WEBVTT 00:00:01.844 --> 00:00:03.028 Luke, chapter 18 this morning. 00:00:03.028 --> 00:00:03.870 Luke, chapter 18. 00:00:03.870 --> 00:00:13.410 We're actually finishing up a mini series today entitled Transferring Trust, and this is a series about finances. 00:00:13.410 --> 00:00:22.405 And, guys, I gotta be honest, the rare times that we talk about finances here it's really hard for me. 00:00:22.405 --> 00:00:27.350 And let me tell you why in a really simple, straightforward way. 00:00:27.350 --> 00:00:34.826 I want you to like me and I want you to come back. 00:00:34.826 --> 00:00:39.831 And pastors don't win any popularity contest when they talk about this stuff. 00:00:39.831 --> 00:00:41.405 They just don't. 00:00:41.405 --> 00:00:45.029 But this is what I've learned. 00:00:45.029 --> 00:00:59.130 When you look at the scripture and if my role as a pastor is to teach scripture in a clear and understandable way, I have to do that, whether people will like me or not. 00:00:59.130 --> 00:01:01.103 Yeah, I just do. 00:01:01.103 --> 00:01:06.240 And when you study what the scripture says about finances, it's pretty mind blowing In fact. 00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:07.043 Let me throw y'all a number. 00:01:07.043 --> 00:01:09.822 Okay, I'll throw a number out to you guys 2000. 00:01:09.822 --> 00:01:12.269 2000. 00:01:12.269 --> 00:01:16.207 That's the number of Bible passages that talk about finances. 00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:21.980 Jesus would tell these stories in they're called parables. 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:23.265 He told 38 of them. 00:01:23.265 --> 00:01:26.546 16 of them included finances. 00:01:26.546 --> 00:01:30.748 25% of all of Jesus' teachings. 00:01:30.748 --> 00:01:35.390 They dealt with possessions in some way shape or form. 00:01:35.390 --> 00:01:41.989 The New Testament it talks more about finances than heaven and hell combined. 00:01:41.989 --> 00:01:55.292 But the biggest thing for me, the biggest stat for me that, honestly, is hard for me to believe, is that there are five times more verses on finances than prayer. 00:01:55.292 --> 00:01:58.721 Five times Am I the only one? 00:01:58.721 --> 00:01:59.584 That's like what. 00:01:59.584 --> 00:02:01.763 That's crazy. 00:02:01.763 --> 00:02:06.469 I would think that there would be way more verses on prayer than to finances. 00:02:06.469 --> 00:02:08.084 Why? 00:02:08.084 --> 00:02:21.310 Well, according to Jesus, it might be because the way we handle and steward our resources is deeply spiritual. 00:02:21.310 --> 00:02:27.948 According to him, it's not about money at all. 00:02:27.948 --> 00:02:32.449 It's about our hearts and it's about trust. 00:02:33.341 --> 00:02:45.164 Now, I don't know if you guys have ever heard a well-intentioned but misguided person say something like money is evil, money is bad. 00:02:45.164 --> 00:02:46.962 You ever heard somebody say that? 00:02:46.962 --> 00:02:51.436 Right, right, it's like the Bible says that money is evil. 00:02:51.436 --> 00:02:53.907 But you know what they actually misquote that verse. 00:02:53.907 --> 00:02:56.127 Does anyone know what that verse actually says? 00:02:56.127 --> 00:02:59.183 The love of money is. 00:02:59.183 --> 00:03:01.990 The love of money is the root of all evil. 00:03:01.990 --> 00:03:03.231 1 Timothy 6. 00:03:03.231 --> 00:03:14.568 So, in other words, it's not money itself, it's our relationship with money that can kind of get out of whack a little bit, and when that happens, bad things happen. 00:03:14.568 --> 00:03:21.890 We can say this way Money is a great servant but a terrible master. 00:03:21.890 --> 00:03:26.000 It's a great servant but it is a terrible master. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:26.281 In fact. 00:03:26.300 --> 00:03:29.409 I want to show you guys a picture of somebody that really embodied this. 00:03:29.409 --> 00:03:32.808 Does anybody know who this is on the screen? 00:03:32.808 --> 00:03:34.948 Anybody know who this guy is? 00:03:34.948 --> 00:03:36.264 Anybody want to take a guess? 00:03:36.264 --> 00:03:40.388 Andrew Carnegie, that's right. 00:03:40.388 --> 00:03:42.245 Somebody all thought that was my grandpa. 00:03:42.245 --> 00:03:43.862 No, that was not my grandpa. 00:03:43.862 --> 00:03:49.786 Andrew Carnegie, anybody know what he's known for? 00:03:49.786 --> 00:03:51.229 Steel. 00:03:51.229 --> 00:03:52.572 That's right, he's known for steel. 00:03:53.240 --> 00:04:00.252 And Andrew Carnegie, at the age of 33 years old, was the richest man in all of America at 33. 00:04:00.252 --> 00:04:05.069 He would be equivalent his worth would be equivalent to billions and billions of dollars. 00:04:05.069 --> 00:04:16.735 When he was 33, he wrote something in his journal that people look back and read about, something that I think is really fascinating. 00:04:16.735 --> 00:04:23.000 He was 33, he wrote in his journal that he didn't want to earn more than $50,000 a year for the rest of his life. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:26.980 He only wanted to earn $50,000 a year for the rest of his life. 00:04:26.980 --> 00:04:29.848 Now this guy was equivalent to a billionaire today. 00:04:29.848 --> 00:04:44.713 Now he says some really interesting things that I want you to see, but you got to kind of lean in a little bit and focus, because this is from like the 1800s, so his words are really flowery and kind of not in our modern day vernacular. 00:04:44.713 --> 00:04:46.545 But look what he said about this. 00:04:46.545 --> 00:04:47.447 Okay, it's really interesting. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:51.088 He says beyond this, $50,000, never earn. 00:04:51.088 --> 00:04:58.891 Make no effort to increase fortune, but spend the surplus each year for benevolent purposes. 00:04:58.891 --> 00:05:02.829 Cast aside business except for others. 00:05:02.829 --> 00:05:10.834 Take part in public matters, especially those connected with education and improvement of poor classes. 00:05:10.834 --> 00:05:13.000 Man must have an idol. 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:17.831 The amassing of wealth is one of the worst species in the world. 00:05:17.831 --> 00:05:25.273 No idol is more debasing than the worship of money. 00:05:25.273 --> 00:05:38.021 I must be careful to choose the life that will be the most elevating in my character, to continue much longer overwhelmed by business cares and with most of my thoughts. 00:05:38.021 --> 00:05:50.315 What we're just thoughts on, wholly upon the way to get to make more money is the shortest in the shortest time must degrade me beyond hope of permanent recovery. 00:05:50.315 --> 00:06:02.975 I will resign business at 35, but during the ensuing two years I wish to spend the afternoons in securing instruction and reading systematically. 00:06:04.783 --> 00:06:09.418 Andrew Carnegie says I've spent so much of my life trying to accrue wealth and get more and more. 00:06:09.418 --> 00:06:10.000 I'm not doing it anymore. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:13.000 I'm only going to live off of $50,000 a year. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.173 I'm going to give all the rest away. 00:06:15.173 --> 00:06:20.687 I'm going to be benevolent and we're like oh man, that's such a great guy, but you know what's crazy? 00:06:20.687 --> 00:06:22.504 He didn't do it. 00:06:22.504 --> 00:06:29.612 He literally spent the rest of his life trying to get more money and get richer and richer and richer. 00:06:31.182 --> 00:06:39.802 Now what we can do is we can look at Andrew Carnegie and we could say that old greedy white guy he's the problem. 00:06:39.802 --> 00:06:54.516 But can I humbly say that it is completely possible that, though we may never have resources like that, we can have a similar unhealthy relationship with money, but at a much smaller scale. 00:06:54.516 --> 00:07:09.625 It is possible that we have a similar unhealthy relationship at a much smaller scale, but if you can have a right relationship with money, it can actually be an incredible tool for you. 00:07:09.625 --> 00:07:16.014 But, believe it or not, you may not believe this, but having a right relationship with money actually begins with having a right relationship with Jesus. 00:07:16.014 --> 00:07:29.826 And this actually takes us to Luke, chapter 18, where we see a young man had some power, had some authority, had a pretty full bank account. 00:07:29.826 --> 00:07:36.427 He had an unhealthy relationship with money and Jesus offered him something more than he could ever imagine. 00:07:36.427 --> 00:07:48.423 But this man had to be willing to surrender some things to Jesus and we're going to see if it happened or not In Luke, chapter 18, verse number 18,. 00:07:48.483 --> 00:07:51.971 If you are ready for the word would you say amen, amen, a ruler. 00:07:51.971 --> 00:07:55.579 We know, based on other other passages, that this is a. 00:07:55.579 --> 00:07:57.408 He's rich, he's young. 00:07:57.408 --> 00:08:02.338 He asked him him is Jesus Good teacher? 00:08:02.338 --> 00:08:05.745 What must I do to inherit eternal life? 00:08:05.745 --> 00:08:07.249 Now we know the answer. 00:08:07.249 --> 00:08:08.853 Remember John 3 16. 00:08:08.853 --> 00:08:16.036 Jesus says whoever believes in me, whoever trusted me, will not perish but have eternal life. 00:08:16.036 --> 00:08:17.178 It's not. 00:08:17.178 --> 00:08:23.038 It's not by obeying all this stuff, it's not by doing all this, it's just, it's by simple belief. 00:08:23.141 --> 00:08:26.069 But Jesus is going to do something really interesting here. 00:08:26.069 --> 00:08:32.033 He's not going to go to belief, he's going to go to the thing in this man's heart that's standing in the way of belief. 00:08:32.033 --> 00:08:37.929 He's going to go to the very thing that is preventing him from following Jesus. 00:08:37.929 --> 00:08:40.235 He says in verse 19,. 00:08:40.235 --> 00:08:43.120 Jesus says why do you call me good? 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:48.274 No one is good except God alone. 00:08:49.198 --> 00:08:55.118 Now this statement has troubled some people before because they say hey, man, it sounds like Jesus is saying he's not God. 00:08:55.118 --> 00:08:58.875 Now, if you look at all the New Testament, you get all the passages. 00:08:58.875 --> 00:09:00.062 There are times after times. 00:09:00.062 --> 00:09:02.392 At the time again, jesus shows himself to be God. 00:09:02.392 --> 00:09:12.778 But what Jesus and what Jesus is trying to do here is he's trying to challenge this guy's very superficial, low view of goodness on what is actually good. 00:09:12.778 --> 00:09:18.476 Like this young man had this opinion of like I'm a good guy, you're a good guy, she's a good guy. 00:09:18.476 --> 00:09:20.006 Like we're all good. 00:09:20.006 --> 00:09:26.690 And Jesus is about to try to show him that we're really not all good, like people are not good. 00:09:26.690 --> 00:09:29.100 In fact, this is how he does it in verse number 20. 00:09:29.100 --> 00:09:44.433 It's pretty fascinating, he says Jesus says you know the commands Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother. 00:09:45.475 --> 00:09:47.158 Now you guys know where are these from. 00:09:47.158 --> 00:09:51.155 You guys know Ten Commandments, okay, ten Commandments, in Exodus, chapter 20. 00:09:51.155 --> 00:09:59.940 The Ten Commandments are God's universal standard for righteousness and Jesus names a few of them. 00:09:59.940 --> 00:10:05.937 And what Jesus is basically asking this guy is hey man, how you doing with those? 00:10:05.937 --> 00:10:08.388 I never remember. 00:10:08.388 --> 00:10:09.692 Remember, remember, remember. 00:10:10.395 --> 00:10:15.091 According to Jesus, if you lust after somebody in your mind, you've committed adultery. 00:10:15.091 --> 00:10:24.355 If you have hate in your heart towards somebody, it's like murder, bearing false witness. 00:10:24.355 --> 00:10:28.143 That's lying and it's interesting. 00:10:28.143 --> 00:10:30.207 This is what James says later on the New Testament. 00:10:30.207 --> 00:10:35.078 He says if you've broken one command, you've broken all the commands. 00:10:35.078 --> 00:10:39.370 If you've broken one, you've broken all of them. 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:43.948 This is why Paul writes in Romans that there's none righteous no, not one. 00:10:43.948 --> 00:10:48.961 In other words, before God, all of us are guilty, we're all guilty. 00:10:48.981 --> 00:10:55.436 And in 1 John, john writes if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. 00:10:55.436 --> 00:10:56.619 And the truth is not in us. 00:10:56.619 --> 00:11:04.581 And whenever we think that we're righteous and we're this and we're that, it's always in comparison to somebody that's less righteous than we are in our eyes. 00:11:04.581 --> 00:11:13.966 It's never a comparison to God's standard, to 10 commandments, and God did not give us the 10 commandments to measure our righteousness Like, oh, I'm really good about this. 00:11:13.966 --> 00:11:19.668 God gave us the 10 commandments to reveal our unrighteousness and show us how much we need Jesus. 00:11:19.668 --> 00:11:22.716 That's the purpose of the Ten Commandments. 00:11:24.052 --> 00:11:26.759 Jesus says hey, how are you doing with these commands? 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:30.315 Now, the obvious answer is going to be like I'm not doing very good, right? 00:11:30.315 --> 00:11:33.578 I messed up on that one. 00:11:33.578 --> 00:11:35.376 I've committed adultery. 00:11:35.376 --> 00:11:37.798 I've been blessed quite a few times in the last couple of weeks. 00:11:37.798 --> 00:11:39.634 I lied. 00:11:39.634 --> 00:11:40.437 That's what you would think. 00:11:40.437 --> 00:11:43.759 You would think he would be open and self-aware when he's talking to Jesus. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:45.115 You would think that, right? 00:11:45.115 --> 00:11:47.477 No, look what this young man says in verse 22. 00:11:47.477 --> 00:11:48.051 You ready? 00:11:48.051 --> 00:11:51.514 I've kept all these From my youth. 00:11:53.173 --> 00:12:01.089 Hmm, now, sometimes when I read scripture I ask myself questions about the passage. 00:12:01.089 --> 00:12:10.190 I imagine myself if I was sitting on a rock looking at this interaction and I was reading that this week and I just had this weird thought. 00:12:10.190 --> 00:12:13.094 I was like it's a good thing this dude's mom wasn't there. 00:12:13.094 --> 00:12:21.592 You kept all the commands. 00:12:21.592 --> 00:12:27.557 Really, remember that time? 00:12:27.557 --> 00:12:36.149 You remember that time when you told me that your room was clean so you could go hang out with your friend group? 00:12:36.149 --> 00:12:40.375 And you left and I checked your room and let me tell you, you just threw everything under the bed. 00:12:40.375 --> 00:12:45.654 Honor your father and your mother. 00:12:45.654 --> 00:12:52.613 It seems like every time I tell you to do anything, you have a little and yeah, that's you. 00:12:52.613 --> 00:13:03.212 This guy says that I'm all good, we need a mom. 00:13:03.212 --> 00:13:04.996 Check that one, because we know he ain't good. 00:13:04.996 --> 00:13:07.894 This is what Jesus does. 00:13:07.894 --> 00:13:12.916 He goes right for the jugular and the dexperse. 00:13:12.916 --> 00:13:16.856 He goes right for this dude's heart. 00:13:16.856 --> 00:13:19.873 This guy's got money. 00:13:19.873 --> 00:13:22.774 So this is what Jesus says. 00:13:24.330 --> 00:13:37.738 When Jesus heard this, what do you think was going through the mind of Jesus when he heard this man say I've kept all the commands, even though Jesus knew that he didn't keep all the commands? 00:13:37.738 --> 00:13:42.674 Do you think Jesus was internally rolling his eyes. 00:13:42.674 --> 00:13:48.916 What do you think was going through the mind? 00:13:48.916 --> 00:13:49.759 What's Jesus saying? 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:54.500 Okay, I'm going to show you this thing in your heart. 00:13:54.500 --> 00:13:58.796 I know this is what Jesus said and went right to his heart and pierced him like a dagger. 00:13:59.190 --> 00:14:03.143 Okay, you still lack one thing Sell all you have. 00:14:03.143 --> 00:14:04.615 Distribute it to the poor. 00:14:04.615 --> 00:14:08.038 I don't want you to sell it and invest it so you can make more money. 00:14:08.038 --> 00:14:11.216 This is not a money-making operation. 00:14:11.216 --> 00:14:14.008 This is not a let's advance your 401k. 00:14:14.008 --> 00:14:15.897 This is not a let's add to your net worth. 00:14:15.897 --> 00:14:19.375 This is not a let's go get some new bends, let's go get the new Tesla. 00:14:19.375 --> 00:14:22.356 Listen, I want you to sell it and I want you to distribute it to the poor. 00:14:22.356 --> 00:14:34.216 Oh, give it away and you will have treasure in heaven and you will have to come follow after me. 00:14:35.330 --> 00:14:39.480 You see, his riches were in the way of him following Jesus. 00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:41.594 That was it. 00:14:41.594 --> 00:14:43.190 It was the money. 00:14:43.190 --> 00:14:44.575 It was in the way of him following Jesus. 00:14:44.575 --> 00:15:11.062 And can I humbly submit that for some of us it's money, but for some of us it's not, but a lot of us, there's some things in the way of us wholeheartedly following Jesus, and what Jesus is going to do is Jesus gets to that point he gets personal with us and some of us respond and have responded in a similar way that this man responded in verse 23. 00:15:12.510 --> 00:15:25.038 After he heard this, he became extremely sad because he was very rich, and we know from other passages what this man ended up doing he walked away, deuses Jesus. 00:15:25.038 --> 00:15:26.832 He just can't do it. 00:15:26.832 --> 00:15:28.832 And you know why? 00:15:28.832 --> 00:15:31.999 Because, number one, he had a misunderstanding of Christianity. 00:15:31.999 --> 00:15:35.356 This guy had a misunderstanding of Christianity. 00:15:35.356 --> 00:15:37.655 He didn't understand it. 00:15:37.655 --> 00:15:49.961 And I say it's really easy for us to misunderstand Christianity because we can just see religion and religion masquerades itself as Christianity when it's not. 00:15:49.961 --> 00:15:54.157 This man thought I just need to do something. 00:15:54.157 --> 00:15:55.660 Just tell me what I need to do. 00:15:55.660 --> 00:15:58.190 He looked at Christianity just like typical religion. 00:15:58.190 --> 00:16:02.056 Let me add this to my life as long as everything else, I mean Jesus. 00:16:02.056 --> 00:16:03.625 What can I do to have eternal life? 00:16:03.625 --> 00:16:04.190 What do I need to do? 00:16:04.190 --> 00:16:06.485 Because I really want fire insurance from hell. 00:16:06.485 --> 00:16:07.190 I know that's not a regular place. 00:16:07.190 --> 00:16:08.937 So what do I need to do? 00:16:08.937 --> 00:16:14.160 Like, give me one thing to do so I can add this to my current operating system of life. 00:16:14.160 --> 00:16:17.938 Let me put this in modern day vernacular. 00:16:17.938 --> 00:16:24.503 He wanted to add the app of Christianity into his current life operating system. 00:16:24.503 --> 00:16:26.739 That's what he wanted. 00:16:26.739 --> 00:16:30.316 You want to add the app of Christianity. 00:16:31.551 --> 00:16:33.076 Now, we all have apps on our phones, don't we? 00:16:33.076 --> 00:16:34.875 We have different apps on our phone. 00:16:34.875 --> 00:16:35.034 Now. 00:16:35.034 --> 00:16:38.078 I have several different apps. 00:16:38.078 --> 00:16:39.676 In fact, are any of you guys like me? 00:16:39.676 --> 00:16:44.373 And I have way more apps than I even use, like sometimes? 00:16:44.373 --> 00:16:46.514 I'll go through and I'm like I didn't even realize I had that app. 00:16:46.514 --> 00:16:54.096 Oh yeah, I downloaded it three years ago, used it one time and forgot about it, right, I got all these different apps on my phone. 00:16:54.096 --> 00:16:57.539 I have a Nike Run Club app. 00:16:57.539 --> 00:16:59.096 I don't ever use this running app. 00:16:59.096 --> 00:17:01.533 I have a. 00:17:01.533 --> 00:17:03.119 What do I got on here. 00:17:03.119 --> 00:17:07.701 I got a John Maxwell leadership app on here. 00:17:07.701 --> 00:17:09.596 I got a workout app. 00:17:09.596 --> 00:17:11.016 I got a Facebook app. 00:17:11.016 --> 00:17:12.538 You guys got Facebook app right. 00:17:12.538 --> 00:17:15.278 Okay, I got Instagram, the Instagram app. 00:17:15.278 --> 00:17:18.375 In fact, I'm on Facebook and Instagram way more than I want to admit. 00:17:18.375 --> 00:17:21.535 I got a mail app. 00:17:21.535 --> 00:17:22.357 I use that a lot. 00:17:22.357 --> 00:17:23.976 I use my Google Calendar a lot. 00:17:24.369 --> 00:17:26.174 In fact, what are some apps that you guys use? 00:17:26.174 --> 00:17:29.654 We're in a church service, just remember. 00:17:29.654 --> 00:17:32.175 Okay, what are some of your favorite apps? 00:17:32.175 --> 00:17:36.632 Some apps that you guys use regularly Daily Bible version right, bible version. 00:17:36.632 --> 00:17:37.856 I have a Bible app too. 00:17:37.856 --> 00:17:38.633 I love the Bible app. 00:17:38.633 --> 00:17:41.094 Bible versus day what do you got back there? 00:17:41.094 --> 00:17:41.777 Is there a shell? 00:17:41.777 --> 00:17:43.430 Apple Health app? 00:17:43.430 --> 00:17:47.114 Apple Health app Okay, anybody use the Apple Health app. 00:17:47.114 --> 00:17:47.875 Any of you guys use that one? 00:17:47.875 --> 00:17:51.323 Yeah, encounter, encounter okay, what's that an app? 00:17:51.323 --> 00:17:51.955 What's that about? 00:17:51.955 --> 00:17:55.578 It's like everybody here is so spiritual. 00:17:55.578 --> 00:17:58.615 My goodness, it's almost like yelling in church. 00:17:58.615 --> 00:18:00.938 Okay, let's pretend we're not in church, guys. 00:18:00.938 --> 00:18:03.555 Okay, I saw your hand. 00:18:03.555 --> 00:18:04.096 What's the app? 00:18:04.096 --> 00:18:05.861 That's my boy. 00:18:07.309 --> 00:18:08.596 I was on ESPN yesterday. 00:18:08.596 --> 00:18:10.195 I had to check on the college football scores. 00:18:10.195 --> 00:18:12.657 Okay, let's go right, espn, anybody else? 00:18:12.657 --> 00:18:15.496 Bank apps Bank apps dude, I use BankTube. 00:18:15.496 --> 00:18:16.051 Youtube. 00:18:16.051 --> 00:18:17.296 I heard YouTube somewhere over here. 00:18:17.296 --> 00:18:22.095 Amazon, oh, my goodness, y'all are on Amazon all the time. 00:18:22.095 --> 00:18:26.695 Right, we got all these apps on our phone. 00:18:27.289 --> 00:18:31.455 Now, the thing about apps it's cool is you can add them or you can delete them. 00:18:31.455 --> 00:18:34.134 Okay, so I can add an app, delete an app. 00:18:34.134 --> 00:18:34.776 It's not a big deal. 00:18:34.776 --> 00:18:44.179 But have you ever tried to go from an iPhone to an Android phone or an Android phone to an iPhone? 00:18:44.179 --> 00:18:48.232 Somebody just said oh, yes, you guys ever tried that? 00:18:48.232 --> 00:18:50.494 So this is. 00:18:50.494 --> 00:18:50.797 I don't know. 00:18:50.797 --> 00:18:52.095 It's probably five or six years ago now. 00:18:52.509 --> 00:18:53.755 I made the terrible decision. 00:18:53.755 --> 00:18:59.577 My iPhone went down and I was like I'm gonna borrow somebody's Android phone for a few weeks. 00:18:59.577 --> 00:19:04.355 And I borrowed somebody's Android phone and I'm telling you I didn't know what was going on. 00:19:04.355 --> 00:19:06.913 I was like I don't get. 00:19:06.913 --> 00:19:09.796 It was a complete different operating system. 00:19:09.796 --> 00:19:10.818 How about this? 00:19:10.818 --> 00:19:15.451 Have you guys ever had maybe a Mac or a PC, laptop or desktop? 00:19:15.451 --> 00:19:17.057 And you switched to the other? 00:19:17.057 --> 00:19:18.413 Anybody ever done that before? 00:19:18.413 --> 00:19:22.160 And you're just like what is going on here? 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:23.836 I don't understand how to do it. 00:19:23.836 --> 00:19:26.596 This is why it's so hard for us to get. 00:19:26.596 --> 00:19:28.935 It's a new operating system. 00:19:28.935 --> 00:19:32.719 It's not an app, it's a new operating system. 00:19:32.719 --> 00:19:35.135 And you know what Jesus was trying to tell this man. 00:19:35.135 --> 00:19:37.731 Y'all ready and tell us? 00:19:37.731 --> 00:19:42.655 Christianity isn't an app you add to your life, it's a whole new operating system. 00:19:46.690 --> 00:19:53.614 Some of us think like nope, I'm just gonna download the Jesus app and I'm gonna hit on that when I want it and then I'm just gonna leave that and I'll come visit it whenever. 00:19:53.614 --> 00:19:55.413 That's not this whole thing of Christianity. 00:19:55.413 --> 00:20:00.457 Some of us think like Christianity is just oh man, well, I'm in a bad place. 00:20:00.457 --> 00:20:03.375 Jesus, come here, help me right now, like right now, in this moment. 00:20:03.375 --> 00:20:11.153 Okay, I'll come back to you when I need you, go, sit on the bench and what Christianity does is it actually revolutionizes you from the inside out. 00:20:11.153 --> 00:20:13.796 And the rich dude, he won't ready for all that, bro. 00:20:13.796 --> 00:20:15.593 Now, I'm not doing that. 00:20:15.593 --> 00:20:17.153 I ain't about that life. 00:20:17.153 --> 00:20:19.837 Give me an app to help me so I can have eternal life. 00:20:19.837 --> 00:20:22.373 Get my get out of hell free card, like I want that. 00:20:22.373 --> 00:20:25.051 But give me the whole revolution I don't know about. 00:20:25.071 --> 00:20:36.597 But here's the thing, guys Jesus offers us a deeply meaningful and satisfying life and he revolutionizes everything. 00:20:36.597 --> 00:20:40.576 And if you're in the room and maybe you're new and you're like, how does this even happen? 00:20:40.576 --> 00:20:46.958 Is when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, what he does is he begins by changing our identity. 00:20:46.958 --> 00:20:51.698 We're a new creature, we are a new creation in Christ. 00:20:51.698 --> 00:20:53.576 We are a child of God. 00:20:53.576 --> 00:20:57.539 Now, the word identity this is what really identity is. 00:20:57.539 --> 00:20:59.696 It's the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. 00:20:59.696 --> 00:21:01.710 That's what it is. 00:21:01.710 --> 00:21:06.556 It's the narrative that we live in and we all have a story we tell ourselves about ourselves, whether we're able to identify that or not. 00:21:06.556 --> 00:21:12.178 And there's a whole lot of things out there about identity right now and we're gonna do a series in a month or so. 00:21:12.178 --> 00:21:15.977 We're gonna talk about some of these things, but it's the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. 00:21:15.977 --> 00:21:19.875 And this is really important because our identity, it informs our thinking. 00:21:21.490 --> 00:21:32.373 So some of us for years have felt and thought that we're less than that we don't measure up, that we aren't enough. 00:21:32.373 --> 00:21:50.210 Maybe something happened to us in the past that maybe very few people know about, maybe nobody knows about, and you remember that and you say that's the story you tell yourself about yourself, because this happened to you, so you are a, and then that's the story you tell yourself. 00:21:50.210 --> 00:22:00.321 Or maybe what's happened is maybe you've done some things that you regret in your past and that's just the story you have assigned to yourself like this is who I am. 00:22:00.321 --> 00:22:09.869 And then what happens is we have this toxic shame that produces this debilitating story, this debilitating narrative in our life. 00:22:09.869 --> 00:22:11.221 And this is what Jesus does. 00:22:11.221 --> 00:22:13.349 He blows all this up. 00:22:14.740 --> 00:22:17.961 Jesus says when you come to me by faith, you have a new identity. 00:22:17.961 --> 00:22:19.269 Second Corinthians, chapter 517. 00:22:19.269 --> 00:22:21.603 You are a new creation in Christ. 00:22:21.603 --> 00:22:23.560 This is your identity, so I am enough. 00:22:23.560 --> 00:22:34.453 And when you came to me by faith, now you are enough, I am righteous, and when you came to me by faith, I mean you righteous, you righteous. 00:22:34.453 --> 00:22:40.058 I have forgiven you by what I've done on the cross. 00:22:40.058 --> 00:22:42.035 This is your identity. 00:22:42.035 --> 00:22:47.865 So now, because this is your new identity, let this inform your thinking and y'all know what happens when. 00:22:48.470 --> 00:22:50.196 You know what happens when we think about things. 00:22:50.196 --> 00:22:51.414 You know what our thinking informs. 00:22:51.414 --> 00:22:55.180 Our thinking always informs our behavior. 00:22:55.180 --> 00:22:58.993 It informs our behavior. 00:22:58.993 --> 00:23:03.355 So, if you live your life thinking that you're less than or you're not good enough, what's gonna happen? 00:23:03.355 --> 00:23:11.554 Because you're a human being, you're going to do things and act out in such a way where you can make yourself feel better about yourself. 00:23:11.554 --> 00:23:15.817 That's what you're gonna do, because we wanna feel better about ourselves. 00:23:15.817 --> 00:23:20.954 Now we can do that by I'm gonna gossip about this person because when I put them down, it makes me feel better about myself. 00:23:20.954 --> 00:23:27.852 I'm gonna do this, maybe by self-medicating, where that's drugs, alcohol, porn, netflix, food, gambling, you know matter. 00:23:27.852 --> 00:23:39.196 There's a whole list of them, and what it is is it's self-medicating because I wanna feel a certain way about myself, right, and so what happens is our identity informs our thinking and our thinking informs our behavior. 00:23:39.196 --> 00:23:42.680 And you know what our behavior ends up informing Our habits. 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:47.512 So, because we do this behavior enough, this becomes part of us. 00:23:47.512 --> 00:23:49.159 We become these types of people. 00:23:49.670 --> 00:23:58.032 And it's just this ugly cycle, because it reinforces this faulty, non-gospel identity that says this is what you do, this is your habit, so this is who you are. 00:23:58.032 --> 00:24:08.874 And it gets even worse Cause you know what your habits inform your future and this is what Jesus does. 00:24:08.874 --> 00:24:11.016 He's so gracious and he's so loving. 00:24:11.016 --> 00:24:15.773 Jesus doesn't just go after your habits, jesus doesn't go after your behavior, he doesn't go after your thinking. 00:24:15.773 --> 00:24:18.317 He doesn't even say you have to earn an identity. 00:24:18.317 --> 00:24:31.016 He says this I'm giving you this identity, this is who you are, and all you have to do is understand it and embrace it, and that will inform your thinking and that will inform your behavior, and that will inform your habits and that will inform your future. 00:24:31.016 --> 00:24:35.181 And Jesus wants to give you a satisfying, meaningful life. 00:24:35.181 --> 00:24:38.278 And he goes back to the very beginning of our identity. 00:24:38.278 --> 00:24:43.060 And when we know who's we are, we will know who we are. 00:24:43.630 --> 00:25:11.500 But there's a challenge, guys, because we want to experience this satisfying, meaningful life, but it requires something, something painful, something hard, something that this young man wasn't willing to do. 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:16.397 It requires surrender. 00:25:16.397 --> 00:25:22.258 It requires surrender. 00:25:22.258 --> 00:25:39.928 You see, jesus demands more than we think and he offers more than we could ever imagine Some of us think that Jesus just says, hey, let me just get a little this, a little bit of that, and Jesus is good with me. 00:25:39.928 --> 00:25:41.179 No, guys, can I be honest? 00:25:41.179 --> 00:25:46.884 Jesus wants you to lay everything down at His feet, so he is Lord over your life. 00:25:46.884 --> 00:25:53.046 But in turn, jesus offers more than you could ever imagine. 00:25:54.015 --> 00:25:57.945 The ways of Jesus isn't just about I need to do these three or four things. 00:25:57.945 --> 00:26:07.547 No, the ways of Jesus is about a life that's being informed and transformed by this new identity that begins when you come to Jesus Christ by faith. 00:26:07.547 --> 00:26:18.595 But, guys, we have to surrender, and the dude in this story did not experience this life because, well, the same reasons. 00:26:18.595 --> 00:26:19.960 Some of us aren't willing to experience it. 00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:23.421 Because, number two, jesus gets way too personal for him. 00:26:23.421 --> 00:26:27.383 We don't like if people get personal, do we? 00:26:27.383 --> 00:26:29.621 I don't like it. 00:26:29.621 --> 00:26:32.123 Like why you ask so many questions? 00:26:32.123 --> 00:26:33.721 You ever think that? 00:26:33.721 --> 00:26:36.903 Like why you get, why you ask so many questions about me? 00:26:36.903 --> 00:26:38.638 That's what Jesus did. 00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:53.901 Jesus got super personal, like he looked into his heart and he sees the bondage that money has on him and Jesus says go sell it, because that's the very thing that's in your life that's preventing you from experiencing life. 00:26:53.901 --> 00:27:00.665 That's the very thing that's preventing you from experiencing a meaningful relationship with me. 00:27:00.665 --> 00:27:05.402 It's the money he goes through that he gets really, really personal. 00:27:05.402 --> 00:27:08.278 He wasn't ready for that. 00:27:08.278 --> 00:27:18.125 And whenever Jesus goes after things in our heart, things that are above him, things that are in the place of him, things will use the word idols. 00:27:18.125 --> 00:27:23.414 It's always painful and it always hurts. 00:27:23.414 --> 00:27:26.825 In fact, one man said this about our hearts. 00:27:26.825 --> 00:27:33.321 He says our hearts are idol-making factories and it's the human condition to put things in front of God. 00:27:33.321 --> 00:27:42.140 But there are things that we just we put in front of God, things we just put in front of God and we don't even realize it. 00:27:42.140 --> 00:27:47.625 But we do Things like our career, things like relationships, our life dreams. 00:27:47.625 --> 00:27:56.342 Maybe it's power, maybe it's our looks, I don't know what it is, but we all have a tendency to put things in front of God. 00:27:57.496 --> 00:28:01.066 And what he does is he gets personal in our lives because he loves us enough to do it. 00:28:01.066 --> 00:28:06.338 And you know, what's ironic about Jesus getting personal with us Is that a lot of us we talk about. 00:28:06.338 --> 00:28:12.364 We have a personal relationship with Jesus and, by the way, isn't it amazing that we have a personal relationship with Jesus? 00:28:12.364 --> 00:28:13.636 That's amazing. 00:28:13.636 --> 00:28:19.699 But then we get frustrated when the person that we say we have a personal relationship with gets personal with us. 00:28:19.699 --> 00:28:22.877 You guys see the disconnect there. 00:28:22.877 --> 00:28:28.242 And Jesus, what he does is he gets personal with us. 00:28:28.242 --> 00:28:34.722 But sometimes what we got to understand is when he gets personal, it's not even because he wants that thing, that's standing in the way. 00:28:34.722 --> 00:28:38.898 He just wants to be more important than that thing and he wants that thing to be in its proper place. 00:28:41.575 --> 00:28:53.564 So you guys remember there's a story in Genesis it's really, it's one of those mind boggling stories where God told Abraham I want you to go and sacrifice your son Isaac on Mount Moriah. 00:28:53.564 --> 00:28:56.587 And he said sacrifice your son Isaac. 00:28:56.587 --> 00:28:59.962 Abraham's like sacrifice my son, my one and only son. 00:28:59.962 --> 00:29:05.282 Okay, so they get up to the mountain, mount Moriah. 00:29:05.282 --> 00:29:12.263 They're walking up the mountain, abraham's son Isaac looks over and is like hey, hey, dad, here's the wood. 00:29:12.263 --> 00:29:14.348 Where's the sacrifice? 00:29:14.348 --> 00:29:22.140 Isaac was the sacrifice Dad says God will provide. 00:29:24.965 --> 00:29:27.616 They get up to the mountain, they climb to the top. 00:29:27.616 --> 00:29:29.702 Altar's built. 00:29:29.702 --> 00:29:36.124 Dad says Isaac, get on the altar. 00:29:36.124 --> 00:29:45.165 Okay, god, I'm really doing this. 00:29:45.165 --> 00:29:53.221 Abraham takes a knife in his hand, he lifts it up. 00:29:53.221 --> 00:29:55.039 He's going to do this. 00:29:56.795 --> 00:29:57.798 You guys remember there's no. 00:29:57.798 --> 00:29:58.159 What happened. 00:29:58.159 --> 00:30:02.280 God says no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:30:02.280 --> 00:30:05.617 I don't want you to sacrifice Abraham, I don't want to sacrifice Isaac. 00:30:05.617 --> 00:30:08.164 There's a ram over here that that rams. 00:30:08.756 --> 00:30:09.458 You know what God wanted? 00:30:09.458 --> 00:30:11.900 God didn't want Isaac, he wanted Abraham's heart. 00:30:11.900 --> 00:30:18.196 God wanted to know if there was something that was standing in the way of Abraham's heart. 00:30:18.196 --> 00:30:20.111 Did you guys know this? 00:30:20.111 --> 00:30:22.351 That God is a personal God. 00:30:22.351 --> 00:30:31.856 Jesus is going to go after us because he wants our hearts and, believe it or not, he does this number three because he loves us. 00:30:31.856 --> 00:30:36.413 He loves us too much to not speak into the real places of our hearts. 00:30:39.164 --> 00:30:46.133 In another passage in Mark, same story, when Jesus looked at him you know what it says he looked at him with Love. 00:30:46.133 --> 00:30:53.326 Looking at him, jesus loved him In the moment. 00:30:53.326 --> 00:30:56.653 Do you think that young ruler thought that Jesus was being very loving? 00:30:56.653 --> 00:31:03.816 Jesus, you're telling me to sell everything and follow you. 00:31:03.816 --> 00:31:09.227