WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:06.879 So, this morning's passage, despite what it looks like on the surface, it's not really about money. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:09.759 It's actually a passage about motive. 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:14.560 And Jesus uses this scenario that has to do with money to get us into motive. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:15.839 So let's think about it this way. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:21.839 Imagine next June 5th, when it's our 15th anniversary, Christian Mark's 15th anniversary. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:28.559 Imagine I arrive home and I arrive home and I have a bouquet of flowers. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:35.759 I get home with this bouquet of flowers and I give them to her and she says, Oh, you remembered. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:37.520 That's so amazing. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:39.600 You're such an amazing husband. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:40.560 I love you so much. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:41.359 Thank you so much. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:42.479 Oh, they're my favorite flowers. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:43.200 They're so amazing. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:43.840 Thank you so much. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:50.079 And now imagine I turn and say, Oh, honey, but you know, I have to bring you flowers on anniversary. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:52.320 I have to get you these flowers. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:57.359 In fact, if I didn't give you these flowers, you would never let me hear the end of it. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.479 Now, would she feel loved? 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:03.280 And I don't recommend, by the way, saying this. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:04.719 It's not like an example. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:06.159 But would she feel loved? 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:06.560 No. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:07.840 Would she feel adored? 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:09.359 No, of course not, right? 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:10.159 Right? 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:13.840 Because that sort of obligatory motive all of a sudden just ruins everything. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:16.000 Like you can you can take the flowers away. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:17.760 You can burn the flowers at this point. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.000 They don't mean anything. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:25.439 Now, but maybe I say in response to her, maybe I say something like, I know I didn't have to. 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:27.519 I wanted to. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:34.560 Because I love you, I love everything you are, everything you've been, I love who you are for me and for our children. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:36.560 I would marry you all over again. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:37.760 Now imagine I said that. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:40.400 Now all of a sudden these flowers mean even more. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:41.439 Right? 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:42.799 Because motive. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:45.519 Motive actually means everything. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:47.040 And motive is always there. 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:51.439 It's behind the scenes, it's under the action, but it's all it's always there. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.400 And motive reveals your heart. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:58.000 Your real reason for the thing you do. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:00.719 It could be a gift to a loved one. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:03.439 It could be a gift to a friend. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:06.560 It could be the money you give away, like in this story. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:08.879 It could be the time you give away. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:15.680 It could be why you dress the way you dress, or why you refuse to dress the way that maybe you should dress. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:21.039 It could be why you have your child in Japanese language classes at age two, right? 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:22.400 It can be anything. 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:24.319 It could be why you do anything. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:26.879 It's just the why behind the what. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:31.759 It's always there, and there's really good motive, and then there's really bad motive. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:33.439 But it's always there. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:45.680 So we're in Mark 12, and we see the author Mark continuing to strategically lay out for us Jesus' teaching that God is concerned about the heart. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:53.360 And he's using these religious experts and religious people to expose this in them, but also expose it in us as readers. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:03:00.960 And he's forcing us over and over and over again, like all the scriptures do, he's forcing us to look inside of ourselves to our hearts. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:04.400 And ask the question why do you do the things you do? 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:06.879 Not what do you do, but why do you do them? 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:09.360 Why do you do the things you do? 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.400 Let's reread the passage just to think about it a little bit. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:15.280 Mark 12, 38 through 40. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:33.759 And in his teaching he said, Beware of the scribes, those are those religious experts, beware of them, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:36.319 They will receive the greater condemnation. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:40.960 So point number one is this you can be rich and you can be poor, right? 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:43.360 You can be poor while you're rich. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:45.360 This is a point I've made before. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:48.159 It sort of just keeps showing up over and over again. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:49.360 It'll never go away. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:56.560 Here's this guy who's rich in monetary means, even rich in position and status in society. 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:00.639 And yet, he so badly wants that. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:06.879 He so badly wants that seat, that inner seat, that position to be seen, that inner circle. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:10.960 He so badly wants it, he's actually poor. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:15.599 Recently, Christy and I we were out to eat. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.079 We finish our meal, we walk over to another table. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:30.399 There's a lady eating there, and we walked over there, and Christy knows her really well, and so we walked over there, and so we start talking to her, and at the end of the conversation, she says, Uh, are you going to the party on Saturday? 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:32.079 And I'm just nodding along. 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:33.519 I have no idea what's going on, right? 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:34.319 So, yeah, whatever. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:35.519 Okay, I'm nodding along. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:44.720 And Christy says, Oh, we're not gonna be able to make it, and they keep talking, and you know, the lady says, Oh, well, you can't make it to everything, and I'm just nodding along, you know, kind of, and Chris says, Yeah, okay. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:49.040 And we finish the conversation, we walk out to the car, I go, What are we not going to? 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:53.199 And Christy says, Oh, it's a party, we weren't invited. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:54.879 Right? 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:56.639 Worst two words in the human language. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:57.519 Do you know what they are? 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:58.480 Do you know what they are? 00:04:58.720 --> 00:04:59.439 What party? 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:00.000 Right? 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:03.680 If you've ever said it, you're not in a good spot. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.480 Even if you don't want to go, right? 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:11.519 You don't even have to want to go, you just want to be invited. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:12.319 Right? 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:14.480 And then you can choose not to go. 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:15.439 Right? 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:17.600 It just always stings just a little bit. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:22.319 Even if you don't want to go, it stings just a little bit because you you want the invite. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:25.600 Don't it don't we all just want to be in? 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:31.360 Like we all want to be in, and if you're in that thing, then you hear about something else, you're like, oh, why didn't I get into that? 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:32.319 Why didn't I get in that? 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:34.240 Like, why wasn't I invited to that? 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:37.680 In the 1940s, C. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:37.920 S. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.079 Lewis wrote this about the inner circle. 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:41.680 He called it the inner ring. 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:51.360 The inner ring is not printed anywhere, nor is it even a formally organized secret society with officers and rules, which you would be told after you had been admitted. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.199 You were never formally and explicitly admitted by anyone. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:01.839 You discover gradually, in almost indefinable ways, that it exists and that you are outside it. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:05.199 And then later, perhaps, that you are inside it. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:11.600 Kind of enlightening is kind of how society works, sometimes, sadly, how churches work. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:17.920 And it reveals a poverty in us that we so badly want in constantly. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:23.199 It reveals poverty that we would form it and close it off. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.319 But that we would want access so bad, right? 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:30.319 Like access into some circle or some perceived like elite circle, right? 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:37.600 That you want access maybe into some money or some, so oh, if I had access to a famous, you ever met a famous person, you just like kept mentioning it afterward? 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.959 Like, like, because we just want access so badly. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:45.199 And it sort of actually reveals our poverty inside of us. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:47.519 Or some exclusive place. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:55.120 Like, say there was a room in the building, and I told you, I said, hey, um that room's just for platinum parishioners. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:12.000 You walk by this random door in the building and you see this small little gold plate and it says platinum parishioners only, and everything in you, even if you thought it was obnoxious, maybe you even go, maybe you even go to another church, probably rightfully so. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:16.399 Uh, you still want behind that door, don't you? 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:20.480 You still want, or you at least want the invite behind the door to see what's behind the door. 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:23.360 There's something in us, as soon as it's exclusive. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:26.240 Oh, you oh, you can't play golf at Augusta National. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:27.279 No, no, no, no. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:29.600 You can't even go visit. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:31.040 No, you can't go visit. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:33.839 Maybe you can work your way into getting a ticket once a year. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.879 Oh, yeah, those buildings, you can't go in those buildings. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:39.040 Let me tell you, you know what those buildings are? 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:40.160 Buildings. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:42.720 Okay, furniture inside. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:45.439 But as soon as they're closed off, it's like, what's in there? 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:46.319 What is that? 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:48.639 We so badly want in. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:52.879 We so badly want to be seen in some way. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:56.240 And all the poverty that just rises up. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.120 That's our hearts being revealed. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:06.000 So, in a way, we can be rich and some monetary means or friendships or status. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:10.480 I mean, you can even you can have all that going for you, and even then you can be poor. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:15.199 But maybe you don't want in that circle. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:18.000 Maybe you find all that obnoxious, it's very possible. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:19.439 Good for you. 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:23.759 But maybe you still want to be seen a certain way. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:25.279 Right? 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:27.360 Like you just want people's approval. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:33.279 Or there's a secret pride about the fact that you don't want in the platinum parishioner's room. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:36.080 Or there's just lust. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:38.879 Or greed. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:41.840 Or anger. 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:43.519 Or fear. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:44.480 Right? 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:45.600 Heart. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:49.279 And in this passage, this guy, he wants to be seen. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:52.639 He's the guy who wants in the platinum parishioner's room. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:54.720 He wants to be a member at Augusta National. 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:56.559 He'll do anything to get it. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:59.600 How can I position myself is his question. 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:05.919 And he figures I'll get the best seat, I'll get in the right place, because if I can be seen, if I can be seen. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:11.519 And it's ironic because he's on the path of condemnation. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:14.080 Because that's what he'll feel like. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.759 He'll feel condemned the entire time because he'll never have enough. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:23.519 And God does not look at his position and his status and behaviors to go, oh, you're a great guy. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:24.639 Look at everything you're doing. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:27.840 God's looking past all that into his heart. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:32.559 Paul Tripp, an author, former pastor, counselor, he asks a series of questions. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:36.559 Do you, in self-focus, think what's in it for me? 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:41.279 Or do you freely sacrifice for the good of another without expecting a return? 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:50.480 Are you more concerned with and on the lookout for the sin and weakness and moral failure of others than your own? 00:09:51.039 --> 00:10:00.960 Do you feel regularly discontent, always looking for something new to satisfy you instead of being satisfied with a God-honoring life? 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:11.120 Do you avoid living in intrusive and intentional relationships where others admit their need for grace and seek the help of biblical community? 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:20.159 Which law gets the most attention and the quickest response in your life and relationships, the word of God or your own desires? 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:23.840 Now that's a devastating list of questions. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:28.159 I read those as we're like, whoa, okay, let's just put those to the side, let's deal with those later. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:30.000 They're devastating. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:34.799 But before we mope around in depression too long, let's keep reading. 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:40.320 Verse 41, Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:43.279 Many rich people put in large sums, and a poor widow came. 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:45.279 So here's where the contrast begins. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:46.639 The teaching begins. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:51.440 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:52.799 He called his disciples over. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:53.919 So he sees a teaching moment. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:11:02.559 He calls his disciples over and said to them, Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:11.200 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:18.480 So point number two is this you don't have to be seen because you're already seen. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:22.639 You don't have to be seen because you're already seen. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:23.919 This frees you. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:33.279 This woman is free in her poverty because she knows she's already seen by God, which is actually the very thing that we're all desiring to begin with. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:38.080 She's poor, but she's trusting in a God that has wealth for her. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:43.679 For her righteousness, her goodness, her identity, her value, her worth. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:47.039 Her house isn't perfect. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:50.000 Her life isn't perfect. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:51.919 She is unknown. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:58.879 And yet there's this ruthless trust in a God who sees her, knows her, and loves her. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:00.720 And she just gives. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:04.320 Point number three, we are poor. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:06.799 This is what this passage reveals. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:13.200 We are poor, yet we are seen, which makes us rich. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:16.240 We are poor, yet we are seen, which makes us rich. 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:21.039 On Tuesday, I had my monthly mentoring session with my mentor, a former pastor. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:24.000 And the first thing he he asked, he said, are you okay? 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:24.799 Are you doing okay? 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:27.600 And it was sort of like a really compassionate, are you doing okay? 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:28.720 And I was like, I'm doing great. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:29.519 I was having a great day. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:31.519 I was like, I'm fine, I'm having a great day. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:33.919 And he said, Oh, well, you sent me that text. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:43.679 And it took me a second to like recall, like two days earlier, I sent him like the house is burning down type of text, like, oh, you know, my life is I'm questioning everything. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:44.879 Like, you do this, right? 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:46.080 We're just so volatile. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:51.039 And actually, in this little conversation, I was like, I'm to go back, I don't even remember, right? 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:52.240 It had only been two days. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:56.159 I didn't even remember what I texted him, that was so horrible. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:00.559 And so I scrolled back and I read it, and I was like, oh my gosh. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.600 I was like, I'm so volatile. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:07.759 I'm so emotionally volatile at the age of 39. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:12.080 Sometimes we feel like we have everything under control. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:14.720 And everything's fine. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:19.919 And then all of a sudden we feel like we don't, and the world's falling apart, and we're anxious and we're fearful. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:24.960 Or maybe one moment we feel incredibly loved, and then the next moment we feel incredibly lonely. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:28.399 Or we feel approved and then we feel condemned. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:32.720 Or we act on good motive, right? 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:43.759 We act on good motive, and then two hours later, you look back and you go, I don't, that email I sent, man, I thought I was doing it because of this tree's. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:44.720 Man, I'm starting to. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:53.039 Or two years later, you're going, oh, like, man, that whole season of my life, I see that very differently now. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:54.799 Like, I thought I was being like godly. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:56.080 I was actually being prideful. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:01.519 Like you can start to see all sorts of things in time very differently. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:06.799 We are a cocktail of motives, just a mix. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:19.919 And Jesus is constantly trying to get us, prideful as we are, either it shows up in arrogance or in pity, either way, prideful as we are, to see our poverty that already exists in us. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:30.879 That these motives, they're a mix, and then even sometimes when we think they're so godly, a few years later we look back and you go, ah, I don't know about that one. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:40.559 But the good thing about this passage is it helps us see our motive, but then it helps us see our need of Jesus. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:46.559 Because then we can see, then we can see how good and wonderfully righteous He is for us. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:50.080 So at some point you've got to go, well, how do I get good motives? 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:52.720 Okay, like God's looking at the heart, he wants good motives. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:54.720 Like, how do I get good motives? 00:14:55.039 --> 00:15:03.840 Well, I think number one would be realize you don't have perfect motive, and you won't have perfect motive. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:06.639 Let's just go ahead and live in that confession. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:11.360 So, point number one, we don't and we won't have perfect motive. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:13.600 And then we can't stop there. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:23.279 Right away, we gotta go to number two, which is so live in confession of your sin, an astonishment of God's grace to you and his spirit in you. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:32.960 And then, third, you turn your heart toward Jesus, who deems you, who sees you, and deems you as beloved. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:38.960 And so, what this means is there has to be some part of your life that has some measure of contemplation. 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:41.039 It's a little bit what we do on Sunday morning right now. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.960 You're contemplating, you're contemplating these things. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:44.960 I'm trying to get you to contemplate these things. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:54.639 But this sort of has to exist on some level on a day-to-day basis because you're getting so many messages, I'm getting so many messages through my eyes and my ears about what I should be, what I'm not. 00:15:54.879 --> 00:16:00.159 And at some point, you have to hear and remember you've already been seen. 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:06.480 You've already been approved, you've already been accepted, you've already been validated on the cross. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:11.919 Your sin, all the behaviors and the motives, all of it has been put upon Jesus. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:13.679 All of it. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:19.840 And his righteousness and his righteous motive has been given over to you. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:28.720 There's some part of your life you've got to contemplate this ongoing, not just Sundays, you've got to contemplate this so you will live in it and rest in it and be freed by it. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:34.639 It's just so easy to live by the voice of condemnation constantly. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:38.399 Then others of us just constantly think we always need something else. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:44.240 And what I'm so happy to tell you this morning is you are imperfect, broken sinners. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:51.279 I am a sinner with motives that are messed up, and sometimes it's really clear how messed up they are, and sometimes they're really great, and you know what? 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:51.840 They stay great. 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:53.759 And I'm like, you know what, that's a great motive. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:59.360 Then there's other times I thought it was a great motive, and years later I can realize that like that wasn't so good of a motive, right? 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:02.399 It's a cocktail of motives for all of us. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:09.039 And yet, God fully loves you, and in Jesus you are fully righteous and approved. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:11.920 You have already been seen. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:17.920 And what God gives to us is his spirit, the power in us. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:29.359 As this heart is changed, as it knows this scene, and being beloved by him, by gift, this causes heart transformation. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:38.960 My brothers and sisters, may the beginning of your transformation of your heart be the belovedness you've already been given in Jesus. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:39.920 Let's pray together. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:51.279 God, we thank you that our transformation is not by our work, but it is by your spirit in us that we are already the beloved. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:18:01.119 God, we confess over to you that we know we have behaviors that are wrong, but we also have motives that are wrong. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:07.599 And some of us are incredibly aware of these motives, and we confess them before you this morning. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:23.039 Help us to live in a confession of every motive that is wrong when we become aware of it, and at the same time, help us to live in a confession that we are not perfect, we are sinners constantly in need of your grace, simultaneously sinners and saints. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:34.720 Help us to live in the great truth, that the power of transformation comes from your righteousness upon us and our belovedness as safe and secure children of God. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:36.160 We thank you for the gift of Jesus. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:37.279 In his name we pray. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:37.920 Amen.