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Y'all know this is not too, too 
big for the Lord to handle, 

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right? 
Even if it is scary, the world 

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events that happen, they're 
scary, it's still not too big 

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for him to handle. 
And this is something that 

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sounds almost like a Christian 
bumper sticker. 

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Nothing's too big for my God to 
handle. 

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But if you really believe it, 
then there is some peace even 

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with the uncertainty. 
And that's what I'm holding on 

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to. 
OK, today is called when 

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covenant is corrupted. 
It's a little heavy for me 

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personally, although I'm feeling
a whole lot better than I was 

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last week. 
Had somebody asked me if if the 

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attacks have stopped, there are 
still spiritual attacks. 

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They just don't feel like 
they're quite as effective. 

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But today I'm going to share a 
story in the middle of the 

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sermon that I've never fully 
shared from the pulpit. 

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So that'll be fun. 
A little embarrassing, but we're

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talking about covenant. 
Covenant is special. 

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Before we get into some of this 
heavy stuff, let me just tell 

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you that a couple weeks ago I 
had the pleasure of watching one

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of the underrated jewels of the 
Disney catalog with my kids, 

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which was The Emperor's New 
Groove. 

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OK, All right, So it's really 
cool because if you remember 

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this, there's an agreement that 
Pancha makes with the Emperor 

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Cusco. 
So if you haven't watched it, 

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the emperor wants to destroy his
home and Pancha's home so that 

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he can put a a summer resort 
there or something. 

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And Pancha makes a deal. 
He's like, hey, I'll help you 

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get back to the palace if you 
promise not to destroy my home. 

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And he says, OK, I promise. 
And halfway through the movie, 

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of course, comes out that he 
said, no, I'm still going to 

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destroy your home. 
And then Pancha starts to lead 

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him back to the palace anyway. 
And he said, why are you still 

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helping me? 
You know that I, I broke my side

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of the agreement. 
And he looks at me and said, 

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because we shook on it. 
I gave you my word. 

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A deal's a deal. 
Covenant is sacred, and even if 

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it's not sacred to us, and it 
should be, it is sacred to the 

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Lord. 
You can turn to Matthew 5. 

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That's where we'll be first 
today. 

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And I'll just be honest with 
you. 

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We have a ton of scripture to go
through. 

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You probably remember the name 
Lance Armstrong, at least many 

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of us would. 
He was for years the face of 

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endurance and courage and hope 
and lots and lots and lots of 

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people have those little rubber 
yellow bracelets that said 

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LIVESTRONG, that was the name of
his organization. 

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And it's because he had beaten 
cancer and then he had gone on 

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to win the Tour de France again 
and again. 

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And so that was pretty 
impressive. 

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But the truth came out 
eventually, and the story 

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changed. 
Lance Armstrong for years had 

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hidden the fact that he had been
doping. 

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He had been deceiving. 
He had he had bled this out into

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his nonprofit organization, and 
it covered up a lot of things. 

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And it almost killed the 
Livestrong Foundation. 

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They had to change how they 
operated, even when he removed 

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himself from it. 
And the point is this, it's not 

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just Lance Armstrong that did 
this. 

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Sometimes we do the right thing,
But if we're honest, our motives

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aren't what they should be. 
So today, if I had to hone in on

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any part of our life, it's about
our motives, because our motives

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will sometimes make us do things
that are generally good for 

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other people, but they still 
damage our soul in the process. 

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And we're talking about demonic 
attacks. 

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You and I may not be aware of 
the power of our motives and 

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what we do, but the enemy is, 
and he is well trained on how to

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attack us. 
A couple different things that 

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I'll just give you as general 
examples. 

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Maybe a student volunteers for a
community project, but it's only

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so it looks good on their 
college resume. 

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They don't really care about who
they're helping. 

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Or maybe it's when a neighbor 
brings over a casserole, but 

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it's really so they can sit down
and get the latest gossip. 

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Or a spouse apologizes to end an
argument, but it's not because 

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they mean it. 
They just want to end the 

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argument. 
How about someone who serves the

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homeless? 
But the first thing they do 

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after that is post a picture 
with the caption. 

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I'm so humbled to serve today. 
All of these actions are good on

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the surface. 
Good still comes out of every 

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single one of them. 
But it doesn't mean it's always 

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good for your soul. 
And so the answer is, well, I 

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guess I'll just stop doing bad 
things, like good things for bad

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reasons. 
No, no, no, just do them for 

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good reasons. 
And that's what we're going to 

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talk about today. 
This is why you don't have to 

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turn here. 
But This is why the Lord said to

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Samuel and first Samuel 16 
seven, that man looks at the 

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outward appearance, but the Lord
looks at the heart. 

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It's not just what we do that 
matters. 

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It's why we do what we do that 
truly matters as well. 

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And I want you to know this. 
Motive is the hidden engine of 

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every decision you make. 
Motive is the hidden engine for 

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every decision that you make. 
And sometimes they're good ones 

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and sometimes they're bad ones, 
and sometimes they're neutral. 

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But today we're going to talk 
about how Covenant will stay 

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committed to the right thing 
regardless of the outcome. 

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And corruption will say I'm 
committed because of what I get 

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out of it. 
That's what makes our motive so 

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dangerous because most of the 
time they look right on the 

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surface. 
And you can give generously for 

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selfish reasons. 
You can serve faithfully so that

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you feel valuable. 
And you can love people very 

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loudly in front of others 
because it feeds your pride more

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than it reflects your Savior. 
But loving people is always 

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meant to reflect Jesus to other 
people. 

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And so if we hear these whispers
of the enemy, what will people 

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think? 
What will you get out of this? 

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It's going to slowly turn into 
performance when we do good 

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things and we need to clean up 
our motives. 

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So corruption and covenant, it's
not found just in behaviour. 

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It's found out what happens in 
our hearts when nobody is 

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watching. 
That's what Jesus addressed on 

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the Sermon on the Mount. 
That's where we are in Matthew 

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5. 
In Matthew 5, I'll just start in

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verse 21. 
Of course, he's got the 

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Beatitudes, which you could just
preach for months on, but it 

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says here in verse 21, Jesus 
says you've heard it. 

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You've heard that our ancestors 
were told you must not murder. 

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Solid advice by the way. 
He says if you commit murder you

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are subject to judgement. 
And then he says, but I say if 

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you are even angry with someone 
you are subject to judgement. 

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Huh. 
So I can't just not murder them?

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I I shouldn't stay angry with 
them? 

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He would say That is correct. 
Listen to this. 

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If you call someone an idiot, 
you are in danger of being 

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brought before the court. 
Some of you are like, Oh no, he 

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heard what we talked about at 
breakfast this morning before 

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church. 
And if you curse someone, you 

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are in danger of the fires of 
hell. 

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He said if you are presenting A 
sacrifice at the altar in the 

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temple and you suddenly remember
that someone has something 

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against you, leave your 
sacrifice there at the altar. 

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Go and be reconciled to that 
person. 

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Then come and offer your 
sacrifice to God. 

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You know what's interesting? 
He doesn't say if you remember 

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that you have something against 
somebody. 

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It says if you suddenly remember
that somebody has an issue with 

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you, go out of your way to fix 
it. 

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Well, we don't want to do that. 
We love saying, you know what, 

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if he was got something to say 
to me, he can come and say it on

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my face. 
But you already know there's a 

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problem in it, that it's going 
to get worse. 

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Yeah, but he should bring it up.
Yeah, he should. 

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But but this OK when you're on 
the way to court with your 

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adversary, settle your 
differences quickly. 

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Otherwise, your accuser may hand
you over to the judge, who will 

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hand you over to an officer, and
then you'll be thrown into 

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prison. 
And if that happens, you surely 

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won't be free again until you 
have paid the last penny. 

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And then he can tell. 
I'm assuming that it got a 

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little uncomfortable for his 
audience, so he switched the 

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subject for murder to adultery. 
And he said, you've heard the 

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commandment that says you must 
not commit adultery. 

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But I say, anyone who even looks
at a woman with lust has already

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committed adultery with her in 
his heart, Huh. 

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So then he says, so your eye, 
even your good eye that causes 

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you to lust, gouge it out and 
throw it away. 

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It's better for you to lose one 
part of your body than for your 

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whole body to be thrown into 
hell. 

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And if your hand, even your 
stronger hand, causes you to 

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sin, cut it off and throw it 
away. 

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It's better for you to lose one 
part of your body than for the 

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whole body to be thrown into 
hell. 

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I look at that, and I just 
think, man, I'm glad that's not 

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a literal command, because has 
anybody here ever seen Monty 

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Python? 
In the search for the Holy 

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Grail? 
We'd all be hopping around like 

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the Black Knight. 
No legs, no arms. 

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Here's what he's getting at, 
though. 

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Yes, you know that you shouldn't
murder, and you shouldn't hold 

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this anger in your heart, and 
you know that you shouldn't 

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commit adultery. 
But he's trying to get across to

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us that if you won't hold anger 
in your heart, it won't lead you

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to murder. 
So you won't have to learn how 

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to just live filled with rage 
and not murder people. 

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If you refuse to look at people 
lustfully, you won't fall into 

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adultery. 
So you can try and do sin 

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management on the outside, but 
your heart motive, which is not 

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apparent to people, including 
ourselves a lot of the time, 

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your heart is still visible to 
the Lord. 

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And so your motives matter a 
great deal. 

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And we'll talk about how to 
purify them today. 

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These are important teachings 
because Jesus is not just 

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confronting our sin, He's 
confronting our motives, what 

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drives us. 
Things don't start on the 

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outside of us, they start on the
inside. 

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And remember, our motive is the 
engine for every decision we 

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make. 
And we tend to justify why we do

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what we do, even if we often 
regret it later. 

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And this really matters this 
morning, because if the enemy 

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can't make you evil, he'll make 
you very busy. 

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And once you're busy, you can't 
think as clearly. 

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If he can't make you sin, he 
will make you self-righteous. 

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And if he can't pull you into 
the darkness, he'll just dim the

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light a little bit at a time 
until you don't even notice the 

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difference anymore. 
And before you know it, this 

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heart that you have that once 
burned for God will cool into a 

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routine and you'll still show 
up. 

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Maybe you'll still give, you'll 
still serve, you'll still 

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worship. 
But there will be something off.

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And the actions will be right. 
But the motives have dimmed. 

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That's what we're talking about 
this morning. 

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So we're going to go after the 
parts of us that look fine from 

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the outside but are quietly 
corroded on the inside. 

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We're going to talk about the 
spirits behind them that tend to

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tempt us. 
We're going to talk about 3 

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names today, Mammon, Asmodeus, 
and Azazel. 

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Now I say that, but I want to re
refer to something I said a 

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couple weeks ago. 
I asked the Lord can you tell me

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what what spirits are 
specifically targeting the 

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church because I want to pray 
against them. 

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And he said those names don't 
have any power, but the name of 

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my son does. 
So I give you these names just 

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so that you can have a name for 
the kind of attack, because I'm 

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not on a first name basis with 
these guys. 

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We don't hang out, right? 
Not, not my friend's circle, but

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just so that you can understand 
these kinds of attacks. 

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And I'll give you the roots for 
them too. 

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But Mammon twists trust in the 
Lord into greed as Modius twists

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love into lust, and Azazel 
twists reverence for the Lord 

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into rebellion. 
And I'm going to show you all 

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three of them today. 
So let's go ahead and jump into 

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it. 
The first thing, if we're going 

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to be talking about when 
Covenant gets corrupted, then we

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00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:49,160
have to start by talking about 
when provision becomes 

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00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:52,480
possession. 
At some point, we're so grateful

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00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:54,680
for anything that the Lord will 
throw to us. 

230
00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:56,200
We're so grateful for him to 
provide. 

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00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,920
He's Jehovah Jireh, we'll sing 
it, It's a great song. 

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00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:02,600
And then all of a sudden we get 
a little entitled to what we 

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00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,240
have, don't we? 
I've, I've shared this before, 

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00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,360
so I won't go into it, but I'll 
never forget one day buying a 

235
00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,960
large French fry for my daughter
and then trying to get like the 

236
00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:14,400
handful, you know, I got the dad
tax. 

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00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:18,640
I earned it. 
But to see it like get snatched 

238
00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:22,160
real quick. 
Whoa, I don't get any. 

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00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:23,360
She's like, well, they're my 
fries. 

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00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:27,320
And I'm so sorry for my kids 
because like, everything's a 

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00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,960
teachable moment. 
I'm like, oh, this will be good 

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00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:31,400
in a sermon one day. 
Well, here we are. 

243
00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,320
And so I talked to her, you 
know, well, what about these 

244
00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:35,600
fries? 
I mean, where did they come 

245
00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:37,040
from? 
She's like McDonald's. 

246
00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,280
OK, who provided them for you? 
Well, you did. 

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00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:42,600
From what? 
Whose money? 

248
00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:44,800
Well, your money. 
So I provided them for you. 

249
00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:45,880
So can I have a little bit of 
it? 

250
00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:49,160
She goes, oh, I feel bad if I 
don't give you something now. 

251
00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:50,560
And I'm like, I don't want you 
to feel bad. 

252
00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:53,760
And she went, no, there's plenty
of fries. 

253
00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:55,760
And this is probably not the 
last time you'll buy me French 

254
00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:57,520
fries. 
And it was not by the way. 

255
00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:00,040
So she gave me French fries, 
right? 

256
00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,240
So it's this mind shift over 
some somehow we received 

257
00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,440
something and then we feel like 
hands off, Lord, like this is 

258
00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:07,760
mine now. 
You shouldn't have given it to 

259
00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:08,760
me if you don't want me to have 
it. 

260
00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:09,920
We wouldn't talk to him that 
way. 

261
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:14,320
We'd just act like it. 
So we're going to be going into 

262
00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,080
two scriptures here in Matthew 6
and then in Luke 12, but we're 

263
00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,720
going to start in Matthew 6. 
This is what it says in verse 

264
00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:23,040
24, says no one can serve 2 
masters. 

265
00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:24,800
For you will hate one and love 
the other. 

266
00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,640
You will be devoted to 1 and 
despise the other. 

267
00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:31,040
You cannot serve God and be 
enslaved to money. 

268
00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,640
But before we read this this 
again, I want you to have some 

269
00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:37,760
context. 
All right, I want to take you 

270
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:39,480
back to the good old King James 
Bible. 

271
00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,680
Don't normally preach from it. 
So I'm going to do new King 

272
00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:44,840
James. 
So it's just a little bit 

273
00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:46,080
modernized. 
But listen to this. 

274
00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:49,320
No one can serve 2 masters. 
Either he'll hate one and love 

275
00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:50,800
the other sounds the same so far
right. 

276
00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:53,680
Or else he'll be loyal to 1 and 
despise the other. 

277
00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:57,800
You cannot serve God and Mammon.
This is what the King James 

278
00:12:57,800 --> 00:12:59,000
said. 
How many of y'all remember 

279
00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:00,240
Mammon? 
Because you came up here on a 

280
00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:01,840
lot of King James. 
I know that there's some in 

281
00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:03,280
here. 
All right, All right. 

282
00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:08,000
So Mammon is this system of of 
security and wealth and 

283
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:10,400
provision in the world. 
And this is what the Jewish 

284
00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:13,400
people were referring to. 
So when Jesus said you cannot 

285
00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,200
serve God and Mammon, he wasn't 
talking about money as an 

286
00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:19,000
object. 
You need money to operate in 

287
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,560
this world, OK. 
And if you go to the utility 

288
00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:25,520
department and you say God is my
provider, I don't need money, 

289
00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:28,880
they're going to say then you 
don't need utilities. 

290
00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:31,320
I mean, this is the way that it 
works. 

291
00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:34,400
Maybe you want to take it back 
and barter with some chickens 

292
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:35,720
and let me know if it works out 
for you. 

293
00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:40,840
But this is what he's saying. 
Jesus was naming a spiritual 

294
00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:44,080
concept that the people in his 
day already understood. 

295
00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:46,400
In the ancient world, mammon was
more than wealth. 

296
00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:51,200
It was a personified force of 
wealth and security in what you 

297
00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,160
had. 
It was a spirit of greed and 

298
00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:55,720
self-reliance. 
It's easy to say that it's a 

299
00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:58,680
spirit of greed and nobody says 
that they should be greedy. 

300
00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:01,080
Everybody knows they shouldn't 
be greedy, but you're not meant 

301
00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,960
to be self reliant either. 
But just scroll through social 

302
00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:06,120
media at some point and tell me 
how many things you see where 

303
00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:07,880
people post. 
And they're like, I used to be 

304
00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,800
open to everybody, but now I 
look out for #1 like you're so 

305
00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,920
empowered, I'll be here on the 
other side. 

306
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:19,880
You can't just look out for #1 
The only way this works is if we

307
00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:22,240
constantly and consistently look
out for one another. 

308
00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:24,000
That's the only way that this 
works. 

309
00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:29,000
Now that being said, when Jesus 
used this word mammon, everyone 

310
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,200
listening would have known 
exactly what he was implying he 

311
00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:32,920
was saying. 
You can't worship 2 gods. 

312
00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,840
You can't say that there are two
sources of your provision. 

313
00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,400
I trust on the means of the 
world and I trust the Lord. 

314
00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,080
You can't. 
Have you ever been somewhere 

315
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:44,960
where you've seen a dualistic 
worship? 

316
00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,920
I've been there. 
I've been in Guatemala before 

317
00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:50,520
and gone to a church where they 
were worshiping local deities 

318
00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:52,840
inside of what was also a 
Catholic Church. 

319
00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,280
And so these local deities were 
just lined up there next to 

320
00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,520
these like Catholic Saints that 
were on display with the icons 

321
00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:01,600
of what these Saints look like 
that they're revering and 

322
00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,720
praying to and through. 
And I'll just be honest with 

323
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:06,720
you, it's gross. 
It's gross to me. 

324
00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:10,520
I can only imagine how gross it 
is to the Lord, the only one who

325
00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:12,880
can actually answer the 
provision that you need. 

326
00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:16,200
And he watches the affections of
your heart go other places 

327
00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:17,800
because you think it's a better 
deal. 

328
00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:23,880
That's the way that we live. 
He's not against money, but 

329
00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:26,200
Jesus is saying that money is a 
terrible master. 

330
00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,960
And so Mammon makes promises 
that only God can actually keep.

331
00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:32,960
When we feel like if we get this
raise or we get to a certain 

332
00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:35,120
number in the bank or something 
like that, we feel like it'll 

333
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,600
give us peace or make us feel 
secure, or it'll make people 

334
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,920
respect us. 
But it never really delivers, 

335
00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:42,320
does it? 
It only demands more. 

336
00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:45,280
And the moment that you're worth
or your safety or your peace 

337
00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:47,480
depend on how much is in the 
bank account or what you've got 

338
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,480
in your house, that's when 
covenant starts to corrode and 

339
00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:52,960
you stop relying on the Lord as 
your source. 

340
00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,640
Mammon will always trust in 
performance. 

341
00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:58,440
But just so you know, Jesus 
didn't just only warn about 

342
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:00,160
Mammon. 
He illustrated it as well. 

343
00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,000
And I told you we were going to 
be in Luke chapter 12. 

344
00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:04,880
Well, in Luke chapter 12, we see
this really scary story. 

345
00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,280
It's it's this man who has a 
lot. 

346
00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:12,080
And in verse 15, Jesus is 
telling the story and he says, 

347
00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,320
beware, guard against every kind
of greed. 

348
00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:18,000
I guess there's more than one. 
Life is not measured by how much

349
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,240
you own. 
And then he told them a story. 

350
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,840
He says a rich man had a fertile
farm that produced fine crops. 

351
00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:27,640
He said to himself, what should 
I do? 

352
00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:29,880
I don't have room for all my 
crops. 

353
00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,320
And then he said, I know I'll 
tear down my barns and build 

354
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,520
bigger ones. 
And then I'll have enough room 

355
00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:37,320
to store all my wheat and other 
goods. 

356
00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:42,120
And I'll sit back and say to 
myself, my friend, you have 

357
00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:43,680
enough story away for years to 
come. 

358
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:45,960
Now take it easy, eat, drink and
be merry. 

359
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:48,600
I'm just telling you right now, 
I love every single one of you. 

360
00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:49,720
I don't have to know you to love
you. 

361
00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:51,920
But if we're ever sitting down 
for a meal and I hear you 

362
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:56,120
talking to yourself and saying, 
my friend, you've bought me a 

363
00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,920
good meal, I'm out. 
It's just a red flag. 

364
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:06,040
I'll pray for you in my car. 
Verse 20. 

365
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,480
But God said to him, you fool, 
you will die this very night. 

366
00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:11,880
Then who will get everything you
worked for? 

367
00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:15,839
Yes, a person is a fool to store
up earthly wealth but not have a

368
00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:19,560
rich relationship with God. 
Listen, finish this sentence for

369
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,359
me. 
You can't take it with you when 

370
00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,880
you Yeah, yeah, we had all these
variations. 

371
00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,599
Die, go, leave all of that same 
concept. 

372
00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:31,800
We know it, we say it. 
We don't live like it all the 

373
00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:34,360
time. 
Now, I'm not saying everybody 

374
00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:37,520
needs to operate on a shoestring
budget, but I'm saying you do 

375
00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:39,960
need to let God be the source of
your provision and give you 

376
00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:42,080
wisdom on what to do with what 
He provides you with. 

377
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,400
And so when Jesus told the story
again, he wasn't condemning 

378
00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:49,000
success or planning ahead. 
Thank the Lord every farmer in 

379
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,200
that crowd would have had a 
harvest like that. 

380
00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,720
The problem wasn't that the man 
had barns or things in the barn.

381
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:56,760
Isn't it interesting? 
It didn't even dawn on him to 

382
00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:59,440
say my barn is overflowing? 
I wonder if there are needy 

383
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,640
people that I could give some of
this away to. 

384
00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:05,920
And that's the concept. 
Just so you know, I'm not really

385
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:07,280
teaching on tithing or giving 
today. 

386
00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:08,880
You all have been so faithful 
and everything. 

387
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,280
I'm just saying that there is a 
heart behind generosity. 

388
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,000
Buy somebody lunch or just, you 
know, go out of your way to help

389
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:15,400
provide something. 
When you know that somebody 

390
00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:18,240
needs something, when you've got
an overflow, do something that 

391
00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:20,320
pours into the life of another 
person. 

392
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:22,680
We'll talk a little bit more 
about that in a minute. 

393
00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:25,720
But what I've noticed is mammon 
creeps in. 

394
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:28,560
There's almost no Christian that
believes that they are afflicted

395
00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:30,560
by mammon or this spirit behind 
them. 

396
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,880
But I'm going to give you some 
symptoms of what it looks like, 

397
00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,680
just in case. 
Maybe when you pray for a new 

398
00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:40,560
job or a pay raise, but then you
stop praying to the Lord as 

399
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,840
often once you get it, well, 
then you were praying just to 

400
00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:46,040
get what you want and not for 
the rich relationship with the 

401
00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:48,680
Lord that we just talked about. 
Or you ask God to bless your 

402
00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:51,280
family, and then you get so busy
protecting the comfort that He 

403
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,840
blessed you with that you forget
to lead your family spiritually.

404
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:57,560
Or sometimes you start thinking 
God's provision is proof that 

405
00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:00,400
you are holy or righteous or 
good performer in the Kingdom. 

406
00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,760
This might be the worst one 
because once you start to feel 

407
00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,120
like you are entitled to it or 
owed it, now you start thinking 

408
00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:10,560
about how to build bigger barns.
Mammon is subtle. 

409
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,640
It doesn't tell you to abandon 
God, it just convinces you to 

410
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:15,360
depend on yourself because you 
know what? 

411
00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:17,000
You've had a hard life and you 
deserve it. 

412
00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:20,440
This whole thing actually 
reminded me of something that 

413
00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,160
Jim Carrey once said. 
If I brought up The Emperor's 

414
00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,480
New Groove, surely I can bring 
up Jim Carrey. 

415
00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:28,560
And if you're offended by that, 
just wait till I get to Spider 

416
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:32,600
Man. 
So Jim Carrey, who's obviously a

417
00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,240
very famous modern actor, he's 
done a lot of things. 

418
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,400
He's achieved almost everything 
that he dreamt of. 

419
00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:41,680
And this was his quote. 
One time in an interview, he 

420
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,240
said, I think everybody should 
get rich and famous and do 

421
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,080
everything they ever dreamed of.
Most of them would be like, 

422
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:51,600
yeah, but that there's a comma. 
And he says so that they can see

423
00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:56,920
it's not the answer. 
Now, this is the man who's seen 

424
00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,680
both sides of the mountain. 
He's reached the pinnacle, and 

425
00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:01,160
he's realized that there was 
nothing there. 

426
00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:03,880
It's deep, isn't it? 
You know, it's even deeper. 

427
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,800
There is the fact that he's 
still chasing projects and still

428
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:11,280
performing and still doing it. 
I've heard him say a few times, 

429
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,960
this will be my last movie. 
And I know this because the last

430
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,600
time I heard him say it, it was 
right after Sonic the Hedgehog 2

431
00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,080
came out. 
And I thought it's interesting 

432
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,600
that that's going to be his last
movie, that you choose Sonic the

433
00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:28,520
Hedgehog to be his last movie. 
Y'all see Sonic 3, he's back 

434
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:32,720
right? 
So here's the thing you can get 

435
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:34,640
to the top of the mountain. 
You can achieve your goals and 

436
00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:36,200
your dreams. 
You can realize that it's not 

437
00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,120
the answer to everything but 
what do you pursue? 

438
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,760
And so there's a void there and 
he's on to something there. 

439
00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:44,120
He understands there's an 
emptiness that he's achieved. 

440
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:48,160
He's not sure what to do next 
and that happens to us a lot of 

441
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:49,680
times too. 
So how do we fight the spirit of

442
00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:51,720
Mammon? 
Well, in Mark chapter 10, I'll 

443
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,960
give you an illustration, but 
just know this, that if God has 

444
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,840
blessed you, do not feel guilty.
You should not feel guilty at 

445
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,520
all if the Lord has blessed you.
However, just know that you 

446
00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:05,480
don't conquer mammon by having 
less, you just conquer mammon by

447
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:08,080
trusting more. 
You don't defeat greed by 

448
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,120
feeling guilty about it, you 
defeat it by having open hands. 

449
00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:15,840
And this is what Jesus was 
getting at in this often 

450
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,240
mistaught parable. 
Here's what he says to the rich 

451
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:22,000
man in verse 17. 
As Jesus was starting out on his

452
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,360
way to Jerusalem, a man came 
running up to him, knelt down 

453
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:28,720
and ask, good teacher, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? 

454
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,160
It's one of my favorite things. 
You probably heard me say this 

455
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,280
before. 
Jesus says, why do you call me 

456
00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:35,280
good? 
Only God is truly good. 

457
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,240
But to answer your question, you
know the commandments. 

458
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:41,800
You must not murder. 
You must not commit adultery. 

459
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,360
We're back to that. 
You must not steal. 

460
00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:46,880
You must not testify falsely. 
So don't lie. 

461
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,200
You must not cheat anyone. 
Honor your father and mother. 

462
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:52,920
Now this is what I always think 
is so interesting because he 

463
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,040
says good teacher and Jesus 
says, why do you call me good? 

464
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:56,640
Only God is good. 
It was a test. 

465
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,520
And then in verse 20 he goes, 
teacher. 

466
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:02,920
He's not the good teacher 
anymore, is he? 

467
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:06,080
He says, well, I've obeyed all 
these commandments since I was 

468
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:10,160
young. 
And in verse 21 says Jesus 

469
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:12,920
looked at the man and felt 
genuine love for him. 

470
00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:15,400
And he said, there's still one 
thing you haven't done. 

471
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,680
Go and sell all your 
possessions, give the money to 

472
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,320
the poor, and then you'll have 
treasure in heaven and then come

473
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:25,800
follow me. 
At this the man's face fell and 

474
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,960
he went away sad, for he had 
many possessions so interesting.

475
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:33,600
He ran out of words. 
He doesn't even respond to him, 

476
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:41,080
he just walks away like Charlie 
Brown when he realized all his 

477
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:42,360
friends were having a party 
without him. 

478
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:46,760
But listen, Jesus looked around 
and said to his disciples, how 

479
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,680
hard it is for the rich to enter
the Kingdom of God. 

480
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:51,880
And this amazed them. 
But Jesus said again, dear 

481
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,400
children, it's very hard to 
enter the Kingdom of God. 

482
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:56,880
In fact, it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a 

483
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,320
needle than for a rich person to
enter the Kingdom of God. 

484
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,080
And the disciples were astounded
and said, then who in the world 

485
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:05,680
can be saved? 
And Jesus said, humanly 

486
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,200
speaking, it is impossible, but 
not with God. 

487
00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:12,000
Everything is possible with God.
And the point of this story was 

488
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,440
lost on me for many years. 
Every time I read it, I said, 

489
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:16,760
God, I know one day I'll get to 
the place that I could sell 

490
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:19,160
everything that I own and live 
for you. 

491
00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:23,280
This is not a blanket command 
for every single believer to 

492
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:27,680
live like everything is gone and
it's been mistaught for so long.

493
00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:31,840
But the one thing in this man's 
life that was holding him back 

494
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,960
was his possessions. 
And the truth is that most of us

495
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:40,360
have at least one thing, and it 
may not be our possessions, it 

496
00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:42,520
could be something else, it 
could be something that we 

497
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:44,640
fixate on that we've got a hobby
for or whatever. 

498
00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,040
But Jesus would say, if you want
to fully follow me, give up the 

499
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,200
one thing that you're already 
following more than you're 

500
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,800
following me. 
And for this guy, that's what it

501
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:56,360
was. 
And you know that when he came 

502
00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:58,520
up there talking to Jesus, he 
was hoping he was going to say, 

503
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:00,320
well, actually you've done a 
pretty good job, Then why don't 

504
00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,000
you follow me? 
Be one of my disciples. 

505
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:04,760
He said you can't follow me that
closely because there's 

506
00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,880
something you have more loyal 
to, a loyalty to than me. 

507
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,440
And he went away sad because he 
wasn't willing to let go of it. 

508
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,280
So the question we have to ask 
is simple but uncomfortable, 

509
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,800
which is how can I still trust 
God when I don't feel secure? 

510
00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:24,600
Well, I have some steps for you.
You have to listen to what that 

511
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:28,000
voice of fear is for you. 
There is something you're afraid

512
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,080
of if you're not trusting God, 
but you have to call out that 

513
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,680
voice of fear and you have to 
recognize it as such. 

514
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:35,760
I've talked to many people who 
say, I don't think I'm driven by

515
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:38,480
fear at all. 
And I'm like, well, everybody's 

516
00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:41,080
driven by fear somewhere. 
Got to be careful about what it 

517
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:42,520
is. 
And if you don't call it out, 

518
00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:44,440
it's like a lot of things that 
we talk about, you'll never 

519
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:47,600
combat it. 
Return the first portion to God.

520
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:54,120
Now probably somebody thought, 
ah, there it is. 

521
00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:56,160
Return the first portion of God.
Now we're going to talk about 

522
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,360
tithing and offerings. 
Not really. 

523
00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,000
You're not, you're not under a 
curse if you don't give. 

524
00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:05,520
You're just under a curse 
because we have sin in this 

525
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,440
world. 
But I always try to return the 

526
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,240
first portion to the Lord when I
get paid. 

527
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,880
I try to make that be the first 
bill that I pay, bill that I 

528
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,960
pay. 
I try to, I try to give because 

529
00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,840
if I don't, I say, well, I just 
need to do these. 

530
00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:20,280
I try to give to him. 
But what I would just tell you 

531
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:23,040
is this, when you first get a 
financial windfall, a paycheck, 

532
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,600
whatever, look at it and say the
Lord, what am I going to do with

533
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:27,520
this? 
You probably already know you've

534
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:29,680
got a budget, but God is not 
normally constrained by your 

535
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:32,520
budget. 
Just return the first part to 

536
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:34,480
Him. 
If you feel insecure and you 

537
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,200
need to trust God more, find 
something, that's all I'm 

538
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,440
saying, and I'll just trust you 
to talk to the Lord and do that.

539
00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:42,240
Because the last thing we talked
about briefly earlier is 

540
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,800
practice unseen generosity. 
Because while it is good to give

541
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,160
in a way that everybody sees, 
mammon loves attention, but 

542
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:53,800
generosity starves mammon. 
And so if you give for the right

543
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,960
reasons and the right motives, 
and you don't need to have an 

544
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,440
attaboy for it, you'll starve it
out. 

545
00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:02,720
It'll kill overtime. 
It won't happen immediately. 

546
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:04,760
So if you're like, well, I've 
struggled with this for a long 

547
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:05,800
time, but I'll give it a shot 
today. 

548
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,640
I'm just telling you, give it a 
shot for a little bit because 

549
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:10,480
starving something out takes 
time. 

550
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:15,120
All right. 
Now, that being said, that was 

551
00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:19,160
uncomfortable. 
Let's talk about when desire 

552
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:23,320
becomes dominion. 
Here's my fun story. 

553
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:28,840
So years and years ago, before I
was married, I'm a human man. 

554
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,040
And so I struggled with lust for
a season. 

555
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,640
I mean, to be honest with you, 
just about everybody does at 

556
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,120
some point in their life. 
And if they tell you, they don't

557
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,520
pray for them. 
So I had this really weird 

558
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:46,760
dream. 
I had this weird dream where in 

559
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:50,640
my dream I, I was not in a good 
place. 

560
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,160
It was a lustful dream. 
And all of a sudden, this giant 

561
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,520
snake started rolling through 
the room. 

562
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,640
And I, I'll never forget it 
because my first thought was 

563
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:03,080
wow, why am I not uncomfortable 
about this? 

564
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,840
And then I heard the name in the
dream, Asmodeus. 

565
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:10,560
Now before this sounds super 
spooky to you, I woke up and I 

566
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,240
thought that's really weird 
because when I was in middle 

567
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,280
school, I read a series of books
that maybe some of you have 

568
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,680
heard of called Redwall. 
Still love the red Wall books. 

569
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:21,080
I'm reading through them with my
kids, right. 

570
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,000
So love some red wall books. 
It's the mice are the warriors, 

571
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,040
they're the good guys. 
The rats are the bad guys. 

572
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,120
I'm oversimplifying it, but in 
the first book, there's a giant 

573
00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:33,360
snake that goes through the 
forest and its name is Asmodeus.

574
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,600
And so I wake up thinking, man, 
I had some weird food last night

575
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,960
or something because I can't 
believe my middle school book 

576
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:43,440
was combined with with this 
weird dream. 

577
00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:50,880
And so I Google it. 
I Google the name Asmodeus was 

578
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,160
the ancient, according to the 
Jewish people, the ancient demon

579
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:56,080
in charge of lust and 
corruption. 

580
00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:00,880
And I'm going to tell you what 
the feeling in the pit of my 

581
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,320
stomach when I realized that 
wasn't bad burritos. 

582
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,880
That was a good word from the 
Lord warning me. 

583
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:13,560
So all of a sudden, it felt a 
little different, and I fled 

584
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,120
from this issue and I did 
everything I could to get the 

585
00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:18,640
help that I needed. 
And we'll come back to this 

586
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:20,680
concept in a moment. 
You can turn to Proverbs 5. 

587
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:22,680
We're going to read a little bit
from the way of wisdom in 

588
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:24,400
Proverbs 5. 
But I want you to know it's 

589
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,200
interesting that before 
Hollywood ever turned demons 

590
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,040
into entertainment, ancient 
Hebrew and Persian writings 

591
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:34,240
spoke of this one that embodied 
corruption through seduction. 

592
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,880
And his name was Asmodeus. 
Now this name, just to give you 

593
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:40,680
a little history, things that 
you know, I'm not just pulling 

594
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,760
this out of nowhere. 
It comes from the words ashma 

595
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,560
Daiva, and it means spirit of 
wrath or sensual rage. 

596
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,680
In the Persian traditions, this 
was a destructive spirit who 

597
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:55,040
corrupted holy unions or 
marriages by stirring up 

598
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:59,200
unrestrained desire. 
And over time in the Jewish 

599
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,040
writings that were written 
between the Old and the New 

600
00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:04,720
Testament, a lot of them adopted
this name as a description of 

601
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,280
the one who destroys marriages 
and tempts covenants to be 

602
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:11,040
broken and turns love into lust.
You see glimpses of him if 

603
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:13,960
you've ever read the Apocrypha, 
which is a a sect of books that 

604
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:15,600
we don't hold to in our Holy 
Bible. 

605
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:19,840
But there's a story in there 
where he kills 7 different guys 

606
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,320
because not because he hates 
them, he just hates that they 

607
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,360
were going to get married and so
he wanted to take them out 

608
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,960
before that happened. 
Now I want you to know that this

609
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:33,600
spirit is more dangerous to most
of us than we think because the 

610
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:38,360
Lord schooled me on it recently.
A lot of times he'll just 

611
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,480
whisper. 
People whisper two people in 

612
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:43,280
this kind of way, like you 
deserve this. 

613
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:45,760
You're not hurting anyone they 
don't even know. 

614
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,480
You just need to feel something.
And before long, your desire 

615
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:51,720
turns into dominion. 
In other words, it has dominion 

616
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,280
over you. 
And now what used to just be 

617
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:58,000
something you went to to blow 
off some steam becomes something

618
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,840
that rules over you. 
And it's not always what you 

619
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,600
think I'm talking about, but in 
Proverbs 5, we see it 

620
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:05,840
personified in that way. 
Here's a couple of the verses, 

621
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:10,160
starting in one it says, my son,
pay attention to my wisdom. 

622
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,400
Listen carefully to my wise 
counsel, and then you'll show 

623
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,400
discernment and your lips will 
express what you've learned. 

624
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,560
For the lips of an immoral woman
are sweet as honey, and her 

625
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,640
mouth is smoother than oil. 
Also, don't try to compliment 

626
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:26,320
your spouse by saying that their
lips are smoother than oil. 

627
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:32,440
It's don't ask me how I know 
listen verse 4. 

628
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,440
But in the end, she's as bitter 
as poison, as dangerous as a 

629
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:38,000
double edged sword. 
Her feet go down to death. 

630
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,480
Her steps lead straight to the 
grave for she cares nothing 

631
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,040
about the path to life. 
She staggers down a crooked 

632
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,640
trail and doesn't realize it. 
Move forward to verse 15. 

633
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,800
He says drink from a drink water
from your own well. 

634
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:52,960
Share your love only with your 
wife. 

635
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:57,680
Why spill the water off your 
springs in the streets, having 

636
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,640
sex with just anyone? 
He says you should reserve it 

637
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:03,720
for yourselves. 
Never share it with strangers. 

638
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:08,080
And then in verse 21, the Lord 
sees clearly what a man does, 

639
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:12,800
examining every path he takes. 
An evil man is held captive by 

640
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,280
his own sins. 
They are ropes that catch and 

641
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:18,840
hold him. 
He will die for lack of 

642
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,280
self-control. 
He will be lost because of his 

643
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,800
great foolishness. 
A lot of times he doesn't have 

644
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,000
to pull you into sexual sin, He 
just has to pull you into 

645
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,400
selfish sin, the kind that says 
I need this, I deserve this. 

646
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,120
And a lot of times that is a 
sexual sin, but not always. 

647
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,480
See, here's what's interesting. 
So as I started to pray through 

648
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,160
and, and realize that we were 
going to cover this subject, 

649
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:40,880
that we were going to cover 
spiritual warfare and some of 

650
00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,160
these demonic entities, I was 
pouring out my gratitude to the 

651
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:45,960
Lord. 
I like to open my prayers with 

652
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:51,480
thanks and gratitude to Jesus. 
And so I said to the Lord, thank

653
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,720
you so much for delivering me. 
I'm so grateful that I don't 

654
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:58,600
struggle with Asmodeus anymore. 
And he said, not in the same 

655
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,280
way. 
I said, what does that mean? 

656
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,160
Nothing told me nothing. 
Just sat on that for a few days 

657
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,040
and then we had a night of 
worship and he spoke to me 

658
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,160
again. 
But I'll tell you about that in 

659
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,800
a second. 
So First Thessalonians Chapter 

660
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:17,360
4, go ahead and turn to 1st 
Thessalonians 4 and you'll see 

661
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,640
this. 
What makes Asmodeus so dangerous

662
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,760
is he'll take something that is 
meant to be holy, like love or 

663
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,760
commitment or service or 
devotion, and he'll twist it 

664
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,520
until it becomes hollow. 
He'll train, he'll, he'll train 

665
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,520
people today to take what they 
should be looking at as a 

666
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,720
covenant relationship and make 
them look for chemistry instead.

667
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,200
He'll make us chase connection 
with people instead of having a 

668
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,280
true commitment because He wants
you to feed your flesh while 

669
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,160
your soul is the one that 
starves out. 

670
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,600
Now Paul knew this was the same 
spirit centuries later after 

671
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,440
what we read before with 
Proverbs in First Thessalonians 

672
00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:54,920
chapter 4 right in verse 3 it 
says this God's will is for you 

673
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:57,560
to be holy, so stay away from 
all sexual sin. 

674
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,520
Then each of you will control 
his own body and live in 

675
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,480
holiness and honor, not in 
lustful passion like the pagans 

676
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:05,160
do who do not know God in his 
ways. 

677
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:08,160
Verse 6. 
Never harm or cheat a fellow 

678
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,960
believer in this matter by 
violating his wife, for the Lord

679
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:15,520
Avengers all such sins, as we 
have solemnly warned you before.

680
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,560
Now listen. 
God has called us to live holy 

681
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:23,280
lives, not impure lives. 
Therefore, anyone who refuses to

682
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,840
live by these rules is not 
disobeying human teaching, but 

683
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,720
is rejecting God who gives His 
Holy Spirit to you. 

684
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:34,960
When our desires become dominion
over us, it rejects God himself.

685
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,680
Desire becomes dominion then, 
because when you feed your 

686
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:40,960
hidden desires, they feed on 
you. 

687
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:43,400
It's like saying I have a pet 
tick. 

688
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:45,760
Look how big it's grown. 
Isn't it cute? 

689
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,280
No, it's gross. 
But this is how we live. 

690
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,240
All right, so I don't know if 
you thought I was joking 

691
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:53,680
earlier, but let's talk about 
Spider Man. 

692
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,960
Let's take a breather. 
Not Spider Man from the movies, 

693
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,080
Spider Man from the comics. 
I don't know if we have any 

694
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:04,520
Spider Man comic book fans, but 
I'll never forget reading this 

695
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,680
impactful storyline. 
And I think this will mean a lot

696
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:08,480
more to you than than you're 
thinking right now. 

697
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,000
Peter Parker has somebody that 
is kind of his true love. 

698
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:13,520
Anybody know who that is in the 
comics? 

699
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:16,199
It's Mary Jane, right? 
It's Mary Jane Watson. 

700
00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:18,080
And for years he was married to 
her. 

701
00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,560
He married her in the comics in 
the 80s and was married most of 

702
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,600
through the 90s. 
And then they decided some 

703
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:25,239
writer said, I got this 
brilliant idea. 

704
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:28,440
Peter Parker needs to seem 
younger again so he can appeal 

705
00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:31,000
to younger readers. 
So we probably shouldn't let him

706
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:32,920
be married. 
But the problem is everybody 

707
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:34,920
likes Mary Jane. 
So to write in a divorce for 

708
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,679
Peter Parker and Mary Jane was 
not something they could do. 

709
00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:39,719
So what did they do? 
They brought in the devil. 

710
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,080
All right. 
There's a situation that happens

711
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:46,760
in a storyline called One More 
Day, and in it, his Aunt May, 

712
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:50,639
who has raised him since being a
child, has been shot, and it's 

713
00:34:50,639 --> 00:34:52,679
fatal, and she's not going to 
make it. 

714
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:56,199
And he's tried everything. 
He's tried to get help from Iron

715
00:34:56,199 --> 00:34:59,120
Man and Doctor Strange and all 
these other people, and nobody 

716
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:00,600
can help him. 
And all of a sudden, this 

717
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,520
character pops up. 
His name is Mephisto, and he is 

718
00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:04,960
Marvel Comics version of the 
devil. 

719
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:06,840
And he says, I can heal her for 
you. 

720
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:11,160
And we're like, oh, now we're 
here with this old tale of the 

721
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:14,440
devil tempting somebody. 
And so Peter asks, what do you 

722
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,400
want to return? 
Are you asking for my soul? 

723
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:18,080
Are you asking for my 
superpowers? 

724
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:21,720
And he says, I don't want your 
soul, I want your marriage. 

725
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:28,320
And I remember reading this and 
thinking, this is theological. 

726
00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,800
This is heavy. 
Here's what Mephisto says, why 

727
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:33,320
he wanted Peter Parker's 
marriage. 

728
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,880
He said I want your love. 
I want your marriage. 

729
00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:39,880
You see, it is pure. 
It is rare. 

730
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,440
It is true. 
And that is why it must be 

731
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:46,480
snuffed out, because in the end,
I will have caused pain to the 

732
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:51,480
one capital Oi will have caused 
pain to the one above all, the 

733
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:55,320
one who loves pure love. 
And I'm reading this and I'm 

734
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,640
like, Oh my goodness, I know 
Peter Parker's not a real human 

735
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:03,000
being, But you do realize that 
the devil cannot harm the Lord. 

736
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,640
The Lord is too powerful, but he
can harm those that are made in 

737
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,080
his image. 
And if you want to know the 

738
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:14,200
fastest way to hurt a parent, he
didn't want Peter sin. 

739
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:17,960
He wanted his covenant. 
He wanted to destroy the thing 

740
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:20,680
that most reflected the heart of
God in Peter Parker's life. 

741
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,880
And tragically, Peter Parker and
Mary Jane agree, and they 

742
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,120
sacrificed their marriage to 
save Aunt May's life. 

743
00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:29,520
And he is still not married to 
her in the comics to this day. 

744
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:32,840
And just like that, as history 
is rewritten, they don't have 

745
00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:34,960
their vows or their memories of 
being married. 

746
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:37,240
Their Love Is All gone. 
But before he does that, he 

747
00:36:37,240 --> 00:36:42,600
whispers one other thing. 
He said they will go on. 

748
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:44,880
They will live their lives. 
They will feel whole. 

749
00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:49,200
But in their hearts, there will 
always be a small, quiet voice 

750
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,120
that tells them something is 
missing, that they once had 

751
00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:54,000
something pure and it was taken 
from them. 

752
00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:58,720
I don't know if you thought 
Spider Man was going to make it 

753
00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:02,160
lighter. 
That's what Asmodeus does. 

754
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:04,360
That's what this spirit of lust 
does. 

755
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:08,400
It makes you walk through life 
and say, I lost something. 

756
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:12,480
I can't put my finger on it. 
I messed something up. 

757
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:16,240
I had something pure and it's 
gone and I can't, I just can't 

758
00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:19,760
name it. 
And now you feel insufficient. 

759
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:21,400
You feel like you don't have 
what you need. 

760
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,680
Now you're susceptible to all 
sorts of other demonic attacks, 

761
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:29,080
especially those that happen in 
a closed room when nobody else 

762
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:30,200
is there. 
And who's it hurting? 

763
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:33,480
Because you feel like you're 
missing out on something. 

764
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:39,000
Now, that being said, at night 
of worship, not this month, but 

765
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:40,920
the one that we had in 
September, I mean, they're all 

766
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:44,920
great, but I mean, September, 
man, I'm on my knees and I'm 

767
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:48,760
pursuing the Lord and I'm asking
Him for explanation. 

768
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,400
What do you mean? 
I don't struggle with Asmodeus 

769
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:55,240
in that way? 
And he tells me Asmodeus has 

770
00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:58,400
targeted your purity. 
I'm like, OK, Lord, that sounds 

771
00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:02,360
like the same thing. 
And then he drops a verse into 

772
00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:05,720
my spirit. 
And I've used this verse in many

773
00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:09,520
a counselling session, many a 
conversation, because it speaks 

774
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,040
to our motives. 
But in the book of Titus, 

775
00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:18,320
chapter one, verse 15, Paul says
this to his spiritual son. 

776
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:23,160
He says to the pure, all things 
are pure, but to those who are 

777
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:26,640
corrupt and unbelieving, nothing
is pure because their minds and 

778
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:34,360
consciences are corrupted. 
And I realized in my life, 

779
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,240
particularly in the last few 
years, I've had several 

780
00:38:37,240 --> 00:38:40,280
situations where there were 
people that I felt close to and 

781
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,160
something happened where from my
view, I felt betrayed or 

782
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:47,920
abandoned or wounded. 
And I found myself on my knees 

783
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,920
at that night of worship, 
realizing that my new filter for

784
00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:56,520
my relationships had started to 
become, how long will you be OK 

785
00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:58,840
with me? 
How long until there's something

786
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,000
I say that sets you off? 
How long until not all of you, 

787
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:07,080
you're great. 
But how many times will I get 

788
00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:10,000
close to somebody and I will 
open myself up and then feel 

789
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:13,280
like I got wounded? 
And it started to become the 

790
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:15,720
filter through how I was meeting
new people. 

791
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:20,120
And I repented on the spot right
there because Asmodius is not 

792
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,360
just trying to break down 
marriages, although marriages 

793
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,080
are the most holy and, and, and 
sanctified of human 

794
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:29,440
relationships. 
He wants you to have an 

795
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,320
unhealthy relationship with 
anybody, including your father. 

796
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:36,120
And we got to fight back against
it. 

797
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:41,080
So that being said, how do we 
reclaim that purity and that 

798
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:43,440
innocence that the enemy has 
tried to steal from us? 

799
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:48,120
Well, repent using honesty. 
And when I say this, that's 

800
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:51,640
because most of us, when we 
repent in this way, we repent 

801
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:54,680
using shame. 
We crawl to Him like the the 

802
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:56,680
worm of the earth. 
God, I can't believe I did this 

803
00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:57,840
or whatever. 
Stop. 

804
00:39:57,840 --> 00:39:59,160
He already knows how gross sin 
is. 

805
00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:02,640
He knows it better than you do. 
Just repent using honesty. 

806
00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:04,360
Lord, I took this relationship 
for granted. 

807
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,360
Lord, I was selfish in that. 
Lord, I've been looking out for 

808
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,600
myself. 
Lord, here's what I did. 

809
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:11,840
There's so much power and 
repentance. 

810
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:13,760
You want to know how much power 
there is in repentance? 

811
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:16,560
We'll talk about it on Wednesday
night at six, but I'll mention 

812
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:19,440
that in a minute. 
Ask God for new vision. 

813
00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:22,160
That's what I did. 
So that's what I'm encouraging 

814
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:24,240
you to do. 
God, how do you want me to look 

815
00:40:24,240 --> 00:40:25,920
for relationships? 
How do you want me to relate to 

816
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:27,360
people? 
How do you want me to learn to 

817
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,800
open my heart again? 
Some of y'all are sitting there 

818
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:31,840
thinking I'm not going to ask 
God to open my heart again. 

819
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:34,000
I'll pray for you. 
It's hard. 

820
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:38,040
I know I'm asking you of a hard 
thing and then create new 

821
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:42,240
boundaries. 
But when you do ask for the new 

822
00:40:42,240 --> 00:40:43,920
vision, let me get, I'll get to 
the boundaries in a second. 

823
00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:46,560
And when you do get to that 
vision and you've got a new 

824
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:49,040
vision, you have to live like it
is brand new. 

825
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:51,120
So when you get that new vision 
for you life, your life, you 

826
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:53,960
have to actually enact it. 
It's like when you decide you're

827
00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:56,320
going to finally start going to 
the gym, you actually have to 

828
00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:00,320
get up at 5 or whatever it is 
and go and not just say like, I 

829
00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:03,200
got a gym membership now. 
Big difference. 

830
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:08,040
OK, You can't constantly feed on
what was corrupting you before 

831
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:11,320
and then expect to crave what 
cleanses you overtime. 

832
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:13,920
When you are obedient to what 
he's guiding you in, you'll 

833
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:15,640
start to crave the good and 
pure. 

834
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:17,280
But it's going to take time, all
right? 

835
00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:18,680
So then you have to create new 
boundaries. 

836
00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:20,280
Boundaries is a popular word 
today. 

837
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,600
I don't even think my kids fully
know what it means, but a lot of

838
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,040
times when, when they will hear 
my wife and I just messing with 

839
00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:30,480
each other and I'll be like, I 
can't believe you made them a 

840
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:32,480
sandwich. 
But I didn't get APB and J or I 

841
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:34,360
don't remember the last time I 
had APB and Ji. 

842
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:37,600
Like, I'll just mess with her. 
My son will say yeah, mommy 

843
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:41,400
boundaries. 
I don't correct him though. 

844
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:45,440
I just go sick, burn, build him 
up. 

845
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:49,200
Yeah. 
So boundaries is popular. 

846
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:52,240
You see it almost as often as 
you see the word narcissist on 

847
00:41:52,240 --> 00:41:55,320
the Internet. 
But boundaries aren't walls to 

848
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:58,440
keep people out from your life. 
Just so you know, boundaries are

849
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,920
more like gates to protect what 
is holy in your life. 

850
00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:04,080
So boundaries means there is 
still access, but it is under 

851
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:06,520
these terms and in this way and 
with these kinds of people who 

852
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:10,040
have an invite, it is not meant 
to hold you back from human 

853
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:12,760
interaction. 
You've got to remember who you 

854
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:14,840
are. 
You belong to the Lord, and your

855
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:17,480
identity is not built off of the
opinions of human beings. 

856
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:19,240
It's built off of who He says 
you are. 

857
00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:22,240
We talked a lot about that one 
week ago, but when you've got 

858
00:42:22,240 --> 00:42:24,520
that new identity, these 
boundaries make perfect sense to

859
00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:28,400
you. 
I had to take a sip of water 

860
00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:32,360
because I typically give you 
guys 2 points in my sermon, and 

861
00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:39,880
here comes the third one. 
And this one is probably the 

862
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:41,800
most insidious of the ones that 
we talked about today. 

863
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:44,320
It's when curiosity becomes 
contempt. 

864
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:46,480
Anybody familiar with the name 
Azazel? 

865
00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:50,080
Anybody OK? 
It's a couple. 

866
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:52,760
It's in the Bible. 
It's very interesting. 

867
00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:55,600
You can go to Leviticus 16, 
everybody's favorite book. 

868
00:42:56,840 --> 00:42:58,440
Have you ever heard this phrase 
before? 

869
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:02,960
Familiarity breeds contempt. 
What this means is sometimes 

870
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:05,440
there can be someone or 
something or somewhere that you 

871
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:08,520
love, but over time you become 
so familiar with it that you 

872
00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:12,760
almost devalue it in your eyes. 
This is why you are nicer to the

873
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:17,120
UPS guy at the door than you are
to your spouse most of the time.

874
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,560
You become overly familiar with 
your spouse, your kids, your 

875
00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:24,600
inner circle, your friends, and 
then you're like thanks for 

876
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,680
letting me be myself and then 
yourself just as sort of a jerk 

877
00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:31,120
to them because you can. 
Believe it or not, this happens 

878
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:34,440
with the Lord. 
When you're first saved, you 

879
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,760
were overwhelmed with how good 
he is and how rich his mercy is 

880
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:40,720
and how wide open the 
opportunities are before you and

881
00:43:40,720 --> 00:43:42,000
the fact that you're heaven 
bound. 

882
00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:45,200
And then all of a sudden, before
you know it, your thoughts on 

883
00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:48,680
the Lord become something like, 
glad I'm saved, glad there's 

884
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:50,240
nobody that can pluck me from 
his hand. 

885
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:54,120
That's like, that's the only 
danger that we have. 

886
00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:57,880
Familiarity breeds contempt. 
Azazel will use curiosity to 

887
00:43:57,880 --> 00:43:59,440
make you lose respect for what 
is holy. 

888
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:02,360
And I'll show it to you. 
This is an ancient part of the 

889
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:08,320
scripture here in Leviticus 16. 
This is where we talk about 

890
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:11,920
rebellion and forbidden 
knowledge and the pull to know 

891
00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:14,560
and control more than God ever 
intended for you to carry. 

892
00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:18,920
It says this in Leviticus 16 to 
the to the priest. 

893
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:22,320
He is to cast sacred lots to 
determine which goat will be 

894
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:25,960
reserved as an offering to the 
Lord, and which will carry the 

895
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:29,320
sins of the people to the 
wilderness of Azazel. 

896
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:36,600
Aaron will then present as a sin
offering the goat chosen by lot 

897
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:39,920
for the Lord. 
The other goat, the scapegoat 

898
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:44,360
chosen by lot to be sent away, 
will be kept alive standing 

899
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:47,560
before the Lord. 
When it is sent away to Azazel 

900
00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:50,360
in the wilderness, the people 
will be purified and made right 

901
00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:54,320
with the Lord. 
Let me give you just two more 

902
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,680
verses from there, same chapter,
verses 21 and 22. 

903
00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:01,600
It says here he will lay both of
his hands on the goat's head and

904
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,920
confess over it all wickedness, 
rebellion, and sins of the 

905
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,520
people of Israel. 
And in this way he will transfer

906
00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:09,520
the people's sins to the head of
the goat. 

907
00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:13,400
And then a man specially chosen 
for the task will drive the goat

908
00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:16,360
into the wilderness. 
As the goat goes into the 

909
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,040
wilderness, it will carry all 
the people's sins upon itself 

910
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:22,600
into a desolate land. 
Sounds strange to anybody. 

911
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:28,240
Some of you all are like, how 
much are goats to us? 

912
00:45:28,240 --> 00:45:31,400
It does sound strange, but to 
ancient Israel it was powerful 

913
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:34,040
and symbolic because there were 
two goats, one that was 

914
00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:36,440
sacrificed to the Lord. 
Again, there's that innocent 

915
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:40,760
blood covering, but the other 
was sent away for Azazel is what

916
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,720
it said. 
Now this is not a sacrifice to a

917
00:45:43,720 --> 00:45:46,560
demon or a rival God, but I want
to explain it to you. 

918
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:49,840
In the ancient worldview here, 
the wilderness was always a 

919
00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:52,760
symbol of chaos. 
They understood that everything 

920
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,240
that was outside of God's 
created order that couldn't be 

921
00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:58,680
made right and remade in his 
image was considered chaos and 

922
00:45:58,680 --> 00:46:00,600
it was the wilderness. 
So as you read through the 

923
00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:03,160
Scriptures, if you ever notice 
how it harps on the Scriptures 

924
00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:06,480
about the wilderness and the 
owls and the jackals in these 

925
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:09,840
desolate places? 
As a matter of fact, if you are 

926
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:13,320
familiar with it, Jesus teaches 
that if you cast a demon out of 

927
00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:16,560
somebody and they're not filled 
with the Holy Spirit, the demon 

928
00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:21,160
goes out to the wilderness, 
finds no rest, gets seven more 

929
00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:23,760
evil than itself, and brings 
them back in and reenters the 

930
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:25,760
person. 
The wilderness is a place 

931
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:30,200
outside of the rule of what God 
had created, and Azazel was one 

932
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:32,920
of such entities that was out 
there according to their 

933
00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:34,680
understanding of things. 
And so during the Day of 

934
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:37,680
Atonement, when the sins of the 
people were symbolically 

935
00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:40,520
transferred onto the goat, this 
rebellion that was within the 

936
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:43,080
people was sent out into the 
wilderness because there was no 

937
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:44,840
room for rebellion in the 
Kingdom of God. 

938
00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:50,800
But over time, Jewish writings, 
especially ones that are outside

939
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:53,520
of the Bible, like the Book of 
Enoch, they describe Azazel as 

940
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:58,000
not a place but a fallen being, 
that he was there and that he 

941
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:00,600
would sometimes try and teach 
humanity forbidden knowledge, 

942
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:01,800
things they shouldn't have 
known. 

943
00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:04,000
Now, whether or not that's true,
I can't tell you. 

944
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,720
But I can tell you that Azazel 
is mentioned here and that he's 

945
00:47:06,720 --> 00:47:08,600
associated with rebellion 
because we sent all our 

946
00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:10,080
rebellious goats out to him, 
right? 

947
00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:13,200
They weren't worshipping Azazel 
when they did that. 

948
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:15,600
They were being warned against 
him, though. 

949
00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:19,880
The scapegoat didn't honor evil,
it condemned it, and it was a 

950
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:22,760
public reminder that sin always 
leads to separation. 

951
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:26,760
Always. 
And nowadays one word from that 

952
00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:30,240
whole thing has become a term 
that we use sometimes, and it's 

953
00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:32,400
scapegoat. 
And you know what it is? 

954
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:34,880
It's when somebody was supposed 
to be guilty, but they pinned 

955
00:47:34,880 --> 00:47:37,000
the guilt on somebody else. 
They're the scapegoat. 

956
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:39,440
Do you know how accurate that 
actually is? 

957
00:47:39,720 --> 00:47:44,720
We are guilty, we're rebellious,
we're sinful, and then we took 

958
00:47:44,720 --> 00:47:47,080
that sin and we placed it on the
head of this goat, and the 

959
00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:50,600
scapegoat went out where Azazel 
could rule over it instead of 

960
00:47:50,600 --> 00:47:52,560
us. 
You understand how good God is 

961
00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:54,280
and how rich His mercy really 
is. 

962
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:57,840
So I won't read it right now, 
but I'll tell you that in 

963
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:00,360
Genesis 3, you got a familiar 
story. 

964
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:04,520
You got Adam and Eve, got a 
couple trees, you got some 

965
00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:06,040
fruit. 
I probably don't really need to 

966
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:09,160
really recap it, but how were 
they tempted there? 

967
00:48:09,240 --> 00:48:12,200
Hey, do you want to be God? 
Didn't say that. 

968
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:14,280
Hey, do you want power? 
Didn't say that. 

969
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:17,600
He questioned them and pushed 
them into rebellion. 

970
00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:19,160
Did God really say you couldn't 
do that? 

971
00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:24,480
They made him question Gods. 
You ready motives? 

972
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:27,800
Did God really say you couldn't 
eat that? 

973
00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:30,240
By the way, that's not exactly 
what he said. 

974
00:48:30,720 --> 00:48:35,680
That's a sermon for another day.
But all of a sudden they started

975
00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:37,920
wondering. 
And then he said you won't 

976
00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:41,120
surely die if you eat this. 
You'll just be like God. 

977
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:43,640
So he made them question God's 
motives. 

978
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:46,000
And the second they question 
God's motives, what happened to 

979
00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:47,960
their motives? 
Corrupted. 

980
00:48:48,720 --> 00:48:50,240
The covenant was corrupted right
there. 

981
00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:53,280
Now, that being said, most of 
us, we look at this and we're 

982
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:55,320
like, guys, Adam, Eve, you had 
one job. 

983
00:48:57,400 --> 00:49:01,680
But rebellion is often dressed 
up like revelation. 

984
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:04,880
Today for Christians, we feel 
like we've got new knowledge, 

985
00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:06,960
something we're supposed to 
know, but we're not. 

986
00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:10,640
We feel like if we have some 
hidden information or some deep 

987
00:49:10,640 --> 00:49:13,640
revelation from the Lord or from
the universe or whatever you 

988
00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:15,800
want to call it now, we're 
wiser. 

989
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:19,920
And so I just want you to know 
the spirituality of any sort 

990
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:22,640
without submission to Jesus is 
dangerous. 

991
00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:27,680
Deconstruction of your faith 
without following the Lord 

992
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:31,200
through it, without having 
discipleship, it's just 

993
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:33,720
rebellion. 
It's very common to hear people 

994
00:49:33,720 --> 00:49:35,120
say, well, I don't really follow
religion. 

995
00:49:35,120 --> 00:49:37,440
I'm a spiritual person though. 
As if that were some sort of 

996
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:40,280
upgrade. 
It's the same old temptation 

997
00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:42,120
that they had. 
We want the fruit of wisdom 

998
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:44,480
without ever planting and 
tending to the roots of 

999
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:48,720
obedience in the Lord. 
Tell you a story. 

1000
00:49:48,720 --> 00:49:52,440
In the 1800s there was a man who
became absolutely convinced that

1001
00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:55,520
he had discovered the exact date
of Jesus's return. 

1002
00:49:57,240 --> 00:50:00,040
No, it was in the 1800s, so you 
probably already know he was 

1003
00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:03,840
wrong. 
He studied the prophecies 

1004
00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:05,160
though. 
He calculated numbers from the 

1005
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:08,080
book of Daniel in Revelation and
cross reference calendars, and 

1006
00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:11,400
he announced to the world that 
Jesus would return in 1874. 

1007
00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:19,160
That date came and it went. 
And so we recalculated and he 

1008
00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:20,640
said I missed some of the 
information. 

1009
00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:23,920
I've redone the math. 
It wasn't 1874, it's actually 

1010
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:27,680
1914. 
He printed new charts, printed 

1011
00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:30,400
some tracks, gathered some new 
followers. 

1012
00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:35,920
In 1914 came and when? 
And by then the movement had 

1013
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:38,200
grown, though people want to 
know when Jesus is coming back. 

1014
00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:41,320
So thousands of people started 
to believe this teaching so, so 

1015
00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:45,040
deeply that after this man died,
they started revising his 

1016
00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:47,120
predictions and redoing his math
for him. 

1017
00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:54,880
And so it became 191819251975 
over and over again. 

1018
00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:57,520
And each time they said we just 
need more insight, we need new 

1019
00:50:57,520 --> 00:50:59,680
revelation, we need to 
understand these dates better. 

1020
00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:02,840
That movement is now what we 
know as Jehovah's Witnesses. 

1021
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:07,520
This is a faith, I'm just being 
honest with you, that is built 

1022
00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:11,200
on failed predictions because 
somebody's curiosity ran ahead 

1023
00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:14,520
of their obedience to the Lord. 
They wanted to know what only 

1024
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:17,520
God was meant to reveal and 
that's what happened in Genesis 

1025
00:51:18,080 --> 00:51:20,800
chapter 3. 
But chasing revelation without 

1026
00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:24,920
having a relationship with the 
Lord, you'll lose both and you 

1027
00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:27,640
won't have relationship or 
revelation, but you'll get 

1028
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:30,520
information from somewhere else.
When you hear a story like that,

1029
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:31,880
you think who would ever do 
that? 

1030
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:34,240
But today we have all sorts of 
people that predict the end 

1031
00:51:34,240 --> 00:51:36,800
times and a lot of them are 
people that are heaven bound, 

1032
00:51:36,800 --> 00:51:39,360
Bible believing Christians, but 
they just dabbling into things 

1033
00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:43,000
that they shouldn't. 
They'll point to lunar eclipses 

1034
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:46,240
or blood moons or numerology or 
world events and say this is the

1035
00:51:46,240 --> 00:51:48,720
sign and time after time it 
fails. 

1036
00:51:49,120 --> 00:51:54,800
One day something will happen. 
But in Matthew 2436, Jesus said 

1037
00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:57,120
no one knows the day or hour 
when these things will happen, 

1038
00:51:57,360 --> 00:51:59,760
not even the angels in heaven or
the Son himself. 

1039
00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:03,440
Only the Father knows. 
And my question would just be, 

1040
00:52:03,440 --> 00:52:06,240
if Jesus doesn't know, what 
makes you think you're going to 

1041
00:52:06,240 --> 00:52:08,120
figure it out, Sherlock? 
Right. 

1042
00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:14,080
Jesus is more concerned with 
being obedient to the Father, 

1043
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:16,040
and we want to figure the Father
out. 

1044
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:19,600
But if we were just as busy 
being obedient to the Father, we

1045
00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:22,520
would be just as content to wait
and serve and exist. 

1046
00:52:22,520 --> 00:52:25,680
And to use the old term, Terry, 
until he comes. 

1047
00:52:26,920 --> 00:52:29,000
So I want you to know that 
forbidden knowledge is not 

1048
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:31,520
always demonology. 
It's not always Wicca. 

1049
00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:36,920
It's not always dark arts. 
Sometimes it's us trying to know

1050
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:38,880
what the Father has said. 
We're not supposed to know. 

1051
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:43,200
Some people think that the veil 
between the natural and the 

1052
00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:45,600
supernatural grows thinner 
during Halloween. 

1053
00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:48,560
That is a Pagan belief, not a 
biblical 1. 

1054
00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:51,360
The Bible doesn't say that 
darkness gets stronger in 

1055
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:55,400
October, partially because 
October didn't exist as a word. 

1056
00:52:56,880 --> 00:52:59,160
But it does say that the light 
shines in the darkness and the 

1057
00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:02,560
darkness can't overcome it. 
Others will check their 

1058
00:53:02,560 --> 00:53:06,160
horoscopes or astrology charts 
as if the planets determine 

1059
00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:09,000
their purposes. 
But I just want to tell you very

1060
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:12,680
plainly, in case nobody has, the
stars don't rule you. 

1061
00:53:12,720 --> 00:53:14,360
Jesus is your savior, and He 
does. 

1062
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:19,280
In case you think I'm being a 
little harsh on horoscopes, I 

1063
00:53:19,280 --> 00:53:23,760
looked up my horoscope today and
it's official because it was at 

1064
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:29,440
horoscope.com. 
This is what it said for me. 

1065
00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:33,120
Spiritual concepts may seem 
elusive and incomprehensible 

1066
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:35,480
today. 
You might have difficulty 

1067
00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:38,520
focusing on books, and your mind
could wander during lectures or 

1068
00:53:38,520 --> 00:53:41,440
meditation. 
Conversation should shed light 

1069
00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:44,320
on what's unclear to you. 
Ask friends who follow the same 

1070
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:45,800
path. 
If nothing else, you'll enjoy 

1071
00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:48,960
the discussion. 
What does this mean? 

1072
00:53:52,520 --> 00:53:54,480
And look, I understand why 
people go here. 

1073
00:53:54,480 --> 00:53:56,040
Because we all want 
encouragement. 

1074
00:53:56,040 --> 00:53:58,320
We all want a word. 
We all want some guidance. 

1075
00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:01,160
But if you're feasting off of 
this kind of word salad 

1076
00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:06,840
everyday, the spirit has so much
more to give you. 

1077
00:54:09,640 --> 00:54:12,360
Where did they get this from? 
Who enlightened them to tell me 

1078
00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:14,440
that I should look into these 
things? 

1079
00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:16,880
But if it's not helpful, I'll 
just enjoy the ride. 

1080
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:28,080
My horoscope was Yolo. 
I guess I'm just trying to tell 

1081
00:54:28,080 --> 00:54:33,000
you this, the same spirit that 
told Eve you can be like God is 

1082
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,520
now telling people you can 
control your own destiny, you 

1083
00:54:35,520 --> 00:54:38,720
can manifest your own truth, you
can speak your own universe into

1084
00:54:38,720 --> 00:54:40,960
being. 
All of this is a Zazel 

1085
00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:43,080
repackaged. 
It's forbidden knowledge that's 

1086
00:54:43,240 --> 00:54:46,520
re dressed up like freedom. 
And so when we feel like we're 

1087
00:54:46,520 --> 00:54:50,040
brilliant enough to justify what
we want, we use that brilliance 

1088
00:54:50,240 --> 00:54:53,080
to rebel. 
So we research things and we 

1089
00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:57,360
rationalize things and we call 
it growth, but in the end, it 

1090
00:54:57,360 --> 00:54:59,200
always leads to separation from 
God. 

1091
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:02,480
So that being said, how do we 
purify these things? 

1092
00:55:04,200 --> 00:55:07,800
The first thing you do is before
you seek answers, submit to the 

1093
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:11,320
Lord before you seek them out. 
Don't chase answers before you 

1094
00:55:11,320 --> 00:55:14,600
have chosen obedience. 
Like I just, I went to go watch 

1095
00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:16,360
something last week. 
It was something I've been 

1096
00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:18,760
waiting, I've been tracking when
it was going to come out and I 

1097
00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:21,200
got ready to watch it and the 
Lord grabbed a hold of me from 

1098
00:55:21,200 --> 00:55:24,480
the inside and said, you're not 
watching that and you wanted 

1099
00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:26,120
something crazy. 
I almost watched it anyway. 

1100
00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:30,360
I said almost use my government 
name. 

1101
00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:34,280
I almost watched it anyway 
because my thinking is, oh, 

1102
00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:36,200
maybe that's just me. 
Maybe I'm just feeling nervous 

1103
00:55:36,200 --> 00:55:38,240
about it. 
But I'm covered by the blood. 

1104
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:41,560
I'm look, being covered by the 
blood means he'll protect you 

1105
00:55:41,560 --> 00:55:43,560
from anything, but it doesn't 
mean you run into the battle 

1106
00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:48,440
zone without him. 
So I repented, took it out of my

1107
00:55:48,440 --> 00:55:51,040
two watch list, and I got no 
judgement over people who watch 

1108
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:52,440
it. 
I just know I can't. 

1109
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:55,440
And so my father spoke to me and
said, don't watch it. 

1110
00:55:55,440 --> 00:56:02,720
And I said, yes, Sir #2 practice
what I call delayed revelation. 

1111
00:56:03,160 --> 00:56:05,680
And here's what I mean by that. 
Some of the things that you want

1112
00:56:05,680 --> 00:56:08,520
to know from the Lord God will 
only explain after you've 

1113
00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:11,960
obeyed. 
Abraham didn't get the details 

1114
00:56:11,960 --> 00:56:15,480
before he climbed that mountain.
He got the revelation after he 

1115
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:19,320
raised the knife in the air. 
Obedience always opens the door 

1116
00:56:19,320 --> 00:56:23,480
to more understanding. 
And the last thing, and I hate 

1117
00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:25,480
it every time I preach this 
because it just goes against me 

1118
00:56:25,480 --> 00:56:28,080
on the inside. 
Choose trust over timing. 

1119
00:56:29,360 --> 00:56:31,880
I love the scripture where God 
says my thoughts are not your 

1120
00:56:31,880 --> 00:56:33,360
thoughts. 
My ways are not your ways. 

1121
00:56:33,360 --> 00:56:35,880
I wish He had just included in 
there and my timing is not your 

1122
00:56:35,880 --> 00:56:39,240
timing because that's one thing 
I struggle with. 

1123
00:56:39,440 --> 00:56:41,040
I schedule things, I plan them 
out. 

1124
00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:43,680
I've got agendas, Cassie, and 
I'll joke back and forth and 

1125
00:56:43,680 --> 00:56:45,280
I'll be like, my timeline's 
better. 

1126
00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:46,840
My timeline. 
That's kind of one of our 

1127
00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:49,240
things. 
I imagine God rolls his eyes 

1128
00:56:49,240 --> 00:56:53,320
every time I do it because if it
has to be your timing, there is 

1129
00:56:53,320 --> 00:56:56,320
no room to trust Him. 
God, I need this. 

1130
00:56:56,320 --> 00:56:59,640
On March the 14th, you're not 
putting in an order from Amazon.

1131
00:57:01,640 --> 00:57:04,400
If you're obedient and 
submitting yourself to the one 

1132
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:08,560
that rules over everyone and 
everything sovereignly, you got 

1133
00:57:08,560 --> 00:57:12,000
to trust his time will be 
perfect. 

1134
00:57:13,520 --> 00:57:17,160
All right, next Sunday, we're 
going to close this series with 

1135
00:57:17,160 --> 00:57:18,960
a final message that is called 
the End Game. 

1136
00:57:21,200 --> 00:57:24,400
We'll talk about the enemy's 
ultimate plan for you, although 

1137
00:57:24,400 --> 00:57:27,320
you probably already know it, 
that he comes to kill, steal, 

1138
00:57:27,320 --> 00:57:32,360
and destroy. 
He has an end game, and that is 

1139
00:57:32,360 --> 00:57:35,520
manifested in the word Abaddon 
in the Book of Revelation. 

1140
00:57:36,360 --> 00:57:39,120
But we'll also see that Jesus 
has an end game too, one that 

1141
00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:41,000
ends in victory. 
And this Wednesday night at 

1142
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:43,640
6:00, we're going to continue 
the Midweek Warfare series. 

1143
00:57:43,640 --> 00:57:45,480
It's supplemental to this. 
You don't have to be here, but 

1144
00:57:45,480 --> 00:57:48,000
it's called taking background. 
This Wednesday we're talking 

1145
00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:51,080
about how to identify evil 
spirits and cast them out from 

1146
00:57:51,080 --> 00:57:54,400
you or those that you love. 
But every battle that we've 

1147
00:57:54,400 --> 00:57:56,680
talked about in the message 
today all comes down to one 

1148
00:57:56,680 --> 00:57:58,320
thing. 
And I just want to remind you of

1149
00:57:58,320 --> 00:57:59,560
this. 
It's the hidden motives of our 

1150
00:57:59,560 --> 00:58:02,320
heart. 
The actions may look right, the 

1151
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:05,360
words may look right, but the 
motives can still be wrong. 

1152
00:58:05,920 --> 00:58:10,000
And so I just have one scripture
to leave you with right here. 

1153
00:58:10,040 --> 00:58:15,800
It's Psalm 51, verse 6. 
The author says this to the 

1154
00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:17,480
Lord. 
You desire honesty from the 

1155
00:58:17,480 --> 00:58:19,800
womb, teaching me wisdom even 
there. 

1156
00:58:20,320 --> 00:58:22,520
You know what that is? 
Because babies, I'm not trying 

1157
00:58:22,520 --> 00:58:24,880
to be mean, babies don't know 
how to do a whole lot. 

1158
00:58:26,920 --> 00:58:29,360
But even in the womb, God's 
giving you wisdom. 

1159
00:58:30,520 --> 00:58:33,640
He's giving you the right 
motivations to carry you through

1160
00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:36,240
this life. 
It's only when we get corrupted 

1161
00:58:36,240 --> 00:58:37,960
through life that we start to 
change them. 

1162
00:58:39,320 --> 00:58:41,480
So how do we get back to here? 
That's what we're going to do. 

1163
00:58:41,800 --> 00:58:44,320
If you've struggled with chasing
things that have been 

1164
00:58:44,320 --> 00:58:46,400
distractions, I'm going to ask 
you to stand up so I can pray 

1165
00:58:46,400 --> 00:58:47,560
for you before we end with 
worship. 

1166
00:58:47,560 --> 00:58:51,440
If you have ever struggled with 
taking relationships for 

1167
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:55,600
granted, stand up as well. 
And if you've ever struggled 

1168
00:58:55,600 --> 00:58:58,080
with trusting God to be your 
provider and you need to repent 

1169
00:58:58,080 --> 00:59:00,360
for that one, just stand up and 
we'll just repent together. 

1170
00:59:06,840 --> 00:59:09,920
Look at all of us. 
We are the island of Misfit 

1171
00:59:09,920 --> 00:59:13,840
Toys, aren't we? 
And He loves us so much. 

1172
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:17,600
God, thank you for giving us 
this love that we could have 

1173
00:59:17,600 --> 00:59:20,600
never even asked for. 
We love you too, and so we 

1174
00:59:20,600 --> 00:59:23,560
repent for whatever it is, 
individually or as a family or 

1175
00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:26,360
as a couple or as a people group
that we have ever taken for 

1176
00:59:26,360 --> 00:59:29,040
granted. 
God, you are our provider. 

1177
00:59:29,040 --> 00:59:32,240
We recognize you as such, and 
any other provision that comes 

1178
00:59:32,240 --> 00:59:34,480
to us through life was provided 
by you. 

1179
00:59:35,040 --> 00:59:36,760
We will not put our hope in 
anything else. 

1180
00:59:37,120 --> 00:59:40,040
Father, you are the relationship
that matters more than any other

1181
00:59:40,040 --> 00:59:41,760
relationship. 
And so we pray that you would 

1182
00:59:41,760 --> 00:59:45,040
purify and grow our relationship
with you so that we can purify 

1183
00:59:45,040 --> 00:59:47,480
and grow our healthy 
relationships with other people 

1184
00:59:47,760 --> 00:59:50,680
as well. 
And Father, we apologize for our

1185
00:59:50,680 --> 00:59:52,880
rebellious hearts. 
We apologize for feeling so 

1186
00:59:52,880 --> 00:59:55,880
insecure that sometimes, 
sometimes we try and pursue 

1187
00:59:55,880 --> 00:59:59,080
answers other places when you 
are ready and willing and allow 

1188
00:59:59,080 --> 01:00:00,880
us to approach your throne of 
grace. 

1189
01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:04,800
So, God, as we find ourselves at
your feet at this throne of 

1190
01:00:04,800 --> 01:00:07,600
grace. 
We welcome in your forgiveness 

1191
01:00:07,600 --> 01:00:11,520
and we're grateful for it, but 
we ask you to also help grow our

1192
01:00:11,520 --> 01:00:15,120
obedience and our wisdom. 
And most of all, we're asking 

1193
01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:18,760
for a spirit of contentment. 
God, we are not lacking anything

1194
01:00:18,760 --> 01:00:22,520
that we need in this life. 
We need you, and you are 

1195
01:00:22,520 --> 01:00:25,120
abundant. 
And since we're not lacking, 

1196
01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:27,840
we'll be obedient to receive 
from you and put it into good 

1197
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:30,600
work In the name of Jesus, Amen.