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The holy gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ according to 

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Matthew beware of practicing 
your righteousness before other 

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people in order to be seen by 
them for then you will have no 

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reward from your father who is 
in heaven thus would you give to

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the needy sound no trumpet 
before you as the hypocrites do 

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in the synagogues and in the 
streets that they may be praised

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by others truly I say to you 
they have received their reward 

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But But when when you you give 
give to to the the needy needy, 

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do do not not let let your your 
left left hand hand know know 

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what what your your right right 
hand hand is is doing doing, so 

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so that that your your giving 
giving may may be be in in 

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secret secret. and your father 
who sees in secret will reward 

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you and when you pray you must 
not be like the hypocrites for 

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they love to stand and pray in 
the synagogues and at the street

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corners that they may be seen by
others truly I say to you they 

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have received their reward but 
when you pray go into your room 

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and shut the door and pray to 
your father who is in secret And

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your Father who sees in secret 
will reward you. 

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And when you fast, do not look 
gloomy like the hypocrites, for 

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they disfigure their faces that 
their fasting may be seen by 

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others. 
Truly I say to you, they have 

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received their reward. 
But when you fast, anoint your 

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head and wash your face, that 
your fasting may not be seen by 

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others, but by your Father who 
is in secret. 

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And your Father who sees in 
secret will reward you. 

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Do not lay up for yourselves 
treasures on earth where moth 

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and rust destroy and where 
thieves break in and steal, but 

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lay up for yourselves treasures 
in heaven where neither moth nor

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rust destroys, and where thieves
do not break in and steal. 

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For where your treasure is, 
there your heart will be also 

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the gospel of the Lord. 
Well, good evening and welcome 

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to Emmanuel Anglican Church. 
Welcome to Ash Wednesday in 

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talent. 
My name is Matt Osterkamp. 

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I'm one of the lay lay leaders 
here at Emmanuel. 

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I'm a member of the preaching 
team. 

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And so I will be bringing the 
message tonight. 

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We are going to be looking at 
our gospel text, those verses in

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Matthew chapter 6. 
But before we do that, let me 

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just open with a word of prayer.
The Lord be with you. 

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Heavenly Father, I pray that you
would come and dwell this place 

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this evening. 
May your Spirit come and 

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minister to us. 
Give us ears to ear hear and 

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eyes to see. 
May you use my words to glorify 

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you and edify your church. 
We pray in the name of the 

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Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
Amen. 

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So you can find our text in your
bulletins or in your Bibles. 

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But before we read the words of 
Matthew, I want to open with 

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these words from the Gospel of 
John, John 3 verse 17, where we 

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read For God did not send his 
son into the world to condemn 

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the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through 

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him. 
Not to condemn the world, but in

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order that the world might be 
saved through him. 

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When you hear of somebody or 
something being saved, you have 

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a a story or something that 
comes to mind. 

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Maybe a time when you or someone
you knew was in sudden and 

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immediate danger. 
And then there was some 

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intervention, some rescue, and 
the danger was removed and there

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was relief and there was 
salvation. 

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I think back four years ago in 
2022 and March 6, I woke up to a

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phone call. 
I know some of you have received

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these phone calls from my father
that my mom was having an active

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heart attack. 
Her heart was failing. 

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But we talked on the phone. 
He was at the hospital, the 

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local hospital, waiting for a 
helicopter to arrive that would 

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fly my mom to the Regional 
Hospital where she would have 

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emergency heart surgery. 
See, multiple arteries had 

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become so blocked that blood was
only trickling into her heart 

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and she would need 5 stints. 
And through the mercy of the 

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Lord, her life was extended. 
That comes to mind is I think of

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somebody being saved. 
And, and what we learned as a 

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family that weekend is that 
heart surgery. 

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It is painful that it it makes 
you and leaves you in a very 

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vulnerable place. 
But when the blood, when the 

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arteries open and the blood 
flows again, there's new life 

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and there's strength and you're 
not always tired and you didn't 

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you have energy again. 
And I share this because I think

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in the season of Lent and even 
as we look at these scriptures, 

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the Lord wants to work on our 
hearts. 

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He wants to open up arteries 
that have maybe become clogged 

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and blocked. 
See, these verses aren't here to

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just make you feel guilty, to 
make you feel embarrassed or 

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inadequate when you worship. 
The Lord is giving us some 

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warning because He wants His 
love, his abundant life to flow 

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through US, the power of the 
Holy Spirit to indwell us. 

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And so as we hear these words, 
let us remember He does not say 

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this to condemn us. 
His mission is to save us. 

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So let us now turn to Matthew 
chapter 6, starting with verse 

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one. 
Beware of practicing your 

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righteousness before other 
people in order to be seen by 

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them, for then you will have no 
reward from your Father who is 

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in heaven. 
So the context here, as some of 

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you know, and we're in the 
Sermon on the Mount, this is 

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Jesus's great oration. 
It kind of announces in Matthew 

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his ministry, and he goes up 
onto the mountains and his 

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disciples are at his feet and 
the crowds are beyond the 

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disciples. 
And he begins with this 

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beautiful poetic vision of the 
Kingdom of God, the poor being 

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blessed, those who mourn being 
comforted, the hungry being 

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filled. 
There's something so compelling 

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and so beautiful about those 
early Beatitudes. 

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And I imagine the crowd just 
their attention, increasingly 

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riveted to the Messiah who's 
giving them his agenda, the one 

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they've been waiting for. 
And then he pivots from those 

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beatitudes to a retelling of the
law. 

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And he says, you have heard it 
said do not commit murder. 

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And maybe they're sinking. 
Yeah. 

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And I haven't, I haven't done 
that. 

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But then Jesus says, but I say 
to you, whoever is angry with 

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his brother is in danger of the 
fires of hell. 

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And now things are getting 
uncomfortable. 

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You've heard it said, love your 
neighbor. 

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Yeah. 
Yeah. 

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Mostly I say to you, love your 
enemies. 

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And as he keeps telling the law 
and he talks about OS and 

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adultery, I imagine them seeing 
the chasm between themselves, 

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their lived reality and the 
Kingdom of God, that initial 

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vision just growing wider and 
wider. 

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And they're sitting there and 
they're thinking, how are we 

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ever going to get into this 
Kingdom? 

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And probably there's some 
rabbi's kid, I'm a preacher's 

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kid myself, some rabbi's kid 
sitting there and he's thinking,

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I know, I know. 
The spiritual disciplines we 

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need to reconnect with those 
ancient practices that's going 

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to get us to God. 
And for a 1st century Jew, those

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disciplines, as Father Aaron 
said, would have been practicing

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alms, doing acts of generosity 
and mercy. 

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They would have been praying and
calling out to the Lord 

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Almighty, the great God and 
deliverer of the Hebrew people, 

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and they would have been 
fasting, taking a break from 

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your regular rhythms and 
routines to turn your attention 

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to God to the great story of 
redemption. 

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And they thought these are the 
ways and Jesus turns to these 

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exact things right in this 
sermon. 

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But he doesn't just give an 
uncomplicated go do it instead. 

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He he talks about these things. 
Prevents the full experience a 

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full relationship of God that 
prevents those blood from 

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flowing into your your spiritual
heart be careful even here even 

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when you're doing these 
spiritual practices We're going 

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to find a word in this text 
that's translated into English 

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as hypocrites the Greek word 
would be a word that'd be used 

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for actors it could mean an 
actor on a stage it could also 

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be translated as performer we 
might say that this is kind of 

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performative religion in our 
current language I'm going to 

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use the word performer I can 
stick a little softer than 

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hypocrite but we're going to 
look at a performer who is 

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engaging in spiritual 
disciplines But not connecting 

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not fully connecting with God 
maybe not connecting at all with

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God and I want to ask three 
questions and I think these can 

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be 3 questions we sit with 
during the 40 days of went 

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question 1 is how do we see 
ourselves how do we see 

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ourselves question 2 is how do 
we see other people how do we 

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see those around us and then 
question 3 is what story are we 

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living out What What story 
story? 

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what is the story that defines 
and drives our lives so read 

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with me now we're in verse 2 of 
Matthew 6 truly when you give to

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the needy sound no trumpet 
before you as the hypocrites do 

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in the synagogues and in the 
streets that they may be praised

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by others truly I say to you 
they have received their reward 

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But when you give to the needy, 
do not let your left hand know 

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what your right hand is doing so
that you're giving may be done 

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in secret and your father who 
sees in secret will reward you. 

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I was reading an interview with 
Internet pioneer and fellow 

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Illini Marc Andreessen the other
day. 

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He's from way back in the 90s 
dot com boom and they were 

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asking him what motivates the 
leaders in Silicon Valley. 

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You know, all of these famous 
mostly men that we hear so much 

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about. 
Some years they're heroes, some 

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years they're villains, but what
motivates them? 

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Is it really just about making 
money? 

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The reporter asks and and Marc 
Andreessen replies, making money

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that that's like goal number 5 
or something. 

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I, I would say goal number one 
is I'm a good person. 

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I'm a good person is wildly more
important than profit margins 

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wildly. 
And I think the performer in 

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Matthew 6 would totally agree 
with the Silicon Valley mogul. 

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In fact, he's so invested in 
raising moral capital that he's 

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he's giving away financial 
capital. 

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He's giving out his money trying
to build this narrative that 

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he's a good person. 
He's not like those exploitative

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capitalists who are are just 
taking from the masses. 

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He's he's giving back. 
He's not just signaling virtue. 

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He's actually doing virtue over 
here. 

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I'm doing it like you're the 
trumpet. 

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I'm doing the thing. 
I'm giving away the money. 

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You know, sometimes we get 
caught up in needing to prove 

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that we are not like those 
people. 

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When I say those people, you 
know who I'm talking about might

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be different for each one of us,
But I think we often have these 

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categories. 
Like I am one of the good guys. 

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I'm not like them and this self 
righteousness like plaque in our

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arteries, it starts to clog out 
our connection to God. 

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I've been there. 
Maybe some of you have been 

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there. 
I think the performer here, he 

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might be caught up in this need 
to to communicate to other 

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people to continue to say like I
am one of the people who gets 

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it. 
I'm one of the people who's 

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doing the right thing. 
Look at me. 

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I need you to validate that. 
I need you to hear me. 

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Or Or maybe maybe there's 
there's another another reason 

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reason, or or maybe maybe it's 
it's sometimes sometimes related

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related. maybe it's not so much 
that he's just like thinks he's 

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the the you know the big 
self-righteous the the star 

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student maybe he's worried and 
he's trying to convince himself 

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and he's not quite doing it 
Maybe he's worried and he's 

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trying to convince himself and 
he's not quite doing it, that 

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he's not the same person that he
is at his worst moments. 

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That those really cringy 
moments, you know, those moments

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you might wake up in the middle 
of the night and you're like, 

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how did I really do that? 
I, I wish I could do that again.

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I should have called them back. 
Did I really say that thing? 

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It could have been a secret 
shame that he was hoping the 

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voices of the crowds would drown
out his own interior monologue 

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that he was not worthy. 
And he was hoping by by showing 

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off and being so demonstratively
generous that he could start to 

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believe himself that he really 
was a good person. 

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But maybe he really, really 
struggled to believe that. 

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And I think what Jesus is 
warning us here, He's warning us

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particularly about our own inner
monologues. 

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I think it's interesting. 
He says like, do not let your 

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left hand know what your right 
hand is doing. 

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He's targeting how do we, how do
we think of ourselves? 

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And he wants us to stay grounded
in the reality that each one of 

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us are sinners. 
Each one of us are sinners, We 

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each need a Savior, but that 
each one of us are loved by God,

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that we are worthy of being 
loved through the mercy and 

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grace of God Almighty. 
We are saved through the blood 

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of Christ. 
He's saying, don't believe your 

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own hype and don't give in to 
that nagging voice of shame that

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says you are not worthy, for you
are a Sinner. 

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But there is grace and the 
avenue is made for you to come 

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and approach God, not in a 
flashy, showy way. 

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You don't need the affirmation 
of the the audience. 

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Just go and do it in secret and 
experience the love and the 

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freedom of Christ. 
As we say tonight when we put on

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the ashes, repent. 
Repent from yourself, 

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righteousness from your claims 
of moral superiority and believe

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the gospel, the gospel that 
every single one of us is worthy

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of being loved, that God loves 
every single one of us and he 

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wants to redeem every single one
of us. 

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No matter what you've done, no 
matter where you've been. 

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How do you think of yourself 
when you stay resting in that 

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place of I'm a Sinner, but I'm 
saved by grace. 

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Second second question, second 
vignette here. 

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We're going to go to verse 16 
now skipping down or actually 

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went out to verse 16, yet pages 
are out of order. 

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Verse 8 or verse 5. 
And when you pray, you must not 

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be like the hypocrites, for they
love to stand and pray in the 

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synagogues and at the street 
corners that they may be seen by

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others. 
Truly I say to you, they have 

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received their reward. 
But when you pray, go into the 

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your room and shut the door and 
pray to your father who is in 

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secret, and your father who sees
in secret will reward you. 

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Question 2 is how do we see 
other people? 

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And again, I think the performer
in this this vignette, and we 

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don't know fully what the 
motivation are, but I imagine 2 

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possible motivations for them. 
Why are they praying? 

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Why do they love to pray on the 
on the stage, in the corner, in 

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the synagogue? 
Why? 

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Why do I love to pray sometimes 
on the stage in the synagogue? 

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Is Is my my audience audience 
that that I I need need to to 

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please please? 
maybe some of you remember the 

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old TV show Top Chef I don't 
know if it's still on and we see

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other people as like the 
spiritual Tom colicchio's who 

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are going to come in and 
appraise our lives and we still 

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want their approval we still 
want to oppress impress them we 

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want that spread in bread and 
wine magazine you know we want 

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to be the top Christian and we 
start to see other people as our

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judge but maybe that wasn't it 
and as I get older And as I get 

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older, I feel a second 
motivation creeping into my 

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heart. 
And maybe these Jewish elders, 

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these religious worshippers were
looking around in the 1st 

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century and they had this 
thought. 

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Kids these days and you've seen 
what they're into. 

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They're into all this Roman 
stuff and this Greek philosophy.

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I don't know that they really 
know how to pray. 

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I don't know if they really get 
it. 

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I need to show them what it's 
like to seek God with all of 

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your heart, with all of your 
mind. 

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They need me to stand there and 
demonstrate to them just what 

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it's like. 
You ever feel that pressure in a

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changing world that we need to 
be visibly Christian or 

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Christianity will fail? 
If we're not out there, if we're

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not doing it, this whole thing 
could collapse. 

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Maybe that was what they were 
feeling is they're on the street

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corners and in the synagogues. 
And as I reflect on this, I 

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think about how religious 
performance isolates us, but 

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true worship connects us to God 
and it connects us to other 

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people. 
But as we connect to God in 

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secret and then we go out to the
table, it's not some crappy 

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reality TV show meal where we're
all kind of envious and we're 

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all jockeying with each other. 
I mean, what a messed up picture

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of hospitality, right? 
It's we're just sitting down and

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enjoying good food and good 
company. 

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We're free from all that 
pressure to perform and we don't

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need to take on the burden and 
to see ourselves as the saviors 

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of the world who have all that 
pressure and see other people as

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projects. 
See, I think as we connect with 

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God, we see that we are not 
little saviors out to redeem the

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world. 
We can approach other people as 

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neighbors who walk with them to 
the cross of Christ. 

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We're going with you. 
We're a neighbor. 

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We're a fellow Sinner. 
We can love you in a non anxious

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way. 
We can be present in your lives 

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because we're connected and 
grounded to God in prayer and 

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00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:15,520
we're showing up not to impress 
you, not because we feel like if

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00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:17,839
we don't do this, this whole 
thing is going to fall apart. 

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See, the God who was is the God 
who is, is the God who will be 

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00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,920
world without end. 
We don't need to hold on to that

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00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:28,880
pressure. 
We can connect with God through 

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prayer and secret. 
Now we go to our third vignette,

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skipping down to verse 16 of the
gospel text. 

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And when you fast, do not look 
gloomy like the hypocrites, for 

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they disfigure their faces, that
their fasting may be seen by 

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others. 
Truly, I say to you, they have 

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00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,520
received their reward. 
But when you fast, anoint your 

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00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:53,800
head and wash your face, that 
your fasting may not be seen by 

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others, but by your Father who 
is in secret, And your Father 

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00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:59,560
who sees in secret will reward 
you. 

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The American author Joan Didion 
once wrote, we tell ourselves 

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stories in order to live. 
We tell ourselves stories. 

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00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:12,600
We are narrative creatures. 
We like to organize things and 

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00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,240
some sort of narrative arc. 
We like to picture ourselves and

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00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:18,040
structure our lives in some kind
of story. 

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And fasting in the 1st century, 
scholars tell us, would have 

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00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:24,480
been performed for one of three 
reasons. 

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00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:28,840
Either people would have fasted 
as a sign of repentance and as 

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00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:33,400
an as a physical, bodily 
discipline that was helping them

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00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:36,480
turn away from the things of the
world and turn towards the 

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00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:39,720
things of God. 
Fasting was was orienting their 

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00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,920
lives towards the redemptive 
story of God or fasting was an 

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act of remembrance. 
It was clearing out space so 

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00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,080
they could stop and reflect on 
the great works of deliverance, 

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00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:54,360
particularly in delivering the 
Hebrew people out of the land of

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00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:58,080
Egypt in the land of slavery. 
Fasting would be repentance, 

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00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:02,480
fasting could be remembrance, or
fasting could be preparation. 

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But But in in each each case 
case, fasting fasting is is 

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orienting orienting us us and 
and connecting connecting us us 

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00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:28,240
to to the the great great story 
story of of salvation salvation,

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00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:30,320
to to the the story story of of 
our our creator Creator God God 

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00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:32,040
who who has has promised 
promised us us blessings 

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00:19:31,568 --> 00:19:32,920
blessings and and promised 
promised to to bless bless the 

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00:19:32,808 --> 00:19:35,680
the nation's nation's through 
through us us. and now we know 

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00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,760
his promise through salvation 
through the blood of his son 

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Jesus Christ so why no gloomy 
face fast why why can't we be 

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gloomy about this and as I was 
thinking about this I think it's

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a warning And as I was thinking 
about this, I think it's a 

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00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:55,320
warning to to look for the right
reward, to look for the right 

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00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,920
story. 
You see, the hustle is not the 

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00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:02,320
story. 
Our own experience of 

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deprivation, while maybe 
poignant in the moment, is 

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00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,560
really just preparation to be 
part of a much bigger story. 

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00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,960
And I think Jesus is saying 
don't lose the plot, don't 

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00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:18,240
forget the story. 
Your fasting is preparing you or

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00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,920
is a is a occasion for you to 
reflect and remember the great 

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00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:27,200
works of God, to celebrate the 
great power of God, the 

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00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:32,800
salvation of God. 
When we focus on our own 

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00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:38,040
experience of, of deprivation, 
of missing out, we're choosing 

358
00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:43,240
the wrong story, choosing a very
small story of personal striving

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00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:47,240
and, and personal effort. 
And we're, we're missing a 

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00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:52,160
chance to connect with the 
story, the true story, the holy 

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00:20:52,160 --> 00:21:01,640
story, the story of God's love. 
So this Lent, I would encourage 

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00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,640
you to reflect as you think 
about the Savior who came to 

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00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:09,440
save the world, desire anxiety 
to be seen as a good person. 

364
00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,200
Does it block our ability to 
connect with God? 

365
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,640
Can you let go of that anxiety? 
This is our shame and our 

366
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,720
feelings of the, the the 
feelings that I think come from 

367
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:25,040
the enemy, that we are unworthy.
Does that get in the way of us 

368
00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,960
connecting with God? 
How about the way we're we're 

369
00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:30,880
seeing others? 
Do we fall into the trap of 

370
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:33,840
feeling that we must perform, 
that they're going to judge us, 

371
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,840
that we need their approval? 
Can we step into the inner room 

372
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,360
and just connect with a God who 
loves us even while we were yet 

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00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:45,560
sinners, He died for us? 
Or are we feeling the pressure, 

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00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,880
the pressure to see other 
people's projects who they so 

375
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:52,160
need us? 
Can we see them as neighbors 

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00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:55,200
instead of projects? 
Can we trust that the Lord who 

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00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,680
worked in our lives to bring 
salvation can also work in their

378
00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:03,200
lives, That we can go together 
with them to the cross of Christ

379
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:14,200
and find our salvation there? 
For For smaller smaller stories 

380
00:22:13,408 --> 00:22:15,760
stories, for for individual 
individual stories stories, for 

381
00:22:15,608 --> 00:22:17,320
for a a story story of of this 
this moment moment and and lost 

382
00:22:17,088 --> 00:22:19,000
lost sight sight of of the the 
story story of of the the ages 

383
00:22:18,288 --> 00:22:23,920
ages. can we use this lint to 
reorient ourselves to remember 

384
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,720
to repent of of and turn from 
worldly things to remember the 

385
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:32,200
great deliverance of God and to 
prepare ourselves for the Easter

386
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:36,880
feast when we will encounter God
see nowhere in this text are we 

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are we are we told to not look 
for rewards It's always look for

388
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:46,200
the right reward. 
And Jesus says, for where your 

389
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:51,600
treasure is, there your heart 
will be also the name of the 

390
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,960
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
Amen.