WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.560 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.839 Good morning, Awakening family. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:29.280 I have to respond to that last fun fact that after that game against Pastor Ryan, I retired. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:35.359 No, I love basketball, and I um was a scrappy little point guard. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:44.079 My dad put in the Harvard Alumni Journal when I was 12 years old, he said, Charlie is a fiery humanist and a repressed basketball star. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:45.759 Too short. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:55.039 So, but how many of you know that whatever are both limitations or skills, God has a place for us in his family? 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:59.200 And I want to thank you, Awakening Family, for being a family of faith to us. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:01.119 We're really happy to be with you. 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:11.439 It's a great memory to be in this theater when we first started coming and then started encouraging, we were here, and then to watch it grow into the uh to the cafeteria and other locations. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:13.599 Very exciting to be a part of this. 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:16.640 And I love the series we're in. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:19.200 And I think I want to thank you for your warm welcome. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:27.040 Can we just give God praise for our pastors and for the series speakers so far of the goodness they've brought to us in this series? 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:28.400 Can we just do that for right now? 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:30.400 Praise God for that. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:38.480 I had a chance to listen to some of the messages, and it just increases the intimidation factor to come and join you. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:42.400 But we've been well taught that we're finding home. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:49.359 We're finding our way back home through a very countercultural set of teachings that our Lord Jesus gave to us. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:57.040 And what I'm excited about, how many of you agree in our world we need to move from anger to advocacy? 00:01:57.359 --> 00:01:59.680 We've got enough accusation out there. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:01.519 How about some advocacy? 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:03.439 How about some affirmation? 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:09.599 Or moving from hatred that is so easily stirred up to holy love? 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:13.199 I want to thank you for embodying that today. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:18.800 And then, am I the only one that reacts at times to what I read or see or hear online? 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:19.840 Or am I the only one? 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:24.000 There are people that open their mouth and I have a reaction. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:26.800 By the way, it's not always sanctified. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:34.000 And when we're going to be talking about the pure in heart today, how do we move from reaction to real righteousness? 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.080 Not self-righteousness. 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:40.319 And so this important series that we're in. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:46.080 And the other thing I want to just remind you of is Matthew's gospel itself is pretty amazing. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:51.280 The opening chapter of Matthew, you might remember this when you've heard a Christmas message. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:54.240 Jesus is called Emmanuel. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:57.280 That means, help me out, God with us. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:00.719 Or as Dale Brunner says, the with us God. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:02.639 I really like that emphasis. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:11.280 And then at the end of the book, Jesus says to his followers, I'm going to be with you always to the end of the age. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:17.840 Matthew is a book of the presence of Jesus and the authority of Jesus. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:22.479 And then he organizes the teachings of Jesus in an extraordinary fashion. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:36.800 This Sermon on the Mount is a beautifully crafted set of chapters, and these beatitudes from the lips of our Lord, brought by Matthew, really help us see a different way of living. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:40.479 And I want to remind us that these beatitudes fit together. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:51.280 The blessed follower of Jesus, that wonderful word, makarios, to be congratulated, happy, blessed, joyful, exuberant. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:55.680 The first and the last beatitude fit together. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:57.039 It's a beautiful structure. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.919 Blessed are the poor in spirit and those persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.879 How many of you know it's okay to be persecuted for obedience but not obnoxiousness? 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:11.280 Big difference, right? 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.879 But blessed are you when you are challenged. 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:16.879 But are you humble? 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:20.079 And then blessed are those that mourn, the mournful. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:23.759 They're mourning over both life and sin. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:28.560 But also, blessed are the peacemakers. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:34.959 You know, I have friends over the years who declared to me, I'm called by God to agitate. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:43.040 And I said, well, there are moments that we need to raise consciousness, moments we need to expose things that need to be changed. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:47.279 But how many of you know agitation that never stops never goes anywhere? 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:50.560 How many of you know we need more peacemaking? 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:58.079 We need more women and men engaged in bringing reconciliation and shalom and comfort and help. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:02.800 And then Jesus puts together the meek and the pure in heart. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.279 And today we're going to look at the pure in heart. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:31.600 And as we find out, meek is this unbelievable self-emptying, this beautiful sense of the absence of self-centeredness, the absence of focus on ourselves and humility, and then the pure in heart, and the meek inherit the earth, and the pure in heart have their eyes transformed to be able to see God in ways they wouldn't otherwise. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:39.920 And then he says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they'll be filled, and the merciful, for they'll obtain mercy. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:51.360 So this beautiful set of Beatitudes, these are starting points for our walk with God and their attributes that we're always working on as well. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.279 So today we want to look at purity of heart. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:04.399 So why don't you just help me and let's say the verse together just to kind of remind our minds blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:05.439 Can we do it again? 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:09.439 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:22.079 The great Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard in the 19th century was coming up against a lot of hypocrisy, religiosity, a church that was stale. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:31.920 And he wrote a little book in preparation for the cross and for Easter called Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:37.759 The title is profound, the book is profound, but the sentence alone is enough to meditate on. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:44.160 Lord, how can I be at a point where I'm not double-minded, where I'm not conflicted inside? 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:58.480 Peter Crieft is a great philosopher from Boston College, and he said the pure heart means a single heart, a heart in which only one desire lives, and that's love. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:01.600 And then C.S. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:10.560 Lewis, if these names are new to you, take a moment this afternoon and tomorrow, please not during the service, but take a moment, look them up. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:11.360 But if C.S. 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:16.079 Lewis is new to you, welcome to a wealth of wisdom and joy. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:22.639 It's safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:40.560 Do we want to see God as God, or humans that we are, rebels that we are at times, do we want to sort of manufacture a deity to our own liking? 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:45.279 And so a pure heart challenges us to go a step further. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:48.240 And I'm grateful that God can be at work. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.240 So what is a pure heart? 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.800 Well, it's both a process and a state of purification. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.519 So blessed are the pure in heart. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:05.040 It's who we are to be, but it also, the text there implies that there's an ongoing surgery in the soul. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:08.800 There's an ongoing, the literal word there is catharsis. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:19.920 And this sense of impurities being removed, but not only something being extracted, but something being developed. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:21.839 I want to say that again. 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:23.199 I think that's so important. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:38.159 A pure heart is not only where something is the absence of impurity or mixed motives, but it's also the presence of the motivation of love for God and for our neighbor. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:47.120 And the heart in the Bible is the seat of all of our inner life. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:53.600 Our affections, our dispositions, our emotions, our intentions. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:58.879 It's where our thoughts start and begin to be ordered. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:05.200 And so when Jesus is calling us to this, what a process he's calling to us. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:08.480 What a beautiful thing he's called us to be. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:18.639 I had the privilege 36 years ago of making a phone call to a church in Maryland, and a pastor named Eugene Peterson picked up the phone. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:23.120 And he's the translator of the message Bible, some of you might be familiar with. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:25.360 A wonderful pastor to pastors. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:31.120 And I had a chance to go be with him and hear about his ministry and learn from him as a young pastor myself. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:40.879 But he said, you know, the real job of pastors and the real job of the work of the Spirit in the life of God's people is to keep us attentive to God. 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:48.159 Aware, attentive, thinking about how to please and respond to God. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:51.759 And he put it this way in the message Bible. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:58.240 He said, The inside world is put right so that we can see God on the outside. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:07.279 Would you join with me and could we just ask the Holy Spirit to do a work this morning in our hearts by his grace? 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:09.600 Would you join with me in prayer, Father? 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.960 In the name of Jesus, we come to you. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:22.159 And we come to you with hearts of love for your goodness and grace, hearts of gratitude and thanksgiving for all you've done, for who you are. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:35.360 And we come to you, Lord, as fragile and finite human beings, often full of feelings and too often so full of ourselves and less full of your grace at times. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:43.679 And so, Lord, we come to you and we offer our hearts to you today and ask that you would do a work in us. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:51.519 You would do a deep and lasting work in us because we've been exposed to your word. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:58.639 And Lord, we not only pray for ourselves, we pray for our sisters and brothers on our right and our left and in front and behind. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:03.919 With no judgment toward ourselves or others, only you know everything about us. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:11.840 We just bless one another right now with a work of the Spirit in our hearts, in Jesus' name. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:13.440 Would you say amen? 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:15.200 What a good God. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:16.720 What do you say if we go to lunch now? 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:18.000 I think we're done. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:22.080 Well, let me share a couple insights that I hope will be helpful. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:28.240 Um in our hearts, the Bible gives warnings and promises that we just need to be alert to. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:35.200 And I'm just putting a few scriptures here to anchor what's behind this beatitude. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:44.720 In Psalm 24 and in Matthew 23, the writers tell us that we need to have clean hands and a pure heart if we're going to come before God and enjoy God. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:51.600 Now, just to remind our own souls here, there's no way we ever earn the right to be in God's presence. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:57.200 How many of you know Jesus paved that way and gives us grace to be able to enjoy God? 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:05.120 But to enjoy God, it's hard to enjoy Him when our minds and hearts are in a hundred places and divided and divisive. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:07.919 And so clean hands and a pure heart. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:19.039 And then in Matthew, Jesus is talking to the religious leaders, and he's telling them that you appear to be pure on the outside, but inside, you've really got some problems. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:24.080 Now, Matthew 23 is a passage we could spend another talk on. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:27.440 But when I was a young pastor, I joined with Jesus. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.000 Jesus, get those hypocrites. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:31.679 Boy, go get them. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:34.480 And I was just with Jesus, right? 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:36.000 Against all those hypocrites. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:39.600 And then one day the Holy Spirit said, What makes you think you're not one? 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:44.480 Uh, Lord, um, I'm on your side, remember? 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:50.399 And by the way, Jesus was not coming with accusatory or condemnatory words to me. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:55.039 He just said, Charlie, you're equally suspect to hypocrisy. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:00.000 You're equally tempted by the things that I rebuked those leaders for. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:02.639 Bring your heart to me. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:05.600 Bring your heart to me. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:10.559 And by the way, now I join with Advocate Jesus praying for the people that are struggling. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:13.039 How many of you know that's a lot better than accusation? 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:14.639 We join with him. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:24.240 Proverbs 4.23 and Matthew 12.34, the Proverbs says, Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:29.919 And Matthew's text, the mouth declares what's in our hearts. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.440 Now that doesn't mean we don't let words slip or make mistakes. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:37.440 It doesn't mean if we verbally fail at a moment that we're evil. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:40.960 It just means that we, this heart kind of matters. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:47.919 And therefore we want to open ourselves up to God and to really let him do the work in it that he needs to do. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:50.960 And as I do this this morning, can I just share? 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:55.279 The last couple years have been challenging for Kathy and me. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:14:01.440 We've had some amazing blessings and ministry opportunities, and we've had we've got an amazing growing family. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:04.399 I know I look 39, but my son is 39. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:14.080 And uh and uh we love our grandkids, and we've had some wonderful times, but we've also had am I the only one that's had people promise things and not deliver? 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:19.759 Am I the only one that's had an expectation or two not met by institutions? 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:22.080 Let's all smile politely. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:30.639 So we we've had we've had this joyful lament going on, this mixture of sweet and salt. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:34.639 And almost every time I go to the Lord and say, Lord, they didn't do what they said. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:36.720 God, when are you gonna break through? 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:42.799 And and then the Holy Spirit keeps saying, Um, while you trust me for the future, do today well. 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:46.639 Oh, you mean I gotta grade those papers? 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:48.240 Yeah, do today well. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:51.679 Oh, I've got to forgive that driver. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:57.519 How many of you know we're sanctified as much on the Silicon Valley Highways as anywhere else in the world? 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:02.080 You see, God's working on our hearts. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:08.879 So let me share four insights that I hope will be helpful as we try to kind of unpack this and apply it together. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:13.360 Number one, we need to be people of focus. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:23.360 Purity of heart begins with an essential focus, and it's this: our entire Christian life is a thank you to the grace of God. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:39.519 You see, Old or New Testament, Hebrew or Greek scriptures, the story of Israel or the story of Jesus is not a story of religious people climbing a mountain and hoping to make it to the promised land. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:50.080 It's a story of the grace of God delivering, making a covenant, making promises, and then asking us to say thank you. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:16:00.960 And if you're newer to faith, or maybe you're wrestling with what this Christian faith means, maybe the rules seem a little bit difficult. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:02.720 By the way, they are. 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:06.159 The Bible's not unclear about things. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:06.960 G.K. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:13.279 Chesterton said, Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it's just been found hard and rarely tried. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:17.120 So, yeah, it's life isn't easy. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:18.879 But you know what happens? 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:25.440 We forget that while we while we were rebels, he reconciled us through the cross. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:29.200 While we were far away, he comes near. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:31.440 He pursues us. 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:40.480 And then he says, I want you to obey me, I want you to follow my ways as a thank you, not trying to earn your way. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:52.879 When I first heard this message as a teenager here in San Jose, not only did I respond to the grace of God, but can I just thank you, Awakening Church, for being the church? 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:57.360 Next year will be 50 years that I followed Jesus. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:06.559 And it was in a church like this, where the gospel was shared, and I said yes, and then people surrounded me and cared. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:15.440 They didn't ask me what my GPA was or what my scoring was on the basketball court, which was minimal by that point. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:20.000 They didn't ask me what clique I was in or group I came from. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:22.319 They were just glad I was there. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:30.880 And a couple of years later, when my family went through crisis, sisters and brothers, moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, they were all there. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:36.400 I had to take my maroon-checked coat to the dry cleaner. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:39.839 Come on, do you see you see the bell bottoms and the platform shoes? 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:41.119 Come on. 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:43.200 There was a uniform back then. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:50.160 Because of all the pancake of the hugs of the mothers of the church. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:53.119 Thank you, awakening. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:18:06.240 And if you're feeling like God might be distant, let me just tell you, he's as close as your breath, and he's as close as the smile of a sister or brother right next to you. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:08.799 Our life is a thank you to God. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:10.559 So, what does Satan want to do? 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:16.400 He wants to either make us careless, oh well, I've got grace, doesn't matter what I do. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:23.680 By the way, God still loves you, but it does matter what you do because am I the only one that's experienced a few consequences of my stupidity? 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:26.559 It does matter what we do. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:29.119 He loves us. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.359 Or the devil wants to make us hyper-scrupulous. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:38.720 Oh, I didn't get my full Bible reading in before I left home for work. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.880 I must not be blessed today. 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:45.279 Or am I the only one that kind of checks locks three times? 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:55.119 Folks, let's have the focus of a thank you to Jesus as how we shape our lives. 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:58.000 Billy Graham puts it better than I can. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:01.680 It's impossible to live pure lives until we have pure hearts. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.480 Many people are trying to put the cart before the horse. 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:10.640 Purity of motives, desires, actions to old, deceitful hearts. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:17.440 No wonder we've ended up with such moral failures in spite of our vaunted knowledge and psychological approaches. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:21.599 Guard the heart. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:26.400 Lord, help me to remember that I'm saying thank you to you. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.680 Number two, I can't wait for the party here. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.440 We got to celebrate our dear friend. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:36.720 So just a couple more points before we are blessed and respond to his presence. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:40.400 We need to be people of faith or faithfulness. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:44.559 We have to reject fatalism and fantasy. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.720 Now, I know this is an old reference because I'm an old guy, okay? 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:54.000 But if you've ever heard of Winnie the Pooh, I think there's too many Christians with the spirit of Eeyore. 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:57.440 Oh well, it'll never change. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:19:58.799 It'll never work. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:02.559 And then there's too many people with a kind of Winnie the Pooh, it's okay. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:11.119 Somewhere between it's okay when it's not, or it'll never change, is faith. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:15.279 We must reject fatalism and fantasy. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:22.720 We can make real progress in purity of heart and in our life without perfectionism. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:27.119 How many of you know the return of Jesus is when it's all done? 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:32.960 And until that time, until we see him face to face, God's at work. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:37.359 We can't go back in time and change the past. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:39.680 But we can repent. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:42.960 By the way, I'm really good at wulda, coulda, shoulda. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:44.160 Anybody else in the room? 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:46.319 But we can repent. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:52.240 The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret, remove the burden of our sins. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:21:04.720 His atonement, his cross allows us to leave the past behind and move forward with clean hands, a pure heart, a determination to do better. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:07.519 This is what the Lord has for us. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:10.720 He wants us to be focused on saying thank you. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:15.759 He wants us to have the faith that we can make progress without extremes. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:34.160 A third thing that I think will be encouraging to us, and I hope it'll encourage your heart and your faith as we go forward, and that is this that as we live a life of focus, and as we live a life of faith, we need to be fearless. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:40.720 Unafraid to let the Lord all the way in to do surgery. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:42.160 In one of C.F. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:49.920 Lewis's children's books called The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, there was a boy he said deserved his name, and it was Eustace Scrubb. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:58.559 Self-centered little kid, just the kind of kid that irritated you on the playground, and the kind of kid that was just a problem. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:02.000 And his consequence, Was he turned into a dragon? 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:07.119 Well, slowly the work of repentance happens. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:10.559 And then Eustace is finally ready not to be a dragon. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:16.480 He's finally ready to let the Christ figure, Aslan, change him back to a boy again. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:23.119 But here's the challenge: he has to let Aslan all the way in. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:36.720 And the way Lewis describes it is when Aslan's claw reached into the dragon skin, nothing had ever felt more wonderful and painful than that moment. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:46.640 When we're fearless, when we invite God into our hearts, it will be the most wonderful surgery and it will be life-changing. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:50.960 It won't always be fun or easy, but it'll be life-changing. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:56.079 Because we're secure under Jesus Christ, we can let Him come all the way in. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:00.319 How many of you are glad that He actually can heal the hurts of our past? 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:06.720 He can actually deliver us from hurts and hang-ups and habits that impede our walk. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:11.279 And I'd like us to do one more pause for prayer before I bring the final point. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:19.599 I'd like us to bring something from our past to the Lord that's still in our minds and hearts and welcome the Holy Spirit in. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:22.319 Would you join me in prayer just for a few seconds? 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:26.880 Lord, we come to you today in the name of Jesus. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:33.039 And Lord, there are still regrets or mistakes or even deep wounds of abuse. 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:38.319 There are still parts of our past that impinge on our hearts today. 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:46.559 Holy Spirit, would you come and would you market redeemed, forgiven, being healed and delivered? 00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:50.640 It's a process, Lord, and we submit ourselves to you. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:24:00.720 Lord, those wounding words that came to me as a young man, I bring them back to you and thank you that your words of grace overtake them. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:13.680 That moment of rejection or abuse we bring to you, and we thank you that the counsel and encouragement and help that you're bringing through others and bringing by your spirit helps us live a hopeful future. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:22.400 Lord, we bring that past moment to you and we declare that our identity and our hope is in your grace. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:24.160 In Jesus' name. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:26.000 Would you say amen again? 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:27.279 Amen. 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:42.799 As we're fearless before the Lord, I love what Sunday Adala says that no matter how little it might seem, if you're doing whatever you're doing, you're doing it for the Lord, and you're doing it with a pure heart, it's no longer a waste of time. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:56.720 Finally, number four, it's great to have focus, it's great to have faith, it's great to have an openness, a fearlessness to God's work, but we need to do this with friendships. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:04.880 Purity of heart is a personal thing, but our personal growth doesn't happen in isolation. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:19.839 We walk in humility, we walk in community, learning to have critical minds but not critical spirits, learning to think deeply and wisely and at the same time become innocent again in our hearts. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:30.319 This is the wonderful paradoxical power of Jesus that we're called to think with greater maturity, to provoke one another to love and good works, to encourage us. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:40.400 I had a Sunday school teacher who was a very well-known business person in the Silicon Valley, and he was a very good communicator. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:53.359 Four times a year, he would have a speech coach anonymously listen in on a Sunday school class and critique what he did in order to get better. 00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:57.440 By the way, please please give me praise afterwards. 00:25:57.519 --> 00:25:58.240 Don't critique. 00:25:58.400 --> 00:25:58.720 No. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:09.200 But I I want to just I'm saying this because I want to admire the humility that guy had been teaching for 30 years, and he still wanted to get better. 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:16.559 But friendships help us, they encourage us, they challenge us. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:22.640 By the way, there's some here that you can even feel anonymous in a crowd. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:29.279 Please know there will be a friend in this community that will walk with you. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:31.519 They may not have all the answers. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:37.119 There may be other people that will help, but no one needs to feel alone. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:38.960 What does Satan try to do? 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:42.799 He wants us to be isolated or proud. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:46.079 He wants us to think we don't need anybody. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:50.240 That terrible Frank Sinatra song, I did it my way. 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:53.599 Oh, what an awful song. 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:56.720 You know what our song is? 00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:00.400 We're learning to do it his way together. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:02.640 That's our song. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:06.400 But I think Mark Hart's correct. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.480 Love is messy. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:22.640 Love involves hardship, demands patience, requires forgiveness, tests maturity, strain friendship, challenge priorities, refine character, ignite the heart, unleash the soul. 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:26.880 Love is not something you sing about, it's the reason you sing. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:33.599 Love is not something you write about, it's the reason we write. 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:38.319 It's not something you live to find, it's the reason that you're alive. 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:43.119 Can we do a little humor here as we prepare for a commissioning prayer? 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:48.160 I'm just a little tired of cliches on posters and sweatshirts, aren't you? 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:49.440 I love it. 00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:50.960 Be a good person. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:54.880 I want to just go to everyone with that and say, duh. 00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:00.000 But the question I have is, where's your goodness coming from? 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:02.400 Or the worst one. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:03.920 Love is love. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:07.119 Okay. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:11.599 White is blanco. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:12.880 I mean, what what do you say? 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:17.279 You know, gray is gri in French. 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:20.160 I mean no, love. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:24.240 The love that sent Christ to the cross for us. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:28.319 The love that created space-time in the first place. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:31.599 The love that has protected us and carried us. 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:37.839 That love is seeking the highest good of another person. 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:41.759 And that's why our friendships are so important. 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:48.480 They provoke us to have our motives and our methods do well. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:59.599 You know, in a world of idolatry, we need to serve God on God's terms, not create a God that serves our terms. 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:10.799 In a world of immorality, we need to aspire for the virtues of Jesus Christ, not reduce virtue to niceness. 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:16.480 In a world of injustice, anybody aware that there are some injustices in the world? 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:19.839 You're all saying you're going, yeah, right at my workplace. 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:21.599 And there are. 00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:28.960 God calls us to do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with God. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:51.359 And as the worship team comes and we prepare to respond to God, we prepare for saying yes to Christ to work in our hearts, I'd like us to, I'd like you to receive a commissioning prayer and a benediction that I trust will be a blessing as we seek to be pure in heart. 00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:53.119 Would you bow your heads with me? 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:55.920 Thank you, Lord. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:06.559 Awakening church, may we be commissioned to live focused lives of gratitude. 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:13.440 Honoring God with our obedience, loving Him because He first loved us. 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:27.200 And Lord, we ask now, as we receive this benediction, that you would help us grow in gratitude for grace, grow in a thank you for undeserved mercy. 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:34.160 Awakening Church, in the name of Jesus Christ, would you receive the call to faithfulness? 00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:41.920 Receive the call to grow and to progress in holiness and maturity. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:57.279 Lord, we ask in Jesus' name that you would keep us from laziness and legalism, keep us from no expectations and from perfectionism, and allow us to grow in grace together. 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:00.480 Examine our hearts. 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:04.640 See if there's any way in us that needs to be changed. 00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:07.440 And we come to you in humility and thank you. 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:11.519 It's a sign of your love that you want us to grow. 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:18.240 Keep us from the wrong kind of scrupulosity, the wrong kind of self-condemnation. 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:27.759 Lord, we thank you that your self-denial is not our self-destruction, but rather the emptying of ourselves to be filled with your spirit. 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:38.640 And then, Lord, we ask you to give us friendships and to be friends with one another so that we can grow in faith, hope, and love. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:41.680 Praise your holy name. 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:45.200 Awakening Church, would you stand with me in the presence of God? 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:59.839 And would you just receive now, as we prepare to respond in worship and continue in prayer, would you receive now the blessings of God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, who is also Abba? 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:07.920 Would you receive the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of Lords, and He calls us friends? 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:19.519 Would you receive the blessings of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, whose power animates all creation, who raised Jesus from the dead and lives inside of us? 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:31.599 Would you receive the blessings of a pure heart coming from the one who is pure and would rather die than live without us? 00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:35.279 Lord, we give you praise and we give you thanks. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:37.920 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:39.920 Saints, would you say amen? 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:41.839 Could we give him praise right now? 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:42.640 He's worthy. 00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:43.279 Go ahead. 00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:44.400 Give him praise. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:46.000 He's worthy. 00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:50.400 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:54.960 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:57.200 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:33:02.640 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.