00:00 Exploring the Best Christmas Light Displays

01:29 The Perfect Family Illusion

02:37 The Empty Inside: A Deeper Look

05:20 Living for God's Rewards

07:05 The Importance of Genuine Intentions

09:17 Giving for God's Glory

19:33 Praying with a Pure Heart

21:44 Understanding God's Focus in Prayer

22:08 How to Pray: A Step-by-Step Guide

23:21 The Importance of Daily Dependence on God

24:16 Forgiveness and Temptation in Prayer

25:40 Avoiding Performance in Prayer

28:42 Keys to Effective Prayer

31:54 The Role of Fasting in Spiritual Life

36:25 God's Rewards for Authentic Faith

39:25 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

One of the coolest things that you'll get to do with your family

2

is to go find some of the best decorated

neighborhoods, or in this case parking

3

lots, where lights are on full display.

4

My family and I, during my time off,

we went to the light park, which is

5

right off of the Dallas North Tollway.

6

They have transformed the

Rough Riders parking lot into

7

a drive through lights display.

8

So you go through you turn your radio

station to a certain frequency and they're

9

playing music and then all the lights

Work in synchronization to the music

10

that you hear on the radio, but beyond

places like this You can go to other

11

places neighborhoods I'm here Highland

Park does some really cool stuff But

12

people really go all out for Christmas

and this is one of the best things ever

13

In fact, there are TV shows dedicated

to Christmas lights displays In fact,

14

people can win money by setting up their

house to do really cool things In fact,

15

I saw this guy this week He, I don't

know where he lives, but he's got a large

16

lot and on his lot, he programs lights

to go off at certain times with fire.

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So he's got lights, he's got LCD displays.

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I didn't put the video out here for

you cause I thought it was too good.

19

It'd make my sermon not be as good.

20

So he has lights, LCDs, and then he's

got fire that shoots up in the air.

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And if that weren't enough, he

actually has fireworks shooting in the

22

air as his lights display goes off.

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So people take this really seriously.

24

This is all over our neighborhood.

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In fact, North Texas

has, is known for being.

26

Uh, full of light shows

and displays Salina.

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If you haven't gone to the Salina

town square yet, they have some

28

pretty cool lights in the, in the town

square, which is super impressive.

29

But think about this with me.

30

Imagine you drive up to a home just like

this and the lights are spectacular.

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They're playing music and it's

all synchronized and there's happy

32

people in the front and they're,

and they're so nice to you.

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The whole thing is lovely to behold.

34

The husband and wife come out.

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Mom and dad, they have pearly white teeth.

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He's smiling.

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He's laughing.

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She's saying, come on over kids.

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Watch my cool display.

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The kids come out and they're perfect.

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They stand with upright posture.

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None of them are looking at their phones.

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They're paying attention to you.

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They are the perfect family.

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Spotless.

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You've never seen a better family.

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And they say, why don't you come

on inside our house, little kid?

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They're talking to you, of course.

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This gets weird really quick.

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But you, lacking better judgment,

you say, Okay, I'll come

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inside the house with you guys.

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And you walk inside the house.

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And you, and you walk in and you

find the house is completely dark.

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There's no heating.

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There's no lights.

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There's no furniture.

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There's no nothing.

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You've just walked into a horror film.

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You're about to die.

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That's about what you're thinking, right?

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If you see a light display like this

and you walk inside and there's nothing

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inside, that would be terrifying because

you know, something is woefully wrong.

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Well, interestingly enough,

a lot of people do this.

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They have a lot of lights and a lot of

show and they have the perfect smile

65

and they have everything going on.

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But if you just go a little bit deeper

into their lives, you find out there's

67

really not a whole lot going on.

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In fact, there's a lot of darkness.

69

A lot of scariness behind the scenes.

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They put on a really good show, they look

really good on the outside, but on the

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inside, things aren't looking so hot.

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In fact, Jesus talks about this,

he said it's kind of like having a

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cup, and on the outside of the cup,

you have a really clean exterior.

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You see sometimes cups in the sink,

you'll see that inside the cup there's

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like food particles and there's

caked, uh, you know, stuff like this.

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There's caked things on the inside.

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Outside though, if you were just to

look at the cup, it looks pretty good.

78

It's kind of like if you've ever

been to Universal Studios, when you

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go to Universal Studios, Hollywood

in particular, you'll notice that

80

they have what are called facades.

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Facades are exteriors that are meant to

look really impressive on the outside.

82

They look real.

83

And that's because they're

made for TV or for movies.

84

And so you'll see on the outside, there

are these really impressive displays,

85

whether it's the old west or whether it's

something like this, where it looks like

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downtown New York or something like that.

87

But once you walk around the facade,

you'll notice that what's behind

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them is just, you know, steel beams

and there's nothing else going on.

89

It's all for show.

90

A lot of people live

their lives like this.

91

Challenge with this, So what I'm trying

to say is, is that if you present

92

something to people, you present a life

like this, which is a lot on the outside,

93

but not a whole lot going on the inside,

there's really no benefit to this, right?

94

There's no, there's, there's no benefit.

95

It looks great, but if you were gonna

invite someone in your house, you

96

don't have a kitchen to take them to,

you don't have a bedroom to show them,

97

you don't have a, you don't have a

stove to make them some tea or some

98

coffee, if you were to take them in.

99

Right.

100

If you were to give them your, your cup,

the cup that you, you just showed that

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that cup looks great on the outside,

but you can't serve people with it.

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Can't put coffee or Mountain View in it.

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You got no purpose for it.

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If the lights on the outside of the

house look wonderful, but the house can't

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keep you warm at night cause there's

no gas or there's no electricity on

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the inside, then the house is useless.

107

All of the things that I just showed

you right now are examples of what

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it looks like to have a really great

outside, but a really empty inside.

109

Jesus is concerned about this because

if you live your life this way,

110

what you end up doing is creating

a really interesting outside, but

111

you lack what's most important.

112

You lack a really good inside.

113

Now here's what that means

for you, practically speaking.

114

If you have on the outside, everything

put together, but on the inside, you're

115

missing what God wants you to have.

116

If you're not, then really

you have an empty life.

117

You have a life that's not

purposeful, a life that's not useful

118

in the way that God designs it.

119

In fact, God wants you, I'm

going to, I'm going to make

120

a bold claim for you tonight.

121

God wants you to pursue

good things from him.

122

God wants you to pursue rewards from him.

123

God wants you to want the good

things that he has for you.

124

But to get to the good things that

God offers, he doesn't just want you

125

to pretend to be good on the outside.

126

He doesn't want you to just have

a really nice Christmas lights

127

display while on the inside.

128

It's dark.

129

God wants you to pursue

His rewards in His way.

130

God wants you to get the good

things that He offers you in the way

131

that He wants you to go for them.

132

Paul talked about this, Paul

the Apostle, talked about it

133

like a race.

134

He says, if I race, I don't want

to run and get disqualified.

135

I want to run to win the prize.

136

I don't want to get disqualified.

137

In the same way, as you live your

life, don't live your life in such

138

a way where you don't win the prize,

where you don't get the reward.

139

God wants you to have the reward.

140

It's up to you, though,

to play by the rules.

141

The rules are important.

142

We don't like the word rules because

it has a negative connotation, but

143

the rules are really important.

144

I put it like this.

145

You get God's rewards

by doing it God's way.

146

It's another way to say it, right?

147

I want you to play by the rules.

148

I want you to do what God wants you

to do the way God wants you to do it.

149

I don't want you to set up Christmas

lights and not have an inside the house

150

that's just as warm and as accommodating.

151

I don't want you to have a coffee cup,

you to And only the outside is clean.

152

When I tell my kids to wash

the dishes, I don't expect

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them only to wash the outside.

154

I want them to wash the inside as well.

155

You're playing by the rules.

156

When someone builds a house, when

your, when your parents contracted a

157

builder to build your house and build

your room, they didn't say, Hey, we

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just want a really nice exterior.

159

No, they said, Hey, we

want sinks and toilets.

160

We also want bedrooms in a garage.

161

That's playing by the rules.

162

All this to say, tonight we're

going to see through a long

163

text how we get God's rewards.

164

God wants you to have his rewards.

165

It's up to you to play

by the rules to get them.

166

And for that, we're going to look at

Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six.

167

We're going to look at

18 verses one through 18.

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And it's a lot.

169

We're going to go through

it really quickly.

170

And I'm going to promise you that if

you listen closely to this message,

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one of the things you'll walk away with

is how God wants you to approach him.

172

And consequently, what God will do

when you approach him the right way.

173

Amen.

174

Amen.

175

Take a look with me again,

Matthew chapter six, where are we?

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We're in the Sermon on the Mount.

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We're still there.

178

In fact, Matthew chapter five through

seven is still the Sermon on the Mount.

179

We're going to see from Jesus how

we, uh, how we live in his kingdom,

180

how Jesus wants us to relate

to him and relate to his word.

181

Jesus fulfills the law by expanding

upon it, by teaching what it

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really is supposed to mean.

183

Our job is to obey him

and respond accordingly.

184

And so he starts off with this.

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Now, when you think about religion,

when you think about getting right

186

with God, one of the first things

you might think of is prayer.

187

But Jesus actually says, you know what, if

you want to know if someone's truly right

188

with me, he goes right to something that

most of us wouldn't think twice about.

189

He talks about your money,

what you do with your money.

190

You're going to, you're about in a

couple of weeks, 17, 16 days, 15 days,

191

you're going to get probably a couple

of presents from grandparents, or maybe

192

from people that know you guys are going

to say, Oh, here's a, here's, here's 50.

193

Or here's a 50 Amazon card, or

here's a hundred bucks for Christmas.

194

They're gonna give you things to

dispose of, money you get to choose

195

what to do with, and here's what

Jesus says when it comes to money.

196

He says, look, Beware of practicing your

righteousness before other people, before

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people in order to be seen by them.

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For then you will have no reward

from your Father who is in heaven.

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This one verse governs everything

else you're about to look at.

200

And this is super important.

201

So track with me for a second.

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Hang with me and understand this.

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When you do good things for God,

they must be for God and not for

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something else, not for someone else.

205

Goes down to your motivations.

206

What are you motivated for?

207

What drives you?

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And if it's not, I'm doing

this for God, then you're

209

probably going to miss the mark.

210

Jesus says, when you're doing things

for God, Whether it's giving money

211

or praying or fasting, he says if

you're doing it to be seen by people,

212

well, then that's all you get from it.

213

That's your only reward.

214

If you're doing something just to

impress mom or dad, or just to impress

215

your coach, or just to impress the girl

that you like, or the guy that you're

216

into, if you're doing it just to impress

people, that's all you get from it.

217

But if you're doing it for God,

that's when you get rewarded.

218

In fact, a few weeks ago,

we talked about this.

219

Remember when Jesus says, look,

in the same way, let your light

220

shine before others so that

they may see your good works.

221

Jesus is not against

people seeing you do good.

222

What He is against is you doing

good so that people see you.

223

There's a difference.

224

If you're saying, I want to do it so

that people give glory to my Father in

225

Heaven, to give glory to God, great.

226

But if you're doing it so that

people look at you and say,

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look how awesome that girl is.

228

She's so nice.

229

She's so spiritual.

230

He's so handsome.

231

He's so wonderful.

232

He's marriage material.

233

I love you.

234

He's the kind of guy I want

to have a family with, maybe.

235

If you're doing it to impress

people, you're missing the

236

mark, is what I'm saying.

237

Jesus is okay with people seeing

your righteousness, but He's not

238

okay with that being your motivation.

239

He says, He continues on in Matthew

chapter 6, He says, Thus, or so, when

240

you give to the needy, when you're giving

money away to people who are in a bad

241

position, He says, Sound no trumpet.

242

Um, you've heard the term

tooting your own horn?

243

When you start talking

about how awesome you are?

244

I've got a 4.

245

5 GPA.

246

I speak four languages.

247

Really good at math, too.

248

Tooting your own horn.

249

Jesus says, don't do that.

250

He says, sound no trumpet before you,

as the hypocrites do in the synagogues

251

and in the streets, that they may be

praised by others, that you go again.

252

There's the motivation.

253

He says, truly, I say to you,

they have received the reward.

254

If you're, if you want the praise

of people versus the praise

255

of God, he says, there you go.

256

You've had your reward.

257

So, verse three, but when you give to

the needy, that is you as a Christian,

258

when you give, don't even tell your

left hand what your right hand is doing.

259

In other words, be so secret about it,

so discreet that you're not telling

260

anybody or even keeping things away

from yourself, which is impossible.

261

But Jesus is saying, go out of your

way not to make a big deal out of it.

262

He says, verse four, so that

your giving may be in secret.

263

And then he gives the

rationale, the motivation.

264

This is the motivation.

265

He says, When you do this, your

father, who sees everything, he

266

sees your waking, he sees your

sleeping, he says, not Santa Claus.

267

This is the real God of heaven.

268

He sees everything about you.

269

And when you do what he wants

for him, he will reward you.

270

You want God's rewards.

271

You got to do it God's way.

272

Here's God's way in a nutshell.

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Point number one, if you're going to do

it God's way, here's why you do good.

274

Here's why you pray.

275

Here's why you fast.

276

Here's why you give.

277

You ready for it.

278

You're going to be surprised

when I tell you point number one,

279

you're ready for point number one.

280

Here goes.

281

Point number one.

282

Do good for God's glory.

283

Oh, man, I'm shocked.

284

This is brand new.

285

I've never heard this before.

286

I know you have.

287

I know you have.

288

I get that.

289

So please forgive me for the repetition.

290

But there is no formation

without repetition.

291

So I'm doing this on

purpose for your benefit.

292

When you do good, when you

work hard in math class, when

293

you treat your sister nicely.

294

When you make your bed because your

parents have asked you to do that, when

295

you do the dishes because you were told

to do the dishes, when you work hard at

296

your instrument, when you labor strong in

practice, when you read the book that your

297

English teacher told you to read, when

you go to church and you pay attention

298

because your parents asked you to do that,

when you do any good thing, what God cares

299

about is that you're doing it for Him.

300

I want to be rewarded by God

and so ultimately I want to do

301

all of this for God's glory.

302

When I preach for you and you take notes,

great notes, and you're giving me good

303

eye contact and you're nodding when

you're understanding something, or you're

304

saying this, when you don't understand

something, you're giving me feedback.

305

I appreciate that.

306

I really do.

307

That's, that's helpful for me because then

I can kind of adjust along the way, which

308

is why I look at you when I'm preaching.

309

But I hope that you're doing that because

you want to ultimately glorify God and not

310

just swing points with the youth pastors.

311

Does it benefit you anyway?

312

I really have nothing to give you.

313

But when you do things for

God's glory, everything changes.

314

I remember when I, I used

to work at McDonald's.

315

I don't know if I ever talked to this.

316

I used to work at McDonald's.

317

I worked there for I think

two, maybe three years.

318

It was a long time.

319

I hated it.

320

But one occasion, it was a,

I think it was a Saturday.

321

There was a homeless lady kind of

camping out in front of the McDonald's.

322

I was a, I would call myself

a Christian at that time.

323

I don't know that I truly was.

324

But I called myself a Christian.

325

So I felt The need to go out

to this lady during my break.

326

And so that's what I did.

327

I have my 15 minute break.

328

I walked right outside

through the double doors.

329

And I went to this lady and

said, Hey, um, are you hungry?

330

Simple question.

331

And she said, yes, yes, I am.

332

I said, okay, well, can

I buy you some food then?

333

And so she acquiesced.

334

She said, yeah, yeah, that'd be great.

335

I was always told never to give money

to people that are, Because you never

336

know what they're going to use it for.

337

But if you want to be generous to

somebody who doesn't look like they have

338

the same privileges you do, then one

of the things you can do is buy them

339

food because probably going to eat it.

340

So I took her inside and I brought

her in and she smelled, I remember

341

that much she was, she had a very

pungent odor, wasn't wearing nice

342

clothes, obviously, but I brought

her in and Rosa was at the register.

343

She was my manager at that time.

344

And I said, Rosa, I'd

like to buy And a meal.

345

Um, It'd really be really great if

I get my employee discount too, Uh,

346

but I'd like to buy them, and so

I said, okay, whatever you want.

347

And I let her order and she got a ton,

I don't even remember what it was.

348

Um, I remember though, when I,

when I did that, uh, I felt the

349

pain of it cause she, she got a

lot of food more than I expected.

350

Uh and I didn't make a lot of

money, I was making minimum wage.

351

I mean, I'm doing Donald's after all.

352

But she ordered, and I paid whatever

it was, the 15 bucks, which today

353

feels like a normal meal, but

back then it was like 1, 000.

354

So I paid the money.

355

My boss is looking at me a bit

quizzically, but also approvingly.

356

She was confused about what I was

doing, but she was also proud.

357

I noticed that.

358

I clocked that pretty quickly.

359

Anyway, I waited with the lady, tried

to make some small talk with her.

360

She got her meal, and then she

went back outside, and that was it.

361

Um, I felt something.

362

That I've only felt a few times

in my life where I just felt like,

363

man, that was really, really cool.

364

Jesus said it's more blessed to give

than to receive, and that, that day

365

I felt it for one of the, one of the

first times in my life, feeling what

366

it was like to give something away that

actually really hurt, but I loved it.

367

It was awesome.

368

Rosa saw that, my boss at the time, Rosa.

369

She was a, she was a big Hispanic

lady, one of my coolest bosses

370

ever, and she didn't, she didn't

mention it, and I didn't bring it up.

371

I was okay with that, because

I wasn't doing it for Rosa.

372

I wasn't doing it for McDonald's.

373

I wasn't, I was wearing my McDonald's

uniform, but I wasn't trying

374

to make McDonald's look good.

375

I was trying to say this is

what's what's good for God.

376

This is what's good for God's glory.

377

And I cared about the lady, at least

enough to say, I want to feed you.

378

Let me help you.

379

And so many times people will do good

things like that, but not for God's glory.

380

In fact, there's a whole industry

of people that give a lot of

381

money away, but not for God.

382

These people are called philanthropists.

383

These philanthropists have

made millions upon billions,

384

if not trillions of dollars.

385

You might notice some

of those faces up there.

386

Bill Gates is knowing, uh, known for

having given away lots of his money.

387

In fact, I think one of the challenges

for Bill is that he's trying to

388

give away everything before he dies.

389

Him and, and, uh, Berkshire Hathaway guy.

390

What's his name?

391

Bennett.

392

Bennett.

393

Yeah.

394

Warren, Warren, Warren

Buffett rather, not Bennett.

395

Uh, Buffett, uh, Gates, George Soros.

396

These guys have Bill, these guys

are going to make more money than

397

everybody in this room, probably,

unless you become one of these people.

398

He's going to make more money than

everyone in this room combined

399

in five minutes than we'll

ever see in our whole lifetime.

400

These guys will give away tons of cash.

401

But the question you should

ask yourself is why do these

402

people give away all this money?

403

What's behind that?

404

And here's, here's the thing.

405

Some of them are giving away money

to organizations that promote

406

health care, clean drinking water,

which we could say that's great.

407

Some of them, actually a lot of them, give

away money to educational organizations

408

where they're trying to educate people

that don't have the same money that you

409

and I do, where they struggle with that.

410

So they provide money for those things.

411

These guys are giving away to

some really neat organizations.

412

But is this good?

413

Is this a good thing?

414

Is there philanthropy, which by

the way, philanthropy, uh, philo,

415

or philo, that's a form of love.

416

Um, And Anthropos is the word for man.

417

So a love of man, a

philanthropist is someone who

418

loves mankind with their money.

419

So these guys are giving

away tons of money.

420

Is that good?

421

Is that a good thing?

422

Part of you might say, well,

yeah, of course it's good.

423

They're helping people, right?

424

They're giving away, you know, clean

water and, and food and education.

425

And they would say, yeah, that's good.

426

But is it really good?

427

Is it truly good?

428

And here's my answer for you.

429

The answer is no, because

it's not done for God's glory.

430

John MacArthur once said.

431

The good that people who are not

Christians do is called bad good because

432

they don't do it for God's glory.

433

It's bad good.

434

So they're doing good, but it's bad

good because it's not for God's glory.

435

There's some other reason

that provokes them to do that.

436

Whether it's, I want people to

remember me, which by the way, Bill

437

Gates has the Bill Gates Foundation.

438

It's actually called the Bill

and Melinda Gates Foundation.

439

So when he dies, he has a foundation with

his name on it that dispenses the money.

440

Some of these other guys also

have organizations that have

441

their names on it as well.

442

So there might be even an element

of pride in their giving away.

443

For you then, I wonder if you

ever even thought of this.

444

Like when I give stuff away, when I buy

presents for friends, when I give money

445

to the church offering plate, if you do

that, which if you do, good job for you.

446

Now, when I do nice things for friends, am

I, am I doing it for the right reason or

447

is there maybe an element of pride in it?

448

Am I doing it because of, because of me?

449

I want people to know my name.

450

When I celebrate in the end zone, am I

doing it because I want people to know

451

who I am or am I pointing up and doing

the Jesus thing or the Tim Tebow and

452

what am I doing and why am I doing it?

453

And if I'm not doing it for God's

glory, I'm missing the mark.

454

If you want God's rewards, if you want

to know what it is to be rewarded by

455

God, you have to do it God's way and

God's way is do all things for my glory.

456

Be okay with doing it in secret

because it's not about people

457

giving you the accolades.

458

It's about God's glory.

459

Jesus now continues.

460

We talked about giving what you do with

your money, what you do with your money

461

reveals so much about your heart, but

he also says how you communicate with

462

God also reveals a lot about your heart.

463

There are some churches that

teach people to pray for things

464

like, Hey, give me the big job.

465

God give me the red convertible car.

466

Give me that brand new, whatever it is.

467

They teach something called

health, wealth, and prosperity.

468

Jesus actually tells you

how he wants you to pray.

469

And how you pray, again, revealing

your heart, tells you a lot.

470

Here's what he says,

take a look with me here.

471

How Jesus wants us to pray.

472

In these few verses, Matthew 5 through

8, let's take a look at this first.

473

Jesus says, when you pray, you

must not be like the hypocrites.

474

And a hypocrite, by the way,

is someone that wore a mask

475

and played a part on a stage.

476

Um, and so they would pretend

to be something they were not.

477

He says, don't be like those people.

478

They love, listen to this, they

love to stand and pray in the

479

synagogues and out the street corners.

480

Here we go again, that

they may be seen by others.

481

Truly, I say to you, they

have received their reward.

482

That is, they don't get anything else.

483

If you want man's praise,

that's all you get.

484

You get nothing more than that.

485

He says, but when you pray, you

as a Christian follower, as a

486

disciple, he says, go into your room.

487

, shut the door and pray to

your father who is in secret.

488

In other words, don't

make a big show of it.

489

Just do it quietly.

490

Don't, don't need to go to

the kitchen table and show

491

your mom that you're praying.

492

Don't need to have your dad.

493

Notice what you're doing.

494

She says, do it quietly.

495

Do it privately.

496

He says, and your father who

sees in secret, that's God the

497

Father, he will reward you.

498

Your reward's gonna be better than

just having people say, what a,

499

what a religious person you are.

500

He says in the next few verses here.

501

When you pray, don't heap up empty

phrases as the Gentiles do, for

502

they think that they're going to

be heard for their many words.

503

There are some people, Jesus says,

that like to try to manipulate God

504

by just saying a lot and having big,

flowery sentences that go on and on.

505

And he says, look, if you think you're

getting God's attention just because

506

you have a pretty voice, or you have

pretty sentences, or have long paragraphs

507

of information to communicate, it

doesn't mean that God's listening.

508

He's listening.

509

God doesn't care about how

many words there are, per se.

510

He cares about something else.

511

He says, verse 8 here, Don't be like them.

512

Where am I?

513

Verse 8?

514

Is that still up here?

515

Yes.

516

Verse 6, 7, 8.

517

Yes.

518

Don't be like them.

519

Don't be like them, for your Father

knows what you need before you ask Him.

520

God already knows.

521

You come to God in prayer,

He knows what you need.

522

That ought to change the

way that you pray, He says.

523

And then he's going to

tell you how to pray.

524

Now, we're going to go

through this rapid fire.

525

I want to give you some pointers on

this, but I need you to go in your

526

Bible and look along with me, because

I don't have it on the screen for you.

527

So, go to your Bible.

528

Yeah.

529

There you go.

530

So go, go to Matthew chapter

six, and we're going to look at

531

verses nine to 15 in your Bible.

532

So open your Bible.

533

I'm going to read it along with you.

534

Make a few comments as you, as

you read, here's what he says.

535

When you pray, Jesus says, pray

like this, that is don't pray

536

exactly this, but pray like this.

537

He starts off here in verse nine, our

father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

538

So first of all, he communicates

who you're talking to.

539

He's not just God generally.

540

He's our father in heaven.

541

And notice the inclusive pronoun.

542

It's not just my father in heaven.

543

He's assuming that you're

praying with other Christians.

544

Our father in heaven.

545

Hallowed be your name

means make your name holy.

546

Make people honor your name

is what he's saying there.

547

Verse 10.

548

Your kingdom come, your will be

done, on earth as it is in heaven.

549

Jesus says when you pray, your prayer

should reflect a God centered focus.

550

A sense of I want God's will to be done.

551

I don't want my will to be done

if it conflicts with God's will.

552

You should be asking for

God's will to be done.

553

Verse 11.

554

Jesus wants you to reflect your neediness.

555

Give us this day our daily bread.

556

Feed me, God.

557

Here's something interesting.

558

Think about this for a second.

559

You've never, probably, you've

never had to ask God to feed you.

560

And yet, every single day of

your life, God has fed you.

561

And some of you, he's

fed really well, right?

562

He doesn't just give you enough to get by.

563

He's not just giving you bread.

564

He's giving you Gigantic turkeys and

cheesy potatoes and cinnamon rolls and

565

all sorts of wonderful gooey deliciousness

that we all ate for Thanksgiving and

566

we're about to eat again for Christmas.

567

You've never prayed for God to

give you your daily bread and

568

yet everyday God does that.

569

Why do we not pray for that?

570

Well, because we think we're

going to get it no matter what.

571

Jesus doesn't want us to think that way.

572

Jesus doesn't want us to take

for granted his provision.

573

And so he says, look, ask for that.

574

Ask God to provide for you daily.

575

He continues verse 12, forgive

us our debts as we also

576

have forgiven our debtors.

577

Jesus is saying you need to ask God

for forgiveness on a regular basis.

578

You need to approach God recognizing

you've sinned against God.

579

Probably even right now you're

sinning against God in some way.

580

He wants you to acknowledge that

and say, Lord, please forgive me.

581

And what's interesting is that Jesus

wants you to anticipate God's forgiveness.

582

If you're the kind of person

who's willing to forgive others.

583

If you're the kind of person who forgives

others, Jesus is saying, You're probably

584

going to get God's forgiveness then.

585

You get God's forgiveness.

586

Someone who's been forgiven by

God is willing to forgive others.

587

And says, he says here in verse

13, lead us not into temptation,

588

but deliver us from evil.

589

Again, dependent upon God

to protect us, to guard us.

590

Verse 14, for if you forgive others,

their trespasses, your heavenly

591

father will also forgive you.

592

But if you do not forgive others,

their trespasses, then neither

593

will your father forgive yours.

594

This is the template that God

gives you for how to pray.

595

Now, I told you, if you want God's

rewards, you gotta do things God's way.

596

If you want answers to your

prayer, you gotta learn to pray

597

the way that God wants you to pray.

598

If you want to know how to approach

God, you need to approach God

599

in the way that He prescribes.

600

So many times, people pray in ways

that are just not that helpful.

601

Have you guys ever seen those

commercials, uh, the Snickers commercials?

602

You're, you're not, you're not

yourself when you're hungry?

603

Shows people acting in weird

ways like this, this, this

604

linebacker or whatever he was.

605

He was whining and complaining.

606

This is Betty White, by the way.

607

She's an old school actress and she eats

it and then he turns back into himself

608

and he's this big, buff, burly guy.

609

Really brilliant advertising.

610

In fact, Snickers has,

has great advertising.

611

Your, your hunger level, where

you put the tattoo, so you're

612

not you when you're hungry.

613

So if you eat a Snickers before you

get to the point of being so ravenously

614

hungry, you won't make the mistake of

putting a tattoo on the side of your head.

615

Okay.

616

Which as a rule of thumb, probably

should not get a tattoo on your face.

617

Just hear me say that.

618

Okay.

619

That's not the point of my

sermon, but don't do that.

620

Yes.

621

You'll avoid the, you'll

avoid the problem.

622

Last one here.

623

You're not you when you're hungry.

624

Uh, I guess zebras chase down lions

when they're really hungry and that's

625

how that, that's a big mistake.

626

Obviously don't do that.

627

You're not you when you're hungry.

628

That's it.

629

That's their tagline.

630

You're not you when you're hungry.

631

Most Christians are not

them when they pray.

632

I think Jesus might say that to you.

633

You're not you when you pray.

634

And the same way that Snickers

is like, hey, when you're hungry,

635

you're not the same person.

636

Jesus, I think, probably would

point to a lot of Christians and

637

say, you're not you when you pray.

638

You're somebody else.

639

Which I'm not saying you shouldn't, you

shouldn't respect God and revere God.

640

Obviously, please do that.

641

But when you pray, so many times

the reason you struggle in prayer

642

is because you're approaching

God like he's not a person.

643

You're approaching God like he's

just this figment of your imagination

644

that only requires respect.

645

I hope when you hear mature

people pray, you hear them

646

interact with God as a person.

647

Point number two like this.

648

I would say treat God as a

person, not a performance.

649

Some people treat prayer

like a performance.

650

I have to say the right thing.

651

I don't want to be embarrassed.

652

I don't want to pray the wrong thing.

653

When I pray in front of people,

I don't want them to think

654

I'm, I don't know anything.

655

I don't want people to think I'm weird

or strange or that I'm a cultist.

656

And so I, I perform when I pray.

657

I try to say the right thing.

658

And to the point where I'm not even

focusing on God anymore, I'm just

659

focusing on saying the right thing.

660

treat God as a person, not a performance.

661

God doesn't want you to pretend.

662

And then I, I, I feel like this would

be one area where if I could encourage

663

you to approach God with this, this

could change your relationship with God.

664

I, I wish I could, maybe I don't,

I I wish you could hear me pray

665

though, not in this setting.

666

I, I, I'm honest and I think you

hear me pray all the time and

667

you can hear the way I, I do it.

668

Um, but my private prayers are even

more, not casual, but familial.

669

I talk to God much like

I talk to you guys.

670

Um, again, not this casual.

671

I'm still respectful, but I treat

God like a person, and I would

672

love for you to do the same.

673

I'd love for you to see God as

someone who's right in front of you.

674

God is omnipresent, obviously, so

He's not only in one location, but

675

God is willing to hear your prayers.

676

He wants you to pray.

677

One of the rewards that a Christian

looks for is the reward of intimacy

678

with God, and the way that you get

that is by drawing near to God as

679

a person and not trying to perform

for Him, not trying to pretend that

680

you're something that you're not.

681

Here's a couple things here.

682

Keys to prayer that God accepts.

683

Number one, pray to God, not people.

684

Okay, when you're praying,

don't pray to people.

685

I know sometimes it's hard to

pray when people are listening.

686

I get that, but you have to

pretend that they're not there.

687

If you can do that, pray to

God, not a person, your prayers

688

are already going to be better.

689

God will love that prayer, because it'll

be real, and it won't be you trying

690

to pretend, and trying to perform,

and trying to impress everybody else.

691

Next, pray with these three ingredients,

and this is all coming from what

692

Jesus just encouraged us to do.

693

First of all, ingredient

number one, reverence for God.

694

I don't want you to call God, Daddy God.

695

I don't want you to pretend

like God is your best friend.

696

This is not a Jesus take

the wheel situation.

697

God must be revered.

698

Honor Him, esteem Him, but that

doesn't mean I shouldn't pray to

699

God with a sense of He's my Father.

700

He wants to hear from me.

701

Second, knowledge of your neediness.

702

Jesus said Uh, ask for your daily

bread, ask for forgiveness of sins,

703

ask for deliverance from evil.

704

So you got to come to God knowing

you need a whole lot more,

705

even what you think you need.

706

You need more than that.

707

If you can come to God with your

neediness, you'll come with appropriate

708

reverence and appropriate awareness.

709

Number three of your

responsibility toward others.

710

So you're coming to God with reverence.

711

You're coming with a knowledge of

your neediness and you're coming with

712

awareness of your responsibility.

713

Here's what I mean by that.

714

Jesus said, ask for forgiveness

as you forgive others.

715

Jesus wants you to always think

of yourself in light of your

716

relationships with other people.

717

You can't have a close

relationship with God if your

718

human relationships are broken.

719

Now there's exceptions to this rule,

but here's what I mean by that.

720

Let's say your parents get

you upset for some reason.

721

They ask you to do something, you're

not having it, you don't like it, you

722

don't like the way they said it, so

you're really mad at your parents.

723

Is it easier or harder for you

to pray to God when you're really

724

upset with your mom and dad?

725

Easier or harder?

726

Much harder.

727

Thank you.

728

Appreciate you answering.

729

The only one.

730

Oh, that was you?

731

Thank you, Ezekiel.

732

Should have joined him, Carson.

733

Much harder.

734

That's because when you have a

broken human relationship, it's

735

much harder to relate to God.

736

Especially when you know it's

a relationship that God wants

737

you to have in good standing.

738

When you pray to God, you need

to come with an awareness of who

739

God is, an awareness of where

you are and an awareness of how

740

am I doing with other people?

741

Am I, am I holding

bitterness with my siblings?

742

Am I angry at my mom and my dad?

743

Am I, am I mistreated friends at school?

744

Am I, am I picking on people

that I shouldn't pick on?

745

Am I treating people

around me the way I should?

746

Accepting my responsibility before

God comes means I'm coming to God

747

with an awareness that I'm not where

I need to be and I need to change.

748

God, please help me.

749

This is the kind of prayer model

that Jesus wants us to adopt.

750

It's not just thinking of

ourselves, it's thinking about our

751

relationship to God and others.

752

Profoundly relationship centered.

753

Okay, last, one more thing

that Jesus brings up.

754

We talk about, if we want God's

rewards, we need to do things God's way.

755

Remember, God's way is for His glory,

treating Him like a person, with humility.

756

We're not performing for Him,

we're being authentic with God.

757

The last thing, though, is something

you probably haven't done before.

758

So let's take a look at it real quick.

759

He says here, and when you fast,

this means going without food

760

in this particular instance,

but you might say going without

761

something in order to focus on God.

762

It's meant to convey humility.

763

It's meant to convey dependence upon God.

764

It's a way for you to relate to God.

765

So he says, when you fast, don't

look gloomy like the hypocrites.

766

There are some people, Jesus

says, who when they fast, they

767

want you to know, Oh, my stomach.

768

Oh, oh, this is so hard.

769

Oh, what's the matter pastor?

770

Oh, I'm just, I'm just fasting.

771

Don't worry about me though.

772

I'm okay.

773

I'll be all right.

774

Please don't worry about me.

775

It's silly, but this is

what Jesus is calling out.

776

He doesn't want people to pretend

like they're doing some great thing

777

for God when all they're really

doing is trying to get you to look at

778

them and say, man, that dude, he's,

Pastor Rod is serious about God.

779

Wow.

780

They should get an award or something.

781

Well the award is human

approval, human approbation.

782

He says they disfigure their faces.

783

So they make their face like,

Oh, I have a stomach hurt, you

784

know, they want you to see.

785

Disfigure their faces that their

fasting may be seen by others.

786

Truly I say to you, as Jesus said

before, they have received their reward.

787

That's all you get.

788

You get human applause.

789

Good job.

790

Good.

791

Yes.

792

No.

793

Good job.

794

Good job.

795

He says, but when you fast, Christian.

796

When you deny yourself something

that is good, in order to focus

797

on God and show humility, anoint

your head, wash your face.

798

We might say, take a shower,

young men, shave your face,

799

put on some clean clothes.

800

Verse 18, that your fasting may

not be seen by others, but by

801

your father who is in secret.

802

And your father who sees in

secret, he will reward you.

803

God cares deeply.

804

About you having integrity.

805

God wants your authenticity.

806

God wants your motivation to be

on him and not for other people.

807

You ever see these TikTok videos where

someone does something like this.

808

They're like, they're crying

in front of the camera.

809

They're, they're showing that they're

really bothered by something, but they

810

have the wherewithal to set up their

tripod, turn on their lights, and

811

then perform in front of the camera as

though they're really experiencing that.

812

I mean, so.

813

So cringy, right?

814

Cringe.

815

In fact, there's one guy on TikTok that

I love because he takes videos like

816

this and he points out the absurdity.

817

I just had to show it to you.

818

Okay, so just this, just

this one, just one, right?

819

This is it.

820

That's all I got is one.

821

You ready?

822

Okay,

823

I don't know the gal.

824

I'm sure she intended it and

meant well, so I don't know.

825

I guess I don't know.

826

But you get how silly that feels, right?

827

After you're like, oh, yeah.

828

I'm watching her cry, but

she had to set up the video.

829

She had to, then she had to do, do

her thing in front of it to make sure

830

that you saw her being distressed.

831

And it's, it was naturally

just off putting.

832

Humans are not meant to act and play.

833

We're meant to be, to be real.

834

And that's what, that's

what God wants from you.

835

You want to do things God's way.

836

He wants you to do

everything for His glory.

837

And He wants you to do it

in a way that's genuine.

838

I put it like this, point

number three, let's pursue

839

authenticity instead of acting.

840

If you are far from God, Better

for you to just say that.

841

If you're struggling with something

that you hear from me, better for

842

you to say that than to pretend that

you're tracking or that you love

843

God when in reality you're really

struggling or that you're not with Him.

844

Better for you to be honest

with where you are than to,

845

than to pretend like you're not.

846

Christians respect truthfulness.

847

And the reason why is

because God respects that.

848

You want God's rewards?

849

You gotta do things God's way.

850

And God's way is authenticity,

being real with where you're

851

at, being real with who you are.

852

Now, some people under that same

guise will say, Well, then who I

853

really am is the opposite gender,

or I'm really a cat, or, you know,

854

I identify as the Eiffel Tower.

855

That's not what I'm talking about.

856

Being real with where you're at

means just being honest, truthful.

857

That's what God wants.

858

Authenticity instead of acting.

859

Gotta be real with yourself and with God.

860

This is the way that God wants

us to interact with them.

861

When it comes to fasting, hopefully

at some point we'll do this, but God

862

wants you to fast in the right way,

which means I'm doing it for His sake.

863

I don't need you to tell

me I'm doing a good job.

864

I'm doing it for God and for God alone.

865

I've been dancing around

this the whole time.

866

Now let's talk, let's

unpack this just a bit.

867

God says when you do things

His way, what do you get?

868

What do you get?

869

When you do things God's

way, you get God's rewards.

870

You might be asking, well, What kind

of rewards do I get then Pastor Rod?

871

What do I do if God's

gonna give me something?

872

What do I get out of this thing?

873

It's a good question.

874

Let me try to answer that briefly as

we close Sometimes you'll see things

875

like this on on the Facebook post or

something like this the community boards

876

There's like oh I lost my dog or I lost

my cat If you find my dog or my cat,

877

this is what they look like And if you

call me and you see you see my cat get

878

them turned into me I will give you this

guy I think is offering 500 bucks 500

879

reward or free dog grooming for life.

880

That's actually a good deal I

might buy a dog just to get that.

881

Because Lord knows, you don't

need another cat in the world.

882

Just kidding.

883

Cat lovers.

884

People will try to incentivize, like, Hey!

885

Get me back my cat.

886

I'll give you 500 to get my cat.

887

Look out for my cat.

888

Give me 500.

889

By the way, this is real.

890

If you've seen this cat, maybe

you'd get 500 out of this.

891

that's good Christmas money right there.

892

But what about the people that are

like you know I don't really care about

893

500 bucks I got everything I need.

894

I don't need your 500.

895

I don't need your dog grooming

because I don't have any dogs.

896

I don't have any cats.

897

I don't have any kids.

898

I don't need them.

899

For some people, this might be super

interesting and engaging for others.

900

And they're like, no big deal.

901

I don't need, I don't need more money.

902

I don't need more, whatever that is.

903

When it comes to the way that God rewards

us, it's not like God saying, Hey, if

904

you find my cat, I'll give you 500.

905

It's God saying, I know you

better than you know yourself.

906

I care about you more than

you care about yourself.

907

I can give you precisely what your soul

needs, which is me first and foremost.

908

One of the rewards God gives is not

the intangible benefits of money.

909

He gives you the tangible life

enhancing relationship with him.

910

That's the first thing.

911

One of the rewards God gives you is more

of himself, more joy, more gladness, more

912

connection with the God who made you.

913

I can't overstate that.

914

That's one of the best blessings you get.

915

But on top of that, in addition to

God himself, God depicts himself as

916

a good father who's very generous.

917

And I kind of alluded to it already.

918

Think about this.

919

Every day of your life, for as

long as you've been alive, you've

920

never just had bread for food.

921

You've never just had water.

922

You've never just had one pair of shoes.

923

You've always had plenty.

924

And this is God giving

you this in this life.

925

And I'm not saying that, I'm

not saying that heaven is

926

going to be all material gain.

927

I'm trying to make a point.

928

God is generous.

929

And if you can see God's hand of

generosity in this life, just wait

930

till you see what He gives in the next.

931

Again, the most important

thing God gives you?

932

Himself.

933

But because God is generous, He gives

you not only Himself, but so much more.

934

And it will be worth it in the long run.

935

You want God's rewards,

you gotta do it God's way.

936

Which means you're doing it for His glory.

937

You're doing it, not as a

performance, but with a person.

938

God, the person, a real person.

939

And thirdly, it's

authentic and not acting.

940

This is Matthew chapter 6 verses

1 through 18 in a nutshell.

941

So much more here, but

we can't cover that.

942

So I would encourage you to read this.

943

Go back after tonight and read this again.

944

Make sure you understand what's

being, what's being said here.

945

There's so many good things.

946

Next week when Matt preaches,

we're going to put a pause in

947

the book of Matthew, ironically.

948

Matt's gonna preach, but not for Matthew.

949

We're gonna put a pause

in the book of Matthew.

950

We'll pick it up back again in the

new year, but there's so much here.

951

I would love for you to see

all that Matthew has to offer.

952

There's much more to come.

953

Thank you for paying attention.

954

Let's pray, and then I'll

dismiss you to your small groups.

955

God, we are grateful for the opportunity

to open your Word, to learn from

956

it, to study it, and ultimately

to be impacted and changed by it.

957

Please help us not to quickly

forget what we just heard.

958

So easy for us to, to hear things

and even to say, oh, that's

959

interesting or I like that.

960

And yet to walk away and forget about

it, not to think about it, not to

961

engage it in our brains to turn it over

and to figure out ways to apply it.

962

In fact, Lord, that's one of the reasons

that we're going to small groups.

963

We want to apply what we just heard.

964

So help us with that.

965

Give us grace to do it.

966

Lord, give us the ability to pay

close attention, help us to honor our

967

leaders and to honor one another as

we try to work through some of the

968

questions that we're about to encounter.

969

We ask all of this in Jesus name.

970

Amen.