WEBVTT 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:06.019 Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season, 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.640 we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.140 and uncovering what His story teaches us about 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:13.919 loving God and others. Here on Love & Context, 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:16.059 we're all about having real conversations about 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.140 how to live out that love in practical, everyday 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.199 ways, and understanding the Bible in its full 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:22.839 context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:29.079 into Season 3 of Love & Context. Right. Welcome 00:00:29.079 --> 00:00:32.840 back to The Love and Context. It's a podcast. 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:36.539 Podcast. We're going to talk about things today. 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:40.299 We're going to talk about items. Items. Ideas. 00:00:40.380 --> 00:00:44.340 Items. Places. Well, somewhat places. This is 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:47.039 actually Sermon on the Mount Part 3. Let's go. 00:00:47.539 --> 00:00:51.219 So I think we were looking and we thought it 00:00:51.219 --> 00:00:53.570 was going to be two. Yeah. We were wrong. We 00:00:53.570 --> 00:00:55.750 were. There's so much going on in there and so 00:00:55.750 --> 00:00:57.390 much discussed. I mean, we could probably do 00:00:57.390 --> 00:00:58.909 a whole season just on the Sermon on the Mount. 00:00:59.090 --> 00:01:01.469 Well, yeah. I mean, it's this whole pronouncement 00:01:01.469 --> 00:01:03.189 of what does the kingdom actually even look like. 00:01:03.469 --> 00:01:06.590 So it's difficult trying to trim it down to two 00:01:06.590 --> 00:01:09.430 episodes. Yeah. Just difficult. Yeah. Difficult. 00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:13.310 So last couple of weeks, we kind of entered in. 00:01:13.349 --> 00:01:15.549 Jesus starts this Sermon on the Mount. He says, 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:18.040 you know, what is? Yeah. this kingdom that I'm 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:19.439 inviting you into, you know, what does it actually 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:21.739 look like? Who is it for? Uh, it turns out not 00:01:21.739 --> 00:01:23.900 for the powerful, you know, not for the, not 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:25.920 for the rich. It's not that they can't be there. 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:28.620 Yeah. Well, that's, it's for the poor in spirit, 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:30.319 the people who thirst for righteousness, you 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:31.840 know, these kinds of people. And if you go in 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:33.659 and you're part of this kingdom, you're going 00:01:33.659 --> 00:01:35.299 to put God on display and people are probably 00:01:35.299 --> 00:01:37.680 going to come after you. Yeah. Um, but that's 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:39.040 okay. You're going to be blessed in the middle 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:40.540 of it. And then there's a bunch of things. He 00:01:40.540 --> 00:01:41.900 says, I didn't come to abolish Torah, but I came 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:43.459 to fulfill it. So last week we talked about a 00:01:43.459 --> 00:01:45.260 lot of these things, you know, murder wasn't 00:01:45.260 --> 00:01:46.319 always supposed to be about murder, but it's 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.269 about, actually treating people well and not 00:01:48.269 --> 00:01:50.870 sabotaging each other's character. Sexual ethics 00:01:50.870 --> 00:01:52.989 is about keeping purity and faithfulness and 00:01:52.989 --> 00:01:56.189 fidelity. And like all the way through, uh, to 00:01:56.189 --> 00:01:57.989 the, the last thing we were talking about was, 00:01:58.030 --> 00:02:01.810 um, yes, stand up for justice, but even in your 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:03.370 justice, you're supposed to love your enemies. 00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:05.489 Yeah. Which by the way, this would have been 00:02:05.489 --> 00:02:08.490 so wildly unpopular with like, it's, it's wildly 00:02:08.490 --> 00:02:11.400 unpopular today. Yeah. Thousands of years of 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:14.580 people living out Jesus' principles, and it's 00:02:14.580 --> 00:02:16.419 still unpopular to talk about loving your enemies. 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:21.210 Yeah. In their day, very much so. Yeah. And so 00:02:21.210 --> 00:02:22.849 that's where we left off yesterday. So we're 00:02:22.849 --> 00:02:25.110 going to pick up in chapter 6 and jump in right 00:02:25.110 --> 00:02:27.810 in here. And I'm going to loop a few of these 00:02:27.810 --> 00:02:29.530 in together. So I'm going to read a section because 00:02:29.530 --> 00:02:31.889 it's three different things that really apply 00:02:31.889 --> 00:02:35.289 to the same thing. So it starts off here. Be 00:02:35.289 --> 00:02:37.669 careful not to practice your righteousness in 00:02:37.669 --> 00:02:40.409 front of others to be seen by them. If you do, 00:02:40.469 --> 00:02:41.909 you will not have your reward from your Father 00:02:41.909 --> 00:02:44.469 in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do 00:02:44.469 --> 00:02:46.870 not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites 00:02:46.870 --> 00:03:04.920 do in the synagogues and on the streets. Yeah. 00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:15.259 And when you pray, go into your room, close the 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:18.300 door, and pray to your father, not for your father. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:21.520 Yeah. Who is unseen. Then your father who sees 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:23.659 what is done in secret will reward you. And when 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:25.580 you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:27.180 for they think that they will be heard because 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:29.219 of their many words. Do not be like them, for 00:03:29.219 --> 00:03:31.740 your father knows what you need before you ask 00:03:31.740 --> 00:03:33.740 him. This then is how you should pray. Our father 00:03:33.740 --> 00:03:35.520 in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:37.819 come, your will be done on earth as it is in 00:03:37.819 --> 00:03:39.599 heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:41.520 us our sins. And we have forgiven our debtors, 00:03:41.539 --> 00:03:43.780 sorry, our debts as we've forgiven our debtors. 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:45.419 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver 00:03:45.419 --> 00:03:46.919 us from the evil one. By the way, that's what 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:49.090 happens when you've... memorize a certain translation, 00:03:49.289 --> 00:03:52.129 and then you read a different one. For if you 00:03:52.129 --> 00:03:55.050 forgive others when they sin against you, your 00:03:55.050 --> 00:03:56.990 Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if 00:03:56.990 --> 00:03:58.889 you do not forgive their sins, your Father will 00:03:58.889 --> 00:04:02.430 not forgive you. When you fast, do not look somber 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:04.169 as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their 00:04:04.169 --> 00:04:06.370 faces to show others they are fasting. Truly, 00:04:06.469 --> 00:04:08.069 I tell you, they receive their reward in full. 00:04:08.169 --> 00:04:10.409 But I tell you, fast, put oil on your head, and 00:04:10.409 --> 00:04:12.629 wash your face, so that you will not be obvious 00:04:12.629 --> 00:04:14.789 to them that you are fasting, but only to your 00:04:14.789 --> 00:04:16.490 Father who is unseen, and your Father who sees 00:04:16.490 --> 00:04:18.699 what is done in secret. We'll reward you. All 00:04:18.699 --> 00:04:20.579 right, pause right there. Three different things. 00:04:20.660 --> 00:04:28.160 Giving, prayer, fasting, right? I think the misconception 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:30.019 that sometimes comes up here, and I'm going to 00:04:30.019 --> 00:04:31.920 go work backwards. So we're going to talk about 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.279 prayer in a future episode because we actually 00:04:34.279 --> 00:04:36.500 want to tackle this idea of spending time with 00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:38.579 God and communion in general. The first thing 00:04:38.579 --> 00:04:41.439 I want to tackle going backwards is this idea 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:45.379 of fasting. Fasting, whatever that looks like, 00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:47.300 whether it's fasting from electronics, fasting 00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:48.819 from food, specifically here they're talking 00:04:48.819 --> 00:04:51.699 about the practice of fasting from food. It's 00:04:51.699 --> 00:04:53.519 meant to... It was kind of hard to fast from 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:56.399 electronics back then. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Thank 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:01.519 you. You got to fast from that lamplight. Yeah, 00:05:01.579 --> 00:05:08.100 yeah. So the idea of fasting is that you take 00:05:08.100 --> 00:05:09.879 something out of your life and you replace it 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:11.720 with focus on God. So whenever your stomach would, 00:05:11.779 --> 00:05:13.500 like, grumble, you think about focusing on God, 00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:15.680 and actually you're usually praying into something. 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:18.480 And fasting is not supposed to be a forever thing. 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:21.560 It's a temporary measure, right? Usually you're 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:23.500 looking for breakthrough or connection or something 00:05:23.500 --> 00:05:25.680 with God that you feel is lacking, and fasting 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:29.199 is meant to bring you closer to God. That's not 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:31.420 really what's going on in this practice during 00:05:31.420 --> 00:05:36.579 that time. And especially like, so what they're 00:05:36.579 --> 00:05:40.100 doing in this time is that they're play acting 00:05:40.100 --> 00:05:42.139 it up. One of the words we use is hypocrites. 00:05:42.339 --> 00:05:44.160 We talk about that in our episode where we're 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.399 talking about hypocrites. It's a play acting 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:47.920 word. It means you're playing for the applause 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:52.000 of people. Right? You ever run into somebody 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:57.220 who's like, I am dieting. And I have changed 00:05:57.220 --> 00:06:00.560 everything about my diet to get healthy. And 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:01.839 you're like, oh, really? How long have you been 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:04.879 doing that? They're like. One day, you know? 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:08.120 And they're like, but listen, I've been drinking 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:11.240 green juice. I've got the energy. I went for 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:13.779 a run today. You know, all those different things. 00:06:13.860 --> 00:06:17.060 And then the next day, they're really miserable. 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:21.639 Yeah. Right? By the way, if that's you, I'm sorry. 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:27.060 I'm playing that up just a little bit. But you're 00:06:27.060 --> 00:06:28.720 kind of putting the cart before the horse at 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:32.189 that point. Right. Yeah. And I can hear the keyboards 00:06:32.189 --> 00:06:34.269 typing right now of like, okay, but there's also 00:06:34.269 --> 00:06:36.069 passages in scripture where it talks about where 00:06:36.069 --> 00:06:38.050 we're supposed to model these things. Yes. Right? 00:06:38.129 --> 00:06:40.389 Yep. Which is the other side of it. Yep. So you 00:06:40.389 --> 00:06:41.810 were supposed to model it, but you're also supposed 00:06:41.810 --> 00:06:43.949 to model it in humility. Yeah. You're not supposed 00:06:43.949 --> 00:06:46.730 to model it as like, look at how much money I 00:06:46.730 --> 00:06:49.230 gave to the church. Yeah. Look at how well I 00:06:49.230 --> 00:06:53.389 pray. But the reality is, I had someone once 00:06:53.389 --> 00:06:56.170 tell me is like, if you want a definition of 00:06:56.170 --> 00:06:57.949 integrity, it's what you do behind closed doors. 00:06:58.129 --> 00:07:00.370 Right. And it's how you live your life behind 00:07:00.370 --> 00:07:04.490 closed doors. Right. And that is how you can 00:07:04.490 --> 00:07:06.750 know how much integrity you actually have as 00:07:06.750 --> 00:07:09.550 a person. And so when we're talking about these 00:07:09.550 --> 00:07:11.889 things, yes, we want to be doing these things. 00:07:11.930 --> 00:07:14.470 We actually do want people to see us living this 00:07:14.470 --> 00:07:16.189 lifestyle out because that's what's going to 00:07:16.189 --> 00:07:19.290 cause them to ask questions. But we don't want 00:07:19.290 --> 00:07:24.910 to be like the Pharisees of the day where they 00:07:24.910 --> 00:07:27.709 actually went. so far the other direction where 00:07:27.709 --> 00:07:29.649 they're like, look at all the good we're doing. 00:07:29.889 --> 00:07:32.110 Yeah. Well, and so it's not actually prideful 00:07:32.110 --> 00:07:33.810 about it. In that case, it's not actually about 00:07:33.810 --> 00:07:35.970 the action. It's about getting accolades for 00:07:35.970 --> 00:07:38.509 the action, like doing the right thing for the 00:07:38.509 --> 00:07:40.970 wrong reason. Sure. The good stuff still gets 00:07:40.970 --> 00:07:43.170 done, but it's still not the right reason, especially 00:07:43.170 --> 00:07:45.129 with something like when you're talking about 00:07:45.129 --> 00:07:47.410 fasting, it's meant to bring you and God into 00:07:47.410 --> 00:07:49.269 communion. And if it's really about you, you're 00:07:49.269 --> 00:07:55.490 not really focusing on God. Jesus is a rabbi, 00:07:55.490 --> 00:07:57.069 so he's going to have his disciples who follow 00:07:57.069 --> 00:07:59.879 him and do everything that he does. So it's not 00:07:59.879 --> 00:08:02.560 like you can't, you've got to teach them with 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:04.199 your life. Like, discipleship with them, it's 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:06.060 like you put it on display. So to your point, 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:08.920 it's not you don't fast or that you don't tell 00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:11.540 people about fasting. But it's not from the perspective 00:08:11.540 --> 00:08:13.660 of, oh, look how great I am. It's about, hey, 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:15.519 when we fast, like, one of the things we're doing 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:17.040 is we're really focusing in on our relationship 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.399 with God. And, you know, the reason you prepare 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:20.959 your beard and all those things is because you 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:24.100 don't want people focusing on you. That's not 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:26.759 the point of the fast. No, I mean, it's the difference 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:29.019 between doing it for show and doing it in community, 00:08:29.139 --> 00:08:31.680 right? Like, you can do these things in community. 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:35.059 Jesus isn't talking, he is saying, he is using 00:08:35.059 --> 00:08:36.799 the words like you as like an individual, like 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:38.700 when you do this, when you do this, right? But 00:08:38.700 --> 00:08:41.720 he's using it in a context of the group that 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:44.620 he's talking to. With you as a church. And like, 00:08:44.620 --> 00:08:47.139 how are you doing it? So like, going back to 00:08:47.139 --> 00:08:48.360 this thing of prayer, we're obviously going to 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:50.639 talk about prayer in a future episode, but he 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:52.679 says, are you going and actually talking to God 00:08:52.679 --> 00:08:54.799 in your prayer closet, or are you going and standing 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:56.919 did you grab a soapbox take it out to the corner 00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:01.299 and you said dear heavenly father of whom i am 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:02.960 blessed you know you know i mean like i mean 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:06.419 is it a show or is it a relationship yeah and 00:09:06.419 --> 00:09:08.200 i was like that doesn't mean that you shouldn't 00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:10.200 like in this case where he's he's talking about 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:12.100 like in fact we're going to talk about next week 00:09:12.100 --> 00:09:14.500 the disciples asked jesus to teach them how to 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:16.639 pray yeah so the only way to teach them how to 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:19.340 pray is to pray with them right to model it for 00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:24.720 them and uh which he does But it's this condition 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:27.299 of the heart again. It's like, where's your heart 00:09:27.299 --> 00:09:29.580 in all of these? And all three of these, giving 00:09:29.580 --> 00:09:32.000 to other people, I think we talked about this 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:34.960 in the hypocrite episode, but one of the practices 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:37.460 is they have these massive things that collect 00:09:37.460 --> 00:09:40.700 the money for the poor. And when they're giving 00:09:40.700 --> 00:09:43.179 in, you could sling a bunch of coins in there 00:09:43.179 --> 00:09:46.419 to make a bunch of noise. It was really loud 00:09:46.419 --> 00:09:48.519 and obnoxious because no technology, so nothing 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:54.059 soaking up that sound. remembered um the uh so 00:09:54.059 --> 00:09:55.879 like there's no nothing soaking up that sound 00:09:55.879 --> 00:09:57.759 and so you're doing this and you're you're like 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:00.639 yeah i'm giving to the poor and like ultimately 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:02.919 the poor being given to like so that is a positive 00:10:02.919 --> 00:10:06.200 but uh you're not doing it because you care about 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:09.230 the poor You're doing it for the attention. And 00:10:09.230 --> 00:10:12.029 there are altruistic people in your life who 00:10:12.029 --> 00:10:14.470 I'm sure that you know that give to good causes 00:10:14.470 --> 00:10:16.509 and you're like, that's great. And they get tons 00:10:16.509 --> 00:10:18.090 of publicity for it and they seek the publicity 00:10:18.090 --> 00:10:21.110 for it. Still good things are done. They're not 00:10:21.110 --> 00:10:24.970 near as compelling as the people who just behind 00:10:24.970 --> 00:10:28.809 the scenes. give and take care of and administer 00:10:28.809 --> 00:10:32.210 needs, right? So what are these three portions? 00:10:32.289 --> 00:10:34.330 They're really talking about when you do these 00:10:34.330 --> 00:10:36.149 things, when you give, when you pray, when you 00:10:36.149 --> 00:10:40.610 fast, these spiritual disciplines. Are they about 00:10:40.610 --> 00:10:42.129 you or are they actually about your relationship? 00:10:42.450 --> 00:10:45.950 Yeah. Right? Like which of these two things are 00:10:45.950 --> 00:10:49.220 you focusing on? Yeah. And I think if we're honest, 00:10:49.320 --> 00:10:51.279 a lot of times we're self -focused on these. 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:53.580 And maybe we're not to the point where we're 00:10:53.580 --> 00:10:55.580 slinging money and doing all these things. But 00:10:55.580 --> 00:10:58.480 there's definitely been times in my life where 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:00.799 I do something and I was like, I need the accolades. 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:04.860 I need the pat on the back. I need the good job, 00:11:05.080 --> 00:11:09.059 right? And Jesus is like, that's not what it's 00:11:09.059 --> 00:11:11.620 about. In fact, that's not even like when you're 00:11:11.620 --> 00:11:14.419 coming into the kingdom, it's just not about 00:11:14.419 --> 00:11:19.799 the accolades. It's not about receiving glory. 00:11:19.860 --> 00:11:22.379 It's actually about putting God's kingdom on 00:11:22.379 --> 00:11:25.059 display. Well, it's about who you're receiving 00:11:25.059 --> 00:11:28.600 the praise from. Yeah. Right? Like, if you're 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:30.600 doing these things to get praise from the world, 00:11:30.820 --> 00:11:32.980 okay, that's going to fade. That's going to fail. 00:11:33.100 --> 00:11:36.440 Right? If you're doing these things so that Heavenly 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:39.000 Father can notice you because you're in relationship 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:42.940 with Him, you know, like, let's not pretend like 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:46.580 God is not going to say, hey, what? good job, 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:49.480 well done, good and faithful servant. When you 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:53.240 are doing these things in quiet, you are going 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:56.419 to get that. Should that be your sole motivation? 00:11:56.620 --> 00:11:59.759 Absolutely not. Your motivation should be, how 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:01.620 am I bringing the kingdom to this world? But 00:12:01.620 --> 00:12:04.039 you will get that praise from the Father when 00:12:04.039 --> 00:12:06.259 He's like, hey, you're doing everything that 00:12:06.259 --> 00:12:10.679 I've called you to do. And that does feel good 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:16.019 when you do get that. So once again, remember, 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:21.620 this is all one conversation. So because it continues 00:12:21.620 --> 00:12:25.220 in verse 19, do not store up for yourself treasures 00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:27.720 on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and 00:12:27.720 --> 00:12:29.580 where thieves break in and steal. But store up 00:12:29.580 --> 00:12:31.500 for yourself treasures in heaven, where moths 00:12:31.500 --> 00:12:33.360 and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:36.559 do not break in and steal. For where your treasure 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.200 is, there your heart will be also. If you only 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:41.779 care about and you seek the approval of man, 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:45.019 that's all you're going to get. Are you actually 00:12:45.019 --> 00:12:47.299 seeking a relationship with the Father? Are you 00:12:47.299 --> 00:12:49.679 seeking to be part of the kingdom of God? Because 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:51.600 if you are, that's what you're going to get. 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:55.340 Hunger and thirst for righteousness. They're 00:12:55.340 --> 00:12:57.100 not people who are just like, I'm going to do 00:12:57.100 --> 00:13:02.710 righteousness to... get kudos. These are people 00:13:02.710 --> 00:13:04.690 who are like, I see the things that are wrong 00:13:04.690 --> 00:13:08.730 and I want to put them right. The eye is the 00:13:08.730 --> 00:13:12.049 lamp of the body. By the way, the eye has to 00:13:12.049 --> 00:13:15.210 do with your generosity. If your eye is full 00:13:15.210 --> 00:13:17.190 of light, you're a generous person. If it's full 00:13:17.190 --> 00:13:19.570 of dark, you're a stingy person. With that in 00:13:19.570 --> 00:13:21.909 mind, the eye is the lamp of the body. If your 00:13:21.909 --> 00:13:23.769 eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full 00:13:23.769 --> 00:13:25.580 of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your 00:13:25.580 --> 00:13:27.559 whole body will be full of darkness. If then 00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:29.740 the light within you is darkness, how great is 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:32.340 that darkness? No one can serve two masters. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:34.120 Either you will hate the one and love the other, 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:36.139 or you will be devoted to the one and despise 00:13:36.139 --> 00:13:38.679 the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.720 What kind of person are you going to be? Are 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:44.500 you going to be a person that's consumed with 00:13:44.500 --> 00:13:46.919 generosity and love and compassion? By the way, 00:13:46.940 --> 00:13:48.840 this does not preclude you from having money. 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:53.629 Money cannot be your God. No. It actually is, 00:13:53.710 --> 00:13:57.090 the place I work, one of the quotes from one 00:13:57.090 --> 00:13:59.090 of the founders that I love, because it's an 00:13:59.090 --> 00:14:00.750 organization that works with a lot of money. 00:14:01.210 --> 00:14:06.029 He says, money has never been my God. And I just 00:14:06.029 --> 00:14:09.070 like that as part of the founding statements. 00:14:09.509 --> 00:14:11.909 Like money can't be your God. It can do a lot 00:14:11.909 --> 00:14:13.529 of good things. It's a tool for a lot of good 00:14:13.529 --> 00:14:17.809 uses. God is your God. And it flows through generosity 00:14:17.809 --> 00:14:25.070 there. Right? Agreed. Yeah. And if you, this 00:14:25.070 --> 00:14:28.570 is the case, and if you actually trust, and if 00:14:28.570 --> 00:14:31.370 you're seeking the kingdom of God, God is your 00:14:31.370 --> 00:14:33.970 God and money is not your God, then it leads 00:14:33.970 --> 00:14:37.039 into verse 25. Therefore, I tell you. Do not 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:39.259 worry about your life, what you'll eat or drink, 00:14:39.379 --> 00:14:41.820 or about your body, what you will wear, or is 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:44.279 not life more than food and the body more than 00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:46.240 clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.799 not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:50.860 your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not 00:14:50.860 --> 00:14:52.980 much more valuable than they? Can any one of 00:14:52.980 --> 00:14:54.960 you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:28.250 Continuing on in verse 30. Mm -hmm. I agree with 00:15:28.250 --> 00:15:31.230 that. 100%. Each day has enough trouble of its 00:15:31.230 --> 00:15:33.690 own. Yeah, it does. Oh, man. Especially when 00:15:33.690 --> 00:15:36.629 you have kids. Right? Oh, yeah. Every day you 00:15:36.629 --> 00:15:38.370 think you've got to figure it out, and then there's 00:15:38.370 --> 00:15:43.080 something new. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:46.700 was just going to say this idea of worry. It's 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:48.320 really easy to get caught up in that too, right? 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:51.539 Of being like, okay, here's all the things that 00:15:51.539 --> 00:15:56.019 we need to worry about. Paycheck to paychecks. 00:15:56.019 --> 00:15:58.039 There's people living that way, worried about 00:15:58.039 --> 00:15:59.419 where their next meal is coming from, whether 00:15:59.419 --> 00:16:02.059 they can make rent. There's people worried about 00:16:02.059 --> 00:16:04.059 different health issues that they have and so 00:16:04.059 --> 00:16:07.700 on and so forth. And that's always going to be 00:16:07.700 --> 00:16:12.340 there. We don't want to what we don't want to 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:14.080 do is we don't want to downplay people who do 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:16.659 have like serious anxiety Issues and stuff like 00:16:16.659 --> 00:16:18.000 that because that can be a serious problem for 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:20.580 people But what we do want to say is that when 00:16:20.580 --> 00:16:24.879 you are following Jesus Over time, you're going 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:27.000 to learn to kind of let these things go. Be like, 00:16:27.059 --> 00:16:30.179 okay, I don't need to step into that place of 00:16:30.179 --> 00:16:32.139 worry tomorrow. I have enough things going on 00:16:32.139 --> 00:16:35.200 today. And oftentimes what happens when you step 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:37.580 into that place of tomorrow worry is you miss 00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:40.799 the conversations you need to have today. You 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:42.480 miss the moments that are right in front of you. 00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:47.000 You miss the opportunities to be an awesome parent 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:49.679 to your kid. I mean, how many times do you hear 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:51.220 people talking about, they're like, I'm trying 00:16:51.220 --> 00:16:52.899 to provide a good life for my kid, and yet they 00:16:52.899 --> 00:16:56.299 spend no time with them. Right? I was like, you 00:16:56.299 --> 00:16:57.840 know, one of the most valuable things your kid 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:03.100 needs is you. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Like, 20 years 00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:04.500 from now, your kid is not going to be able to 00:17:04.500 --> 00:17:07.259 tell whether they ate all organic food or the 00:17:07.259 --> 00:17:09.920 stuff that you got on discount. You know what 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:11.359 they will remember is whether or not you were 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:13.819 home for dinner. Whether or not you were able 00:17:13.819 --> 00:17:19.559 to go play one more game. Yeah. You know? And 00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:22.259 let's be real. This world is getting more and 00:17:22.259 --> 00:17:23.940 more expensive to live in, right? Yeah. Especially 00:17:23.940 --> 00:17:26.839 in the US. And I'm sure it's true for other countries, 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:30.940 too. So finding how to get that quality time 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:32.859 in with your family can be harder and harder. 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:36.920 But the question then comes is, well, what's 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:41.740 your priority? Yeah. Maybe it's going to be more 00:17:41.740 --> 00:17:43.579 beneficial for you to find a few things to cut 00:17:43.579 --> 00:17:45.720 back on in your life so you can have more quality 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:49.259 time with your family. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Versus, 00:17:49.259 --> 00:17:51.240 versus living up to that quote unquote status 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:54.079 quo that you think you should be at. I think 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:56.000 there's a tendency to look at what other people 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:58.000 have, by the way, this is covered elsewhere, 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:00.460 but like talking about coveting, seeing the things 00:18:00.460 --> 00:18:02.579 that other people have not being satisfied with 00:18:02.579 --> 00:18:04.940 what you have. Yeah. Well, it goes, well, I mean, 00:18:04.940 --> 00:18:07.619 talk about the other way too. Like what's the 00:18:07.619 --> 00:18:10.579 opposite of like worry and envy. Yeah. It's contentment. 00:18:10.619 --> 00:18:13.339 Yeah. Right. Are you content with what you got? 00:18:13.539 --> 00:18:18.599 Yeah. It was, uh, I got this phone call from 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:20.420 this person who was trying to recruit me to another 00:18:20.420 --> 00:18:23.079 job. And they said, well, I want to talk to you 00:18:23.079 --> 00:18:26.680 about life -changing money. And I asked him a 00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:28.180 question because I was feeling a little snarky. 00:18:28.180 --> 00:18:30.920 I said, what if there's not an amount of money 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:34.720 that would change my life? And it was very quiet 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:36.559 on the other end because I don't think anybody's 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:38.420 ever asked him that before. I was like, what 00:18:38.420 --> 00:18:39.880 if there's not an amount of money that could 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:43.240 change my life? And he's like. Well, it's still 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:45.819 substantially more, and I was like, okay, but 00:18:45.819 --> 00:18:49.039 you said life -changing. I was like, I would 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:53.779 hope, and obviously, there is some capacity to, 00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:55.700 there is some things that would change in your 00:18:55.700 --> 00:18:59.160 life if you received a certain amount. If your 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:00.880 life changes because of a certain amount of money, 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:06.740 man, I'm not sure that you're content. Yep. I'm 00:19:06.740 --> 00:19:09.819 not talking about maybe have a nicer house, nicer 00:19:09.819 --> 00:19:13.599 car, any of those things. But if now you'll have 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:15.480 time for your family, now you'll have time for 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:18.039 your kids, I'm not sure that that... I don't 00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:23.400 know. I just don't know. I think a lot of times 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:27.119 we're looking for things in the temporary that 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:29.240 don't fulfill for things that are actually eternal. 00:19:31.460 --> 00:19:36.410 Relationships. Kingdom of God. fellowship you 00:19:36.410 --> 00:19:38.430 know yeah like those things that actually matter 00:19:38.430 --> 00:19:42.289 yeah and yeah and i mean you have to you have 00:19:42.289 --> 00:19:43.890 to like when you're reading stuff like this you 00:19:43.890 --> 00:19:45.450 have to decide like okay if i'm going to live 00:19:45.450 --> 00:19:50.269 into the kingdom um does like what matters and 00:19:50.269 --> 00:19:54.529 what doesn't matter I am, I'm 38 now, which, 00:19:54.630 --> 00:19:55.650 you know, there are plenty of people who are 00:19:55.650 --> 00:19:57.589 listening that would be like, oh, what a child. 00:19:57.990 --> 00:20:00.789 But I just celebrated my 20 year reunion in high 00:20:00.789 --> 00:20:03.650 school. And there was a guy that was at a reunion 00:20:03.650 --> 00:20:05.910 and he was talking about, he was like, oh, you 00:20:05.910 --> 00:20:08.890 know, the best days of my life, you know. And 00:20:08.890 --> 00:20:12.049 I was trying to think, I was like, man, I can't 00:20:12.049 --> 00:20:13.509 even remember most of what I did in high school. 00:20:13.650 --> 00:20:16.430 Yeah. But you know what I do? I remember relationships. 00:20:16.569 --> 00:20:20.009 I remember events. I remember breakthroughs in 00:20:20.009 --> 00:20:22.410 people's lives. I remember spiritual things that 00:20:22.410 --> 00:20:25.529 happened. There was a portion where the Holy 00:20:25.529 --> 00:20:27.809 Spirit hit me really heavy in high school and 00:20:27.809 --> 00:20:30.869 radically changed my life. I was like, I just 00:20:30.869 --> 00:20:35.549 like all the good stuff just hasn't lasted 20 00:20:35.549 --> 00:20:39.250 years. It's been the stuff that people aren't 00:20:39.250 --> 00:20:42.490 pursuing. Could you imagine if we as a Christian 00:20:42.490 --> 00:20:44.329 church pursued God the same way we would pursue 00:20:44.329 --> 00:20:48.670 money? Yeah. Mm -hmm. It'd be crazy. Yeah. Right? 00:20:49.549 --> 00:20:52.930 Where we're like, 50 hours a week because I just 00:20:52.930 --> 00:20:54.890 need a little more God. Mm -hmm. I need a little 00:20:54.890 --> 00:20:57.710 bit more relationship. Yeah. You know? I mean, 00:20:57.730 --> 00:21:00.990 that's obviously commoditizing. And please, theological 00:21:00.990 --> 00:21:04.609 knights, I understand. God is not a commodity. 00:21:04.849 --> 00:21:07.539 Yeah. But what if our passion for God was like 00:21:07.539 --> 00:21:09.680 the passion we have for money? And this whole 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:12.720 idea of you can't serve both God and money, I 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:17.180 think often we do, though. Put God, money, God, 00:21:17.460 --> 00:21:23.039 house, God, career, whatever it is. Exactly. 00:21:24.380 --> 00:21:28.980 All right. Each day has a trouble enough of its 00:21:28.980 --> 00:21:30.519 own. We're coming into the end of the Sermon 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:32.180 on the Mountain. Are you ready for here? This 00:21:32.180 --> 00:21:36.039 is the fun part because this is... Whew! All 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:38.819 right. So do not judge or you too will be judged. 00:21:39.019 --> 00:21:40.779 For in the same way you judge others, you will 00:21:40.779 --> 00:21:42.859 be judged. With the measure you use, it will 00:21:42.859 --> 00:21:45.140 be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck 00:21:45.140 --> 00:21:46.740 of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention 00:21:46.740 --> 00:21:48.799 to the plank in your own eye? How can you say 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:50.640 to your brother, let me take that speck out of 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:52.720 your eye when all the time to take the speck... 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.309 Oh, sorry. When all the time there is a plank 00:21:55.309 --> 00:21:57.390 in your own eye, you hypocrite first take the 00:21:57.390 --> 00:21:58.950 plank out of your own eye, and then you will 00:21:58.950 --> 00:22:00.930 see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's 00:22:00.930 --> 00:22:03.190 eye. Do not give to dogs what is sacred. Do not 00:22:03.190 --> 00:22:04.990 throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they will 00:22:04.990 --> 00:22:07.869 trample them and ask under their feet and turn 00:22:07.869 --> 00:22:10.009 and tear you to pieces. Once again, this is connecting 00:22:10.009 --> 00:22:12.309 back to the previous idea. These are things that 00:22:12.309 --> 00:22:15.829 you should do, like judging and coming in connection 00:22:15.829 --> 00:22:18.309 and correcting people when they have brokenness 00:22:18.309 --> 00:22:20.730 in them is not a bad thing, but you do it with 00:22:20.730 --> 00:22:23.289 connection. But you know what you shouldn't do 00:22:23.289 --> 00:22:26.569 it? I should not talk to you about how you treat 00:22:26.569 --> 00:22:29.990 your wife if I treat my wife poorly. First, I 00:22:29.990 --> 00:22:33.529 should address my relationship. Then I can actually 00:22:33.529 --> 00:22:35.970 see clearly to talk to you about how to engage 00:22:35.970 --> 00:22:38.690 with yours. Yeah. Right? That's probably not 00:22:38.690 --> 00:22:41.390 the best example, but it is an example. You know? 00:22:41.470 --> 00:22:43.490 Probably not the best wording. Yeah. No, no. 00:22:43.509 --> 00:22:46.049 It's the best wording that's ever, ever taken 00:22:46.049 --> 00:22:49.890 place. Yeah. But, I mean, it just comes back 00:22:49.890 --> 00:22:53.490 to that act. And there's a reason Jesus is saying 00:22:53.490 --> 00:22:56.910 this, right? And it applies so much today because 00:22:56.910 --> 00:22:59.289 we are so quick to be like, okay, I see the crap 00:22:59.289 --> 00:23:01.009 that's going on in that person's life and I need 00:23:01.009 --> 00:23:04.049 to call them out on it. And when in reality Jesus 00:23:04.049 --> 00:23:08.890 is like, okay, I see that too. Also, can we talk 00:23:08.890 --> 00:23:12.309 about your life a little bit? Like, I know you 00:23:12.309 --> 00:23:13.789 want to call this person out on this, but let's 00:23:13.789 --> 00:23:15.670 examine what's going on over here in your life 00:23:15.670 --> 00:23:20.410 first. Yeah. Right? And I think the other misinterpretation 00:23:20.410 --> 00:23:22.490 with this is we often interpret it like, okay, 00:23:22.509 --> 00:23:24.109 we have to have our life completely, perfectly 00:23:24.109 --> 00:23:26.130 put together before we can correct somebody else. 00:23:26.289 --> 00:23:29.390 Yeah. And no, that's actually not what this is 00:23:29.390 --> 00:23:33.130 talking about. Jesus is actually referencing 00:23:33.130 --> 00:23:38.200 like issues, right? So you referenced marriage, 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:40.259 right? Yeah. So it would be the same thing if 00:23:40.259 --> 00:23:43.680 you were horrible with money, had millions of 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:46.599 dollars in debt, and were bleeding money every 00:23:46.599 --> 00:23:48.299 month, and then you went to somebody and said, 00:23:48.380 --> 00:23:51.759 hey, you know what? You really shouldn't buy 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:54.920 that $5 Starbucks every day. Or $7 Starbucks 00:23:54.920 --> 00:23:58.200 or whatever it costs now, right? Yeah. I was 00:23:58.200 --> 00:23:59.759 like, where are you getting Starbucks that is 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:03.119 $5? It's called an Americano. Not a sponsor. 00:24:03.619 --> 00:24:05.619 It's called an Americano, man. I don't get those 00:24:05.619 --> 00:24:10.119 floofy drinks. But right, it's talking about 00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:12.819 like issues for the most part is what Jesus is 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:15.819 referencing here. And so while there's application 00:24:15.819 --> 00:24:17.440 the other way, it's really talking about that 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:20.220 where it's like, hey, if you are doing really 00:24:20.220 --> 00:24:21.920 poorly in one area of your life and you're trying 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:25.440 to correct somebody else who's doing probably 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:28.259 better than you, that's what you need to look 00:24:28.259 --> 00:24:34.099 at. Yeah, yeah. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. I agree 00:24:34.099 --> 00:24:35.980 with your agreed. I agree with your agreement. 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:39.519 All right. Sounds good. All right. So don't give 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:41.359 the dogs that sacred. Don't throw your pearls 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:43.599 to pigs. If they do, they may trample them under 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:45.900 their feet and turn and tear you to pieces. And 00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:48.519 this is, by the way, the whole idea with dogs 00:24:48.519 --> 00:24:51.240 and pigs is don't give things to people who aren't 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:54.400 going to appreciate them. When somebody is not 00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:57.000 ready to hear something, no amount of talking 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:59.359 is going to make a difference. Yeah. They have 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:02.009 to be ready to hear. He's going to talk about 00:25:02.009 --> 00:25:03.410 this elsewhere when he commissions them to go 00:25:03.410 --> 00:25:05.250 out. He's like, if you bring the word and they 00:25:05.250 --> 00:25:06.750 don't accept it, just shake the dust and move 00:25:06.750 --> 00:25:10.089 on. Don't give up on them, but just shake the 00:25:10.089 --> 00:25:11.910 dust and move on. Stop throwing pearls before 00:25:11.910 --> 00:25:14.730 swine. They don't appreciate it. Right? Well, 00:25:14.849 --> 00:25:18.089 and the swine comment's interesting from Jewish 00:25:18.089 --> 00:25:20.690 culture, right? Yeah. Yeah, because of pigs. 00:25:20.930 --> 00:25:22.910 Yeah, they don't eat pigs. So it's like pigs 00:25:22.910 --> 00:25:24.509 are not a thing they'd really deal with in their 00:25:24.509 --> 00:25:27.609 culture. And so to be like, hey, he's like, hey, 00:25:27.650 --> 00:25:30.640 make sure they're ready to receive it. So ask 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:32.500 and it will be given to you. Seek and you will 00:25:32.500 --> 00:25:34.700 find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. 00:25:34.740 --> 00:25:36.799 For anyone who asks receives, the one who seeks 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:38.579 find, and the one who knocks, the door will be 00:25:38.579 --> 00:25:40.700 opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, 00:25:40.779 --> 00:25:42.680 will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, 00:25:42.779 --> 00:25:45.380 will give him a snake? If you then, though you 00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:47.000 are evil, know how to give good gifts to your 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:48.720 children, how much more will your Father in heaven 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:51.259 give good gifts to those who ask him? So in everything, 00:25:51.460 --> 00:25:53.480 do to others what you would have them do to you. 00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:56.539 For this sums up the law and the prophets. Right? 00:25:57.600 --> 00:25:59.380 I'm actually going to keep going here. Enter 00:25:59.380 --> 00:26:01.119 through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, 00:26:01.180 --> 00:26:02.619 and broad is the road that leads to destruction, 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:04.859 and many enter through it. But small is the gate, 00:26:04.920 --> 00:26:06.579 and narrow is the road that leads to life, and 00:26:06.579 --> 00:26:09.700 only a few find it. Okay. So, and then we'll 00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:13.339 do one more part here before we end up. This, 00:26:13.339 --> 00:26:19.579 coming on the end of, he says, don't judge, lest 00:26:19.579 --> 00:26:22.579 you be judged. But if you do recognize you have 00:26:22.579 --> 00:26:26.720 something, ask. Seek God. Knock on the door. 00:26:27.019 --> 00:26:28.539 He's going to give you good gifts. He's going 00:26:28.539 --> 00:26:30.119 to clean you up. He's going to take you back 00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:32.140 home. One of the best things you can figure out 00:26:32.140 --> 00:26:33.579 about God is he's your father and he wants you 00:26:33.579 --> 00:26:37.640 home. Yeah. Right? And by the way, if I ask any 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:39.440 of you for bread and you give me a snake, we 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:45.440 are, oh, let me tell you, you know, I don't like 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:48.519 snakes at all. Well, here's a fun snake story. 00:26:48.599 --> 00:26:50.380 It's a little tangent. Yeah. I worked in an office 00:26:50.380 --> 00:26:55.109 for a little while and my cubicle. mate uh she 00:26:55.109 --> 00:26:58.750 like one day brought in like a full -on pet snake 00:26:58.750 --> 00:27:02.589 in a cage yeah and i was like well this i was 00:27:02.589 --> 00:27:04.210 like okay this first off this probably should 00:27:04.210 --> 00:27:07.269 not be happening but and so i just looked at 00:27:07.269 --> 00:27:09.289 her i was i was like i'm just gonna be really 00:27:09.289 --> 00:27:11.750 honest with you like if that snake makes it over 00:27:11.750 --> 00:27:14.250 to my desk you're gonna need you're gonna have 00:27:14.250 --> 00:27:16.910 to get a new snake and she's like i don't understand 00:27:16.910 --> 00:27:19.789 what you're saying and i was like i was like 00:27:19.789 --> 00:27:21.650 i said what i need to say just i don't want it 00:27:21.650 --> 00:27:24.210 over in my area and she's like but i'm gonna 00:27:24.210 --> 00:27:26.329 have to get a new snake i don't get it and like 00:27:26.329 --> 00:27:29.450 i was like i was like i'm just I was like, I'm 00:27:29.450 --> 00:27:31.569 not going to go any further than that. She's 00:27:31.569 --> 00:27:33.049 like, but what are you actually saying? And then 00:27:33.049 --> 00:27:35.730 someone from the other cubicle over says, Spencer's 00:27:35.730 --> 00:27:38.130 going to kill it if it gets to his desk. And 00:27:38.130 --> 00:27:39.990 she's like, you're going to do what? I was like, 00:27:40.009 --> 00:27:41.710 just keep it off my desk and we won't have a 00:27:41.710 --> 00:27:44.930 problem. I mean, I feel like that's reasonable. 00:27:45.190 --> 00:27:48.109 As a person who doesn't like snakes, I am 100 00:27:48.109 --> 00:27:51.710 % in your corner on this one. And then within 00:27:51.710 --> 00:27:54.309 a week, our supervisor was like, that's got to 00:27:54.309 --> 00:27:58.539 go home. Sorry, that's not staying here. I just, 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:01.200 it's just like such a weird, uh, office pet to 00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:04.400 bring in. Right. Yeah. Um, so this idea of the, 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:07.180 of the narrow and the, and the wide way, right. 00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:09.160 Why is the road that leads to destruction? Um, 00:28:09.319 --> 00:28:11.980 there is, there is conversation. I think sometimes 00:28:11.980 --> 00:28:13.700 in Christendom, we've made everything a salvation 00:28:13.700 --> 00:28:17.410 thing. where Jesus is inviting you to a kind 00:28:17.410 --> 00:28:19.509 of life. And it's not necessarily talking about 00:28:19.509 --> 00:28:21.349 eternity. It's talking about a qualitative life 00:28:21.349 --> 00:28:24.309 that starts now. And I think that there are eternal 00:28:24.309 --> 00:28:28.210 implications, but sometimes we've made it so 00:28:28.210 --> 00:28:30.269 specific that we've made things about salvation 00:28:30.269 --> 00:28:32.190 that he didn't make about salvation. He made 00:28:32.190 --> 00:28:34.990 about being part of the kingdom of God. Because 00:28:34.990 --> 00:28:36.849 he's talking to the Jewish people that are following 00:28:36.849 --> 00:28:39.119 him. right? The people who want to be a part 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:41.180 of the kingdom of God. So the other thing is, 00:28:41.240 --> 00:28:45.420 this actually ties into what the sermon on the 00:28:45.420 --> 00:28:47.240 mount is saying earlier, where like, let your 00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:49.859 yes be yes and your no be no. Right. Right. Like 00:28:49.859 --> 00:28:52.400 you said, it's that lifestyle choice. Yeah. You 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:54.779 say yes to too many things. Yeah. Guess what? 00:28:54.819 --> 00:28:56.339 You're going to be on this really wide road. 00:28:56.420 --> 00:28:59.019 Yeah. And you're going to have too many things 00:28:59.019 --> 00:29:01.940 coming your way. Yeah. Right. How many have driven 00:29:01.940 --> 00:29:05.930 on an interstate, right? Some people are like, 00:29:06.009 --> 00:29:08.329 don't you live in Alaska? Yes, we do. We have 00:29:08.329 --> 00:29:13.450 a road. We have a road. We do. We do, okay? But 00:29:13.450 --> 00:29:15.869 whenever we fly down to the lower 48 and you 00:29:15.869 --> 00:29:18.150 have to drive on that big, wide interstate and 00:29:18.150 --> 00:29:20.529 you get stuck in traffic. When you get to Seattle 00:29:20.529 --> 00:29:22.029 and you get on a rental car and you immediately 00:29:22.029 --> 00:29:24.390 pull off onto the 405 or the I -5 or somewhere 00:29:24.390 --> 00:29:26.890 in there and you're like, life is much different 00:29:26.890 --> 00:29:30.369 here. Yes, right? And so you're on this wide 00:29:30.369 --> 00:29:33.190 road. There's a lot of things that can take you. 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:35.680 your attention that can distract you there's 00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:37.599 a lot more risk there's a lot more vulnerability 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:40.420 what jesus is saying is he's saying no say yes 00:29:40.420 --> 00:29:43.180 to what you need to say yes to say no to what 00:29:43.180 --> 00:29:45.400 you need to say no to right and then that way 00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:48.339 you're on this narrow road to where you are focused 00:29:48.339 --> 00:29:52.220 on this life with christ And I think what you're 00:29:52.220 --> 00:29:55.240 doing here is really important because we tend 00:29:55.240 --> 00:29:58.420 to read these things in isolation. And it's not 00:29:58.420 --> 00:29:59.940 that I don't think we can talk about them in 00:29:59.940 --> 00:30:01.660 isolation because I think there are good implications, 00:30:01.779 --> 00:30:04.299 but they're not exclusively meant to be understood 00:30:04.299 --> 00:30:06.259 in isolation. It's meant to be understood under 00:30:06.259 --> 00:30:07.779 the context of what he's been talking about. 00:30:07.980 --> 00:30:10.759 Yeah. Right? He says, he's like, I'm describing 00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:13.500 to you like a way of life, and it is a narrow 00:30:13.500 --> 00:30:16.960 way. And most people aren't going to find it. 00:30:17.380 --> 00:30:19.359 By the way, if most people aren't going to find 00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:22.049 it, guess what you can do? can do you could illuminate 00:30:22.049 --> 00:30:25.170 the world makes a lot easier to find a narrow 00:30:25.170 --> 00:30:28.309 path yep there's a there's another story in scripture 00:30:28.309 --> 00:30:30.609 that talks about this distractions on the wide 00:30:30.609 --> 00:30:32.990 road and it's a really interesting story it's 00:30:32.990 --> 00:30:35.650 actually a story of mary and joseph losing jesus 00:30:35.650 --> 00:30:39.089 like coming back from passover yeah like they're 00:30:39.089 --> 00:30:40.970 leaving jerusalem and then they're like oh he's 00:30:40.970 --> 00:30:42.230 probably with somebody else and they're like 00:30:42.230 --> 00:30:47.799 crap we lost the son of god right like Yeah, 00:30:47.819 --> 00:30:49.299 when you get yourself in that spot where you've 00:30:49.299 --> 00:30:52.180 said yes to too many things, you get overwhelmed, 00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:55.539 you get distracted. Ironically enough, it creeps 00:30:55.539 --> 00:30:58.519 the idea of something we just talked about. Worry 00:30:58.519 --> 00:31:03.660 creeps in, right? And so, again, let your yes 00:31:03.660 --> 00:31:07.039 be yes, no be no, and live a focused life. So 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:09.799 why do we know and why are we talking about this? 00:31:09.859 --> 00:31:12.319 Because the next verse comes. So this idea of 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:13.920 wide and narrow, what are you saying yes to? 00:31:13.960 --> 00:31:15.359 Are you actually saying yes to the kingdom of 00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:16.660 God? Are you saying yes to everything else in 00:31:16.660 --> 00:31:21.339 the world? Watch out for false prophets. It's 00:31:21.339 --> 00:31:23.160 right in line with this. What are you saying 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:25.519 yes to? What are you listening to? Who are you 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:27.740 letting influence your life? They come to you 00:31:27.740 --> 00:31:30.039 in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious 00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:32.640 wolves. But by their fruit you will recognize 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:34.819 them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes? 00:31:34.940 --> 00:31:38.559 I don't know. I'm assuming not. I'm not a vineyard 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:41.980 person. person vinter what's the person who works 00:31:41.980 --> 00:31:45.180 a vineyard there's a whole longer discussion 00:31:45.180 --> 00:31:47.380 or figs from thistles i don't know i've never 00:31:47.380 --> 00:31:49.420 i'm assuming figs come from trees i'm guessing 00:31:49.420 --> 00:31:51.440 because i read later in scripture yeah figs come 00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:54.880 from trees grapes come from vines now uh there's 00:31:54.880 --> 00:31:57.920 a whole conversation of how much have grapes 00:31:57.920 --> 00:31:59.819 and figs been modified from what they were back 00:31:59.819 --> 00:32:01.660 in the day across bread but blah blah that's 00:32:01.660 --> 00:32:04.130 a whole nother conversation Ben is ignorant, 00:32:04.190 --> 00:32:07.869 and Spencer has too much information. This is 00:32:07.869 --> 00:32:11.170 not a Homesteading podcast. Likewise, every good 00:32:11.170 --> 00:32:13.309 tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad 00:32:13.309 --> 00:32:15.430 fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and 00:32:15.430 --> 00:32:17.309 a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree 00:32:17.309 --> 00:32:19.089 that does not bear good fruit is cut down and 00:32:19.089 --> 00:32:21.269 thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you 00:32:21.269 --> 00:32:24.869 will recognize them. Pause here, because I'm 00:32:24.869 --> 00:32:26.250 going to say not everyone who says to me, Lord, 00:32:26.349 --> 00:32:31.809 Lord. This is... We need to be really careful 00:32:31.809 --> 00:32:33.170 with this because this has been used a lot of 00:32:33.170 --> 00:32:34.910 times. Remember we were talking about murder, 00:32:35.089 --> 00:32:36.650 impugning people's honor, and tearing each other 00:32:36.650 --> 00:32:38.250 down? This is used a lot in the church where 00:32:38.250 --> 00:32:39.769 they talk about false prophets. You're going 00:32:39.769 --> 00:32:41.730 to know them by their fruit. Okay, well, what 00:32:41.730 --> 00:32:44.430 is the fruit? Sure, you can jump to Paul where 00:32:44.430 --> 00:32:45.529 he's talking about the fruit of the Spirit. I 00:32:45.529 --> 00:32:46.650 think that's a great thing. Love, joy, peace, 00:32:46.730 --> 00:32:47.950 patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, 00:32:47.990 --> 00:32:50.349 self -control. 100%. I'm on board with you there. 00:32:50.710 --> 00:32:53.230 But specifically, what has he been talking about 00:32:53.230 --> 00:32:55.819 in this story? You're going to be a kind of person 00:32:55.819 --> 00:32:57.599 who doesn't talk badly about people. You're going 00:32:57.599 --> 00:32:59.279 to be the kind of person who practices fidelity. 00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:01.880 You're going to be the kind of person who fasts 00:33:01.880 --> 00:33:04.180 but doesn't make it a spectacle, who prays but 00:33:04.180 --> 00:33:06.460 doesn't make it a spectacle, who gives but doesn't 00:33:06.460 --> 00:33:08.960 make it a spectacle, who serves God and not money, 00:33:09.059 --> 00:33:13.099 who doesn't worry, who doesn't stand in judgment 00:33:13.099 --> 00:33:15.359 of others, and when they are self -respective, 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:18.420 they seek the guidance of God. These are the 00:33:18.420 --> 00:33:19.660 kinds of things. You're going to be the kind 00:33:19.660 --> 00:33:21.559 of person who seeks the narrow life, the kind 00:33:21.559 --> 00:33:23.099 of person who puts righteousness on display. 00:33:23.500 --> 00:33:26.500 Side note, all the things that are listed here, 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:32.779 so fasting, prayer, selflessness, focus on religion, 00:33:33.059 --> 00:33:35.519 stuff like that, that's all stuff that actually 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:37.660 the scientific community has been like, hey, 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:40.759 people who do this are healthier and live a better 00:33:40.759 --> 00:33:44.339 life. Yeah. It's like Jesus knows what he's talking 00:33:44.339 --> 00:33:46.359 about. Anyways, I'm just leaving that at that. 00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:50.319 I actually read, so I read in the fourth gospel. 00:33:52.959 --> 00:33:55.400 that Jesus was there at the beginning, and Jesus 00:33:55.400 --> 00:33:58.359 is God. Wait, what? I know, I know, it's a crazy 00:33:58.359 --> 00:34:00.680 concept, so he may know a thing or two about 00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:03.839 how the world works. Yeah, right. So this idea 00:34:03.839 --> 00:34:06.059 of looking for false prophets is like, when you're 00:34:06.059 --> 00:34:07.819 talking about people that are leading you astray, 00:34:07.859 --> 00:34:10.360 they're going to be people who cause you to not 00:34:10.360 --> 00:34:12.300 focus on the things Jesus is talking about you 00:34:12.300 --> 00:34:15.039 to focus on. If there are things that are causing, 00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:17.960 if you run into a teaching that causes you to 00:34:17.960 --> 00:34:23.889 be angry or vehement towards other people, it's 00:34:23.889 --> 00:34:26.230 false prophet, guys. Like, that is not the way 00:34:26.230 --> 00:34:30.389 of Jesus. Yeah. Right? If it causes you to hate 00:34:30.389 --> 00:34:35.389 your enemy, it's not Jesus. Like, that's not 00:34:35.389 --> 00:34:38.889 Jesus. If you find yourself angry with, and I'm 00:34:38.889 --> 00:34:40.170 not talking about righteous anger, I'm not talking 00:34:40.170 --> 00:34:41.789 about, man, I really want somebody to be better, 00:34:41.829 --> 00:34:43.429 I want to stand against injustice, like, 100 00:34:43.429 --> 00:34:44.670 % we're on board with that because that's in 00:34:44.670 --> 00:34:47.289 the Sermon on the Mount. Yeah. But when that 00:34:47.289 --> 00:34:51.070 crosses to, like, they're worth less, nah, man. 00:34:51.800 --> 00:34:56.000 That's not what it is. Nope. So if you found 00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:58.000 yourself, in my younger days, I found myself 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:01.039 using this to try to distinguish people I disagreed 00:35:01.039 --> 00:35:03.719 with. Yeah. It's not what it is. Yeah. It's about 00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:06.780 recognizing people who are leading you to not 00:35:06.780 --> 00:35:08.639 the path that Jesus is calling you to. Right? 00:35:11.599 --> 00:35:13.340 Which, by the way, is going to be context for 00:35:13.340 --> 00:35:14.800 this next spot, which I think a lot of Christians 00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:17.880 get scared about. Not everyone who says to me, 00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:19.500 Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, 00:35:19.559 --> 00:35:21.340 but only those who does the will of my Father 00:35:21.340 --> 00:35:23.460 who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that 00:35:23.460 --> 00:35:25.420 day, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name 00:35:25.420 --> 00:35:27.179 and in your name drive out demons and in your 00:35:27.179 --> 00:35:29.460 name perform many miracles? Then I will tell 00:35:29.460 --> 00:35:31.340 them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, 00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:36.159 you evil doers. Yeah. Right? Excuse me. I think 00:35:36.159 --> 00:35:38.760 a lot of people have played this into this concern 00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:40.360 about, am I actually going to find myself in 00:35:40.360 --> 00:35:43.940 eternity with Jesus? Yeah. If you are buying 00:35:43.940 --> 00:35:47.039 into these false prophets who lead you away from 00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:50.480 what Jesus calls us to be, then yes. If you're 00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:52.820 living a life contrary to the kingdom of God, 00:35:52.940 --> 00:35:54.039 yeah, you're probably going to find yourself 00:35:54.039 --> 00:35:56.480 not in the kingdom of God. And it shouldn't be 00:35:56.480 --> 00:36:01.550 a surprise. Yep. Sorry, I had some tea go down 00:36:01.550 --> 00:36:03.510 the wrong pipe. Yeah, he tried to. He tried to 00:36:03.510 --> 00:36:06.909 inhale some tea. Apparently, yeah. In fact, Jesus 00:36:06.909 --> 00:36:09.050 is going to close the Sermon on the Mount. And 00:36:09.050 --> 00:36:10.510 remember, everything that's come before this. 00:36:11.050 --> 00:36:13.289 Therefore, everyone who hears these words of 00:36:13.289 --> 00:36:17.590 mine and puts them into practice. puts them into 00:36:17.590 --> 00:36:19.769 practice is like a wise man who built his house 00:36:19.769 --> 00:36:21.889 on the rock. The rain came down, the streams 00:36:21.889 --> 00:36:23.590 rose, and the winds blew and beat against the 00:36:23.590 --> 00:36:25.550 house, yet it did not fall because it had foundations 00:36:25.550 --> 00:36:28.469 on the rock. But everyone who hears these words 00:36:28.469 --> 00:36:31.389 of mine and does not put them into practice is 00:36:31.389 --> 00:36:33.369 like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 00:36:34.010 --> 00:36:36.469 The rain came down, the streams rose, the wind 00:36:36.469 --> 00:36:38.590 blew and beat against that house, and it fell 00:36:38.590 --> 00:36:40.690 with a great crash. When Jesus had finished saying 00:36:40.690 --> 00:36:50.559 these things, So both of these people hear the 00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:55.280 words of Jesus. Yeah. So it can't just be knowing. 00:36:55.460 --> 00:36:58.500 No. What do you do with what he's done? Yeah. 00:36:58.559 --> 00:37:00.920 Right? What do you do with the words of Jesus, 00:37:01.099 --> 00:37:03.639 with the finished work of Jesus on the cross, 00:37:03.739 --> 00:37:05.420 the death, burial, and resurrection, right? Yeah. 00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:08.519 Filled with the Holy Spirit. Like, it can't just 00:37:08.519 --> 00:37:14.489 be doxology. It has to be... Yeah. Right? Yeah. 00:37:14.630 --> 00:37:16.909 It can't just be orthodoxy. It has to be orthopraxy. 00:37:17.030 --> 00:37:21.409 Mm -hmm. And it's like, what is it? How is it? 00:37:21.469 --> 00:37:24.110 James says, you say I have faith and I have deeds. 00:37:24.170 --> 00:37:26.610 I will show you my faith by what I do. Mm -hmm. 00:37:27.010 --> 00:37:29.269 You're going to know what I believe by the way 00:37:29.269 --> 00:37:33.710 I act. Yeah. And so it's not supposed to be this 00:37:33.710 --> 00:37:36.880 place of like. fear, but if you have a life that 00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:39.300 everything you do doesn't look like Jesus, it 00:37:39.300 --> 00:37:41.960 doesn't have patience, doesn't love people, doesn't 00:37:41.960 --> 00:37:44.000 stand up against injustice, doesn't love your 00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:47.880 enemies, then, yeah, you should probably do some 00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:50.800 self -examination. Yeah. Right? That's a really 00:37:50.800 --> 00:37:52.639 easily fixable problem. You call on the name 00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:55.059 of Jesus, and bam, you're good. Yeah. He's gonna 00:37:55.059 --> 00:37:56.599 send the Holy Spirit, and you're gonna live that 00:37:56.599 --> 00:37:58.239 life, and it's gonna be way different. Yeah. 00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:02.880 Right? Right. Up until that point, though, like... 00:38:03.079 --> 00:38:05.340 you have to actually put God into practice. Yeah. 00:38:06.420 --> 00:38:09.519 Yeah. This is going to be a really harsh way 00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:13.119 of saying this, but somebody said this to me 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:15.780 years ago. They're like, living in the kingdom 00:38:15.780 --> 00:38:18.099 looks like church on Sunday, Christ on Monday, 00:38:18.199 --> 00:38:22.940 not church on Sunday and porn on Monday. I mean, 00:38:22.980 --> 00:38:25.079 it's kind of a harsh way to say it, but that 00:38:25.079 --> 00:38:27.500 was what somebody said to me in high school. 00:38:27.800 --> 00:38:30.800 And they were like, that's the reality of the 00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:32.579 kingdom. If you're just coming to church on Sunday 00:38:32.579 --> 00:38:36.639 just to be there so you've checked the box so 00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:39.039 you might get into heaven one day, he's like, 00:38:39.099 --> 00:38:43.559 the reality is that Jesus is, following Jesus 00:38:43.559 --> 00:38:46.840 is your whole life. Right. It's everything that 00:38:46.840 --> 00:38:50.500 you're about. Yeah. Right? And it's also a process. 00:38:50.559 --> 00:38:53.400 So you may not be completely there yet, but you're 00:38:53.400 --> 00:38:56.019 working towards it. Yeah. Like, that's okay. 00:38:56.059 --> 00:38:58.099 God has a ton of patience for kids growing. Yeah. 00:38:58.159 --> 00:39:00.480 This is the same individual that told me, if 00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:03.260 you're ever given a teaching platform at church, 00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:05.860 you will speak heresy at some point. I'm like, 00:39:05.940 --> 00:39:09.099 okay. Yeah. And he's like, just know that. And 00:39:09.099 --> 00:39:11.119 then when you do, apologize and say, hey, I had 00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:14.360 that wrong. Yeah. And move on. Yeah. And correct 00:39:14.360 --> 00:39:18.309 it and move on. Right? Because that's the reality. 00:39:18.409 --> 00:39:21.449 When you do this, when you follow Jesus, you're 00:39:21.449 --> 00:39:22.929 not going to do it perfectly. You're going to 00:39:22.929 --> 00:39:27.570 fall short. I work with students a lot, and over 00:39:27.570 --> 00:39:30.630 the summer, we were meeting for youth ministry, 00:39:30.789 --> 00:39:33.730 and we talked about the life of David, and that's 00:39:33.730 --> 00:39:35.489 what we're highlighting, of like, hey, David 00:39:35.489 --> 00:39:38.489 was a guy who was sold out for God. Right. Right? 00:39:40.599 --> 00:39:43.460 But here's some stories of how he felt. Struggled. 00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:48.719 How he struggled. How he saw a naked woman on 00:39:48.719 --> 00:39:50.579 the neighboring rooftop and was like, I must 00:39:50.579 --> 00:39:52.280 have her. And by the way, I'm going to kill her 00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:58.880 husband so I can't have her. The reality is we're 00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:00.219 going to fall short. We're going to mess up. 00:40:00.699 --> 00:40:03.199 That's not even all of David's thing. He repents 00:40:03.199 --> 00:40:05.260 from that. God starts to use him again. And on 00:40:05.260 --> 00:40:07.719 his deathbed, he tells, he's like, oh, you know, 00:40:07.719 --> 00:40:09.480 trust God. Also, Solomon, come here. I got a 00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:12.480 list of people for you to kill. Right? David's 00:40:12.480 --> 00:40:15.260 final recorded words in the Bible, referring 00:40:15.260 --> 00:40:17.039 to one of his, he's talking to Solomon, referring 00:40:17.039 --> 00:40:19.320 to one of his advisors. He's like, I trust you 00:40:19.320 --> 00:40:23.340 can arrange a bloody death for him. Yeah. Those 00:40:23.340 --> 00:40:26.639 are his final words. Like, did he live life perfectly? 00:40:26.780 --> 00:40:30.239 No. Yeah. So, like, what we're not talking about 00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:32.699 is perfection. We're talking about pursuit, right? 00:40:33.599 --> 00:40:35.659 I mean, the whole idea of judge not lest you 00:40:35.659 --> 00:40:36.900 be judged, you're going to have a plank in your 00:40:36.900 --> 00:40:39.119 eye sometimes. That's why you go to God. That's 00:40:39.119 --> 00:40:41.320 why you ask, why you seek, why you knock, why 00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:43.320 you live in community, why you live in generosity, 00:40:43.659 --> 00:40:45.340 why you live with people who are going to hold 00:40:45.340 --> 00:40:47.940 you accountable, why you seek the narrow road, 00:40:48.079 --> 00:40:50.380 why you have your yes be yes and your no be no, 00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:53.539 right? Why you put on these things to follow 00:40:53.539 --> 00:40:55.820 Jesus is because they're going to help guide 00:40:55.820 --> 00:40:58.820 you towards... an eventuality, which is life 00:40:58.820 --> 00:41:03.519 in the kingdom. Yeah. And, uh, um, I, my kid 00:41:03.519 --> 00:41:06.320 is only six. Um, but I know people who, you know, 00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:07.940 their kids are grown and obviously I'm a, I'm 00:41:07.940 --> 00:41:11.619 a, I'm a son of parents as well. Yeah. I'm still 00:41:11.619 --> 00:41:14.980 not done growing as a person. Right. I'm 38 still 00:41:14.980 --> 00:41:17.840 growing as a person. Yeah. Right. It's, it's 00:41:17.840 --> 00:41:20.039 going to keep happening. You're going to, you 00:41:20.039 --> 00:41:22.559 know, continuing to grow in empathy, growing, 00:41:22.619 --> 00:41:24.559 growing in compassion, growing in love, growing 00:41:24.559 --> 00:41:27.440 in righteousness. Yeah. It's a process. Yeah. 00:41:28.119 --> 00:41:30.460 But if you find, I mean, the flip side of that, 00:41:30.539 --> 00:41:33.599 and this is just real conversation, like to your 00:41:33.599 --> 00:41:35.900 point, you can't say yes, Jesus on Sunday and 00:41:35.900 --> 00:41:38.960 porn on Monday, right? If that's your go -to, 00:41:39.079 --> 00:41:44.199 like, I mean, I don't think that's actually making 00:41:44.199 --> 00:41:45.639 any meaningful difference in your life. You're 00:41:45.639 --> 00:41:47.679 not actually putting it into practice. By the 00:41:47.679 --> 00:41:50.500 way, that's not to, porn is an addiction, and 00:41:50.500 --> 00:41:54.159 so maybe you need help, right? Yeah. Jesus talks 00:41:54.159 --> 00:41:56.539 about this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right 00:41:56.539 --> 00:41:59.179 after the Lord's Prayer, he's like, hey, forgive 00:41:59.179 --> 00:42:03.099 those who've offended. Like, forgive those. Forgive 00:42:03.099 --> 00:42:04.880 others, and your Heavenly Father will forgive 00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:08.239 you. And then he says a phrase that we often 00:42:08.239 --> 00:42:12.320 skip over, where he says, if you do not forgive 00:42:12.320 --> 00:42:14.860 those, your Heavenly Father will not forgive 00:42:14.860 --> 00:42:19.840 you. Yeah. And we often skip over that because 00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:21.659 we don't really want to try to swallow that pill. 00:42:22.110 --> 00:42:24.309 Right. Right. But there's, there's this life, 00:42:24.369 --> 00:42:27.469 like just as Christ has extended grace and forgiveness 00:42:27.469 --> 00:42:29.650 into our lives, we're to extend those to that, 00:42:29.690 --> 00:42:32.110 to other people. Well, and it's so interconnected 00:42:32.110 --> 00:42:33.989 with everything he's talked up to at this point, 00:42:34.010 --> 00:42:35.789 because if you're the kind of person who can 00:42:35.789 --> 00:42:37.469 receive forgiveness from the father, but not 00:42:37.469 --> 00:42:40.030 extend it to the person around you, you don't 00:42:40.030 --> 00:42:43.510 really understand the kingdom. Yeah. Right. You 00:42:43.510 --> 00:42:45.489 don't really understand, like you're not actually 00:42:45.489 --> 00:42:46.989 allowing the lifeblood of the kingdom of God 00:42:46.989 --> 00:42:51.079 to flow through you. Right. Yeah. And I'm not 00:42:51.079 --> 00:42:55.539 saying that's easy because people do bad things 00:42:55.539 --> 00:43:00.039 to each other often. You can just check out the 00:43:00.039 --> 00:43:02.179 news and I'm sure there's at least seven stories 00:43:02.179 --> 00:43:04.940 today. Yeah. Like people do bad things to each 00:43:04.940 --> 00:43:07.539 other often. But the way Jesus says to put the 00:43:07.539 --> 00:43:09.760 world back together is to live in such a way 00:43:09.760 --> 00:43:12.179 that you forgive people and you seek justice. 00:43:12.199 --> 00:43:14.699 You stand against oppression, but also love your 00:43:14.699 --> 00:43:18.219 enemies. Yep. And I'm like, all the times he's 00:43:18.219 --> 00:43:19.980 talking, I'm like, okay, so you got to stand 00:43:19.980 --> 00:43:22.019 against this and you got to love them. And I'm 00:43:22.019 --> 00:43:25.880 like, I can do like part of that, you know? I 00:43:25.880 --> 00:43:28.239 can do a part of that. Right? It's almost like 00:43:28.239 --> 00:43:30.260 it's not human capable and you need the Holy 00:43:30.260 --> 00:43:31.940 Spirit to actually guide you on that. Yep. Yeah. 00:43:32.019 --> 00:43:36.449 100%. All right. Well. I think that's where we're 00:43:36.449 --> 00:43:37.670 going to wrap the Sermon on the Mount. It only 00:43:37.670 --> 00:43:40.150 took us three weeks. Next week, we will come 00:43:40.150 --> 00:43:41.610 back and we're going to talk about just this. 00:43:41.670 --> 00:43:43.230 The Sermon on the Mount. Part one again. Yeah, 00:43:43.230 --> 00:43:45.070 part one again. Part one again. We're going to 00:43:45.070 --> 00:43:47.289 just repeat the exact same thing. Talk about 00:43:47.289 --> 00:43:49.090 it a little bit differently. We're actually going 00:43:49.090 --> 00:43:51.610 to take a breather and we're going to pull a 00:43:51.610 --> 00:43:53.030 couple of places where Jesus talks about prayer. 00:43:53.110 --> 00:43:54.130 We're just going to talk about what does prayer 00:43:54.130 --> 00:43:57.050 look like in the life of Jesus and what does 00:43:57.050 --> 00:44:00.349 that mean in how we interact with God in our 00:44:00.349 --> 00:44:04.110 daily life. Sounds good. Until next time. Bye. 00:44:05.389 --> 00:44:35.889 Thank you. and Facebook at loveandcontext. Love 00:44:35.889 --> 00:44:38.010 and Context. Be sure to hit that follow button 00:44:38.010 --> 00:44:40.269 and join our growing community. Thanks for being 00:44:40.269 --> 00:44:42.150 part of the Love and Context family. Remember, 00:44:42.349 --> 00:44:44.809 love is at the heart of it all. Until next time, 00:44:44.829 --> 00:44:47.050 keep seeking wisdom, embracing love and living 00:44:47.050 --> 00:44:48.409 out your faith in today's world.