I know everyone's not here yet, but again, if we can start as close to on time as possible,
then we'll be able to get through the material a little bit easier and give you some time
! for discussion, which is really what trying to set the table for good discussions. All
right, let me open us up in prayer and we'll get going. Father, we're so thankful for the
Word of God. Thank you for how you instruct us through this living testimony, the Word
of God that was made flesh and dwelt among us and that what we read here is meant to invite
us to enjoy the same life that you imparted to your disciples and your followers in the
first century. Lord, you have given us directions on how to live and those directions aren't
to box us in and to make our life seem unbearable, but those boundaries that you've put in place,
those standards that we see are meant to be life-giving. They're meant to be empowering
and to keep us from the danger that we want to walk into day by day. So, Lord, I pray that you'd
help us as we look into your Word this morning to learn from your truths and to delight in the
standards that you've set. Help us as we impart this into our own lives. In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. Good. Come on in. Come on in. I hope you have all been able to grab one of two versions,
the one for teens that will always have kind of a yellow banner on it that says, hey, this is the
teen version, and then the one that doesn't have the banner is the version for everyone else.
Okay? So, I hope you'll pick that up. If we need extra copies, I have at least one apiece that's here.
We've been working through Passions of the Heart, and any of you who are kind of reading through
this book, and anyone reading? Any adults reading through the book? Okay? There's several of you that
are reading through the book. Today, we're going to be on chapter five, and we're going to be kind of
taking it chapter by chapter now. Last week, we worked through chapters two to four, and so there
was a lot of ground to cover, and now we kind of get to take it one chapter at a time, which I think
would be beneficial to press in and to think more deeply about the subjects. Okay? But as we've been
talking about passions, of course, the words that maybe come to mind are desires or the things that
we really want, and so we talk about passions, and we talk about what is it in your heart, in your life
that is driving you, and our desires always drive us to an action, good action or a bad action.
And so, while even our passions may drive us to things that we know are not right for our lives,
passions and desires in and of themselves, we said, are neutral. They're neutral in that they're designed
to help you understand what you value, help you understand what you worship, help you understand
what's important to you, what matters to you. And the thing we've been seeking to learn is,
what do we do with our emotions? How do those emotions become godly emotions as they're directing
us to the Lord himself? And so we find throughout Scripture that apart from God, we're always trying
to handle and cope with our emotions. We're always trying to deal with them in some respect.
And unchecked emotions have a way of controlling us, don't they? Unchecked emotions have a way of
carrying us and ruling us. Bad emotions like anger and depression and fear have a way to paralyze us
and to keep us from doing what God wants us to do. I love how the Apostle Paul addresses Timothy,
where he says, Timothy, God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of what? Of power and love.
And a sound mind. You don't have to succumb to these inner desires, these inner emotions. They don't
have to control you. Timothy, learn to give your emotions to God. Learn to trust him when you're
feeling afraid. Learn that he's dependable and trustworthy. Learn not just to find that you can
trust in God, but he's going to lead you to a healthy kind of life, a life that's full of love
and sound mind. That's what God wants for us. But even good emotions are strong. And even good
emotions can be controlling. And we saw a couple of weeks ago the example of a very popular,
contemporary song by Teddy Swims that says, I lose control. And that's really us, right? We,
if we're run by our emotions and our passions, we find we just can't help ourselves. That's so often
the nature of our condition. And so as we evaluate our emotions, we need to come to a place of realizing
not only that they can be useful and helpful to steer us to God, but that even our heart is deceptive.
Like we think we have things in check. We think we're doing okay. We think we finally maybe overcome
and arrived in some ways, but what we found the testimony through scripture, the heart is deceitful,
right? The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Your heart tricks you. My heart
tricks me. It deceives me to think that I'm doing much better than I am. And so we need to come to
understand that. And there are two remedies. There's two strategies that we need to put into place.
One that we looked at a couple weeks ago. One that we looked at last week. And I just want to touch on
them briefly. That first strategy, that first solution is to take your emotion to God. Take your
emotion to God by way of repentance. Recognize the significance of that reset that needs to happen
on a continual basis. Realigning, recalibrating your heart so that it is consistently in tune with God.
And I love what the hymn writer says. Tune my heart to sing your praise. That needs to happen. There's a
tuning process. And those of you who are very musical and I am not know the significance. It happens at the
very beginning of every worship service. You're going to hear our musicians. They're tuning to a standard, but
they're also tuning to one another. There's a tuning process. And if I didn't get that right, then you have to
correct me later. But that's what I think happens. There's a tuning process. Something along that lines.
Okay, at least I'm close. You guys got the picture, right? There's a tuning process that must happen as
we're tuning our lives to God. And, you know, there are times where our passions get the best of us, right?
And then in that moment, what takes place is now you find yourself and others find you. You're exposed.
Your sin, the way that you've wandered away from the Lord has been exposed. And now people see it.
It's public. You've gone public, okay? And there's one of two ways that we can deal with our sin once it
goes public. We talked about the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow, didn't we?
Let's just pause for a moment. Help me out here now, okay? This is discussion time. What are some
indicators, some characteristics of worldly sorrow? What does worldly sorrow do?
I'm sorry I got caught, okay? Good. But what else do we say about worldly sorrow?
Anyone else? Timothy. Okay, sometimes worldly sorrow drives us to bitterness because you've gotten caught
and now there's shame, right? There's shame for the consequences that you're experiencing. What else?
I heard something over here. It's all about me, right? I got caught. I feel ashamed. Now I have to
to deal with whatever consequences there are and it's very self-serving. Worldly sorrow is self-serving
sorrow. Temporary sorrow. Good. Steve. Okay, it's somebody else's fault, okay? Like if it hadn't been
for that person, then everything would have been okay, right? And so now you kind of place your blame
on somebody else. So often that's what happens in worldly sorrow. How does it? Yes, Matt.
Okay, fantastic. Okay, so even if you feel a measure of guilt, okay? And sometimes when people feel
guilt, it can lead to this bondage and slavery of self, of staying there, this self-doom as it were.
And if it doesn't take us to God, then it's worldly in its effects, right? Good. Now let's transition.
What about godly sorrow? What are some of the differences then with godly sorrow?
It's kind of all the opposite of what we have said. So what are some of those things?
Great. It understands who the offense is really against. It's really an offense towards God, right?
And so instead of that sin and getting caught turning me inward, that sin is meant to help
turn me outward, turn towards God. Now there is a sense in which I come to terms with the gravity of my sin
and there is being sorry, there is being grieved over sin, but that doesn't end there.
It takes me to the solution. That solution is with the Lord. What else?
What else about godly sorrow? How is it different? Heart change.
That's good. I hate this sin. I don't want this to be true of my life ever again.
Because not just that I don't ever want to get caught again, but I realize that what this has done
is brought reproach on the name of God and I don't want to hurt this relationship with God again.
What else? Anything else?
Great. Instead of blaming people, it wants to restore those relationships that were broken.
We'll do whatever it takes to restore those relationships.
I will accept those consequences. I will do what it takes to restore the relationships that were broken.
That's the first solution. Repentance.
Repentance that comes to terms with the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.
The second remedy that we talked about a little last week was understanding the course or the path that sin takes.
And we looked at James 1, verses 12-15, and we kind of saw the progression, this four-stage progression of sin.
We saw that, first of all, our desire is stirred.
We see something like, oh, wow. Well, that's interesting. I kind of like that.
And it doesn't just get stirred, but it tends to want to dwell on that.
It's not just like a fleeting glance, but it's a turning back.
Whatever that is, that it's stirred your affection, you want to see more, you want to know more, you want to kind of experience more.
There's that desire that is stirred.
Then step two is, desire is awakened to the point where you say, you know what?
I think I would like to have that.
And in your will, your will decides, you know what?
I'm going to start making plans now to go after that sin.
Step three is, your desires grow into sinful acts.
That now what you have seen and what your will says, you know what?
I want to go after that.
Now you are actually taking the steps.
You are going after it.
You are pursuing that sin, whatever it is.
And finally, sin takes over and leads to death.
And this is really the theme that we pick up today.
We understand that sin starts somewhere.
And sometimes the sin that starts doesn't seem so bad.
It's not so bad for me to do this.
And so we take a step in the direction.
We begin to move our life in the direction of sin.
And in our time today, we're going to talk about this as being a gateway.
This is a gateway.
This is, you kind of walked through that gateway of temptation.
And now you are taking action to sin.
And whatever stage that that action is taking is beginning to condition your heart to do the same kind of thing the next time.
You are conditioning yourself to now respond in this way on a repeated basis.
I wrote a little parable.
Okay?
And you have a picture of that parable.
And I want to try to make this a little bit more visual for you.
So let me read this parable and you can kind of see how it takes off.
There once was a traveler who came upon a stone gateway in the middle of a barren plain.
Vines climbed its pillars.
Warm light spilled through the opening.
And carved into the arch were three words.
Satisfy yourself here.
He stepped closer and saw what looked like a valley on the other side.
Green and alive.
He could hear water running.
He could smell bread.
Fruit hung heavy on branches.
The air itself felt like music.
He stepped through.
At first, it was exactly what he hoped.
The valley stirred the senses.
Every taste felt bright.
Every sight felt richer.
The traveler thought,
This is everything I could ever need.
But after a while, something changed.
What thrilled him yesterday felt ordinary today.
So he went further in.
Looking for the next experience.
Something stronger.
Sweeter.
Louder.
And the valley provided.
There were stands with delicacies.
There were rooms with dazzling colors.
There were cups that promised deeper pleasure.
And every time he took another step inward,
The valley softly beckoned him for only one more thing in return.
One more step inside.
But the further he went, the less satisfied he became.
And the more he consumed, the worse he felt.
The thrill that was once so present now seemed so distant.
So empty.
So far away.
He was finally coming to his senses, recognizing the trance-like pull this realm had on his life.
It was an illusion.
He turned around, finally resolved to go back.
But the path behind him didn't look like the path he remembered.
What had once been a simple trail now looked overgrown and treacherous.
Brambles hooked like claws.
Vines braided into thick ropes across the way.
Thorns hidden under leaves.
The air behind him felt colder, darker, heavier.
While the path behind was not impossible to travel, it was surely painful.
The road demanded pain and tears and humility, step by step.
Oddly, the road ahead still looked bright.
It was still lit, open, wide.
Not as beautiful as the first rooms of the valley, but it promised something easier.
Keep on going.
Don't stop.
Don't face the thorns.
There's still something out there for you.
And standing there caught between a bright road that would only take him deeper,
in a dark road home that looked like thorns,
he finally understood what the gateway never told him.
The entrance seemed free and exciting,
but the exit would cost him dearly.
And that's the gateway that all of us are learning about this morning.
It's exactly how sin works.
That's the desire.
The desire that grips.
It looks enticing.
It looks exciting and thrilling.
And it moves you in.
But every step you take will be a step in the direction of the rest of your life.
And little by little, the heart learns to give way to the subtle demands of wanting more,
yearning and craving.
And ultimately leads to bondage.
We saw that a little last week in Romans chapter 6.
Bondage that happens because of sin.
But it's a decision that we can make.
We can either choose to be slaves and bound to sin,
or we can choose to be slaves and bound in freedom to righteousness.
Paul says in Romans 6, 16, he says,
Do not you know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one whom you obey,
either of sin, which leads to death,
or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.
But thanks be to God that you,
who once were slaves to sin,
have become obedient from the heart
to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.
You see, to walk in the way of sin is to choose the path of idolatry.
That's the end of this road.
The values and the things that you desire
show where your heart really is in terms of worship.
What you value, what you worship,
what matters to you.
And ultimately,
it's equated with idolatry in the scripture.
But everywhere we see idolatry in the New Testament,
and I just want to touch on this briefly
by giving you a couple of verses
that are there in your study guides.
Everywhere we see idolatry in the New Testament,
there are ten of them.
Ten times idolatry is mentioned in the New Testament
every single time
that idolatry is equated with sexual impurity.
It's equated with impurity.
Here's a couple of examples.
We're not going to go through them all.
Ephesians 5, 3 to 5, says this.
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness
must not even be named among you
as is proper among saints.
Let there be no filthiness or foolish talking
or crude joking which are out of place,
but instead let there be thanksgiving.
For you may be sure of this,
that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure,
who is covetous,
that is an idolater,
has no inheritance in the kingdom of God and Christ.
Colossians 3, 5.
Put to death what is earthly in you,
sexual immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and covetousness,
which is idolatry.
On account of these,
the wrath of God is coming.
And finally, 1 Peter 4, 3.
For the time that is past suffices
for doing what the Gentiles want to do,
living in sensuality,
passion,
drunkenness,
orgies,
drinking parties,
and lawlessness,
or lawless idolatry.
And what's also interesting
as you walk through this list,
and it's almost common in every other verse,
is that when idolatry is mentioned,
not only is it connected to impurity,
but it's often connected to covetousness,
to greed.
And we're going to look at a little bit more
these gateway sins.
What are the sins that entice you initially,
that lead you to some of these ultimate sins,
these sins that become absolute bondage for us,
and how is it that we can be alert
to materialism,
consumerism,
the desire for more,
the lack of dissatisfaction.
And by the way,
we're all there.
We're all dissatisfied in some way
with something that we don't have,
or that we have,
but it's not good enough.
It's not as good as so-and-so's thing.
And these are the gateway sins
that entice our heart
and fuel greater dissatisfaction
in a want for more.
And so it's easier then for us
to then fall,
or run after maybe,
is a better way,
run after impurity.
How do we check our hearts?
So,
the end of all this
is found in Ephesians 4, 17-19.
It says this,
Now this I say,
and testify in the Lord,
that you must no longer walk
as the Gentiles do
in the futility of their minds.
They are darkened in their understanding,
alienated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them
due to the hardness of their hearts.
They have become callous
and have given themselves up to sensuality,
greedy to practice
every kind of impurity.
Okay.
I want to just pause there for a moment.
What are the adjectives
that are used to describe
a heart that is totally given over?
What do you see here?
Ephesians 4, 17-19.
How does Paul describe that heart?
What words does he use?
Callous.
Okay.
And what is,
when you think about being callous,
what do you think about?
You think about hard work
that puts calluses on your hands
so that you can do more hard work, right?
But along with having calloused hands,
to put it on a calloused heart,
it means that you are training yourself
to not feel anymore.
That,
those feelings
of conviction,
those feelings
of sensitivity,
of shame,
now aren't
feeling that way anymore.
We've trained ourself
to be callous.
We've trained ourself
to not feel.
We've allowed
the rhythm of that
to land on us
enough
that now
we're not feeling
the impact of it anymore.
Or as much
as we once did.
Good.
What other adjectives
does he use?
Ignorance.
Okay.
And when we think about ignorance,
what do you think about?
Being oblivious.
That's great.
Great,
great definition.
Being oblivious.
Just being out of tune.
They're just
not thinking anymore.
They're so blinded by it.
And it's created
this hardness,
this darkening,
this alienation
from God
that's happening
in their life.
And notice,
they want more.
They're greedy
to practice it again.
Over and over
and it leads
to impurity
of life.
So we need
to understand
and recognize
that sin
follows this road.
sin follows this road.
No one wakes up
out of the blue
one day
and I think
particularly about
Philip Yancey.
Those of you
who are familiar,
anyone,
everyone know
who Philip Yancey is?
Okay.
Philip Yancey,
he's a prominent
Christian
author.
He's written
I don't even know
how many books.
He is kind of
one of the,
at the forefront
of our attention
and somebody who
has at least
thought
very deeply
about the things
of the Lord.
Well,
just last week
Philip Yancey
had to admit
that he's been
in an eight year
long relationship
with somebody
not his wife.
Okay.
Philip Yancey
didn't wake up
one day
and said,
you know,
I think I'm going
to ruin my marriage
today.
He didn't wake
up one day
and say,
you know what,
I have a good idea.
I think I'm going
to destroy
my credibility.
I know
it would be
really good.
I'm going
to obliterate
my integrity,
my reputation.
I'm going
to absolutely
disqualify myself
from ministry.
I think that
would be a great
idea.
He did not
wake up one day
and say that.
It was this
slow,
gradual
chain
of walking,
years of
cultivating,
months of
excusing,
small private
compromises,
moments of
saying yes
to sin
so that
once what's
shocked
is now
feels normal.
That's the gateway
we're talking about.
And we're going
to just spend
a few moments
introducing
some of those
gateway sins.
What are some
of those things,
those sins
we kind of give
a pass to?
What are those
things that
that we kind
of say,
you know,
this isn't
so bad.
We know
it's wrong,
but it's not
as bad
as such
and such.
And that's
what I want
to kind
of address
a little bit
in the next
few moments.
These gateway
sins of
anger
and self-pity
and discontentment
and fear.
And before I
introduce them
from the
scripture,
I have a little
inventory there.
I want to give you
just a few
minutes to
think about
these gateway
sins and
just kind of
evaluate your
own life.
Where are you
in relationship
to this?
By the way,
this is not to
make you feel
bad, but it's
just, again,
it's just kind of
the dashboard
lights to help
you see for
yourself.
This is private.
This is for you.
This is not meant
for you to share
necessarily unless
you want to,
but just to check
yourself and
where you stand
with these sins.
Okay?
I'll give you a
couple minutes
to go through
that.
Okay.
Thank you.
How's it going?
Almost there?
Okay.
What'd you find?
What were some of
those, any of those
that stood out and
said, uh-huh,
yeah, that's me.
Anything like that?
You'd be willing to
share?
How about this one?
I replay what
someone did to me
and build my case
in my head.
Anyone do that one?
I can totally
resonate with that
one.
That's me.
Oh, Lord, please
forgive me.
How about this one?
When I'm mad, I say
things I wouldn't say
if Jesus were
standing next to me.
Oh, boy.
I feel out of control
when I'm angry.
Spike, slam,
explode, rant,
text, yell.
Wow.
That was just the
first category.
How about, I
constantly compare
my looks, my
popularity, or
stuff to others.
Here we can kind
of see how, how
much we permit
sin in our life,
don't we?
We give it a pass.
It's, it's, it's
kind of like, like
those, it's those
permissible sins in
that they're things
that everyone
struggle with, so
obviously, it's okay.
I know it's not
okay.
I need to know, I
know I need to do
better, but, you
know, everyone else
struggles with this,
so, you know, if I
put this off till
tomorrow or next
week, it's okay.
God will forgive me.
But if I do this,
then, yeah, that
person is a
scoundrel.
The problem is
that these are the
kinds of sins that
move us in that
direction, they sweep
us up, and then you
have the Philippians
that all of a sudden
they turn around, and
they just can't even
describe how they
ever got to the place
where they are.
How did I get here?
How did I allow my
life to walk that
road for so long?
And so we do
ourselves a service by
recognizing these
gateway sins at the
beginning, and we
cut them off so that
we can continue this
road to repentance,
and starting over,
and recalibrating our
heart so that we are
in tune with the
Lord and enjoy the
benefits of slavery
to Christ and to
righteousness and the
freedom that comes.
There is freedom.
We talk about, it
talks about slavery, but
to be bound to Christ
as master is actually
freedom, right?
It's freedom in so many
ways.
So let's talk about,
just briefly, just a
couple minutes here.
I want to touch on
these, kind of lay them
out briefly so you can
see them, and then I'll
let you discuss them in
your groups.
The first is anger.
In James chapter 4,
verses 1 and 2, it says
this, what causes
quarrels and what
causes fights among
you?
Is it not this, your
passions are at war
within you?
You desire and do not
have, so you murder.
You covet and cannot
obtain, so you fight
and quarrel.
You do not have
because you do not
ask.
And you ask and do
not receive because you
ask wrongly to spend
it on your passions.
You adulterous people,
do you not know that
friendship with the
world is enmity with
God?
Therefore, whoever
desires or whoever
wishes to be a friend
of the world makes
himself an enemy of
God.
And do you see kind of
how James interplays a
lot of these things that
we would say, well,
this one's not so bad,
but that one, oh,
yeah, that's a big
deal.
And we talk about, he
uses fighting and
quarreling in the same
sentence where he uses
murder and coveting.
And in his mind, they
are synonymous because
one just leads to the
other.
One is the entryway.
It's the beginning of
the road that will
eventually lead to the
end of the road.
If it's not cut off,
it's not stopped because
it's coming from the
same heart.
I may have mentioned
this already at some
point, so if I have,
just forgive me, but I
can't, I just can't
forget about an
interview that was
happening between two
pastors at a conference.
And one pastor asked the
other one, he says,
now, pastor, you have
said that you honestly
believe that you're the
worst sinner in the room.
Yep, that's what I
believe.
And this pastor said,
I can understand that
theologically, but I know
your church.
You've got a big church
and you've got a lot of
really rotten people in
your church, people who
have done pretty
despicable things, things
that we can't even
mention.
How is it that you might
say honestly that you
believe you're the worst
sinner when there's a
room full of those
people?
And his response was,
because I know my heart.
And that's true.
You see, the problem is,
the things that lead me
to lying, lead me to
covering up, lead me to
even discouragement, or
to lead me to certain
forms of leisure, and
those kinds of things,
those same attitudes lead
other people to sexual
sins, and to greediness.
And it comes from the
same heart.
It comes from the same
place.
It looks different, but
it's coming, it's the
wellspring of the same
desire.
I want something that I
don't have.
Now, it's taken some
people a little further
down that road, but
inevitably, we're all on
that path the moment we
choose to have our own
way instead of God's way.
And anger is probably
something that many of
us, we look in the
mirror, and we know we
struggle with this at
times, either privately
or publicly.
And we need to recognize
that the end of this
unchecked anger leads not
just to murder, but it
leads to being cut off
from the Lord.
That's what he says
here in verse 4.
Do you not know that
friendship with the
world is enmity or
hostility against God?
You have become an enemy
with God.
And as Ephesians 4 has
said, you have been
alienated from him.
You've been cut off from
him.
Oh, may God help us to
check our anger.
Self-pity.
And you all know the
story of Jonah, right?
And it begins very early
in chapter 4, where
Jonah finally gets to
the right place.
He finally preaches
this, I think it's a
five-year word sermon
in Hebrew.
In 40 days, you'll be
destroyed.
That's kind of five
Hebrew words.
There's no offer of
repentance.
There's no even
indication that things
could be different.
And God shows up and
rescues the whole city.
It's incredible.
This massive revival that
takes place on five
words.
But how does Jonah
respond?
Well, Jonah 4.1 opens
this way.
It displeased Jonah.
What?
It displeased Jonah?
Are you kidding me?
How does the...
By the way, this is
probably the greatest
revival ever captured
in the Bible.
It's happening here.
Literally hundreds of
thousands of people.
Not just 2,000 on the
day of Pentecost.
And then 5,000 a little
later.
We're talking about
hundreds of thousands
of people are committing
themselves to God.
And Jonah is displeased.
The greatest revivalist
in human history
is angry.
Well, he's angry
and God begins to
reveal where it's
coming from.
And God creates this
object lesson.
He gives him a little
plant that grows in
this very hot, arid
weather.
And so the Lord says
in verse 4,
Do you do well to be
angry?
And Jonah went out of
the city, sat to the
east.
And of the city, he
made a booth for
himself there.
He sat under it in the
shade till he should
see what would become
the city.
Now the Lord God had
appointed a plant and
made it to come over
Jonah so that it might
be a shade over his
head to save him from
his discomfort.
So Jonah was
exceedingly glad.
Okay?
He was really happy
about the plant and
very displeased about
the saving work of God.
And you know the story.
It's identified his
heart.
This self-serving,
self-pitying heart.
He didn't really want
what God wanted.
He wanted what he
wanted.
It was just indicated
by this response to
the city and this
work, this mighty work
of God among the
Ninevites.
Third is discontentment.
Discontentment says
I'm not satisfied with
what God has given me.
And a lot of these
kind of come out of
the same seeds or
kind of bearing fruit
just in different
ways.
And Paul addresses
discontentment in
Philippians chapter 4
when he says,
Not that I'm speaking
of being in need,
for I have learned
in whatever situation
I am to be content.
I know how to be
brought low.
I know how to
abound.
In any and every
circumstance, I have
learned the secret of
facing plenty and
hunger, abundance and
need.
I can do all things
through him who
strengthens me.
That's what we all
need.
We all need the help
of God to learn to
be content.
That's a hard one.
And it happens in a
lot of different ways,
doesn't it?
Learning to be content.
The secret of joy and
thanksgiving.
finally, fear.
Fear is I might lose
what I want, so I have
to protect myself
against these things.
And Jesus addresses
this in Matthew chapter
6, verses 24 to 26.
He says,
No one can serve two
masters.
Actually, backing up,
he begins this whole
dialogue with,
Don't be anxious about
your life.
And I'm sorry I didn't
include that part.
Don't be fearful.
Don't be anxious.
Don't allow this grip
of fear to control you.
Instead, do this.
Realize that no one can
serve two masters.
He will either hate the
one and love the other,
or will be devoted to
one and despise the
other.
You can't serve God in
money.
So I tell you, don't be
anxious about your life.
What you will eat or what
you will drink or about
your body, what you put
on.
Is not life more than
food and the body more
than clothing?
Look at the birds of the
air.
They neither sow or reap
or gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them.
Are you not of more
value than they?
And that's where we
have to come back to,
is recognizing that
whatever fears we feel,
whatever insecurities
we have, whatever
anxieties are coming to
the table, that God is
bigger than those
things.
He can provide, he can
help, and even if bad
things happen, no one
can separate us from his
love, right?
And we might be severed
from this life, but we're
not going to ever be
severed from his love.
And we have to hang on
to that.
We have to remember
that, okay?