WEBVTT 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:02.319 Good, good. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:05.440 Um what he failed to tell you is he called me up out of retirement. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:07.919 You see, I used to be a youth minister back in the day. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:09.679 Um I'm now a therapist. 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:20.800 That seems like a tra a strange transition, probably, but uh I actually uh got my master's of divinity and psychology and counseling from the seminary in New Orleans, and I do counseling. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:24.239 Um, but I spent most of my adult life doing youth ministry. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:28.000 From the time I was 19 until I was in my 40s, uh, I was a youth leader. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:32.000 Um that doesn't mean, well, for one thing, it I I do kind of speak fast. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:34.320 I'm kind of wired to preach to teenagers, y'all. 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:34.960 It's kind of weird. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:36.240 I'm a little scatterbrained. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:39.039 Teenagers can tend to stick with me and stuff. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:42.880 Um I I've also kind of learned that every good sermon's about two things. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:48.719 It's about Jesus and it's about 20 minutes because usually that's all the time I've got when it comes to teenagers. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:51.280 Um, and so I'm gonna ask you to do a couple things for me. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:56.560 If you got your Bible, I'm gonna give you a couple passages of scripture that I'm gonna turn to in just a little bit because I move fast. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:00.640 I don't mean to, I try not to, but when I don't, it gets weird. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:05.680 So I'm gonna give you some passages that I'm gonna turn to so that we're not playing Bible drill in just a little bit. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:14.079 Um, and so one passage I'd like you to open to if you got your little ribbons in your Bible, Matthew chapter six, and another one is First Corinthians chapter 12. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:15.760 Those are a couple places that we're gonna go. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:19.760 Um, and so yeah, I've done most of my preaching to youth ministry. 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:23.920 Um, and so for today, just bear with me and pretend you're in my youth group. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:29.840 We're gonna back up and pretend it's like 2018, and I'm preaching to my youth group because I kind of will be all over the place. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:35.920 Um, I want to uh when Jason had texted me and asked me what passage I was coming out of, we were dealing with some stuff. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:47.120 We'd had a vehicle that had shut down on us, and we got a lot of stuff we were going through, and and I was just really convicted uh to talk about pursuing Christ and what your pursuit of Christ looks like. 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:57.040 Um, and I want to tell you a little story about a thing that happened to me uh that was one of the times that Christ I felt the conviction of God in one of the most profound ways. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:02.400 And uh, and so I had just learned this passage of scripture in seminary. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:18.479 There's this class that we have to commit the book of Philippians to memory, it's a counseling class, and there's this passage that Paul talks about um that Paul writes, and he's I I kind of love the verse that I'm about to quote to you because it kind of embodied what I felt like was a passionate pursuit of Jesus. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:25.360 And here's the thing is this story that I'm about to tell you is a point of conviction that came to me when I kind of thought I was pursuing Jesus. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:26.159 I really did. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:31.520 I was I was in the ministry, I was preaching every Wednesday night and teaching Bible studies on Sundays. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:42.080 And one of the things that is kind of a, I feel like a dual-edged sword is that if you grow up in church and you live your life in church and most of your relationships are in church, that's got a lot of good things to it. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:48.879 But a lot of times we can also get lulled into this normalcy of I'm doing the church thing, I show up and I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:56.400 And and this is the the the verse that Paul says, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, becoming like him in his death. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:58.560 And so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:06.080 Not that I've attained these things or I've been made perfect, but I press on towards the goal to claim the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:08.479 And he says, and all of us should take such a view on things. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:11.039 And that was really kind of what I thought I was doing, right? 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:16.800 I was on staff at a church and I was pursuing God, and I was having a conversation at one point with a guy named Johnny Morgan. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:20.159 Many of you guys might know him, and he was asking me, Well, how do you get spiritually fed? 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:20.879 What do you do? 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:34.719 Because one of the one of the things, and it's encouraging to me that your ministers are taking time to to you know be together and work on themselves because it gets really easy when you're in the ministry that all your time in the word you're preparing to teach somebody else or talk to somebody else. 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:39.919 And and what is what is your opportunity for the word to be changing you and for God to be leaning to you? 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:42.159 And so he'd been having these conversations with me. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:45.919 And it it came in a time in my life where this very interesting thing was going on. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:50.159 See, I never hunted growing up, as you could probably you're probably shocked to hear I'm ADHD. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:56.159 And that doesn't really work real well if you're trying to sit in a deer stand because I'm like, I'm in the deer stand for eight minutes, where are all the deer at? 00:03:56.240 --> 00:04:02.960 So I never hunted as a kid, but when we got pregnant with our first kid, I was like, man, I want to learn how to hunt so I can teach my boys how to hunt. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:09.680 Well, first couple years of hunting, I had very little, very little success deer hunting, as you can probably imagine why. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:11.599 I've gotten better as I've gotten older. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:19.759 Um, but Johnny, the same guy that had this conversation with me about how you get spiritually fed, had called me one day, and I think he had heard I'd had so little success, he was trying to throw me a bone. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:23.839 He was like, Hey, I know you're not super excited about how you're deer hunting going. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:25.680 Have you ever thought about going hog hunting? 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:27.040 And I was like, That sounds interesting. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:28.240 Do you know what do I need? 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:29.199 He said, Do you got a pistol? 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:30.720 And I was like, Yeah, I got a nine millimeter. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:33.279 And he's like, Do you got a knife with a long blade? 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:37.920 And I was like, Well, I got a buck knife with a six-inch blade, and he was like, That won't be long enough. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.560 And I was like, Well, what are we, sword fighting the pigs? 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:42.560 Like, what do you mean, not long enough? 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:44.720 And so I said, Tell me about this process. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:46.959 And so he starts to tell me about hog dogging. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:50.240 He and some of his friends and family did what was called hog dogging. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:05:05.519 And hog dogging was you had dogs and a bunch of guys and some four-wheelers, and some of your dogs had GPS collars on them, and some of them were called catch dogs, and you kept them on the four-wheeler, and you would let the chase dogs go, and they would chase hogs, and you'd watch them on GPS, and you'd ride around on the four-wheeler. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:17.120 And when the hog got bait up, which meant it was done fight running and it was time to fight, then you got in real close and you let the catch dogs go in, and the catch dogs would go in, they'd grab hold of the hog, and then you, as the hunter, had to go in with the knife and put the pig down. 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:20.079 And I was like, hold up a second, we're talking hunting. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:21.600 There's technology involved. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:26.000 I get to be on four-wheelers with my friends, and there's dogs, and I get to stab a hog and get bacon. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:27.360 I was like, sign me up. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:29.279 This is my kind of hunting. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:33.439 And it was, it was extremely exciting and really amazing. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:40.560 And what was crazy about it was like it wasn't until like my third time that I went that I actually got to put down a hog because you got to be the fastest one. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:44.800 Whoever gets the hog quickest gets to put down the hog or whatever, which I was not the fastest one. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:48.480 As you could probably tell, I'm gonna get out of breath a couple of times here before the sermon's over. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:55.279 But I remember like we were chasing some hogs, uh, a hog, and the dogs went through what used to be called Nickens Lake Hunting Club. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:58.800 It's now a subdivision up there, you know, on the other side of Jubit. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:05.439 And the the hog goes through the water and the dogs go off after it, and the guy that owned the dogs started taking off all his equipment. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:06.560 And I was like, What are you doing? 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:07.839 He's like, We gotta go after him. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:08.800 I said, Through the water? 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:11.439 He's like, Yeah, those are young dogs, they're gonna get drowned if we don't. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:18.639 And so I'm sticking my stuff off, and I got my knife over my head, and I'm wading through chest deep water, and Indiana Jones is playing in my head. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:22.639 Only because they made me stop playing it on my phone. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:26.240 But like, it was such an exciting and incredible time. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.680 And I got to go over there and I got to kill this hog, and it was super exciting. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:40.720 Now, here's the thing: the reason I'm telling you the story is because probably the most profound moment of conviction that I remember that's in my operational memory happened as I was leaving Nick and Lake Hunting Club. 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:50.879 And it wasn't like an audible voice, it wasn't like God spoke to me in an audible voice, but as I was driving out, I got to the place where the fence is, and I go to open up the fence. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:07:00.800 And as I'm opening up the fence, I'm just overwhelmed with the conviction that I pursue God more like I set a deer stand than like I hunted hogs. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:02.720 Now, let me give you some clarity on that. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:04.720 When I started hunting, I was not successful. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:07.120 Part of the reason I wasn't successful is I didn't do anything. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:10.160 My father-in-law had some deer stands on some property that I didn't work. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:12.959 I didn't plow it, I didn't plant it, I didn't put out feeders or cameras. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:16.160 I'd show up and sit down with a gun and hope a deer showed up. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:18.800 And if it didn't show up, I was kind of ticked. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:26.639 And I was convicted because in that moment, God was revealing to me that my pursuit of Christ looked more like sitting a deer stand than like chasing after hogs. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:34.560 Because my pursuit of Christ looked a whole lot like me showing up twice a week on a Sunday, on a Wednesday, sitting down in the pew, patting my back and waiting for God to show up. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:36.160 And if he didn't, I was kind of ticked. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:42.480 If he didn't, I would probably go, well, the the music man should have picked a different song or the preacher should have done a different verse or something like that. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:46.639 And I was just overwhelmed with conviction that I wasn't chasing Jesus very well. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:55.680 I wasn't living the life of pursuit, but partly because I lived in the Christian world and everything I did was the Christian world, and it all kind of got normalized in an unhealthy way. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:01.120 And I wasn't pursuing after Jesus, and I wasn't having the things that happen when you pursue after Jesus. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:08.160 One of my favorite verses that I spent most of my life having a huge misunderstanding of is Philippians chapter 4. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:09.680 So I quoted that verse earlier. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:11.040 That's Paul in Philippians 3. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:16.079 In Philippians 4 13, he says, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:18.160 And I misunderstood that verse. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:22.240 I used to think that verse meant if I believe hard enough, I can be successful. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:29.279 And in fact, I actually wrote that verse on my uh my cleats in football, which was hilarious because I also wrote die on my mouthpiece. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:36.399 So I had like Bible verses on my foot, and then I'd smile across line and be like, I love Jesus and I want to send you to see him or something. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:46.799 I don't know what I was trying to convey, but I had this concept that if I believed hard enough, I I could be successful. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:49.120 And that's not what that verse means. 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:53.600 In fact, if you go back and you read verses 4, 11, and 12, it says this. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:58.320 I'm not saying this because I am in need, for I've learned to be content in whatever the circumstances. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:01.360 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:10.559 I have learned the secret to being content in every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:14.799 You see, if we're pursuing Jesus well, we can deal with whatever's gonna come. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:20.799 And part of the reason I'm preaching this this week is whenever Jason had text me, we were going through some stuff. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:22.080 We had just lost a vehicle. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:28.559 We gone from a three-vehicle family with two driving teenagers that both have jobs to a two-vehicle family, which is really hard. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:31.360 And I was kind of freaking out and in despair, right? 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:32.720 And then something happened. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:38.559 I a young girl that was in my last youth group, she was in sixth grade when I was uh when I stopped doing youth ministry. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:40.320 She got into a terrible accident. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:47.360 She and her friend were driving down the road, and this guy doing like a hundred miles in a curb, lost control, hit him head on. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:49.120 He he lost his life. 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:53.679 She got a broken femur, and her friend had all kinds of internal injuries. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:58.399 And the reason I'm telling you this is because I want to share with you what happened and I asked for permission before I said this. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:09:59.519 Her name's Olivia. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:02.639 We went to see Olivia last week in the hospital room. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:06.399 And I am freaking out because I ain't got, but we're a two-vehicle family. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:14.320 We're and we go in, and here's this poor girl with a broken femur who just had a rod put in her leg, who called her mama from the car because she said, Well, this is what's funny. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:17.919 She called 911, she said, and I hung up on them because they were not being very helpful. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.960 And then she called her mama because she said, I don't want to die alone. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:21.600 Can you get here? 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:23.840 Because she was that sure she was about to die. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.240 And she is in the midst of a terrible recovery. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:30.159 She's probably gonna miss her first year of college because she's got so much rehab to do. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:34.879 And we went to see her, and she led us in a praise and worship song, y'all. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:39.279 I'm sitting there going, Oh my god, I don't have three cars. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:48.000 What a first world problem! And here's this young lady with a broken femur whose whole life has been altered, maybe for the rest of her life. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:51.919 And she's sitting there leading us, all my life, you have been faithful. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:54.559 All my life, you have been so, so good. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:01.919 You see, guys, when you're chasing the right thing, when you're pursuing Jesus well, whatever comes, it doesn't matter because you're chasing something else. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:05.360 Well, I didn't get that promotion at work, it doesn't matter, I'm chasing something else. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.639 Well, I lost a vehicle, it doesn't matter, I'm chasing something else. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:12.000 Well, that relationship didn't go, it doesn't matter because I'm chasing something else. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:17.120 And I feel like too many times, those of us that are believers, we get into a posture where we don't pursue Jesus well. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:18.960 We don't chase after him. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:24.320 We gotta just show up like we sit at a deer stand, sit a couple times a week and expect him to show up. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:33.600 And so I want to lean into you and share with you what I feel like are my biggest reasons that I've struggled to pursue Jesus well and that I feel like I've seen a lot in the church. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:34.080 All right. 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:36.960 So if you got your Bible, flip over to Mark chapter six. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:38.879 Mark chapter six. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:45.440 Now um, let's see. 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:53.679 So uh again, I'm a little bit ADHD. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:58.559 I'm sorry, not Mark, Matthew 6. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:11:59.600 Did I say Mark? 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:01.120 I apologize. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:02.480 Matthew chapter 6. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:04.320 I'm looking at it going, where's it at? 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:06.080 It's in a different book. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:08.879 Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 19. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:11.679 Now, I'm very ADHD. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:12.639 I grew up in the 80s. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:14.720 We didn't believe in ADHD in the 80s. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:16.240 Uh, all my teachers did. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:18.320 They were always like, Have you ever been tested for ADD? 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:20.000 Had one conversation with my mom about it. 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:21.279 I said, Mom, I think I'm ADD. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:22.480 She said, I think you're D U M. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:23.200 Go do your homework. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:24.480 And that was the last time we ever talked about it. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:25.039 That was it. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:28.159 Never medicated, struggled in school my whole life. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:32.080 I wasn't officially diagnosed until I was an adult. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:35.200 I'd had a closed head injury, didn't lose consciousness. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.200 They had to send me to all kinds of specialists. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.720 I was sitting there with the psychiatrist and he's like, What age did you get diagnosed with ADD? 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:42.240 And I was like, I don't have ADHD. 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:44.399 And he was like, fascinating. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:47.919 Well, let's run some attention tests real quick, which I failed miserably. 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:48.799 It was awesome. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:53.039 But I remember kind of feeling a little bit offended after I got that diagnosis. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:55.919 And for some reason, this passage jumped out at me. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.159 And I'm gonna tell you why, not some reason, I'll tell you why. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:59.840 This is a passage in Matthew chapter six. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:04.000 And again, I'm wanting to talk to you about reasons that I've struggled to pursue Jesus well. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:09.759 As somebody who's been a believer since I was a kid, I haven't always pursued Jesus well, even when I thought I was at times. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:23.919 Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 19, do not store it for yourself treasures on earth where moth and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store it for yourself treasures in heaven, where moth and vermin do not destroy, and thieves don't break in steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:28.480 The eye is the lamp of the body, and if your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:31.759 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:35.039 Then if the light within you in darkness, how great is that darkness? 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:36.799 No one can serve two masters. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:41.120 He'll either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:42.879 You cannot serve God and money. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:48.639 So when I first read this passage as an adult with ADHD, I went, Jesus was ADHD. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:50.080 Look at this. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:54.879 He's talking about money, and then he's talking about eyeballs, and then he's talking about money, and that feels like me. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:59.360 I look, it would be a totally normal thing for me to call Keith and be like, Keith, I bounced a check. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:00.240 I don't know what happened. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:01.200 I thought I had money. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.559 Did you know in LASIKs they cut your eye open and shoot it with a laser? 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:06.879 Anyway, I got a$35 NSF fee. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:10.720 That's a normal conversation for somebody with ADHD, right? 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:14.559 And so when I read this passage, I was like, Jesus is ADHD. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:15.279 Check this out. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:16.399 He's not, y'all. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:19.039 When you dive into this, he's not ADHD. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:20.399 He's not jumping all over the place. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:23.200 This is a perfect teaching analogy right here. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:30.480 Jesus is talking to a group of people whose concept of success was financial success and stability. 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:34.799 If you were right financially, you were right. 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:41.279 So much so that, like in another passage, Jesus says it is difficult for a rich person to get into heaven. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:43.039 Do you know what his disciples said? 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:44.960 Then who can be saved? 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:47.519 Like, oh my gosh, then who can be saved? 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:52.639 He is talking to a people who really, their standard of success is financial stability and success. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:55.519 And he says this, don't store it for yourself treasures here. 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:59.679 And then he says, if your eye is broken, your whole body will be full of darkness. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:03.679 And I expand this because I don't think we can just leave it at the financial thing. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:06.240 I think that this is a teaching on the standard of success. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:19.600 And I find it in my own life personally and in the life of a lot of people that grew up in churches and participate in churches, one of the reasons that as believers we struggle to pursue Jesus well is because we live by the wrong standards of success. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:24.559 It's terrible as Christians when we are living by the world standards of success. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:32.000 When what gets us up in the morning and what we think about right before we go to bed tonight is the same thing that the lost world is chasing after. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:41.600 How many of us that know Jesus and have come to a place that we have trusted in him and believe in him like life depends on it, spend our life chasing the American dream more than we chase Jesus? 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:42.320 You know? 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:51.279 And you know, the the thing is, is we also can't be shocked when the lost world doesn't see Jesus in us when we spend all our time chasing the same things they are. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:16:01.519 And too many times as Christians, we don't pursue Jesus well because what we're consumed with is everything that everybody else that's not a believer says is successful. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:02.960 It's crazy. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:07.679 And so I'm of the position, I'm of the mindset, well, then what should my standard of success be? 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:10.399 My standard of success as a believer, I believe, should be obedience. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:20.320 I I'm convinced of it that is a that like I and I'll give you some reasons why, like some of the passages, oh, I didn't write down the actual passages, but I wanted to share some with you. 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:24.559 Uh, some of the benefits, there's untold amount of benefits for being obedient. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:30.559 But if you live a life as a believer with uh a standard of successive obedience, there's so many things that come along with that. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:32.639 One of the big ones that jumps out is stability. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:39.759 You know, Jesus talks about the person that doesn't hears these things, words of mine, but doesn't do them is like the person that builds their house on the sand. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:45.279 And then the person that hears these words of mine and puts them into practice and does them is the guy that built his house on the rock. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:49.759 And when the storm comes, not if a storm, when the storm comes, the house on the sand falls. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:51.759 If you're obedient, you're gonna have stability. 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:54.799 It's one of the many benefits that you know it was crazy. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.919 Whenever, whenever COVID happened, everybody was tail spinning. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:16:59.279 We were really tail spinning. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:06.000 Well, my oldest son had a uretal pelvic junction obstruction the same time that COVID was going crazy, and then they were like, oh, he's high risk. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:14.319 We were washing groceries on our front porch before we brought him in because we were so scared of COVID-19, right? 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:25.119 And you know, one of the things that uh shook me was how there were certain Christians, certain believers, I'm gonna throw Johnny's name out again, that during the midst of all of it were just good. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:26.400 They had that stability. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:28.640 Well, you know, I'm just gonna follow Jesus. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:31.359 And I was like, just were it so simple, Johnny. 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:32.160 It was. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:34.000 He just followed Jesus. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:37.440 If you follow Jesus and live a life of obedience, you're gonna have stability. 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:38.960 Another big one is you're gonna have identity. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:42.559 James 1, it says, be a doer of the word, not a hearer only. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:46.559 If you're a hearer only, you're like a man that looks himself in the mirror and walks away and forgets who he is. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:49.839 But if you're a doer in the word, you will be blessed in what you do. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:52.880 You'll never have to wonder who you are if you're following Jesus. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:56.400 If that's your primary goal, your standard of success is obedience. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:01.200 No matter what age or stage in life you're gonna go through, you'll never have to wonder who you are. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:10.720 So, stability, identity, those are things that are examples of benefits of obedience, which should be our standard of success as followers of Jesus. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:17.119 And many of us don't pursue him well because our standard of success, look, and I'll just be honest, when I was in high school, what was my standard of success? 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:19.920 I love Jesus, but my standard was popularity. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:23.920 People think I'm funny, they like what I'm wearing. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:26.000 You can probably tell I've gotten past that one. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:31.599 Uh one of my clients the other day was like, you know, overalls are the crocs of clothing, right? 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:34.160 And I was like, Oh, okay, well, they're comfortable. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:39.039 Uh but when I was in high school, my standard of success was how many people liked me? 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:46.559 You know, how easy is it to get into a place where our standard of success is again the American dream, the financial goals that we're chasing after? 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:51.200 And so I want to challenge you to think is what does your pursuit of Jesus Christ look like as a believer? 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:58.960 It's real easy to get into a position where we've gotten normalized to it and our pursuit of Jesus is warming a chair twice a week and patting ourselves on the back for our attendance. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:00.400 Are we chasing after him? 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:03.200 Or are we setting a standard of obedience? 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:04.559 What does God want you to do right now? 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:09.519 What if I ask you right now, one of the things we used to do with my Sunday school class a long time ago, we had an obedience goal for the week. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:11.200 What does God want you to be obedient in? 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:15.759 If you're like, I don't know, it's not because God don't want to tell you something to be obedient in. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:17.920 Are you making yourself available to him? 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.119 Are are you participating in the word and the worship? 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:26.480 And then the next one I want to get to, uh, so this is 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:31.440 So just to recap, because I'm bad at this with the note-taking thing. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:34.240 I think we struggle with our pursuit of God. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:38.559 One of the big reasons I think we struggle with it is because we live by the wrong standards of success. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:46.559 One of the other reasons I believe we struggle with it is because of the way we participate or don't participate in the body. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:50.000 First Corinthians chapter 12. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:52.480 Paul says this. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:09.359 Even so the body is not made up of one part, but of many. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:14.960 Now, if the foot should say, Because I'm not the hand, I don't belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being a part of the body. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:20.160 And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I don't belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being a part of the body. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:22.480 If the whole body were nigh, where would the sense of hearing be? 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:25.279 And if the whole body were near, where would the sense of smell be? 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:30.319 But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, each one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:31.519 Now, here's the thing. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:34.079 Um, am I gonna squeal if I walk down in front of these things? 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:36.160 Hey, Matt, could you throw me my phone real quick? 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:39.519 Uh I want to share with you we've got any history buffs in here? 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:41.440 History buffs? 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:42.960 Okay, this is a fascinating thing. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:45.759 Some of you guys might find this interesting, some of you guys might not. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:49.839 Uh, there's this name, Agrippus, Agrippa Meninius Latinus. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:51.440 Most of you guys probably never heard that name. 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:52.640 I never heard that name before. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:54.400 I did a deep dive on this passage. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:56.160 Um, now here's the thing. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:58.960 I don't know if Paul and the Corinthians knew his name. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:00.160 They probably did. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:16.160 Um, they definitely knew of the analogy if they were a Roman citizen and grew up in Roman schools, because Paul Agrippus Meninius Latinus was actually um a Roman um, so you had the plebs, which were like the common people, and you had the patricians, which were like the ruling class. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:18.960 And most people in the Senate and in Rome were patricians. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:22.880 Um, sorry, I gotta open my phone. 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:31.359 Uh, and so there was this time where there was a revolt where the plebs pretty much had gotten to a point where they were like, what good is the government? 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:33.119 Can anybody identify with that? 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:34.000 Like, what do we do? 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:41.200 Like, we do all the work, we do everything that supports the Roman Empire, we do everything that makes it function, and then they got all these people in Rome. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:42.240 That what are they doing? 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:43.119 What are they good for? 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:45.759 And they started to have a rebellion, an uprising. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:52.000 And Agrippa Meninius Latinus was the first, was the guy that is credited with quelling that rebellion. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.559 And the way he did it was through an analogy, an analogy of the belly. 00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:59.039 And this was what his analogy was like, yes. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:07.200 Roman countrymen, you were like the arms and the legs and the feet of the empire, but we, the Senate and Rome are like the belly. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:10.640 And you need us because we send all the nutrients out or whatever. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:15.680 I don't know exactly how he extrapolated it, but that was kind of his story. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:20.160 And it was apparently successful and it apparently had quelled the rebellion. 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:27.440 And so the reason I'm bringing that up is because this is a cool analogy that Paul uses here, but Paul is tapping into something. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:30.240 This isn't the first time they've heard an analogy of a body. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:36.319 And I was trying to think of something that, like Paul, is actually appealing to their civic pride and sense of responsibility. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:39.279 As Roman Christians, he's tapping into something. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:46.880 Now, I couldn't think of anything that was an exact thing that you could say that would evoke feelings, but this is something I came up with. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:51.039 Right? 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:52.880 Does that evoke some feelings, right? 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:56.880 For most of us, yeah, we get a little bit jacked up when we hear that kind of a thing. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:23:09.839 When Paul is talking to these Roman Christians in Corinth and he's referencing this idea of the body, he's tapping into their sense of civic responsibility and duty, but then he's tying it to something that's so much bigger than the empire of Rome. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.000 He's saying, you have a part to play. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:17.599 You have something that you participate in, not for the glory of Rome, but for the glory of the kingdom of God. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:22.960 And it's not something that, you know, it's something that you get to participate in. 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:31.599 And here's the thing is nothing that you do in life will echo eternity except your pursuit of Jesus and your participation in the body of Christ. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:35.519 And he's tapping into this and going, like, do you realize how important this is? 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:38.559 Do you realize how important that you have a role to play? 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:46.640 And one of the reasons that I feel like we struggle to pursue Jesus well is because too many times as Christians, we just kind of we've been around church our whole life. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:52.640 We go, we'd go when we look, I'm gonna pick on it, pick on a couple families because they're my fan club and they don't live in these areas anymore. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:24:01.519 But we got two families here that spent significant time in a place you couldn't talk about the body of Christ, because it was dangerous to people's lives. 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:08.799 People could die participating in the body of Christ, and these families moved their families there and their kids there. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:10.400 Why would they do that? 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:17.759 Because it's important, because it's the most important thing in the world, and too many times as Christians, we just don't participate. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:19.119 I'm just not gonna go. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:20.559 I'm not feeling it. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:22.319 I'm not feeling it. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:28.160 A lot of us do not follow Jesus, pursue Jesus well because we don't participate in the body of Christ like we should. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:31.440 And what am I saying when I say participate in the body of Christ like we should? 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:33.440 I don't mean just attendance. 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:39.920 My favorite passage from Proverbs is iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:42.640 I think we lose in translation what that verse meant. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:54.480 You know, unless you grew up in an agrarian setting, you might not realize that iron only sharpens iron when it comes together repeatedly at the right angle to cause the kind of friction to rub off junk that's not the point. 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:55.920 What does that look like? 00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:57.279 What does that look like in a crew? 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:05.039 That doesn't look like, hey, we're gonna sit together and you know, I mean, like we've gotten so good at church, like my brother and I grew up, we're my dad's my pastor. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:07.839 Like we are so good at church at everything being great. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:10.720 I swear this probably happened, but if it didn't, it could have. 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:14.000 Tyson and I could have been fist fighting in the car on the way to church. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:16.559 And when you step across that threshold, how you doing? 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:18.160 Oh, I'm 500 frog hair. 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:20.480 If I was any better, I'd be twins, right? 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:22.960 We're so good at putting this mask on. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:25.440 Where is the iron sharpened iron? 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:31.200 Where is the relationship where we can get up into each other's junk and ask each other the hard question? 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:34.640 And and that's a thing that you've got to intentionally participate in. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:36.559 It's not something that's gonna naturally happen. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:37.920 I love the church. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.000 There's a lot of places that the church struggles. 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:43.119 You're not gonna find a relationship like this in in Sunday school. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:47.359 If I rolled up into Sunday school and was like, Tyson, what part of your life right now needs to come under the Lordship of Christ? 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:50.160 People would be like, have a donut and a seat. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:51.200 We have a lesson. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:52.640 We don't do that in here. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:54.400 Why we we need to. 00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:55.839 We need to. 00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:01.759 Um, this place a long time ago was where our small group was at. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:05.920 And it was a sweet season for my family, for my wife and I especially. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:06.960 I think the boys enjoyed it. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:08.480 They were most of the time down at the river or something. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:09.279 I don't know where they were. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:11.599 Most of the time we were doing small group and stuff. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:16.559 But having those kinds of relationships that you can lean into each other and ask each other hard questions. 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:19.359 Who are the people in your life that is the iron sharpens iron? 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:21.119 Who knows what you struggle with? 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:23.039 Who has the ability to go, Jared? 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:29.119 I know you struggle with pride, and I know you struggle with your attitude, and I know you struggle with whatever it is that you struggle with. 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:31.519 Who has permission to lean into you? 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:47.279 Um, my kids were growing up, there was this uh show called Lego Ninjago, and in Lego Ninjago, the they had the bad villain, and you had the heroes, and somehow the bad villain's son ends up being raised by the heroes. 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:48.720 Really kind of weird thing. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:59.039 And uh there was one episode where they there's a confrontation and they meet, and the kid's like talking to his dad, and he's like, You ruined my life. 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:01.200 And his dad says, How could I have ruined your life? 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:02.480 I was never even there. 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:06.720 That's kind of a dark joke for Lego, you know, because it's like, oh, ugh. 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:17.279 But the reality is this is that like we've gotten to a place in America in the American Christian church that we're really comfortable with the idea that we go to church for self-edification. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:21.279 That I go to church and God's gonna lean into me and I'm gonna have a great and I'm gonna be in the word. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:24.640 And if you don't show up, other people suffer. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:30.960 If you don't participate, other people can't be where they need to be with the because we are built for this community. 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:34.880 We are built to be a part and we have this duty and this responsibility. 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:40.160 And if we don't participate like we should, we're not gonna be able to pursue Jesus in the way that we should. 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:43.759