WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.960 Yeah. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:12.480 Okay, so on your sheet, I've kind of broken out a few categories of how I want to break out my talk here this morning. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.500 The first one is, what if you got what you want? 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:19.179 What if you got what you want? 00:00:19.580 --> 00:00:27.359 And this is just sort of the title I'm putting on my, what I'm going to give you a little seven-minute history of my work life. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:30.539 But you'll see it's sort of my life just in general. 00:00:31.259 --> 00:00:47.120 And then we'll go on to just talk about how the gospel provides a new mission, a new metric, a new motivation for all of life and work, as I was saying earlier. 00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:49.000 So about me. 00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:50.299 So my name's Jeff Stevens. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.000 I grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, right down the road. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:59.380 When it came time for college, I wanted to play ice hockey. 00:00:59.500 --> 00:01:03.899 It was basically my driving passion, among a few other things. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:10.799 So I went to Gordon because they had a terrible ice hockey team, and I knew that I could probably play a little, which I did. 00:01:11.620 --> 00:01:17.000 I was a psychology major because I was very interested in the way people think, 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:22.659 and I thought that a psychology major was going to help me delve into that, which it did not. 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:27.819 I met Bruce Herman at Gordon College. 00:01:27.939 --> 00:01:34.000 He was my main art professor, great man, still active artist, very thoughtful man. 00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:41.680 And he sort of took me and actually pushed me into a local art school up by Gordon. 00:01:41.780 --> 00:01:42.819 He said, you need to go to art school. 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:43.500 I'm like, well, I can't. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:43.799 I'm here. 00:01:43.799 --> 00:01:45.259 And he said, well, go to this one for now. 00:01:46.179 --> 00:01:55.120 And from there, I ended up going all the way down to Savannah to SCAD, which is a terrible name for a school that presents things for a living. 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:56.140 Like, that's what they do. 00:01:56.479 --> 00:01:58.179 And their name is SCAD. 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:07.379 So I went to SCAD, and I studied graphic design at SCAD, which, when I was there, was a very broad discipline. 00:02:07.379 --> 00:02:14.460 So graphic design was everything from designing magazines and book covers and billboards and advertising. 00:02:14.780 --> 00:02:22.039 And there really was no internet that controlled all of our lives or apps or, like, this was pre... 00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:28.680 This was a better world, frankly, than the one we live in, especially from a designer's point of view. 00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:33.560 So I studied design, and I... 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:40.099 So the culture at design school, if you don't know, especially in the commercial side of things, so... 00:02:40.099 --> 00:02:41.240 And let me say that real quick. 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:44.460 Graphic designers work for other people. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:52.080 They are not artists in the sense of I'm a fine artist, and I'm making beautiful objects that are for their own sake. 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:53.680 And believe me, I love that. 00:02:53.980 --> 00:02:55.040 I just can't do it. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:59.039 So I'm a graphic designer, and I work for other people. 00:02:59.579 --> 00:03:06.560 And part of the training is you do very shoddy, student-y kind of work and put it up on the wall. 00:03:06.859 --> 00:03:10.919 And then about 40 people walk up to it and tell you why it's terrible. 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:13.120 These are called critiques. 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:17.620 And your peers, who don't know anything, critique you. 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:22.799 And then your professors, who know some things, critique you. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:25.939 And so there's just the culture of critique. 00:03:26.920 --> 00:03:37.700 And a handful of people come out of commercial design school with portfolios that either sort of survive or they don't. 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:38.200 Right? 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:42.840 So I went and applied for an internship. 00:03:43.100 --> 00:03:45.460 40 other people applied for this internship. 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:46.800 And I won. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:50.719 And so it's like, wow, okay, I love this. 00:03:51.500 --> 00:03:52.780 And I won this internship. 00:03:52.880 --> 00:03:53.320 It was great. 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:54.640 It turned into a full-time job. 00:03:54.700 --> 00:03:57.740 My first full-time job was scuba diving magazine. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:00.000 It's a Rodale Press magazine. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:01.140 It was a national magazine. 00:04:01.320 --> 00:04:02.439 It was a great opportunity. 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:07.139 So I laid out covers and articles. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:09.919 I went to Aruba and Bonaire. 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:12.199 And they certified me to dive. 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:14.840 And by the way, I didn't really care about diving. 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:16.699 I just, I'm a graphic designer. 00:04:17.060 --> 00:04:21.040 I take other people's ideas and I try to make them look awesome. 00:04:22.339 --> 00:04:23.560 So I'm living the dream. 00:04:23.659 --> 00:04:24.519 And I didn't even know it. 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:28.479 And, of course, I had met Mona at school. 00:04:29.060 --> 00:04:29.719 We were married. 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:42.299 And I ended up at a advertising agency graphic design studio hybrid, which is something you'd only find in a city, a small city like Savannah. 00:04:43.019 --> 00:04:45.599 So we did branding work. 00:04:45.819 --> 00:04:47.019 We did advertising. 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:48.719 We did everything in between. 00:04:48.720 --> 00:05:02.260 So if you're not familiar with the term branding, well, branding is where you take an organization, a business, or even an individual, and you dress them in a certain kind of clothes. 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:04.920 And then you put them out into the marketplace. 00:05:05.140 --> 00:05:07.120 And you say, hello, I'm the bank. 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:08.460 And I'd like to introduce myself. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:09.480 And these are my colors. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:10.560 And this is my logo. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:11.780 And this is the way I talk. 00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:14.080 And that's branding. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:20.120 And that's sort of the sweet spot of how professionally how I'm wired. 00:05:20.359 --> 00:05:22.240 That's where I'm most comfortable is in branding. 00:05:22.579 --> 00:05:31.560 We also did a lot of advertising, which is where the creative arts get kind of a bad name, right? 00:05:31.599 --> 00:05:35.779 Because they cultivate desire for things that people don't need. 00:05:35.860 --> 00:05:37.560 And, yes, they do do that. 00:05:37.579 --> 00:05:38.680 And they do it on purpose. 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:39.759 And they talk about it. 00:05:39.899 --> 00:05:42.439 And I was a part of that. 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:44.379 And, yes, it is disgusting. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:47.620 So I'm cruising along. 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:52.620 And this sort of mimics the talk last week. 00:05:53.060 --> 00:05:56.680 So I'm just doing what I love to do and enjoying it. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:58.259 And all of a sudden, I'm winning awards. 00:05:59.139 --> 00:05:59.600 I'm winning. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:01.040 We're winning awards. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:07.079 But I'm winning individual awards, like the Art Director of the Year Award in Savannah, Georgia, by the way. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:08.779 So don't get too excited. 00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:13.139 But still, it's like you're the best we have going in this city, right? 00:06:13.359 --> 00:06:14.459 So that happened one year. 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:15.639 Then that happened the next year. 00:06:15.739 --> 00:06:16.819 So it's two years in a row. 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:21.839 And my head is beginning to swell. 00:06:23.139 --> 00:06:32.959 Our clients, so we had the biggest bank in town, the biggest architecture firm in town, the art museum, the power company. 00:06:33.119 --> 00:06:33.859 We had everyone. 00:06:33.860 --> 00:06:36.420 We worked for everyone important in the town. 00:06:36.980 --> 00:06:38.199 They were my clients. 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:40.220 Well, our clients, but my clients. 00:06:41.280 --> 00:06:45.060 And we were starting to do TV commercials. 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:49.340 I was flying to New York City and working with directors and literally going out to L.A. 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:52.920 And just all of a sudden, I'm in advertising. 00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:59.240 And one day, so that's sort of where I want to stop my story. 00:06:59.379 --> 00:07:01.420 And that was about maybe 15 years ago. 00:07:04.020 --> 00:07:08.400 And I was having a self-quake. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:10.759 I don't know if you are familiar with that term. 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:26.420 But apart from work, I had a self-quake that started with my marriage, which was through my marriage, I was confronted with the fact that I was a selfish animal, basically. 00:07:26.420 --> 00:07:33.120 And then all of a sudden, I was at work where everything was great. 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:45.280 And one day, and I think this is just a Holy Spirit intervention for me, the question came into my mind, what if you got everything you want right now? 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:49.079 It's sort of like WWJD. 00:07:49.239 --> 00:07:53.919 It's like, what if Jesus just walked into your life physically right now and said, hey, what's going on? 00:07:53.939 --> 00:07:54.819 What are you doing with yourself? 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:00.859 And my answer to that question was not a good answer, if I was being honest. 00:08:00.919 --> 00:08:02.119 It was a terrible answer. 00:08:02.599 --> 00:08:08.000 Because all of us, where I worked, were building the me show. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:12.199 We didn't really love our clients. 00:08:12.799 --> 00:08:14.379 We loved our success. 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:16.879 And we were trying to win awards. 00:08:17.259 --> 00:08:21.019 And we were trying to build our own books. 00:08:21.259 --> 00:08:28.560 Because all the creatives were always looking at the next place they could go jump to and further their career, especially if you're in Savannah. 00:08:28.779 --> 00:08:30.639 Because, well, it's Savannah. 00:08:31.939 --> 00:08:39.899 So I put this verse, what good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 00:08:39.899 --> 00:08:52.159 Now, I want to just say, I just want to admit that everything I have to say this morning, there are no, as much as, I love the deep truths of scripture, okay? 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:56.399 And I will spend hours with any of you if you want to talk about the mysteries. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:09:13.720 But what I want to say this morning is that just the first things of Christianity, just the basic gospel, can and will change your life if you take what it's saying seriously and let it deal with you. 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:18.000 And so this is not rocket science, right? 00:09:18.100 --> 00:09:22.840 Like, of course, we've been sitting in, I was a deacon at my church at this time, by the way. 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:28.800 I was very familiar with the gospel and its data points, and I believed it. 00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:41.820 But for me, experience had to come alongside the words to combine, to teach me the hard truths, right? 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.200 And for me, this was a hard truth. 00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:46.280 And it wrecked me. 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:50.440 It literally cut me to my core. 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:52.860 And I had a self-quake. 00:09:54.660 --> 00:10:04.580 And so real briefly, what happened was we started going after a couple, at the same time, at the same moment, I'm like, what am I doing? 00:10:04.700 --> 00:10:06.180 Like, I'm living for myself. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:16.880 We started going after clients that were outside of the realm of okay for me to work on, such as we had a vodka account. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:22.779 And they were trying to combine vodka and Red Bull and then sell it to 18-year-olds, that kind of thing. 00:10:23.299 --> 00:10:28.519 Or pillows that people use to enhance their sexual life, which is fine. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:34.100 But they want us to advertise it and, like, do all these, like, visual horrible things, which I couldn't do. 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:36.139 So that was going on. 00:10:36.139 --> 00:10:43.960 And meanwhile, the Christian parachurch ministry called Ligonier Ministries, so this is R.C. Sproul. 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:45.500 Maybe some of you are familiar with him. 00:10:45.539 --> 00:10:46.340 He just passed away. 00:10:47.620 --> 00:10:51.699 They came after me because I had been doing pro bono work for my church. 00:10:51.699 --> 00:10:52.480 And they saw it. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:54.259 And they're like, you should come work for us. 00:10:54.259 --> 00:11:01.860 And you should come design our catalogs and come work for parachurch ministry, which I did. 00:11:02.519 --> 00:11:03.319 I did. 00:11:03.860 --> 00:11:06.819 Because we'll get into some of the reasons why. 00:11:07.220 --> 00:11:09.379 But basically, it was throwing my career away. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:10.220 And I knew that. 00:11:12.620 --> 00:11:23.220 You don't go design catalogs for parachurch, niche-y, reformed Christian ministry and ever go back to working in consumer advertising at agency level again. 00:11:23.220 --> 00:11:23.960 You're done. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:25.779 So I went in and told my boss. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:26.519 I'm like, I got to go. 00:11:26.980 --> 00:11:27.980 He said, you're crazy. 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:30.600 You're, what are you doing? 00:11:31.100 --> 00:11:32.940 I said, I don't know what I'm doing. 00:11:33.700 --> 00:11:43.519 I'm not, I'm letting the chips fall where they may, which is something I'm going to try to bring out if I can do that in the time I have. 00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:44.379 Okay. 00:11:47.220 --> 00:11:50.840 So I'm too throwing my career away. 00:11:50.920 --> 00:11:51.200 Great. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:12:05.040 So now I'd like to talk about how that's come about for me and how these things are still a vital part of my work life and my life in general. 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:22.240 And the way I want to frame it up is to talk about how the gospel gives, gave me and gives us a new mission, a new way of measuring our worth and a new motivation in life and in the workplace. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:27.960 So, first of all, a new mission. 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:35.139 Let me read this passage from Colossians, so succinct and so powerful. 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:39.679 Since then you have been raised with Christ. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:46.080 Set your heart on things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:49.960 Set your mind on the things above, not on earthly things. 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:54.759 For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 00:12:54.759 --> 00:13:03.840 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:11.139 So, at that time, I think this is a question we all ask ourselves, right? 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:12.039 Who am I? 00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:14.139 Why do I matter in the world? 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:17.379 What is my purpose? 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:18.399 Why am I here? 00:13:18.539 --> 00:13:19.779 These are the questions. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.360 These are the ultimate questions. 00:13:22.459 --> 00:13:23.879 These are the ontological questions. 00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:25.419 These are the teleological questions. 00:13:25.500 --> 00:13:27.259 These are like the big questions. 00:13:27.959 --> 00:13:34.659 Well, for me, they really hit me at that time as I was saying. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:41.059 And I was confronted with my answers. 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:44.059 And, you know, I have this joke with my children. 00:13:45.019 --> 00:13:45.259 It's Clay. 00:13:45.379 --> 00:13:46.199 Did I see Clay here? 00:13:47.859 --> 00:13:49.359 So, Clay, what's all that matters? 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:51.199 And what else? 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:53.839 Making your friends feel bad. 00:13:54.199 --> 00:13:55.559 Yeah, what about personal glory? 00:13:56.019 --> 00:13:56.779 That's what it's all about. 00:13:56.939 --> 00:13:57.159 Right. 00:13:57.299 --> 00:14:01.979 So, whenever we would go to the sporting event, you know, I turn to my children and be like, 00:14:02.219 --> 00:14:03.719 what's all that matters today? 00:14:04.179 --> 00:14:05.199 And then they say winning. 00:14:05.359 --> 00:14:06.919 And I say, and then what else? 00:14:06.959 --> 00:14:08.679 And they say getting personal glory. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:09.959 And then I say, what else? 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:12.639 And they say, making the other guy pay, you know. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:14.460 And I'm like, of course, it's a joke. 00:14:14.540 --> 00:14:16.080 But it's not a joke, right? 00:14:16.180 --> 00:14:26.060 I mean, that is the default mission is to win. 00:14:26.180 --> 00:14:28.259 And I'm not trying to be political here at all. 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:34.200 I'm just trying to be myself, which is to say I observe that our mission is to win, right? 00:14:34.200 --> 00:14:44.560 And my old mission was to, let me put a positive spin on it, to become the best me I could be. 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:48.440 And to be well thought of by others. 00:14:49.060 --> 00:14:52.500 And, you know, yeah, to win awards and to be great. 00:14:52.780 --> 00:14:55.759 And to make the most out of my life. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:15:04.559 And it had a very horizontal feel to it, right? 00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:07.620 It's me starting with me and then looking horizontal. 00:15:08.059 --> 00:15:14.600 Man, I don't know about your professions, but in my profession, all we do is look down on other people. 00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:16.059 We look down on our clients. 00:15:16.340 --> 00:15:17.819 We look down on other creatives. 00:15:17.899 --> 00:15:19.159 We're like, oh, you think that's good? 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:20.899 Like, it's all subjective, right? 00:15:20.899 --> 00:15:22.439 So we're like, that's terrible. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:23.199 You're terrible. 00:15:23.459 --> 00:15:24.259 I'm great. 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:39.879 The new mission, however, is, if there's any Presbyterians in the room, to glorify God and to enjoy God. 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:41.559 That's my new mission. 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:44.239 To love him. 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:46.719 To please him. 00:15:47.219 --> 00:15:48.819 To thank him. 00:15:49.839 --> 00:15:52.079 And ultimately, to be with him. 00:15:54.059 --> 00:16:02.799 And so what are the implications of this for my work, right? 00:16:03.319 --> 00:16:10.119 If I realize my original mission is sort of faulty, you know? 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:17.840 And the mission the gospel gives me is to live for God and not for myself. 00:16:18.940 --> 00:16:20.820 Well, what are the implications at work? 00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:21.659 They're huge. 00:16:21.899 --> 00:16:22.500 There are many. 00:16:22.580 --> 00:16:23.759 We could never cover them here. 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:31.659 But I will mention that the first one for me was that Jeff had to be demoted. 00:16:31.659 --> 00:16:38.839 The Jeff show had to sort of pull up the tent. 00:16:39.980 --> 00:16:42.279 And I had to sort of rethink. 00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:51.319 For me, it became sort of a daily thing where I woke up in the morning. 00:16:51.379 --> 00:16:59.100 I'm like, how am I going to address the fact that now I'm awake to having living for this thing over here, 00:16:59.159 --> 00:17:04.200 which is not what God wants for me to live in this way? 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:22.860 So another implication for me at work was that people who prior to I would see as tools or obstacles to get what I want, 00:17:22.859 --> 00:17:29.299 now I see that if I'm going to love God, then I have to love other people. 00:17:29.379 --> 00:17:35.599 And if I'm going to love other people, I have to change how I interact with them. 00:17:35.779 --> 00:17:38.819 It sounds so basic, but I'm just reporting facts. 00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:47.639 I also began to care about and love my unseen audience. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.779 So when you're in the business that I'm in, there's the masses. 00:17:52.879 --> 00:17:58.720 The work that you do goes out to the masses who you don't touch like we're doing now. 00:17:59.019 --> 00:18:05.659 And so when this new mission came into my life, I started thinking about those people. 00:18:05.659 --> 00:18:08.179 And I started thinking, what's good for those people? 00:18:08.819 --> 00:18:13.839 Because God's told me, you want to know one way you can glorify me? 00:18:14.539 --> 00:18:15.839 Care about other people. 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:16.720 Love other people. 00:18:16.899 --> 00:18:19.399 Think of them as their needs more important than your own. 00:18:22.539 --> 00:18:32.559 Let me pause there and just say, are there, as I say, as I say, confess really to you, 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:39.579 that this mission and crystallizing in my mind says, here's a few implications for me and my work. 00:18:40.179 --> 00:18:43.980 Do you think, do you have in your mind implications at your work? 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:46.159 And would you like to share one or two? 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:56.320 If not, that's fine. 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:03.320 Go ahead. 00:19:05.500 --> 00:19:06.460 Were you raising your hand? 00:19:06.540 --> 00:19:06.960 I was. 00:19:07.100 --> 00:19:07.519 I couldn't. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.480 So, boy, you went to Gordon College. 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:12.940 Grew up in a Christian home, right? 00:19:14.579 --> 00:19:19.500 How did the seduction, it just kind of happen? 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:21.500 Yeah. 00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:34.819 So, I think that it is very difficult to bring your, if you coast at work, the culture of work, 00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:41.279 in my experience, the culture of work is different than even ordinary, even school culture, 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:46.779 because it's really based on performance and merit. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:54.299 And it is, in many ways, I think Christians walk into work. 00:19:54.379 --> 00:19:58.000 I know I was doing this, and I wasn't being purposeful in my thinking. 00:19:59.579 --> 00:20:00.940 So, I had to have a self-quick. 00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:02.819 So, God had to come in and just shatter me. 00:20:03.180 --> 00:20:07.539 But, hopefully, that's just part of what we're doing now, is just talking about these things 00:20:07.539 --> 00:20:12.059 so that we're a little more thoughtful as we go into the workplace and say, 00:20:12.139 --> 00:20:18.420 wait a minute, I'm still the same guy that I was on Sunday morning affirming, you know, 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:21.299 what my calling is. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:29.980 Because my calling is to be, to use my gifts, my creative gifts, for God's glory. 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:30.460 It is. 00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:35.440 But my big calling is to honor God and to love Him. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:42.000 And, let's move on, because I think we're going to flesh out, if no one... 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:42.460 Go ahead. 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:44.380 I just want to say this. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:50.980 There are two things that have really taught me the reality of the sinfulness of mankind. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:52.100 That is my point. 00:20:52.099 --> 00:21:09.339 I had no idea how corrupting the workplace, the secular workplace, would be where there 00:21:09.339 --> 00:21:12.159 was a special place at work. 00:21:12.419 --> 00:21:14.939 And I just assumed other people had good motives. 00:21:14.940 --> 00:21:21.279 You know, as I worked in the school system, it took me years to realize, oh my goodness. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:27.620 They are really sinners, like the Bible tells us the thing. 00:21:28.600 --> 00:21:30.299 And I'm bad enough. 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:34.559 But, boy, you know, don't assume anything good. 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:41.359 Yeah, you know, since you brought that up, and this is just off the script, but I think 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:50.579 loving anyone means absorbing blows and taking it on the chin and being open to being taken 00:21:50.579 --> 00:21:51.299 advantage of. 00:21:51.980 --> 00:21:52.399 Anyone. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:55.819 Try loving your children through teenage years. 00:21:55.819 --> 00:21:56.819 Try... 00:21:56.819 --> 00:21:58.059 It is... 00:21:58.059 --> 00:22:06.000 Baked into loving anybody is being willing to absorb blows and being taken advantage of. 00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:08.319 Now, how does that play in the workplace, right? 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:13.679 It's one thing at your home with your own children, like, you know, but in the workplace 00:22:13.679 --> 00:22:16.279 where it's... 00:22:16.279 --> 00:22:22.119 It is not the type of culture where if you're going to live like that, it's an easy place 00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:23.240 to navigate, right? 00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:26.019 Or at least I've... 00:22:26.019 --> 00:22:26.680 That's how... 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:27.819 What I've found to be true. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:30.660 Okay, so real quick, I want to move through. 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:34.539 How do we define a successful person? 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:38.000 How do we define what a successful person is now? 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:38.720 Why are we bringing... 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:40.799 Why am I bringing this up in the context of work? 00:22:40.859 --> 00:22:43.620 Well, of course I'm bringing it up because... 00:22:43.620 --> 00:22:44.900 You know what phrase I hate? 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:49.200 Have you ever heard someone say, oh, have you met so-and-so? 00:22:49.539 --> 00:22:51.660 Well, first thing you need to know is they are successful. 00:22:51.660 --> 00:22:53.960 And then they go on to tell you. 00:22:54.100 --> 00:22:55.080 And what does that mean? 00:22:55.700 --> 00:22:59.759 That means in their field, they're at close... 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:01.080 They've made a lot of money somehow. 00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:14.660 And it assumes a definition of success, okay, that Christians can't affirm if they're being 00:23:14.660 --> 00:23:18.840 theologically consistent. 00:23:19.860 --> 00:23:20.860 Because why? 00:23:21.019 --> 00:23:26.100 Because how does God define a successful person? 00:23:26.360 --> 00:23:28.759 How do Christians define a successful person? 00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:39.880 I think of the fact that we're so outcome-based, and as human beings, we watch what people are able to produce. 00:23:39.880 --> 00:23:42.960 And if the product is good, they are successful. 00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:51.120 But then I watch John the Baptist produce an excellent product and call something like it is, 00:23:51.180 --> 00:23:53.540 because that was his job that God called him to. 00:23:53.900 --> 00:23:54.920 He got his head cut off. 00:23:55.600 --> 00:23:58.580 That's not successful by our ordinary terms. 00:23:58.700 --> 00:23:59.820 That was very unsuccessful. 00:24:00.040 --> 00:24:01.040 Now you're dead. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:07.819 I look at Hebrews 11, and I say, here we have the hall of fame of people that God says are successful. 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:11.539 And the first half of this group were nodding along. 00:24:11.659 --> 00:24:18.079 It's like, and this guy went, and God came along, and he beat the enemies, and he led them, and he was triumphing. 00:24:18.859 --> 00:24:20.539 And it's like, win, win, win. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:21.200 And I'm like, yeah. 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:27.980 But then the second half is, and these people were faithful, and they got sawn in half, and they got their heads chopped off. 00:24:29.420 --> 00:24:38.160 Equally successful people, because the definition of success by God's, God does not measure as we measure. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:49.480 Now, if we can't take God's measurement into the workplace with us, if we're going to adopt the measurement of ordinary human culture, 00:24:51.040 --> 00:24:56.380 you're going to end up hopefully like me and have a self-quake, 00:24:56.600 --> 00:25:07.120 or you're just going to stay on the hamster wheel that goes to nowhere and adopt the world's value system. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:08.939 And what's at the end? 00:25:10.159 --> 00:25:13.679 You know, last week's talk was so good. 00:25:13.919 --> 00:25:26.239 I don't know how many of you were here, but just to think about the meaninglessness of playing out the standard human value system. 00:25:26.500 --> 00:25:27.519 Where does it end? 00:25:28.019 --> 00:25:30.379 There's no future hope in it. 00:25:30.380 --> 00:25:38.460 Even if you are successful by those terms, you've got 30 years to enjoy it at best. 00:25:39.600 --> 00:25:39.740 Okay. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:46.560 So, new metric, new measurement. 00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:52.100 Man, I've got to move on here. 00:25:52.099 --> 00:25:54.619 So, why do we do what we do? 00:25:55.299 --> 00:26:06.159 I think it's, I think the Christian worldview has to answer this question, right? 00:26:06.219 --> 00:26:10.159 Because how many of you saw the Mr. Rogers movie? 00:26:10.379 --> 00:26:11.639 Did any of you guys see it? 00:26:11.899 --> 00:26:12.119 Okay. 00:26:13.219 --> 00:26:14.559 Well, I'm going to tell you about it anyway. 00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:16.059 I was hoping more of you had seen it. 00:26:16.059 --> 00:26:27.579 So, Mr. Rogers, you know, wonderful guy, told all the children that they were special, told all the children that just who they are was valuable, right? 00:26:28.619 --> 00:26:29.659 It's a good message. 00:26:29.660 --> 00:26:37.700 And so, as the documentary goes on, you know, he's just loving children and he's being kind and he's heaping affirmation on them. 00:26:38.080 --> 00:26:49.960 And then towards the tail end of his life, the critics come out and they're like, you know, Mr. Rogers has like ruined the world because, yeah, you've got to watch the documentary. 00:26:50.120 --> 00:26:50.620 It's a true story. 00:26:50.619 --> 00:26:59.619 So, Mr. Rogers ruined the world because he told children that they were valuable and affirmed just as they are. 00:27:00.659 --> 00:27:11.639 But then what's going to motivate them to go out and be great and do great things and to like produce and build themselves into something useful for the meritocracy, right? 00:27:11.799 --> 00:27:15.179 So, these things are in conflict. 00:27:15.799 --> 00:27:19.819 And I'm actually not telling you that, like, I understand that tension, right? 00:27:19.819 --> 00:27:27.980 And I would like to say that tension is actually one of the greatest tensions in Christianity. 00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:29.619 Forget about the workplace, right? 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:34.379 You are saved by grace, 100% grace. 00:27:34.740 --> 00:27:36.439 You do nothing to merit it. 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:40.319 All you do is say, yes, I need it. 00:27:40.379 --> 00:27:40.919 Give it to me. 00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:50.259 If you live a stellar life from the moment you become a Christian to the moment you die, Jesus comes along and says, you were a faithful servant. 00:27:50.380 --> 00:27:51.840 You didn't do anything to earn a cookie. 00:27:52.620 --> 00:27:53.200 That's it. 00:27:53.460 --> 00:27:54.640 And then, of course, you don't. 00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:58.440 So, like, every day you need grace and salvation. 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:06.640 So, the critics of the gospel come along, understandably from a certain perspective, like, oh, so you're saved by grace. 00:28:07.180 --> 00:28:09.059 So, you don't earn any of it. 00:28:09.360 --> 00:28:11.860 And then they say, so why be a good person at all? 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:13.200 Like, why even try? 00:28:13.820 --> 00:28:16.160 Why strive to use Paul's language? 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:31.640 Why effort and point yourself at perfection of pleasing God and killing your old self if it's all by grace and you've got everything you need right now just by receiving it, right? 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:36.740 Well, to me, that's a very relevant question to our work. 00:28:36.740 --> 00:28:54.559 Because after I had my self-quake and after I threw my career away, I was, the spirit of that for me was, I'm going to just trust that this is what God has for me. 00:28:54.680 --> 00:29:02.980 It's a longer story than that, but about ten things kind of came together for me at the same time that were, like, an affirmation that this is what God kind of had for me. 00:29:02.980 --> 00:29:07.140 So, I said, well, whatever's down the road, I don't know what it is. 00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:11.059 I'm just going to jump off the cliff and do it and let the chips fall where they may. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:14.039 Well, so let's say I did that. 00:29:14.299 --> 00:29:17.599 So, now I'm trying to be faithful to God. 00:29:17.819 --> 00:29:20.480 What's my, now my motivation to be great? 00:29:20.779 --> 00:29:25.460 My old motivation was because, obvious, right? 00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:32.220 Like, I'm out in the workplace fighting off all my competitors and I'm trying to win awards and I'm trying to build the Jeff show. 00:29:32.220 --> 00:29:33.880 And I want all of you to think I'm awesome. 00:29:34.259 --> 00:29:36.839 And here's my portfolio, you know, here's my work. 00:29:37.380 --> 00:29:39.059 And it's what makes me somebody. 00:29:39.860 --> 00:29:40.900 Well, that's gone now. 00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:42.740 That is not what makes me somebody. 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:48.880 It's a good thing, but it's not who makes me valuable. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:30:12.340 Well, I'm valuable because God saw fit to literally come into this world and pay for my sins and pull me back into his family and put the label of child of God on me and give me an inheritance. 00:30:12.339 --> 00:30:20.199 Now, we understand, why does Paul come along and go, all this stuff that you think makes me valuable, I count it as garbage. 00:30:20.899 --> 00:30:21.419 Why? 00:30:21.779 --> 00:30:28.659 Because compared to what God has provided us in Christ, it is garbage. 00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:31.220 In that perspective. 00:30:32.259 --> 00:30:32.359 Right? 00:30:32.359 --> 00:30:36.939 So now, why do I try hard at work? 00:30:37.379 --> 00:30:48.079 Like, I think it's a legitimate question that has to be sort of addressed. 00:30:48.079 --> 00:31:07.899 And, of course, the gospel answer is doing a good job at work, as I was trying to say earlier, the definition of doing a good job at work changes into, first of all, loving the people that you're with. 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:11.220 Loving the people that you're ultimately serving. 00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:14.339 So whatever career you're in, you're serving someone out there. 00:31:14.579 --> 00:31:14.759 Right? 00:31:16.039 --> 00:31:17.279 Loving them well. 00:31:18.019 --> 00:31:22.600 Doing a good job, as James said last week, unto the Lord. 00:31:22.700 --> 00:31:39.779 So every single thing you do in your work day, if you have the perspective of God is calling me to do this task as if I'm doing it directly for him in response to what he's done for me. 00:31:39.779 --> 00:31:42.339 And this is sort of my point. 00:31:42.420 --> 00:31:44.019 I'm just going to summarize it in one word. 00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:46.160 Why do I work hard? 00:31:46.819 --> 00:31:47.220 Gratitude. 00:31:49.299 --> 00:31:50.539 It's as simple as that. 00:31:51.500 --> 00:31:52.539 I go to work. 00:31:53.539 --> 00:31:56.940 There are many, many days, to be honest with you, I don't particularly love my job. 00:31:57.019 --> 00:32:02.960 I'd much rather be working in an agency, working for Nike, or doing more exciting work like I used to do. 00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:04.139 But you know what? 00:32:04.140 --> 00:32:14.340 I go to work, and my motivation is gratitude because God has given me a new life. 00:32:15.160 --> 00:32:21.580 And has given my whole life a meaning that it didn't used to have that has eternal value. 00:32:22.840 --> 00:32:29.580 And so it is gratitude that then expresses itself in love. 00:32:29.579 --> 00:32:33.279 Let me read this verse for us. 00:32:34.659 --> 00:32:40.740 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:43.579 For she loved much. 00:32:44.639 --> 00:32:49.259 But he who is forgiven little loves little. 00:32:49.259 --> 00:33:06.019 I think it's a very convicting question if we ask ourselves, in our workplace, do we show that God has loved us much by the way we handle ourselves? 00:33:06.019 --> 00:33:15.839 And by the way we reject certain assumed methods of doing things, cutthroat methods maybe. 00:33:21.220 --> 00:33:26.839 And to me that was part of what was convicting me to change my life. 00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:31.799 Let me pause at this point. 00:33:31.939 --> 00:33:35.199 Any questions or thoughts or anything to add? 00:33:35.199 --> 00:33:35.379 Thank you. 00:33:37.379 --> 00:33:41.659 I'm just wondering about the work world that you are in. 00:33:41.919 --> 00:33:51.799 It's so different from a helping work like teaching or maybe health care or something like that. 00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:57.419 Could you talk about that a little bit? 00:33:57.500 --> 00:33:57.740 Yeah. 00:33:57.740 --> 00:34:00.159 Is there any struggles there as well? 00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:00.859 Yeah. 00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:01.839 I mean, it is. 00:34:02.619 --> 00:34:04.440 Honestly, that's a good question. 00:34:04.639 --> 00:34:09.139 And I did wake up one day because I was following my dreams. 00:34:09.460 --> 00:34:10.800 I mean, I was following my passions. 00:34:10.940 --> 00:34:13.400 You know how we tell our kids sometimes, like, just do what you love. 00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:14.980 And, you know, God, it will work out. 00:34:14.980 --> 00:34:22.639 And I did wake up and say, you know, how is what I do, how does what I do help people? 00:34:23.099 --> 00:34:24.860 Now, you know, I went to work for Ligonier. 00:34:24.940 --> 00:34:26.420 I went to work for a Christian ministry. 00:34:26.740 --> 00:34:34.639 There were a lot of people at the ministry that were there because their answer to that question was, well, I'll go do what I do for Christians. 00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:48.339 And I did tons of, I poured myself in the book covers and articles and revamping the way this ministry presented itself and trying to go to all of you and say, look, you should care about this. 00:34:48.799 --> 00:34:59.779 Let me curate the chaos of junk that's out there and simplify it and bring it to you in a way that will help you see its value and maybe step into it. 00:34:59.780 --> 00:35:00.260 Right. 00:35:00.980 --> 00:35:12.160 But that's a very near, I don't, I didn't leave Ligonier thinking, oh, now I'm stepping out of serving God with my life at all. 00:35:14.820 --> 00:35:22.540 I think, you know, if you're a maid at a hotel, can you please God with your life? 00:35:23.940 --> 00:35:24.960 Of course. 00:35:25.380 --> 00:35:25.700 Right. 00:35:25.699 --> 00:35:35.239 I mean, if you're curing diseases and trying to commercialize them, you know, some of us are jealous. 00:35:35.379 --> 00:35:48.659 Like we look at that and we're jealous because we're like, oh, well, you're like helping people and we're making typography look better and we're choosing, you know, pleasing compositions. 00:35:50.659 --> 00:35:51.739 That's not a great answer. 00:35:51.799 --> 00:35:52.159 I don't know. 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:58.839 I think that at the end of the day, the way God measures us is not by the results, the human results. 00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:00.379 I really honestly believe that. 00:36:00.380 --> 00:36:06.320 I believe that it's a measurement of the heart. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:22.980 And so if God has called an administrator under Joseph's reign to make sure there's grain in the barns and he's like the fifth guy down under some other guy and it's only his job to like count everything up properly. 00:36:22.980 --> 00:36:36.659 I think he has just as shot as the most successful life as any of us, whether we're making millions of dollars, whether we're curing cancer or whether we're at the stop traffic light, making sure cars don't run into each other. 00:36:38.420 --> 00:36:41.119 Because God is in control of the outcomes. 00:36:41.559 --> 00:36:42.000 Totally. 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:44.420 Can we can we can we accept that? 00:36:44.599 --> 00:36:46.599 That's another truth that comes at us. 00:36:46.679 --> 00:36:47.559 We're like, yeah, I believe that. 00:36:47.639 --> 00:36:48.280 That's true. 00:36:48.780 --> 00:36:50.599 God is God determines. 00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:58.900 But then that's a hard thing to let come home into here. 00:36:59.759 --> 00:37:01.920 I don't know if any of you seen Good Will Hunting. 00:37:02.059 --> 00:37:03.779 Let's see if I get any more hands on Good Will Hunting. 00:37:03.900 --> 00:37:07.460 OK, I love the scene in Good Will Hunting. 00:37:07.579 --> 00:37:08.759 I'm a I cry at movies. 00:37:08.799 --> 00:37:09.619 I'm a sucker for it. 00:37:09.619 --> 00:37:15.339 But I love when it when it when Robin Williams grabs a kid, you know, and he's like, it's not your fault. 00:37:15.579 --> 00:37:16.460 And he's like, oh, no, I know. 00:37:16.519 --> 00:37:16.920 It's not my fault. 00:37:17.099 --> 00:37:18.400 No, no, you don't. 00:37:18.420 --> 00:37:19.259 It's not your fault. 00:37:19.319 --> 00:37:19.480 Right. 00:37:19.500 --> 00:37:22.039 And he hugs him in and he just keeps repeating. 00:37:22.039 --> 00:37:22.980 It's not your fault. 00:37:23.219 --> 00:37:24.079 It's not your fault. 00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:25.759 Well, that's not my message, of course. 00:37:25.759 --> 00:37:30.920 But my but the idea that, no, you don't understand. 00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:36.519 It's like here's this basic, amazing, profound truth. 00:37:36.519 --> 00:37:41.659 I'm nodding along on Sunday morning, but then I walk into work. 00:37:41.719 --> 00:37:41.940 I'm like. 00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:44.960 And I need someone to say. 00:37:45.900 --> 00:37:49.199 The outcomes are not in your hands. 00:37:50.420 --> 00:37:53.179 The outcomes are not in your hands. 00:37:53.960 --> 00:37:54.800 Oh, yeah, yeah, I get that. 00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:55.039 I know. 00:37:55.159 --> 00:37:56.219 No, no, you don't. 00:37:56.320 --> 00:37:58.820 The outcomes are like take your child rearing. 00:38:00.539 --> 00:38:01.119 That's it. 00:38:01.179 --> 00:38:01.840 Enough said, period. 00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:03.340 I'm not even going to fill in the blanks for you. 00:38:03.460 --> 00:38:04.679 Take your child rearing. 00:38:06.519 --> 00:38:10.019 Are you a bad parent because one of your kids is off not trusting Jesus? 00:38:10.340 --> 00:38:10.639 Answer. 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:11.059 Yes. 00:38:11.179 --> 00:38:12.059 You're a terrible parent. 00:38:12.519 --> 00:38:14.639 Secondly, not. 00:38:16.980 --> 00:38:19.259 The outcomes are in God's hands. 00:38:20.460 --> 00:38:21.860 You be faithful today. 00:38:22.079 --> 00:38:22.619 Yes, Susan. 00:38:23.099 --> 00:38:25.679 Saying the same thing you're saying in a different way. 00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:28.719 I don't think we can know the side of eternity. 00:38:29.799 --> 00:38:38.839 The way in which the Holy Spirit inhabits and enlivens what your desire to do at work until heaven. 00:38:39.639 --> 00:38:41.619 I'm going to try to make this very responsible. 00:38:42.679 --> 00:38:47.319 When the Redeemer Church was started in New York City, new woman comes to the church. 00:38:47.480 --> 00:38:49.519 Tim Keller goes off and says, I haven't seen you before. 00:38:49.519 --> 00:38:51.159 How did you get to the Redeemer? 00:38:51.300 --> 00:38:54.400 She says, well, I made a mistake at work. 00:38:55.679 --> 00:38:57.159 And it would have cost me my job. 00:38:58.500 --> 00:39:02.519 Except my supervisor, one of the powers that he had said, it was my life. 00:39:03.400 --> 00:39:04.199 I didn't accumulate. 00:39:04.659 --> 00:39:06.599 I didn't prepare her for this. 00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:08.239 I think I seemed like more clever. 00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:09.480 She did a better job. 00:39:09.480 --> 00:39:11.820 So she went in to see him. 00:39:11.920 --> 00:39:15.260 She said, why would you do that? 00:39:16.380 --> 00:39:16.740 Why? 00:39:17.539 --> 00:39:19.820 I have worked in this town for 28 years. 00:39:19.980 --> 00:39:21.800 I've had a lot of people take credit for what I've done. 00:39:21.900 --> 00:39:22.480 I've never had. 00:39:22.659 --> 00:39:23.079 And you. 00:39:23.539 --> 00:39:24.500 I mean, it takes it away. 00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:25.079 I've never had. 00:39:25.400 --> 00:39:26.440 I said, no, no, it's okay. 00:39:26.599 --> 00:39:27.400 It really is Jewish. 00:39:27.740 --> 00:39:28.960 She kept pressing me. 00:39:29.219 --> 00:39:29.960 Pressing me. 00:39:30.240 --> 00:39:32.320 He said, look, I'm a Christian. 00:39:33.320 --> 00:39:35.260 I have so many people who are going to want me. 00:39:35.260 --> 00:39:37.659 I took all my sleep on himself. 00:39:37.659 --> 00:39:39.879 And he gave me a new life. 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:41.759 I thought, I want to do this. 00:39:43.159 --> 00:39:44.779 She said, we're going to go to church. 00:39:46.259 --> 00:39:47.920 And the next day she was at the dinner. 00:39:48.219 --> 00:39:51.219 So I think we can do this. 00:39:51.519 --> 00:39:52.519 That's an analysis. 00:39:53.420 --> 00:39:57.779 I think we just try to go, having us serve as much of the grace of God as we can. 00:39:58.319 --> 00:40:01.139 Letting it try to change our attitudes as much as we can. 00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:02.940 And then just give it a little. 00:40:03.899 --> 00:40:05.039 And who knows? 00:40:06.539 --> 00:40:06.940 Yeah. 00:40:08.099 --> 00:40:09.119 That's an awesome story. 00:40:09.259 --> 00:40:13.519 And I feel like that has sort of let the chips fall where they may, kind of built into it. 00:40:14.219 --> 00:40:21.920 And by the way, I do want to say, because we have to close, but I just want to clearly say that in no way am I saying this is easy. 00:40:22.599 --> 00:40:23.940 Like, I've wrestled with this. 00:40:25.219 --> 00:40:27.940 I understand the implications of some of what I'm saying. 00:40:28.219 --> 00:40:29.299 It's super risky. 00:40:29.300 --> 00:40:38.380 And I wish we had actually time to talk about the struggle is real, as I've put it. 00:40:38.440 --> 00:40:45.320 Because in that box is, I think, a lot of other questions and conversation will be helpful. 00:40:45.320 --> 00:40:49.039 But for now, I do need to, I think, shut us down so everyone can get up to worship. 00:40:49.320 --> 00:40:50.640 So is Greg still here? 00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:52.620 Greg, do you want to come up and pray? 00:40:52.619 --> 00:40:56.179 Thanks, Jeff. 00:40:56.559 --> 00:40:57.239 Let's pray. 00:40:58.460 --> 00:41:02.079 Lord, thank you for these words this morning. 00:41:02.219 --> 00:41:06.039 Thank you for the gospel and for the truth about you. 00:41:06.039 --> 00:41:08.519 We pray that we would take these truths to heart. 00:41:08.920 --> 00:41:11.460 Lord, that you are our maker. 00:41:12.019 --> 00:41:13.619 Lord, that we have not made ourselves. 00:41:15.559 --> 00:41:19.800 That you have saved us by your grace alone. 00:41:20.500 --> 00:41:23.779 Lord, that we can't add anything to that. 00:41:24.679 --> 00:41:35.099 Lord, that all of our performance and our achievements and efforts do not earn us any more of your love or grace than has already been given to us in Christ. 00:41:35.099 --> 00:41:39.440 But, Lord, we pray that we would live out of that, the grace that you've given us. 00:41:39.500 --> 00:41:43.400 That we would love you much and love others much because we've been forgiven much. 00:41:44.159 --> 00:41:46.759 Lord, be with Jeff in his work in particular. 00:41:48.460 --> 00:41:54.599 And continue to give him wisdom and help him in the struggles that he faces. 00:41:56.400 --> 00:41:57.980 And be with each of us, Lord. 00:41:58.019 --> 00:41:58.440 Help us. 00:41:58.440 --> 00:42:02.539 We pray that the gospel would sink deeper into each of our hearts. 00:42:02.860 --> 00:42:11.740 And that we would live and work out of these truths about who you are. 00:42:12.679 --> 00:42:13.420 Thank you, Lord. 00:42:13.480 --> 00:42:14.300 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:42:14.500 --> 00:42:14.700 Amen. 00:42:14.700 --> 00:42:15.079 Amen. 00:42:15.079 --> 00:42:15.280 Amen. 00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:15.619 Amen. 00:42:15.619 --> 00:42:15.700 Amen. 00:42:15.700 --> 00:42:15.720 Amen. 00:42:15.720 --> 00:42:15.760 Amen. 00:42:15.760 --> 00:42:16.760 Amen. 00:42:16.760 --> 00:42:17.559 Amen. 00:42:17.559 --> 00:42:17.760 Amen. 00:42:17.760 --> 00:42:18.760 Amen. 00:42:18.760 --> 00:42:19.700 Amen. 00:42:19.700 --> 00:42:19.760 Amen. 00:42:19.760 --> 00:42:20.320 Amen. 00:42:20.320 --> 00:42:20.700 Amen. 00:42:20.700 --> 00:42:21.760 Amen. 00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:22.320 Amen. 00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:22.380 Amen. 00:42:22.380 --> 00:42:22.760 Amen.