maybe have been believers a while.
[00:42:55] Does this sound familiar?
[00:42:58] There's maybe a season where you were on fire, where you were just hanging on every word that the Lord instructed you to.
[00:43:05] And then we can get comfortable.
[00:43:07] We can go through the motions.
[00:43:09] We can get comfortable doing things our own way.
[00:43:12] Even though we fully believe in the power of God and the goodness of God, we can become comfortable being disobedient.
[00:43:21] And this really all comes to a head right here in 1 Samuel chapter 15.
[00:43:26] it's here that Saul is instructed to go and and fight a rival kingdom a evil kingdom that I always say it wrong the Amalekites I got it right that time on the second time the Amalekites Saul's instructed to go and just destroy this rival kingdom this kingdom of evil
[00:43:48] the Lord instructs him don't bring anything back destroy it completely don't don't loot it don't pillage it, just destroy it completely. This kingdom needs to be wiped from existence. Don't bring anything back. And Saul goes, and he goes with the power of God, and they overtake this
[00:44:08] evil kingdom. And he's mostly obedient, except that he brings back the king as a trophy, as a proof. He brings back the king, and he brings back some of the livestock and the things that they
[00:44:22] deem as valuable and good. And so he's not fully obedient to what God actually told him to do.
[00:44:30] And so Samuel comes to him and calls this out. Here's what Samuel said to him, starting in verse 18. Samuel comes to Saul and he says, and the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go devote to
[00:44:41] destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the
[00:44:56] sight of the Lord? And Saul replied to Samuel. This is the moment, Saul, you're going to have to justify what you've done because it's not what God said to do. Saul, here's how Saul justified it. I have
[00:45:10] obeyed the voice of the Lord, the Nile. I've gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I've brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But people
[00:45:24] took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice. This was to sacrifice to the Lord, your God, and Gilgal. You see how he's already distancing himself from God? See how he says, you know, I have been completely obedient. And then he immediately
[00:45:42] calls out the two places he knows he wasn't obedient, doesn't he? He knows exactly what he did.
[00:45:51] He's not saying I'm confused.
[00:45:53] I don't understand what you're saying, Samuel.
[00:45:54] He points out the exact two places he knew he wasn't being obedient.
[00:45:59] Samuel said to him, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
[00:46:09] Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen is better than the fat of rams.
[00:46:16] For rebellion is at the sin of divination and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry because you have, check this out, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. This is actually a
[00:46:35] tough story because this is the turning point in Saul's life. This is the moment where the Lord actually says Saul will not stay king forever. And in fact, his family line will not stay king.
[00:46:48] His son, Jonathan, who seems to be a good man, according to everything we see in scripture, will not get to be king.
[00:46:55] And instead it will go to a new bloodline, what will become the bloodline of David.
[00:47:00] We'll talk about that later.
[00:47:02] But this is the moment that God says plainly, Saul is an unfit king.
[00:47:09] And I'm not gonna continue to stay with him.
[00:47:12] And I'm not gonna continue to put up with his disobedience and his rebellion.
[00:47:18] Now, here's what I want us to catch.
[00:47:21] There are so many little nuances in the scripture that I find fascinating in the way that Saul responds to Samuel.
[00:47:29] But I think the one that I find the most interesting is Saul is, for the most part, obedient.
[00:47:35] He's only partly disobedient.
[00:47:38] And he views the fact that he was 90% obedient as he was obedient.
[00:47:45] You know, it was really only like 10% that he was disobedient about, right?
[00:47:49] It was only just like he brought back some stuff that he wasn't supposed to bring back.
[00:47:53] He brought back the king.
[00:47:54] He wasn't supposed to do that.
[00:47:55] But you know, for the most part, he went to the battle.
[00:47:58] He overtook this kingdom.
[00:47:59] They destroyed everything else.
[00:48:00] Overall, they did pretty good, 90%.
[00:48:03] That's a B plus, A minus on any grading scale, right?
[00:48:08] I mean, he's only 10% disobedient.
[00:48:10] Can I just say this really plainly?
[00:48:12] all of us have that 10%. Can I get an amen? Can we be real for a moment? All of us have those areas in life where we go, I'm mostly obedient. We're in line. You know, we're doing
[00:48:35] the right thing together. There's just that 10%, you know, little wiggle room. Reminds me of when I was a kid, we had a clean plate rule in our house. Anyone else have the clean plate rule in
[00:48:50] their house. You know, you don't, you're not done until your plate is clean. You got, and, and I'd say a good 90% of the food was easy for me to eat. It was like, there's no problem. There was always
[00:49:02] that last 10%. You know what I'm saying? There was always that one veggie you didn't really want on the plate. There was always that one thing you didn't really care for. And I don't know about
[00:49:10] you guys. Did anyone try any of the tricks to see if they could like get the parents to be like, yeah, it's close enough. You know, like you cut it up and then just spread it all over your plate,
[00:49:19] you know, and just like, ah, it was good. Just, you know, or, you know, you try to claim like, it's a little undercooked, a little burnt, maybe, you know, you know, leave, leave a little extra
[00:49:29] room on that carrot stem, like attached to the carrot, you know, and just, I tried to feed some to the dog. The dog, the dog never wanted, the dog only wanted the meat though. You know, the dog
[00:49:38] never wanted the, the baked carrots. I did not like baked carrots, man. I've told you guys that.
[00:49:44] You know, when you try all these different things, you hide it under the napkin, you can try all these different things. I remember, you know, you'd always ask, you know, is this good enough, right? Is this, is this close enough, mom and dad, you know? And eventually your mom and dad
[00:49:57] would say yes. And I, I mean, in my childhood mind, I'm like, I got it past them. I did it.
[00:50:02] You know, now as a parent, I realized they just didn't want to fight about the last 10% all the time. You know, eventually they're just like, ah, it's close enough. It's good. You know, God cares about the last 10%. God cares about the last 10% as much as he cares about the first 10%.
[00:50:15] and and here's the temptation that we have we will do 90 of what god said and then hold it up to god and say this is close enough right we're in the ballpark right this is good right god cares about
[00:50:28] the last 10 maybe we're 90 obedient in our dating relationships you know i'm with the one person you know where i'm not running around sleeping with a bunch of random people i'm with the one
[00:50:40] person you know and we're committed to each other and we're going to get married one day anyway We're 90% doing what you've called us to do.
[00:50:46] You know, we're in the ballpark.
[00:50:50] We're 90% of the way there with my integrity.
[00:50:54] You know, I tell the truth.
[00:50:55] I'm faithful for the most part.
[00:50:57] My yes means yes.
[00:50:58] My no means no.
[00:50:59] There are a few times I got to protect my job, you know, and I got to be, you know, got to be a little dishonest.
[00:51:05] You know, I'm trying to protect my marriage.
[00:51:07] I'm trying to protect my family.
[00:51:08] I'm trying to protect my finances.
[00:51:09] You know, you got to tweak it a little bit.
[00:51:13] You know, I'm 90% there with my drinking.
[00:51:18] Ooh, now we're getting real.
[00:51:19] I'm gonna step on some toes today, you know?
[00:51:22] 90%, you know, most of the time, it's all very controlled.
[00:51:26] It's proper.
[00:51:27] It's the way it's, you know, not getting drunk.
[00:51:30] But then there's that 10%, you know?
[00:51:32] It's the weekend.
[00:51:34] And we're responsible about it.
[00:51:35] We're safe about it.
[00:51:36] I'm not driving drunk, you know?
[00:51:40] We're close.
[00:51:41] We're in the ballpark, right, Lord?
[00:51:42] or with my words, you know, for the most part, I don't say cuss words for the most part. How often are you listening, God? You know, I mean, are you listening all the time? For the most part,
[00:51:55] I'm doing what you asked me to do with my words. For the most part, I'm uplifting with my words.
[00:52:00] You know, someone's got to talk about Betty. Betty's got problems, you know, but for the most parts, 90% were faithful. Can I just tell you, God cares about the 10%. Why? Because it's not that God's looking for perfection from you. Let me, let me just be really clear. You got 10%.
[00:52:19] All right. Now maybe some of you are here today and you're like, I can't, I don't think I have 10%. Maybe you have 1%. Let me have some grace with you. Okay. You're 1%. You got 1%. Some of
[00:52:30] you are like, I got 50%. Okay, cool. You got 50%. Welcome to the Cove. We're glad you're here. You know, I mean, listen, it's not really about what the percent is. Maybe you're hearing you. I say
[00:52:42] that 10% and you immediately think of something. You're like, I know exactly what it is. Maybe you're here and you're going, I don't really know what it is. I assure you, you got some things.
[00:52:50] Why? Because if you're at a hundred percent, you're doing everything exactly the way you'd be perfect. The goal here is not perfection, but how we handle that 10% is really the greatest indicator of what our heart really is. Okay. I want you to hear this really clearly. I'm not
[00:53:08] here today to guilt you, you know, accuse you. Everyone's got some stuff. But how you choose to view that 10% is really the ultimate indicator of your heart. You know, the scripture says a lot
[00:53:23] about our hearts. It says God sees the heart. I don't know about you. That sometimes has scared me even. I've been like, do I know my own heart? You ever thought that before? You know, I think
[00:53:34] my heart's in the right place? Do I actually know my own heart? You know, for Saul, it wasn't about whether Saul was going to be perfect or not, but this interaction showed where Saul's heart was
[00:53:50] really at. Saul was more focused on justifying that 10% than he was on getting that 10% in line with God. You hear what I'm saying? When, when it was brought up to him, Saul wanted to justify the
[00:54:07] 10%. He was like, we were going to do a sacrifice to God anyway. You know, I mean, look at all the things I did right. He wanted to justify that 10% instead of saying, how do I line up that 10%
[00:54:19] and acknowledge, okay, that wasn't right. How do I get it lined up right with God? Church, I want to encourage you. Every one of us has stuff. I had to get on my knees during this week and pray
[00:54:32] through some of my 10%. Here's the thing. That 10% isn't about perfection. It's about your heart.
[00:54:40] If you're here today and you're going, I don't know if my, I don't know if my heart's in the right place or not. Here's the question I would ask you. When it comes to that 10%,
[00:54:47] are you more focused on justifying that 10% or are you more focused on getting that 10% back in line with God. You know what I'm saying? If you find yourself constantly justifying, constantly trying to justify it to your friends, trying to justify to your family, trying to
[00:55:04] justify to yourself or trying to justify to God. Why? You know what? I know this doesn't really fully line up with what God says, but you know what? It's pretty close. Or are you focused on
[00:55:16] putting it in line with God? Is your desire to say, you know what, God, you're right. That's that's not what you called me to do. I don't even know how to do this yet, but my heart says,
[00:55:27] I want to get it in line with you. Saul's defense is, well, we were going to sacrifice it. We do this, don't we? Well, we're going to do something good with it, God. I know I'm being disobedient
[00:55:38] to you, but the plan was to do something good with that disobedience. We've done that before.
[00:55:43] Can I get an amen? You know, I know it looks like I'm not being obedient, but really I'm going to use this for good God but what he's really doing is trying to keep control and do it his way
[00:55:55] and God specifically talks about this he talks about heartless sacrifice look at this it's in Isaiah 66 verse 2 and 3 but this is the one to whom I will look he who is humble and contrite
[00:56:13] in spirit. This is, um, means repentant in spirit and trembles at my word. The one who really sees the error of his ways and says, yeah, that's wrong. I acknowledge that. God, I want to, I want
[00:56:27] to follow you. I want to find you. I want to, I want to serve you. I want to, I want to do better in that. It's contrite spirit. But then he says this, he gets specific. So some of you, you just
[00:56:37] want to, you just want to offer a sacrifice and say, I'm good. You know, that's all, that's all Saul wanted to do. He wanted to just offer a sacrifice and say, okay, that covers it. I can
[00:56:45] do what I want. And then just offer a sacrifice. He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man. That would have been a common sacrifice. He says, he who sacrifices a lamb is like the one
[00:56:58] who breaks a dog's neck. We love dogs, man. How dare someone do that, right? This is proof that God loves dogs too. Look at that. This is right there. Notice it's not cats. Did you notice that?
[00:57:09] cats is nowhere to be found in this passage. He says, your, your heartless sacrifice of a lamb is like breaking a dog's neck. That's fighting words right there. He who presents a grain offering is like the one who offers pig's blood. He who makes a memorial offering of frankincense
[00:57:29] is like the one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways and their soul delights in their abominations. Here's the truth. God's not really interested in Saul's sacrifice. He's interested in Saul's heart. And while that doesn't apply to us because we don't do the sacrifice
[00:57:51] system anymore, here's who has atoned for our sins. His name's Jesus Christ. Amen? And how often have we had the attitude, well, I know that's not what God called me to do. I know I'm not
[00:58:06] totally in line with God, but thank goodness for Jesus. He's got me. The heart behind that statement matters. Can I, the heart behind that statement matters, church. I'm sorry. I'm getting a little emotional because I, we've gotten so flippant with it. Is the heart behind that
[00:58:28] statement, God, I've made a mistake. I've gotten off track. Thank you for Jesus Christ who has saved me. And I acknowledge that wasn't, that wasn't what I'm called to do. And I want to follow
[00:58:40] you. My heart is yours. I'm so sorry. And thank you for saving me through Jesus. Or is our heart, God, I know this 10% doesn't line up with you, but that's just my thing. Thanks for Jesus.
[00:58:54] Let me tell you, if God said plainly, when you slaughter an ox, it's detestable.
[00:59:04] If you do it with an unclean heart, I can't imagine what he'd say about that kind of attitude towards the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. And so church, I want to encourage you
[00:59:18] not to take on this approach of, you know, well, that's my 10%. Doesn't really matter. You know, Jesus saved me. Thanks for that, Jesus. I'm just going to not work on that 10% because I need
[00:59:35] something for Jesus to save me from. That's not giving God your heart. That's using Jesus as a safety net and God won't stand for it. Now, Saul was far from perfect. And the next king,
[00:59:59] God instructs Samuel, I want you to go find a new king, one who will have a heart after my own heart.
[01:00:06] That's how he described David, a man after God's own heart. And so Samuel goes and finds this man, David. And you know, if you've ever looked into David's life, can I get an amen if you know this?
[01:00:20] David was really far from perfect.
[01:00:23] Can I get an amen if you know this?
[01:00:26] David had some serious issues.
[01:00:28] You know, again, I want to be really clear.
[01:00:29] This message is not about you need to be perfect for God.
[01:00:32] Of course not.
[01:00:34] It's an impossible standard.
[01:00:36] It's about our heart though.
[01:00:39] David was a man after God's own heart.
[01:00:42] Now, along the way, while being a man after God's own heart, David also committed murder.
[01:00:49] David also had an affair David also had some ego problems as what usually comes with murder and affair and David lied at points David did things that were not honorable to God David did things
[01:01:08] that he had his 10% is what I'm getting at there's no doubt David had his 10% but here's the difference between David and Saul and why God said, David, please the Lord. Because this was David's
[01:01:20] prayer. Look at Psalm 139, verse 23 and 24. This is the words of David. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the
[01:01:36] way everlasting. Do you see the difference between this heart and Saul's heart? Saul's heart, Saul wanted to just excuse everything he was doing. He wanted to have a reason and justify anything he was doing that didn't honor God. David's heart said, God, search every part of my heart, even
[01:01:53] the parts I'm not familiar with and aware of yet, and reveal to me anything that isn't pleasing to you, anything that isn't honoring to you, and lead me in ways of life everlasting. Lead me to turn
[01:02:07] from those things and follow you wholeheartedly. David just surrendered his whole heart and said, God, you point out to me the places in my life that don't honor you, that don't worship you, the places in my mind that don't honor you, the desires I have that don't honor you. And
[01:02:24] lead me to worship you in everything I do. David gave his whole heart to God. You know, when's the last time we did that can i just ask you you know maybe maybe you're pretty good about
[01:02:39] when something's really obviously wrong and you'll go oh i messed up there but when's the last time you thought everything was just smooth and smooth and sail sail smooth and well how am i trying to
[01:02:49] say that everything was smooth sailing thank you there it is everything's smooth sailing and i stop and just say lord reveal to me anything that doesn't honor you reveal to me the things that i
[01:03:05] don't even see. You know, this heart is yours, God. Reveal every part of my heart that doesn't honor you. This is why we talk about we are generous as well. We take the Bible seriously, right? It means
[01:03:21] when we see God's command, we seek to honor the Lord and what he said to do. We are generous.
[01:03:29] You know, it's another part of our core values. Don't worry, I'm not going to talk about money for the next 20 minutes.
[01:03:33] You don't have to run.
[01:03:35] You're fine.
[01:03:37] But Jesus did say really plainly, nothing reveals your heart quite like your finances.
[01:03:44] Look at it.
[01:03:44] He said it this way.
[01:03:46] Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
[01:04:00] He's saying, don't invest in the world.
[01:04:02] invest in the eternal kingdom. For wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
[01:04:10] You know, again, it's the same principle. God doesn't need your money. You know, maybe you're here today and you're going, the tithe is the principle of trusting God with the first 10%.
[01:04:20] And you're going, I could do so much more with 10%. I need that 10%. It's not that God needs your 10%. It's that God wants your heart. It's that God wants you to trust him. And God says it
[01:04:37] really plainly. I mean, I can't argue with him. Our money tends to fall where our heart is and our heart tends to go where our money is. They move together. And so here's what I want us to get.
[01:04:52] God's not demanding perfection from you. That's not what he wants from you. He knows you can't hit that. God's not asking for your best justification for what you've done. God's not asking for your money. What God's asking for is your heart before anything else, church.
[01:05:08] Would you give it to him? You know, really give it to him. You know, maybe you're here today and I'm going to have grace. It's not 10%. It's 3%. It's just a little thing. Half a percent.
[01:05:21] Would you give it to him? I was thinking of this story and I've been teaching, we've been teaching our kids some Bible stuff this summer. And we were talking about the life of Saul, the other Saul,
[01:05:36] the New Testament Saul. That Saul was a man who was hunting Christians in his early life.
[01:05:44] You know, he was actually avidly against the spread of Christianity, hunting Christians, persecuting Christians, when Jesus revealed himself to Saul, and Saul became a follower of Christ. He gave his heart to Jesus and became a man named Paul and spent the rest of his life
[01:06:03] spreading the gospel and sharing the news of Jesus. The very people he persecuted, he turned around and ended up leading. That had to be awkward until the day that he died and he was killed
[01:06:16] likely for his faith, for spreading the gospel. You know, I was telling my kids this story and my middle child, my seven-year-old said, well, dad, which did he do longer? Was he a good guy
[01:06:28] or a bad guy longer? I thought that's a, that's an interesting question. I didn't know where he was going with it. I said, you know, I guess I don't really know. You know, I researched how long
[01:06:40] Paul was traveling. It turns out he's probably a good guy longer, in case you were wondering.
[01:06:46] I said, you know, I don't really know. Why do you ask? And he said, well, Dad, was he a good guy or a bad guy longer? Because is he in heaven now? I thought that's such a,
[01:06:56] you know, it's a kid way to look at things, but it's so not. It's so us too, right?
[01:07:01] like what did he do more of was he more good or was he more bad because that determines whether he gets to go to heaven right you know so I started sharing with my sons about the third
[01:07:18] criminal on the cross I'm so thankful for the story of the third criminal on the cross can I get an amen when Jesus was hanging there on the cross and dying on the cross there was two other
[01:07:31] men that were crucified on the cross next to Jesus. One of them mocked Jesus and the other gave his heart to Jesus. You know, we don't know exactly what crimes these men committed, but we know they were terrible crimes because the cross was like reserved for the worst of
[01:07:51] criminals. You know, it was the ultimate public execution meant to be a big show, a big spectacle.
[01:07:57] So usually it was something of high visibility that these guys would have done.
[01:08:03] And, you know, the one mocked Jesus and the other criminal spoke up on Jesus' behalf.
[01:08:10] And he said, you know, we deserve what we're getting here today, but this man has clearly done nothing.
[01:08:17] And then he looked over at Jesus and he just made one request.
[01:08:20] He said, Jesus, remember me when you've come into your kingdom.
[01:08:24] that is a bold bold request isn't it from a man who has spent his life as far as we can tell a life of crime a life of evil a life that would be probably viewed as very far away from God
[01:08:40] who has nothing left to offer it's not like he has a tomorrow this man will be dead in a matter of hours and he looks over at Jesus and he says Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom
[01:08:58] I think of this man and I think, wow, you know, I mean, he probably didn't even really fully know who Jesus was, right?
[01:09:04] Like, it's not like he had it all figured out.
[01:09:06] I don't know how much of the Old Testament he understood, how much of the prophecy or the law.
[01:09:11] He probably didn't follow the law.
[01:09:13] He probably didn't even know the law, let's be honest.
[01:09:18] You know, he probably had no good justification.
[01:09:22] You know, very soon this man is going to stand before God and he's got no justification for the life that he's lived and how far he's been away from God, his whole existence.
[01:09:35] And out of desperation more than anything else, he cries out to Jesus and he says, Jesus, just remember me when you come into your kingdom.
[01:09:47] And Jesus looks at him and says, today you will be with me in paradise.
[01:09:58] Think about how crazy that is.
[01:10:00] This guy probably couldn't recite the gospel.
[01:10:05] I probably didn't fully understand what was happening in this moment.
[01:10:11] All he knew was he was gonna put his hope in that man, Jesus.
[01:10:18] He gave Jesus his heart.
[01:10:21] He didn't have anything else to offer.
[01:10:24] He only was gonna be alive a few more hours.
[01:10:26] He didn't have a tomorrow to give Jesus.
[01:10:29] He couldn't justify what he had done in his past.
[01:10:32] He simply gave Jesus all of his heart.
[01:10:36] And guess what?
[01:10:38] That was enough.
[01:10:38] 99 of his life he was a bad guy church you're here today and maybe you do have this itching fear of how am i going to justify some of the things i've done i know i feel that way but you
[01:11:00] know what my salvation isn't built on me being able to justify all my actions it's built on i've given my heart to jesus christ as my lord and savior i've trusted him as my lord and savior
[01:11:16] I want to follow him all the days of my life and I'm not flippant around that decision I want to encourage you today Jesus died on the cross to save you but you can't fool him
[01:11:32] you can't fool him with this like fake commitment like oh it's a good safety net no no no no have you given him your heart every part of your heart scripture says whosoever believes in their heart
[01:11:47] and confesses with their mouth Jesus is Lord this is complete master this is complete authority Jesus is Lord, will be saved.
[01:11:59] And today I have good news for you.
[01:12:02] The good news is you don't have to be able to justify.
[01:12:05] You don't have to have a perfect answer.
[01:12:06] You don't have to be able to figure out everything.
[01:12:08] You don't have to have all the answers to everything.
[01:12:10] But here's the challenge.
[01:12:14] It's gonna take your whole heart, a full surrender, to say, Jesus is Lord.
[01:12:24] Not 97%, not the places I'm comfortable.
[01:12:29] Every part of our heart, Jesus is Lord.
[01:12:34] Let me pray for us today.
[01:12:36] Father God, we come to you today and we just acknowledge that we have that 10%.
[01:12:41] Church, would you make that your prayer today?
[01:12:43] God, I acknowledge to you there are places in my life I haven't been obedient.
[01:12:52] The question isn't whether we have that or not.
[01:12:55] That's there for all of us.
[01:12:57] There are places I have not been as faithful.
[01:13:00] There are places I have not been obedient.
[01:13:02] There are places I have done my own way.
[01:13:04] I have gotten off track.
[01:13:05] Maybe you're living in it right now.
[01:13:09] But Lord, today, I confess with all my heart that Jesus is Lord.
[01:13:16] Today, we make that prayer that David made.
[01:13:20] Lord, search my heart, every part of it.
[01:13:24] Search my every desire.
[01:13:27] Search my mind.
[01:13:28] Search my thoughts.
[01:13:30] Search my ways, Lord.
[01:13:33] Search my attitudes.
[01:13:34] Search my frustrations.
[01:13:36] Search my passions.
[01:13:38] Lord, search every part of who I am.
[01:13:42] Reveal to me anything that is not honoring to you or pleasing to you.
[01:13:45] Lord, speak.
[01:13:49] Search every part of me.
[01:13:51] Reveal to me the ways that aren't pleasing to you.
[01:13:57] Lord, so that I can surrender those things to you.
[01:14:01] Lead me in life everlasting.
[01:14:04] Can follow you.
[01:14:11] Father, we're sorry for the times that we've even gotten flippant about our 10%.
[01:14:17] You know, maybe you're here today and I have stepped on your toes today.
[01:14:26] Sorry, not sorry.
[01:14:27] You know, I hope this is a moment to just stop and say, Lord, I'm sorry for the ways I've been flipping, the ways I have not stopped and just surrendered my whole heart to Jesus as my Lord
[01:14:48] and Savior. That I've used Jesus as a justification to fall short and to not even try, to not even try to honor you in some places. And Lord, my heart and my desire is to honor you in every area of my
[01:15:07] life. Thank you, Father. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you that even when I fall short, Jesus has covered that sin. I am so thankful for that. You're here today, and maybe you've never received Jesus
[01:15:35] Christ as your Lord and your Savior. I want you to know really clearly, you don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to have everything figured out. That third man on the cross is the
[01:15:45] evidence. What God desires from you is not perfection, is not all the knowledge, is not justification for what you've done. What he asks for is your heart. Send his son, Jesus, that whosoever called Jesus Christ, Lord, will be saved. Believes in their heart, confesses with their
[01:16:07] mouth. Would you make this your prayer today? Lord, I believe Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, that he died on the cross for my sins that you love me and I want to follow you
[01:16:21] all the days of my life not just when it feels easy today I declare you are Lord is he Lord or isn't he today would you declare you're Lord you're my Savior you're my Father
[01:16:36] you're who I want to follow all the days of my life and so Lord every part of my heart I surrender to you every part Would you be my Lord?
[01:16:51] Would you be my Savior?
[01:16:52] Thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
[01:16:58] Father, we love you.
[01:16:59] We thank you for this church that we can come together, all of us with our 10%, with our things that we fall short and that we can encourage one another.
[01:17:09] Iron sharpens iron.
[01:17:11] Support one another.
[01:17:12] Push one another to have just a passion for you first and foremost before anything else.
[01:17:17] I pray that we live out that importance of we take your word seriously.
[01:17:23] We're generous.
[01:17:24] We give you our full heart, every part of our heart.
[01:17:30] We love you.
[01:17:31] We come to you in the name of Jesus.
[01:17:33] Amen.
[01:17:36] Hey, can we celebrate with those making that decision today?
[01:17:39] Before you go, I do have a couple really quick things.
[01:17:42] One, let us know if you made that decision.
[01:17:44] We have a prayer area.
[01:17:45] We'd love to pray with you.
[01:17:46] We'd love to celebrate that decision with you.
[01:17:48] Two, on your way out, over here, on this side of the building, outside, there's a little vertical element tent.
[01:17:55] they will give you if you are up for it.
[01:17:58] Would you take a bracelet?
[01:18:00] There's bracelets with the names of every kid that's going on Vertical Element this coming week.
[01:18:05] And you can take a bracelet with a name on it and you're responsible to pray for them throughout this week, to pray for their safety, to pray that the Spirit moves in their life and speaks to them,
[01:18:15] to pray that they get an escape week and get to refocus on their relationship with God.
[01:18:20] And so make sure you grab one of those bracelets.
[01:18:23] If you're going to actually pray, don't take Johnny and then not pray for Johnny and Johnny has a terrible week at camp because you didn't pray for him I love you guys, I hope you have an amazing week
[01:18:33] we're praying for our students this week love you guys, we'll see you next time