1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:02,170 Rod Gomez: One of the coolest things that you'll get to do with your family 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:07,160 is to go find some of the best decorated neighborhoods, or in this case parking 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:09,240 lots, where lights are on full display. 4 00:00:09,450 --> 00:00:13,340 My family and I, during my time off, we went to the light park, which is 5 00:00:13,340 --> 00:00:15,390 right off of the Dallas North Tollway. 6 00:00:15,830 --> 00:00:19,230 They have transformed the Rough Riders parking lot into 7 00:00:19,230 --> 00:00:21,090 a drive through lights display. 8 00:00:21,765 --> 00:00:25,415 So you go through you turn your radio station to a certain frequency and they're 9 00:00:25,415 --> 00:00:29,825 playing music and then all the lights Work in synchronization to the music 10 00:00:29,825 --> 00:00:33,164 that you hear on the radio, but beyond places like this You can go to other 11 00:00:33,164 --> 00:00:36,584 places neighborhoods I'm here Highland Park does some really cool stuff But 12 00:00:36,584 --> 00:00:39,854 people really go all out for Christmas and this is one of the best things ever 13 00:00:40,065 --> 00:00:44,295 In fact, there are TV shows dedicated to Christmas lights displays In fact, 14 00:00:44,355 --> 00:00:47,914 people can win money by setting up their house to do really cool things In fact, 15 00:00:47,915 --> 00:00:51,370 I saw this guy this week He, I don't know where he lives, but he's got a large 16 00:00:51,370 --> 00:00:56,039 lot and on his lot, he programs lights to go off at certain times with fire. 17 00:00:56,639 --> 00:00:59,649 So he's got lights, he's got LCD displays. 18 00:00:59,709 --> 00:01:02,009 I didn't put the video out here for you cause I thought it was too good. 19 00:01:02,009 --> 00:01:03,279 It'd make my sermon not be as good. 20 00:01:03,659 --> 00:01:07,930 So he has lights, LCDs, and then he's got fire that shoots up in the air. 21 00:01:08,089 --> 00:01:11,519 And if that weren't enough, he actually has fireworks shooting in the 22 00:01:11,519 --> 00:01:13,469 air as his lights display goes off. 23 00:01:13,479 --> 00:01:15,009 So people take this really seriously. 24 00:01:15,259 --> 00:01:16,349 This is all over our neighborhood. 25 00:01:16,349 --> 00:01:18,389 In fact, North Texas has, is known for being. 26 00:01:18,755 --> 00:01:21,095 Uh, full of light shows and displays Salina. 27 00:01:21,164 --> 00:01:24,515 If you haven't gone to the Salina town square yet, they have some 28 00:01:24,515 --> 00:01:28,115 pretty cool lights in the, in the town square, which is super impressive. 29 00:01:28,775 --> 00:01:29,765 But think about this with me. 30 00:01:29,775 --> 00:01:34,465 Imagine you drive up to a home just like this and the lights are spectacular. 31 00:01:34,475 --> 00:01:38,345 They're playing music and it's all synchronized and there's happy 32 00:01:38,365 --> 00:01:41,795 people in the front and they're, and they're so nice to you. 33 00:01:41,945 --> 00:01:43,699 The whole thing is lovely to behold. 34 00:01:44,029 --> 00:01:45,570 The husband and wife come out. 35 00:01:45,709 --> 00:01:48,000 Mom and dad, they have pearly white teeth. 36 00:01:48,009 --> 00:01:48,860 He's smiling. 37 00:01:48,860 --> 00:01:49,639 He's laughing. 38 00:01:49,649 --> 00:01:51,240 She's saying, come on over kids. 39 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:52,158 Watch my cool display. 40 00:01:52,399 --> 00:01:54,120 The kids come out and they're perfect. 41 00:01:54,539 --> 00:01:56,408 They stand with upright posture. 42 00:01:56,620 --> 00:01:58,399 None of them are looking at their phones. 43 00:01:58,399 --> 00:01:59,920 They're paying attention to you. 44 00:02:00,180 --> 00:02:01,699 They are the perfect family. 45 00:02:01,890 --> 00:02:02,740 Spotless. 46 00:02:02,740 --> 00:02:03,899 You've never seen a better family. 47 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,149 And they say, why don't you come on inside our house, little kid? 48 00:02:07,420 --> 00:02:08,320 They're talking to you, of course. 49 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:09,440 This gets weird really quick. 50 00:02:10,139 --> 00:02:12,990 But you, lacking better judgment, you say, Okay, I'll come 51 00:02:12,990 --> 00:02:14,140 inside the house with you guys. 52 00:02:14,459 --> 00:02:16,029 And you walk inside the house. 53 00:02:16,519 --> 00:02:19,260 And you, and you walk in and you find the house is completely dark. 54 00:02:19,779 --> 00:02:20,709 There's no heating. 55 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:21,649 There's no lights. 56 00:02:22,029 --> 00:02:23,099 There's no furniture. 57 00:02:23,410 --> 00:02:24,469 There's no nothing. 58 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:27,440 You've just walked into a horror film. 59 00:02:27,449 --> 00:02:28,169 You're about to die. 60 00:02:29,070 --> 00:02:30,209 That's about what you're thinking, right? 61 00:02:30,410 --> 00:02:32,890 If you see a light display like this and you walk inside and there's nothing 62 00:02:32,890 --> 00:02:36,679 inside, that would be terrifying because you know, something is woefully wrong. 63 00:02:37,010 --> 00:02:40,579 Well, interestingly enough, a lot of people do this. 64 00:02:40,929 --> 00:02:44,640 They have a lot of lights and a lot of show and they have the perfect smile 65 00:02:44,659 --> 00:02:45,749 and they have everything going on. 66 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,978 But if you just go a little bit deeper into their lives, you find out there's 67 00:02:48,978 --> 00:02:50,369 really not a whole lot going on. 68 00:02:50,369 --> 00:02:52,069 In fact, there's a lot of darkness. 69 00:02:52,668 --> 00:02:54,399 A lot of scariness behind the scenes. 70 00:02:54,610 --> 00:02:58,049 They put on a really good show, they look really good on the outside, but on the 71 00:02:58,049 --> 00:03:00,149 inside, things aren't looking so hot. 72 00:03:00,260 --> 00:03:03,399 In fact, Jesus talks about this, he said it's kind of like having a 73 00:03:03,399 --> 00:03:07,679 cup, and on the outside of the cup, you have a really clean exterior. 74 00:03:07,949 --> 00:03:11,589 You see sometimes cups in the sink, you'll see that inside the cup there's 75 00:03:11,589 --> 00:03:15,549 like food particles and there's caked, uh, you know, stuff like this. 76 00:03:15,559 --> 00:03:17,500 There's caked things on the inside. 77 00:03:17,819 --> 00:03:20,099 Outside though, if you were just to look at the cup, it looks pretty good. 78 00:03:21,100 --> 00:03:24,049 It's kind of like if you've ever been to Universal Studios, when you 79 00:03:24,049 --> 00:03:27,130 go to Universal Studios, Hollywood in particular, you'll notice that 80 00:03:27,130 --> 00:03:28,559 they have what are called facades. 81 00:03:28,769 --> 00:03:33,519 Facades are exteriors that are meant to look really impressive on the outside. 82 00:03:33,519 --> 00:03:34,559 They look real. 83 00:03:34,944 --> 00:03:36,784 And that's because they're made for TV or for movies. 84 00:03:36,784 --> 00:03:40,804 And so you'll see on the outside, there are these really impressive displays, 85 00:03:40,804 --> 00:03:43,853 whether it's the old west or whether it's something like this, where it looks like 86 00:03:43,853 --> 00:03:46,255 downtown New York or something like that. 87 00:03:46,444 --> 00:03:49,755 But once you walk around the facade, you'll notice that what's behind 88 00:03:49,774 --> 00:03:53,635 them is just, you know, steel beams and there's nothing else going on. 89 00:03:53,635 --> 00:03:55,124 It's all for show. 90 00:03:56,635 --> 00:03:58,984 A lot of people live their lives like this. 91 00:04:00,184 --> 00:04:03,454 Challenge with this, So what I'm trying to say is, is that if you present 92 00:04:03,454 --> 00:04:07,584 something to people, you present a life like this, which is a lot on the outside, 93 00:04:07,584 --> 00:04:11,574 but not a whole lot going on the inside, there's really no benefit to this, right? 94 00:04:11,574 --> 00:04:12,864 There's no, there's, there's no benefit. 95 00:04:13,044 --> 00:04:15,544 It looks great, but if you were gonna invite someone in your house, you 96 00:04:15,544 --> 00:04:18,173 don't have a kitchen to take them to, you don't have a bedroom to show them, 97 00:04:18,173 --> 00:04:21,164 you don't have a, you don't have a stove to make them some tea or some 98 00:04:21,164 --> 00:04:23,162 coffee, if you were to take them in. 99 00:04:23,162 --> 00:04:23,209 Right. 100 00:04:23,789 --> 00:04:26,859 If you were to give them your, your cup, the cup that you, you just showed that 101 00:04:26,859 --> 00:04:29,199 that cup looks great on the outside, but you can't serve people with it. 102 00:04:29,439 --> 00:04:31,150 Can't put coffee or Mountain View in it. 103 00:04:31,179 --> 00:04:32,539 You got no purpose for it. 104 00:04:33,089 --> 00:04:36,349 If the lights on the outside of the house look wonderful, but the house can't 105 00:04:36,349 --> 00:04:39,139 keep you warm at night cause there's no gas or there's no electricity on 106 00:04:39,139 --> 00:04:40,539 the inside, then the house is useless. 107 00:04:41,359 --> 00:04:44,479 All of the things that I just showed you right now are examples of what 108 00:04:44,479 --> 00:04:49,679 it looks like to have a really great outside, but a really empty inside. 109 00:04:50,829 --> 00:04:54,219 Jesus is concerned about this because if you live your life this way, 110 00:04:54,219 --> 00:04:59,549 what you end up doing is creating a really interesting outside, but 111 00:04:59,549 --> 00:05:00,869 you lack what's most important. 112 00:05:01,179 --> 00:05:03,149 You lack a really good inside. 113 00:05:03,619 --> 00:05:05,459 Now here's what that means for you, practically speaking. 114 00:05:06,509 --> 00:05:11,259 If you have on the outside, everything put together, but on the inside, you're 115 00:05:11,270 --> 00:05:13,390 missing what God wants you to have. 116 00:05:13,495 --> 00:05:15,594 If you're not, then really you have an empty life. 117 00:05:15,594 --> 00:05:18,594 You have a life that's not purposeful, a life that's not useful 118 00:05:18,625 --> 00:05:19,834 in the way that God designs it. 119 00:05:20,755 --> 00:05:22,544 In fact, God wants you, I'm going to, I'm going to make 120 00:05:22,544 --> 00:05:23,584 a bold claim for you tonight. 121 00:05:23,584 --> 00:05:26,235 God wants you to pursue good things from him. 122 00:05:26,344 --> 00:05:28,734 God wants you to pursue rewards from him. 123 00:05:29,365 --> 00:05:32,704 God wants you to want the good things that he has for you. 124 00:05:33,544 --> 00:05:37,245 But to get to the good things that God offers, he doesn't just want you 125 00:05:37,245 --> 00:05:38,954 to pretend to be good on the outside. 126 00:05:39,015 --> 00:05:41,324 He doesn't want you to just have a really nice Christmas lights 127 00:05:41,324 --> 00:05:42,414 display while on the inside. 128 00:05:42,414 --> 00:05:42,875 It's dark. 129 00:05:43,699 --> 00:05:46,370 God wants you to pursue His rewards in His way. 130 00:05:46,850 --> 00:05:50,439 God wants you to get the good things that He offers you in the way 131 00:05:50,439 --> 00:05:51,669 that He wants you to go for them. 132 00:05:52,439 --> 00:05:55,179 Paul talked about this, Paul the Apostle, talked about it 133 00:05:57,308 --> 00:05:58,760 like a race. 134 00:05:58,770 --> 00:06:02,319 He says, if I race, I don't want to run and get disqualified. 135 00:06:02,330 --> 00:06:03,890 I want to run to win the prize. 136 00:06:03,890 --> 00:06:04,980 I don't want to get disqualified. 137 00:06:04,980 --> 00:06:08,620 In the same way, as you live your life, don't live your life in such 138 00:06:08,620 --> 00:06:11,900 a way where you don't win the prize, where you don't get the reward. 139 00:06:12,314 --> 00:06:14,534 God wants you to have the reward. 140 00:06:14,924 --> 00:06:16,775 It's up to you, though, to play by the rules. 141 00:06:17,145 --> 00:06:17,875 The rules are important. 142 00:06:18,464 --> 00:06:21,984 We don't like the word rules because it has a negative connotation, but 143 00:06:21,985 --> 00:06:22,905 the rules are really important. 144 00:06:23,564 --> 00:06:24,394 I put it like this. 145 00:06:24,844 --> 00:06:27,494 You get God's rewards by doing it God's way. 146 00:06:28,134 --> 00:06:29,044 It's another way to say it, right? 147 00:06:29,064 --> 00:06:30,414 I want you to play by the rules. 148 00:06:30,414 --> 00:06:32,995 I want you to do what God wants you to do the way God wants you to do it. 149 00:06:33,505 --> 00:06:37,145 I don't want you to set up Christmas lights and not have an inside the house 150 00:06:37,145 --> 00:06:38,645 that's just as warm and as accommodating. 151 00:06:39,005 --> 00:06:41,959 I don't want you to have a coffee cup, you to And only the outside is clean. 152 00:06:42,349 --> 00:06:44,659 When I tell my kids to wash the dishes, I don't expect 153 00:06:44,659 --> 00:06:46,000 them only to wash the outside. 154 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:47,260 I want them to wash the inside as well. 155 00:06:47,799 --> 00:06:48,839 You're playing by the rules. 156 00:06:50,299 --> 00:06:53,529 When someone builds a house, when your, when your parents contracted a 157 00:06:53,529 --> 00:06:56,139 builder to build your house and build your room, they didn't say, Hey, we 158 00:06:56,140 --> 00:06:57,949 just want a really nice exterior. 159 00:06:58,009 --> 00:07:01,000 No, they said, Hey, we want sinks and toilets. 160 00:07:01,239 --> 00:07:03,030 We also want bedrooms in a garage. 161 00:07:03,479 --> 00:07:04,709 That's playing by the rules. 162 00:07:05,759 --> 00:07:08,199 All this to say, tonight we're going to see through a long 163 00:07:08,199 --> 00:07:10,629 text how we get God's rewards. 164 00:07:10,649 --> 00:07:12,369 God wants you to have his rewards. 165 00:07:12,559 --> 00:07:15,139 It's up to you to play by the rules to get them. 166 00:07:15,349 --> 00:07:18,899 And for that, we're going to look at Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six. 167 00:07:18,899 --> 00:07:20,809 We're going to look at 18 verses one through 18. 168 00:07:21,019 --> 00:07:21,809 And it's a lot. 169 00:07:22,079 --> 00:07:23,309 We're going to go through it really quickly. 170 00:07:23,329 --> 00:07:25,509 And I'm going to promise you that if you listen closely to this message, 171 00:07:25,719 --> 00:07:28,799 one of the things you'll walk away with is how God wants you to approach him. 172 00:07:28,999 --> 00:07:33,119 And consequently, what God will do when you approach him the right way. 173 00:07:33,119 --> 00:07:33,179 Amen. 174 00:07:33,180 --> 00:07:33,199 Amen. 175 00:07:33,789 --> 00:07:36,589 Take a look with me again, Matthew chapter six, where are we? 176 00:07:36,589 --> 00:07:37,640 We're in the Sermon on the Mount. 177 00:07:37,659 --> 00:07:38,379 We're still there. 178 00:07:38,390 --> 00:07:42,049 In fact, Matthew chapter five through seven is still the Sermon on the Mount. 179 00:07:42,289 --> 00:07:46,389 We're going to see from Jesus how we, uh, how we live in his kingdom, 180 00:07:46,390 --> 00:07:49,799 how Jesus wants us to relate to him and relate to his word. 181 00:07:50,149 --> 00:07:53,959 Jesus fulfills the law by expanding upon it, by teaching what it 182 00:07:53,959 --> 00:07:55,209 really is supposed to mean. 183 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,209 Our job is to obey him and respond accordingly. 184 00:07:58,794 --> 00:08:00,065 And so he starts off with this. 185 00:08:00,395 --> 00:08:02,845 Now, when you think about religion, when you think about getting right 186 00:08:02,845 --> 00:08:05,605 with God, one of the first things you might think of is prayer. 187 00:08:06,025 --> 00:08:09,315 But Jesus actually says, you know what, if you want to know if someone's truly right 188 00:08:09,315 --> 00:08:13,775 with me, he goes right to something that most of us wouldn't think twice about. 189 00:08:14,145 --> 00:08:16,825 He talks about your money, what you do with your money. 190 00:08:16,855 --> 00:08:20,164 You're going to, you're about in a couple of weeks, 17, 16 days, 15 days, 191 00:08:20,615 --> 00:08:24,475 you're going to get probably a couple of presents from grandparents, or maybe 192 00:08:24,575 --> 00:08:27,964 from people that know you guys are going to say, Oh, here's a, here's, here's 50. 193 00:08:28,379 --> 00:08:31,299 Or here's a 50 Amazon card, or here's a hundred bucks for Christmas. 194 00:08:31,599 --> 00:08:34,588 They're gonna give you things to dispose of, money you get to choose 195 00:08:34,588 --> 00:08:37,068 what to do with, and here's what Jesus says when it comes to money. 196 00:08:37,969 --> 00:08:45,589 He says, look, Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people, before 197 00:08:45,909 --> 00:08:48,300 people in order to be seen by them. 198 00:08:49,159 --> 00:08:53,519 For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 199 00:08:54,069 --> 00:08:57,129 This one verse governs everything else you're about to look at. 200 00:08:57,515 --> 00:08:58,584 And this is super important. 201 00:08:58,584 --> 00:08:59,824 So track with me for a second. 202 00:09:00,395 --> 00:09:01,525 Hang with me and understand this. 203 00:09:02,114 --> 00:09:07,824 When you do good things for God, they must be for God and not for 204 00:09:07,824 --> 00:09:09,694 something else, not for someone else. 205 00:09:10,284 --> 00:09:11,594 Goes down to your motivations. 206 00:09:11,625 --> 00:09:12,714 What are you motivated for? 207 00:09:12,714 --> 00:09:13,525 What drives you? 208 00:09:13,535 --> 00:09:15,745 And if it's not, I'm doing this for God, then you're 209 00:09:15,745 --> 00:09:17,074 probably going to miss the mark. 210 00:09:17,515 --> 00:09:21,039 Jesus says, when you're doing things for God, Whether it's giving money 211 00:09:21,050 --> 00:09:24,300 or praying or fasting, he says if you're doing it to be seen by people, 212 00:09:24,300 --> 00:09:25,849 well, then that's all you get from it. 213 00:09:25,909 --> 00:09:26,939 That's your only reward. 214 00:09:26,939 --> 00:09:30,479 If you're doing something just to impress mom or dad, or just to impress 215 00:09:30,479 --> 00:09:33,949 your coach, or just to impress the girl that you like, or the guy that you're 216 00:09:33,949 --> 00:09:37,239 into, if you're doing it just to impress people, that's all you get from it. 217 00:09:37,239 --> 00:09:40,069 But if you're doing it for God, that's when you get rewarded. 218 00:09:40,819 --> 00:09:43,180 In fact, a few weeks ago, we talked about this. 219 00:09:43,439 --> 00:09:45,709 Remember when Jesus says, look, in the same way, let your light 220 00:09:45,709 --> 00:09:48,180 shine before others so that they may see your good works. 221 00:09:48,765 --> 00:09:51,835 Jesus is not against people seeing you do good. 222 00:09:52,715 --> 00:09:56,514 What He is against is you doing good so that people see you. 223 00:09:56,945 --> 00:09:57,735 There's a difference. 224 00:09:58,015 --> 00:10:01,484 If you're saying, I want to do it so that people give glory to my Father in 225 00:10:01,485 --> 00:10:02,874 Heaven, to give glory to God, great. 226 00:10:03,455 --> 00:10:05,634 But if you're doing it so that people look at you and say, 227 00:10:05,634 --> 00:10:07,515 look how awesome that girl is. 228 00:10:07,865 --> 00:10:09,215 She's so nice. 229 00:10:09,415 --> 00:10:11,275 She's so spiritual. 230 00:10:11,825 --> 00:10:12,885 He's so handsome. 231 00:10:12,985 --> 00:10:14,155 He's so wonderful. 232 00:10:14,435 --> 00:10:15,665 He's marriage material. 233 00:10:15,665 --> 00:10:15,724 I love you. 234 00:10:16,644 --> 00:10:19,364 He's the kind of guy I want to have a family with, maybe. 235 00:10:19,734 --> 00:10:21,444 If you're doing it to impress people, you're missing the 236 00:10:21,444 --> 00:10:22,194 mark, is what I'm saying. 237 00:10:22,545 --> 00:10:25,584 Jesus is okay with people seeing your righteousness, but He's not 238 00:10:25,584 --> 00:10:26,894 okay with that being your motivation. 239 00:10:27,574 --> 00:10:32,104 He says, He continues on in Matthew chapter 6, He says, Thus, or so, when 240 00:10:32,104 --> 00:10:37,144 you give to the needy, when you're giving money away to people who are in a bad 241 00:10:37,144 --> 00:10:39,014 position, He says, Sound no trumpet. 242 00:10:39,675 --> 00:10:41,734 Um, you've heard the term tooting your own horn? 243 00:10:42,244 --> 00:10:44,224 When you start talking about how awesome you are? 244 00:10:44,700 --> 00:10:45,170 I've got a 4. 245 00:10:45,170 --> 00:10:46,670 5 GPA. 246 00:10:46,710 --> 00:10:48,070 I speak four languages. 247 00:10:48,370 --> 00:10:49,650 Really good at math, too. 248 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:51,990 Tooting your own horn. 249 00:10:51,990 --> 00:10:52,889 Jesus says, don't do that. 250 00:10:53,390 --> 00:10:58,110 He says, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues 251 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:01,109 and in the streets, that they may be praised by others, that you go again. 252 00:11:01,109 --> 00:11:01,909 There's the motivation. 253 00:11:02,220 --> 00:11:04,700 He says, truly, I say to you, they have received the reward. 254 00:11:04,730 --> 00:11:07,780 If you're, if you want the praise of people versus the praise 255 00:11:07,780 --> 00:11:08,730 of God, he says, there you go. 256 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:09,560 You've had your reward. 257 00:11:09,575 --> 00:11:14,384 So, verse three, but when you give to the needy, that is you as a Christian, 258 00:11:14,384 --> 00:11:18,185 when you give, don't even tell your left hand what your right hand is doing. 259 00:11:18,185 --> 00:11:21,995 In other words, be so secret about it, so discreet that you're not telling 260 00:11:22,104 --> 00:11:25,425 anybody or even keeping things away from yourself, which is impossible. 261 00:11:25,735 --> 00:11:29,354 But Jesus is saying, go out of your way not to make a big deal out of it. 262 00:11:31,525 --> 00:11:34,025 He says, verse four, so that your giving may be in secret. 263 00:11:34,025 --> 00:11:36,174 And then he gives the rationale, the motivation. 264 00:11:36,574 --> 00:11:37,364 This is the motivation. 265 00:11:37,364 --> 00:11:41,455 He says, When you do this, your father, who sees everything, he 266 00:11:41,455 --> 00:11:44,495 sees your waking, he sees your sleeping, he says, not Santa Claus. 267 00:11:44,495 --> 00:11:45,685 This is the real God of heaven. 268 00:11:45,875 --> 00:11:47,174 He sees everything about you. 269 00:11:47,234 --> 00:11:51,015 And when you do what he wants for him, he will reward you. 270 00:11:51,444 --> 00:11:52,554 You want God's rewards. 271 00:11:52,555 --> 00:11:53,735 You got to do it God's way. 272 00:11:54,624 --> 00:11:55,904 Here's God's way in a nutshell. 273 00:11:56,545 --> 00:12:00,694 Point number one, if you're going to do it God's way, here's why you do good. 274 00:12:00,694 --> 00:12:01,645 Here's why you pray. 275 00:12:01,645 --> 00:12:02,475 Here's why you fast. 276 00:12:02,475 --> 00:12:03,344 Here's why you give. 277 00:12:03,435 --> 00:12:04,134 You ready for it. 278 00:12:04,444 --> 00:12:06,344 You're going to be surprised when I tell you point number one, 279 00:12:06,344 --> 00:12:07,064 you're ready for point number one. 280 00:12:07,064 --> 00:12:07,344 Here goes. 281 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:08,480 Point number one. 282 00:12:08,710 --> 00:12:10,570 Do good for God's glory. 283 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:12,940 Oh, man, I'm shocked. 284 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:14,430 This is brand new. 285 00:12:14,430 --> 00:12:15,449 I've never heard this before. 286 00:12:15,980 --> 00:12:16,670 I know you have. 287 00:12:16,699 --> 00:12:17,400 I know you have. 288 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:17,930 I get that. 289 00:12:18,310 --> 00:12:20,080 So please forgive me for the repetition. 290 00:12:20,690 --> 00:12:22,659 But there is no formation without repetition. 291 00:12:22,659 --> 00:12:24,259 So I'm doing this on purpose for your benefit. 292 00:12:24,579 --> 00:12:28,270 When you do good, when you work hard in math class, when 293 00:12:28,270 --> 00:12:29,529 you treat your sister nicely. 294 00:12:30,225 --> 00:12:33,435 When you make your bed because your parents have asked you to do that, when 295 00:12:33,435 --> 00:12:37,684 you do the dishes because you were told to do the dishes, when you work hard at 296 00:12:37,684 --> 00:12:43,174 your instrument, when you labor strong in practice, when you read the book that your 297 00:12:43,195 --> 00:12:47,144 English teacher told you to read, when you go to church and you pay attention 298 00:12:47,145 --> 00:12:50,665 because your parents asked you to do that, when you do any good thing, what God cares 299 00:12:50,665 --> 00:12:53,295 about is that you're doing it for Him. 300 00:12:54,065 --> 00:12:57,025 I want to be rewarded by God and so ultimately I want to do 301 00:12:57,035 --> 00:12:58,285 all of this for God's glory. 302 00:12:59,290 --> 00:13:05,140 When I preach for you and you take notes, great notes, and you're giving me good 303 00:13:05,190 --> 00:13:09,250 eye contact and you're nodding when you're understanding something, or you're 304 00:13:09,250 --> 00:13:12,930 saying this, when you don't understand something, you're giving me feedback. 305 00:13:13,139 --> 00:13:13,889 I appreciate that. 306 00:13:13,889 --> 00:13:14,719 I really do. 307 00:13:14,759 --> 00:13:17,479 That's, that's helpful for me because then I can kind of adjust along the way, which 308 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:18,949 is why I look at you when I'm preaching. 309 00:13:20,819 --> 00:13:25,680 But I hope that you're doing that because you want to ultimately glorify God and not 310 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:27,790 just swing points with the youth pastors. 311 00:13:28,674 --> 00:13:29,805 Does it benefit you anyway? 312 00:13:29,805 --> 00:13:30,674 I really have nothing to give you. 313 00:13:32,205 --> 00:13:34,415 But when you do things for God's glory, everything changes. 314 00:13:35,005 --> 00:13:36,585 I remember when I, I used to work at McDonald's. 315 00:13:36,645 --> 00:13:37,424 I don't know if I ever talked to this. 316 00:13:37,424 --> 00:13:38,235 I used to work at McDonald's. 317 00:13:38,444 --> 00:13:40,414 I worked there for I think two, maybe three years. 318 00:13:40,844 --> 00:13:41,505 It was a long time. 319 00:13:41,505 --> 00:13:41,945 I hated it. 320 00:13:42,654 --> 00:13:45,064 But one occasion, it was a, I think it was a Saturday. 321 00:13:45,785 --> 00:13:49,985 There was a homeless lady kind of camping out in front of the McDonald's. 322 00:13:50,904 --> 00:13:53,265 I was a, I would call myself a Christian at that time. 323 00:13:53,265 --> 00:13:54,455 I don't know that I truly was. 324 00:13:54,775 --> 00:13:55,765 But I called myself a Christian. 325 00:13:55,765 --> 00:13:59,755 So I felt The need to go out to this lady during my break. 326 00:13:59,755 --> 00:14:00,475 And so that's what I did. 327 00:14:01,384 --> 00:14:02,675 I have my 15 minute break. 328 00:14:02,775 --> 00:14:04,675 I walked right outside through the double doors. 329 00:14:05,015 --> 00:14:08,215 And I went to this lady and said, Hey, um, are you hungry? 330 00:14:08,964 --> 00:14:09,594 Simple question. 331 00:14:10,535 --> 00:14:12,065 And she said, yes, yes, I am. 332 00:14:12,475 --> 00:14:14,524 I said, okay, well, can I buy you some food then? 333 00:14:15,074 --> 00:14:16,184 And so she acquiesced. 334 00:14:16,195 --> 00:14:17,495 She said, yeah, yeah, that'd be great. 335 00:14:18,585 --> 00:14:22,505 I was always told never to give money to people that are, Because you never 336 00:14:22,505 --> 00:14:23,384 know what they're going to use it for. 337 00:14:23,384 --> 00:14:26,384 But if you want to be generous to somebody who doesn't look like they have 338 00:14:26,384 --> 00:14:29,185 the same privileges you do, then one of the things you can do is buy them 339 00:14:29,185 --> 00:14:30,805 food because probably going to eat it. 340 00:14:30,815 --> 00:14:34,464 So I took her inside and I brought her in and she smelled, I remember 341 00:14:34,465 --> 00:14:37,844 that much she was, she had a very pungent odor, wasn't wearing nice 342 00:14:37,844 --> 00:14:41,805 clothes, obviously, but I brought her in and Rosa was at the register. 343 00:14:41,805 --> 00:14:42,935 She was my manager at that time. 344 00:14:42,935 --> 00:14:44,775 And I said, Rosa, I'd like to buy And a meal. 345 00:14:45,085 --> 00:14:48,705 Um, It'd really be really great if I get my employee discount too, Uh, 346 00:14:48,735 --> 00:14:51,335 but I'd like to buy them, and so I said, okay, whatever you want. 347 00:14:51,335 --> 00:14:54,665 And I let her order and she got a ton, I don't even remember what it was. 348 00:14:55,175 --> 00:14:59,634 Um, I remember though, when I, when I did that, uh, I felt the 349 00:14:59,635 --> 00:15:02,824 pain of it cause she, she got a lot of food more than I expected. 350 00:15:03,675 --> 00:15:05,895 Uh and I didn't make a lot of money, I was making minimum wage. 351 00:15:05,895 --> 00:15:07,055 I mean, I'm doing Donald's after all. 352 00:15:07,295 --> 00:15:11,545 But she ordered, and I paid whatever it was, the 15 bucks, which today 353 00:15:11,545 --> 00:15:13,989 feels like a normal meal, but back then it was like 1, 000. 354 00:15:14,469 --> 00:15:15,630 So I paid the money. 355 00:15:16,180 --> 00:15:19,770 My boss is looking at me a bit quizzically, but also approvingly. 356 00:15:19,830 --> 00:15:22,049 She was confused about what I was doing, but she was also proud. 357 00:15:22,330 --> 00:15:22,910 I noticed that. 358 00:15:22,910 --> 00:15:24,060 I clocked that pretty quickly. 359 00:15:24,739 --> 00:15:27,449 Anyway, I waited with the lady, tried to make some small talk with her. 360 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,529 She got her meal, and then she went back outside, and that was it. 361 00:15:30,799 --> 00:15:32,609 Um, I felt something. 362 00:15:33,009 --> 00:15:35,449 That I've only felt a few times in my life where I just felt like, 363 00:15:35,529 --> 00:15:36,969 man, that was really, really cool. 364 00:15:37,420 --> 00:15:40,100 Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive, and that, that day 365 00:15:40,100 --> 00:15:42,790 I felt it for one of the, one of the first times in my life, feeling what 366 00:15:42,790 --> 00:15:46,170 it was like to give something away that actually really hurt, but I loved it. 367 00:15:46,529 --> 00:15:47,239 It was awesome. 368 00:15:48,660 --> 00:15:51,119 Rosa saw that, my boss at the time, Rosa. 369 00:15:51,180 --> 00:15:54,060 She was a, she was a big Hispanic lady, one of my coolest bosses 370 00:15:54,060 --> 00:15:57,150 ever, and she didn't, she didn't mention it, and I didn't bring it up. 371 00:15:57,410 --> 00:15:59,430 I was okay with that, because I wasn't doing it for Rosa. 372 00:15:59,770 --> 00:16:00,719 I wasn't doing it for McDonald's. 373 00:16:00,719 --> 00:16:02,859 I wasn't, I was wearing my McDonald's uniform, but I wasn't trying 374 00:16:02,859 --> 00:16:03,670 to make McDonald's look good. 375 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:05,799 I was trying to say this is what's what's good for God. 376 00:16:05,830 --> 00:16:07,040 This is what's good for God's glory. 377 00:16:07,049 --> 00:16:09,549 And I cared about the lady, at least enough to say, I want to feed you. 378 00:16:09,719 --> 00:16:10,380 Let me help you. 379 00:16:10,699 --> 00:16:14,529 And so many times people will do good things like that, but not for God's glory. 380 00:16:14,529 --> 00:16:17,879 In fact, there's a whole industry of people that give a lot of 381 00:16:17,879 --> 00:16:19,339 money away, but not for God. 382 00:16:19,749 --> 00:16:21,319 These people are called philanthropists. 383 00:16:21,619 --> 00:16:25,389 These philanthropists have made millions upon billions, 384 00:16:25,389 --> 00:16:27,039 if not trillions of dollars. 385 00:16:27,689 --> 00:16:29,439 You might notice some of those faces up there. 386 00:16:30,339 --> 00:16:34,100 Bill Gates is knowing, uh, known for having given away lots of his money. 387 00:16:34,100 --> 00:16:36,830 In fact, I think one of the challenges for Bill is that he's trying to 388 00:16:36,839 --> 00:16:38,540 give away everything before he dies. 389 00:16:38,580 --> 00:16:40,890 Him and, and, uh, Berkshire Hathaway guy. 390 00:16:40,940 --> 00:16:41,370 What's his name? 391 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:41,750 Bennett. 392 00:16:41,870 --> 00:16:42,160 Bennett. 393 00:16:42,190 --> 00:16:42,440 Yeah. 394 00:16:42,449 --> 00:16:44,339 Warren, Warren, Warren Buffett rather, not Bennett. 395 00:16:45,069 --> 00:16:48,080 Uh, Buffett, uh, Gates, George Soros. 396 00:16:48,089 --> 00:16:50,910 These guys have Bill, these guys are going to make more money than 397 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:54,160 everybody in this room, probably, unless you become one of these people. 398 00:16:54,509 --> 00:16:57,049 He's going to make more money than everyone in this room combined 399 00:16:57,210 --> 00:16:58,989 in five minutes than we'll ever see in our whole lifetime. 400 00:17:00,245 --> 00:17:02,935 These guys will give away tons of cash. 401 00:17:04,364 --> 00:17:07,054 But the question you should ask yourself is why do these 402 00:17:07,054 --> 00:17:08,954 people give away all this money? 403 00:17:09,564 --> 00:17:10,344 What's behind that? 404 00:17:11,134 --> 00:17:12,065 And here's, here's the thing. 405 00:17:12,324 --> 00:17:15,154 Some of them are giving away money to organizations that promote 406 00:17:15,165 --> 00:17:18,614 health care, clean drinking water, which we could say that's great. 407 00:17:19,165 --> 00:17:23,395 Some of them, actually a lot of them, give away money to educational organizations 408 00:17:23,464 --> 00:17:26,473 where they're trying to educate people that don't have the same money that you 409 00:17:26,473 --> 00:17:28,003 and I do, where they struggle with that. 410 00:17:28,003 --> 00:17:30,114 So they provide money for those things. 411 00:17:30,234 --> 00:17:33,404 These guys are giving away to some really neat organizations. 412 00:17:35,034 --> 00:17:36,074 But is this good? 413 00:17:36,964 --> 00:17:37,995 Is this a good thing? 414 00:17:38,884 --> 00:17:42,705 Is there philanthropy, which by the way, philanthropy, uh, philo, 415 00:17:42,734 --> 00:17:44,504 or philo, that's a form of love. 416 00:17:44,544 --> 00:17:47,679 Um, And Anthropos is the word for man. 417 00:17:47,679 --> 00:17:50,030 So a love of man, a philanthropist is someone who 418 00:17:50,030 --> 00:17:51,770 loves mankind with their money. 419 00:17:52,250 --> 00:17:53,699 So these guys are giving away tons of money. 420 00:17:53,710 --> 00:17:54,319 Is that good? 421 00:17:54,569 --> 00:17:55,340 Is that a good thing? 422 00:17:55,810 --> 00:17:57,189 Part of you might say, well, yeah, of course it's good. 423 00:17:57,190 --> 00:17:58,179 They're helping people, right? 424 00:17:58,179 --> 00:18:01,469 They're giving away, you know, clean water and, and food and education. 425 00:18:01,679 --> 00:18:02,730 And they would say, yeah, that's good. 426 00:18:02,909 --> 00:18:05,070 But is it really good? 427 00:18:05,199 --> 00:18:06,100 Is it truly good? 428 00:18:06,790 --> 00:18:07,599 And here's my answer for you. 429 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,829 The answer is no, because it's not done for God's glory. 430 00:18:12,730 --> 00:18:13,800 John MacArthur once said. 431 00:18:14,294 --> 00:18:20,384 The good that people who are not Christians do is called bad good because 432 00:18:20,384 --> 00:18:21,585 they don't do it for God's glory. 433 00:18:21,594 --> 00:18:22,154 It's bad good. 434 00:18:22,205 --> 00:18:25,174 So they're doing good, but it's bad good because it's not for God's glory. 435 00:18:25,174 --> 00:18:27,284 There's some other reason that provokes them to do that. 436 00:18:27,504 --> 00:18:30,764 Whether it's, I want people to remember me, which by the way, Bill 437 00:18:30,764 --> 00:18:32,564 Gates has the Bill Gates Foundation. 438 00:18:32,564 --> 00:18:34,855 It's actually called the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 439 00:18:34,995 --> 00:18:38,455 So when he dies, he has a foundation with his name on it that dispenses the money. 440 00:18:39,429 --> 00:18:41,399 Some of these other guys also have organizations that have 441 00:18:41,399 --> 00:18:42,169 their names on it as well. 442 00:18:42,169 --> 00:18:45,319 So there might be even an element of pride in their giving away. 443 00:18:45,659 --> 00:18:48,939 For you then, I wonder if you ever even thought of this. 444 00:18:48,969 --> 00:18:52,619 Like when I give stuff away, when I buy presents for friends, when I give money 445 00:18:52,619 --> 00:18:55,769 to the church offering plate, if you do that, which if you do, good job for you. 446 00:18:56,284 --> 00:18:59,415 Now, when I do nice things for friends, am I, am I doing it for the right reason or 447 00:18:59,594 --> 00:19:01,275 is there maybe an element of pride in it? 448 00:19:01,284 --> 00:19:02,784 Am I doing it because of, because of me? 449 00:19:02,815 --> 00:19:04,005 I want people to know my name. 450 00:19:04,404 --> 00:19:07,424 When I celebrate in the end zone, am I doing it because I want people to know 451 00:19:07,424 --> 00:19:11,245 who I am or am I pointing up and doing the Jesus thing or the Tim Tebow and 452 00:19:12,074 --> 00:19:13,294 what am I doing and why am I doing it? 453 00:19:13,295 --> 00:19:15,875 And if I'm not doing it for God's glory, I'm missing the mark. 454 00:19:16,105 --> 00:19:19,475 If you want God's rewards, if you want to know what it is to be rewarded by 455 00:19:19,475 --> 00:19:24,304 God, you have to do it God's way and God's way is do all things for my glory. 456 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,350 Be okay with doing it in secret because it's not about people 457 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:30,339 giving you the accolades. 458 00:19:30,339 --> 00:19:31,290 It's about God's glory. 459 00:19:32,339 --> 00:19:33,520 Jesus now continues. 460 00:19:33,709 --> 00:19:36,830 We talked about giving what you do with your money, what you do with your money 461 00:19:36,839 --> 00:19:41,910 reveals so much about your heart, but he also says how you communicate with 462 00:19:41,919 --> 00:19:44,169 God also reveals a lot about your heart. 463 00:19:44,549 --> 00:19:46,899 There are some churches that teach people to pray for things 464 00:19:46,899 --> 00:19:48,439 like, Hey, give me the big job. 465 00:19:48,449 --> 00:19:51,989 God give me the red convertible car. 466 00:19:51,989 --> 00:19:53,639 Give me that brand new, whatever it is. 467 00:19:54,350 --> 00:19:56,350 They teach something called health, wealth, and prosperity. 468 00:19:56,909 --> 00:19:59,270 Jesus actually tells you how he wants you to pray. 469 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,100 And how you pray, again, revealing your heart, tells you a lot. 470 00:20:02,529 --> 00:20:03,989 Here's what he says, take a look with me here. 471 00:20:04,650 --> 00:20:06,019 How Jesus wants us to pray. 472 00:20:06,309 --> 00:20:09,009 In these few verses, Matthew 5 through 8, let's take a look at this first. 473 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:14,299 Jesus says, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. 474 00:20:14,299 --> 00:20:16,259 And a hypocrite, by the way, is someone that wore a mask 475 00:20:16,279 --> 00:20:17,699 and played a part on a stage. 476 00:20:18,170 --> 00:20:20,329 Um, and so they would pretend to be something they were not. 477 00:20:21,100 --> 00:20:22,209 He says, don't be like those people. 478 00:20:22,859 --> 00:20:26,509 They love, listen to this, they love to stand and pray in the 479 00:20:26,509 --> 00:20:29,089 synagogues and out the street corners. 480 00:20:29,149 --> 00:20:31,770 Here we go again, that they may be seen by others. 481 00:20:32,449 --> 00:20:35,909 Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 482 00:20:35,919 --> 00:20:37,199 That is, they don't get anything else. 483 00:20:37,199 --> 00:20:39,209 If you want man's praise, that's all you get. 484 00:20:39,230 --> 00:20:40,259 You get nothing more than that. 485 00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:45,879 He says, but when you pray, you as a Christian follower, as a 486 00:20:45,879 --> 00:20:48,169 disciple, he says, go into your room. 487 00:20:48,969 --> 00:20:52,330 , shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. 488 00:20:52,330 --> 00:20:54,339 In other words, don't make a big show of it. 489 00:20:54,429 --> 00:20:55,449 Just do it quietly. 490 00:20:56,020 --> 00:20:58,089 Don't, don't need to go to the kitchen table and show 491 00:20:58,089 --> 00:20:59,679 your mom that you're praying. 492 00:20:59,679 --> 00:21:01,420 Don't need to have your dad. 493 00:21:01,420 --> 00:21:02,080 Notice what you're doing. 494 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:03,040 She says, do it quietly. 495 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:03,699 Do it privately. 496 00:21:04,750 --> 00:21:07,870 He says, and your father who sees in secret, that's God the 497 00:21:07,870 --> 00:21:09,730 Father, he will reward you. 498 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,130 Your reward's gonna be better than just having people say, what a, 499 00:21:12,190 --> 00:21:13,420 what a religious person you are. 500 00:21:14,589 --> 00:21:15,969 He says in the next few verses here. 501 00:21:16,529 --> 00:21:21,560 When you pray, don't heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for 502 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:24,440 they think that they're going to be heard for their many words. 503 00:21:24,770 --> 00:21:28,710 There are some people, Jesus says, that like to try to manipulate God 504 00:21:28,989 --> 00:21:34,000 by just saying a lot and having big, flowery sentences that go on and on. 505 00:21:34,199 --> 00:21:36,549 And he says, look, if you think you're getting God's attention just because 506 00:21:36,549 --> 00:21:41,529 you have a pretty voice, or you have pretty sentences, or have long paragraphs 507 00:21:41,549 --> 00:21:43,779 of information to communicate, it doesn't mean that God's listening. 508 00:21:43,780 --> 00:21:43,869 He's listening. 509 00:21:44,459 --> 00:21:46,850 God doesn't care about how many words there are, per se. 510 00:21:47,299 --> 00:21:48,350 He cares about something else. 511 00:21:49,159 --> 00:21:51,350 He says, verse 8 here, Don't be like them. 512 00:21:52,959 --> 00:21:53,290 Where am I? 513 00:21:53,350 --> 00:21:53,770 Verse 8? 514 00:21:53,770 --> 00:21:54,429 Is that still up here? 515 00:21:54,429 --> 00:21:54,999 Yes. 516 00:21:55,159 --> 00:21:56,379 Verse 6, 7, 8. 517 00:21:56,919 --> 00:21:57,149 Yes. 518 00:21:57,149 --> 00:21:57,709 Don't be like them. 519 00:21:58,339 --> 00:22:02,159 Don't be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 520 00:22:02,899 --> 00:22:03,489 God already knows. 521 00:22:03,489 --> 00:22:05,080 You come to God in prayer, He knows what you need. 522 00:22:06,199 --> 00:22:07,779 That ought to change the way that you pray, He says. 523 00:22:08,699 --> 00:22:10,190 And then he's going to tell you how to pray. 524 00:22:10,649 --> 00:22:11,909 Now, we're going to go through this rapid fire. 525 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:14,120 I want to give you some pointers on this, but I need you to go in your 526 00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:16,139 Bible and look along with me, because I don't have it on the screen for you. 527 00:22:17,129 --> 00:22:18,190 So, go to your Bible. 528 00:22:20,245 --> 00:22:20,485 Yeah. 529 00:22:20,745 --> 00:22:21,350 There you go. 530 00:22:21,350 --> 00:22:23,315 So go, go to Matthew chapter six, and we're going to look at 531 00:22:23,315 --> 00:22:25,875 verses nine to 15 in your Bible. 532 00:22:26,074 --> 00:22:26,835 So open your Bible. 533 00:22:26,835 --> 00:22:27,955 I'm going to read it along with you. 534 00:22:28,284 --> 00:22:30,864 Make a few comments as you, as you read, here's what he says. 535 00:22:31,144 --> 00:22:33,815 When you pray, Jesus says, pray like this, that is don't pray 536 00:22:33,815 --> 00:22:35,174 exactly this, but pray like this. 537 00:22:35,735 --> 00:22:40,935 He starts off here in verse nine, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 538 00:22:41,304 --> 00:22:43,245 So first of all, he communicates who you're talking to. 539 00:22:43,475 --> 00:22:44,705 He's not just God generally. 540 00:22:44,705 --> 00:22:46,235 He's our father in heaven. 541 00:22:46,235 --> 00:22:48,295 And notice the inclusive pronoun. 542 00:22:48,659 --> 00:22:50,540 It's not just my father in heaven. 543 00:22:50,610 --> 00:22:52,800 He's assuming that you're praying with other Christians. 544 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:54,830 Our father in heaven. 545 00:22:56,030 --> 00:22:58,790 Hallowed be your name means make your name holy. 546 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:01,710 Make people honor your name is what he's saying there. 547 00:23:01,999 --> 00:23:02,589 Verse 10. 548 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,829 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 549 00:23:06,829 --> 00:23:11,710 Jesus says when you pray, your prayer should reflect a God centered focus. 550 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:13,760 A sense of I want God's will to be done. 551 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,069 I don't want my will to be done if it conflicts with God's will. 552 00:23:16,070 --> 00:23:17,440 You should be asking for God's will to be done. 553 00:23:18,185 --> 00:23:18,755 Verse 11. 554 00:23:19,965 --> 00:23:21,574 Jesus wants you to reflect your neediness. 555 00:23:21,594 --> 00:23:23,565 Give us this day our daily bread. 556 00:23:24,175 --> 00:23:24,955 Feed me, God. 557 00:23:25,195 --> 00:23:26,014 Here's something interesting. 558 00:23:26,014 --> 00:23:26,814 Think about this for a second. 559 00:23:27,375 --> 00:23:31,635 You've never, probably, you've never had to ask God to feed you. 560 00:23:33,125 --> 00:23:36,925 And yet, every single day of your life, God has fed you. 561 00:23:38,145 --> 00:23:39,835 And some of you, he's fed really well, right? 562 00:23:39,864 --> 00:23:41,395 He doesn't just give you enough to get by. 563 00:23:41,405 --> 00:23:42,685 He's not just giving you bread. 564 00:23:43,514 --> 00:23:51,625 He's giving you Gigantic turkeys and cheesy potatoes and cinnamon rolls and 565 00:23:51,634 --> 00:23:55,485 all sorts of wonderful gooey deliciousness that we all ate for Thanksgiving and 566 00:23:55,485 --> 00:23:56,835 we're about to eat again for Christmas. 567 00:23:57,554 --> 00:23:59,714 You've never prayed for God to give you your daily bread and 568 00:23:59,714 --> 00:24:00,745 yet everyday God does that. 569 00:24:01,935 --> 00:24:02,965 Why do we not pray for that? 570 00:24:02,975 --> 00:24:04,785 Well, because we think we're going to get it no matter what. 571 00:24:06,205 --> 00:24:07,675 Jesus doesn't want us to think that way. 572 00:24:08,135 --> 00:24:11,115 Jesus doesn't want us to take for granted his provision. 573 00:24:11,845 --> 00:24:13,235 And so he says, look, ask for that. 574 00:24:13,255 --> 00:24:14,985 Ask God to provide for you daily. 575 00:24:16,875 --> 00:24:22,255 He continues verse 12, forgive us our debts as we also 576 00:24:22,355 --> 00:24:23,985 have forgiven our debtors. 577 00:24:24,705 --> 00:24:28,925 Jesus is saying you need to ask God for forgiveness on a regular basis. 578 00:24:29,860 --> 00:24:33,020 You need to approach God recognizing you've sinned against God. 579 00:24:33,070 --> 00:24:35,720 Probably even right now you're sinning against God in some way. 580 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:39,210 He wants you to acknowledge that and say, Lord, please forgive me. 581 00:24:40,330 --> 00:24:44,090 And what's interesting is that Jesus wants you to anticipate God's forgiveness. 582 00:24:45,810 --> 00:24:49,450 If you're the kind of person who's willing to forgive others. 583 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,645 If you're the kind of person who forgives others, Jesus is saying, You're probably 584 00:24:54,645 --> 00:24:55,735 going to get God's forgiveness then. 585 00:24:55,735 --> 00:24:56,335 You get God's forgiveness. 586 00:24:56,375 --> 00:24:59,645 Someone who's been forgiven by God is willing to forgive others. 587 00:25:01,215 --> 00:25:05,395 And says, he says here in verse 13, lead us not into temptation, 588 00:25:05,395 --> 00:25:06,775 but deliver us from evil. 589 00:25:07,725 --> 00:25:11,065 Again, dependent upon God to protect us, to guard us. 590 00:25:11,655 --> 00:25:15,375 Verse 14, for if you forgive others, their trespasses, your heavenly 591 00:25:15,375 --> 00:25:16,915 father will also forgive you. 592 00:25:17,295 --> 00:25:20,125 But if you do not forgive others, their trespasses, then neither 593 00:25:20,125 --> 00:25:22,125 will your father forgive yours. 594 00:25:23,790 --> 00:25:26,340 This is the template that God gives you for how to pray. 595 00:25:26,770 --> 00:25:29,980 Now, I told you, if you want God's rewards, you gotta do things God's way. 596 00:25:30,370 --> 00:25:33,080 If you want answers to your prayer, you gotta learn to pray 597 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:34,310 the way that God wants you to pray. 598 00:25:34,890 --> 00:25:38,450 If you want to know how to approach God, you need to approach God 599 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:39,970 in the way that He prescribes. 600 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:44,300 So many times, people pray in ways that are just not that helpful. 601 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,940 Have you guys ever seen those commercials, uh, the Snickers commercials? 602 00:25:48,430 --> 00:25:50,400 You're, you're not, you're not yourself when you're hungry? 603 00:25:51,025 --> 00:25:53,405 Shows people acting in weird ways like this, this, this 604 00:25:53,555 --> 00:25:54,695 linebacker or whatever he was. 605 00:25:54,695 --> 00:25:56,805 He was whining and complaining. 606 00:25:56,835 --> 00:25:57,875 This is Betty White, by the way. 607 00:25:57,875 --> 00:26:01,265 She's an old school actress and she eats it and then he turns back into himself 608 00:26:01,265 --> 00:26:03,055 and he's this big, buff, burly guy. 609 00:26:03,535 --> 00:26:04,975 Really brilliant advertising. 610 00:26:04,975 --> 00:26:07,555 In fact, Snickers has, has great advertising. 611 00:26:08,665 --> 00:26:12,215 Your, your hunger level, where you put the tattoo, so you're 612 00:26:12,215 --> 00:26:13,055 not you when you're hungry. 613 00:26:13,055 --> 00:26:16,955 So if you eat a Snickers before you get to the point of being so ravenously 614 00:26:16,955 --> 00:26:19,855 hungry, you won't make the mistake of putting a tattoo on the side of your head. 615 00:26:20,215 --> 00:26:20,245 Okay. 616 00:26:20,445 --> 00:26:23,695 Which as a rule of thumb, probably should not get a tattoo on your face. 617 00:26:23,875 --> 00:26:24,655 Just hear me say that. 618 00:26:24,655 --> 00:26:25,005 Okay. 619 00:26:25,195 --> 00:26:27,335 That's not the point of my sermon, but don't do that. 620 00:26:28,325 --> 00:26:28,705 Yes. 621 00:26:28,775 --> 00:26:30,045 You'll avoid the, you'll avoid the problem. 622 00:26:30,515 --> 00:26:31,095 Last one here. 623 00:26:31,365 --> 00:26:32,415 You're not you when you're hungry. 624 00:26:32,585 --> 00:26:36,045 Uh, I guess zebras chase down lions when they're really hungry and that's 625 00:26:36,045 --> 00:26:37,405 how that, that's a big mistake. 626 00:26:37,405 --> 00:26:38,295 Obviously don't do that. 627 00:26:39,195 --> 00:26:40,215 You're not you when you're hungry. 628 00:26:40,825 --> 00:26:41,145 That's it. 629 00:26:41,145 --> 00:26:41,855 That's their tagline. 630 00:26:42,485 --> 00:26:43,215 You're not you when you're hungry. 631 00:26:44,605 --> 00:26:46,745 Most Christians are not them when they pray. 632 00:26:46,875 --> 00:26:48,265 I think Jesus might say that to you. 633 00:26:48,275 --> 00:26:49,355 You're not you when you pray. 634 00:26:49,915 --> 00:26:51,735 And the same way that Snickers is like, hey, when you're hungry, 635 00:26:51,745 --> 00:26:52,795 you're not the same person. 636 00:26:53,065 --> 00:26:55,605 Jesus, I think, probably would point to a lot of Christians and 637 00:26:55,605 --> 00:26:56,835 say, you're not you when you pray. 638 00:26:57,135 --> 00:26:58,215 You're somebody else. 639 00:26:58,665 --> 00:27:01,765 Which I'm not saying you shouldn't, you shouldn't respect God and revere God. 640 00:27:01,855 --> 00:27:03,045 Obviously, please do that. 641 00:27:03,975 --> 00:27:06,655 But when you pray, so many times the reason you struggle in prayer 642 00:27:06,695 --> 00:27:09,985 is because you're approaching God like he's not a person. 643 00:27:10,205 --> 00:27:12,995 You're approaching God like he's just this figment of your imagination 644 00:27:12,995 --> 00:27:14,165 that only requires respect. 645 00:27:14,405 --> 00:27:16,715 I hope when you hear mature people pray, you hear them 646 00:27:16,735 --> 00:27:17,915 interact with God as a person. 647 00:27:18,875 --> 00:27:19,675 Point number two like this. 648 00:27:20,365 --> 00:27:23,345 I would say treat God as a person, not a performance. 649 00:27:24,355 --> 00:27:26,135 Some people treat prayer like a performance. 650 00:27:26,135 --> 00:27:27,095 I have to say the right thing. 651 00:27:27,095 --> 00:27:27,975 I don't want to be embarrassed. 652 00:27:27,975 --> 00:27:29,265 I don't want to pray the wrong thing. 653 00:27:29,655 --> 00:27:31,585 When I pray in front of people, I don't want them to think 654 00:27:31,585 --> 00:27:33,415 I'm, I don't know anything. 655 00:27:33,645 --> 00:27:36,435 I don't want people to think I'm weird or strange or that I'm a cultist. 656 00:27:36,935 --> 00:27:39,435 And so I, I perform when I pray. 657 00:27:39,465 --> 00:27:40,735 I try to say the right thing. 658 00:27:40,735 --> 00:27:43,505 And to the point where I'm not even focusing on God anymore, I'm just 659 00:27:43,505 --> 00:27:44,895 focusing on saying the right thing. 660 00:27:46,335 --> 00:27:48,555 treat God as a person, not a performance. 661 00:27:48,555 --> 00:27:49,725 God doesn't want you to pretend. 662 00:27:50,175 --> 00:27:53,475 And then I, I, I feel like this would be one area where if I could encourage 663 00:27:53,475 --> 00:27:56,175 you to approach God with this, this could change your relationship with God. 664 00:27:57,255 --> 00:28:00,015 I, I wish I could, maybe I don't, I I wish you could hear me pray 665 00:28:00,015 --> 00:28:01,605 though, not in this setting. 666 00:28:01,605 --> 00:28:03,945 I, I, I'm honest and I think you hear me pray all the time and 667 00:28:03,945 --> 00:28:05,205 you can hear the way I, I do it. 668 00:28:05,745 --> 00:28:10,995 Um, but my private prayers are even more, not casual, but familial. 669 00:28:11,505 --> 00:28:13,245 I talk to God much like I talk to you guys. 670 00:28:13,875 --> 00:28:15,405 Um, again, not this casual. 671 00:28:15,405 --> 00:28:18,565 I'm still respectful, but I treat God like a person, and I would 672 00:28:18,565 --> 00:28:19,335 love for you to do the same. 673 00:28:19,385 --> 00:28:22,355 I'd love for you to see God as someone who's right in front of you. 674 00:28:22,935 --> 00:28:26,985 God is omnipresent, obviously, so He's not only in one location, but 675 00:28:27,015 --> 00:28:28,155 God is willing to hear your prayers. 676 00:28:28,155 --> 00:28:28,955 He wants you to pray. 677 00:28:29,795 --> 00:28:33,635 One of the rewards that a Christian looks for is the reward of intimacy 678 00:28:33,635 --> 00:28:37,495 with God, and the way that you get that is by drawing near to God as 679 00:28:37,495 --> 00:28:40,365 a person and not trying to perform for Him, not trying to pretend that 680 00:28:40,365 --> 00:28:41,505 you're something that you're not. 681 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:42,940 Here's a couple things here. 682 00:28:42,940 --> 00:28:45,750 Keys to prayer that God accepts. 683 00:28:45,750 --> 00:28:47,960 Number one, pray to God, not people. 684 00:28:48,140 --> 00:28:49,700 Okay, when you're praying, don't pray to people. 685 00:28:50,170 --> 00:28:52,370 I know sometimes it's hard to pray when people are listening. 686 00:28:52,460 --> 00:28:55,480 I get that, but you have to pretend that they're not there. 687 00:28:55,740 --> 00:28:58,660 If you can do that, pray to God, not a person, your prayers 688 00:28:58,660 --> 00:28:59,700 are already going to be better. 689 00:28:59,700 --> 00:29:03,080 God will love that prayer, because it'll be real, and it won't be you trying 690 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,200 to pretend, and trying to perform, and trying to impress everybody else. 691 00:29:07,045 --> 00:29:10,615 Next, pray with these three ingredients, and this is all coming from what 692 00:29:10,615 --> 00:29:11,755 Jesus just encouraged us to do. 693 00:29:12,075 --> 00:29:14,695 First of all, ingredient number one, reverence for God. 694 00:29:15,395 --> 00:29:17,305 I don't want you to call God, Daddy God. 695 00:29:17,555 --> 00:29:20,805 I don't want you to pretend like God is your best friend. 696 00:29:20,835 --> 00:29:22,705 This is not a Jesus take the wheel situation. 697 00:29:23,315 --> 00:29:24,395 God must be revered. 698 00:29:24,815 --> 00:29:28,635 Honor Him, esteem Him, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't pray to 699 00:29:28,635 --> 00:29:30,325 God with a sense of He's my Father. 700 00:29:30,405 --> 00:29:31,295 He wants to hear from me. 701 00:29:31,805 --> 00:29:34,345 Second, knowledge of your neediness. 702 00:29:34,365 --> 00:29:38,630 Jesus said Uh, ask for your daily bread, ask for forgiveness of sins, 703 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:40,370 ask for deliverance from evil. 704 00:29:40,500 --> 00:29:43,260 So you got to come to God knowing you need a whole lot more, 705 00:29:43,990 --> 00:29:45,240 even what you think you need. 706 00:29:45,260 --> 00:29:46,340 You need more than that. 707 00:29:46,950 --> 00:29:50,520 If you can come to God with your neediness, you'll come with appropriate 708 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:52,540 reverence and appropriate awareness. 709 00:29:52,540 --> 00:29:55,910 Number three of your responsibility toward others. 710 00:29:55,910 --> 00:29:58,490 So you're coming to God with reverence. 711 00:29:58,590 --> 00:30:02,010 You're coming with a knowledge of your neediness and you're coming with 712 00:30:02,010 --> 00:30:04,030 awareness of your responsibility. 713 00:30:04,700 --> 00:30:05,420 Here's what I mean by that. 714 00:30:05,420 --> 00:30:09,680 Jesus said, ask for forgiveness as you forgive others. 715 00:30:11,290 --> 00:30:15,500 Jesus wants you to always think of yourself in light of your 716 00:30:15,540 --> 00:30:17,300 relationships with other people. 717 00:30:18,310 --> 00:30:21,600 You can't have a close relationship with God if your 718 00:30:21,610 --> 00:30:23,040 human relationships are broken. 719 00:30:23,790 --> 00:30:26,400 Now there's exceptions to this rule, but here's what I mean by that. 720 00:30:27,170 --> 00:30:29,100 Let's say your parents get you upset for some reason. 721 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:31,740 They ask you to do something, you're not having it, you don't like it, you 722 00:30:31,740 --> 00:30:33,900 don't like the way they said it, so you're really mad at your parents. 723 00:30:35,460 --> 00:30:38,860 Is it easier or harder for you to pray to God when you're really 724 00:30:38,860 --> 00:30:39,790 upset with your mom and dad? 725 00:30:41,570 --> 00:30:42,340 Easier or harder? 726 00:30:43,650 --> 00:30:44,140 Much harder. 727 00:30:44,430 --> 00:30:44,810 Thank you. 728 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:45,800 Appreciate you answering. 729 00:30:46,410 --> 00:30:46,960 The only one. 730 00:30:47,060 --> 00:30:47,560 Oh, that was you? 731 00:30:47,780 --> 00:30:49,319 Thank you, Ezekiel. 732 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:50,130 Should have joined him, Carson. 733 00:30:51,810 --> 00:30:52,270 Much harder. 734 00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:54,280 That's because when you have a broken human relationship, it's 735 00:30:54,300 --> 00:30:55,410 much harder to relate to God. 736 00:30:55,420 --> 00:30:57,240 Especially when you know it's a relationship that God wants 737 00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:58,930 you to have in good standing. 738 00:31:00,025 --> 00:31:02,405 When you pray to God, you need to come with an awareness of who 739 00:31:02,405 --> 00:31:05,755 God is, an awareness of where you are and an awareness of how 740 00:31:05,755 --> 00:31:06,685 am I doing with other people? 741 00:31:06,955 --> 00:31:09,925 Am I, am I holding bitterness with my siblings? 742 00:31:10,595 --> 00:31:12,035 Am I angry at my mom and my dad? 743 00:31:12,035 --> 00:31:14,485 Am I, am I mistreated friends at school? 744 00:31:14,485 --> 00:31:16,625 Am I, am I picking on people that I shouldn't pick on? 745 00:31:16,625 --> 00:31:19,025 Am I treating people around me the way I should? 746 00:31:19,835 --> 00:31:23,145 Accepting my responsibility before God comes means I'm coming to God 747 00:31:23,145 --> 00:31:25,755 with an awareness that I'm not where I need to be and I need to change. 748 00:31:25,965 --> 00:31:26,575 God, please help me. 749 00:31:27,260 --> 00:31:30,640 This is the kind of prayer model that Jesus wants us to adopt. 750 00:31:30,990 --> 00:31:32,870 It's not just thinking of ourselves, it's thinking about our 751 00:31:32,870 --> 00:31:34,420 relationship to God and others. 752 00:31:34,780 --> 00:31:36,540 Profoundly relationship centered. 753 00:31:37,500 --> 00:31:39,630 Okay, last, one more thing that Jesus brings up. 754 00:31:39,970 --> 00:31:43,430 We talk about, if we want God's rewards, we need to do things God's way. 755 00:31:43,450 --> 00:31:47,280 Remember, God's way is for His glory, treating Him like a person, with humility. 756 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:49,700 We're not performing for Him, we're being authentic with God. 757 00:31:50,100 --> 00:31:51,950 The last thing, though, is something you probably haven't done before. 758 00:31:52,500 --> 00:31:53,840 So let's take a look at it real quick. 759 00:31:54,230 --> 00:31:57,890 He says here, and when you fast, this means going without food 760 00:31:57,890 --> 00:32:00,470 in this particular instance, but you might say going without 761 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,700 something in order to focus on God. 762 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:04,250 It's meant to convey humility. 763 00:32:04,570 --> 00:32:06,460 It's meant to convey dependence upon God. 764 00:32:06,460 --> 00:32:07,870 It's a way for you to relate to God. 765 00:32:07,900 --> 00:32:13,640 So he says, when you fast, don't look gloomy like the hypocrites. 766 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,810 There are some people, Jesus says, who when they fast, they 767 00:32:16,810 --> 00:32:19,070 want you to know, Oh, my stomach. 768 00:32:19,980 --> 00:32:22,950 Oh, oh, this is so hard. 769 00:32:23,900 --> 00:32:24,930 Oh, what's the matter pastor? 770 00:32:25,010 --> 00:32:26,460 Oh, I'm just, I'm just fasting. 771 00:32:26,470 --> 00:32:27,680 Don't worry about me though. 772 00:32:28,180 --> 00:32:28,890 I'm okay. 773 00:32:29,510 --> 00:32:30,330 I'll be all right. 774 00:32:31,170 --> 00:32:32,810 Please don't worry about me. 775 00:32:34,530 --> 00:32:36,930 It's silly, but this is what Jesus is calling out. 776 00:32:37,050 --> 00:32:40,890 He doesn't want people to pretend like they're doing some great thing 777 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,010 for God when all they're really doing is trying to get you to look at 778 00:32:44,010 --> 00:32:47,700 them and say, man, that dude, he's, Pastor Rod is serious about God. 779 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:48,210 Wow. 780 00:32:48,685 --> 00:32:49,975 They should get an award or something. 781 00:32:50,895 --> 00:32:54,115 Well the award is human approval, human approbation. 782 00:32:55,025 --> 00:32:57,275 He says they disfigure their faces. 783 00:32:57,345 --> 00:33:00,075 So they make their face like, Oh, I have a stomach hurt, you 784 00:33:00,075 --> 00:33:01,175 know, they want you to see. 785 00:33:01,465 --> 00:33:04,545 Disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. 786 00:33:04,595 --> 00:33:08,565 Truly I say to you, as Jesus said before, they have received their reward. 787 00:33:08,565 --> 00:33:09,155 That's all you get. 788 00:33:09,175 --> 00:33:10,205 You get human applause. 789 00:33:12,285 --> 00:33:12,795 Good job. 790 00:33:13,345 --> 00:33:13,505 Good. 791 00:33:13,545 --> 00:33:13,895 Yes. 792 00:33:13,965 --> 00:33:14,165 No. 793 00:33:14,745 --> 00:33:15,295 Good job. 794 00:33:15,295 --> 00:33:16,784 Good job. 795 00:33:17,365 --> 00:33:19,565 He says, but when you fast, Christian. 796 00:33:20,290 --> 00:33:24,240 When you deny yourself something that is good, in order to focus 797 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:29,260 on God and show humility, anoint your head, wash your face. 798 00:33:29,290 --> 00:33:32,400 We might say, take a shower, young men, shave your face, 799 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:34,230 put on some clean clothes. 800 00:33:34,900 --> 00:33:39,080 Verse 18, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by 801 00:33:39,150 --> 00:33:40,650 your father who is in secret. 802 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,520 And your father who sees in secret, he will reward you. 803 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:48,200 God cares deeply. 804 00:33:49,390 --> 00:33:50,860 About you having integrity. 805 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:52,800 God wants your authenticity. 806 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:56,080 God wants your motivation to be on him and not for other people. 807 00:33:57,970 --> 00:34:01,960 You ever see these TikTok videos where someone does something like this. 808 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,100 They're like, they're crying in front of the camera. 809 00:34:04,690 --> 00:34:08,650 They're, they're showing that they're really bothered by something, but they 810 00:34:08,650 --> 00:34:12,989 have the wherewithal to set up their tripod, turn on their lights, and 811 00:34:12,989 --> 00:34:16,630 then perform in front of the camera as though they're really experiencing that. 812 00:34:16,630 --> 00:34:16,980 I mean, so. 813 00:34:17,495 --> 00:34:18,235 So cringy, right? 814 00:34:18,235 --> 00:34:18,514 Cringe. 815 00:34:18,705 --> 00:34:21,455 In fact, there's one guy on TikTok that I love because he takes videos like 816 00:34:21,455 --> 00:34:22,995 this and he points out the absurdity. 817 00:34:24,145 --> 00:34:25,175 I just had to show it to you. 818 00:34:25,225 --> 00:34:27,495 Okay, so just this, just this one, just one, right? 819 00:34:27,495 --> 00:34:27,925 This is it. 820 00:34:28,014 --> 00:34:28,605 That's all I got is one. 821 00:34:28,605 --> 00:34:29,034 You ready? 822 00:34:29,034 --> 00:34:36,694 Okay, 823 00:34:37,694 --> 00:34:38,504 I don't know the gal. 824 00:34:38,554 --> 00:34:41,094 I'm sure she intended it and meant well, so I don't know. 825 00:34:41,114 --> 00:34:41,684 I guess I don't know. 826 00:34:41,824 --> 00:34:44,024 But you get how silly that feels, right? 827 00:34:44,024 --> 00:34:45,094 After you're like, oh, yeah. 828 00:34:45,734 --> 00:34:48,244 I'm watching her cry, but she had to set up the video. 829 00:34:48,274 --> 00:34:51,563 She had to, then she had to do, do her thing in front of it to make sure 830 00:34:51,563 --> 00:34:53,103 that you saw her being distressed. 831 00:34:53,873 --> 00:34:55,864 And it's, it was naturally just off putting. 832 00:34:56,134 --> 00:34:59,324 Humans are not meant to act and play. 833 00:34:59,324 --> 00:35:01,274 We're meant to be, to be real. 834 00:35:01,454 --> 00:35:02,784 And that's what, that's what God wants from you. 835 00:35:03,264 --> 00:35:04,424 You want to do things God's way. 836 00:35:04,434 --> 00:35:06,324 He wants you to do everything for His glory. 837 00:35:06,324 --> 00:35:07,944 And He wants you to do it in a way that's genuine. 838 00:35:08,264 --> 00:35:10,164 I put it like this, point number three, let's pursue 839 00:35:10,174 --> 00:35:11,764 authenticity instead of acting. 840 00:35:13,214 --> 00:35:16,629 If you are far from God, Better for you to just say that. 841 00:35:17,669 --> 00:35:20,109 If you're struggling with something that you hear from me, better for 842 00:35:20,109 --> 00:35:23,939 you to say that than to pretend that you're tracking or that you love 843 00:35:23,939 --> 00:35:27,129 God when in reality you're really struggling or that you're not with Him. 844 00:35:28,189 --> 00:35:30,909 Better for you to be honest with where you are than to, 845 00:35:32,939 --> 00:35:33,859 than to pretend like you're not. 846 00:35:34,499 --> 00:35:36,499 Christians respect truthfulness. 847 00:35:37,709 --> 00:35:39,829 And the reason why is because God respects that. 848 00:35:40,399 --> 00:35:41,599 You want God's rewards? 849 00:35:41,839 --> 00:35:42,979 You gotta do things God's way. 850 00:35:43,369 --> 00:35:45,739 And God's way is authenticity, being real with where you're 851 00:35:45,739 --> 00:35:46,889 at, being real with who you are. 852 00:35:47,579 --> 00:35:50,499 Now, some people under that same guise will say, Well, then who I 853 00:35:50,499 --> 00:35:53,949 really am is the opposite gender, or I'm really a cat, or, you know, 854 00:35:53,949 --> 00:35:55,759 I identify as the Eiffel Tower. 855 00:35:55,769 --> 00:35:56,609 That's not what I'm talking about. 856 00:35:57,629 --> 00:36:00,799 Being real with where you're at means just being honest, truthful. 857 00:36:01,699 --> 00:36:02,539 That's what God wants. 858 00:36:02,539 --> 00:36:04,089 Authenticity instead of acting. 859 00:36:06,339 --> 00:36:08,509 Gotta be real with yourself and with God. 860 00:36:08,864 --> 00:36:10,724 This is the way that God wants us to interact with them. 861 00:36:10,724 --> 00:36:12,984 When it comes to fasting, hopefully at some point we'll do this, but God 862 00:36:12,984 --> 00:36:16,044 wants you to fast in the right way, which means I'm doing it for His sake. 863 00:36:16,044 --> 00:36:18,394 I don't need you to tell me I'm doing a good job. 864 00:36:18,644 --> 00:36:19,904 I'm doing it for God and for God alone. 865 00:36:21,294 --> 00:36:22,844 I've been dancing around this the whole time. 866 00:36:22,854 --> 00:36:24,394 Now let's talk, let's unpack this just a bit. 867 00:36:25,104 --> 00:36:27,364 God says when you do things His way, what do you get? 868 00:36:28,904 --> 00:36:29,314 What do you get? 869 00:36:29,314 --> 00:36:32,364 When you do things God's way, you get God's rewards. 870 00:36:32,365 --> 00:36:36,824 You might be asking, well, What kind of rewards do I get then Pastor Rod? 871 00:36:36,824 --> 00:36:38,734 What do I do if God's gonna give me something? 872 00:36:38,734 --> 00:36:39,824 What do I get out of this thing? 873 00:36:40,584 --> 00:36:41,134 It's a good question. 874 00:36:41,394 --> 00:36:45,484 Let me try to answer that briefly as we close Sometimes you'll see things 875 00:36:45,484 --> 00:36:48,374 like this on on the Facebook post or something like this the community boards 876 00:36:48,644 --> 00:36:52,804 There's like oh I lost my dog or I lost my cat If you find my dog or my cat, 877 00:36:52,804 --> 00:36:56,454 this is what they look like And if you call me and you see you see my cat get 878 00:36:56,454 --> 00:37:00,494 them turned into me I will give you this guy I think is offering 500 bucks 500 879 00:37:00,524 --> 00:37:02,934 reward or free dog grooming for life. 880 00:37:03,014 --> 00:37:06,024 That's actually a good deal I might buy a dog just to get that. 881 00:37:07,464 --> 00:37:09,454 Because Lord knows, you don't need another cat in the world. 882 00:37:11,104 --> 00:37:11,544 Just kidding. 883 00:37:11,544 --> 00:37:12,104 Cat lovers. 884 00:37:13,694 --> 00:37:15,414 People will try to incentivize, like, Hey! 885 00:37:15,504 --> 00:37:16,234 Get me back my cat. 886 00:37:16,234 --> 00:37:17,944 I'll give you 500 to get my cat. 887 00:37:17,944 --> 00:37:18,804 Look out for my cat. 888 00:37:18,814 --> 00:37:19,454 Give me 500. 889 00:37:19,474 --> 00:37:20,324 By the way, this is real. 890 00:37:20,324 --> 00:37:22,894 If you've seen this cat, maybe you'd get 500 out of this. 891 00:37:23,334 --> 00:37:24,514 that's good Christmas money right there. 892 00:37:24,515 --> 00:37:28,124 But what about the people that are like you know I don't really care about 893 00:37:28,124 --> 00:37:29,324 500 bucks I got everything I need. 894 00:37:29,404 --> 00:37:30,364 I don't need your 500. 895 00:37:30,404 --> 00:37:32,194 I don't need your dog grooming because I don't have any dogs. 896 00:37:32,194 --> 00:37:32,694 I don't have any cats. 897 00:37:32,694 --> 00:37:33,224 I don't have any kids. 898 00:37:33,674 --> 00:37:34,294 I don't need them. 899 00:37:34,614 --> 00:37:37,654 For some people, this might be super interesting and engaging for others. 900 00:37:37,654 --> 00:37:38,384 And they're like, no big deal. 901 00:37:38,384 --> 00:37:39,664 I don't need, I don't need more money. 902 00:37:40,104 --> 00:37:41,534 I don't need more, whatever that is. 903 00:37:42,634 --> 00:37:46,434 When it comes to the way that God rewards us, it's not like God saying, Hey, if 904 00:37:46,434 --> 00:37:48,414 you find my cat, I'll give you 500. 905 00:37:48,674 --> 00:37:51,444 It's God saying, I know you better than you know yourself. 906 00:37:52,034 --> 00:37:54,634 I care about you more than you care about yourself. 907 00:37:55,074 --> 00:38:00,474 I can give you precisely what your soul needs, which is me first and foremost. 908 00:38:01,054 --> 00:38:05,014 One of the rewards God gives is not the intangible benefits of money. 909 00:38:05,074 --> 00:38:10,054 He gives you the tangible life enhancing relationship with him. 910 00:38:10,054 --> 00:38:10,714 That's the first thing. 911 00:38:11,044 --> 00:38:16,084 One of the rewards God gives you is more of himself, more joy, more gladness, more 912 00:38:16,084 --> 00:38:17,444 connection with the God who made you. 913 00:38:17,724 --> 00:38:18,874 I can't overstate that. 914 00:38:18,884 --> 00:38:20,324 That's one of the best blessings you get. 915 00:38:20,694 --> 00:38:24,964 But on top of that, in addition to God himself, God depicts himself as 916 00:38:24,964 --> 00:38:26,964 a good father who's very generous. 917 00:38:27,804 --> 00:38:29,104 And I kind of alluded to it already. 918 00:38:29,114 --> 00:38:29,434 Think about this. 919 00:38:30,159 --> 00:38:32,899 Every day of your life, for as long as you've been alive, you've 920 00:38:32,899 --> 00:38:34,899 never just had bread for food. 921 00:38:35,899 --> 00:38:37,369 You've never just had water. 922 00:38:37,789 --> 00:38:39,819 You've never just had one pair of shoes. 923 00:38:39,939 --> 00:38:41,149 You've always had plenty. 924 00:38:41,449 --> 00:38:43,799 And this is God giving you this in this life. 925 00:38:43,799 --> 00:38:47,399 And I'm not saying that, I'm not saying that heaven is 926 00:38:47,399 --> 00:38:49,199 going to be all material gain. 927 00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:50,579 I'm trying to make a point. 928 00:38:51,359 --> 00:38:52,399 God is generous. 929 00:38:53,279 --> 00:38:56,049 And if you can see God's hand of generosity in this life, just wait 930 00:38:56,049 --> 00:38:57,429 till you see what He gives in the next. 931 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:00,389 Again, the most important thing God gives you? 932 00:39:00,679 --> 00:39:01,289 Himself. 933 00:39:02,259 --> 00:39:05,799 But because God is generous, He gives you not only Himself, but so much more. 934 00:39:06,659 --> 00:39:09,559 And it will be worth it in the long run. 935 00:39:10,689 --> 00:39:12,629 You want God's rewards, you gotta do it God's way. 936 00:39:13,459 --> 00:39:14,769 Which means you're doing it for His glory. 937 00:39:15,459 --> 00:39:19,719 You're doing it, not as a performance, but with a person. 938 00:39:19,809 --> 00:39:21,389 God, the person, a real person. 939 00:39:21,889 --> 00:39:24,439 And thirdly, it's authentic and not acting. 940 00:39:25,484 --> 00:39:28,044 This is Matthew chapter 6 verses 1 through 18 in a nutshell. 941 00:39:28,054 --> 00:39:30,174 So much more here, but we can't cover that. 942 00:39:30,274 --> 00:39:31,504 So I would encourage you to read this. 943 00:39:32,114 --> 00:39:33,904 Go back after tonight and read this again. 944 00:39:33,914 --> 00:39:35,984 Make sure you understand what's being, what's being said here. 945 00:39:36,194 --> 00:39:36,924 There's so many good things. 946 00:39:37,204 --> 00:39:41,654 Next week when Matt preaches, we're going to put a pause in 947 00:39:41,654 --> 00:39:42,844 the book of Matthew, ironically. 948 00:39:44,124 --> 00:39:45,264 Matt's gonna preach, but not for Matthew. 949 00:39:45,564 --> 00:39:46,724 We're gonna put a pause in the book of Matthew. 950 00:39:46,734 --> 00:39:48,814 We'll pick it up back again in the new year, but there's so much here. 951 00:39:48,984 --> 00:39:51,244 I would love for you to see all that Matthew has to offer. 952 00:39:51,404 --> 00:39:52,194 There's much more to come. 953 00:39:52,434 --> 00:39:53,374 Thank you for paying attention. 954 00:39:53,374 --> 00:39:55,254 Let's pray, and then I'll dismiss you to your small groups. 955 00:39:55,494 --> 00:39:58,264 God, we are grateful for the opportunity to open your Word, to learn from 956 00:39:58,264 --> 00:40:01,834 it, to study it, and ultimately to be impacted and changed by it. 957 00:40:02,214 --> 00:40:04,944 Please help us not to quickly forget what we just heard. 958 00:40:05,194 --> 00:40:08,454 So easy for us to, to hear things and even to say, oh, that's 959 00:40:08,464 --> 00:40:09,694 interesting or I like that. 960 00:40:10,219 --> 00:40:13,639 And yet to walk away and forget about it, not to think about it, not to 961 00:40:13,929 --> 00:40:17,419 engage it in our brains to turn it over and to figure out ways to apply it. 962 00:40:18,219 --> 00:40:20,309 In fact, Lord, that's one of the reasons that we're going to small groups. 963 00:40:20,699 --> 00:40:22,019 We want to apply what we just heard. 964 00:40:22,019 --> 00:40:23,269 So help us with that. 965 00:40:23,619 --> 00:40:24,769 Give us grace to do it. 966 00:40:24,769 --> 00:40:28,069 Lord, give us the ability to pay close attention, help us to honor our 967 00:40:28,069 --> 00:40:31,879 leaders and to honor one another as we try to work through some of the 968 00:40:31,879 --> 00:40:33,479 questions that we're about to encounter. 969 00:40:33,859 --> 00:40:35,789 We ask all of this in Jesus name. 970 00:40:36,149 --> 00:40:36,519 Amen.