WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.520 Good morning. 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:02.479 Glad you're here. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:11.679 We're going to continue our way through the Sermon on the Mount, which is the teaching of Jesus, the core of teaching, Jesus' teaching in Matthew chapter 6. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:17.839 And what we've been seeing is he's teaching us, and as he's teaching us, he's not just teaching us about behaviors. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:21.280 He mentions behaviors and then he guides us into our hearts. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:24.160 He guides us into the core of who we are. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:26.800 And so here is this passage Sam just read. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:32.880 Thank you, Sam, in Matthew 6, where he begins to teach us about giving and prayer and fasting. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.119 But there's something deeper going on. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:35.679 Right? 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:37.119 There's always something deeper going on. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:38.479 There's something deeper going on here. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:43.439 There's this one big profound truth at play here in these verses. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:45.679 And when I tell it to you, you're gonna know it. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:46.479 You already know it. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:48.880 Um, and it means everything. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:54.799 So Christy and I started dating uh about 15 years ago, I figure that's about right. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:59.280 Uh, I think I was 23 years old, and Christy and I started dating, and I had no money. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:20.799 I was just I just started working in the business world, I had no made money, had no idea really about uh dating or having a serious girlfriend, nor especially not about buying gifts, and it was Christmas time, and I really wanted to buy her something special, something really good for this great girlfriend Christmas season. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:39.599 And I have no money, but I wanted to buy her something great, and so uh I got a Macy's one day coupon in the mail, and I'm figuring some jewelry, and I got a coupon for Macy's, and I know nothing about jewelry, uh, but I have a coupon for Macy's, and I know there's a Macy's at Northlake Mall right up from where my office was. 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:49.040 And so one lunch break, I take my coupon up to North Lake Mall, jewelry counter, and I know nothing about jewelry, and I have no money, but I want to buy something great. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:51.519 Yeah, this is a this is a really good combination, right? 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:53.519 I shouldn't have gone for jewelry. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:58.159 All right, so what I end up with, of course, uh is I'm gonna buy some diamond earrings. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:02.079 You know, since I have no money, this is really the best option for me. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:15.919 And so I buy these uh fantastically small uh cloudy, yellowy diamond earrings that I was so proud of. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:19.840 I mean, I look back on it now, I can't believe I bought them. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:28.159 At the time, I was so ecstatic about these tiny, cloudy, yellowy diamond earrings. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:35.199 And I gave them to her, and she's more sophisticated than I am, so I'm sure she realized right away what she was receiving. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:37.439 But she loved them. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:38.879 She loved them. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:43.120 And she loved them because I loved giving them, right? 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:48.800 Because they were truly from me, they were sincerely from me, right? 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:52.800 See, motive means everything. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:55.439 That's what that's what these verses are about. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:03.599 It's why when my three-year-old came home from preschool last week, she came home from preschool and she has this book with her. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:10.479 And it's her artwork from like September till now, the last couple months. 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:16.560 Like, like all it's all her artwork, and and she brings it home and she can't wait to give it to me. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:24.400 And you know, right away she has to sit in my lap, and we have to we have to go through, and there's some classics in here, you know, right? 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:27.199 The class, no, we haven't seen this one before, have we? 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:31.199 The handprint, the footprint, like hadn't seen that one, you know, surprise. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:33.759 You know, I don't have other kids, that's never come along my way. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:36.719 But you know, you're like, you're looking at you like this is amazing. 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:43.199 This is I love this little book, this little cute little face on the front of it. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:47.599 Now, there are greater books filled with greater art. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:50.719 I don't want to sit down and look at those books. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:59.199 And I I can't even tell you the this past week how many times she has gone and found this little book wherever it has ended up in our house. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:03.919 And trust me, in our house, it can end up in all kinds of places, stuff's all over the place. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.159 And she has found it, and then she finds me, and she says, Dad, can we sit down? 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:08.960 Daddy, can we sit down? 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:09.919 Can we can we look at it? 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:11.039 Can we look at this? 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:12.159 Can we look at this? 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:15.599 As if to say, look what I created for you. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:19.040 Look what, look, look what I want to give you. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:20.319 Right? 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.480 And I love it, I love it. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:25.920 Because motive means everything. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:32.000 See, at first we read these verses and we think, well, they're just about giving and they're just about prayer and they're just about fasting. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:36.480 And they are, but they're about something underneath those things. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:41.439 And Jesus is teaching us that the God of grace and truth is holistic. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:45.600 Like he's he's about not just our actions, but our motives. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:48.879 And so he comes plowing straight into these sensitive issues. 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:57.839 These next few weeks we'll be talking about like money, our giving, our prayers, our fasting, like sacred personal stuff. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:02.720 And it's not the typical conversation about whether you do it or not. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:04.319 That's not the conversation here. 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:06.879 The conversation is there's almost an assumption of that. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:12.079 Like, because he's talking to a group of Jewish people, these would have been very common practices. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:16.160 So there's an assumption by him that these listeners practice these things. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:22.240 And so the conversation here is about the issue under the issue, it's about motive. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:27.839 So just a few short definitions of these three things in case maybe you're new around church. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:37.680 So this idea of giving, generosity, alms giving, it's the it's the releasing of money from your pocket to the good of another person or the good of an organization. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:42.399 Prayer is your thoughts and words released to God. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:52.560 Fasting is the practice of going without food for a season, a meal, a period of time in order to focus on what the Lord might have for you in a given situation. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:06:01.759 And at some point, these practices will develop in your life, and at some point, these practices will be threatened. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:06.160 And the threat is the rising of the false self. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:08.879 The scriptures call it the flesh. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:13.279 All right, so to explain that, uh let me take you back. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:23.040 Twenty years ago, there was a biologist at the University of Rochester who started to study hundreds of confrontations between two-inch crawfish. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:25.759 So, like little shrimp, basically. 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:26.959 He's studying Dr. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:37.519 Adams, he goes to Panama and he looks at all these confrontations, hundreds and hundreds of confrontations of these tiny little shrimp, and they're all competing because they all need to live in certain cavities. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.800 And so they're all competing over these different cavities to live in. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:45.040 And so bluffing becomes very commonplace within their species. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:51.040 These little shrimp, they're either having to fight to keep their status or flee. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:52.959 So they fight. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:54.800 So they show a threat display. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:07:10.079 They they hold up their appendages, they hold their head out high, and then they uh then they whack each other on top of the head until they gulp down the other one, and then that's how they get to keep their cavity or they take over the cavity and they have to keep their status, right? 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:18.800 And and what we see is we see that both the strong and the weak will display this threat. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:27.680 Meaning, even the weak, even when their inner skeleton is still developing, even when they're weak, they'll show the display. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:28.800 Okay, hold on to that. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:30.079 And then I read this this week. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:32.480 I've been reading this book called Scary Close by Donald Miller. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:39.439 It's about marriage and intimacy, and I'm really trying to figure out how to be better at being married, and it's very helpful. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.319 I run into this quote as I'm studying this. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:47.439 Here's this quote: When some animals feel threatened, they make themselves appear bigger. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:49.360 It's true with people too. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:57.920 They often make themselves appear better than they are in order to attract others and protect themselves from threats. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:05.920 So we are more advanced than little shrimp, but we're still the same. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:13.439 Pretending about our weaknesses in order to keep or raise our status. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:16.720 This is what Jesus is talking about in these verses. 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:18.639 He's saying, Don't do that. 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:27.120 Like when it comes to your giving and your prayers and your fasting and your spiritual life, don't do that. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:29.439 It's empty. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:35.840 Like your reward will be the empty cycle of lying and status keeping. 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:36.799 Don't do it. 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:41.120 And what God says to us in Jesus is you don't have to do it. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:09:05.840 Like you can be free of that cycle because all of your sin and shame and shortcoming, and the fact that you aren't perfect at your giving, and you aren't perfect at your fasting, you aren't perfect at your prayer life, the fact that you aren't perfect and all that has been made up for in Jesus, that He is perfection for us, and we are deemed righteous by God through Jesus, which means we are already impressive to God. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.559 And that's where we rest our identity. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:13.039 So a few points coming through these verses, a few points. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:17.919 Point number one, a generous life begins with a sincere heart. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:21.360 Matthew 6, verses 2 through 4. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:28.240 Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.279 Truly I say to you that they have received the reward. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:41.519 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:49.200 So Jesus says, being known as a giver, being known as a giver is a threat to your giving and the reward of it. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:54.320 Jesus makes giving even more profound for us. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:04.639 As he digs further, because he wants it to be an expression of joy on the inside of who you are and not a status keeping act. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:07.919 He's pulling us out. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:16.960 He's pulling us out from this narcissistic cycle of moralistic or legalistic or identity forming giving or practices. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:23.120 And he says, you know the best, just the best way is just for people not to know what you give. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:24.879 That's just the best way. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:30.159 So like if you give if you give money somewhere, just don't let them put your name on the front of the building. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:31.519 I'm just telling you, don't do it. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:32.559 Don't do it. 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:35.039 Don't let them put your name on the back of the pew. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:37.279 Don't let them put your name anywhere. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:44.559 Like, because like what's gonna happen naturally in your pride, what's gonna happen is you're gonna drive up, you're gonna feel pretty good about yourself. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:52.639 And now you've entered a different cycle, and that's a reward cycle that is of emptiness, and it will wear you out. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:57.279 Versus the reward God has for you, which is to free you from that. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:03.039 Point number two, a contemplative life begins with a sincere heart. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:05.919 Again in Matthew 6, verse 5. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:13.519 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:17.200 Truly I say to you, they have received the reward. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:18.639 He says, That's it. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:19.360 That's all they got. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:20.240 That's it. 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:28.240 In verse 6, he says, But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:35.519 And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces, and their fasting may be seen by others. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:39.679 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:48.960 I was once in a college ministry when I was in college, and uh whenever people were fasting, they would they would carry around their Nal genes. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:52.240 So you always knew who was fasting because they had their Nalgine bottles. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.559 It was like the like you know, the way to make sure everybody knew you were fasting. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:57.759 Anyways. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:11:58.960 Verse 17. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:00.799 I always thought it was interesting. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:04.080 I never fasted, so I couldn't judge them too much. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:17.200 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:30.080 So this is all about places of secrecy, good secrecy, not bad secrecy, good secrecy, like that there are places and parts of your life and soul no one can touch. 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:41.519 No other human being can touch, parts and practices of your life that are so sacred that you can mention them perhaps to other people, to like the closest people in your life. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:46.080 Perhaps you can mention them, but even then it doesn't quite do it. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:58.879 That there's just, and then there's no words or actions that could come out in public that could near the sacredness of the communion that you know with God in that secret place. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:01.919 And that's what Jesus is saying. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:03.840 He's saying, have some of that. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:06.080 Have some of that secrecy. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:12.879 Now, maybe you would say, great, all about a sincere heart, but that's exactly the problem, because I don't have a sincere heart. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:19.360 Maybe you'd say, maybe you're like me, and you say, like, I'm actually a mess of like fakeness and sincerity. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:20.799 Like I'm the cocktail. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:24.879 I got both all mixed up, and you don't know what you're getting at a given point. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:25.759 Well, hang with me. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:32.159 Point number three a sincere heart is about being freed from the addiction to other people's approval. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:33.919 Anybody here love other people's approval? 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:35.679 Yes, we do, because we're all here on Sunday morning. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:37.600 All right, Matthew 6, 1. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:45.039 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:50.480 For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:56.960 When Jesus says practice your righteousness, he's talking about practicing the practices of your spirituality. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:04.879 He's saying, you know those practices are for real when you just don't care if anybody finds out about them. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:06.159 You just don't care. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:07.440 It just doesn't matter. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:08.559 They're just for you. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:12.320 They're your practices with the Lord. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:28.559 See, at first, maturing in faith is about practices developing, and then at some point those practices become threatened because we're like little shrimpy crustaceans that raise up our appendages and our heads. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:45.600 And then the furthering of growth at some point is letting these practices and your knowledge and whatever else good you have going for you fade to a place of sacredness and secrecy of the soul where other people just don't go. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:48.480 And that's what Jesus is talking about. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:50.480 He's going, that that's kind of what you want. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:51.679 That's what you want. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.960 You want you want that sort of practices of faith. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:03.440 Now, I really wrestled with this this week because obviously I'm in the business of people, of standing before people and pontificating and praying. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.360 Like that's what I do every week. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:07.600 And I prepare to do this. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:10.320 And so I really wrestled with this. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:12.000 Like, what does this mean for me? 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:19.440 And the thing that helps me is to know that there is a clear difference between public sacred and private sacred. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:22.240 And I think this is transitional for you as well. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:26.879 There's a big difference between public sacred and private or personal sacred, right? 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:28.559 This is public sacred. 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:31.519 This is ministerial sacred, and this is good. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:37.519 But the really good stuff, at least for me and for my family, you don't get it. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:38.639 And you know what? 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:42.399 The really, really good stuff for you guys, I don't get it. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:44.720 And even your small group doesn't get it. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:53.120 What we get and what we need and which is good, public sacred, we get these glimpses of private sacred. 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:56.240 And that's what we get, and that's good. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:03.919 But we need the private sacred to be special and to be sacred and to be secret, and that's what Jesus is saying. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:08.720 He's saying, have these practices going on, and you just don't care if other people find out. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:13.679 Now maybe you're here and you got on a train a long time ago of people pleasing. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:15.039 Like you found that train. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:16.639 I found the train in sixth grade. 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:28.480 I can remember when I got on the train and it felt so good, and it was a good train, and that's why you started wearing certain jeans, and that's why you started wearing certain scrunchie, and you wore certain stuff, and you joined certain stuff, right? 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:46.159 You took that class, you took piano, you finished piano, you got a certain degree because they wanted you to, and you loved your success, not because of the good of it, or because you loved it, you loved the success because it gathered people and you hated failure because people went away. 00:16:46.559 --> 00:17:01.519 Or maybe you find yourself at a dinner table, and instead of venturing in and actually having interest in the person across the way, you're waiting for that moment where you can slide in comments about how great your life is or how important you are. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:07.680 Or you just keep having the nagging sense that you aren't important enough. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:13.200 Listen, listen, permission to be you, tired, messy, normal. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:13.920 Just normal. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:15.200 When did normal become bad? 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:16.880 I have no idea when normal became bad. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:17.759 Normal's great. 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:18.640 Be normal. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:27.279 Like permission to be you, tired, messy, normal, you is the beginning of any true life of generosity and contemplation. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:28.480 That's sacred. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:29.759 That is sacred. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:31.119 That right there. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:33.519 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.400 Be you, honestly, you before the Lord. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:39.279 Out of that have your practices develop. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:41.039 This passage is showing us that. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:44.640 It's teaching us that, but it's also teaching us that we fail. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:50.000 Because we don't perfectly give, we don't perfectly fast, we don't perfectly pray. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:55.200 And the good news here is that the one teaching it is the perfection of all things, right? 00:17:55.359 --> 00:18:02.480 This whole section is under that very beginning, weeks ago, that Jesus says, I complete the law. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:05.440 So all the things you should be, I completed all of that. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:08.319 Now let me tell you some good stuff that would be good for your life. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:12.319 But at the same time, please remember, I complete the law. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:18.960 So when we read this, we we let ourselves be taught, but we let ourselves be saved. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:21.759 We let ourselves be saved by this. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.119 And that reward is so sweet. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:38.640 Henry now, on this great quote, a great writer, mystic writer, professor, and a chaplain, and a fantastic writer over the years, and here's a quote I ran into this week. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:46.720 For as long as you can remember, you have been a pleaser, depending on others to give you an identity. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.079 You need not look at that only in a negative way. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.319 You wanted to give your heart to others, and you did so quickly and easily. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:02.319 But now you're being asked to let go of all these self-made props and trust that God is enough for you. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:07.359 You must stop being a pleaser and reclaim your identity as a free self. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:14.960 So, point number four: a generous life is created out of an abiding rest and a generous God. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:19.039 Generosity is not something God does and practices. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:21.440 Generosity is something He is. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:24.160 He is generous. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:39.359 See, if your righteousness and your value are no longer connected to your actions and your behaviors and your practices, if your righteousness and your value is connected to God's generosity to you in Jesus, now you have a shot. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:46.000 Now you have a shot at your practices being sacred and being held in secret. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:53.519 So, my brothers and sisters, may you live independent of the good and the bad judgments that we all put on each other when it comes to our practices. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:59.759 And may you live and practice your faith in sincere communion with God who is generous toward you. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:00.799 Let's pray together. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:16.240 That you both teach us so that you save us. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:29.920 Thank you that you can save us from the empty cycles of constantly looking for other people's approval and thus becoming such hypocrites. 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:35.519 And we confess that we we often do it. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:46.160 And God, we confess that it's quite weary to our souls, and we thank you that you teach us about this, and we thank you that you save us from it. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:47.839 Would you help us? 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:52.400 Would you increase our faith that we would trust in you in a greater way? 00:20:54.400 --> 00:21:00.720 That we wouldn't try to have to work out of our guilt and our shame, thinking that we can add to the cross. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:05.759 But would we live in the sufficiency of the shed blood of Jesus for us? 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:10.319 That you have paid the price and we are free and forgiven. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:15.119 Would we find our identity in your words spoken to us? 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:20.000 And not in all the words that we try to accumulate and curate from those around us.