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Joshua Kehler: All right, guys.

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Today, the one I've got for
you for me is drum roll.

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Self control.

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and I'll explain why it
was so pivotal for me.

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so let's go to.

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1 Corinthians 9.

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And, Let's go to 2 Timothy, chapter 2.

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You may think, Ian, that's strange that
this topic changed the course of his life.

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let's start in first Corinthians
nine, we'll pick up in 23

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and I'll start.

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I do it all for the sake of the gospel
that I share with them and its blessings.

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Do you not know that in a
race all the runners run, but

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only one receives the prize.

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So run that you may obtain it.

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Every athlete exercises
self control in all things.

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They do it to receive a perishable
wreath, but we an imperishable.

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So I do not run aimlessly, I do not
box as one beating the air, but I

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discipline my body and keep it under
control, lest after preaching to

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others, I myself should be disqualified.

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So

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meaty.

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2nd Timothy, I should have marked it.

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Oh, here we go.

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2nd Tim 2.

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I'm gonna start actually in verse 1.

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You then, my child, be
strengthened by the grace.

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That is in Christ Jesus.

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And what you have heard from me in the
presence of many witnesses and trust

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of faithful men, who will be able to
teach others also, share in suffering

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as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

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No soldier gets entangled in
civilian pursuits, since his aim is

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to please the one who enlisted him.

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And then our verse.

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An athlete is not crowned unless
he competes according to the rules.

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It is the hard working farmer who ought
to have the first share of the crops.

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Think over what I say, for the Lord will
give you understanding in everything.

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This is the word of the Lord.

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Father, We thank you for this.

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We thank you for the mind
blowing way of the gospel.

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We thank you that you grow us in
grace and in the knowledge of you.

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We thank you that, Lord, where
the world has a settled opinion on

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something, you come in and you knock
it over and you have a different way.

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Often, the third way of things.

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And so Lord, we just pray you'd give,
like Paul said, meditate on this

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and you'll give us understanding.

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We trust you for that now, Lord.

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We don't want the opinions
of men or good ideas.

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We want what you have to say to us.

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And we pray for freedom, Lord, in these
areas that maybe we don't even know the

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vines of humanness, of trying, of working.

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To get your favor have wrapped itself
around us and weighed us down And so

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Lord if there's any of that weight on
any of us like there was with me We

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just pray for freedom this morning and
God I ask help us to delight in the Sun

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Stoke our hearts they've been made for you

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Oh man, take us into that
glimpse of the heavenlies.

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And, we just thank you.

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So Lord, we pray for the
other churches that gather.

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We thank you for the representation
all the way up in Washington, Lord.

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We pray you bless the
churches up there, Lord.

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We pray you bless the churches
in the Central Valley.

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Lord, oh man, may they know your favor.

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May they know and delight and
find their fullness in you, Lord.

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Amen.

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it's a heart cry today for our
brothers and sisters, that Lord,

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we would be like those who see the
treasure in the field and we give

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up everything for the treasure.

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And help us, help us right now, Lord,
for your glory in this name, amen.

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An athlete is not crowned unless
he competes according to the rules.

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Self control.

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Now, many of us know that self
control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

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But for me, it was the one
fruit that felt like the Holy

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Spirit didn't have any part in.

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It felt even the title, self
control, felt like it was

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something that was on me to do.

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And, the popular opinion of the day
Is that, yeah, when you come up with

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something that you know is wrong or
that you don't want to do, then you

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exert willpower against that, and
then 10, 30, 40 days to form a new

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habit, or to retrace patterns in
your brain through sheer exhaustion

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of your will, you can reshape your
behavior, and, what you once struggled

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with, you will not struggle with.

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the church kind of adopts that idea in a
way where it says, if you memorize these

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verses, when you encounter, a problem or
a struggle, maybe it's with temptation.

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So you quote yourself, flee lustful
youth, do not, lust after a woman, be like

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Joseph, and you start recounting those.

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Then that's going to get you out of that.

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Except I was a youth pastor and I'm
in coaching these kids in the prime

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of their, pubescent transformation,
with all these hormones raging.

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And I'm telling them and
giving them these verses.

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Every single one of them is struggling
and I'm telling them and not just

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struggling with lust, but with anger,
with selfishness, with, thoughts

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of self harm and it just all these,
hormones raging and self control.

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that's, I think why youth pastors
are hired, by parents, they all chip

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in and they're like, please help,
a thing, shape our kids behavior.

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And, I remember, telling a kid and he,
I just saw his shoulders slump as he was

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sitting across from me in my office as
I gave him verse upon verse of how to

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conquer and be the victorious Christian.

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And I went, I feel the same way.

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I'm struggling too.

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I look like I have it together, but I just
want to sit next to you and cry out to

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God and beat my breast and say, God, help!

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Be merciful!

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What do we do?

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What do we do?

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it's interesting because as the
gospel started to come alive in

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my heart, it changed everything.

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color came into the universe, I had
God's approval, and I did not need the

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approval of other people, and that,
that was like a nuclear bomb going off

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in, in every area of my life that had
a, a fortress against, a God, and every

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opinion that exalted itself against
him, it like, obliterated, it was crazy,

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it was, it just changed everything.

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I'm free.

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I'm free to be me.

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I don't have to pretend.

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I don't have to hide.

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My guilt and my shame is covered.

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I'm set free.

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it changed everything.

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But I have to be honest, this is one
area, the whole self control thing, that

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I still was having a hard time with.

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And there's, that's going to be all
through our lives as we wrestle.

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God takes care of that main thing, right?

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that main root in our hearts.

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He supplants it and he
plants the cross there.

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He plants the tomb there, right?

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Where I was crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ

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lives in me, and so this whole new way of
life, and yet there's still those areas

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where you wrestle and you struggle and
you try to reconcile, This thing that you

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know is right or good, and then how do I
reconcile that with the gospel of grace?

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And self control was one for me, and I
just could not wrap my mind around it.

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I know, the struggle that's there.

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The lack of self control.

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Now, Paul gives us this example
of an athlete, and it's beautiful.

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I love it.

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This, so I'm telling you stories
that were just like, for me, What?!

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And maybe for you, you're
like, yeah, I got that.

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maybe it's something else.

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That's why I love hearing your stories.

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But for me, this was so transformational
for me in uncovering grace, but I'm

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not talking about an athlete because
I'm athlete or I have some sense

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of insight about athletes, it's not
like I'm drawn to it because I'm

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like, let me tell you about my story.

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Literally.

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I was the kid.

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In Little League, who got a base hit
to right field and was running to

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first base and still got thrown out.

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If you understand that, that's hilarious.

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I hit a base hit and got thrown out still.

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That's how slow I was.

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Not great.

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I hit one to the fence once.

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And I was so shocked, I just stood at
the plate and my coach had to say, RUN!

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And I only got to second.

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I turned an inside the park
home run into a double.

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That was me.

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I got asked to be on the all
stars out of everybody in the

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league that I was a part of.

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And I asked my coach, Coach,
what position am I gonna play?

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And he said, Oh, Nah, you're
not going to play a position.

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I just wanted you here because
you're such a positive person.

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see how we do now with positivity.

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I had a good time, but It's funny.

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but because Paul gives us the example
of self control in the athlete, we

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see it in first Corinthians nine
and we see it in second Timothy two.

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and so this I'm talking about it,
Because it's self control, or to be

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more specific, the lack of self control.

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It's interesting because I've talked
to other parents, and often your

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kid's earliest memory, because
it's traumatic, it's different,

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is when you're angry with them.

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I remember my kids telling me that,
and I'm like, wow, I don't consider

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myself, but that's your first memory?

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That's heartbreaking.

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But whether it's angry things
being thrown, yelling at kids in

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frustration, or seeing Seething inner
rage that some of us struggle with

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and not just with our family But with
people with drivers cutting us off.

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Maybe it's our thought life if people
Saw what was on the screen of our

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minds would they hang out and watch?

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Will we die of embarrassment?

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Addictions numbing ourselves to
the reality and hardships of life

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like spreading a layer of Vaseline
over the noise and the chaos You

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Just to dumb it down so I can,
exist for a moment in peace.

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Or, addictions living every moment
for pleasure, And numbing, that's

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another way to numb things out.

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Lust, you've sworn to God.

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This is the last

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Last time and here I am again and again
and we say like Paul said in Romans that

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which I want to do I don't do and that
which I don't want to do that's what I do

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oh wretched man that I am who will save
me from this body of sin so Paul gives

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us this picture of the athlete and we're
told in verse seven of second Timothy

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reflect on what I'm saying for the Lord
will give you insight into all of this.

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we're looking at this picture that
Paul gives us about being God's people.

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And this picture of an athlete is
one of the things that hit me and

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started to change me in this area.

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Number one, an athlete is not crowned
unless he competes according to the rules.

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An athlete is not crowned.

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That was the prize for winning the race
or the event that you were competing in.

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Paul's drawing from the
culture around him that he saw.

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It was the Olympics.

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of the day, and, people would
go into strict discipline.

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In fact, we'll find out about
that, as they then competed

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for a wreath made with leaves.

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First Corinthians 9.

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25, everyone who competes in the
games goes into strict training.

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They do it to get a crown that
will not last, but we do it to get

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a crown that will last forever.

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Unless he competes according to
the rules and the rules of his day,

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what is he talking about there?

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The term rules is the official
regulations imposed on athletes

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who take part in public games.

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Athletes in the Olympian games
had to swear that they observed

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10 months of strict training.

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and that's from the history of the
Olympics that were at the time, when Paul

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was writing the Greek games and Paul uses
the imagery of an athlete many times.

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And so he's got this imagery of an athlete
that he ties to this theme over and over.

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So again, the rules that he's
talking about, like this, committed

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period of time, not just this
fleeing moment of passion where you

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feel like, I'm all in this time.

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A rededication of a previous
rededication of a previous rededication.

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He's talking about a steady,
settled, I'm gonna set my face.

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In a certain direction, and
I'm going to run and Paul uses

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imagery of an athlete many times.

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first Corinthians 9 23 27, which we
read is an expanded version of that.

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I want to read it for us again.

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I do it all for the sake of
the gospel that I may share

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with them and it's blessing.

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Interesting.

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Do you not know that in a
race all the runners run, but

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only one receives the prize.

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So run that you may obtain it.

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Every athlete exercises
self control in all things.

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They do it to receive a perishable wreath.

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00:14:22,552 --> 00:14:26,602
But we, imperishable, so
we do not run aimlessly.

232
00:14:27,252 --> 00:14:28,032
He's got a point.

233
00:14:28,272 --> 00:14:29,982
I do not box in the air.

234
00:14:30,532 --> 00:14:34,862
I'm ready for a fight, he says, but
I discipline my body and keep it

235
00:14:34,902 --> 00:14:39,272
under control, lest after preaching
to others, I myself should perish.

236
00:14:39,682 --> 00:14:41,602
Be disqualified.

237
00:14:41,762 --> 00:14:42,842
And we'll get into that a little more.

238
00:14:42,842 --> 00:14:47,232
But when Paul talks about the athlete,
his focus is on the athlete's self control

239
00:14:47,232 --> 00:14:50,592
and discipline, he says that we must
have the same level of self control and

240
00:14:50,592 --> 00:14:55,762
discipline as an athlete, because we're
doing it for something far more important.

241
00:14:57,107 --> 00:14:58,527
Then a crown that fades.

242
00:15:00,287 --> 00:15:03,517
I hope you feel a little, ah, that's good.

243
00:15:05,047 --> 00:15:06,427
Two things about self control.

244
00:15:07,137 --> 00:15:08,107
Why we need it.

245
00:15:09,077 --> 00:15:11,317
Number two, how to get it.

246
00:15:11,867 --> 00:15:12,297
Yes.

247
00:15:13,577 --> 00:15:14,957
Why we need self control.

248
00:15:14,967 --> 00:15:16,327
The problem of self control.

249
00:15:17,847 --> 00:15:21,807
A self control problem is when
you're doing something that you

250
00:15:21,807 --> 00:15:25,187
desperately want to stop and you can't.

251
00:15:26,487 --> 00:15:29,337
And it can affect so
many areas of our lives.

252
00:15:29,817 --> 00:15:32,337
Of course, the obvious things
flood our minds, right?

253
00:15:32,377 --> 00:15:37,427
Overeating, under eating, drinking,
drugs, spending, gambling, lust.

254
00:15:38,167 --> 00:15:41,047
But the more important things I
think are the not so obvious things.

255
00:15:41,802 --> 00:15:42,812
Our tongues,

256
00:15:43,212 --> 00:15:53,162
thoughts, the invaluable resource of time,
our emotions, anger, anxiety, and fear.

257
00:15:54,762 --> 00:16:01,442
Some, yes, have extreme issues with
self control, but all of us have at

258
00:16:01,442 --> 00:16:06,042
least some issue with self control
because we're not in glory yet.

259
00:16:06,832 --> 00:16:14,932
Our problems will strip us of our careers,
our relationships, and possibly our lives.

260
00:16:15,887 --> 00:16:21,197
But most importantly, 1 Corinthians
9 27, I discipline my body to keep it

261
00:16:21,227 --> 00:16:26,417
under control, lest after preaching to
others, I myself should be disqualified.

262
00:16:26,547 --> 00:16:29,897
He's not talking about
losing his salvation.

263
00:16:30,387 --> 00:16:34,367
He's talking about, I don't
want to only preach the gospel

264
00:16:34,827 --> 00:16:36,187
and then live a different way.

265
00:16:36,447 --> 00:16:40,967
I want to preach the gospel and live
the gospel that I'm preaching, right?

266
00:16:41,027 --> 00:16:43,337
And there's that effect that happens.

267
00:16:43,827 --> 00:16:44,607
It's like this.

268
00:16:44,952 --> 00:16:45,972
compounded thing.

269
00:16:45,982 --> 00:16:49,842
You preach the gospel, and the gospel
that's preached has impacted you.

270
00:16:50,112 --> 00:16:55,432
And so you preach the gospel, not only
now from theory, but from experience.

271
00:16:55,692 --> 00:16:59,432
And then because that experience
is compounding, your life is

272
00:16:59,452 --> 00:17:02,342
being transformed, and you preach,
and you're getting more weight.

273
00:17:03,062 --> 00:17:07,972
You've talked to people who've been
Christians for 20 years, or Christians.

274
00:17:08,612 --> 00:17:11,962
And you talk to them, and it's about,
the plumber who couldn't make it this

275
00:17:11,962 --> 00:17:16,342
weekend, and, I'm not sure what to do,
and it's all this surface level stuff.

276
00:17:16,652 --> 00:17:20,162
And then you talk to somebody who's
been a Christian for 20 years, and

277
00:17:20,162 --> 00:17:26,232
they might not say much, but they say,
Hey, I want you to know, God is good.

278
00:17:27,232 --> 00:17:29,892
And it's like somebody set
dynamite off in the room.

279
00:17:31,602 --> 00:17:34,332
There's so much weight to what they say.

280
00:17:35,447 --> 00:17:39,427
Because the gospel has been
compoundedly effective.

281
00:17:39,437 --> 00:17:43,977
The grace has been
changing and transforming.

282
00:17:43,977 --> 00:17:46,987
The one degree of splendor is happening.

283
00:17:47,237 --> 00:17:50,727
And you talk to somebody like that, and
I just want to be around those people.

284
00:17:51,447 --> 00:17:56,737
Because they just pull you aside and
they say, Don't worry, God is good.

285
00:17:57,697 --> 00:18:02,977
And you're like, wow, I think that just
solved like three counseling sessions,

286
00:18:03,027 --> 00:18:06,727
because there's a weight to that.

287
00:18:06,727 --> 00:18:10,667
And he's saying, hey, I don't
want to just teach the gospel.

288
00:18:11,217 --> 00:18:13,187
This is such a beautiful thing.

289
00:18:13,407 --> 00:18:16,837
This gospel is changing
me and transforming me.

290
00:18:17,087 --> 00:18:17,977
And I, I.

291
00:18:18,822 --> 00:18:23,862
I want to preach out of,
what God is doing in my life.

292
00:18:24,042 --> 00:18:28,152
I want to talk about grace,
the way that somebody is on Hot

293
00:18:28,152 --> 00:18:29,812
Ones, you guys watch Hot Ones?

294
00:18:30,172 --> 00:18:33,012
and they eat the 13, wings or
whatever, and it goes from hotter

295
00:18:33,012 --> 00:18:34,232
to hotter to hotter to hotter.

296
00:18:34,507 --> 00:18:35,687
And everybody watches it.

297
00:18:35,727 --> 00:18:38,637
I watch people on there, and these
are movie stars promoting their stuff,

298
00:18:38,887 --> 00:18:42,657
and they're like, I watched every
episode, and when we get to the Da

299
00:18:42,657 --> 00:18:44,107
Bomb, I thought I could handle it.

300
00:18:44,257 --> 00:18:45,257
And they lose it.

301
00:18:45,267 --> 00:18:47,157
People are crying, and
don't touch your eyes.

302
00:18:47,397 --> 00:18:52,647
And it's this beautiful thing
of, I saw it, and I knew it.

303
00:18:53,557 --> 00:18:54,547
and then I tasted it.

304
00:18:55,227 --> 00:19:01,137
I have this experiential like relationship
to it now, and now I talk about it

305
00:19:01,137 --> 00:19:04,257
different and they have the guests
come back on and they're like prepared.

306
00:19:04,317 --> 00:19:07,617
They've got buttermilk and ice cream
and cream and milk and yogurt and

307
00:19:07,622 --> 00:19:10,562
like they're ready to go through
the gauntlet, of this because

308
00:19:10,562 --> 00:19:13,082
they've experienced it's different.

309
00:19:14,272 --> 00:19:16,702
You can see it, you can
watch it, you can hear it.

310
00:19:16,942 --> 00:19:19,343
But when you taste and see
that the Lord is good, yeah.

311
00:19:19,762 --> 00:19:21,262
You can't go back.

312
00:19:22,422 --> 00:19:26,062
That's why Paul loses his mind when
he's you're saying like if we preach

313
00:19:26,062 --> 00:19:28,722
grace Then sin's just gonna go crazy.

314
00:19:30,042 --> 00:19:33,932
That means you haven't seen grace
You can't even ask that question.

315
00:19:34,312 --> 00:19:38,172
if you've tasted and seen that the
Lord is precious then you found

316
00:19:38,562 --> 00:19:41,812
it's like finding the treasure
and then going like You know what?

317
00:19:41,812 --> 00:19:45,922
I think I'm gonna go to the machine
and get a gumball with a quarter and

318
00:19:45,922 --> 00:19:48,752
trading that for the world, right?

319
00:19:48,842 --> 00:19:49,652
it's insanity.

320
00:19:49,662 --> 00:19:50,822
You can't do that.

321
00:19:50,832 --> 00:19:51,882
You can't go back.

322
00:19:52,362 --> 00:19:55,722
and so he's saying, man, I want
to keep reading and I want the

323
00:19:55,722 --> 00:19:57,342
gospel to keep impacting me.

324
00:19:57,732 --> 00:20:02,022
And so important is this, The
picture he gives in the next

325
00:20:02,022 --> 00:20:03,962
verses in first Corinthians 10.

326
00:20:04,102 --> 00:20:07,362
So following right after this, if you're
in your Bibles and first Corinthians,

327
00:20:07,722 --> 00:20:11,222
I'm going to read the next couple of
scriptures, because these are the things

328
00:20:11,232 --> 00:20:18,782
that get in the way of, the key thing to
self control, which I'll reveal shortly,

329
00:20:19,772 --> 00:20:21,582
if you buy my course, no, just kidding.

330
00:20:23,772 --> 00:20:24,662
Just kidding.

331
00:20:25,842 --> 00:20:26,772
I do like the buildup.

332
00:20:26,822 --> 00:20:30,292
but there is something so important to
self control that changes everything.

333
00:20:31,272 --> 00:20:35,682
And these are the things that often
take our hearts away from them.

334
00:20:36,782 --> 00:20:40,232
And it's really beautiful how
he just lays it out there.

335
00:20:40,782 --> 00:20:44,092
6, For I do not want you to
be unaware, brothers, that our

336
00:20:44,092 --> 00:20:46,162
fathers were all under the cloud.

337
00:20:46,162 --> 00:20:47,552
So we're going back to Exodus story.

338
00:20:47,862 --> 00:20:51,262
And all passed through the
sea, the Red Sea, right?

339
00:20:51,262 --> 00:20:55,662
And all were baptized into Moses
in the cloud and in the sea.

340
00:20:56,202 --> 00:20:59,962
All ate the same spiritual food and
all drank the same spiritual drink.

341
00:21:00,687 --> 00:21:03,687
For they drank from the spiritual
rock that followed them.

342
00:21:04,847 --> 00:21:07,127
this is just the way
he describes the story.

343
00:21:07,477 --> 00:21:09,627
Oh, it's the rock that was following them.

344
00:21:10,687 --> 00:21:12,427
And the rock was Christ.

345
00:21:13,297 --> 00:21:16,307
Nevertheless, with most of them
God was not pleased for they were

346
00:21:16,317 --> 00:21:17,547
overthrown in the wilderness.

347
00:21:17,557 --> 00:21:20,257
Now, these things took
place as examples for us.

348
00:21:20,932 --> 00:21:24,752
That we might not desire evil as they did.

349
00:21:25,272 --> 00:21:28,722
And so a group leaves, and as
the saying goes, You can take the

350
00:21:28,722 --> 00:21:31,282
people out of Egypt, but you can't
take Egypt out of the people.

351
00:21:31,882 --> 00:21:32,802
That's the struggle.

352
00:21:32,862 --> 00:21:35,052
You can bring people out of the
world, but it's so hard to get

353
00:21:35,052 --> 00:21:36,182
the world out of the people.

354
00:21:37,192 --> 00:21:39,192
and that's what the gospel's
doing in our hearts.

355
00:21:39,192 --> 00:21:40,782
But what chokes out the desire for God?

356
00:21:40,822 --> 00:21:43,292
What were the things that thwarted
the Israelites of the wilderness

357
00:21:43,292 --> 00:21:44,802
from their covenant relationship?

358
00:21:45,517 --> 00:21:49,077
that they made with God at Sinai.

359
00:21:50,167 --> 00:21:51,437
Chapter 10, verse 7.

360
00:21:52,357 --> 00:21:54,917
Do not be idolaters as some of them were.

361
00:21:55,237 --> 00:21:58,997
As it is written, the people sat down
to eat, drink, and rose up to play.

362
00:21:59,927 --> 00:22:01,877
And so idolatry is the first one.

363
00:22:02,447 --> 00:22:04,637
At the foot of Sinai is given the law.

364
00:22:05,257 --> 00:22:09,437
and it's a warning to us the ease
with which things can capture our

365
00:22:09,437 --> 00:22:11,367
attention and be so important to us.

366
00:22:11,842 --> 00:22:14,522
That we feel we cannot live
without Him because that's

367
00:22:14,522 --> 00:22:15,642
where we get our significance.

368
00:22:15,642 --> 00:22:20,412
And so he's saying, one of the things
that's gonna attack this theme of the

369
00:22:20,422 --> 00:22:25,352
athlete, one of the things that took
the Israelites, is this trying to

370
00:22:25,352 --> 00:22:29,432
get significance from something other
than God, even in the presence of God.

371
00:22:31,272 --> 00:22:32,382
They're in his presence.

372
00:22:32,632 --> 00:22:36,542
Remember the mountain is shaking
and there's lightnings and thunder?

373
00:22:36,942 --> 00:22:41,482
And in the shadow of his wings,
they build a golden calf.

374
00:22:42,722 --> 00:22:44,442
And they say, let him lead us.

375
00:22:45,092 --> 00:22:46,022
He's not answering.

376
00:22:46,032 --> 00:22:47,912
He's not answering on our timeline.

377
00:22:48,162 --> 00:22:49,862
He's not coming through like we thought.

378
00:22:49,872 --> 00:22:53,772
We're suspicious of his love for,
let's get our significance from

379
00:22:53,772 --> 00:22:57,482
something other, something we can
control or we think we can control.

380
00:22:58,312 --> 00:23:01,542
So remember, idolatry isn't.

381
00:23:01,592 --> 00:23:05,312
going back home today and having a
secret closet where you enter a code

382
00:23:05,602 --> 00:23:11,992
that you have a little statue that
you bow to, and, it is anything, even

383
00:23:11,992 --> 00:23:17,372
if it's a good thing, that becomes
an ultimate thing that's idolatry.

384
00:23:18,222 --> 00:23:20,642
So family can be idolatry.

385
00:23:20,642 --> 00:23:23,982
Your career can be idolatry, a good thing.

386
00:23:23,982 --> 00:23:28,082
But if that becomes the source of your
significance where I get happy and joy.

387
00:23:28,582 --> 00:23:33,462
That now has been elevated to
the place of supreme and God will

388
00:23:33,472 --> 00:23:37,592
not have a co heir in that sense.

389
00:23:38,062 --> 00:23:40,632
He will not allow an idol to
sit on the throne with him.

390
00:23:40,862 --> 00:23:47,652
He is a, and Oprah hates this, He is
a jealous God because he loves you.

391
00:23:48,032 --> 00:23:48,942
Number two.

392
00:23:50,287 --> 00:23:54,087
verse eight, we must not indulge in
sexual immorality as some of them

393
00:23:54,087 --> 00:23:56,957
did in 23, 000 fell in a single day.

394
00:23:56,957 --> 00:24:00,317
That's referring to the
account in numbers 25.

395
00:24:01,147 --> 00:24:08,287
And what that means is it just means
letting your drives drive you, right?

396
00:24:09,027 --> 00:24:14,827
And we live in a, the crazy thing
is we live in a society today that

397
00:24:14,837 --> 00:24:17,137
has a theology or way of life.

398
00:24:17,762 --> 00:24:22,202
that takes that old thing that
even the ancients, other religions

399
00:24:22,202 --> 00:24:23,892
look at and go, that's not good.

400
00:24:25,152 --> 00:24:28,022
And it marries them and
says, this is our religion.

401
00:24:28,072 --> 00:24:29,772
And what is the theology of the day?

402
00:24:31,052 --> 00:24:32,192
Be true to yourself.

403
00:24:33,392 --> 00:24:35,842
If you feel it, honor it.

404
00:24:36,292 --> 00:24:39,432
So that, that is a
theology of the day today.

405
00:24:39,852 --> 00:24:42,242
And it's the new religion, right?

406
00:24:42,412 --> 00:24:44,712
And people worship and
sacrifice for that religion.

407
00:24:44,992 --> 00:24:48,202
And they suffer the consequences
of being true to yourself.

408
00:24:48,472 --> 00:24:50,582
If you feel it, do it.

409
00:24:51,602 --> 00:24:54,362
so again, these are the things
that are attacking Paul's

410
00:24:54,362 --> 00:24:56,812
idea of what an athlete is.

411
00:24:57,722 --> 00:25:01,892
Verse nine, we must not put Christ
to the test as some of them did

412
00:25:01,892 --> 00:25:03,372
and were destroyed by serpents.

413
00:25:03,412 --> 00:25:05,072
We see that story in numbers 21.

414
00:25:05,442 --> 00:25:09,082
You brought us out of Egypt and we're
going to die in this wilderness.

415
00:25:09,102 --> 00:25:09,972
It's your fault.

416
00:25:10,212 --> 00:25:12,672
Why did you bring us out of Egypt?

417
00:25:13,102 --> 00:25:13,952
Why did you be here?

418
00:25:13,992 --> 00:25:15,582
It's your fault that I got into this.

419
00:25:15,772 --> 00:25:22,012
So number three is the idea
that God is not for you.

420
00:25:22,992 --> 00:25:23,622
So guess what?

421
00:25:23,642 --> 00:25:25,512
If God's not for you,
who has to be for you?

422
00:25:29,902 --> 00:25:31,782
That God does not have your
best interest at heart.

423
00:25:33,072 --> 00:25:34,612
That he's leading you down.

424
00:25:34,652 --> 00:25:39,382
And actually, and here's another like
flies in the face of the religion

425
00:25:39,382 --> 00:25:44,092
of the day is that God wants to take
your freedom and happiness away.

426
00:25:44,522 --> 00:25:46,562
And he wants automaton robots.

427
00:25:47,142 --> 00:25:51,572
To be these self disciplined,
people who follow the rules

428
00:25:52,282 --> 00:25:53,782
and that's what God's after.

429
00:25:53,782 --> 00:25:56,262
And that, there's kids who grew up
thinking that, because they go to

430
00:25:56,262 --> 00:25:57,552
churches where that's what's taught.

431
00:25:57,562 --> 00:25:58,462
That's the handbook.

432
00:25:59,062 --> 00:26:01,902
When we're not learning about the
dance, we're not learning about

433
00:26:01,912 --> 00:26:03,462
being who God made us to be.

434
00:26:03,492 --> 00:26:04,972
Like, He loves who we are.

435
00:26:04,972 --> 00:26:06,542
He gave us these personalities.

436
00:26:06,792 --> 00:26:07,772
He loves us.

437
00:26:07,932 --> 00:26:12,042
he, loves that I love narrative
stories and movies and, I want

438
00:26:12,042 --> 00:26:16,642
to talk about those things being
shadows that point to enjoyment.

439
00:26:17,457 --> 00:26:18,267
of him.

440
00:26:20,117 --> 00:26:23,417
He made me where my brain
fires in this certain way.

441
00:26:23,617 --> 00:26:27,637
When I see grill marks and smell
the smoke on a piece of meat, I'm

442
00:26:27,637 --> 00:26:34,647
like, he gave me that, but that's
not just supposed to stay there.

443
00:26:35,257 --> 00:26:37,617
It's supposed to just
point a little higher up.

444
00:26:38,197 --> 00:26:41,997
And it says in whatever you do, whether
eating or drinking do all to the glory

445
00:26:41,997 --> 00:26:44,337
of God, everything is just a point.

446
00:26:44,337 --> 00:26:45,887
And you go, thank you, Lord.

447
00:26:46,877 --> 00:26:47,637
Thank you for taste buds.

448
00:26:47,647 --> 00:26:48,487
You didn't have to do that.

449
00:26:48,487 --> 00:26:49,777
The cows don't have taste buds.

450
00:26:49,792 --> 00:26:55,322
I don't think like they just eat grass
all day long like we could have been

451
00:26:55,322 --> 00:27:02,462
that you know And so like man all these
things Like point to a greater reality

452
00:27:02,462 --> 00:27:07,172
of enjoyment, but here these people are
and they're like God you actually Want to

453
00:27:07,172 --> 00:27:12,302
ruin it you want to ruin our freedom you
want to ruin our joy, and you brought us

454
00:27:12,302 --> 00:27:14,692
out here Into the wilderness to do that.

455
00:27:15,832 --> 00:27:19,182
And, and man, that will kill your
self control like nothing else.

456
00:27:19,182 --> 00:27:22,672
Because now you're going to be
the one who's going to decide

457
00:27:22,682 --> 00:27:23,912
where happiness and freedom is.

458
00:27:24,487 --> 00:27:29,357
Instead of dancing in the glory of the
rhythm of the trinity that has existed

459
00:27:29,357 --> 00:27:35,307
from eternity past Where you're whole
and free and who you were made to be and

460
00:27:35,307 --> 00:27:42,927
delighted in and adored it's everything
anyways, Finally and this is a big one.

461
00:27:43,817 --> 00:27:44,507
Oh, man.

462
00:27:44,767 --> 00:27:52,252
This one nailed me verse 10, nor
grumble as some of them did and

463
00:27:52,252 --> 00:27:53,952
were destroyed by the destroyer.

464
00:27:55,182 --> 00:27:58,852
It's a story of Korah, Dathan, and,
Abraham, these three young men who

465
00:27:58,852 --> 00:28:02,452
begin to grumble at the authority
that Moses had and, the ground

466
00:28:02,452 --> 00:28:12,192
open swallows them, but that sense
it's a annoyed murmur and our soul.

467
00:28:13,742 --> 00:28:15,402
It's like when your phone's on vibrate.

468
00:28:16,382 --> 00:28:17,532
And you can barely hear it.

469
00:28:18,342 --> 00:28:23,702
But it's just this posture
at life that just goes, the

470
00:28:23,702 --> 00:28:26,732
reaction, the bent is, it sucks.

471
00:28:27,872 --> 00:28:28,862
It sucks.

472
00:28:30,062 --> 00:28:30,942
That's lame.

473
00:28:32,002 --> 00:28:32,922
That's terrible.

474
00:28:33,232 --> 00:28:37,012
And like the first instinct of the
soul, the posture, the way it's

475
00:28:37,012 --> 00:28:42,982
facing is to just think everything
just kinda, it's kinda pointless.

476
00:28:44,027 --> 00:28:45,017
It's crazy, right?

477
00:28:45,067 --> 00:28:47,667
And what's crazy is it starts so low.

478
00:28:48,347 --> 00:28:53,717
It starts so it starts with
why is my house so hot?

479
00:28:55,297 --> 00:28:56,507
so innocuous.

480
00:28:57,597 --> 00:28:58,377
I think the same thing.

481
00:28:58,377 --> 00:29:00,087
I just think like, why?

482
00:29:00,452 --> 00:29:02,482
why is our car older than everybody else?

483
00:29:02,572 --> 00:29:07,192
just these little, just barely, just,
nothing, it's not a big deal, it's

484
00:29:07,822 --> 00:29:17,552
But it's this constant low murmur and
bent in the soul that is beginning

485
00:29:17,552 --> 00:29:23,642
to posture itself at not seeing the
gifts from God and just seeing the

486
00:29:23,642 --> 00:29:25,252
darkness and the shadows left behind.

487
00:29:26,642 --> 00:29:34,212
It's so subtle guys, and it's so crazy
and we have a whole world and a culture

488
00:29:34,212 --> 00:29:36,022
telling us You can have happiness.

489
00:29:36,022 --> 00:29:38,422
You just got to slide
that credit card today.

490
00:29:38,432 --> 00:29:39,382
It can be yours.

491
00:29:39,692 --> 00:29:44,792
yes, it feeds off of you being
unhappy and dissatisfied.

492
00:29:44,792 --> 00:29:45,122
Yes.

493
00:29:45,432 --> 00:29:49,222
And so there's this murmur of the
soul where we lose the wonder.

494
00:29:50,192 --> 00:29:51,622
I can't believe I have a house.

495
00:29:53,092 --> 00:29:57,622
There's a majority of my brothers
and sisters in the world who don't.

496
00:29:58,612 --> 00:29:59,482
so here's something.

497
00:29:59,562 --> 00:30:02,862
so again, why does that
attack self control?

498
00:30:03,827 --> 00:30:06,167
You just, it's consumerism, right?

499
00:30:06,167 --> 00:30:11,692
It's the little murmur that, that
constantly says I need better.

500
00:30:12,442 --> 00:30:16,532
I need and I'm not
satisfied until I have it.

501
00:30:17,842 --> 00:30:22,852
so insightful, maybe spend some time
like, like going over those verses.

502
00:30:22,852 --> 00:30:25,792
I think Paul's inspired by the spirit.

503
00:30:26,052 --> 00:30:27,532
You come out pretty brilliant, huh?

504
00:30:28,062 --> 00:30:28,632
Anyways.

505
00:30:29,807 --> 00:30:31,237
Okay, so let's go back to the athlete.

506
00:30:31,237 --> 00:30:34,517
so these things that attack that let's
go to the athlete and we'll start to

507
00:30:34,517 --> 00:30:36,827
develop this theme of this athlete.

508
00:30:37,247 --> 00:30:39,837
Athletes lives are models of balance.

509
00:30:40,027 --> 00:30:41,387
They don't eat too much.

510
00:30:41,467 --> 00:30:42,467
They don't eat too little.

511
00:30:42,867 --> 00:30:45,047
They don't sleep too
much or sleep too little.

512
00:30:45,297 --> 00:30:47,377
Everything in their lives
is in the right place.

513
00:30:47,457 --> 00:30:51,897
They don't let their natural desires for
more ease and rest, more leisure time.

514
00:30:52,207 --> 00:30:55,977
Lots of food, et cetera, get
in the way of their training.

515
00:30:56,437 --> 00:31:01,317
So there are these pictures of
this kind of discipline, but where

516
00:31:01,317 --> 00:31:03,227
does this discipline come from?

517
00:31:03,977 --> 00:31:07,807
Cause it's, they're not just
doing it out of nowhere, right?

518
00:31:09,097 --> 00:31:10,217
They're doing it for a price.

519
00:31:12,482 --> 00:31:17,232
They're, they've entered into
this competition, and their eyes

520
00:31:17,232 --> 00:31:25,132
on the prize, and it, the prize
modifies the shape of their lives.

521
00:31:25,962 --> 00:31:26,492
Interesting.

522
00:31:26,722 --> 00:31:27,342
So how do we get it?

523
00:31:27,352 --> 00:31:27,922
How do we get it?

524
00:31:28,402 --> 00:31:29,082
Interesting, right?

525
00:31:29,422 --> 00:31:30,332
How do we get it?

526
00:31:30,942 --> 00:31:35,402
And here's what I really want to
talk about, and then go into what it

527
00:31:35,402 --> 00:31:37,742
was that, that changed my thinking.

528
00:31:38,562 --> 00:31:41,462
The ancients thought of self
control as an exercise of the reason

529
00:31:41,462 --> 00:31:43,232
and the will over the feelings.

530
00:31:43,822 --> 00:31:47,452
In this view, the heart is
filled with feelings, but they

531
00:31:47,452 --> 00:31:49,132
must be put in their place.

532
00:31:49,752 --> 00:31:54,742
We must act on the basis of
our will, not our feelings.

533
00:31:55,662 --> 00:31:56,542
Willpower.

534
00:31:57,252 --> 00:31:59,732
How many sermons have we heard of that?

535
00:32:00,452 --> 00:32:04,482
That is still how many are most
people think today about self control.

536
00:32:04,752 --> 00:32:06,322
Inside the church and outside the church.

537
00:32:06,592 --> 00:32:09,552
But Paul is saying in this illustration,
the athlete that self control is

538
00:32:09,552 --> 00:32:13,462
not a matter of the naked exercise
of the will against feelings,

539
00:32:14,302 --> 00:32:17,442
whether you're, okay, this is,
okay, I'm going to say that again.

540
00:32:18,042 --> 00:32:21,332
That self control is not a
matter of the naked exercise of

541
00:32:21,332 --> 00:32:22,672
the will against the feelings.

542
00:32:22,672 --> 00:32:28,762
Rather, you're always controlled
by your deepest passion, what

543
00:32:28,762 --> 00:32:31,682
captivates your heart most.

544
00:32:33,072 --> 00:32:36,242
So take the, I, Oh, this
started changing, right?

545
00:32:36,877 --> 00:32:38,707
Because I grew up willpower.

546
00:32:38,847 --> 00:32:41,027
I'm not very good at
willpower, I realized.

547
00:32:41,297 --> 00:32:44,127
If I was a superhero, I would
never be named willpower.

548
00:32:44,997 --> 00:32:48,877
That's just not my, that
is not my, where I excel.

549
00:32:50,867 --> 00:32:52,777
Athletes have many desires.

550
00:32:53,207 --> 00:32:54,147
They're no different.

551
00:32:54,877 --> 00:32:55,767
They're like us.

552
00:32:55,787 --> 00:32:59,097
It's not like they're, different kind
of human beings who we've developed in

553
00:32:59,097 --> 00:33:01,627
a tube, and, got their DNA just right.

554
00:33:01,707 --> 00:33:05,127
Athletes have many desires and here
it is, but they've submitted the

555
00:33:05,127 --> 00:33:12,337
other desires to this, their greatest
desire to get the prize, their

556
00:33:12,337 --> 00:33:14,647
desire to eat chocolate ice cream.

557
00:33:15,697 --> 00:33:17,967
I'm not putting vanilla
there because that's not hard

558
00:33:19,057 --> 00:33:20,627
Or to go out drinking.

559
00:33:21,597 --> 00:33:26,327
Or even to simply sleep in and
not exercise are subordinated

560
00:33:26,927 --> 00:33:30,367
to one over mastering desire.

561
00:33:31,857 --> 00:33:34,487
And here's the key, and this is
what changed my life, is it is

562
00:33:34,487 --> 00:33:37,757
wrong to think that self control
comes from stuffing your feelings.

563
00:33:38,557 --> 00:33:45,217
Rather, self control comes from
feeling strongly, passionately for some

564
00:33:45,217 --> 00:33:50,307
goal, which is then the basis of the
right ordering of your entire life.

565
00:33:51,237 --> 00:33:51,957
You guys get that?

566
00:33:51,957 --> 00:33:54,807
So it's not stuffing your feelings.

567
00:33:54,817 --> 00:33:58,987
It's feeling more strongly
about the thing you felt about.

568
00:33:59,547 --> 00:34:01,927
It's not trying, I've got a restraint.

569
00:34:01,957 --> 00:34:05,307
It's about, no, I have an
actually greater desire.

570
00:34:07,347 --> 00:34:09,667
And my whole life is ordered
by this other desire.

571
00:34:09,827 --> 00:34:17,387
Guys, this is like, when I, this started
hitting, I'm like, I have, how much

572
00:34:17,387 --> 00:34:25,277
of my life have I exhausted on this
search for purity and wholeness and self

573
00:34:25,286 --> 00:34:30,857
control and spiritual disciplines and,
A proverb a day, just trying but then

574
00:34:30,857 --> 00:34:34,397
struggling, but Lord, I'm reading the
Bible, I'm doing all this, I'm praying,

575
00:34:34,637 --> 00:34:38,587
as a teenager, I'm seeking you, I'm
living a holy life, what I think is a

576
00:34:38,587 --> 00:34:42,726
holy life compared to all my friends
around me, I'm, but I'm still struggling,

577
00:34:42,726 --> 00:34:45,786
where is the breakthrough, where's
the power, where's the transformation?

578
00:34:45,987 --> 00:34:49,206
Where is the fruit of the
spirit called self control?

579
00:34:49,357 --> 00:34:53,476
It's non existent in my life.

580
00:34:53,806 --> 00:34:55,587
It literally is not there.

581
00:34:55,746 --> 00:34:56,857
It is theory.

582
00:34:56,857 --> 00:35:01,067
It is I hear about it and I'm frustrated
because I have not experienced it.

583
00:35:01,457 --> 00:35:09,187
Any of its power and I've tried so
hard so it's wrong to think that

584
00:35:09,187 --> 00:35:11,977
self controls Okay, so there's
the story in Genesis, right?

585
00:35:12,107 --> 00:35:13,597
Genesis is so amazing.

586
00:35:14,287 --> 00:35:19,867
I think it's Genesis 29 and it's Jacob he
leaves because he had gotten the blessing

587
00:35:19,877 --> 00:35:23,792
from Esau his brother And he has to flee
because Esau's mad that he had gotten

588
00:35:23,792 --> 00:35:26,102
the blessing from, yeah, he stole it.

589
00:35:26,362 --> 00:35:29,572
And so he flees, and he works for Laban.

590
00:35:29,802 --> 00:35:33,432
And Laban's a con artist like
Jacob's a con artist, right?

591
00:35:33,642 --> 00:35:36,422
and Jacob, and Laban is gonna
take, his uncle is gonna take

592
00:35:36,422 --> 00:35:37,482
advantage of the situation.

593
00:35:37,482 --> 00:35:39,822
He knows he has nowhere else to
go, he has no other connections.

594
00:35:40,072 --> 00:35:42,972
This is his family connection,
and Jacob's a hard worker, and

595
00:35:42,972 --> 00:35:44,602
so he's gonna make him work.

596
00:35:45,522 --> 00:35:47,172
So he says, hey, what do
you think of my daughter?

597
00:35:48,217 --> 00:35:48,957
And he's which one?

598
00:35:49,877 --> 00:35:51,667
And that's a whole nother
story I might share, right?

599
00:35:51,677 --> 00:35:53,867
Although we talked about it at the
beginning of the year, Leah and

600
00:35:53,867 --> 00:35:57,097
Rachel, the girl nobody wanted.

601
00:35:58,297 --> 00:36:03,427
Leah, but he says, yeah, I'll
work for you if Rachel's my prize.

602
00:36:03,897 --> 00:36:05,047
And what does scripture say?

603
00:36:05,447 --> 00:36:08,787
It says, and he worked seven.

604
00:36:09,962 --> 00:36:16,252
Years for Rachel, but it seemed
to him as one day because

605
00:36:16,252 --> 00:36:19,502
of the love he had for her.

606
00:36:21,422 --> 00:36:27,262
Is there no more beautiful, like
example, like that was his price

607
00:36:28,482 --> 00:36:32,442
and everything else was sub
subordinate to getting that prize.

608
00:36:32,442 --> 00:36:34,562
You've got the story of
the, we talked about it.

609
00:36:34,622 --> 00:36:36,642
the man who finds the
treasure in the field.

610
00:36:37,797 --> 00:36:40,327
And he buys the field, he
has to sell all that he has.

611
00:36:41,297 --> 00:36:42,937
So we miss that, all that he has.

612
00:36:44,937 --> 00:36:47,117
But he does it with joy,
because he gets the treasure.

613
00:36:48,547 --> 00:36:50,857
he lived his life, all he has.

614
00:36:51,532 --> 00:36:53,012
That was the sum of his life.

615
00:36:53,272 --> 00:37:00,162
And then he finds a greater thing, and
he is able to, the thing that defined

616
00:37:00,162 --> 00:37:03,102
him, all that he has, that was his
identity, all that he has, that was

617
00:37:03,102 --> 00:37:07,102
his security, all that he has, that
was his reputation, all that he has.

618
00:37:07,482 --> 00:37:11,282
All that he has, he was able just
to let it go and celebrate because

619
00:37:11,282 --> 00:37:13,142
he found the greater treasure.

620
00:37:14,682 --> 00:37:15,972
you're starting to see this arc.

621
00:37:15,982 --> 00:37:18,702
Jacob worked for seven years
and it was one day because of

622
00:37:18,702 --> 00:37:21,442
the love that he had for him.

623
00:37:22,292 --> 00:37:26,272
Whatever you set your heart on the
most, the greatest passion in your

624
00:37:26,272 --> 00:37:34,022
life is what will seek to bring All
other desires in order in your heart.

625
00:37:34,392 --> 00:37:37,062
For the joy that was set before
him, the love of Rachel, Jacob

626
00:37:37,072 --> 00:37:38,632
ordered everything in his life.

627
00:37:38,882 --> 00:37:41,742
So that seven years seemed like nothing.

628
00:37:43,572 --> 00:37:44,422
Number two.

629
00:37:44,732 --> 00:37:48,802
What was the crown that Paul was going
after that he talks about so often?

630
00:37:49,752 --> 00:37:54,312
this passion that's uniting his life and
bringing everything into subordination.

631
00:37:55,022 --> 00:37:57,142
Second Timothy four, seven to eight.

632
00:37:57,822 --> 00:38:00,822
Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness.

633
00:38:00,822 --> 00:38:00,872
Yes.

634
00:38:01,362 --> 00:38:05,832
Which the Lord, the righteous judge, will
award beyond that day, and not only to

635
00:38:05,832 --> 00:38:09,382
me, but to all who love his appearing.

636
00:38:09,522 --> 00:38:10,652
I love that bar.

637
00:38:11,832 --> 00:38:12,782
How do we get into heaven?

638
00:38:13,732 --> 00:38:14,782
you love when he shows up.

639
00:38:15,132 --> 00:38:18,062
1 Thessalonians 2, 8, 19 to 20.

640
00:38:18,072 --> 00:38:24,012
So being affectionately desirous for you,
we were ready to share with you not only

641
00:38:24,022 --> 00:38:28,522
the gospel of God for our own selves,
because you had become very dear to us.

642
00:38:29,317 --> 00:38:34,147
For what is our hope, or our
joy, or crown of boasting before

643
00:38:34,147 --> 00:38:35,637
the Lord Jesus at his coming?

644
00:38:36,157 --> 00:38:37,307
Is it not you?

645
00:38:38,217 --> 00:38:40,237
For you are our glory and our joy.

646
00:38:40,927 --> 00:38:42,927
Oh, that's interesting.

647
00:38:43,317 --> 00:38:47,177
Philippians 4, 1, Therefore my brothers
whom I love and long for, my joy and

648
00:38:47,177 --> 00:38:52,135
my crown stand firm thus in the Lord.

649
00:38:53,242 --> 00:38:54,102
My beloved.

650
00:38:55,252 --> 00:38:58,212
The key is verse 23, which
reveals Paul's passion.

651
00:38:59,352 --> 00:39:05,522
I do all this for the sake of the gospel
that I may share in its blessings.

652
00:39:06,252 --> 00:39:09,682
The word share here is the word
koinonia, which I think most of us knew.

653
00:39:09,982 --> 00:39:11,192
No, with a little prefix.

654
00:39:11,192 --> 00:39:12,802
So the word is synkoinonia.

655
00:39:13,152 --> 00:39:17,052
It's a joint participation
or sharing with others.

656
00:39:17,412 --> 00:39:21,392
So it's like this literal We're
participating in this together.

657
00:39:22,052 --> 00:39:25,472
Paul is saying, I have these
incredible blessings of the gospel.

658
00:39:25,812 --> 00:39:29,802
The passion of my life is to
have other people, both those who

659
00:39:29,802 --> 00:39:31,462
believe in those who are to believe.

660
00:39:32,442 --> 00:39:34,302
To have as much joy as I have.

661
00:39:34,732 --> 00:39:38,912
I want to share the things
I see in the face of Jesus.

662
00:39:39,562 --> 00:39:40,972
I'm giving up everything in my life.

663
00:39:40,972 --> 00:39:44,182
I forgo all kinds of things because
I want to reflect the beauty of

664
00:39:44,182 --> 00:39:47,742
God to other people so they can
have the same transforming view

665
00:39:47,742 --> 00:39:51,632
of the glory and the beauty of the
one whom I'm looking at right now.

666
00:39:51,882 --> 00:39:55,252
So he's saying, it's so beautiful
because when we talk about self

667
00:39:55,252 --> 00:39:57,372
control the focus is so much on us.

668
00:39:57,612 --> 00:39:58,242
He's saying,

669
00:39:58,417 --> 00:40:00,937
My focus is upward and outward.

670
00:40:00,967 --> 00:40:01,117
Yes.

671
00:40:01,917 --> 00:40:03,657
He's saying, you are my crown.

672
00:40:04,477 --> 00:40:09,547
To see people transformed by the gospel
that's transformed me to know the God that

673
00:40:09,547 --> 00:40:14,047
I know who knocked me off the horse on
the road to Damascus and rescued me, the

674
00:40:14,052 --> 00:40:16,087
murderer and the persecutor of the church.

675
00:40:16,267 --> 00:40:19,927
The one who I was like,
people have to know that.

676
00:40:20,367 --> 00:40:25,037
the joy, the reason I do what I do,
he's saying, is because of my love

677
00:40:25,047 --> 00:40:29,277
for Christ, who loves me, which we'll
talk about, and my love for others who

678
00:40:29,287 --> 00:40:32,757
need to meet this God, who transforms
everything, who changes everything,

679
00:40:32,917 --> 00:40:37,542
who will go high and low, who will go,
no matter, where, how far out we are.

680
00:40:37,722 --> 00:40:39,192
He'll constantly rescue us.

681
00:40:39,192 --> 00:40:39,842
He'll pursue us.

682
00:40:40,072 --> 00:40:40,972
He'll chase us down.

683
00:40:40,992 --> 00:40:42,292
He's that good.

684
00:40:42,532 --> 00:40:45,532
And He's not only that good
in some distant way, He's

685
00:40:45,532 --> 00:40:47,312
conquered Satan, sin, and death!

686
00:40:47,652 --> 00:40:50,022
He's destroyed our enemies!

687
00:40:50,352 --> 00:40:54,832
He's the David who we waited for
and longed for, who defeated all

688
00:40:54,832 --> 00:40:56,622
the giants, all the Goliaths.

689
00:40:57,032 --> 00:41:01,532
And he's given us and shared his victory
with us, like he's taken us in, he's

690
00:41:01,602 --> 00:41:04,122
adopted us, we get his inheritance.

691
00:41:04,352 --> 00:41:05,832
People have to know this God.

692
00:41:06,122 --> 00:41:09,052
sometimes we think about
evangelism and we're like, oh,

693
00:41:12,092 --> 00:41:13,802
we're just telling them the good news.

694
00:41:13,812 --> 00:41:16,582
We're telling them like how good God is.

695
00:41:17,042 --> 00:41:17,882
How good God is.

696
00:41:17,882 --> 00:41:18,922
And that's Paul's heart.

697
00:41:18,932 --> 00:41:20,922
He's I can't go back.

698
00:41:21,812 --> 00:41:23,582
I've put, I've set my face.

699
00:41:23,622 --> 00:41:25,312
I, forgetting what's behind.

700
00:41:25,312 --> 00:41:27,092
I can't even look behind anymore.

701
00:41:27,322 --> 00:41:28,752
I have to go forward.

702
00:41:29,562 --> 00:41:32,932
And, and so he says, I do all
this for the sake of the gospel.

703
00:41:34,142 --> 00:41:38,432
Paul reveals that self control is
ultimately an, an other directed thing.

704
00:41:39,262 --> 00:41:41,932
This is different than the way the
world tells you to get self control.

705
00:41:42,652 --> 00:41:46,882
We're told, what you have to do is get
inside yourself, find that strength.

706
00:41:47,772 --> 00:41:51,272
You have to decide you're going to be
the person you've always wanted to be.

707
00:41:51,282 --> 00:41:51,982
Look in the mirror.

708
00:41:52,202 --> 00:41:54,432
Tell yourself, today's
going to be different.

709
00:41:54,912 --> 00:41:55,972
You're going to be different.

710
00:41:56,272 --> 00:41:57,232
You can do this.

711
00:41:57,232 --> 00:41:59,032
Just get some grit.

712
00:41:59,062 --> 00:42:01,872
Find that inner strength, right?

713
00:42:03,012 --> 00:42:06,382
Paul says that self control does not
work in such a self centered way.

714
00:42:06,382 --> 00:42:09,672
In fact, that robs it
completely of its power.

715
00:42:10,922 --> 00:42:11,592
He got it.

716
00:42:12,367 --> 00:42:15,437
When he sought it for God and for others.

717
00:42:16,137 --> 00:42:21,027
It happens as the byproduct of loving
others and loving God The irony

718
00:42:21,037 --> 00:42:25,687
is that if you're self focused in
any way you will lose self control

719
00:42:25,897 --> 00:42:28,467
Even if your focus is self control.

720
00:42:29,147 --> 00:42:32,557
That's one of the ironies is like we
focus on self control Because it's

721
00:42:32,557 --> 00:42:34,737
such an other way to go about it.

722
00:42:34,767 --> 00:42:36,807
And let me tell you this story
to help bring some clarity.

723
00:42:36,857 --> 00:42:40,267
and some of you heard me tell this story
because it's, it was so powerful for

724
00:42:40,277 --> 00:42:45,667
me, but in, Greek literature, you have
sailors who would go on ships, but the

725
00:42:45,667 --> 00:42:51,817
sea was dangerous because the seas had,
sometimes crazy ocean monsters, but they

726
00:42:51,817 --> 00:42:56,327
also had on its shores in the dangerous
shoals where there were sharp rocks, the

727
00:42:56,327 --> 00:43:00,227
sirens who sang their beautiful songs.

728
00:43:00,227 --> 00:43:03,842
And what would happen is these sailors,
they're They would be traveling,

729
00:43:04,182 --> 00:43:08,682
through the sailing lanes, and they
would hear these songs in the distance,

730
00:43:08,762 --> 00:43:12,892
and they would get hypnotized by them,
and they would get entranced by them.

731
00:43:13,922 --> 00:43:17,612
And so they would steer their ships
toward the source of that song, needing,

732
00:43:17,622 --> 00:43:20,802
as they got closer and hearing the music
more, I need to find the source of the,

733
00:43:21,002 --> 00:43:24,552
this, I have to have this, I need it,
and then they would crash their ships.

734
00:43:24,872 --> 00:43:27,012
onto the rocks and all the
men would drown and die.

735
00:43:27,682 --> 00:43:30,952
So one sailor, he said, I'm
going to do this different, I'm

736
00:43:30,962 --> 00:43:32,342
going to be smart about this.

737
00:43:32,782 --> 00:43:35,622
And so he got some wax for the trip.

738
00:43:36,402 --> 00:43:40,622
And as he came into that territory
where he knew the dangerous part was,

739
00:43:40,832 --> 00:43:44,892
he had all his men stuff their ears
with wax so they couldn't hear the song.

740
00:43:45,412 --> 00:43:51,242
And he had his men tie him to the mast of
the ship and, rope him down and he said,

741
00:43:51,242 --> 00:43:55,702
no matter what I say, no matter how much
I scream, I'm Do not listen to me until

742
00:43:55,702 --> 00:43:58,082
we're safe, safely through these waters.

743
00:43:58,962 --> 00:44:01,382
And as soon as they came
in, the men couldn't hear.

744
00:44:01,382 --> 00:44:04,322
They kept stirring, but they saw
their captain begin to tear at the

745
00:44:04,322 --> 00:44:06,342
ropes, to the point of bloodshed.

746
00:44:06,742 --> 00:44:12,632
he's screaming, and he's foaming at
the mouth, and he's, out of his mind.

747
00:44:12,947 --> 00:44:15,517
But he's restrained and
he gets safely through.

748
00:44:16,227 --> 00:44:20,767
And I have to tell you, that's how
I lived most of my Christian life.

749
00:44:22,567 --> 00:44:23,847
I know it's dangerous.

750
00:44:24,577 --> 00:44:25,527
I know it's wrong.

751
00:44:26,397 --> 00:44:30,067
And so I need community.

752
00:44:30,067 --> 00:44:31,497
I need, ability.

753
00:44:31,557 --> 00:44:32,267
Partners.

754
00:44:32,287 --> 00:44:32,917
Accountability.

755
00:44:32,917 --> 00:44:33,407
Ability.

756
00:44:33,797 --> 00:44:34,357
accountability.

757
00:44:34,377 --> 00:44:35,037
I need this.

758
00:44:35,037 --> 00:44:35,467
I need that.

759
00:44:35,487 --> 00:44:40,707
And then, but the reality was it was
going through life in restraints.

760
00:44:40,717 --> 00:44:41,737
Foam in at the mouth.

761
00:44:41,747 --> 00:44:42,447
Screaming.

762
00:44:42,457 --> 00:44:43,867
No, I know this is wrong.

763
00:44:43,897 --> 00:44:52,962
But if it wasn't for these restraints, I
would Every time and shipwreck and die and

764
00:44:52,962 --> 00:44:56,192
then rinse and repeat next week and then
rinse and repeat next week and then rinse

765
00:44:56,202 --> 00:45:02,072
and repeat Next week till you're exhausted
and you're like, this is victory.

766
00:45:02,932 --> 00:45:04,252
I feel more bruised.

767
00:45:04,272 --> 00:45:08,952
I feel more bloody I feel more tortured.

768
00:45:08,952 --> 00:45:13,812
I feel more like a failure I feel
because one of those ropes breaks

769
00:45:13,812 --> 00:45:18,872
you're done like it So then there's
more of the story There's another

770
00:45:18,872 --> 00:45:24,602
captain, a wiser captain, and he
brings a young man on a ship with him.

771
00:45:25,142 --> 00:45:31,542
And as they sail into the dangerous
part of the sea, there's no wax,

772
00:45:31,822 --> 00:45:35,602
there's no ropes, there's no
chains, there's no restraints.

773
00:45:36,052 --> 00:45:39,292
The wiser captain points at this
young man he brought on, who

774
00:45:39,292 --> 00:45:42,862
happened to be an amazing musician.

775
00:45:44,542 --> 00:45:48,432
And when he pointed at him,
he began to play music.

776
00:45:49,452 --> 00:45:54,182
And his music was so beautiful that it
drowned out the songs of the sirens.

777
00:45:55,887 --> 00:45:59,087
And he found a more beautiful song.

778
00:46:00,327 --> 00:46:03,477
Thomas Chalmers, who was a
Scottish preacher in the 1800s,

779
00:46:03,567 --> 00:46:06,677
wrote one of the best sermons
I've ever read on this, called The

780
00:46:06,677 --> 00:46:08,437
Explosive Power of a New Affection.

781
00:46:10,007 --> 00:46:13,627
And the idea is that, he was a scientist,
and the idea is that if you have in

782
00:46:13,627 --> 00:46:18,307
a room a bottle, and it's empty, how
do you take the oxygen out of it?

783
00:46:19,307 --> 00:46:21,257
and so people put their brains together.

784
00:46:21,257 --> 00:46:23,927
Can we create a vacuum, to
pull the oxygen out of it?

785
00:46:23,927 --> 00:46:25,307
Can, how do we do this?

786
00:46:25,347 --> 00:46:28,887
And, as he told us to his, the
classmates or the people he's

787
00:46:28,897 --> 00:46:31,747
teaching, he just walks over to the
bottle and he pours water in it.

788
00:46:32,677 --> 00:46:36,197
The air's gone because he has
something more substantive.

789
00:46:36,567 --> 00:46:39,237
He has something fuller,
something deeper, something more

790
00:46:39,237 --> 00:46:40,737
heavy, something more weighty.

791
00:46:42,122 --> 00:46:48,022
He began to talk about, so often we try
to use willpower to remove an affection.

792
00:46:49,592 --> 00:46:50,652
And he argues, and C.

793
00:46:50,652 --> 00:46:50,812
S.

794
00:46:50,812 --> 00:46:54,682
Lewis goes on to argue, the affections
you have are actually given to you by God.

795
00:46:54,872 --> 00:46:56,692
We just simply settle for two less.

796
00:46:57,382 --> 00:46:59,482
We settle for idolatry.

797
00:46:59,492 --> 00:47:02,432
We settle for, this kind of sex or luster.

798
00:47:02,442 --> 00:47:03,582
We settle for these things.

799
00:47:04,032 --> 00:47:06,152
He says what you need is not less passion.

800
00:47:06,152 --> 00:47:07,302
You need more passion.

801
00:47:07,922 --> 00:47:13,722
And he argues that the only way to remove
an affection, the expulsive power, the

802
00:47:13,842 --> 00:47:19,402
only way there is not through self will,
is not through all the wisdom in the

803
00:47:19,402 --> 00:47:21,932
world, all the trying, all the commitment.

804
00:47:22,392 --> 00:47:28,342
It is through the power of a
greater affection, the expulsive

805
00:47:28,372 --> 00:47:29,552
power of a new affection.

806
00:47:30,232 --> 00:47:33,452
And I just want to, I just want to say,
so in my wrestle, in my struggle, why

807
00:47:33,452 --> 00:47:37,042
am I teaching this today as something
pivotal in my relationship with God?

808
00:47:37,372 --> 00:47:38,892
Because it was like the penny dropped.

809
00:47:40,092 --> 00:47:44,562
And I realized that it wasn't trying to
spend my time to love something less.

810
00:47:46,052 --> 00:47:48,662
I get to focus my energy
on loving something more.

811
00:47:50,042 --> 00:47:51,122
And that changed me.

812
00:47:52,952 --> 00:47:55,202
I, wearied myself.

813
00:47:56,304 --> 00:48:00,164
On the rocks, so the sirens
and their songs knowing I

814
00:48:00,294 --> 00:48:01,974
should not be going this way.

815
00:48:02,334 --> 00:48:07,914
This is terrible and restraining and
self restraint and memorizing verses

816
00:48:08,024 --> 00:48:12,804
and praying and struggling and just
crying out rescue me God rescue me And

817
00:48:12,804 --> 00:48:15,024
he was all along because he sent Jesus

818
00:48:16,304 --> 00:48:24,244
and the idea that he made our hearts For
his love And that they're not even, as

819
00:48:24,244 --> 00:48:27,744
we read in Ephesians, they're not even
big enough yet, so he keeps expanding

820
00:48:27,744 --> 00:48:29,664
our capacity to get more of his love.

821
00:48:29,714 --> 00:48:32,954
and that it's this ongoing thing,
and it's not this thing we reach the,

822
00:48:32,954 --> 00:48:37,134
tipping point, he keeps expanding
the capacity to get more of his love.

823
00:48:37,284 --> 00:48:39,144
and more of his love, which is infinite.

824
00:48:39,174 --> 00:48:42,834
And you'll never grow tired of it, you'll
never grow weary as we focus on the face

825
00:48:42,834 --> 00:48:47,864
of Jesus, as we look at the face of God,
the Father heart of God, as we look at the

826
00:48:47,864 --> 00:48:50,524
gospel that tells what Jesus did for us.

827
00:48:50,524 --> 00:48:53,874
And let me end with that because it
would be wrong for me to send you out

828
00:48:53,874 --> 00:48:55,564
now and saying, just love God and people.

829
00:48:56,064 --> 00:49:00,154
that's just as frustrating because that's
another thing I can't generate on my own.

830
00:49:00,154 --> 00:49:00,704
I'm a mirror.

831
00:49:00,704 --> 00:49:02,334
I can't generate my own light.

832
00:49:02,934 --> 00:49:06,184
What I need is I need
to receive that love.

833
00:49:06,864 --> 00:49:11,394
I need to sit under that sunrise and I
need to let it warm me like solar panels.

834
00:49:11,394 --> 00:49:17,669
I need to like bask in it and
guess what he's ever His face ever

835
00:49:17,699 --> 00:49:19,069
is for you and shines for you.

836
00:49:19,409 --> 00:49:22,119
So we read of Jesus in
Hebrews 12, one to three.

837
00:49:22,119 --> 00:49:24,869
Therefore, since we're surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses,

838
00:49:25,169 --> 00:49:28,799
let us lay aside every weight in the
sin, which so easily closely clings

839
00:49:28,799 --> 00:49:30,309
to us and let us run with endurance.

840
00:49:30,309 --> 00:49:34,959
The race that set before us looking to
Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of

841
00:49:34,959 --> 00:49:39,369
our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising

842
00:49:39,369 --> 00:49:43,309
the shame and is seated at the right
hand of the throne of God considered him.

843
00:49:43,634 --> 00:49:48,234
Who endured such, from sinners, such
hostility against himself so that you

844
00:49:48,234 --> 00:49:49,914
may not grow weary or fainthearted.

845
00:49:49,914 --> 00:49:50,764
That's so beautiful.

846
00:49:50,764 --> 00:49:51,954
He says, consider, think.

847
00:49:52,034 --> 00:49:53,974
Okay, so I want you to think about Jesus.

848
00:49:54,439 --> 00:49:59,929
who ran his race for you, the joy that
was set before him, back with the Father,

849
00:49:59,929 --> 00:50:04,699
at the Father's right hand, consider him
who endured from such sinners, who's that?

850
00:50:04,699 --> 00:50:06,259
That's us, hostility.

851
00:50:06,259 --> 00:50:07,009
Who is the hostility?

852
00:50:07,009 --> 00:50:11,949
From me, against himself, so that
you may not grow weary or faint

853
00:50:11,979 --> 00:50:14,139
hearted in running that race.

854
00:50:14,239 --> 00:50:15,659
Look at Jesus, he's saying.

855
00:50:15,659 --> 00:50:16,489
Look at Jesus.

856
00:50:16,709 --> 00:50:18,329
Look at the self control of Jesus.

857
00:50:18,499 --> 00:50:24,364
Remember when they come to arrest him
in the garden, and, they're like, Jesus,

858
00:50:24,444 --> 00:50:25,574
are you the one we're looking for?

859
00:50:25,574 --> 00:50:26,084
He's I am.

860
00:50:26,084 --> 00:50:27,344
And they all just fall over.

861
00:50:27,934 --> 00:50:31,464
It's like just the
little bit just eked out.

862
00:50:31,474 --> 00:50:33,924
And they're just like,
can't, they're overwhelmed.

863
00:50:34,269 --> 00:50:35,509
He says to Peter, put away your sword.

864
00:50:35,549 --> 00:50:39,889
I could call legions of angels
right now and obliterate humanity.

865
00:50:40,049 --> 00:50:41,969
They're actually waiting for it to happen.

866
00:50:42,169 --> 00:50:45,209
They can't believe you're about
to mistreat the Son of God.

867
00:50:45,749 --> 00:50:47,579
I want to see an artist paint that.

868
00:50:47,759 --> 00:50:53,519
Where the sky on the night of his arrest,
the humanity, his capillaries burst with

869
00:50:53,539 --> 00:50:58,649
blood as he wrestled with drinking the
cup and thinking of going to the cross.

870
00:50:58,869 --> 00:51:02,719
As he's wrestling, his disciples
are asleep and the firmament breaks.

871
00:51:03,119 --> 00:51:08,929
Millions of angelic beings with their
swords raised, waiting for the word for

872
00:51:08,929 --> 00:51:11,009
the Holy One that they've worshipped

873
00:51:11,069 --> 00:51:16,439
To just give the command to let
them treat humanity as they deserve,

874
00:51:16,669 --> 00:51:19,229
and he did not give that word.

875
00:51:19,229 --> 00:51:21,569
Instead, the word he gave
was, Father, forgive them, for

876
00:51:21,569 --> 00:51:22,459
they know not what they do.

877
00:51:24,329 --> 00:51:24,709
Look at that!

878
00:51:26,909 --> 00:51:28,569
He didn't want to do
it, but he kept going.

879
00:51:29,519 --> 00:51:30,489
And he ran.

880
00:51:31,239 --> 00:51:35,959
And here's what I mean You look at
the cross versus an electric chair.

881
00:51:37,279 --> 00:51:40,559
They both kill, and that's where
the similarities end, right?

882
00:51:40,619 --> 00:51:43,649
One is meant to be humane, or
finding out that it's really not.

883
00:51:44,019 --> 00:51:46,059
The other is to bring
about the most shame.

884
00:51:46,679 --> 00:51:48,679
One is meant to be quick and painless.

885
00:51:49,009 --> 00:51:52,239
The other was designed to be
long and painful, excruciating.

886
00:51:52,269 --> 00:51:54,239
We actually get the, from crucifixion.

887
00:51:54,909 --> 00:51:57,529
Excruciating comes from the cross.

888
00:51:57,859 --> 00:51:58,789
One is private.

889
00:51:58,949 --> 00:52:02,989
The other one is done on a public
road in front of crowds of people

890
00:52:03,299 --> 00:52:04,929
where you were stripped naked.

891
00:52:05,329 --> 00:52:09,549
Women, it was said, were rarely crucified,
but if they were, they crucified

892
00:52:09,549 --> 00:52:14,309
and facing into the cross because
it was too much of a psychological.

893
00:52:14,964 --> 00:52:18,794
impact to see a woman with a
gnarled face and that much pain.

894
00:52:20,414 --> 00:52:23,294
When they would sponge with
vinegar and then Jesus refused to

895
00:52:23,294 --> 00:52:26,234
drink it, it's because they would
clean the body leaf that's on it.

896
00:52:26,484 --> 00:52:28,124
So it's another way they were teasing him.

897
00:52:28,124 --> 00:52:30,244
And it's this shameful thing.

898
00:52:30,474 --> 00:52:34,384
And he says right there, he endured
the cross, despising the shame.

899
00:52:36,504 --> 00:52:36,884
Why?

900
00:52:38,294 --> 00:52:39,154
Was it willpower?

901
00:52:42,364 --> 00:52:43,574
No, it was the joy set before him.

902
00:52:45,664 --> 00:52:49,274
And yes, that was being at the Father's
right hand and being glorified.

903
00:52:49,434 --> 00:52:50,034
I did it!

904
00:52:50,654 --> 00:52:51,584
I did it, Father!

905
00:52:51,834 --> 00:52:52,704
Yes!

906
00:52:52,904 --> 00:52:54,094
We accomplished the mission.

907
00:52:54,374 --> 00:53:00,594
I also think that Jesus had in His
heart some kind of Rachel, some kind of

908
00:53:00,594 --> 00:53:03,874
beauty that He had His eyes fixed on.

909
00:53:05,264 --> 00:53:06,114
And guess who that was?

910
00:53:09,474 --> 00:53:10,394
You were His beauty.

911
00:53:11,854 --> 00:53:12,904
You were His prize.

912
00:53:14,154 --> 00:53:17,964
And so it's just the most natural,
beautiful thing that He's our prize.

913
00:53:19,454 --> 00:53:25,504
That He's our goal, He's so
good, can you even fathom that at

914
00:53:25,504 --> 00:53:27,784
the cross, you were His Rachel?

915
00:53:30,574 --> 00:53:32,874
That He endured the cross, He
despised the shame, He did it

916
00:53:32,874 --> 00:53:37,234
because what was waiting for Him was
you, and right your relationship.

917
00:53:38,974 --> 00:53:42,024
So that's what we need.

918
00:53:42,749 --> 00:53:47,059
That's, not just go out, love God
harder, love people better, it's

919
00:53:47,119 --> 00:53:49,599
know how much you are loved by God.

920
00:53:50,049 --> 00:53:52,179
Lord, help us to be confident in that.

921
00:53:52,189 --> 00:53:54,459
Holy Spirit, preach that to our hearts.

922
00:53:54,729 --> 00:53:56,709
Let us be bold in that.

923
00:53:57,049 --> 00:53:58,879
Because as that seeps in.

924
00:53:59,249 --> 00:54:04,989
You cannot help, you will not turn back
to dog food if you've had filet mignon.

925
00:54:05,009 --> 00:54:07,279
It's, it, you, we just, it's crazy.

926
00:54:07,279 --> 00:54:11,629
It's ah, you're the pri And he keeps
revealing himself more and more, and

927
00:54:11,629 --> 00:54:14,999
the Holy Spirit is given to us, and
he preaches to us about how much we're

928
00:54:14,999 --> 00:54:18,689
adored and loved and secure we are as his
children, and how all the blessings in the

929
00:54:18,689 --> 00:54:20,979
heavenly places are ours in Christ Jesus.

930
00:54:21,299 --> 00:54:24,230
And all of a sudden, he's It's not
that we're focusing on self control.

931
00:54:24,230 --> 00:54:28,110
It's that we're focusing on him and
the weights and the sin that so easily

932
00:54:28,110 --> 00:54:33,490
ensnares us is laid aside because we're
running to him because he's our desire.

933
00:54:33,730 --> 00:54:35,800
And the other desires fade.

934
00:54:36,040 --> 00:54:39,400
They go back in the background
because he's all consuming.

935
00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:43,820
He's a fire that, that is everything.

936
00:54:43,820 --> 00:54:47,090
So, yeah, that changed my life.

937
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:48,750
that.

938
00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:57,430
He's our better song that we don't have to
kill ourselves, so man, for me, that was

939
00:54:57,430 --> 00:54:59,670
so pivotal and understanding the athlete.

940
00:54:59,700 --> 00:55:02,400
Oh, the athlete isn't someone special.

941
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:09,690
It's just someone who has decided this
is my price and all other things in my

942
00:55:09,690 --> 00:55:15,095
life are subordinate To that price and
didn't to see that it's not about myself.

943
00:55:15,105 --> 00:55:19,895
I love that Paul says you're my crown,
like all our lives impact each other,

944
00:55:20,185 --> 00:55:25,995
like he ran in such a way as to not
only live the gospel he was preaching.

945
00:55:27,730 --> 00:55:31,600
But for the people he loved,
who he knew God was rescuing,

946
00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:34,130
like what an amazing thing.

947
00:55:34,460 --> 00:55:38,440
Cause we get blocked in or I do where
I'm like, my family, we just did a

948
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:40,349
family reunion on the beach yesterday.

949
00:55:40,380 --> 00:55:41,099
It was amazing.

950
00:55:41,099 --> 00:55:41,670
It was a blast.

951
00:55:41,900 --> 00:55:43,990
But then I'm like, okay, what's the
next weekend holding the bus tonight?

952
00:55:44,179 --> 00:55:45,189
And I can live.

953
00:55:45,370 --> 00:55:50,060
For years like that, and not see the
city that God's called me to, the

954
00:55:50,060 --> 00:55:53,560
neighbors that he's called me to, like
all around, like the co workers he's

955
00:55:53,560 --> 00:55:57,860
called me to, that are right around
me, that is my mission field, that he

956
00:55:57,860 --> 00:56:02,179
made me in such a way to communicate
in such a way to the people he's put

957
00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:04,690
before me about his heart for them.

958
00:56:05,290 --> 00:56:06,600
that's amazing!

959
00:56:07,130 --> 00:56:07,980
That's amazing.

960
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:11,570
let me pray for us, Lord, we
thank you that we're your Rachel.

961
00:56:11,620 --> 00:56:12,950
That's so crazy.

962
00:56:14,550 --> 00:56:15,580
That's otherworldly.

963
00:56:16,180 --> 00:56:20,300
Thank you that you take Something
that mankind has been struggling with

964
00:56:21,140 --> 00:56:22,780
and you don't just say do it better

965
00:56:23,920 --> 00:56:30,550
But you have a whole new way, a whole new
freedom, a whole new approach to this.

966
00:56:31,110 --> 00:56:34,800
God, I pray that you, we would see you
in everything, that everything would

967
00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:39,270
point to your beauty and your glory
and your grace and how great you are

968
00:56:39,389 --> 00:56:45,349
from what we eat to the conversations
we have that, you made man this crazy

969
00:56:45,349 --> 00:56:46,969
capacity to develop these things.

970
00:56:46,969 --> 00:56:51,359
That's because you're creative
from just everything in our

971
00:56:51,359 --> 00:56:52,769
lives that it would just be.

972
00:56:52,994 --> 00:56:57,174
pointing to your glory and your worth
and your beauty, your majesty, your

973
00:56:57,174 --> 00:57:02,134
might, your greatness, and that we
would just hold on to your face and

974
00:57:02,134 --> 00:57:05,574
that we'd see your face and that
would melt everything else away.

975
00:57:06,314 --> 00:57:08,014
And, in light of your glory and grace.

976
00:57:08,024 --> 00:57:08,654
So we love you.

977
00:57:08,654 --> 00:57:09,314
We praise you.

978
00:57:09,624 --> 00:57:10,964
Thank you in Jesus name.

979
00:57:11,064 --> 00:57:11,834
Amen.