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[0:00] This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang. Thank you for joining us.!

[0:11] It's always an honor to preach in Michael's absence. He loves the opportunity he has to go and minister to other churches. He loves the opportunity to be with his family on vacation. But I can tell you, he absolutely loves coming and preaching here. He always longs to be back with you guys. But in his absence, it's my honor to fill the pulpit this morning.

[0:33] It was October of 1555. Two Protestant theologians, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, found themselves sharing a cell where they were imprisoned for spreading Protestant theology, reformed doctrine, and speaking out against the abuses of the Catholic Church. And this was all under the reign of Queen Mary, who would imprison these theologians.

[1:08] And then, if they did not recant their faith, would burn them at the stake, which was exactly the fate of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley.

[1:18] They were tied together to the same stake, the same kindling that would burn both of them at the same time.

[1:31] And one biographer described the scene this way, as the bundle of sticks caught fire beneath them, the 70-year-old Latimer cried out to encourage his younger friend who was in his early 50s.

[1:48] And the words that he said were, Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle. By God's grace in England, as I trust, shall never put out.

[2:05] The biographer goes on to say, Three years later, Queen Mary died, passed the kingdom to her half-sister Elizabeth, a Protestant queen, and Latimer and Ridley's candle burst into a torch.

[2:19] Such acts of courage in church history were not reserved for men only. There was a young woman by the name of Perpetua, early in Christian history in the year 200-ish.

[2:32] She was from Tunisia, a young married woman, still nursing an infant child. And so, based off the number of baby dedications we saw last week, there are a number of women in our church in this very life stage.

[2:48] She was arrested for converting to Christianity. This was during a time in Roman history where there was a crackdown on Christianity, and they were persecuting those who would proclaim the name of Christ, and they brought her into the arena to be attacked in various cruel ways, and ultimately to be executed at the end of that by the sword.

[3:11] And those who watched this young woman give accounts to the fact that at the moment of her death, she guided the trembling hand of the executioner and placed the sword where it needed to be.

[3:29] Latimer telling his friend to act like a man in his final hours and Perpetua embodying feminine strength and quiet confidence at their moments of death.

[3:43] And the question is, how did they have such courage? When I was growing up, I had a number of posters on my wall. One was United States Marine Corps poster, and it was picturing the historic moment at the Battle of Iwo Jima when they raised the flag.

[4:02] And there was a quote on it, mostly filled with words that as a young boy I was not old enough to understand, but it was a quote from Admiral Nimitz describing those who fought that day.

[4:13] And he used this phrase, which was on the poster, uncommon valor was a common virtue. If valor is defined as boldness or determination and facing great danger, especially in battle, it's a heroic courage, then the quote essentially means heroic courage in battle was common among the Marines who fought there.

[4:41] Something that is typically uncommon of people was common amongst this group of people as they fought. And so my aim for us this morning is to consider what must take place in the hearts and minds of Christians for them to be described as a people of whom uncommon valor is a common virtue.

[5:01] I'm not asking us to consider how men might be more manly men or women might display more fierce womanhood.

[5:13] That's not our concern. I'm not going to give you five points to being a better man. That's not what we're here to do. Although if we heed God's word, we will be better men and women of Christ.

[5:27] I'm rather asking us, what does it take for us to not be ashamed of the gospel? Even if it costs us our life like Latimer and Ridley and Perpetua.

[5:41] Now I recognize, Lord willing, the majority of us will never have to encourage a friend at a moment of execution. The majority of us will never have to calm the hand of the one who is taking our life.

[5:57] But 100% of us, unless the Lord raptures his church first, will face our final breath. My question is, will we be able to do that with confidence and with courage?

[6:13] Trusting in the promises of the Lord? I can say most of us will at some point face a serious trial in which the enemy will tempt us to despair. Will you flounder and walk away from the faith, blaming God and accusing him of injustice?

[6:31] Or will you stand firm, trusting the promises of God, unwavering and unflinching in the face of your worst moment? That is what is at stake for us as believers.

[6:45] And it's what was at stake for David when he wrote the 27th Psalm. If you haven't found it, I invite you to turn there. David, as with many Psalms, is facing some sort of trouble and trial.

[7:00] It's why I love the Psalms. It is a model biblically for how we can engage in the hard circumstances of life. When things are going well, it gives voice to our praise.

[7:10] It is a model for us. I read the Psalms daily in my prayer time because it is such an encouragement to me. But this Psalm does not particularly tell us the specifics that surrounded this occasion in David's life.

[7:25] We do know that David was no stranger to conflict. That's one of our first introductions to him was him going and slaying a giant on behalf of Israel. But it wouldn't be unreasonable for this to be about one of two people in his life.

[7:40] Whether that's Saul who was known to be jealous of David and chased him and was seeking to kill him. Or his very son, very own son Absalom who rebelled against the house of David seeking to take away his throne.

[7:53] And David fled. Absalom was chasing him. Either way, his words would be consistent. But we see here in these first three verses this situation that David finds himself in.

[8:09] The Lord is my light and my salvation, he says. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

[8:21] He's fortifying himself by going to the Lord before he lists his problems. And he says, When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

[8:36] Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

[8:46] And so he's describing these evildoers that it says are seeking to eat up his flesh. That's the very words that we would say when I'm consumed with fear or I am, something is eating me up.

[8:59] Same idea. His enemies were seeking to consume him. There's an army encamped around him. We have no reason really to think that this, excuse me, is a metaphorical description.

[9:12] But very, very real threats. Yet, he says, my heart shall not fear. Yet I will be confident. I'm surrounded.

[9:24] Enemies are seeking my life. And yet I'm confident. What gives David such supreme confidence? What allows him to write a song of unwavering commitment?

[9:37] And I want to submit for us this morning that the answer for David is the same that it was for Latimer and Ridley, the same that it was for Perpetua, and it is the same for us today.

[9:49] The reason he was able to have such confidence is found in verse 4, where we're going to spend our time this morning. Verse 4 shows us the disposition of a heart who is not afraid, a heart that is not wilting nor compromising despite its external pressures.

[10:10] It's a heart that says he only wants one thing from the Lord. And here's what it says. One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek after.

[10:21] And here it is. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To gaze upon his beauty and to inquire in his temple.

[10:37] These three things are wrapped up into one thing in his mind. To dwell in the house of the Lord, to gaze upon his beauty, and to inquire in his temple.

[10:48] And so I want to look at these in reverse order, actually. Because I feel if we can grasp the brilliance of what David is communicating, we too can be so kingdom focused that we will not yield nor will we wilt when the heat of life comes.

[11:06] So these will serve as the instruction manual for the factory of our spiritual disciplines to construct a confident heart, a courageous heart, a heart with uncommon valor.

[11:18] So the first thing we're going to look at is a confident heart inquires in his temple. A confident heart inquires in his temple.

[11:30] We live in a unique time in history. We have access to more information than our minds could ever process. And we have access to it faster than we've ever have had before.

[11:44] I could ask this room just about any question that my mind can come up with. And the majority of you who have a smartphone would be able to come up with an answer in about 2.7 seconds.

[11:56] Not only that, but artificial intelligence could write a poem for you about the subject. It could give you a list of the top 10 resources that are scholarly resources and peer-reviewed so that you could further explore it.

[12:13] In fact, for fun, this is what I do in my free time. I ask chat GPT questions. I pose this question.

[12:27] We've had the age of enlightenment and the age of reason. How would you label and define the age that we're in today? And in two seconds, populates full answer.

[12:44] Begins with flattery. That's a compelling question, which I'm very proud of. It says, while history often names its ages in hindsight, many scholars, thinkers, and cultural observers have proposed some names for the current era.

[12:59] And it goes to list seven. I'll give you a few. The age of information. The age of artificial intelligence. The post-truth age.

[13:10] The age of identity. The age of deconstruction. And then it says this, interestingly in the plural. If we had to coin a term today that captures the cultural complexity, it might be the age of fragmentation.

[13:29] Where truth, authority, community, and meaning, listen to this, are all decentralized, customized, and contested.

[13:43] We have more access to information than ever before, and yet concepts like truth and authority are decentralized, apparently customizable, and always contested.

[13:54] Yet, this is nothing new. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth.

[14:12] They become futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise. They became fools, as Romans 1 says.

[14:25] Paul says later in that great epistle, Romans 8, the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. It cannot and does not submit to God's law.

[14:40] So the fact that we're in an age of fragmentation where truth is questioned and contested and decentralized, shouldn't necessarily surprise us, but it should concern us. Because if we are ruled in this age by minds who suppress the truth with their unrighteousness, minds that are set on the flesh and hostile to God, those very forces are seeking to influence your mind each and every day.

[15:12] Whether you realize it or not, there is a war being waged for your attention. It's not just on social media. If you think, well, I'm not on social media, I'm immune.

[15:23] It is everywhere. A worldview that is set against God, a worldview that seeks to decentralize truth away from God's word, a worldview that seeks to contest it.

[15:39] The believer's mind that is compromised by an anti-biblical worldview and you will begin to question the authority of God's word.

[15:50] Therefore, God's promises and scripture will be met with speculation. Skepticism will become your interpretive framework for reading the Bible and then in the face of your trial, your confidence will waver.

[16:02] There's a book title one time, it's talking about relativism, but it says, feet firmly planted in midair. It's how you'll find yourself.

[16:14] You will begin to question if God is in control. You'll start to wonder if in fact God is good. If he actually loves you and worst case scenario, you'll begin to wonder and question whether or not he even exists.

[16:27] We as pastors see this often when people walk through trial unprepared, unequipped, unarmed. Those are their natural default responses.

[16:39] They question God, they question his love, and ultimately, they're not careful. They wonder if he's even there. Therefore, God's command to us to inquire in his temple is mission critical for us.

[16:55] A kingdom mindset is essential to fortifying your mind. He says, come to me for truth. Come to me for knowledge.

[17:05] The fear of me is the beginning of all wisdom. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth. It's possible, and when you come into this room, you could say, John, I get it.

[17:23] I primarily come to worship to pour out praise upon the Lord. I don't feel like it should be too heady. I don't feel like it should be too cerebral.

[17:36] I want to caution you and say that there will come times in your life when your mind will have to instruct your heart because they will be at odds with one another.

[17:48] And if your mind is not informed by and closely tethered to the word of God, your heart will lead your mind astray. This is the headspace that Asaph was in and one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 73.

[18:04] The whole beginning of that psalm, he's looking around at the world and he begins to be perplexed. He said, how can these people who mock you, oh God, just seem to have everything that they want?

[18:14] How can they go on and mock you and never receive any judgment at all? And then Asaph has an epiphany. He has a mind change. He has a heart change.

[18:25] And this is what says precipitated that heart change in verse 16 of Psalm 73. But when I thought how to understand all of this, it proved to be a wearisome task.

[18:35] It wore Asaph out. He was trying to figure out how the wicked could just get on with their life without any fear of consequence. And then he says, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I discerned their end.

[18:53] It required submitting his worldview and what he was seeing in society to a kingdom mindset in the sanctuary of God in the act of worship. He had allowed his heart to dictate his thoughts about his circumstances and about his God.

[19:11] But until he went to the sanctuary of God, it was only then that his heart became fortified and he recommitted to following the Lord.

[19:24] I've mentioned before, one of my struggles in life is I feared death. It's not something I'm proud of.

[19:37] It's not something I think is becoming of a believer. But I'm one of those weird ones that think about my own death almost daily. Not proud of it.

[19:48] I'm human. My mind knows what to believe. But my heart is prone to fear. It's why I cling to lyrics as a worship pastor that are built on God's truth to fortify my soul.

[20:05] Lyrics like, And when I reach my final day, he will not leave me in the grave. But I will rise. He will call me home.

[20:15] The Lord is my salvation. When my heart is prone to fear, I have to take my mind and tell my heart and instruct my heart the truths that the heart is intended to believe.

[20:28] Otherwise, if I let my mind follow the course of my heart, I would live in a state of fear all my life. Paul, in his last recorded letter, 2 Timothy, I've always found this very interesting.

[20:44] Just before his martyrdom, he says, The time of my departure has come. He's admitting he's about to die. I'm about to leave this world.

[20:57] But just a few breaths later, he says, The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.

[21:08] To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. And then Paul exits the scene and slips into eternity.

[21:19] Supreme confidence. The time of my death has come. Yet the Lord will rescue me. He doesn't see a disparity here.

[21:33] His mind is informing his heart. He has supreme confidence. Where does he draw that from? He drew it from a mind filled with deposits of God's truth over the course of time so that when he had to make a withdrawal, there was a rich treasury to supply him in his time of need.

[21:56] That's the importance of why we come into this room. When scripture is read, at the very beginning of the service, it's not for the sake of you having an activity to walk into, to get you into the room.

[22:09] When we stand and read longer passages around the welcome time, it's not for the sake of giving our interns something to do on Sunday morning. It's to fill your mind with truth.

[22:23] It's to challenge the philosophies of the world that are antithetical to God's kingdom, those philosophies that have been washing over your mind all week. When we sing songs that are more wordy than you're used to, it's because music as a vehicle for God's word is like one theologian says, is portable theology to take with you throughout the week.

[22:45] When we pray, we're speaking God's truth over our hearts and back to him because it stirs within us our hearts' affection that are built upon biblical truths.

[22:57] When we hear the preaching of God's word, it's the focal point of the service because it is here that we hear what God has to say to us. These things are important.

[23:10] You gotta fill your mind with biblical truth. You can't rely on the service alone to do it, but I've mentioned those examples because the service is designed to do that and assist you in it, to be a model for how you're to live your life throughout the week.

[23:24] Are you filling up your mind with God's truth throughout the week to counteract all that the world is doing in your heart and mind from Monday through Saturday? A confident heart inquires in its temple.

[23:37] It meditates. It thinks. But a confident heart also gazes upon his beauty.

[23:48] A confident heart gazes upon his beauty. David says the one thing he seeks after is to inquire in his temple and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. And this begs the question, what does beauty have to do with uncommon valor?

[24:04] What does beauty have to do with supreme confidence and courage? David describes the Lord as beautiful.

[24:16] This means the Lord with all of his attributes is overwhelmingly beautiful to the believer. This is not a surface level kind of beauty that we're used to using in our language and culture as if David is just simply talking about this radiance, physical beauty that he imagines he would see if he were face to face with the Lord.

[24:35] It's not what he's talking about. He's talking about God in his entirety. Everything that makes God, God. His holiness, his righteousness, his purity, his justice, his mercy, his love, his compassion, his grace, his wrath, his omnipotence, his sovereignty, his omniscience, his providence, his creativity, and the list could go on and on.

[24:58] But David is saying, let me think about that God. That God is worth all of my attention. And I know I'm talking again about the mind, but the mind and the heart are not disconnected.

[25:13] However, if what we think about God, about us, about our situation, does not produce within us deep affections for the Lord, then something is wrong.

[25:35] Deep thinking without deep affections makes for a cold and lifeless faith. Only affirming something in your mind is not enough to get us to the point of having uncommon valor as a common virtue among us.

[25:50] Can't just affirm these truths. It's not enough to give us supreme confidence. It has to be deeper than affirming a truth. Our loves will ultimately be what motivate us into action.

[26:03] I'm gonna try and illustrate this for you from one of my favorite stories of scripture. scripture. It's after the resurrection of Christ. We followed the course of Peter's life.

[26:14] He's already denied the Lord three times. And they go fishing. The Lord calls them back onto the shore. And then he has this really sweet moment with Peter where he reaffirms him three times.

[26:25] Remember this? But he asks him a question. He said, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter says, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

[26:40] He says, feed my lambs. He asks him two more times. Simon, do you love me? Tend my sheep. Simon, do you love me? Feed my lambs.

[26:52] I find it interesting that Jesus was no longer asking Peter, who do you say that I am? What do you know about me? He didn't have to continue establishing the facts. Peter got that right one or two years ago.

[27:04] And his answer was important. That was foundational. We have to have that. He said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. I know these things in my mind to be true. And Jesus honored that decision.

[27:15] He says, upon that foundation, upon that proclamation, I will build my church. But what Peter knows is in his mind, that is of utmost importance.

[27:26] However, at this point, that's not what Jesus is after anymore. He wants to know what Peter loves. Peter loves. Because if Peter only affirmed things in his mind, but he doesn't truly love it, he doesn't truly love the Lord, he will never finish well.

[27:45] Jesus goes on to say to Peter, truly I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. But when you're old, you'll stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

[28:07] You say, John, what does that mean? He tells us what it means. Says this, he said, to show us by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me.

[28:18] Jesus knew that this man, Peter, a man who would need to confidently preach in the streets to testify before Jewish officials and Roman leaders, a man who would have to go to prison for the sake of the gospel and eventually be crucified, as tradition says, upside down for his faith.

[28:42] He would have to have more than a mind filled with facts about the Messiah. He'd have to have a heart that was captured by the beauty of the Son of God.

[28:56] And we know that he did. He never again denied the Lord. He went from being a scared follower who was too afraid to even be associated with Christ at the moment of his death to a confident gospel-proclaiming warrior who said, when you crucify me, that's fine.

[29:15] Make sure you turn me upside down because I'm not even worthy to die in the same manner as my Lord. What would do that to Peter? How do you go from being a coward to being crucified upside down?

[29:30] How do you have such supreme confidence and courage? It's because he inquired in the temple. He had a heart that was captivated captivated by the beauty and worth of Christ.

[29:46] So I ask you the same question that Jesus asked Peter. Christian, do you love Christ? Does his beauty capture your heart?

[30:01] Simply knowing facts about the Bible will not be enough. God wants your heart. We've seen too many men who have a great deal of Bible knowledge destroy their lives because they gave their heart away to lust, greed, and power.

[30:17] A person whose mind is filled with information but whose heart is captivated by cheap imitations of beauty, what the world and flesh have to offer, is a man or woman who will never have the courage to deny the flesh, to pick up their cross, and to truly follow Jesus.

[30:33] If you want to know how a heart captivated by the beauty of Jesus talks, it sounds something like this. I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

[30:50] Count everything as loss because Christ is infinitely more beautiful. That's the position of a heart of uncommon valor, one who will not only say no to the empty promises of sin, but one who will stare death in the face and say, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

[31:11] Or as we sang today, be still, O soul, and remember the worst that can come, speaking of our death, but shortens our journey, it hastens us home.

[31:26] Before we leave this point, and I recognize that if some of us were honest, we were willing to say this out loud, you might say something like this, I love to learn about God, but I'm afraid I don't, I just don't love God like I'm supposed to.

[31:48] If that's you, I'd like to speak for you just a moment. But first of all, I want you to know that's not uncommon. And if it bothers you, the very fact that it bothers you is a grace from the Lord so that you can seek to deepen that affection that you have for him to cultivate a deeper relationship.

[32:15] But it does remind us a word that I just used, that biblical, biblical, God-focused, Christ-honoring affections have to be cultivated.

[32:29] We don't stumble into a captivated heart by accident, at least not the kind that will give its life for its sake.

[32:39] It takes time, it takes effort, but the Lord has given us the means of grace to see growth in this area through Bible reading, scripture memory, prayer, meditation, private and public worship where we sing God's word, we hear it proclaimed and preached, all of the ordinances, baptism, Lord's Supper, all of these things are the means of grace that God uses to an obedient believer to cultivate and grow biblical affections for him.

[33:06] Let me encourage you to pray earnestly for your heart to delight in Christ's beauty. That is a prayer that the Lord, I believe, delights to answer. I want to encourage you to actively pursue it.

[33:18] Don't just do it when you feel like it and that you approach those activities, those means of grace in such a way that you're not doing it just to acquire knowledge, but that you're using your learning to pursue the beauty and worth of Christ.

[33:37] A heart will not be confident unless it first inquires in the temple, fills its mind with truth, will not be confident unless its heart is engaged with biblical affections which we have to cultivate.

[33:54] Heart and mind as a unit stayed upon him to be kept in perfect peace, which is why we get to our third point, a confident heart not only inquires in the temple, not only gazes upon his beauty, but it dwells in the house of the Lord for a lifetime.

[34:18] I'm reminded of Psalm 84, verse 10, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

[34:34] Remember, David said there's just one thing he desires of the Lord. That's what he's going to seek, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, to gaze upon his beauty, to inquire in the temple.

[34:45] These are one and the same. These are one entity. And to dwell in the house means this continual, ongoing, consistent pursuit of inquiring and gazing.

[34:58] It is not coming into the house of the Lord for a season and then following the world for a season. You will not fortify your heart that way. It's not coming into the house of the Lord on Sunday, inquiring in his temple on Sunday, building up your biblical affections on Sunday, only to go and be depleted for the rest of the week as you chase after the world.

[35:16] That's not what it's talking about. It is one that dwells in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. Every day you inquire of the Lord, rejecting the world's wisdom and seeking the Lord's.

[35:29] Every day you gaze upon his beauty, forsaking these cheap offerings that the world has to offer for our destruction. It's a daily pursuit. Wearing ruts into your soul.

[35:45] The more you do it, the deeper the tread goes. The track goes so that the vehicle of your life finds it easier and easier each day. When it becomes spiritual muscle memory so that when faced with a storm you are unwavering.

[36:06] When trials occur you are unflinching. This confidence is rooted in a deep intimate relationship with your creator and there are no shortcuts to intimacy.

[36:21] It's true in our physical relationships. It's true in our relationship with the Lord. A heart that is confident in the Lord and speaks of his faithfulness has to do so from experience not in theory.

[36:33] intimacy comes from dwelling in the house of the Lord. That's the recipe for a confident heart. Inquiring, gazing, and dwelling.

[36:45] So as we conclude our time I'm going to speak for just a moment as your worship pastor because grasping this will impact how you view what we do in this room each and every week.

[37:05] And I don't want to miss the opportunity to speak to that for you. This past semester I was brainstorming. I'm like how can I succinctly say what truly is taking place in our hearts and minds in this room each week or what should be?

[37:22] Obviously we're worshiping, obviously the Lord is being glorified, all of that. I'm like what is our expectation of ourselves of what's taking place? So I sought to kind of chart out different things and I sought some counsel from some guys on staff and came up with the threefold criteria that I think is important and I think you'll see the correlation in just a moment.

[37:45] When we come into this room for worship here is what I believe is taking place in the hearts and minds of believers. One, believers are learning and maturing.

[37:58] It's the mind. We learn, we gain facts, we learn about the Bible, it's what we're called to do. That knowledge should produce maturity.

[38:10] knowledge without maturity means there's no connection there. It means you have to go back to the spiritual milk. You're not ready for meat. It's not what we want. Knowledge should lead to maturity.

[38:22] Believers are learning and maturing. The second one is biblical affections are being cultivated and expressed. Deep biblical affections, not talking about emotions just for the emotion's sake.

[38:38] we're not chasing a feeling. We're talking about emotions and affections that are driven by God's truth. Deep biblical affections, they have to be cultivated in a place like this and then we have the opportunity to express those.

[38:56] So believers are learning and maturing, biblical affections are being cultivated and expressed and then lastly the body grows in holiness both individually and corporately.

[39:12] I had a professor who would always say if you want to determine if worship has taken place has to be measured with obedience because otherwise we don't know. Obedience is the measure of whether true worship has taken place and so when we think of this believers are learning and maturing.

[39:28] We learn, we gain knowledge for the glory of God. We're edified by that. We express our affections as we cultivate them, we express them, that's to God's glory when we pour out love on him and it's for our edification that's good and we have to grow in holiness.

[39:42] When we're more and more conformed to the image of Christ, that is to his glory and I feel like this fits pretty nicely with Psalm 27 verse 4.

[39:53] Learning and maturing requires inquiring in the temple. Cultivating and expressing biblical affections comes from gazing upon the beauty of the Lord and responding in worship.

[40:06] The body growing in holiness and obedience individually and as a church means we are dwelling in the house of the Lord each and every day as we follow him in obedience. Hopefully you can see how these connect together.

[40:17] Now I want to mention this all for the sake of revealing this to you. I have a theory that one of these is going to come more naturally to you. You're going to be more naturally bent towards one than the other.

[40:31] You may say, if I said, hey, what would you say is the reason why you come into this place for worship, you might say, I come to learn. And I would say that's true. But if that's the only reason, that's a deficient reason.

[40:45] Others may say, I don't really care about it being all this knowledge, I just want to pour out my praise on the Lord. I say that's great. Biblical affections should be expressed.

[40:58] But affections without truth guiding it is also deficient. And so for all of us, we have to recognize that when we come into this place, it is for the sake of feeding your mind with the truth of God.

[41:17] It's for the sake of stirring up deep biblical affection so that you can live and walk in obedience all the days of your life. That's the recipe for success.

[41:29] That is how uncommon valor becomes a common virtue among God's people, inquiring, gazing, and dwelling. You may never have to encourage another believer as you burn at the stake.

[41:50] You may not have to steady the executioner's hand as he brings the sword close. However, you will have to wake up tomorrow morning, read the headlines.

[42:10] We saw yesterday we never know what a day will bring. Will you wilt? Will you retreat in fear? Or will you stand and say, my God is sovereign and king over all the earth?

[42:26] whatever may come my way, I will overcome. We sang that a while ago. Some of you will have to go to a doctor's appointment this week.

[42:41] Others will face unemployment next month. A few of you will have to bury a loved one this year. Your soul will be rocked.

[42:52] Those are life-changing events. things. But my prayer for us is that for all of our circumstances and ultimately when each of us face our final day, whether we are young or old, we will be able to do so with utmost confidence.

[43:17] Uncommon valor would be a common virtue among us. requires the Lord's help. But it requires your diligence as well. Let me pray for us.

[43:29] now to you, O Lord, who can keep us from stumbling, who can supply our hearts with supreme confidence, courage, and faith, you who can present us blameless before the presence of your glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.

[44:10] Amen. God bless you. Thank you for being here. Have a wonderful week. You're dismissed. Thank you so much for joining us via live stream this morning.

[44:25] If you have any questions whatsoever about our church or the ministries that our church provides, please visit us at fbcmustang.org. We would love to follow up with you and get to know you better.

[44:38] As always, we try to emphasize if at all possible, if you could be here physically present with us, we would love that and that would be a joy to serve you in that way.

[44:48] But thank you again for joining us via live stream today. Have a great day. God bless you.

[45:23] God bless you.