WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:04.879 This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.480 Helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:14.240 For more information about Grant Parkway, visit Grant Parkway.org. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:16.480 The word of the Lord. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:19.199 I lift my eyes to the hills. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:20.719 From where does my help come? 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.920 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.160 He will not let your foot be moved. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.320 He who keeps you will not slumber. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:32.079 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:33.600 The Lord is your keeper. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:36.000 The Lord is your shade at your right hand. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.439 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:41.600 The Lord will keep you from all evil. 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:43.119 He will keep your life. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:49.679 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:53.280 This is the word of God for the people of God. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:54.159 Let's pray. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:56.000 Lord, thank you that you're so close to us. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:00.320 The Bible says that you're our shade, you're our help, you're our fortress. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:02.560 You will not let our foot be moved. 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:05.439 You start off by telling us that you've made heaven and earth. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:09.840 And so because you've made heaven and earth, we're mindful of what you're capable of. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:11.200 You're a competent God. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:15.280 You're not in the heavens right now trying to figure out what you're going to do next. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:20.640 You sit enthroned over everything that is bigger and better and beyond us today. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:24.480 And so we take a sense of comfort and peace and perspective in that. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:29.359 Lord, as we open up your word and we begin the new year, we want to live in the wind, God. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:34.079 We want to be liberated from what could be and should be, and we want to be a part of what is. 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:38.719 And so, Holy Spirit, speak to our, not just our head, but our heart today, Lord. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:42.640 Say something in the next few minutes that has our name on it, okay? 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:43.920 That's our desire, God. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:46.079 Make it our experience, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:48.000 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:48.879 You can have a seat. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:52.400 If you have a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Matthew chapter 6. 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:53.680 Matthew chapter 6. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:56.159 And if you don't have a Bible, you forgot to bring one with you. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:57.120 There's one on your row. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:01:58.719 I'm on page 904. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:00.560 Page 904. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:03.200 And uh let me just say, Happy New Year. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:04.799 Uh, if you're our guest today, my name's Neil. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.480 I'm the lead pastor here at Grand Parkway. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:08.960 And you are sitting around the best part of this church. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:10.240 It's the people, okay? 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:13.039 And so I want you to know that about this place. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.120 You're welcome to come and just be a part of this. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:23.360 Uh next week we're gonna start a new sermon series entitled Questions Christians Ask, where I'll talk about things like, you know, what do I do with my unbelieving child? 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:24.800 What happens when we die? 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:26.719 Am I really forgiven for everything? 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:30.960 But today, before we get into all that, today I just want to talk about kind of my prayer. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:33.599 I want to be selfish and exercise a pastoral prerogative. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.000 I want to talk about my prayer for our church, okay? 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:38.960 And here's my prayer for our church that we live in the when. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:40.159 That we live in the when. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:45.280 Not the could be or the possibly or the maybe or the should have been or could have, but we live in the when. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:46.879 And you say, what do you mean? 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.599 Jesus is talking, we'll drop in in Matthew chapter 6. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.960 He's talking in the server, it's called the Sermon on the Mount, because Jesus was going around. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:58.479 The Bible says earlier in Matthew chapter 4 that he was talking about the kingdom of God, which is the reign and rule. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:02:59.520 This is what happened. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:04.000 The kingdom is the realm within which what God wants done gets done. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:09.919 Jesus began to talk about this in such a way that people were like, now wait a minute, that that's the truth right there. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:20.719 And so large crowds were following Jesus, so much so that he just kind of went up on the side of a mountain and sat down and said, I want these people to understand what this is all about and what I'm all about. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:22.639 Let me let me say something real practical right now. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:26.479 If there's any seats empty, like in the middle where you are, we'll just scoot in. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:27.919 Just just just can we do that? 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.240 Can I stop mid-sentence and say that? 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:35.280 And and by the way, next week, some of you people that get here early, I want you to sit down front. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:39.280 So, because when people arrive late, how many of y'all have been late to something before? 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:40.240 Let me see your hand. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:44.000 Yeah, some of y'all are kind of like, well, counting today, yes. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:50.080 Uh it makes it easy for people that come to come in, they'll arrive late and because their wife took so long getting ready, that's why I'm late to places. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:50.800 Amen. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:53.360 No, no. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:54.960 I live with a house full of women. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:56.719 They can never get out the door on time. 00:03:57.039 --> 00:03:59.680 Despite the fact that they go, I got this, Dad, I got this. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:00.879 You you got nothing. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:02.319 You're about to get a whipping. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.000 We're leaving in two minutes. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:05.680 So I left my family home today. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:10.159 Anyway, Jesus has got this big crowd of people, and he, and by the way, look at me. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:13.120 Jesus doesn't just want a following, he wants an understanding. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:16.319 So he goes up and he sits down on the side of this mountain and begins to teach them. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:17.680 It's called the Sermon on the Mount. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:23.839 It's probably considered one of the most ethical teaching, one of the most righteous words, some of the most righteous words ever spoken. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:27.360 We drop in the middle of that, and here's my prayer for uh for for our church. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:30.959 I want us to be these kind of people and do these kind of things in the new year. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:32.959 Matthew chapter 6, verse 1. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:37.360 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:40.319 For then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:47.680 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. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:50.319 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:59.600 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. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:07.439 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. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:10.560 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:18.879 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. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:25.040 And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they'll be heard for their many words. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:28.959 Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:37.519 Pray then like this our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:42.000 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:45.519 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:50.000 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:55.120 But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:57.839 Do we need to stop right there and think about that for just a minute? 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:01.600 Let me just say this don't think of that in legalistic terms. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:03.519 Think of it in relational terms. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:11.040 Because what Jesus is saying is it is a height of hypocrisy to be forgiven by God and then withhold forgiveness from other people. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:12.480 Does that make sense? 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:16.319 Now there's a whole sermon right there, and I can give it to you right now, or we can just keep reading. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:17.040 Let's vote. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:18.639 I'm just kidding. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:21.600 We'll keep reading. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:22.959 Verse uh 16. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:29.279 And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces, that their fasting may be seen by others. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:31.920 Truly I say to you, they receive their reward. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:41.759 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. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:44.079 When you read the Bible, look for things that are repeated. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:47.920 One of the things that's repeated, a couple things are repeated three different times in here. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:50.800 Jesus says, and when, and when, and when. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:52.560 Not if, but when. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:57.519 Not, hey, if you've done everything else, and I hear this all the time, well, I guess all we can do now is pray. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:06:59.680 Jesus says prayer is not a last resort. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:01.920 It's a part of the natural rhythm of your life. 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:05.600 He says, and when you give to the needy, and when you pray, and when you fast. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:09.040 And so when I talk about living in the wind, I'm not talking about the W-I-N. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:12.399 That's something that the TV preacher will talk to you about late tonight, okay? 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:14.319 After the cowboys beat the lions. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:14.959 Amen? 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:17.759 I know why you're in this service, people, okay? 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:19.439 Somebody said, How do you think it's gonna be? 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:24.319 Because these sinners want to go home and get their cowboy on. 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:28.879 Some of you Texan fans are not taking this well, are you? 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:32.720 See, there's a thing after the regular season called the playoffs. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:36.560 It's a whole new some people call it the second season. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:38.800 We'll buy you tickets next year. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:40.560 Bam! Anyway. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:43.600 And so when I say living in the wind, here's the thing, okay? 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.079 If you're visiting today, here's my prayer for our church. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:51.920 You've got to ask yourself, do I want to be a part of a church that wants me to do that and and and encourages me to do that? 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:53.199 That's totally up to you. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:56.639 But but but when I say living in the wind, I want me to do this. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:03.040 I want us to do this, I want your families to do this, dads, men, I got something in just a minute I'm gonna ask you to do. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:06.000 And so I just want with no goal or agenda. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:10.319 We're gonna do this so that well, no, here's why I want us to live in the wind. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:12.639 Because you've been made right by God. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:18.000 I wanted to call this practicing righteousness, but who wants to hear a sermon called practicing righteousness? 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:19.759 It's like I shaved my legs for that. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:20.720 Are you kidding me? 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:25.199 No, but Jesus says, hey, beware of practicing your righteousness before men. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:29.759 And so what he's really saying is, hey, people that have been made right with God, that's what being righteous is. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:30.879 You've been made right with God. 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:32.799 You didn't do it, God made you right with him. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:35.279 These are some of the things you do to demonstrate. 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:42.240 Some of you in the new year, you need the experience, the external experience of being who you are on the inside. 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:45.919 And the Bible says these things called spiritual disciplines allow us to do that. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.120 And so I want to talk about these three when living in the wind. 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:52.799 First thing Jesus says is when you give, I want us to be people that give in the new year. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:53.840 He said, What do you mean? 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:55.919 That's why he starts off right there in verse 2. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:04.000 He says, Thus, when you get 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. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:06.720 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:08.480 That's another one of those things that's repeated. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:09.600 They've received their reward. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:11.919 They've received their reward, they received their reward. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:16.960 You don't want to get to heaven and there be no reward for you because you got all your reward here on earth. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:20.399 The Bible calls us to this form of uh of secrecy. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:21.600 We don't sound a trumpet. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.480 I am now giving to the needy. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.000 Everyone come and look. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:34.080 Matter of fact, about four months ago, I was here on my day off doing something because I'm also the pastor, but I'm also on the building and grounds team. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:35.600 Uh and people are like, Why do you do that? 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.000 You're the pastor, so I don't lose perspective. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:39.679 And I like to fix stuff. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:48.720 And so I was coming down the hall carrying some stuff, and all the staff officers are over here, all the doors are open, and I just yelled down the hall, I'm out here being a servant, come and notice. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:51.039 So it doesn't matter unless people know about it. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:55.919 And all the staff just walked up, looked in the office, and like, Wow, you just said that out loud. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:57.840 And I said, That's just what we think when we serve. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:09:59.600 I just wanted to give voice to it. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:03.440 And they all just went back in their office and closed the door. 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:08.080 You ever done the right thing and you thought this would be more enjoyable if more people knew about it? 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.799 Y'all looking like, please do not ask us to raise our hands. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:16.799 I'm not asking you to raise your hand. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:18.240 See, here's what I'm saying. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:20.159 Jesus knows how we think. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.919 To quote that great theologian Jim Rome, he's like, I know how you think, clones. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:25.120 I know how you think. 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:27.279 I know you're thinking, hey, I'm gonna do this. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:36.480 Jesus says, hey, when you give, not if, but when you give to the needy, what we would call now in our day and age, the poor or whatever. 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:39.279 By the way, I give a simple definition of each one of them. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:43.120 When it talks about giving to the needy, it's giving your money to help people who need it. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:47.519 Now, here's the thing: one of the problems in our culture today is defining the needy. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:58.480 Because in your quest to find the needy, you're gonna get past the lazy and the druggie and a whole other kind of ease to get to the needy because being needy has become a corporate enterprise here in America. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:01.759 There was a lady on the news a couple weeks ago who was out panhandling. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:10.720 She was pregnant with a sign begging for money with her little daughter out there, and then when she finishes up her little shift, her husband pulls up and they're Porsche SUV. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:13.120 I didn't even know Porsche made an SUV. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:13.600 Okay? 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:16.159 That's how broke I am, and I'm like, what? 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:21.279 And the news followed her and they caught her and she was holding her sign up, kind of like, hey, I'm embarrassed. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:27.759 See, you do not let people like that keep you from being generous. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:29.519 Because it's easy to kind of look. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:37.440 And I got friends that I'll be driving down the road, and I don't give to everybody at red lights, and I've got buddies at work in the inner city, and they go, You're not helping that person by giving them anything. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:42.159 There used to be a guy up here at Highway 6 and I 10 who held up a little cardboard sign. 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:43.440 And it said, Why lie? 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:44.559 I want a beer. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:47.919 And I'd give him five dollars and go, here, thanks for your honesty. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:49.919 And my friends would go, crazy. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:51.039 What are you doing? 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:54.159 You think these other guys are buying school supplies with that money? 00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:00.320 No, they're going right to some store and buying as much mad dog 2020 as they can get. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:02.240 How many of y'all know what mad dog is? 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:03.200 Can I see your hand? 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:04.159 There we go. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:06.240 Now we're preaching to somebody. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:11.759 And so, yes, I know that they, I know, yeah, I get all that, but here's the thing. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:15.840 Do not let the jaded, cynical, look at me, nature. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:22.240 Don't let the jaded, cynical nature of our culture keep you from living in the wind of giving to the needy. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:24.159 Here's what this does for us it does two things. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:26.320 Number one, it keeps us from worshiping money. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.240 Because love to ourselves, we will worship money. 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:32.480 You say, I don't worship money. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:36.720 Have you ever asked yourself the question, who makes what at your work? 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:38.879 Then you worship money. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:46.320 When your mind is just in neutral and you're not thinking about anything in particular, do your thoughts go to if you had money, what you would do with it? 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:48.559 Let me give you another one. 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:50.720 This slays me. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:52.240 Do you ever fantasize? 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.600 Do you ever tell God how generous you would be if you won the lottery? 00:12:57.519 --> 00:12:58.080 Thank you. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:04.399 I was driving to my in-laws and drove my big billboard and some jackpot, some Powerball, something was like$210 million. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:11.120 And I thought this thought, oh Lord, if you superimpose those numbers right here on the windshield, I'd pay for the children's building. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:17.600 How noble of me is that! Yeah, and let me tell you something. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:22.480 If you want to be a generous person, you shouldn't wait to win the lottery. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.399 If you got$10, you can be generous. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:29.600 Here's the second thing that happens when we give to the needy. 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:33.919 And by the way, I give, I tithe to my church because we because we give to the needy. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:37.039 And so somebody called me just yesterday and said, Hey, uh, Mr. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:37.360 and Mrs. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:38.000 McClendon. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:38.879 I said, This is Mr. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:42.159 And the guy goes, Okay, uh, and I said, Are you reading off of a screen? 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:47.919 Oh, hello, hey, over calling and we feed the homeless during Christmas and Bible and all this whole big spill. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.720 And he goes, You might have seen as we were on the news. 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:56.960 And what I heard in my spirit was, Jesus said, When you give, don't sound a trumpet. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:00.480 When you do something for the poor, don't call a news crew to come down there. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:06.480 You don't want to, you don't want to let your you don't want to buy jerseys for your kids for the athletes when they give away$50,000. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.480 They have a news crew there filming it for them. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:13.919 You want the guy that just discreetly writes a check and says, Hey, I make$17 million a year. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:14.960 This is nothing. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:21.519 I keep$50,000 in my ashtray of my truck, which is what I would do if I made$17 million a year. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:23.440 I tell God that all the time. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:28.240 Hey, God, if you just hook me up, I'll just roll around with 50 G's right there. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:29.519 Just bam. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:35.360 As of right now, I've got about 50 cents in my ashtray. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.519 But I'm believing God. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:38.559 Amen. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:39.519 Come on down. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:41.679 And so when you say, what do you mean when you give? 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:45.120 See, the first thing it does is it keeps us from worshiping money. 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:49.039 Here's the second thing it does: it reminds us that somebody has it harder than you. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:52.639 Because we have this infinite capacity to feel sorry for ourselves. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:53.759 And I'm not down on you. 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:55.600 Somebody like, hey, dude, it's January the 4th. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:56.480 Lighten up, okay? 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:57.440 Drink decaf. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:14:59.200 Hey, here's the thing. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:06.480 When you and I choose to feel sorry for ourselves, what we do is we just kind of close in and we stop looking around. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:07.600 My mom used to say this. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:10.159 If you've been in this church any length of time, you know I grew up poor. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.679 I mean like poor, like hungry, headache, that kind of poor. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.720 Not poor like I didn't have$10,000 in savings. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:18.399 We didn't have a phone. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:21.200 And my kids are like, What? 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:22.960 I'm like, yeah, we didn't have a phone. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.639 And I tell them, by the way, and cell phones weren't invented then. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:31.440 And they just fall on the ground like, oh dad, how did you live? 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:33.120 Quite well. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:35.919 Quite well. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:46.159 And so, but my mom used to say this I mean, when we were broker than broke, we had I remember one time for supper, my mom walked in with a can of cream salt corn and four pieces of white bread. 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:52.559 I didn't know there were other kinds of lettuce besides iceberg, and I didn't know there was such a thing as wheat bread until I went off to college. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:55.440 And my wife's like, You never had wheat bread. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:55.840 Yeah. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:00.639 That's why I went to Rudy's with lunch for lunch on Friday, where our men are going on Wednesday night. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:02.320 And by the way, I'm not kidding. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:03.360 I'm picking up the tab. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:04.159 It's free. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:04.879 Why? 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:07.679 Because I just remember myself, I'm not poor anymore. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:08.639 I'm not rich. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:12.559 And every once in a while I'll drive by and go, you know, Lord, if I want a power ball, I'd be a generous man. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:14.639 And God says, Be generous right now. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:17.919 So some guy stopped me and said, Hey man, are you really paying for Rudies? 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:18.879 Absolutely. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:22.000 Got a whole room reserved. 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:23.440 You ain't got to stand in line. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:25.759 Have you ever had Rudy's cream style corn? 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:29.279 It tastes like it's got bluebell homemade vanilla ice cream in it. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:33.039 Oh, I can just get a pan of that and just eat it with a spoon. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:48.879 But my mom, on the days when my mom would walk in with a can of corn that did not taste like it had bluebell homemade vanilla ice cream in it, and four pieces of white bread for me and her and my two brothers, the four of us, we all got a piece of white bread and a little bit of creamsiled corn. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:49.840 That's poor. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:52.320 My mom would say this crazy stuff. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:55.120 She would say, Well, boys, remember this. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:17:01.200 If we got everybody we knew in the same room and we all threw our problems up in the air, you'd still reach for yours on the way down. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:04.000 And I remember thinking, that's a lie, mom. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:07.119 I would trade my life with anybody. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:13.440 See, when you give to the poor, it reminds you that there's people in the world that got it harder than you. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:14.720 Now look at me. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:17.279 Don't feel guilty for having what you have. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:19.119 That's not biblical either. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:25.119 Don't go get in your nice truck or your nice car and drive to your nice house and kind of look at your wife and go, We stink. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:30.720 We should give all this away and walk around naked, holding up signs saying, Repent, the world's gonna end. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:33.359 That's not what the Bible calls you to either. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:38.400 Matter of fact, one of the harder things to do is to possess things and not let them possess you. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:41.839 That's one of the reasons Jesus says, When. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.599 Living in the wind is, hey, when, let's be people who give. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.200 Secondly, let's be people who pray. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:48.480 Look at what he says right there. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:53.759 In verse 5, he says, and when you pray, not if you pray, not well, I guess all we can do now is pray. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:55.599 Is that your last resort? 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:02.559 Because if that's your last, if you say that phrase, then we've all said it before, what you're really saying is, God, I got this. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:08.000 We want to put you over here behind the little glass that says, in case of emergency, break glass and pray. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:11.200 And I just want to submit to you, that ought to be your first resort. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:12.960 That ought to be the first thing. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.640 Prayer is way too passive. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:23.359 We pray in these really antiseptic environments, you know, like at church where it's climate controlled and everyone's on their best behavior except your kid, you're about to beat to death. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:25.359 Shut up and sit down. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.400 We should take prayer into some really active environments. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:31.680 Yeah. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:37.599 Like if you work for an oil company, uh probably some layoffs coming this year. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:39.279 And I don't say that lightly. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:42.960 Oil used to be$103 a barrel, now it's about 50 something. 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:46.960 There's a lot of people in a corner office who are not sleeping well at night. 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:51.279 Or they're having one too many single malt scotches over the rocks. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:52.880 You with me? 00:18:53.359 --> 00:19:04.960 Can you imagine if your boss walked in tomorrow and said, hey, I know the market's pretty uncertain right now, but I want you to know that God is God of all the natural resources in the world, not Chevron, not ExxonMobil, and God is. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:07.440 So let me just pray so we don't forget that. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:10.640 Would you not be like, whoa. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:21.039 Or if your husband walked in from work one day this week, ladies, and took you by the hands and took, put his hands on your shoulders and set you down and said, You know what? 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:23.440 I don't think I've loved you like you were created to be loved. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:24.319 Would you forgive me? 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:26.319 Because I want to pray and ask God's forgiveness. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:27.839 I want you to give me your forgiveness. 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:31.359 And I promise you, I'm gonna start loving you, and I'm gonna pray on a daily basis. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.640 I'm gonna pray to God that'll show me how to love you the way you need to be loved. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:37.440 I'm tired of saying to you, well, it's just not who I am. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:42.880 The way you love your wife is not a reflection of who you are, it's a reflection of what she needs. 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:47.279 Can you imagine your husband saying, Hey, I don't think I've loved you like you need to be loved. 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:50.960 Because I want to love you about the same way every chance I get. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:55.359 And your wife will be like, Where's my husband? 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:57.119 What have you done? 00:19:57.359 --> 00:19:59.680 You know cloning's illegal, don't you? 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:01.839 Jesus says, When? 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:10.240 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by others. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:14.000 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:24.000 Once again, it is going to be hell to show up in heaven, and there'll be no reward for you because you were such an external, public, outward person, and you weren't secret. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:26.319 You weren't like, hey, you know what? 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:29.359 There's some things that are just not for public consumption. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:33.680 Prayer is the intentional act of talking and listening to God. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:34.559 That's all it is. 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:38.160 We make it like it's some big rocket science kind of deal. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:42.000 Now, the guy named John Calvin, who was a Swiss theologian, lived a long time ago. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:44.079 He talked about the divinitatis sensum. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:46.160 The divinitatis sensum. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:48.079 Do I sound smart when I say that? 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:49.680 It's Latin. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:52.400 It means the sense of the divine. 00:20:52.960 --> 00:21:00.559 Which is why some of you in this room who don't believe, some of you are here because your girlfriend, fiance, wife, kids, whatever said, Hey, let's go to church. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:02.079 And you're like, okay, let's go. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:03.119 It's the new year. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.559 Here goes an hour of my life, I'll never get back. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:15.519 The sense of the divine means that all of us in this room have a sense that there's something bigger in the world, that there's there's a first cause, there's a creator, something did this. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:16.799 The Bible talks about that. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:23.440 Paul says in Romans chapter 1, he says, What may be known about God is obvious because God has made it obvious, talking about creation. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:27.119 What may be known about God is obvious because God has made it obvious. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:30.000 Hear this part, so that men are without excuse. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:35.119 No one's gonna stand before God on judgment day and go, I didn't know you were really real. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:38.240 And God's gonna go, Did you ever see a baby get born? 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:39.680 Did you ever eat bacon? 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:41.599 How do you how do you not know me? 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:44.400 How'd you not know there was a God after that? 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:46.160 I mean, come on, are you kidding me? 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:49.920 I mean, hey, God's made it obvious. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:51.599 God's put it on public display. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:52.720 He says, Look around. 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.960 You think all this guy there comes some big bang, some cosmic collision in the cosmos? 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.359 Are you you think God's that willy nilly? 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.599 Which, why do I tell you that? 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:03.200 Because you're talking about prayer. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:04.160 Here's why. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:07.920 I know atheists who pray more than Christians. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:10.079 Why? 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:12.799 That's that divinitile sensum. 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:14.319 That's that sense of the divine. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:16.559 So if you're really I got a friend that's an atheist. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:18.799 I said, you really pray a lot for an atheist. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:19.759 Shut up, man. 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:21.519 My praying's personal. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:26.160 I just I get that, but I think you'd make a better Christian than you give yourself credit for. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:29.279