1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:17,360 Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is an international church in Bangkok, Thailand, 2 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:23,260 with dozens of nationalities worshipping together. We invite you to connect with us from wherever 3 00:00:23,260 --> 00:00:31,120 you are through our website, ecb.asia, or our mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed 4 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:41,240 by this week's sermon. On the fifth day of Christmas. It is the fifth day of Christmas. 5 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:48,200 In some church traditions, Christmas doesn't end after Christmas Day, it's just getting started. 6 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:55,920 Twelve days of feasting from the birth of Christ to the remembrance of Epiphany when the wise men 7 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:03,880 showed up. Beautiful celebration. And this is our fifth and final sermon in the series of Christmas 8 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:10,760 Unwrapped. In that series, the pastors have unpacked for us the four themes of the Advent 9 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:18,040 season leading up to Christmas. They unpacked for us the idea of hope. Not wishful thinking, 10 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:25,120 but the assurance that God keeps his promises, Christmas being the biggest promise he ever kept. 11 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:36,680 They unpacked for us, I realize I'm not clicking. They unpacked for us peace. Not the absence of 12 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:41,920 disagreement, but the ability to handle it appropriately and be healthier and stronger 13 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:48,880 as a community for it. They unpacked for us joy. Not the achievement of your own effort, 14 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:57,960 but a gift from God. Not dependent on circumstances, but dependent on God putting into you an eternal, 15 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:07,640 lasting assurance that he will work things out. And they unpacked for us love. Not the feeling 16 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:13,840 you get from a good piece of chocolate cake. Thank you Pastor Phil last week. But what we 17 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:22,360 give to others for their benefit. And so as we saw these unpacked, every week we got to the center 18 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:27,440 of that gift and found that each of those things wasn't the actual gift. Those are just results. 19 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:38,160 The gift was Jesus every time. Because what he does in coming to earth, in wrapping God in skin, 20 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:47,040 in growing up as a human being, living in a family, in a culture, in a nation, we can never point 21 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:56,240 the finger in God and say, you don't know what it's like. He does. And in offering himself to us, 22 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:04,400 in offering his best, and in submitting to the worst we could give him, in nailing him to a cross, 23 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:13,080 and he didn't fight back. His body like a clay jar was broken open. And as well as taking care 24 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:24,080 of our sin, he released his life for us. I like to think of it as Jesus gene therapy. The DNA of 25 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:36,240 God released to enter us, to get inside us, and rewrite the code that runs your habits. It takes 26 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:41,560 a while for the whole code to be rewritten. It's a lifetime process, but there is that moment when 27 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:49,920 God enters. For some of you maybe that's today. So I want to ask this question. If we've unwrapped 28 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:59,000 Christmas, now what? Happy New Year, let's party. Put the Christmas tree away, turn off the Christmas 29 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:04,160 playlist, let's not ever hear that song again. Last Christmas you gave me your heart. That's not a 30 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:11,360 Christmas song. My daughter picks on me every time I hear it and I get mad. Go on with life as normal 31 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:16,560 now that the playlist has turned off? I would suggest no, because even if you've unwrapped 32 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:22,440 Christmas and Jesus has gotten into you and the Jesus gene therapy has started, if you try to go 33 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:29,680 back to life as normal, you will be unsatisfied. Like a situation right here. Now don't be fooled 34 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:36,800 by the picture, I am not a runner. But my daughters got into cross country, every one of them ran with 35 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:42,040 a team at least some point in their life, two of them kept on into university. And we're standing 36 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:49,280 there with my son-in-law Joel, because a moment of temporary insanity overcame me and for a few 37 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:58,880 weeks I ran and then on July 4th I joined our small town local fun run 5k. And there in Montrose, 38 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:06,240 Pennsylvania we all lined up and I knew I was not gonna keep up with long-legged Joel or my 39 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:12,040 daughters. So I just stepped to the back of the crowd at the line and when they started off I just 40 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:22,440 set my 53 year old pace and I got going and I waved bye-bye to my children. And we left the 41 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:28,160 town and went through the beautiful hills of Northeast Pennsylvania where I grew up, out into 42 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:35,800 the dirt roads, up hills I chugged slowly and down hills I let gravity help. And we got back 43 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:44,520 into town and I look ahead a few blocks and there's Joel and he's walking. I thought oh maybe I can 44 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:49,920 catch this guy. So I pick it up a little bit and then he starts running like well and then he walked 45 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:59,920 again. Okay got up alongside of him and he wasn't walking anymore. Not when he saw me come up. His 46 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:07,160 normal pace wasn't satisfying anymore. You can guess the end. When the old man showed up the 47 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:17,960 young man changed his behavior. There was an older man named Paul who saw the Jesus gene therapy in 48 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:26,920 a younger man named Timothy and he saw that growth of the god life in Timothy so strong that Paul 49 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:34,000 took Timothy under his wing and trained him to eventually take over when Paul's race was finished. 50 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:41,680 Actually Timothy started taking over before Paul's race was finished and Paul put Timothy in charge 51 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:48,240 of the church in Ephesus. Might make an interesting study sometime. Read the books of Timothy next to 52 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:57,120 Ephesus. One is to or to the pastors. One is to the congregation. And Paul in helping Timothy get 53 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:04,680 ready gave him letters of advice and one of the verses from 2nd Timothy became my life verse 54 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:12,920 probably somewhere in my 20s and it's easy to remember the reference 2t222. 2nd Timothy 2 22. 55 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:19,680 Got it? You won't forget now. Alright. Now when I look at verses I like to mark them so let me read 56 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:30,520 this and then I'll share some Bible study stuff I do. Now flee from youthful lusts and follow after 57 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:43,480 righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Let's pray. 58 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:57,280 Father as I open your word let it be an open window from heaven. Jesus shine through today. Amen. 59 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:05,800 When I want to dig into a Bible verse I like to mark them. I like to mark action words with little 60 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:13,060 underlined brackets like flee and follow and when I see phrases or words that are about location or 61 00:08:13,060 --> 00:08:19,440 direction I like to put wavy lines like from youthful lusts and after righteousness, faith and 62 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:26,200 love and then that whole final phrase with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart is talking 63 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:32,400 about people and I like to circle people in my Bible marking and when I do these things then I 64 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:40,200 start realizing oh so Paul is answering some questions he's telling us how we run because 65 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:46,440 fleeing and following are like running actions right and he's telling us where we run those are 66 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:53,360 the directional phrases and and the final phrase is talking about with whom we run. There's our 67 00:08:53,360 --> 00:09:02,720 sermon outline how we run where we run and with whom we run but another thing I like to do is I 68 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:10,880 like to look at the thought structure and then rearrange the words to represent what it's saying 69 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:17,800 so I see flee and follow they're like equal the opposite actions so I've placed them on opposite 70 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:24,240 sides of the screen and then each of them is followed by a direction so I got those lined up 71 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:30,800 underneath but then that final phrase seems to apply to both the fleeing and the following so 72 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:36,320 we got it lined up all together read it out loud with me if you can make out the structure here now 73 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:51,280 flee from youthful lusts and follow after righteousness faith love peace with those called the Lord. Let's 74 00:09:51,280 --> 00:10:01,440 break it down how do we run now I don't know Greek but I have some tools that let me get down 75 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:07,280 to that language once in a while and I found that behind that word flee is a Greek word that you 76 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:17,960 know from English words fugue is the base word of refugee fugitive refuge and what Paul is telling 77 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:26,200 us right away is that there is an intensity to our run there is a seriousness about it because a 78 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:36,280 refugee leaves home leaves the familiar because their life or their livelihood is threatened 79 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:46,440 and some of you know that from firsthand experience and Paul uses that picture to give us a seriousness 80 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:55,720 about the Christian run and as if that's not enough the word he puts opposite is an equal 81 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:02,920 intensity because that word elsewhere in the New Testament is translated as persecute or persecutor 82 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:10,200 so we're told to flee one direction with the intensity of a refugee and follow after with 83 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:18,560 the intensity of the person chasing the refugee and so what he's telling us about how we run is 84 00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:28,080 that we run passionately if you have unwrapped Christmas and God's DNA has gotten into you if 85 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:38,080 the Jesus gene therapy is doing its work you have a mandatory quest the Christian life is not casual 86 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:48,400 are you with me how do we run passionately now let's look at where we run because there were some 87 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:57,200 phrases about direction in there flee from youthful lusts oh great mr. Scott mr. Scott is how I'm 88 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:03,800 known at school you're one of those old people that say a problem with the world these days as 89 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:12,580 young people no we all struggle with lust so why is Paul kind of tagging lust with the youthful 90 00:12:12,580 --> 00:12:20,320 phrase here well it's because youth have the blessing of high energy bursting out the seams 91 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:29,820 and they don't yet know the lifestyle it takes to control all that new energy a blessing not yet 92 00:12:29,820 --> 00:12:38,680 channeled so that it blesses others and young people have awakening brain powers they can see 93 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:45,120 they can think they can question they can logic stuff like they never could before and they're 94 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:51,840 not sure what to do with it that's why sometimes us older people get inappropriately offended by 95 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:57,280 young people's questions they're just learning how to think okay there's centers too and sometimes 96 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:04,480 they go off the wall but they are asking questions because they have a new power to do it they haven't 97 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:10,920 yet learned how to channel all that new brain power in ways to benefit others so don't be too 98 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:18,800 hard on them Paul's not saying these are lusts that only youth have he's seeing these are lusts 99 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:25,440 that are more obvious in youth because they have high energy awakening brains that are not yet 100 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:32,240 trained so therefore youth I'm talking to the older people now youth don't need our complaining 101 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:39,440 about them they don't need us to go off and read the news or watch our TV show so they don't bother 102 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:48,440 us they need multi-generational community they need mentors and teachers they need instructions 103 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:59,280 about God's design because God's design is what makes the difference between a desire and lusts 104 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:08,320 a lust is a desire that is out of line with God's design let me say it again and then you're gonna 105 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:17,880 say it lust is a desire that is out of line with God's design now you say it lust is a desire that 106 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:25,080 is out of line with God's desire I didn't even put it on the screen and you got it all right you 107 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:40,560 see desire is good God has desires and he's good and he made us like himself with desires and for 108 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:52,560 every single human desire God has designed a proper way to fulfill it for every I will insist on this 109 00:14:52,560 --> 00:15:00,880 and if you like to argue I'm academic I like arguing friendly there is an appropriate way to 110 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:07,320 fulfill every human desire there's a right place a right time with the right people in the right 111 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:15,040 manner for the right purpose could go on for human desires to be met but a lust is when we get one of 112 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:26,760 those rights wrong and our desire is out of line with design kind of like this situation this is 113 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:32,280 the large blue butterfly it's found in Europe and the United Kingdom you see the adult form on the 114 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:39,320 upper right you see the caterpillar form on the lower left you see the pupa form with a couple of 115 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:48,040 ants in the middle and the large blue butterfly it's very interesting because when it's a caterpillar 116 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:55,280 it goes looking for ants it'll find the flowers or places the ants like to hang out certain types 117 00:15:55,280 --> 00:16:00,840 of ants and when the ants come around instead of attacking and eating it though that happens to 118 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:08,760 some of them the large blue butterfly caterpillar has learned to put a little drop of liquid on its 119 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:16,440 backside that the ants like to eat that makes the ants feel good and then the caterpillar will put 120 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:22,840 off a chemical that smells like ants because ants do not have good eyesight they operate by smell 121 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:30,200 and sound and touch so now they're feeling good from the sweet liquid they're smelling oh ant and 122 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:38,560 some of these caterpillars can make a sound like a queen ant in trouble and then they're like oh we 123 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:44,040 got to take care of our queen and they'll pick up the caterpillar and carry it back to their nest 124 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:54,760 where it eats their young I never heard of carnivorous caterpillar before but there is one 125 00:16:54,760 --> 00:17:02,160 and the thing will grow to five times its own size as it feasts on the banquet where the ants 126 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:10,200 have brought it you see the ants desire to care for other ants to rescue the queen to feed its 127 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:18,640 young those desires are good but that caterpillar is not in line with ant colony design that is a 128 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:27,040 picture of lust when your desire is out of line with God's design and you follow it out of line 129 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:38,760 it will eat you alive from the inside flee now usually whenever we hear the word lust we think 130 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:44,920 about sex it's never mentioned in this passage Paul talks about it elsewhere he focuses on a 131 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:50,240 different kind of lust so I'm gonna spend my time where the text spends its time in all of 132 00:17:50,240 --> 00:18:00,240 chapter 2 Paul has so much to say about quarreling the youthful lust of wanting to win the argument 133 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:09,040 prove you wrong show you I'm right and Paul has some really colorful phrases about this kind of 134 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:17,080 lust he calls it one place wrangling about words wrangling is what cowboys do to cows heard them 135 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:23,160 control them flip them on their back tie them up put a hot iron to their bottom so they're marked 136 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:29,840 as belonging to the cowboys wrangling is for cows people are not cows don't do it to people but we 137 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:41,080 do it with words right try to control for us brand Paul uses another colorful phrase worldly 138 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:50,600 empty chatter worldly is just the idea that all of us are born sinful with a compass in our hearts 139 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:56,400 and the compass doesn't point the right way it points to self we're all born with a dark side 140 00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:01,920 and when you get a bunch of us sinners together whose compasses are all pointing to self you get 141 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:10,160 a society that feeds selfishness that's what the Bible means by worldly and worldliness at best 142 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:16,080 worldly chatter just leaves God out of the picture like the way most of the world treats 143 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:22,280 Christmas talking about Santa Claus and reindeer and kind of leaving Jesus out of the picture 144 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:33,200 empty no nourishment no profit so worldly empty chatter just think of verbal junk food lots of 145 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:41,920 talk no benefit just taste good or how about this colorful phrase foolish ignorant questions now in 146 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:48,320 education we like to encourage the students ask anything there's no such thing as a stupid question 147 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:53,900 because we need to uncover student thinking so we can find out what's missing what do they need to 148 00:19:53,900 --> 00:20:00,280 know what kind of ideas and understanding can we build together no such thing as a stupid question 149 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:12,440 but sometimes we weaponized questions to expose somebody else to make them look bad to make 150 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:21,120 ourselves look good or to just set up the fight for a fun of it okay so Paul would probably say 151 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:27,280 yeah there is such a thing as a stupid question it's the question that has no point except to 152 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:36,120 start a fight quarreling Paul sums up all this kind of lustful talk behavior with another colorful 153 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:44,760 image gangrene gangrene is the disease where because of an injury or something part of the 154 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:54,480 flesh starts to die and it rots and it stinks and it spreads and the only solution for gangrene 155 00:20:54,480 --> 00:21:06,680 is to cut out the rotten part and sometimes that may take a whole finger or hand or limb Paul says 156 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:18,400 this kind of lust uncontrolled talk unchannel the undisciplined tongues teeth and lips will rot the 157 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:28,880 body of Christ flee and then he contrasts that we're fleeing from one thing we're following after 158 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:37,640 another this follow is equal in intensity like a persecutor we're running after righteousness oh 159 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:48,880 yeah righteousness yeah it's how it often strikes us right and all those Christian virtue words 160 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:55,400 until we meet somebody that doesn't have it and they irritate us some of the translations will 161 00:21:55,400 --> 00:22:01,240 package the verse like this righteousness colon faith love and peace as if righteousness is the 162 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:07,960 whole package and the others are pieces of it and you can look at other passages like Galatians 5 163 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:13,960 and James chapter 3 where there's other lists and they might use different words in a different 164 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:20,320 number of words the point is not the exact words the point is this these are the original design 165 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:27,640 elements for the human being this is what we were made to run on this is the code that Jesus is 166 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:35,800 restoring in us by his Holy Spirit so let's apply these things to that lust problem Paul was talking 167 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:42,560 about the lust of winning the war of words what if before I let the words come out of my mouth I 168 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:51,360 run them through this filter are these words right am I being honest will I be treating my brother 169 00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:59,240 or sister right when these words come out of my mouth how about faith the faith filter are these 170 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:05,560 words I want to say coming from a place of faith in my heart this is what I believe God needs me 171 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:12,840 to say and will it be words that build faith in the person who hears them how about a love 172 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:21,160 filter am I saying this to make myself feel good or am I saying it for their good how about the 173 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:30,040 peace filter am I saying this to get them off my back so we don't have to talk about this or am I 174 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:37,840 going to choose my words to invite the right kind of talk about tense topics so we can resolve it 175 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:46,400 and come out as a stronger relationship stronger community you see how these work these are benefits 176 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:56,960 the original God DNA that he put in us that we've lost because our compass points the wrong way that 177 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:09,240 he is restoring it takes practice but it's worth it so where do we run well let's review how do we 178 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:18,360 run passionately thank you where do we run we flee youthful us we follow after hate this you realize 179 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:24,360 these two directions are actually a biblical concept that Paul does not mean name in the passage this 180 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:31,240 is the biblical concept of repentance when Jesus began his ministry and said repent he was saying 181 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:38,880 turn away from evil and turn toward good turn away from self and turn toward God you have to put both 182 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:45,720 because if you only say turn away from evil our habit is find another evil like a revolving door 183 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:56,720 but we need to turn away from self toward God so let's just say it this way we run God word and if 184 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:06,360 we're running God word the evil will be left behind how do we run passionately where do we run God 185 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:13,680 word because the Christian life is not about trying harder be careful with that it's about running with 186 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:22,720 confidence that the DNA God put in you equips you to reach the destination God puts in front of you 187 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:32,200 let me say that again it's not about trying harder it's about the confidence that the DNA God put in 188 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:39,520 you through his Holy Spirit equips you to reach the destination he puts in front of you God's 189 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:46,760 giving us a total package people let's have confidence all right I'm gonna pause I didn't do 190 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:54,400 this for service this is the moment science says that after 17 minutes of being physically still 191 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:59,480 the brain gets the message it's time to go to sleep so turn to your neighbor and tell them 192 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:05,440 something new you heard so far and if you don't know them you might need an introduction to good 193 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:58,640 thank you finish your conversation in five four three two one how do we run where do we run now 194 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:06,680 with whom do we run now this is important some of you are already offended that I have suggested 195 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:17,400 you need other people self-made man well I make no apologies you need other people okay we run 196 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:27,560 with others because there is something chasing us trying to catch us and it's hard to escape 197 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:35,200 because that monster comes from inside we run together because we're trying to catch something 198 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:42,320 that's really big and hard to catch because our habits of selfishness don't really go that 199 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:54,200 direction righteousness is big kind of like this situation you know among dogs wolves are big but 200 00:27:54,200 --> 00:28:03,680 next to a moose a wolf is small wolves eat moose among other things they eat mice too and mice is 201 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:11,040 not the plural of moose but anyway wolves eat moose how does something that small catch something 202 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:23,560 that big they don't hunt alone they hunt in packs we are following after righteousness something 203 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:30,920 honestly too big for us to catch something we're not used to but as the Jesus gene therapy continues 204 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:38,920 to work through your life and recode your habits some of those habits will often involve other 205 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:46,440 people and only with those other people will you make the catch Christians flee youthful us and 206 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:57,240 follow virtues the same way together in other words the Christian life is not not not the DIY 207 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:06,240 project you with me I love mr. DIY but Christianity will not be found on the shelves there now this is 208 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:10,600 blank on purpose and I want to talk to the young people it's blank because the illustration is 209 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:19,480 right here when I was a teen I did not understand this I was content in high school to be a loner I 210 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:26,640 was content with my books I was content with my piano I had friends and we did fun stuff together 211 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:36,880 I attended church I attended youth group I was involved in the music ministry but I had nobody 212 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:45,680 who knew me my heart was not open I didn't even know it wasn't even part of that particular church 213 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:51,840 culture to get with other people and say hey I'm struggling with this hey I think God wants me we 214 00:29:51,840 --> 00:30:01,600 didn't have that kind of God talk we just attended and so my moral compass was untested my fleeing 215 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:08,160 was casual and my following was academic and then I went to university and I continued the Christian 216 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:15,040 life like it's a solo performance I had Christian classes Christian professors I had a Christian 217 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:24,160 roommate had Christian classmates I was involved in ministry but nobody knew me and so the lust 218 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:30,760 that I struggled with slowly ate me alive until I had to spend a year away from university 219 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:37,200 with older Christian mentors and pastors and I'm thankful for pastor Roy Allison and pastor 220 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:48,080 Drew Corbett later brother David Yohe who were my Paul and I got back in line with design so 221 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:53,120 young people wherever you're sitting in the first service they're all right there wherever you're 222 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:58,960 sitting I'm sharing my mistake with you so you don't have to repeat it I'll take the pain you 223 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:05,520 take the game all right and if you're caught if that lust is catching up with you it's not too late 224 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:16,600 get others alongside of you so we run with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart calling on 225 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:26,800 the Lord has two senses help and put me in use me help I'm in trouble we have a God who has declared 226 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:33,680 himself our father who comes to our aid and put me in that's the kid on the bench who has attended 227 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:38,880 the practices faithfully and he's watching the game and he's ready to go in come on coach use 228 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:47,800 me and God loves answering both those calls so you're wondering what the end of the story is 229 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:56,080 because when I caught up with Joel and we only had about 200 meters left in the race hi Joel he 230 00:31:56,080 --> 00:32:03,920 wasn't walking anymore he looked at me and he picked up the pace guess what I did I picked up 231 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:13,400 the pace he picked up the pace I pushed my 53 year old body as hard as I could in the last hundred 232 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:21,480 meters finishes uphill and it ended like this he was ahead I was behind but I was okay with that 233 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:30,760 it was just as satisfying to see my young man cross ahead of me as it would have been for me to do it 234 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:45,000 myself we run faster when we run together when you call on the Lord he calls others alongside now the 235 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:51,880 last phrase could discourage some people what run with those who calling the Lord out of a pure heart 236 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:58,320 nobody's gonna want to run with me I've been in a Bible study on this verse and that is exactly 237 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:05,920 what people said I don't have a pure heart well if you interpret it as you must be perfect you 238 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:11,000 have to have the perfect record then you're not understanding what Paul is saying he's not looking 239 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:19,760 for squeaky clean Christians there aren't any he's talking about not perfection he's talking about 240 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:28,400 motivation we stumble we stray but with Jesus DNA working itself through our system we respond to 241 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:40,600 correction and we get up and we keep going so with whom do we run read it out loud with those who 242 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:52,600 call on the Lord from a pure heart we run together how do we run where do we run with whom do we run 243 00:33:52,600 --> 00:34:03,720 not the greatest grammar talk to me later read the whole thing with me now flee youthful lusts and 244 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:16,280 follow after righteousness faith love and peace with those on the Lord pure hearts I'll tell a 245 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:23,280 story of a couple that attended ECB for like 20 years Bob and Laurie Johnson worked at school with 246 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:30,800 me and Bob in his university years oh by the way he says hi those of you that know him he knows I'm 247 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:37,520 sharing his story today he was on the soccer team at Moody Bible Institute he did not know it but 248 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:44,800 one of their best seasons was in front of them it was gonna be a tremendous winning season but early 249 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:49,840 in the season not knowing the future he was just going through the practices and as part of the 250 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:56,240 practice they had to run a warm-up through the streets of Chicago and Bob had a friend on the 251 00:34:56,240 --> 00:35:03,680 team in every single warm-up his friend was watching Bob and his friend was faster than Bob 252 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:09,440 but his friend wouldn't run as fastest until Bob came alongside and then his friend would take off 253 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:19,400 and Bob could never win until Bob had an idea he thought I'm gonna use different streets no shortcuts 254 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:26,960 I'm not cheating I'll go the same distance but my friend will not see me pulling ahead and he did 255 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:36,320 and it worked and finally beat his friend problem the coach saw him coming on a different street 256 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:45,720 and what did the coach think shortcut so the coach called him out Bob tried to explain the 257 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:53,100 coach would not listen Bob tried to defend himself the coach was not hearing it coach 258 00:35:53,100 --> 00:36:05,520 said run it again Bob was getting mad tried to say no no it's just a friendly thing coach wouldn't 259 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:14,560 hear it run again Bob was so mad he was ready to quit the team right there walk away and not 260 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:22,240 knowing he would miss a really great season as he is boiling and churning inside and about to make 261 00:36:22,240 --> 00:36:27,920 his decision he was making his decision known enough that a couple friends caught on they stepped 262 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:45,600 up said Bob we'll run the extra mile with you that's what we do for each other when we call 263 00:36:45,600 --> 00:37:02,160 on God he calls his people alongside we run how where with whom 264 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:16,920 thank you for tuning in to the ECB sermon podcast whether near or far if you are looking for 265 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:24,320 community or are in need of prayer we welcome you to engage by sending us an email to office at 266 00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:32,200 ECB dot Asia if God is calling you to support our ministries you will find giving options on our 267 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:55,080 website and remember to join us next week God bless you you