Jesus Wants to Reward You - Matthew S2E4

Welcome to Deepin with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with Him. Now let's dive in. Alright, here we go. Gents, in the secret, in the quiet place. Bro, you're bringing it back. Comment on the YouTubes if you know that song. that's Daryl Evans huh the note for the title of this was In the Secret and I just sing that song immediately classic bro that's 96 I was waiting for it tonight but we didn't go there have you ever read Secrets of the Secret Place by Bob Sorge I haven't heard a video by Bob Sorge but I've never the video with his voice where it changed pretty wild yeah so we're talking about secret things and uh i know you like to talk about this i do i couldn't find a book though or like a doctrine of the the doctrine of secrecy i couldn't find like it as a thing so we're gonna get into that too all right you should write it i'm working on it yeah oh good um 10 years from now i feel like that's one you release after you die like secrets to the secret place that's bob sorgie's book but it's like i don't know it's like you write a book on the doctrine of secrecy and publish it. Yeah. It's kind of weird. When it comes out, just don't tell anybody. It's like wearing your humble badge. Right. Right. Yeah. The verse, the first verse of chapter six, I think is the thesis for the section. Am I right in saying that when he says, don't practice your righteousness in front of us? Somebody said it in the sermon tonight. And then, and then you mentioned reward and this is a quote we know, but, I'll read it again. If we consider the unblushing promises of reward in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. Clive Staples. So talk about that repetition of reward because it comes up so much just in this section. Yeah, you got to go a little deeper that everyone agrees that you should repent of your wretchedness, even if you're not a believer. Whatever you think is bad, everybody thinks You should turn away from bad, right? But the gospel requires that we repent of our religious righteousness. That's what he's getting to. These are good things. Giving to the needy, praying and fasting are good things that God has given us. But when you treat the means as an end, it becomes a bad thing. And that's what was happening with the Pharisees. And that's what happens in the human heart, that we just have this gross, look at me, relentless bug in our ear. And the moment you do that, God's like, congratulations. That's what you get out of that is you won the approval of man. and Jesus is trying to get this down into the heart level that the reward is him. I do think there has been so much, so much gross, heretical prosperity preaching out there that Bible-believing evangelicals have run away from the reward word, and there is a reward. Jesus has a rewards program and it's him and the results of what you get when you get him. Like if the fruit of the spirit is a reward. I mean, that really is it. Like the more I abide in him and he abides in me, and then he begins to produce things like patience. That's a reward. and um but praying awesome prayers in front of people and you're not actually praying at that point you're preaching then you think that the means is the end and that that's what jesus is getting at i think and i'm just honestly i just read my own mail tonight a lot of personal conviction, especially on the praying part. So you said approval of man. There are certain personality types that are more prone to want the approval of man, maybe, but don't you think that that's everybody? And why is that? I mean, we're different. The enemy knows how to come after us you know because there's a lot of people that would just love to be left alone you know um they they really aren't seeking i'm i'm married to one and me me and her made one that honestly okay so today he's gonna lose his reward now but whatever jp spent the day working at church and all he did was put the chairs together somewhere at central And so he's swinging through to go home as I'm about to go out. And I'm like, what did you do today? And he's like, I just put together chairs. And then he doesn't know what I'm preaching. And I wasn't planning on using this. And he said, that's my favorite thing to do. I like to work where nobody sees it. And somebody just comes in and they got a chair to sit in. And they can do their job. So he is honestly wired that way. Now, there's a thousand other handles that the enemy is trying to grab onto. But so not everybody has that kind of approval button like that. Gretchen is very much the same way. She led worship for 10 years. It actually – people are trying to encourage her when they say, oh, we miss you singing. And she despises it. It really – it feels like pressure. even when she was she came to me one time and she was like i felt like i'm supposed to leave worship for a season but could i is there a way i could do it and not like not be on the stage i'm like no you can't do that she wouldn't remember that blues traveler song where he's behind the curtain playing yeah she wanted to do some version of that so her struggle is not let me be in front of people so I can get some applause. It's the other way. She writes a bunch of devotionals now and she's asking if we could not put her name on it. I'm like, no, we're not going to do that. And I think, and for those two, it's, it's, it's a genuine thing the way they are wired. You know, I've always had this idea of, and maybe we'll do it at some point in the right context, but it's like a worship service that I've always wanted to be a part of. And some of it's rooted in my own, how I can just get, I just get weird in my own head in some of the same ways. It's to like set a cross on a stage and then all these Christ exalting scriptures on the stage and the band and the preachers all behind everybody. Oh yeah. We're all just looking at it. That's right. You don't see any humans. Orthodox kind of does that. You know, it's just, I've always thought of, I've always thought that'd be a cool environment to be in. Well, you got a few weekends, you can do it. I am definitely the other way. It's, it's, um, I get so much encouragement that it, uh, like I, I will, I don't know. I get a ton of encouragement. So it's easy when you get a ton of encouragement to like, be able to like, oh, thanks and, and divert it. But when I look at the group picture, I look at me, you know, um, I like to be thanked. And that is a, that can be the same thing. No doubt. Your question about the approval of man is on that one. I think there are a category of people who are looking for anyone's approval. And so they're looking all different kinds of places, and they just want anybody's approval. And they'll do all kinds of things, tell lies and manipulate and make stuff up. And they're just anybody to reinforce anything that remotely resembles a positive emotion. They're just trying to get anybody's approval. I think there's some people who are that way. I think there's other people and a lot more people fall into the category of they're after someone's approval. It's not anyone's, but it's someone's. And I think there's some lights and shadows there. I don't know that it's always right and wrong. I think people's approval can get in the place that only God should be. At that point, it is wrong. It's idolatry. But I don't think it's wrong for me to want to live my life or to want to do things. and my wife approve of those things. You know what I mean? And see it as honoring to her and see it as a benefit and acknowledge it even. And so you know how it is. It's like just because we're talking about preaching or whatever, you can get up and preach and get 999. Thank you. God used it. Praise God. But that one from that one person That wife or that person you really respect it just weighs 10 times More and that person's opinion can often get Out of balance in our life and take a seat that it shouldn't no question. Yeah, there's this old Phrase hated or loved just not ignored. That's kind of me. I kind of there's a lot of people. I do not want their approval Like I like when I get mean emails If they don't believe the bible And they like what i'm saying You know to take a really hot topic Like on sexual immorality Or gender or something like that You know or money And i know what i'm teaching is the truth Of the word and they're trying to fight me on tithing I love that they get all mad Because they're just greedy Whether either they're greedy in their sexuality Or they're greedy with their money And i'm like oh good i ticked off the right crowd Now that can go bad too um and then back to the wife thing bro the the problem would be if you're doing manipulative things to win her approval for you that's the difference like you're not actually cleaning the dishes because you love her and you're serving her but you're just trying to prove a point you know or you're trying to get what you want that that's what's i mean the pharisees that's what they were doing they're leveraging religious activities that were intended to be spiritual disciplines to help you know god better and they're essentially trying to put god in their debt and impress people with their religiosity and jesus is like i need it yeah they would do stuff like you know jesus tells the parable of the tax collector and the pharisee and it's like the the pharisee stands up and is like i thank you god that i'm not like this tax collector you know i give what a prayer i fast every day and i you know i tithe or i fast twice a week and i tithe and i you know yada yada yada and he's loud and boastful and then there's also the like giving example in the temple where they would give there were like these brass horns on the wall and they and the Pharisees would bring in as much change as possible and they would drop it one coin at a time against this brass horn it'd be like clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang and so they would get into this competition of who's like making more noise with the change yeah that's blowing the trumpet yeah exactly and so that's the stuff that Jesus is talking about like what are you doing man it's funny you said uh pastor Joby that Jesus is saying don't make it a performance like the Pharisees and needs to come from the heart for your father's approval. He uses that word hypocrite. That literally means stage actor. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it literally means two faced. Yeah. It's, uh, actors would put on a mask and pretend like there's somebody that they're not actually. Yeah. That's what a hypocrite is. Yeah. And you've, we've all seen a movie or something where there was a misunderstanding or a manipulation of somebody's acting, but other, another person thought it was real. and then how mind-blowing it is when you find out the truth. So can you imagine God's perspective when it's like you're just acting? Well, yeah, but we are easily tricked. He never is. You know? Yeah. Yeah. It's fast-forwarding a little bit to a future topic, but I thought about judging too because you said the motive is what matters the most. that you could do the same thing with two different motives, and according to God, it's going to mean two different things. And so is the right response from us to just say, well, God's going to judge and we don't know because we can't read people's motives? Or should we try to understand their motives in some way, like in our relationships with each other? Assigning motives is one of the most dangerous things on the planet. No question. There's lots of commands about how we are to, if you don't like the word judge, that we are to love somebody enough to point out places where they are not listening to the good shepherd, but they're going the way of the enemy and that's going to lead to death and destruction. And so motives there, if I'm trying to judge you because I think I'm better than you, then God's like, well, if that's the standard by which you judge and that's the standard by which I'll judge you, that's what Jesus means. That's what the Bible says when it says, judged, lest not you be judged. But if I love you enough and I'm trying to help you walk in the fullness of life that Christ has for you, these are different things. This is why you should, I mean, one-on-one is always the best way. There's so many times where I have confronted a brother or sister and then I got more of the story and I'm like, oh, I didn't know that. I mean, that's a big difference, you know? I mean, seriously. Right. Yeah. context matters. So the categories are giving, praying, and fasting. And talk a little bit more because that differentiation between tithes, offerings, and gifts is probably really, really instructive to a lot of people. Yeah. Now I've had four people in the last week ask me about bringing their first and best. They want to do right according to the Bible with the money God has called them to steward and they just people rarely teach on this anymore. First and foremost, I would say God's not a legalist. So if you're a cheerful giver and you're doing the best with the information you have, I think he's going to high five you in heaven. OK, but there are three different categories in the Old and New Testament of giving. There is tithing and the tithe belongs to the Lord. Tithe literally in Hebrew means tenth. But if you read the context of everywhere it's talked about, it is not just a tenth of your income. It is the first. So see the difference between Cain and Abel. Cain brought leftovers. Abel brought first. First fruits offerings. Okay. And that belongs to the Lord. This is why in Malachi, they're like, how shall we return to you? And he goes quit robbing me because you got something in your pocket supposed to be in the Lord And the reason that you bring the tithe to the local church it not even about the church It because Jesus is the head of the church So how do you bring something to Jesus? You bring it to him through the local church. This is his body. That's the tithe, the first and best. Also, we have just made a decision. Every dollar that comes in, we bring at least a tenth. For us, it's a little bit higher just because you do this long enough. You can't stop at ten. You got to keep going. So it needs to be a priority. It needs to be a practice and it needs to be progressive. OK, so regardless of where if it's birthday money or if it's for me, if it's book money or if it's my paycheck or even our tax return. Whatever comes in. And then I know somebody might be like, yeah, but didn't you tithe on that once? I'm just not going to stand before the Lord. And if he's like, you gave too much. But that's on me, my fault. Right. So that goes to the local church. Then there's a group called offerings. This is above and beyond the time. You can't actually bring an offering if you're not tithing. OK, this would be gospel giving above and beyond what you're doing through the local church. For us, this is like sponsoring Compassion Kids for missionaries. We support a bunch of ministries that are gospel giving. And gospel giving is not just charity. There's good things that aren't gospel things. Then over and above that are gifts. This is you keep a little bit, just a little powder dry as the Lord prompts you. That might be bless a family. That might be give to somebody that asks. That might be you're at an event and they're raising money. All right, we're going to throw in on that. That's what a gift is. In the first century, it was called alms. And this is particularly on the gift to the needy, what Jesus is talking about. Later, he's going to talk about, he's going to tie together storing up treasures in heaven and anxiety. And how trusting God with your first and best is how the number one way to battle against the things that you're worried about. because primarily what we worry about is we believe the lie of money. I'll be preaching this in the fall. We're going to put a circle around this one, come back to it when we do the neighbors to nations thing. But the people that are asking, honestly, the four people, I got three emails and one person in the lobby. Man, they are coming with a humble and pure heart saying, I want to do this right according to the New Testament. And so I'm saying, okay, so technically this is what it looks like. Your tithe comes to the local church. Offerings are above and beyond that to gospel things. And gifts are more like spirit led one time things. I would challenge you this Lent season to put some folding money in your pocket that is relative to your economic ability. So five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars, one hundred dollars, whatever. And be on the lookout to give it away. You'll pray about it like you've never prayed about anything. I'm every, you know, gas station I walk in, I'm like, all right, are they in here? You know, and that's very different than the prescribed. I have pre-decided this goes first to the Lord. Does that make sense? And I think I think it's important. I probably pray. This is probably bad. I pray pray more about that hundred dollars a month than I do the tithe. And it's not even close in amount. But it's very – I'm trying to be sensitive to the spirit in my life and give it away. Pastor Britt, you just talked recently about a professor who said never talk about money or comfort food. That's right. Yeah, when I was in college. It's like if you pastor a church and you want people to like you, there's two things you should just never talk about. You should never talk about comfort food, and you should never talk about money. And in the context, we were talking about how this is our all staff meeting at church, and we were just talking about how you have a relationship to money. You're in a relationship with money, and everybody is. And you didn't – your habits and your spending and the preference and priority that it has in your life, the amount of time you spend worrying about it, you have a worldview in that relationship. and it was, you learned that at least half of that, if not all of it, you learned from other people's behaviors. You learned it from popular culture. You learned it from your parents, both good and bad, and really understanding the relationship that you have to money, how you came to have that view. What were the formative experiences in your life that taught you the purpose of money and the role that God would play in regards to money And if that was even a category that you would have ever learned. So I just told the story about when I was a kid, my dad was a pastor. And you didn't grow up around church. This story won't make a ton of sense probably. But if you grew up around church, you probably understand what I'm saying. My dad, his second cousin friend owned a dealership and gave him a really good deal on a truck. So my dad rolls in one Sunday, pastors this Southern Baptist church, and all the whispers just start. Because they had a poverty gospel, which can be just as dangerous as a prosperity gospel. Yeah, the gospel here is no adjective. That's right. And the goal, the philosophy of that church was very much, we give money so pastors do ministry. And the pastors work for us. And that was very much the philosophy. and my dad was so shaken by people's response that he took it back and that was a really formative experience for me because it taught me probably unintentionally but it taught me people's opinions of how you spend money matter and you have to and that is a something that you have to really value or build your life around. I mean, even now I'll have whatever my wife and I go out to dinner and I'd be telling you about it. You're my friend who trusts me and only wants good things for me. There's something in me that wants to defend or explain how I was able to go and eat dinner at this place. And it's because I grew up in a poverty gospel. Pastor Britt, I know you. I love you. You're my dude. You have a hard time receiving a blessing Amen You really do You know I mean there Dude you kill it around here And I try to do things And you have a hard time Especially if it comes around anything Anything that you like It's like You're like I don't know if I should I don't know and obviously you can take it too far the other way and so many pastors have man fleeced the jeep to get some stuff they want and that is not good but the other extreme ain't good either you know i mean it comes down to that we have this twisted view of who god is and he's not a good dad loves to give good gifts to his kids for sure and you're very generous you're very generous and we have a board of elders that oversee all the things to make sure that we're in alignment and all that and none of them work for us so we can't there's nothing we could do i don't you know it's like like the staff or the elders and you guys all vote you know say it's okay but you actually work for me so you have to we don't do that that's right we have all lay elders and they don't there's nothing i could do to make them say okay but it is a thing it's something you got to like get down into and i get it i mean you know it's the same thing like the cars we drive what's weird about this stuff uh gretchen drives a ford from bozard ford and i drive a gmc from neesmith chevrolet we if and nobody says a word because it's a ford and gmc right we could sell those cars Spend half as much on a luxury vehicle, and the name of it has a ring to it, and the whispers will be all over the place. It's a crazy world. It's a crazy world. It's a crazy world. Here's what I've also found out when it comes to how much a pastor makes and all that sort of stuff. No matter what it is, there's always three little bears. For sure. There's always a group of people that think, well, you're suffering for the Lord. god bless you for giving up all the opportunities financially that you could with your smart brain could have made i have those group of people there's another group of people like what and you're a pastor and you get to eat a steak you know what i mean it is like jesus only eat fish you know that kind of thing and then there's the people like yeah that's about right that seems like it's right and so you'll never be able to please people right It just goes to show how insidious the idol of mammon money is Is that we have such strong harsh opinions around it And they're all almost all largely uninformed And they're all from a distance And they're all rooted This is a great text of how we can take a text out of context And we can turn it into something that it's not And so this verse has been quoted to me more times than I can count related to tithing Left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing The left hand shouldn't know what the right hand is doing I'm like, he's not talking about local church giving He's somebody giving to the needy And not doing it to be seen doing it This is the context of But people can take that little verse and turn it into a whole theology that's just way out of context. Yeah. You know, and also oftentimes that theology can be very self-serving. That happens a lot. In the passages about praying, I've heard people say you can't stand and pray because it says when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray. So if you're not kneeling, it doesn't count. That's a fact What do you do with the Bible verse that Paul says I want men to stand and raise holy hands Right I've also heard You cannot have food at church You cannot have food at church Because in Corinthians when they were doing the Lord's Supper He said you need to eat at home So they built a separate building called a fellowship hall So the food can happen there But the food cannot happen in church These are people that don't know the Bible It's very important This is why also So you don't have to have a degree to preach the Bible. I'm not saying that. But if you don't know what the Bible meant when it was first written, then you might not be able to teach it today. Or you'll end up with weird stuff like that. One of the things we've been watching at our house is this competition that Mr. Beast is doing. And I know these people aren't like the best of friends, even though they act like they are. but it is wild how somebody will apparently five minutes earlier say i love you guys i'll never betray you i'll never do i'll roll ride or die and they get up on this little thing or he says all right and starts ticking this number higher and higher and higher and they're just like boom i'm out for money and they'll take the money yeah it is crazy the power that it can have I mean they're strangers but Good grief Yeah the lie of money I'll talk about this a lot more in the fall And I just made this up But I like it The lie is money says If you love me I'll love you back And you believe it And love in the bible Is about provision and protection And that's what it says Now I'll provide for you For all the things you want And I will protect you And it just doesn't have the ability to do either. This goes back to that Christian hedonism idea, you know, like the reward. Like, who are you pursuing reward from? And if you believe that lie from money, you're saying, this money will reward me. It'll give me what I want. It'll give me the happiness I'm looking for. Yeah, and it just can't. One of the things that I think in verse 4 stands out is, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. And God sees both your action and your intention. I think that's always such a welcome reminder that there's nowhere that you can go in your heart that's beyond the eye of God and that he sees you. And if you know the full measure of the gospel, He sees you. He sees your heart, and he wants you. God wants to reward you. He does. That is the reward. It's amazing. God sees you. And in this case, in the secret, it goes, good job. That's it. What else could you ever want? I've been thinking a lot about this lately. All you need in order to begin to understand the gospel is need. and awareness of your need is what we mean yeah because the question is like do you need god is almost a silly question in the sense that the answer is yes you know you're sitting on a rock that's spending a thousand miles an hour on an axis floating through space circling the sun right let's just say you need god more than you could ever fathom so you need him i think the The real question is, do you want him? And that's what's the behaviors of the secret place answer that question. Do you want him? He clearly wants you. He sees you. He has come after you. The question is, do you want him? I think that's such the heart of even the beware of practicing your righteousness. It's what do you want? Do you want to be noticed or do you know that you are seen? And I love that you kept repeating that, Pastor Joby, like you said. Basically, congratulations. That's what you got. Only problem is God's not happy. Right. What a huge understatement, and that's the point. when he talks about prayer and he gives the two groups is there more you can extrapolate from the two categories of people because he says the hypocrites are trying to be seen and impress other people and then the heaping up of empty phrases is from the Gentiles those sound like two categories of people the Greek word there is babble so if you go back to Elijah facing down the 850 prophets and the thing that they were doing their God was not answering them because their God doesn have eyes or ears And they thought if we louder if we cut ourselves if we increase in passion then maybe we can convince him Somehow that kind of demonic idol worshiping activity got brought into. the synagogues where people, if they weren't trying to impress the person, they thought they could impress God and get him to do what they wanted. And it's a lack of understanding of who God is. He already knows everything. Now we are to pray persistently, but I think in today's, I mean, kind of where this, the application can be a little bit tough today is, unless you're in a group of like super churchy people, you're not going to get a lot of praise for being like the person that prays the longest with the biggest words. I think there's another category of people that just don't even pray. And most of us fall into that. Like we're not praying father in heaven. Hallowed be your name kind of prayers. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. God, would you just ring me out on this planet to make it look more like what it's going to be like with you in eternity kind of prayers? We just pray a weak sauce kind of. I don't even know if they're actually prayers, you know, and then. I'm very convicted in this because I don't think I've led our church well to be a good to be a praying church. I'm serious. We're the most generous church. we're a worshiping church we're a bible church we're a serving church but you can just see it in the things that you can measure when we call for prayer meeting nobody shows up and it's terrifying so when I look through Luke and Acts prayer is just all over it all over it And what was fundamental to the early church has become like supplemental to today's church. That prayer meetings are just like if you ain't got nothing else to do or you're hyper spiritual, then you might go to that. And I want us to be a praying church. And, you know, confession, man. I was at prayer time this week all mad because nobody was there. and I was and I was I was like the world's wrong with these people and I just a long time ago I heard a Craig Rochelle sermon where he says good leaders don't say my people won't they say I have not led my people to and that's that's what I thought of and I'm going to attribute that to God and he just was like they're right where you let them to be man And I'm just confessing that I've got to up my prayer game if I want our church to. Because as goes the leader, goes the flock. And then, you know how when you get in a desperate situation, man, you pray like a deer panting for water. Well, I don't want the Lord to have to take us into desperate places to know our desperation for him. And if you think about Jesus Okay, so the last thing he prays is on the cross Well, of course you would If I was getting crucified, I'd pray too And he's in the garden and he prays With such intensity Okay, well if I thought I was going to die tomorrow I would pray with intensity too But when everything's going good Like he just fed the 5,000 Things are cooking, man That's when I don't feel The urgency of prayer And he says, y'all get in the boat and go over there I'm going up on the mountain, I gotta pray So he understood his dependence on the father in the good times and the bad all the time This was not like a need-based thing This was like a I need him all the time thing I wonder, I'm probably over-reading into it or just theologically imagining implication But the hypocrites and the Gentiles Like, I wonder what would have happened or what happened when the Gentiles got around the Pharisees praying their hypocritical prayers. You know what I mean? Like, do you think the Gentiles were confused? Do you think they understood any of the words? Yeah, I think they were like. Do you think they could just sniff the inauthenticity of it? I think it was, yeah. They were probably like, wow, God loves them way more than he loves us. They felt not good enough or they felt not smart enough. I don't even know what that means. It must be deep. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, especially early on, I don't give that much. Our people are really gracious. Let me just say that. I started the sermon that way and I mean every word of it. This is the best group of people to preach to on the planet. Okay. But I mean, we can be enamored with new information and confusing things and associate that with some sort of deep preaching. And I think it was kind of like that, you know. For sure. People get up there and explain the Nephilim, and you're like, oh, God, this is so deep. The Nephilim. What does this have to do with anything in my life right now? And then you hear another sermon, and it's so clear. And you think, eh, I think I already knew that stuff. In every letter that Paul writes except Galatians, he says, let me remind you of something. And that's the Bible. So it was obviously carried along by the Spirit. I've always found it fascinating when Jesus says And when you pray don't be like the hypocrites And he gives some Instruction and then he goes into the Lord's prayer And it takes I don't know 25 seconds 30 seconds To pray the Lord's prayer And he's I think There is a part of him that's literally saying Pray this and so when you said Tonight I start My prayers often with the Lord's prayer I think that's a great That's a great descriptively and prescriptively. But I think he's also pointing to greater realities in the Lord's Prayer of the topics, the areas whereby intercession and prayer is made manifest in a powerful way. Like he's trying to open the curtain with his words. And I've just always found it fascinating When Jesus says He's talking about Forgive us our trespassers as we've forgiven Those who have trespassed against us Or our debtors And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil You know that when Jesus teaches us how to pray That it's super pointed In both a protective and combative Way Does that make sense? I mean Maybe this Maybe this is where Piper gets the Life is war That's not all it is But it is at least that And we have treated prayer Not like a wartime walkie talkie To call in reinforcements from the heavenlies On the front line But we're calling up For the butler to bring us more comforts in the den for sure this is like he ends it what a way to end it's about spiritual warfare like the evil ones trying to kill me lord help and lead me not into temptation is there more you can say pastor about the verse 15 14 and 15 because how it's worded makes it sound like it's conditional to our action you know like yeah this is where you let the Bible always be commentary unto itself. I don't think forgiveness is a prerequisite for you receiving it, but it is absolute evidence that you have. But you're right. The way it's translated right here in the ESV, it looks like in order to receive forgiveness, you must offer forgiveness. But you explained like it just means… Forgiving people, forgive people. Right. And if you're not… This isn't good English, but whatever. If you ain't given it, maybe because you ain't got it. Mm-hmm. it's always important to draw the distinction between forgiveness reconciliation and restoration correct people get very confused correct forgiveness is that i something i have to wake up and choose over and over and over again i and it's a remembering as much as it's anything once you once you say i'm going to forgive this person the battle is to remember that you have forgiven forgiven them you cancel the debt yeah that they owe you i love that you use that because Because it, to me, is the perfect description of this person doesn't owe me anything anymore. Like the debt language is perfect. Well, yeah, and Jesus uses it in Matthew 18. That's where we're going to get. Right. But reconciliation requires two. It also requires repentance. And it's probably a really good time for boundary discussions on what is safe or healthy. but we should pursue it as far as it is up to me. I live at peace with all men. So if every time we get together, you're going to hit me, we can't be reconciled. I will forgive you, should forgive you, but I'm not going to continuously put myself in that situation because you didn't do your part. So Paul was not reconciled with everybody. Now we've been given the ministry of reconciliation, but first and foremost, that meant because we as a traitorous race, have been reconciled unto God, we should, on behalf of Jesus, beg people to be reconciled. And we should do what we can do to be reconciled. But that does not necessarily mean that you will be, if there's not repentance, if there's not a change in direction, a change of mind on both parties. And so God is not asking you to put yourself back in an abusive situation. And even if you're abused, you are commanded to forgive because we abused Jesus and he forgave us. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you will ever be reconciled to that relationship. We talked about boundaries last week or two weeks ago. I can't remember. And one of the things that I was thinking about, what are the differences in boundaries that you would draw in relationship to boundaries with someone else who claims to be a Christian? or boundaries with an unchristian yeah i think the boundaries non-christian non-christian is you primarily when they say unchristian that's the name of a book by the way but yeah it's late guys it's an unchristian person um yeah i'm dumber than i look guys i look pretty dumb so i think it's uh matthew 18 if your brother sins against you so the first question you have to ask ask is, is this my brother? And if he's not, then you're primarily having an evangelism conversation. And that's where that lives before you can ever have a fellowship kind of reconciliation. That's where that lives. And then your expectations between a Christian and a non-Christian should be different. Your expectations with a non-Christian are just kind of like sociological norms. You know what I mean? You're not going to mistreat me and stuff, but I get it. You have not claimed Jesus as your Lord. You're your own Lord, so you are going to live by the ways of this world. The enemy is in charge, and the flesh, the passions of your flesh are going to rule your life. So I should not be surprised when you act that way. Now, that doesn't mean that with every believer, just because they've been forgiven of all their sin, that we have to be in fellowship with them. I mean, I do. to love your neighbor as yourself there there is some there's this idea that how can i like if somebody is just an absolute vampire and just sucks the life out of me all the time then how could i possibly have anything to pour out if i continuously put myself in that circumstance now even with that though god may call you specifically to a really hard place and you better do what he tells you to do. But healthy relationships are a vital part of what it means to be in the body of Christ. Did you have an answer to your own question? No. No, he said it. I just think there are different ways to think about it in regards to is someone a follower of Jesus or aren't they a follower of Jesus? And Jesus explains all this. You know, in boundaries, you put them up for a lot of different reasons, right? And so there's a lot of people that theologically we would not agree on many secondary issues at all. We probably would agree on most primary issues, but we're good friends and can encourage one another and can edify. And then there's other people that I would theologically agree with down the line, point after point after point after point. But they are. They're energy vampires. They're just unhappy. From my perspective, they're just unhappy people. And their life ain't heading in the direction that I feel like God wants my life to go. Correct. And so that's a different kind of boundary, and I just don't think there should be any guilt or shame in that. Also, you know what I mean? You're not trying to be mean or crude or no backbiting or anything like that, but you've got to point your life in the direction that God's trying to lead you based on how God's wired you. So anyway. Pastor Debbie, you talked about what it means to go into your room, and then you made a brief comment about there's different kinds of prayer. You should have a place. You should do prayer with people. You should pray different places. So I want to talk a little bit about that because I think everybody feels like they should be better at praying, myself included. Like, I wish I was more consistent or more intentional or whatever. So what are some practical – say somebody's listening and they feel convicted too. They're like, ah. And it can't just be like, do better. You know, like what's the step to go to for how to grow in this area? You know, consistency is key. I would highly encourage you. I mean, you should pray all the time. Pray continually as the Bible says that. but to have a specific time and a place to go, it will help the rest of your body. It's kind of like a Pavlovian experience. If you've got a place and you've got a time and you've got a bit of a routine to just go be with the Lord. I almost always have my Bible when I'm praying. I heard JD one time say, if you want to guarantee your prayers are heard in heaven, start with the words that began in heaven. So I mentioned I pray the Lord's Prayer. I'm a little bit like a diesel engine when it comes to my time with the Lord. I kind of need a little warm period you know So I will recite the Lord Prayer and there some psalms sometimes I kind of go through what begins to happen for me I do the same thing with sermon prep by the way like there's a few places I sit on purpose. There's two albums that I listen to all the time. It's like when I do that, I'm like, if I'm sitting in that spot and that music's playing, it's like my brain goes, Oh, we're writing sermons. That's what we're doing now, you know? and the same thing with prayer i would highly encourage you to give the lord the first part of your day even if even if it's 25 seconds worth of prayer time that you would give him the first before you look at your screen before you do whatever the first thing you would do would be to go to him in prayer and then i also think it's not every prayer time is not the same so So I have certain days of the week, like my sermon prep days, there are hours dedicated to just Bible study and prayer. And then there's other times where, man, my day is packed from beginning to end and I don't have like a good chunk of time. And there's a lot of little quick prayers in there. And that both of those are good. I think about it like my communication with Gretchen. Today's my 26th anniversary. The last two nights we went out both nights. We spend a lot of time together face-to-face, hours together. And then sometimes we send a bunch of texts to each other. Both of those things are key, that kind of communication. If all we ever did was send a little quick text, that wouldn't be good. But if the only time we ever went face-to-face and talked is at best once a week when we went on date night, that wouldn't be good either. So it's a combination of those things, and I think that translates to prayer life pretty good. I love what you said. You don't want to have strong thumbs but a weak faith. we got to preach. There's a lot of that these days. Too much growing, not enough praying. And it's not a I need time myself. I'm a needy person so I couldn't just like say the Lord's prayer and then be like okay I'm all set. I need long times to read some verses and hear from the Lord that way and I'm also thinking about like direction of our church or and then sometimes when i pray if you could if you just transcribed it it'd be terrible you know my prayer would just be like all right lord my kids and then i'll just i don't know i don't know what you call it groaning too deep for words i'm just like thinking about them listening if the lord gives me a nudge in their direction You know what I mean? I might I'll throw up some specific things that they're going right now. But I'm a little bit like, Lord, you already know everything. So I can't inform you of anything right now. But what do you need to inform me of right now? And I want to be attentive to that. And I don't hear that quick. And holding them up before the Lord. I mean, let's just let's just that's a here with this person's name or this person's life or this person's situation right between us. I also, since I write most of my sermons on Mondays, I pray over my calendar every week. So, I mean, it's just very practical. I just get my calendar out and I just, I'm like, you know, all right, Tuesday I have this meeting and I just kind of pray about it. And I do. And then it kind of helps my mind get right about what I got coming up this week. I'm praying for the people in it. And I'm just, it's kind of like that. I mean, you know, it's like the first work day of the week and this is the work I have this week. And so I'm just kind of bringing it before you saying, here it is, Lord. I want to dedicate this all to all these meetings and this time that I've got to film these podcasts and write these daily blades and whatever. And I just kind of just, you know, just sort of lay it before the Lord. And that's helpful for me. one of the things that I only recently have grown, grown, started to grow in is, is like the listening part of prayer. You know, cause I think I grew up thinking prayer is talking to God, but that was the definition that I heard. And it's like, you talk to God, maybe you're immature. You talk to him about what you want and need. Then you grow a little bit and you talk to him about who he is or what's been written in the scripture and all this stuff. But actually there's just communing with him and listening and receiving from I mean, like what you just said, what do you want to tell me about this and listening? Like, that's really important. I think a lot of people miss that. Dude, Peter went up on a building by himself and had a vision from God and a personal prayer time, and it changed his whole life. Changed everything. I mean, he's up, and by the time you get to Acts 15, and they're having the Jerusalem Council about what it takes to be a Christian, and it was that personal prayer time that changed everything, where God gave him the vision of a sheep with all the different animals. He says, rise up, kill, and eat. And he's like, just like there are no unclean animals. There's no unclean people. You know, the gospel's for everybody. That was a personal prayer time, man. So it matters. And we're obsessed with like people telling them what to do. And a part of the reason false prophets rule and reign is because people's prayer life sucks. Yeah. Because if you were dialed in to what the good shepherd speaks to his sheep, the voice of a stranger, they will not follow. Right. and some people freak out about hearing from the lord but that's only a problem if you don't know how to check it against scripture right because if you hear something weird and you don't know that it's weird that's gonna be weird yeah i get it you know i pray and have ideas right and i'm like well i mean did i just make that up is that god you know right and that's why community matters a lot. I mean, you know. Testing and discerning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It usually involves wise counsel. Right. And so, I mean, bro, we're about to march in the neighbors of the nations. That was a prayer time for me. I'm like, I think this is the direction God wants our church to go. And then I pray about it real hard, listen, bring it before a bunch of elders and pastors and say, here's where I think we're going. And if everybody's like, that's not even biblical, then I'm like, okay, my bad. Let me rethink. Yeah. And then he ends this section with fasting, and it made me think of a – I mean, you made the comment earlier, and that was going to be my question. Do you think people struggle more with how to fast, or they just don't do it? Like, as you said, he's assuming they're going to fast, and he said, do it this way. you know honestly i don't know who i said that heard say this the first time but it's like a board game man yeah there's some people that can't enjoy the board game because they're just making sure everybody else plays by the rules and then there's some people that just are total rule breakers and you know fasting is a means to an end um it's amazing that the mental gymnastics that i've heard for why people aren't gonna fast okay then just don't do it but there's a bunch of stuff that will or won't happen based on your obedience to fast or not you know and do you think people don't believe that like is that a twisted view of god's sovereignty like well it doesn't matter or says fatalism or you know it's just disobedience right and it's hard people only hard things that's modalism patrick um remember that video i do the uh it's interesting with fasting because it is such a secret place thing. I mean, he goes, he doubles down on the secret place side of it. Of like, wash your face and do not make a thing about this. Do not complain about it. However, part of the point of it is that the hunger pains would remind you that you're hungry for something greater and that your body, its natural chemical makeup and response would remind you of the greater things and would push you deeper and deeper into your dependency on the Lord. And oftentimes, because there is discomfort associated with it, we're so wired for comfort that we think it's not working. and that's half the point is that you're putting your body in a position by which you can say no to the things of this world that can never truly fully satisfy so that you can say yes to the father and so fasting is one of those things that there's just so much power to it and anybody who would deny that power or maybe just misunderstand understand it. Like there's a part of prayer. We talk about this a lot at the different retreats that we lead, but there's a part of prayer that it is just a supernatural mystery that the father who's outside of the outside of time, who is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the one who was and is and is to come. And Jesus in Colossians one, it says he holds all things together. And so time and gravity, as we experience it chronologically, is actually being held together in the sun. Jesus is holding it together. So Jesus doesn't experience gravity in his ascended state in the way that you and I do. He's beyond and outside of all of that. And because he sees it all beginning to end and preordained it, it is all going to come to pass in the way that he preordained it. There's no question. There's nowhere else you can go in scripture. And yet somehow inside of time, as we experience it, the Holy Spirit is at work inside of time, which is being held together in the sun, which is going to be wrapped up together with a bow and given to the Father in the fullness of time. The Holy Spirit's at work in time, bringing about the sovereign will of God. And right in the middle of this cosmic mystery, he puts you and me. And the Spirit of God Burdens our heart And he burdens our heart And we bring that thing to God And we ask and we seek and we knock And he gives And then inside of time as we experience it If we didn't ask, seek and knock Then that gift Won't be opened In the way And I certainly won't be a beneficiary Of the joy of that gift being opened And brought about in the fullness of time He said you have not because you ask not and god is sovereign so why pray because he told you to dummy you know he told you to what do you want yeah uh it definitely is a mind bender i think a part of fasting too is god is trying to give you little baby steps to give you victory over your flesh so think about this you tell your flesh no to food which it has to have to live but you're saying man i live on bread alone okay and so you get hungry and you go no i'm not obeying you i'm obeying god and then you just translate that to every other temptation in your life your sexual desires begin to tell you what it has to have and you go no i'm not doing what you say i'm doing what he says and i know i can do this because i did it without food for a while Mm-hmm. Or you think you, whatever the thing is, you know? Yeah, that's a good point. You need some, you think you need some comfort and your flesh is screaming out and you go, no, no, I've got some victory in this. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think my own, my worst struggle with fasting is that I get, like, I can't think straight if I'm super hungry. I'm supposed to pray and it's very hard to, like, concentrate. You know, that's the worst part for me. well we're almost out of time here but can we just end by talking just some practicals like we're in this season of lent it's preparation for easter there's we're asking people for prayer and fasting i think you should add giving to that not you i think we the early church did they would it was a time of extra generosity prayer and fasting based on, I guess it was rooted right here. And you should do that. You should lean in to prepare your heart to celebrate the resurrected Christ. And the reason, I think, is because money, so that's giving, attention, we want it, and comfort just rule us. Right. And so what we're going to do is we're going to be more generous than normal. We're going to lean into prayer and we're going to tell our flesh no. So that our hearts will be ready to celebrate the resurrection. That's good. And you said that. You said lean in until Easter kind of, you know, like. And if we believe the promises of reward in giving, then it is a perfect preparation for that celebration. Yeah, and then the people that want to continuously live a life of reward will continue to participate in spiritual disciplines of giving and praying and fasting. Yeah. Yeah. There is a rewards program. Anything else you would add? No, I mean, I think in the Easter preparation and when you're fasting, praying for revival and praying for the return of Christ. These are two things that God is into. And that if our hearts are set on those things, why does revival tarry? Ask the great evangelist Leonard Ravenhill. Why does revival tarry? Because God's people don't pray. That's why. And the return of Christ, may that be our ultimate aim and our ultimate want and ultimate desire is to see the king. It is very convicting. You asked it recently, Pastor Joby, if God answered all your prayers from the past week, what would be different? And so it's a good goal to have. Make some regular prayers, just big old prayers. Close this out, Pastor Joby. Yeah, and I would encourage you this Wednesday, 6 to 8 or 12 to 1, get to a local campus for prayer time. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we love you. Hallowed be your name, God. May our lives bring glory to you. And Lord, may your kingdom come, may your will be done, and may you use us however you wish to make that happen. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the podcast. The reality is everything already belongs to God. 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