1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,120 Good morning. My name is Daniel. 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:05,120 I'm one of the lead pastors here at Resurrection Church. 3 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:06,640 Welcome. Thanks for joining us. 4 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:11,120 We're in a series called Why are Things So Bad? 5 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:14,920 And we're looking at the three reasons, the three primary 6 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,920 reasons in the Bible, that Scripture would tell us that 7 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,200 there's suffering, that there's pain, that there's problem. 8 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,600 And so last week, Pastor Dave looked at problem #1 which is 9 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:30,280 that we live in a fallen, broken world because of sin. 10 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:32,680 And so you can't live in a broken world and not expect 11 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:34,040 things to be broken. Amen. 12 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:36,840 OK, we're all on the same page. I'm glad you listened so well 13 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,920 last week. Today we're going to talk about 14 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,680 problem #2 and then next week we're going to look at the third 15 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,160 problem, which is that if you are a believer in Christ, Jesus 16 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:49,520 says there will be suffering. We're going to be persecuted for 17 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:51,720 our faith. We live in America, so that 18 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:53,960 means they're going to get your name wrong on the Starbucks cup 19 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,720 because there's not a lot of persecution here. 20 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,120 But, but, but globally and historically, it's been a lot. 21 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,520 So we'll look at that next week. Today, though, we're going to 22 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:04,760 look at problem #2 according to Scripture. 23 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,040 And that's called the consequences of my own actions. 24 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:13,840 Yeah, No, it's one of those kinds of sermons. 25 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,920 Now, if you get nothing else out of today, this is the big idea. 26 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:21,600 And we're not going to start here, but we are going to end 27 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:22,920 here. So write this down because we're 28 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:24,440 going to land here at some point. 29 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:27,000 Here's the big idea. Forget a life coach. 30 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,360 I need a heart surgeon 'cause that ain't gonna cut it. 31 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:33,720 I was scrolling through social media the other day and I, I saw 32 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:35,760 this real and I actually had to like watch it twice 'cause I was 33 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,080 like, is this real? And it's just this young lady 34 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,000 and she's sobbing into the camera and she's like, listen, 35 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,120 you guys need to know. Like, I didn't realize that 36 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:49,280 Apple Pay is actually real money and they charge your credit 37 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:50,880 card. She's just bawling. 38 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,280 And she, she thought it was like a rewards program or something. 39 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,280 She spent thousands of dollars thinking it was fake. 40 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,160 And I was like, Oh my gosh. And I kept watching. 41 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,080 I was like, does she really think like, I guess, I guess 42 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:07,560 this and maybe you, you've been here before. 43 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,400 You're like, did you really think that you could do all of 44 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:12,160 blank and it wouldn't lead to blank, right? 45 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,840 We've all kind of felt that way. We're watching someone live a 46 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,000 life in such a way that we're like, hey, you know what at the 47 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,680 end of that road is? This is some consequences. 48 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,240 No, that might be funny when we get to watch it on Instagram. 49 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,200 But but, but I know that there are a lot of times in my life in 50 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,760 which I have lived my life in such a way that it doesn't seem 51 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,720 like I really care about the actual consequences of what I'm 52 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,520 doing. And that is the biblical concept 53 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:44,920 of sowing and reaping. Sowing and reaping. 54 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:46,600 We through we see this throughout scripture. 55 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:48,480 We're going to be in Galatians 6-7 to look at it. 56 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:50,200 But but it's, you know, a lot of different places. 57 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,640 And it's this idea that whatever actions, choices, thoughts that 58 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:59,240 a person sows, that means plants they will inevitably reap that 59 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,160 they're going to you're going to get a harvest of whatever you 60 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:02,560 planted. That makes sense, right. 61 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:05,040 Yes. OK, two people, excellent. 62 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:12,960 Galatians 6-7 says do not be deceived. 63 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:19,400 God is not mocked for whatever one sows that will he also reap. 64 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:28,680 Look, it's a truth alarm. Oh, the harvest, what you get is 65 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,280 always determined by the planting, meaning that like 66 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:35,640 begets like, you can't plant one thing and think you're going to 67 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:37,440 harvest another thing. Right. 68 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,240 OK, so so Andy Stanley would say it this way. 69 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,920 Your current habits are perfectly designed to deliver 70 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:53,440 your current results. Let me say it again, your 71 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:57,960 current habits are perfectly designed to deliver your current 72 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,800 results. And right now you're thinking, 73 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:05,120 oh, no. And this applies physically, but 74 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:09,880 it also applies spiritually. For instance, if I eat really 75 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:14,440 unhealthy things and, and I don't monitor my, my consumption 76 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:17,440 and then I don't do a lot for my, my fitness, I did. 77 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:19,079 So I don't manage my health at all. 78 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,120 At some point, right, I'm going to get out of shape. 79 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:25,960 I'm going to be mentally sluggish, I'm going to be 80 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:30,520 emotionally short tempered. Man, we know now we have a lot 81 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,840 of science that your sugar intake directly correlates to 82 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:38,640 all kinds of stuff, heart disease, diabetes, overall 83 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,760 lifespan, quality of life. And actually in 2022, we just 84 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:46,080 figured out one of the leading causes of cancer is sugar 85 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,840 intake. It's almost as if I know it's 86 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:52,800 going to be crazy. Oh, if it isn't the consequences 87 00:04:52,800 --> 00:05:00,120 of my own actions. So, so physically that happens. 88 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,120 But think about two weeks ago, Pastor Vance was preaching out 89 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,080 of Proverbs and it was all about what what the Bible says about 90 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:08,480 work. Man, if we don't steward work 91 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,680 well, if we don't save well, if we don't plan well, if I if I 92 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:16,480 work half heartedly, then I'm going to end up having financial 93 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,520 trouble and problems later. It's consequent, this idea of 94 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:24,600 consequences, consequences. And that applies physically that 95 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:27,520 lives in our life, but it also applies spiritually. 96 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:33,200 Galatians 5 has this huge description about what what it 97 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:37,160 calls the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. 98 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,240 And it's looking at these kind of spiritual things and it says 99 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:42,160 this. Now the works of the flesh are 100 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:47,240 evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, 101 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:53,440 sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, 102 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,400 rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, 103 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,720 orgies and things like this. I warn you, as I warned you 104 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,400 before, that those who do such things will not inherit the 105 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:07,000 Kingdom of God, but the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, 106 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,360 patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, 107 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:12,640 self-control. Against such things there is no 108 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,120 law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the 109 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:17,920 flesh with its passions and desires. 110 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,840 If we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 111 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,280 It's giving us a detailed description of both some of the 112 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:29,880 sowing and some of the reaping. Spiritually, it is simply saying 113 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,240 this. If I in my life create a lot of 114 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:38,480 strife, as a result, I'm going to have a lot of strife. 115 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,800 If I act in a lot of anger, I'm actually going to experience a 116 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,680 lot of anger. However, if I grow in kindness, 117 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:50,560 you know, people that really grow in kindness tend to 118 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:52,440 experience a lot of kindness in their life. 119 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,000 If I grow in gentleness overtime, I experience a lot of 120 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,440 gentleness spiritually speaking, We also tend to reap what we sow 121 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,280 Now here here's what the I would tell the believer kind of two 122 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:07,840 little statements just just to kind of sum up this idea. 123 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,840 If I seek the flesh, if I'm constantly sowing, planting 124 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,360 these things of the flesh, sinful internal desires, I will 125 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,400 constantly be impacted by the sin of myself and others. 126 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:19,720 That is just a sort of a universal law in the Bible. 127 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:21,600 And and the opposite is true too. 128 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:25,040 If I seek the Spirit, I will continue to grow in and 129 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:27,120 experience the Holy Spirit and his fruit. 130 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:31,040 OK, both sides now and then. Galatians 6-7 goes so far as to 131 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:37,000 say God is not mocked. See, we're supposed to pursue 132 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:42,960 holiness. But wouldn't it be crazy to 133 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:44,680 think that that's not how it works? 134 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,000 That I would just live however I wanted and then I wouldn't 135 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,280 actually receive the consequences of what I'm doing. 136 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,320 Like like, like if somehow I could like game the system. 137 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:56,000 You ever been an arcade and someone's trying to put their 138 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,360 hand up the little prize machine, right? 139 00:07:58,440 --> 00:07:59,720 But sometimes we live our life that way. 140 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,680 Like I don't want to, I don't want to live out these things. 141 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:04,160 I just want the reward of them at the end. 142 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:09,640 Like, like I'm going to trick God and, and Galatians 6-7 is 143 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:14,280 saying God is not mocked. You ever had a 2 year old try to 144 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:15,800 trick you and you're just looking at him the whole time? 145 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,920 Like bro, I, I feel like a lot of my life has been God. 146 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:24,400 Look at me and going, bro, let me give you an example. 147 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,120 I've had the privilege to walk with a lot of people, different 148 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:30,240 walks of life, different backgrounds in discipleship over 149 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,799 the years. And one guy in particularly this 150 00:08:32,799 --> 00:08:35,760 is years ago, I was walking with he had just I just met him. 151 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:39,120 He just started coming to church and he was recovering from like 152 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,039 really serious drug addiction and just absolutely covered in 153 00:08:42,039 --> 00:08:44,800 tattoos, including some across his face that expressed his 154 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:50,400 thoughts about law enforcement and, and he couldn't drive to 155 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:51,880 church because he had multiple DU is. 156 00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:55,000 And so he would come, you get a ride and he would sit with his 157 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:56,480 pregnant girlfriend on this side. 158 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,000 And then his friend who was female on this side, who it 159 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,280 turns out he was cheating on his girlfriend with this one. 160 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,640 And they would, they would come in together and oh, and he had 161 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:09,280 an explosive temper. And so like it's a mess. 162 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:11,880 And then he would, you know, I got to walk him a little bit and 163 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,640 then he'd get mad at God. He's like, I think God hates me. 164 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,000 And I was like, what do you mean? 165 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,400 He's like, why can't get a job? And my girlfriend broke up with 166 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:21,240 me. I was like, well, Juan, you 167 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:22,400 aren't you cheating on your girlfriend? 168 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:27,520 And he was like, well, yeah. And I said, you can't get a job. 169 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:28,560 He said no. I was like, what did I say? 170 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:32,120 F the police on your eyelids. Do you think that might have 171 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,200 something to do with it? No. 172 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:44,120 I think God hates me. What he was experiencing some. 173 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,760 Not even all, just some of the consequences of his own 174 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:49,360 decisions. By the way, that's normal, 175 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:52,200 right? That's just, that's normal. 176 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:57,160 It turns out that what happens in Vegas does not in fact, stay 177 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:04,480 in Vegas, right? No, no, no. 178 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:08,080 Maybe we got, we got lots of people in here from lots of 179 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:10,400 walks of life. And so maybe you grew up kind of 180 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:12,080 like I did. I had a phenomenal upbringing, 181 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:14,080 far better than I deserved. Maybe you didn't. 182 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,080 Maybe you grew up and, and you were brought up in a family that 183 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:18,960 was dysfunctional. Maybe there's a lot of abuse. 184 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,120 Maybe you, you just grew up in a, and your background is a lot 185 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:23,800 worse than you deserved as a child. 186 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,760 And, and if only there was a way to kind of level the playing 187 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:29,160 field regardless of your background, right? 188 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,640 So, so that even if you didn't have a great upbringing, we 189 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:37,920 would all be able to learn or have an understanding of what, 190 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,480 how to make good decisions, what good decisions were. 191 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,280 If only maybe, you know, those have got like a, like a guide or 192 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:48,640 maybe a maybe a manual of some sort to kind of set us all right 193 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,600 about, you know, every decision, every attitude, every, every 194 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:58,640 posture from physical to to thought life to to spiritual to 195 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,400 eternal. If only there was, if only there 196 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:07,760 was something that could address all of those things for us. 197 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:12,560 And I don't know, maybe they could, they could type it out or 198 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:17,200 put it in an app on a phone so you could easily get a hold of 199 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:21,080 it. Well, gosh, it's handy that this 200 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:27,240 is just right here. I mean, imagine having a guy 201 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,160 that that addressed every part of your life from physical to 202 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:36,440 spiritual, emotional, what's good, what's not good. 203 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:44,640 Maybe it could be so accessible that you could find it anywhere. 204 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:46,760 In fact, it'd be so accessible, maybe the if you couldn't read, 205 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,080 you can just go to your phone and hit play and it would read 206 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,760 it to you in hundreds of different languages so that we 207 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:58,160 would have no excuse. Well, that 'd be convenient. 208 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:00,120 We'll keep our eyes open for that, right? 209 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:13,360 Really, if we had that and we didn't have an excuse, being a 210 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:16,600 pastor would be pretty easy because you know, I would have 211 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:20,600 to do is that I go like, hey guys, here's here's the rules. 212 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:25,560 Here's the great advice. 12 minute message. 213 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:31,200 That's a new record. Make good decisions, don't make 214 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:32,760 bad ones. Read the guide. 215 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:34,480 I'll see you next week. We're going to be early to 216 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:39,360 brunch, right? How come it doesn't work that 217 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:44,960 way? It seems like this should be 218 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:46,240 really easy. I mean, you know, I'll be 219 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:48,560 honest, my pastoral job would be a whole lot easier if it did 220 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:50,960 work that way. 12 minutes sermon. 221 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,720 This is great. I had a friend named Forrest 222 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:56,920 years ago. Super great guy, loved his wife, 223 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,120 loved his family, just just love the Lord. 224 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,240 And I'm, I distinctly remember a really, really interesting 225 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:03,320 conversation I had with him one day. 226 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:07,360 We're just sitting together and he just said Daniel, so 227 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,680 frustrated, man, like I, I'll go to like a marriage retreat or a 228 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:13,880 men's retreat, right? And I'll be so fired up to like 229 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,480 pursue holiness and, and serve my wife and disciple my kids. 230 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:22,280 And I'll come back and I'll do like really good for like a week 231 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:28,360 or 10 days, maybe even 2 weeks. And then it seems like it like 232 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:32,480 it like it fades and I and I can't, I can't do it. 233 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:34,680 And I, and I am so frustrated because I want to do it, but I 234 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:37,200 can't keep it up. And I don't understand, like, 235 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:38,920 what is it that I'm actually supposed to do? 236 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,080 Have you ever felt that way? Anybody? 237 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:44,320 Oh, got some honest people in church. 238 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:49,600 That's cool. I would say I felt that way so 239 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,160 many times in my life. Like that might have actually 240 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:55,600 been the norm. I gave my life to Christ. 241 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:57,760 I surrendered my life to Jesus. I believe everything in the 242 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:01,160 Bible is true and perfect and I want to live this thing out. 243 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:04,160 And yet for like these huge portions of my life, I feel like 244 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:11,920 no matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to consistently be 245 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:20,640 selfless, be humble, be gentle, make sacrificial decisions. 246 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:24,440 I know I'm supposed to love my wife like Jesus loves the 247 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,080 church, so how come I lash out in anger at her? 248 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,920 I, I, I listen most of the time. I know I'm supposed to keep my 249 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,720 mouth shut. I do not keep my mouth shut. 250 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:40,600 Why? How come I know I'm supposed to 251 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:43,960 grow impatience and yet I'm, I'm just so off and I refuse to wait 252 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:49,080 on the Lord in in relationships with my kids. 253 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,800 I, I rush in and I demand I get my own way. 254 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,960 I want to make something happen and I just mess it all up. 255 00:14:54,960 --> 00:15:01,520 Can you feel me? It's like, oh wretched man that 256 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:08,000 I am, who will save me from this life of sin, this body of death? 257 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,200 That's Romans 724. So we're going to look at 2 258 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:17,160 questions today. 2 questions. Here's the first one. 259 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:23,920 What do I do when I cannot seem to make good decisions? 260 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:27,640 I feel like it's just such a big question. 261 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:36,320 If you're anyone here feel this in their bones, Like I feel this 262 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,240 question in my bones. OK, so I want to talk about this 263 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:44,200 like, like, and I think that in order to answer this question, 264 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:47,120 we're going to have to cover some distortions, some, some, 265 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,040 some areas where we're looking at something the wrong way and 266 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:51,560 it's sending us down the wrong path. 267 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:55,840 And, and, and the truth is this, forget a life coach. 268 00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:00,560 I need a heart surgeon. See, the problem isn't not 269 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:04,200 knowing what to do. It's right here. 270 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:07,280 The problem is wanting to do it. Amen. 271 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,560 Like, hey, doctor, it's not my head, it's my heart. 272 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,120 It's it's not a lack of knowledge that's hurting me 273 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,360 right now. It's a lack of want to and so I 274 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:21,600 I want to explain the first distortion. 275 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,880 I think that we, we we run across all the time and it's 276 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,400 this idea. It's righteousness as a list, 277 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,240 righteousness as a list. And I like whiteboards. 278 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,000 Anyone else like a, like a good whiteboard session? 279 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:37,760 I love a nice big whiteboard, right? 280 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,720 And I could, and I, I imagine this list is like this giant 281 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,560 checklist on this whiteboard. And, and I think what happens is 282 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:45,560 it, you know, listen, if you're reading the Bible, if you, if 283 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:47,200 you're familiar with the Bible at all, you know that a lot of 284 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,800 the Bible is about right living, about moral living, about 285 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:51,680 guidelines, about things that are good and things that are 286 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:53,920 bad, right? But but the Bible was never 287 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:58,880 intended to be this giant set of rules that someone, maybe God 288 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:01,280 would sit there and he would grade you on. 289 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,839 Went to church today. That's a Gold Star. 290 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,240 But most of us have come to an education system where we're 291 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,880 used to grades, right. And so, so like we, we a lot of 292 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:18,839 us imagine that somewhere, somewhere, maybe in heaven, 293 00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:23,160 there's this giant checklist and God is grading our performance. 294 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:27,040 What's the problem with that? Well, let me tell you what the 295 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:29,040 problem is for me and maybe you can relate to this. 296 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:31,840 The problem for me is it's not very long of me trying to follow 297 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,840 the check boxes before I begin to realize I'm missing a lot of 298 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:39,280 check boxes. Like a lot like, OK, I'm going 299 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:44,640 to church and I gave some tithe and I was nice to my neighbor. 300 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:46,840 I'm trying to read my Bible like I want to do good. 301 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:52,160 And then all of a sudden I snap at my wife and I lose my temper 302 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,680 at my Co worker. And I don't think the best of 303 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:56,960 somebody that I'm interacting with. 304 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,960 I think the worst of them all. Things that have happened to me 305 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:02,560 in the last two weeks. But I'm not talking about 306 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:08,000 ancient history. And I'm going why man? 307 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,040 How many, how many of these check boxes can I even? 308 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:18,080 I can't even keep up for I do not understand my own actions 309 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:19,800 for I do not do the thing that I want. 310 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:26,280 I do the very thing that I hate. That's Romans 715 private, the 311 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:29,320 desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 312 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:32,520 Amen. That's Romans 718. 313 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,640 Can you relate to this struggle, man? 314 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,040 I this is the heart of the human problem, right? 315 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,400 Like you don't come to church because we're all nailing the 316 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:48,080 checklist. I stumble into church going dear 317 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:59,880 Lord help me. So I find it to be a law that 318 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:03,760 when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 319 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,280 Romans 721. It's almost like, it's almost 320 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:14,160 like, and just just just walk with me here that this, this is 321 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:17,840 the default state of a Christian after they give their life to 322 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,400 Jesus, that, that, that Christ has saved me and, and in the 323 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,320 moment that he saves me, I actually see how terrible I 324 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,240 really am. You come to Christ and for a 325 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:29,280 moment there you almost feel worse because all the lights 326 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,520 came on and all the sin I was hiding in the corners. 327 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,160 I can see it. All of a sudden I go, Oh, I look 328 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,600 in the mirror when I wake up like whoa, I did not know it was 329 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:47,160 that bad. And I want to do right. 330 00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:52,480 And I begin to realize, my goodness, this is freaking hard. 331 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:59,640 It's almost like that's so normal that the Bible wrote an 332 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:02,120 entire chapter about it. Romans 7. 333 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:09,800 So, so I just want to tell you this, if you're here today, 334 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:11,720 you're watching online, you're watching this on YouTube later, 335 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:14,040 whatever. Before we go any further in 336 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,560 here, like like if, if, if this is your struggle, if you're 337 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:18,880 feeling this, if you walked in today feeling discouraged 338 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,720 because yet again, you have failed in some some checklist in 339 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:27,840 your life. Don't you hang your head because 340 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:32,680 listen, the very fact that sin is convicting you, that your 341 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:36,560 poor choices are actually showing you and highlighting you 342 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,720 that you are weak, that should actually encourage you. 343 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:42,960 Here's why. That conviction means that you 344 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:47,200 are spiritually alive because spiritually dead people don't 345 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,800 feel conviction because spiritually dead people don't 346 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:54,240 feel anything at all. So, so that very conviction is a 347 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,440 sign that God loves you. He's pursuing you, He's chasing 348 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:00,160 you, He's correcting you, He's pulling you toward holiness and 349 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:05,360 righteousness. So, so if so, if this is you 350 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,600 today, like let's let's get into the first person. 351 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,800 Say me OK, listen, three things. 3 encouragements. 352 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,520 I just want to give you 3 encouragements if you, if you 353 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,320 really feel this too. Here's the first. 354 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:21,520 It's actually not a list, It's learning a new lifestyle. 355 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,000 It's not a list, it's learning a new lifestyle. 356 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:28,840 Here's what I mean by that. For the believer, there's this 357 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,840 thing called the law of Christ and, and the Bible says in the 358 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,520 New Testament that if you and I have been saved by Christ, that 359 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,040 we're actually under the law of Christ. 360 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:40,640 So, so it's not some list of the 10 commandments because it's 361 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:44,600 both 1000 times harder than the 10 commandments and 362 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,120 simultaneously 1000 times more liberating. 363 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,640 Pastor Dave talked about this last week in his sermon. 364 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,720 Like, like about, you know, we want to learn how to hate sin 365 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:56,480 because God hates sin, but you don't learn how to hate sin. 366 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,720 That's just wrong decisions for choices by staring at the sin 367 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:07,520 you learn to hate sin by staring at Jesus when? 368 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,000 So when we get saved, the Bible says that we were given a heart 369 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,680 transplant, a new heart, a heart of flesh that can feel Man, a 370 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,560 heart transplant is a pretty major surgery. 371 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,080 Amen. But the amount of rehab, if you 372 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,760 actually go and got a heart transplant, the amount of 373 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,960 rehabilitation that you would need, the physical therapy that 374 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,320 you would need to learn how to do life with this new heart is 375 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,600 pretty significant. We got a guy in our church right 376 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:32,520 now named Dennis Harvey earlier this year. 377 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,600 He had a lung transplant. I'll be honest, I didn't even 378 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:37,720 know you could transplant a lung, but apparently you can. 379 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:39,400 And he had one. You got a new lung. 380 00:22:46,470 --> 00:22:49,630 And, and, and I was thinking about, he's been down at Cedars 381 00:22:49,630 --> 00:22:51,590 Sinai for like 6 months in recovery. 382 00:22:51,590 --> 00:22:54,830 And I was thinking kind of about his situation because we've been 383 00:22:54,830 --> 00:22:56,350 praying for him a lot and his family. 384 00:22:57,950 --> 00:23:02,760 And the first is this, it's so similar to what we go through 385 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:04,920 when we come to Christ because the first admission that that 386 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,320 Dennis had to make is that he couldn't give himself a new 387 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,280 lung. He needed somebody to do it for 388 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,960 him. And it's the first admission 389 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,400 that you and I make when we come to Christ is that we can't fix 390 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,640 ourselves because we have a bad heart and we need someone that 391 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:21,960 has the power to actually give us a new heart. 392 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:30,000 And the secondly, the hardest part for Dennis was not that the 393 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:31,640 surgeon gave him a new, a new lung. 394 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,160 He, he was, he was passed out for that. 395 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:35,880 He was under anaesthesia. That wasn't hard. 396 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:38,200 The hardest part was waking up and learning how to live with 397 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:44,000 the new lung. His, his rehab over the last six 398 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,080 months has been brutal. It has been intense, man. 399 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,240 It has been so hard that over and over again, he's actually 400 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:51,920 he, he, he's, he's been really tempted to give up. 401 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:58,200 And what I, what I want you to hear is that after God saves us, 402 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,560 sometimes we stare at the mess that our life has become because 403 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:03,720 of our own choices. We, we, we, we stare at some of 404 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,720 the sin and the poor choices. We get a better realization of 405 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:08,960 how bad and terrible we really are. 406 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,520 And we look at that amount of work and, and we almost want to 407 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:15,000 get discouraged and give up because man, following Christ, 408 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:17,920 that life is going to be so much different than our life before. 409 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,040 You might even convince yourself that it's going to be impossible 410 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,880 to get all that work done. And so I want to encourage you 411 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:26,520 the same way I want to encourage Dennis. 412 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:32,440 Hey, it's worth it. That new life is worth it. 413 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,760 You see, you had no chance with the old heart. 414 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:38,800 He had no chance with the old lung. 415 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,680 But now there's a new life ahead. 416 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:45,000 And it may start in every one of our lives. 417 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,640 It may start with some really difficult moments, a difficult 418 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:51,160 path, a difficult journey of walking out what it looks like 419 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:52,760 to live. But the man, the end of that 420 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,960 path is beautiful. So, so don't lose heart if 421 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,760 you're struggling right now, don't give up. 422 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,440 Don't become exhausted. We're learning a new lifestyle. 423 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:04,560 You're learning how to live with a new heart. 424 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,480 Secondly, the one of the things that we have to do move away 425 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,760 from this idea of a list is this. 426 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:16,880 We're learning the difference between emotions and the Holy 427 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:21,440 Spirit. And so that means as you begin 428 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:25,440 to realize that, that means that that my default state after I 429 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:27,360 come to Christ is I'm probably wrong. 430 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:30,760 I know, I know Americans hate to say this. 431 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:31,880 Say it with me. I'm probably wrong. 432 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:35,920 I'm probably wrong. See, now you've said it once, at 433 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:40,520 least in the last 10 years, I'm probably wrong. 434 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,040 Look, I should be really good at apologies because I'm probably 435 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:48,960 wrong. When I came to Christ, which was 436 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,960 an admission that I couldn't fix the problem, that Jesus had to 437 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,760 do it, that God had to give me a new heart, then all of a sudden 438 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:58,120 everything changes. And so with that, what should 439 00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:01,520 come for you and I is a full confession and a full admission 440 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:06,480 that everything we learned about how to do life before Christ was 441 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,200 being, was based on being spiritually dead in a 442 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:11,920 spiritually broken and fallen world. 443 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,640 And so, like logically, it should make sense to us that we 444 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:17,360 probably learned a lot about habits. 445 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,000 We learned a lot of bad reasoning, a lot of bad logic, 446 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:25,720 and we probably relied on our emotions a lot too much. 447 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,000 And so it should come as absolutely no shock to any of us 448 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,400 that again and again and again in our in my life, I'm going to 449 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,000 start to lean on my old rationale, my old heart, my old 450 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,280 reasoning, and head down the wrong path. 451 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:46,320 Like I, I'll try to do things like I did them before I was a 452 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,680 believer and I'm going to need to be corrected. 453 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,480 So it's almost like my default state is like I'm probably wrong 454 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,120 and I got to learn how to do it the right way. 455 00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:58,240 Now. You know, the problem with that 456 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,400 is we all hate being wrong. Amen. 457 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,120 That we hate being we hate admitting wrong. 458 00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:05,800 We hate being wrong. We hate being called out, 459 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,280 corrected about being wrong. At least I do. 460 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:14,440 You OK, All right. It might sometimes for some of 461 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:16,520 us, like the hardest thing to do in our entire life would be to 462 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:17,800 admit that we're wrong and apologize. 463 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:20,040 Hey, can you forgive me? I messed up. 464 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,920 But that also means that I I went from living a life based on 465 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,880 emotions, how I feel, to a realization that the moment 466 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,560 Christ saved me, I should not be trusting my emotions. 467 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:36,480 I tell you this all the time, the Christian life is not a 468 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:42,160 Disney movie. Don't follow your heart, it will 469 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,360 get you in trouble. The Bible says the heart is 470 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:46,360 deceitful above all else. Who can know it? 471 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,760 So I can't trust my emotions. The Bible says that to follow 472 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:59,000 Christ, I must die to myself. That means over and over and 473 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:00,840 over and over again. I'm going to be tempted to 474 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,080 follow the old way of life and not Jesus. 475 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:09,640 So we got to get really quick at realizing, hey, that that thing 476 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,080 I just thought about that thing I just started to do the way I 477 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,920 spoke to that person that's taking me off the rails, that's 478 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:18,280 taking me off the you ever been driving on the freeway and you 479 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,000 drift a little bit and you hit the rumble strip. 480 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:26,080 Yes. What are they there for? 481 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:28,920 They're a warning, right? They're a warning. 482 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:30,640 Well, they might wake you up too if you're tired. 483 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,320 They're a warning. You're going off the road. 484 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,640 And because our emotions and the way we thought before Christ 485 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,400 often do this, the list isn't going to help us. 486 00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,720 We need some rumble strips. And a lot of times the advice in 487 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,040 the Bible is a rumble strip. It's trying to tell you, hey, if 488 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,120 you keep down this path, you're going to end up off the road. 489 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,400 Let me give you 5 real quick rumble strips in my life and 490 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:55,240 maybe you'll find one that you can relate to. 491 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:58,160 Here's the first one. In my mind, it's a thought that 492 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:04,760 starts this way. It is so unfair that that's a 493 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:09,400 rumble strip. I'm about to think something in 494 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,720 which I have lost gratitude for the mercy and grace of Christ 495 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,320 because I've decided what is unjust and unfair in my life and 496 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:21,440 I'm not that judge. Second one, I just can't believe 497 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:27,440 that they would rumble strip. The moment you catch yourself 498 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:29,840 thinking it, hey, you're headed out of the lane. 499 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:35,040 You didn't even put on a turn signal #3 I don't deserve that 500 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:40,240 kind of. Let me be really clear, I 501 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:44,240 deserve death, hell, and damnation for my rebellion 502 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:50,040 toward God. But God, that's what I deserve. 503 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:54,040 So the moment you decide that you don't deserve blank brother, 504 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:57,440 you are on the rumble strip. 4th 1. 505 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:00,160 I just have to get this off my chest. 506 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:04,600 No, you do not. For the love of Jesus, keep it 507 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:11,200 on your chest. That is the precursor to an 508 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,640 excuse to say something simple or in a sinful way. 509 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:17,800 You want to get it off your chest. 510 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:20,200 It's a there's this thing called prayer. 511 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:27,960 You can yell at God, you can argue with God, you can get it 512 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,560 off your chest all you want that way. 513 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:40,800 Stop using that as an excuse to say uncharitable things. 5th I 514 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:54,160 know what the Bible says, but I feel y'all, y'all, y'all don't 515 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,800 trust your feelings. They're liars. 516 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,280 Those are rumble strips. OK, just for later, there's a 517 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:03,760 little nugget. You wrap that up in a napkin and 518 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:05,320 put in your pocket for, for afterwards. 519 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:11,680 Just a little little treat. All these types of thoughts. 520 00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:14,640 OK, These are all every one of these things I've thought like 521 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:18,360 150,000 times, right? Every one of these things I've 522 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:22,360 thought, and it's a precursor to something that takes me off of 523 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:24,760 this path of pursuing Christ. And, and So what I'm trying to 524 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:29,400 tell you is all of these are based on emotion feelings in my 525 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,440 life. And what I have learned over 526 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:34,800 time in pursuing Christ is every one of those is a rumble strip 527 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:37,160 that will lead me off the path of pursuing Christ. 528 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:41,480 So I want to be really careful when when anything starts kind 529 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,080 of like that. Here's the third thing. 530 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:45,960 All the measurements have changed. 531 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:46,760 OK? This is actually an 532 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,000 encouragement for you because often times the reason you're so 533 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,160 discouraged is you're measuring the wrong thing. 534 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:54,320 All the measurements have changed. 535 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:57,120 Here's what I mean by that. One of our biggest frustrations, 536 00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,520 I I know for me and probably for for many of you because I got to 537 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:01,880 talk to you, one of our biggest frustrations as a Christian is 538 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,360 we thought that it would get easier, faster. 539 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:07,680 Amen. Come on. 540 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:11,800 Like, like, OK, everything changed, but not everything's 541 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,240 fixed, Amen. So, so we thought like I came to 542 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:19,800 Christ and now it's like, I don't know, fairies and unicorns 543 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,560 and rainbows. And it's like, no, this is hard. 544 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,200 I mean, the Bible talks about a spiritual warfare and a trench 545 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:26,280 warfare. So I don't know where you got 546 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:27,880 unicorns from. Not me. 547 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,560 But it turns out that it's actually pretty hard, Amen? 548 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:36,760 Spiritual change takes real time, like real time. 549 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:39,440 And we live in a culture that expects instant results. 550 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,880 So you've been trained by living in this culture that everything 551 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:44,840 was just supposed to be fixed. Like you went through the drive 552 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:47,120 through it in and out, that it might have actually taken a 553 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:49,000 while. But but you know what I'm saying 554 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:52,360 right now, here's the thing. I just want you to think about 555 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:54,120 this and this. I want this to encourage you. 556 00:32:54,920 --> 00:33:00,760 Thank God that it takes time. OK, If him changing one small 557 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:03,480 thing in my life feels this disruptive, Can you imagine if 558 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,680 he changed everything at once? He corrects you on one little 559 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:11,960 thing and you're like, right, if he had corrected everything, I 560 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:16,000 don't think I'd survive. My pride couldn't handle it. 561 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,000 So that's, that's the first measurement that needs to 562 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,360 change, right? We, we measure in years, not in 563 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,400 days. So stop measuring like, oh, it 564 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:27,960 hasn't changed. It's been three whole days. 565 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:33,400 Here's the second thing. We don't measure from a list. 566 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,000 We measure from the fruit that is produced. 567 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,760 That's what Galatians 522 and 23 was telling us. 568 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:42,000 We're measuring it. Are we increasing in love, 569 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,520 increasing in joy, increasing in peace, increasing in 570 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:46,560 self-control, increasing in kindness and goodness and 571 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,320 faithfulness? Not a check box. 572 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:52,480 It's are these things happening in my life and beginning to 573 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,800 spill over into other people's lives now? 574 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,360 Three things I want to encourage you. 575 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:01,960 There's a small group of people and it's not really a type of 576 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:03,520 person. It's just a season because I've 577 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,480 because I've been both of these people at different seasons in 578 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:07,320 my life. So there's a small group in 579 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:08,840 here. And maybe you're in this season 580 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,080 right now where you don't feel like this at all. 581 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,080 And so like this hasn't really resonated for you. 582 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,679 You're like maybe for someone else because you actually feel a 583 00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:17,880 little bit differently than this. 584 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:20,960 You also have turned righteousness into the list, but 585 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,960 instead of feeling like you're failing your distortion is this. 586 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:25,080 I don't know what the problem is. 587 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:26,760 I don't know why everyone else can't live like me. 588 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,000 Now, you don't say it that way because you're really good at 589 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:35,760 false humility. I know I'm a false humility 590 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:40,480 expert, but but your real issue is you're like, look, I am 591 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:43,120 crushing this thing. If people would just watch me, 592 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:49,159 they'd figure it out. And you think I'm exaggerating, 593 00:34:49,159 --> 00:34:51,840 but you turn in the Bible and Jesus talked to this guy. 594 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,800 He's called the rich young ruler and he comes to Jesus and he's 595 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:57,080 got everything going for him. And he says, Jesus, what must I 596 00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,800 do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, you know the 597 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,080 law, like there's a whole checklist of stuff, right? 598 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,280 You know the law. And he goes, oh, yeah, I've kept 599 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:06,080 every single one of those since birth. 600 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:15,040 Does anyone in here believe that guy never broke a single rule in 601 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:17,440 Judaic law since broke up? Come on, man. 602 00:35:26,950 --> 00:35:30,390 Man, there have been seasons in my life where I've been this guy 603 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:37,360 where I look at the list and I go, Yep, killing it, killing it. 604 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:42,360 And then it's like gossip and I'm like skip over killing it, 605 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:44,640 killing it. And it's like, think the best of 606 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,520 someone. I'm like skip over and and then 607 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:49,240 I just, you know, I just kind of erase. 608 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:51,160 We put it on a whiteboard for a reason, right? 609 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:55,200 So I can. And then all that's left on my 610 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:56,920 checklist is the boxes that I've checked. 611 00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:00,640 So I'm pretty much perfect. I mean, I'm not perfect, but I'm 612 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:07,680 better than, you know, Gary and, and we play the comparison game 613 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:09,520 where we're not actually looking at righteousness anymore. 614 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:11,440 We're just look, as long as I can find somebody that's 615 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:16,280 struggling more than I am, then I'm good, then I'm good. 616 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:21,160 And so any area that we fall short, we just, we conveniently 617 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:23,680 build a blind spot and we and we act like that that isn't really, 618 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:25,520 but very important. We find some justification, some 619 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:29,160 excuse for why we're, we're, we're not really sinning and we 620 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,000 just live in denial. It's not just a river in Egypt. 621 00:36:37,820 --> 00:36:42,180 That one takes a while. But here's the reality of living 622 00:36:42,180 --> 00:36:42,940 that way. OK. 623 00:36:42,940 --> 00:36:44,820 And I'm just from from from experience. 624 00:36:44,820 --> 00:36:47,220 I was to tell you from my life, the reality of living that way 625 00:36:47,220 --> 00:36:48,940 is there's very little joy in your life. 626 00:36:51,020 --> 00:36:53,980 And the reason there's not a lot of joy when we begin to live 627 00:36:53,980 --> 00:36:57,140 like that, we have this, this, this, this self righteousness 628 00:36:57,140 --> 00:37:00,020 that cut when we cover it up with this false humility is that 629 00:37:00,220 --> 00:37:02,180 I haven't repented of my sin in years. 630 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:06,720 Because what is there to repent of when you're crushing it like 631 00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:13,520 I am? And we call that legalism. 632 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:17,560 But The thing is that even after coming to Christ, when you begin 633 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:24,680 to live that way, it it never produces joy because to feel 634 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:28,960 self justified to to feel like, like I'm actually doing right 635 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:31,600 even though I'm not pursuing holiness, it requires me to 636 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:35,560 constantly excuse or turn a blind eye to the sin and listen, 637 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,440 sin is poison whether you close your eyes while you eat it or 638 00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:45,160 not Amen. Hear me, sin is just as 639 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,320 dangerous whether you acknowledge that it's sin while 640 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:52,080 you do it or not. It doesn't become less sinful or 641 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,800 less poisonous or less dangerous if you live in a self justifying 642 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,080 little bubble where you act like it's OK. 643 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:03,120 It's just as harmful to our relationship with God who wants 644 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,600 us to walk in freedom, where we make honest mistakes and we 645 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:09,120 repent. And it's a common practice to 646 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,720 confess sin and repent that I'm wrong and turn from it and enjoy 647 00:38:12,720 --> 00:38:15,240 the mercy and forgiveness that God extends. 648 00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:17,840 And listen, it is hard to enjoy that when you think you don't 649 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:23,680 need it. Legalism is a lonely affair, I 650 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:28,560 will tell you, because I can't ever bring anyone real close 651 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:32,600 when I'm living this way because they might see all the eraser 652 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:39,040 marks on my checklist. And so it gets real lonely. 653 00:38:39,240 --> 00:38:43,560 In fact, it's it's cold, windy and lonely up on the moral high 654 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,760 ground at night. Tough place to live. 655 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,200 Now here's the interesting thing for both groups of people, the 656 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:56,000 answer is actually the same. The solution is the same. 657 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:58,400 Even though those seem like such opposites. 658 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,480 We are not looking at and enjoying God enough. 659 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:05,560 So, so so here's what I mean. When I'm down on myself for 660 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:07,440 missing the mark and I'm and I'm kind of in this self 661 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:10,240 condemnation and I'm discouraged because I can't seem to check 662 00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:12,560 all the boxes. It's because I'm staring at the 663 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:15,120 list, not the one who authored the list. 664 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:19,400 And when I think I'm crushing it because, like, you know, 665 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,040 everyone else is falling short and I'm kind of doing well, it's 666 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:24,520 because I'm still looking at the list and I'm looking at others, 667 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:28,000 but I'm not looking at Jesus because I would realize if I 668 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,160 did, how far from him I really was. 669 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,040 So. So whenever I'm falling into one 670 00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:34,840 of these distortions, even though they seem like they're on 671 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:38,360 the opposite ends of the spectrum, the solution to both 672 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,600 is actually the same. I need to invest more time and 673 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,520 energy and affection and attention into knowing Christ. 674 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:47,720 And I know that that sounds like a Sunday school answer. 675 00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:49,840 Like if you don't know what I mean, back back when they had 676 00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:51,720 Sunday school for kids, you go into Sunday school and if you 677 00:39:51,720 --> 00:39:54,120 didn't know the answer, you just go Jesus. 678 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:56,120 I'm like, you were right like 75% of the time. 679 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:00,480 So I know that sounds like that. But listen, hear me because this 680 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:02,640 is like the most important thing that you're going to hear about 681 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:05,160 the gospel, probably about about the sermon today. 682 00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:10,280 If I desire to be transformed into Christ likeness like if I 683 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:16,360 desire to make better choices. And I have at least the logical 684 00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:20,160 understanding that I don't seem to be able to do it. 685 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:26,000 Here's what I want you to know. God has a plan for you to do it, 686 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,840 like He has a plan for my inability to rise above my 687 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:32,440 emotions. And I want to show you that He 688 00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,000 actually wrote that out in Scripture so that when you got 689 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:37,760 discouraged, you would see it and realize He did not leave you 690 00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:42,160 where you're at. If you turn to 2nd Corinthians 3 691 00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:46,840 verse 18, God is going to describe for you the process by 692 00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:50,960 which to begin to improve, making better choices even when 693 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:55,640 you feel like you can't. Here's what it says and we all 694 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:57,720 he's talking to believers. So if you put your faith in 695 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:03,960 Jesus and we all with unveiled face, that's a weird phrase. 696 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:06,720 He's using some symbolism that simply means this. 697 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:11,400 It means that unveiled face, before Jesus came, we could not 698 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:14,400 see what the solution for man's depravity, for all this 699 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:16,120 brokenness was. We didn't know we were, it was 700 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:19,320 veiled from us. But now if Jesus has woken you 701 00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:22,000 up from spiritual death to spiritual life, you can see it. 702 00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:27,960 So you have an unveiled face. And we all with unveiled face, 703 00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:33,240 beholding the glory of the Lord, the goodness of God, the beauty, 704 00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:36,200 the character, the faithfulness, like the reverence in awe of who 705 00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:43,480 God is, are being transformed. Current tents. 706 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:47,680 It's happening right now into the same image, into Christ 707 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:57,440 likeness from 1° of glory to another, not 30° at a time, not 708 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:02,240 giant leaps, 1° of glory to another. 709 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:06,480 The way to become like Jesus is to focus on Jesus and it takes a 710 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:08,760 lot of time. I want you to think crock pots, 711 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:12,760 not microwaves. You ain't getting, you ain't 712 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:13,960 getting the microwaves, Christian. 713 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:15,880 It's a mess. By the way, they explode. 714 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,280 For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 715 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:23,120 Now how do we do this? How do we focus on the glory of 716 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:27,160 God? Well, all you have to do is skip 717 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:29,280 down 1 chapter, second Corinthians chapter 4, and he 718 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:32,200 tells us. Here's what it says for God, who 719 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:35,000 said let light shine out of darkness? 720 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:39,800 That's a quote of of God from the creation story when he made 721 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,880 light out of dark, right? For God, who said let light 722 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:48,200 shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light 723 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:52,080 of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 724 00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:53,240 Like, whoa, whoa, what does that mean? 725 00:42:53,240 --> 00:42:56,240 OK, first of all, I don't know if you catch this, but he just 726 00:42:56,240 --> 00:43:02,000 said that our hearts were so dark that it was the equivalent 727 00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:07,200 of when light didn't exist. That's a pretty dark. 728 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,320 If you're wondering on the scale of darkness, light not existing, 729 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:14,080 it's pretty dark. He just said before Christ, your 730 00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:18,040 heart was so dark, so evil, so depraved that there was no 731 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:19,840 light. And God not only at the 732 00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:21,760 beginning of creation, said let there be light. 733 00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:24,400 When he saved you, He went into your dark heart and said, let 734 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:34,960 there be light. And then he says God's glory. 735 00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:38,320 So the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 736 00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:42,800 What what, what does that mean? God's glory is expressed to us 737 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:48,080 in the face of Jesus Christ. OK, It's it doesn't mean like 738 00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:51,600 you have to actually know specifically what Jesus face 739 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:53,680 physically looked like. That would be tough because we 740 00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:55,240 don't have Google Photos from back then, right? 741 00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:57,880 Nobody went back that far. Mine go like 11 years, 742 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:00,640 definitely not making it 2000. So it's not physically the face 743 00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:02,080 of Christ. What is it saying? 744 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:07,840 Listen, if you want to understand what the physical 745 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:12,000 manifestation of all of the glory of God is, all of His 746 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:15,240 character, all of His perfection, all of His goodness, 747 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:18,920 all of His power, all of His mercy, all of everything that is 748 00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:22,720 good about this universe and creation, He took all of it and 749 00:44:22,720 --> 00:44:26,640 put it into a physical man, a baby born of a woman, wrapped in 750 00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:28,360 flesh. And He walked amongst us. 751 00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:35,320 And that is the glory of God. And if you would get infatuated 752 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:37,480 with that, it'll change your life. 753 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:42,240 You can get infatuated with fantasy football won't change 754 00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:44,960 your life. You can get infatuated with a 755 00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:47,960 new hobby or a relationship won't change your life, but man, 756 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:52,000 if you will begin to be devoted to that, you'll begin to 757 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:53,960 experience the glory of God. What the Bible says is if you 758 00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:56,600 will begin to experience the glory of God, you will start 759 00:44:56,600 --> 00:45:02,880 getting changed 1° at a time. That's how transformation works. 760 00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:10,080 That if we would get, if we would fall more deeply in love 761 00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:13,480 with Him, it would change us. Hey, guess what, that's good 762 00:45:13,480 --> 00:45:14,280 news. Amen. 763 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,720 Because that means there's hope for knuckleheads like me who 764 00:45:18,720 --> 00:45:20,920 can't seem to make the right decisions. 765 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:28,080 What I have to do in my life is now architect a way to focus on 766 00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:32,160 Christ more and on lists less, focus on Christ more and 767 00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:34,040 comparing myself to other people less. 768 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:36,680 So I wanted you to consider two things today, Two ways to do 769 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:38,400 that. One thing you start doing, one 770 00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:40,240 thing you stop doing. We'll make this really easy. 771 00:45:40,240 --> 00:45:42,320 I put a list in your bulletin. Here's the first. 772 00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:44,680 I want you to make a list of this. 773 00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:47,600 What are things I can do to grow in Christ? 774 00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:50,960 Man, there's so many ways to grow, right? 775 00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:53,960 The Bible talks about all these different ways we get better at 776 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:58,360 prayer or pray more, build a good Christian community around 777 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:02,440 us or or learn how to serve other people, build generosity, 778 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:06,600 work on our on confession, reading our Bible, building 779 00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:09,760 gratitude and thankfulness, all reverence and on and on and on. 780 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:14,880 There's lots of good things, say me, you could put yourself in 781 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:18,760 environments and communities, in moments and disciplines to help 782 00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:21,520 in the rehab process of what it looks like to live with this new 783 00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:23,720 heart. And that's what this is. 784 00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:28,000 We're doing rehab. We are all doing rehab from our 785 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,560 addiction to sin. Church is a recovery center. 786 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:37,320 You're an addict. I'm an addict, addicted to sin, 787 00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:42,520 but God, now I can make a list of, of these things that I want 788 00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:44,440 to do, right? And, and, and how do I, how do I 789 00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:46,040 make a list and it not become legalism? 790 00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:49,160 If I make a list of stuff to do and I get back to the check 791 00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:50,800 boxes, didn't I get back to the place I started? 792 00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:54,600 Oh my gosh, here's here's how I can help you with that list. 793 00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:56,360 OK, whatever you're going to write down to your list, I just 794 00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:57,720 want you to think there's one thing, OK? 795 00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:02,520 Every time you look at a doing a thing, I want you to think, how 796 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:04,760 does this stir up my affection for God? 797 00:47:05,720 --> 00:47:07,680 How does this stir up my passion for God? 798 00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:09,360 OK. And this is the difference. 799 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:11,800 So if you put read my Bible daily and then you read your 800 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:15,000 Bible for 15 minutes, then you check the box and you walked 801 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:19,280 off, we've missed the mark. But then if I open the scripture 802 00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:21,840 and I get one verse in, but it begins to stir in me an 803 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:24,120 affection for Christ. Now we're getting somewhere. 804 00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:28,560 So it's a it's not just a what I'm doing, it's a how and why I 805 00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:30,320 do it. I'm trying to meet someone and 806 00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:33,160 know him better. OK, So what will stir me up? 807 00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:35,640 What will help with my humility? What will strip away my pride? 808 00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:37,640 What will grow my generosity and gratitude? 809 00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:39,280 It's a relationship, not a robot. 810 00:47:41,240 --> 00:47:42,360 So one thing to start doing, right? 811 00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:45,720 You're going to make a list. One thing to stop doing. 812 00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:50,560 How do I strip self from every part of my life and replace it 813 00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:53,680 with Jesus? AW Tozer says that the primary 814 00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:55,960 thing that holds you and I back from truly experiencing the 815 00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:59,840 goodness and presence of God in our lives is self life. 816 00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:03,280 So, so where in my life have I been relying on my own feelings, 817 00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:05,040 my own emotions, my own sufficiency? 818 00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:09,760 And let us confess that and repent and instead be desperate 819 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:11,160 for God in that area of our life. 820 00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:14,480 Because if you will start to to answer these questions, right, 821 00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:16,880 if you will, you'll begin to add some things to your life to stir 822 00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:19,560 up your affection and strip away those areas that where you're 823 00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:20,880 focused just entirely on yourself. 824 00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:22,120 You'll do that Monday through Saturday. 825 00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:24,320 Let me tell you something, your life is going to change. 826 00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:30,640 Maybe you, you've been listening online or you've been hanging 827 00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:35,160 out with us today and, and you've never heard most of this 828 00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:36,840 stuff, right? This is kind of foreign to you 829 00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:39,560 or, or you're just skeptical of, been skeptical about it. 830 00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:43,960 And maybe you've never realized that it's not a life coach you 831 00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:48,000 need, it's a heart surgeon. Maybe maybe you've been looking 832 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:54,000 for advice, therapy, comfort, knowledge, gimmicks, lots of 833 00:48:54,000 --> 00:48:55,400 things, and none of them seem to work. 834 00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:58,440 And so it's just for the last moment or two as we wrap this 835 00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:00,760 up. I just want to, I just want to 836 00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:03,920 ask you if God has grabbed a hold of your attention today, 837 00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:06,800 it's because he wants to save you. 838 00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:12,800 And He is at this very moment awakening your soul to the 839 00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:15,960 things of heaven. He is replacing your heart of 840 00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:18,800 stone with the heart of flesh. So I want to give you a chance 841 00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:21,280 to respond to the call that God has on your life today. 842 00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:25,200 The Bible says in Romans 10/9 and 10 Because if we confess 843 00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:27,560 with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart 844 00:49:27,560 --> 00:49:29,920 that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. 845 00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:33,240 For with the heart 1 believes and is justified, and with the 846 00:49:33,240 --> 00:49:36,120 mouth 1 confesses and is saved. And so if you would like to 847 00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:38,320 surrender to God today, I want to give you that chance. 848 00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:44,000 Will you bow your heads with me? Close your eyes if you're 849 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:50,280 willing to ask God for forgiveness for salvation. 850 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:55,360 I just want you to repeat this prayer after me. 851 00:49:56,280 --> 00:49:58,400 You do it silently. You do quietly, however, 852 00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:05,520 whoever's comfortable. Jesus, I know I'm a Sinner who 853 00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:12,040 can't save myself and I want you to save me and adopt me into 854 00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:15,040 your family. Be my Lord, Please. 855 00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:20,600 Jesus, have you said that prayer for the very first time? 856 00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:23,720 Will you be brave and raise your hand for me to see? 857 00:50:26,240 --> 00:50:31,080 Thank you, thank you. You put your hands down in Jesus 858 00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:32,120 name. Amen. 859 00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:36,680 Amen. Real quick, if you just gave 860 00:50:36,680 --> 00:50:40,360 your life to Christ, welcome to the family.