WEBVTT

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 We were away last week.

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 I'm thrilled to be back and thrilled to see some of you for the first time in person in

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 quite some time.

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 And so it's really a delight to be together.

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 We've been in a series focusing on themes that connect to the idea of emotionally healthy

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 spirituality.

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 And we've been running in this series for quite some time.

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 We were inspired by a book by the same name.

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 And so we covered some of the themes in the book.

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 Here at the end, I felt it necessary to add some additional themes that I feel are every

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 bit as important when it comes to emotionally healthy spirituality.

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 This is the last week in the series.

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 Next week, we're going to start the book of Acts together.

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 I'm very excited about that.

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 But I had to get this last theme in, and I thought it was a fitting end to the series.

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 This week, we're going to try to pull some of these themes together with one final topic

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 that I think kind of holds it all together.

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 And that is the topic of attention.

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 Attention and what we do with this precious, limited resource that we have of our attention.

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 And Matthew chapter 6 doesn't seem to be about attention, but I think that that's in fact

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 exactly what this passage is all about.

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 And I want to look at this passage and see a few things about attention.

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 Four quick points.

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 The value of our attention, the limits of our attention, the battle for our attention, and

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 then finally, the reordering of our attention.

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 That's where we're going this morning.

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 Let's pray.

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 Lord, we thank you for your word.

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 And we just sang this song and prayed this prayer that you would open up our eyes and

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 open up our ears, that we would pull the blinds and open wide the windows, Lord.

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 And that song is all about attention.

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 You removing obstacles so that we might attend to your word.

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 And that's what we ask this morning.

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 We ask that you would remove the obstacles, the distractions, the things that threaten

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 to hijack our attention, that we would fully attend to your word and your spirit.

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 And we pray that because we need it.

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 And we pray that it might glorify you as we sit at your feet.

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 And we pray this in your son's holy name.

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 Amen.

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 So first of all, just a word about the value of our attention.

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 Jesus says in verse 22 and 23, the eye is the lamp of the body.

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 And I really love that image.

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 He says, so if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

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 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

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 And this is a wonderful metaphor.

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 Imagine that your eye is like a window and it lets light into your inner being.

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 And so whatever you're looking at, whatever your eyes are focused on, that thing, that

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 image is then cast, it's projected like a light that illuminates your inner being.

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 This is kind of an ancient way of thinking about the eye.

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 And so essentially what Jesus is saying is a very elegant way of talking about attention.

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 And here's the spiritual principle that he is putting forward, that whatever we pay attention

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 to shapes our inner life.

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 Whatever you attend to, that is what illuminates and shapes your inner life.

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 And this is why in Scripture very often the word eye and the word heart are used interchangeably.

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 So sometimes Scripture will say that you should set your heart on something, and sometimes

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 Scripture says that we fix our eye on something.

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 And those two phrases, set your heart and fix your eye, are actually used interchangeably.

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 From the Bible's point of view, that's the same thing, right?

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 That's the relationship between attention and the heart.

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 Attention is the gateway to the heart, right?

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 And neuroscience actually backs this up.

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 There's a powerful connection, neuroscientists tell us, between attention and emotion, right?

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 So your attention influences your perceptions and your feelings and your behaviors.

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 And then your perceptions and your feelings and behaviors then influence what you pay attention

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 to.

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 It's this feedback loop that works in both directions.

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 So just to give a hypothetical example, imagine that you're at your job and you get a performance

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 review.

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 And you look at your performance review, and it lists 10 things that you're doing extremely

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 well, 10 affirmations of you in your work.

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 And then at the bottom, there are two areas of improvement.

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 Two ways that you need to improve, right?

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 And imagine, hypothetically, you look at that and just skip past those 10 affirmations, and

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 you only focus on the two areas where you need to improve.

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 And you focus in, and that's all you pay attention to.

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 It's like tunnel vision, right?

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 And some of us are, that's exactly what we do, right?

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 You skip, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah.

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 And how do I, oh, okay.

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 And you see the two areas we need you to grow.

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 And so you just focus on that.

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 And then as you read it over and over, you start to feel bad.

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 You start to feel insecure.

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 You start to feel frustrated.

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 You look at that, and you question it in your mind, and you think, well, it starts to become

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 obvious to you that your boss doesn't notice the hard work that you've put in, that your

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 boss doesn't take into account all of the stress that you've been under this past year.

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 The more you look at it, the more you feel unappreciated.

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 You feel unseen.

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 You feel not valued by your boss.

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 And so then maybe a couple of weeks later, you're on your next work Zoom meeting, and

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 you know, it's hard to kind of get a word in on Zoom for some of us, and you're there,

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 and you notice that your boss just seems to have this really good connection with one

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 of the other people on the team.

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 And so they're talking back and forth, and you think back to that performance review,

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 and you just stay quiet because you think, she doesn't really care what I have to say,

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 what I have to contribute.

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 It's obvious from that performance review.

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 And then that experience on Zoom is just further confirmation for you that there's no real

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 connection between you and your boss at all.

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 And so because you feel like your boss doesn't really value you or appreciate you or see you

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 or understand the stress that you're under, maybe you start to sort of passive-aggressively

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 act out of that demotivated state, right?

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 You start to kind of do subpar work.

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 You start to be a little later responding to emails.

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 You start to be a little later on getting things done that need to be done in a timely

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 fashion.

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 Maybe you contribute even less in the Zoom meetings that you have, and so then the next performance

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 review cycle comes around, and there's actually three or four areas that you need to grow

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 instead of just two.

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 And they weren't there before.

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 And that all just further confirms that this is probably not the place that you need to

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 be.

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 And so you start looking for other jobs.

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 So that's scenario one, okay?

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 Here's scenario two.

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 Let's go back.

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 You get that same performance review.

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 You look at the 10.

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 You look at the two.

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 You take the two into account, but then you also spend a lot of time focusing on the 10.

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 And you think, why would my boss say that I'm doing these things well?

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 Well, my boss really noticed that I really gunned it over the weekend to get that thing

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 in on time.

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 My boss really noticed that I'm really good with people, and I handle this situation really

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 well.

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 My boss noticed here that I can handle stress really well, and I'm a clear thinker, and

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 I'm a decisive decision maker, right?

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 And you start to feel appreciated because you're paying attention to those things.

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 And you start to feel like, wow, I really feel valued here.

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 Next Zoom meeting comes along.

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 Because of that sense of connection and affirmation, you speak up a little more, right?

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 Maybe you crack a joke.

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 Your boss laughs.

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 You think, oh, we connected, right?

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 And then a little more, and then a little more, right?

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 And so then you start to work harder because you feel that sense of connection with your

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 boss.

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 And so the next performance review comes around, and your boss says, you know what?

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 Instead of a performance review, let's talk about you taking on more responsibility.

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 Right?

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 Hypothetical example, but I can tell you from personal experience, and lots of people I've talked

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 to over the years, this is exactly the way it happens.

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 This is exactly the way it plays out.

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 Now, you trace that back, what's the origin of the split between those two alternate realities?

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 What are you paying attention to?

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 Where is the spotlight of your attention focused?

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 Have you ever been in a really, really, really dark place?

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 We were just at the Outer Banks with my family last week, and we love to go crab hunting.

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 And one of the fun things about the Outer Banks is there's no lights out there.

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 And so it's pitch black dark, unless there's like a starry night and a bright moon.

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 It's pitch black dark.

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 And so when you're out on the beach, really the only thing you can see is wherever you're

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 aiming your flashlight.

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 Everything else is pitch black dark.

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 And that's exactly like attention.

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 Right?

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 Attention is like a spotlight.

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 Whatever it's shining on, you can see everything else you're blind to.

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 And this is why attention is so valuable.

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 As Jesus says, the eye is the lamp of the body.

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 Whatever you pay attention to shapes your inner world.

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 It determines the course of your life.

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 That's the value of attention.

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 We go on to learn a little bit about the limits of our attention.

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 I just said it's extremely valuable.

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 Now I'm going to tell you the bad news.

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 It's extremely limited.

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 It's extremely limited.

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 Jesus says in verse 24, no one can serve two masters.

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 And what he's really saying is no one can give their full attention and devotion to more

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 than one thing at any given time.

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 You can't give your full attention and devotion to more than one thing at any given time.

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 Did you know that your brain receives roughly 11 million pieces of information per second?

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 11 million pieces of information per second coming into your brain from all of your sensory inputs.

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 Right?

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 Now out of that 11 million, how many pieces of information per second are you consciously able to process?

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 50.

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 Right?

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 So 11 million, 50.

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 Right?

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 That's how big your spotlight is.

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 That's how much you can absorb at any given time.

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 So imagine having a document, somebody hands you a document with 11 million words.

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 Right?

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 And they take that document and before they give it to you, they highlight 50 words and then they black out all the rest.

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 And then they give you the document to read.

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 And all you can read are those 50 words.

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 Are you going to have a reliable sense of what that document says based only on those 50 words?

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 Well, it really depends on which 50 words you're talking about.

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 Right?

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 Right?

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 Whoever chooses the words to highlight is really choosing whether or not you have any idea what that document is about.

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 And it's the same with our attention.

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 There's a famous experiment done at Harvard.

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 I've talked about this before, but I love this study where participants are shown a video.

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 They're sat down and they watch a video and it's these people and some are wearing white shirts and some are wearing black shirts and they have balls.

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 And they're passing balls back and forth to one another and the participants are told,

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 okay, I want you to count how many times the people in the white shirts pass the ball.

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 Go.

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 They watch the video.

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 At the end of the video, the researchers say, okay, how many passes did the people in white shirts make?

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 And most people get that number right.

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 And then the researchers ask the real question of the study.

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 Did you see the gorilla?

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 Right?

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 And most people say, what are you talking about?

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 And you go back and you watch the video again and you realize that right in the middle of the video,

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 as people are passing basketballs back and forth,

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 this full-size person in a gorilla suit comes out and just dances around.

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 Just dances around right in the middle of the screen.

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 But over half of participants, when they're asked, didn't see the gorilla.

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 They were completely blind to it.

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 And the point of the study is this.

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 Whatever we are not paying attention to, we are blind to, even if it is right in front of our faces.

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 Right?

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 Now, that's extraordinarily important.

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 And here's why this matters for Christians.

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 Here's why this matters for Christians.

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 In letters to Malcolm, C.S. Lewis writes this.

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 He says, the world is crowded with God.

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 God walks everywhere incognito.

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 And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate.

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 The real labor is to remember to attend.

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 God walks everywhere incognito.

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 It's not hard to penetrate the incognito, but you have to be paying attention.

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 Right?

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 Right?

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 Most of us in this room, I'm going to assume, would give almost anything to have clear proof and evidence of God's work in our life.

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 I would love to just be able to know conclusively, that's God.

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 God is doing that.

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 That is evidence of God in my life.

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 That's evidence that he loves me.

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 It's evidence that he's providing for me.

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 We would give anything to be able to see conclusively, that is God in my life.

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 But the real question is, are we paying attention?

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 Is it possible that our lives are crowded with God?

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 That our lives are full of God's evidence?

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 That he's providing us for us?

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 That he's loving us?

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 That he's giving to us?

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 Right?

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 That he's caring for us?

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 And that it's all around us, but we are not paying attention.

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 We're blind to it.

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 Right?

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 We don't see the 800-pound gorilla of God's love that's right in front of our face.

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 Because we're paying attention to exactly the wrong things.

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 Some of the most profound moments in Jesus' earthly ministry, the first moments of his transfiguration,

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 the final moments of his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before he was arrested,

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 the disciples missed because they weren't paying attention.

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 Right?

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 So here's where we are so far in this progression.

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 Attention is extremely valuable because it is the gateway to the heart.

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 The way you feel, the way you behave, the way you perceive yourself and the world around you

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 is all determined by what you're paying attention to.

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 That's the first point.

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 The second point is, it's an extremely limited resource.

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 You're only able to pay attention to about 50 bits of information out of 11 million in any given second.

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 And whatever you're not paying attention to, which is the vast majority of things out there,

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 you are blind to.

00:14:55.580 --> 00:14:55.740
 Right?

00:14:55.740 --> 00:14:57.620
 So where are you aiming that spotlight?

00:14:58.399 --> 00:14:59.440
 It's extremely important.

00:15:01.340 --> 00:15:08.180
 There's further bad news, and that is that there is an ongoing battle for our attention in our lives,

00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:10.779
 every day in this society.

00:15:11.779 --> 00:15:13.539
 In verse 24, when Jesus says,

00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:18.419
 you cannot serve God and money, the word that we translate often, money, is actually the word mammon.

00:15:18.620 --> 00:15:21.000
 And it's more than just folding money, cash in your pocket.

00:15:21.379 --> 00:15:23.799
 Mammon refers to all the stuff of this world.

00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:29.379
 It's all the stuff that in this context is set at odds with God.

00:15:29.539 --> 00:15:29.639
 Right?

00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:34.479
 It's all the material stuff that threatens to hijack our attention, to hijack our hearts.

00:15:35.319 --> 00:15:37.379
 And so the choice is constantly before us.

00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:42.459
 Do I give my attention to the stuff, or do I give my attention to the God who made the stuff?

00:15:42.779 --> 00:15:46.599
 Do I pay attention to the stuff, or do I pay attention to the God who made the stuff?

00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:51.219
 And this always reminds me of this man named Apollo Robbins.

00:15:51.220 --> 00:15:53.960
 I don't know if you guys are, if you've been around Advent, you've heard me talk about him,

00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.279
 because I think he's a really fascinating person.

00:15:56.899 --> 00:15:59.379
 Apollo Robbins is famous because he's a great pickpocket.

00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:05.800
 And he's so good that he's actually been studied by psychiatrists and neuroscience and even the military.

00:16:06.100 --> 00:16:08.620
 And I love to imagine soldiers going around pickpocketing people,

00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:13.379
 but they've studied Apollo Robbins because he's so unbelievably good.

00:16:13.379 --> 00:16:17.700
 But when you see him in action, it's as though you're seeing real magic happen.

00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:22.220
 And I don't know if you know Penn Jillette, but Penn Jillette's another magician.

00:16:22.439 --> 00:16:27.259
 And he sort of loves to sort of debunk other magicians.

00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:32.179
 So there's this one time when he's standing with a group of magicians,

00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:33.460
 and he's having people do tricks.

00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:36.120
 And he says, okay, you're Apollo Robbins, the famous pickpocket.

00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:38.139
 He said, go ahead, Apollo, steal something from me.

00:16:38.139 --> 00:16:41.220
 And Apollo says, well, you know, I don't know.

00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:45.580
 You're only wearing, you know, a shirt and shorts, and there's not much I can steal,

00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:46.939
 and there's a lot of magicians around.

00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:51.240
 And Penn's like, come on, Apollo, if you're that good, you should be able to steal something.

00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:52.279
 Come on, steal something from me.

00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.379
 And Apollo says, yeah, I don't know if I can do that, but I will show you a magic trick.

00:16:56.519 --> 00:16:57.179
 Penn says, all right.

00:16:58.460 --> 00:17:00.620
 And Apollo says, I want you to take your ring off your finger.

00:17:00.620 --> 00:17:03.819
 I want you to put it down on a piece of paper, and I want you to draw a circle around your ring.

00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:05.940
 Penn Jillette says, okay.

00:17:05.940 --> 00:17:09.720
 And he takes his ring off, he puts it down on the piece of paper, he gets a pen,

00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:12.480
 he takes the top off, and he goes to draw a circle, and then he just freezes.

00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:21.700
 And he slowly holds up the pen, and he realizes that the ink cartridge is no longer in his pen.

00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:25.740
 And Apollo, standing across the table, holds up his ink cartridge.

00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:29.180
 And his jaw just goes slack, right.

00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:31.180
 That's how good Apollo Robbins is.

00:17:31.299 --> 00:17:32.420
 People study him, right.

00:17:32.840 --> 00:17:34.340
 And it seems like an impossible view.

00:17:34.340 --> 00:17:35.539
 How could somebody do that?

00:17:35.539 --> 00:17:37.980
 Well, here's what he says when he's interviewed.

00:17:39.180 --> 00:17:44.039
 Pickpocketing is the art of manipulating people's attention.

00:17:44.819 --> 00:17:49.960
 It's the art of getting people to pay attention to exactly the wrong thing,

00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:57.039
 so that you can do whatever you want in their blind spot, right.

00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:00.139
 And the key is, you don't need major distractions.

00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:06.379
 You simply need to point the spotlight away just long enough to take what is most valuable.

00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:07.299
 Right.

00:18:07.339 --> 00:18:11.180
 All you need to do is take your mind off the pen in your pocket for just long enough.

00:18:11.259 --> 00:18:12.599
 You're taking the ring off your finger.

00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:15.240
 You're not noticing that the pen is being taken from your pocket.

00:18:15.539 --> 00:18:15.740
 Right.

00:18:15.740 --> 00:18:17.519
 That's how you pickpocket.

00:18:18.180 --> 00:18:20.940
 And here's the way this connects to our sermon this morning.

00:18:21.180 --> 00:18:25.920
 I think that this is the primary way that spiritual attack happens in our lives.

00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:29.620
 I think this is what spiritual attack looks like.

00:18:29.619 --> 00:18:34.839
 I think that one of the best descriptions of Satan is that Satan is a really good pickpocket.

00:18:37.019 --> 00:18:46.439
 By keeping our attention focused on exactly the wrong things, he's able to steal everything of value without us even knowing it.

00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:52.600
 You know, in verses 25 to 32, Jesus gives these examples of how this happens.

00:18:52.820 --> 00:18:57.480
 You know, Jesus says, if you focus on what you lack, if you're focusing on the deficit,

00:18:57.660 --> 00:19:02.200
 whether it be the food or the clothing or some other form of mammon,

00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.480
 that's going to cause tremendous anxiety in your life.

00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:08.220
 Now, why is that?

00:19:09.180 --> 00:19:15.680
 That is how Satan pickpockets, that's how Satan robs you of your peace and your contentment,

00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:17.720
 which are things that God's people are supposed to have.

00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:18.680
 Right?

00:19:18.740 --> 00:19:19.900
 Those are very valuable things.

00:19:21.140 --> 00:19:25.900
 But you start focusing on the deficit, and those things get taken away from you.

00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:28.299
 And this is exactly how it works.

00:19:30.060 --> 00:19:34.380
 We're not aware of Satan pickpocketing our relationship with our kids.

00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:37.620
 We never feel it happening.

00:19:39.080 --> 00:19:44.200
 What we actually experience is we just pay attention to other things.

00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:50.680
 Our attention is devoted to our phones or our job stress or other distractions of daily life,

00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.160
 and there are a million of those.

00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:55.420
 And we're just sort of distracted by this or this or this,

00:19:55.500 --> 00:19:57.980
 and then one day we kind of look around and our kids are grown up.

00:19:59.059 --> 00:20:00.500
 And we say, where'd all the time go?

00:20:02.259 --> 00:20:05.720
 You know, we're not aware of Satan attacking our faith.

00:20:05.860 --> 00:20:09.319
 You know, you never feel, I mean, I've never felt in my life the sense that like spiritually,

00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:13.159
 you know, Satan is sort of like stealing my faith out of my heart.

00:20:13.220 --> 00:20:14.059
 Yeah, I've never felt that.

00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:20.279
 What I experience is that I'm just consumed by every daily stress except God, right?

00:20:20.439 --> 00:20:23.299
 I have all of these other things that I have to worry about and pay attention to.

00:20:23.659 --> 00:20:27.299
 And just over time, God just becomes more and more and more irrelevant.

00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:28.939
 And then one day I just kind of look around and say,

00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:30.859
 you know, my life is just easier without God.

00:20:31.259 --> 00:20:36.519
 It's a pain to get up in the morning and get my kids ready and go to church and wear a mask.

00:20:36.719 --> 00:20:38.479
 And, you know, we can't even sing.

00:20:38.579 --> 00:20:39.619
 And that's just hard.

00:20:39.859 --> 00:20:41.539
 And it's just easier to not do it.

00:20:41.919 --> 00:20:45.059
 And it's just over time, you know, year after year, you just, those patterns,

00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:46.679
 you're just kind of looking around, paying attention.

00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:49.039
 And all of a sudden you look around and you're like, man, life's easier.

00:20:50.219 --> 00:20:51.779
 I don't even need God in my life.

00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:52.639
 That's how he did it.

00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:54.159
 Right?

00:20:54.159 --> 00:20:56.799
 The cartridge has been taken out of the pen at that point.

00:20:57.199 --> 00:20:58.279
 And it feels like magic.

00:20:58.419 --> 00:20:59.279
 You're like, how did that happen?

00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:01.859
 God was right here and now I don't even feel him.

00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:03.059
 That's how it happened.

00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:07.639
 This is how spiritual attack works.

00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:10.279
 Now think about life in the modern world.

00:21:10.779 --> 00:21:13.379
 It's like a playground for spiritual attack, right?

00:21:14.399 --> 00:21:17.940
 Every day we have to contend with, to use Alan Jacobs' terms,

00:21:18.139 --> 00:21:21.079
 information overload and social acceleration.

00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:25.240
 Basically meaning that at any given moment in our society,

00:21:25.339 --> 00:21:26.579
 more than any previous generation,

00:21:26.579 --> 00:21:31.519
 we are bombarded with vast amounts of information far beyond anything we can ever process.

00:21:32.019 --> 00:21:33.379
 A new crisis every day.

00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:34.799
 A new shooting every day.

00:21:34.879 --> 00:21:36.199
 A new riot every day.

00:21:36.519 --> 00:21:36.639
 Right?

00:21:36.699 --> 00:21:38.539
 A new scandal every day.

00:21:38.639 --> 00:21:38.740
 Right?

00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:41.839
 A new source of outrage every day.

00:21:42.199 --> 00:21:45.480
 Every single day it's like bam, bam, bam, bam, bam on your heart.

00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:47.480
 And social acceleration.

00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:53.319
 Things are changing faster and faster and faster and faster.

00:21:53.420 --> 00:21:57.539
 You have no time to even adjust to the changes in our society before more change comes.

00:21:57.980 --> 00:22:06.860
 And those two things conspire together to create this environment where we are constantly overwhelmed.

00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:11.539
 And where we are no longer able to choose what we pay attention to.

00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:16.159
 It's just being wrenched over here and then wrenched over there and we constantly feel exhausted.

00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:18.079
 Right?

00:22:18.199 --> 00:22:23.419
 And now entire industries exist for the sole purpose of hijacking your attention.

00:22:23.420 --> 00:22:32.500
 There are more and more sophisticated forms of content that are being custom made to target your amygdala.

00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:37.100
 With the surgical precision of a sniper's rifle.

00:22:38.380 --> 00:22:43.480
 Content that is custom made by an entire fleet of engineers.

00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:50.059
 To be aimed like an arrow right at your amygdala.

00:22:50.339 --> 00:22:50.700
 Bam!

00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:51.599
 Right?

00:22:51.819 --> 00:22:52.400
 Outrage.

00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:53.500
 Lust.

00:22:54.279 --> 00:22:54.799
 Covetousness.

00:22:54.900 --> 00:22:55.380
 Jealousy.

00:22:57.360 --> 00:22:58.680
 Because that gets our attention.

00:23:00.140 --> 00:23:10.980
 And as I said a few weeks ago, the spirit of your mind, your kind of inner being, is the most valuable real estate in the world.

00:23:10.980 --> 00:23:15.539
 And as I said a few weeks ago, that's because God is meant to live there.

00:23:16.059 --> 00:23:17.579
 That's meant to be his zip code.

00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:20.480
 So everybody else wants it.

00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:26.000
 The implication of this point is this.

00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.599
 Who's deciding what you pay attention to?

00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:31.819
 Because if it is not you, it's somebody else.

00:23:32.740 --> 00:23:33.140
 Right?

00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:36.920
 There's no neutral ground when it comes to our attention anymore because it's such valuable real estate.

00:23:37.539 --> 00:23:39.299
 Somebody's deciding what we pay attention to.

00:23:39.360 --> 00:23:40.559
 If it's not you, it's somebody else.

00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:45.659
 There are social, technological, political, and spiritual forces vying for that spot.

00:23:46.159 --> 00:23:47.579
 They want the spotlight on them.

00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:51.099
 So either you choose or somebody else will choose for you.

00:23:52.539 --> 00:23:55.139
 So just to summarize before we bring this to a close.

00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:59.759
 Your attention is extremely valuable because it determines who you are and who you're becoming.

00:24:00.700 --> 00:24:02.480
 Your attention is extremely limited.

00:24:03.539 --> 00:24:06.799
 It's a spotlight that can only illuminate a tiny fraction of what's coming in.

00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:08.079
 The rest you're blind to.

00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:10.919
 And there's a battle for your attention.

00:24:11.879 --> 00:24:17.639
 Entire industries, entire fleets of people, algorithms exist simply to hijack your attention

00:24:17.639 --> 00:24:22.379
 because there's enormous amounts of money to be made if you can do that successfully and reliably.

00:24:22.380 --> 00:24:30.200
 The only answer is that we as Christians need to recognize the importance of reordering our attention.

00:24:31.360 --> 00:24:32.980
 And no one else can do it for us.

00:24:34.260 --> 00:24:34.880
 You know, it's funny.

00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:43.300
 All these crises happen and, you know, somebody goes in and shoots up, you know, like the guy in Atlanta who shot up the massage parlors.

00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:46.920
 And all of these articles come out and they say, well, you know, that guy was a Christian.

00:24:47.040 --> 00:24:47.920
 He was a Southern Baptist.

00:24:48.060 --> 00:24:49.620
 This is obviously a discipleship issue.

00:24:49.740 --> 00:24:55.080
 Churches need to do a better job discipling their people not to shoot up, you know, a bunch of massage parlors.

00:24:55.079 --> 00:24:59.980
 And so people send me these articles, you know, and I read these articles and I think, you know, I think you're right.

00:25:00.059 --> 00:25:06.919
 I think that this is in many ways, you know, things like this or apart from mental illness, apart from other causes,

00:25:07.139 --> 00:25:10.319
 I think that, yeah, there's a discipleship issue here.

00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:14.259
 But I'm not sure it's what the article says it is.

00:25:15.019 --> 00:25:23.720
 In other words, most of the pastors I know are desperately, they're desperately, desperately trying to get their people to pay attention to the gospel.

00:25:26.939 --> 00:25:29.139
 But we can't make that happen, right?

00:25:30.139 --> 00:25:37.859
 Like my sense is that most of, I think our church is probably one of the more dedicated, one of the more faithful, one of the more engaged churches out there.

00:25:37.859 --> 00:25:42.439
 I think like on the curve, if there's a continuum for that kind of thing, I think we're pretty far over in the engagement.

00:25:42.579 --> 00:25:43.979
 I mean, our people are extremely engaged.

00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:47.179
 I mean, you guys are extremely engaged, devoted, most of you.

00:25:47.199 --> 00:25:47.959
 I mean, you're here, look at you.

00:25:48.019 --> 00:25:48.879
 You're here wearing masks.

00:25:49.579 --> 00:25:51.599
 I mean, you're engaged.

00:25:53.500 --> 00:26:00.139
 But my sense is that there's no competition, that we get maybe two, three good dopamine hits a week.

00:26:00.899 --> 00:26:06.639
 If I preach a decent sermon, if you have a decent core group experience, right, maybe you read your Bible and have a sense of connection with God,

00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:10.520
 that's maybe half a dozen good dopamine hits in a given week.

00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:21.340
 But we are competing with devices and other sources of stimulation that provide hundreds, if not thousands, of dopamine hits per second, per minute, right?

00:26:21.740 --> 00:26:23.180
 And there's just no competition.

00:26:24.900 --> 00:26:28.520
 So the question is not like, should discipleship happen this way or that way?

00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:31.940
 The fact is, discipleship is always happening.

00:26:32.420 --> 00:26:37.039
 We're always being formed every minute of every day, constant stimulation.

00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:42.119
 So we're desperate.

00:26:42.539 --> 00:26:50.440
 We're desperate for ways of encouraging people to turn the spotlight of their attention to the Lord.

00:26:50.440 --> 00:26:56.880
 But what's very clear is that only a person themselves can choose to do that.

00:26:57.080 --> 00:26:58.539
 Nobody can do it for you.

00:26:58.600 --> 00:27:05.880
 If we start trying to hijack your attention, we're just like the social media industry, right?

00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.340
 And that's not what Christianity is about.

00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:12.380
 The choice has to come from within each individual Christian.

00:27:12.500 --> 00:27:14.019
 That's the crisis of discipleship.

00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:15.960
 And that's where change happens.

00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:24.900
 Jesus says at the climax of this passage, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:27.180
 This is an extremely important principle.

00:27:27.539 --> 00:27:34.620
 Jesus is saying, when it comes to your attention, if you make God and His kingdom your highest priority,

00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:40.460
 if you do what you can to keep the spotlight turned in that direction, most of the time,

00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:44.579
 everything else is going to fall into place as it should.

00:27:44.579 --> 00:27:49.659
 Everything is going to kind of be ordered and prioritized off of that, right?

00:27:49.899 --> 00:27:54.079
 But if not, as He said in the preceding verses, your life is going to be turned upside down.

00:27:54.159 --> 00:27:55.879
 You're going to be filled with anxiety and frustration.

00:27:57.699 --> 00:28:04.099
 You know, Simone Weil, the philosopher, once said that if we really want to change ourselves, it doesn't happen through the will.

00:28:05.179 --> 00:28:10.179
 If you want to change yourself, if you want to become a better person, change what you're paying attention to.

00:28:11.799 --> 00:28:12.779
 That's where it starts.

00:28:12.779 --> 00:28:16.240
 Willpower is downstream from attention.

00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:24.000
 So the question is, you know, when you open your eyes in the morning, where does your attention go when your eyes first open?

00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:25.019
 Does it go to your phone?

00:28:25.140 --> 00:28:26.059
 Does it go to your notifications?

00:28:26.500 --> 00:28:28.259
 Does it go to your, you know, email?

00:28:28.660 --> 00:28:29.759
 Does it go to the news?

00:28:31.140 --> 00:28:36.640
 Or do you take those first few minutes of consciousness and direct your attention to the Lord?

00:28:36.980 --> 00:28:38.640
 This has been a really hard battle for me.

00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:41.420
 The battle for the first few minutes is my consciousness in the morning.

00:28:41.420 --> 00:28:43.620
 It's been a battleground for me.

00:28:45.300 --> 00:28:48.600
 I have to keep the phone either across the room or in another room.

00:28:49.220 --> 00:28:50.120
 Otherwise, I'll give in.

00:28:51.380 --> 00:28:54.240
 I used to have a prayer app that I had on my phone.

00:28:54.300 --> 00:29:00.640
 But I realized that the temptation to not go to the prayer app but to go to the news was so strong that I couldn't use the prayer app on my phone anymore.

00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:01.539
 It just wasn't working.

00:29:01.539 --> 00:29:05.480
 So when you open your eyes in the morning, where does it go?

00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:12.519
 As you go through your day, how often are you turning your attention toward God and asking what God might be doing in you or in others around you?

00:29:12.639 --> 00:29:18.799
 You know, when I learned to do counseling, one of my mentors, one of my supervisors said,

00:29:19.339 --> 00:29:22.579
 there's three things that you're paying attention to at any given time when you're with another person.

00:29:22.920 --> 00:29:25.220
 You're paying attention to what they're saying and how they're acting.

00:29:25.980 --> 00:29:28.619
 You're paying attention to how you're feeling and reacting.

00:29:28.619 --> 00:29:35.839
 And then you're paying attention to what your sense of the Spirit tells you the Spirit is doing in that moment.

00:29:37.419 --> 00:29:40.059
 And that's a really good way of thinking about life, right?

00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:41.179
 I'm paying attention to the other.

00:29:41.339 --> 00:29:42.859
 I'm paying attention to what's happening in me.

00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:45.059
 And I'm paying attention to what I feel like God is doing.

00:29:45.679 --> 00:29:48.479
 And the spotlight is just rotating between those three things.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:50.279
 You know?

00:29:50.879 --> 00:29:53.339
 So how often are we intentional about that?

00:29:53.679 --> 00:29:55.959
 Going back to the example of the performance review,

00:29:55.960 --> 00:30:00.480
 what if instead of only focusing on the negative comments, those two areas of improvement,

00:30:00.860 --> 00:30:04.720
 what if instead of only focusing on the positive comments and all the ways that you've done a good job,

00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:09.940
 what if your main focus was to reflect on God's view of you in your work?

00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:10.500
 Right?

00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:13.299
 Because you might be doing a great job in your boss's perspective,

00:30:13.299 --> 00:30:15.240
 but you might not be working with your whole heart.

00:30:15.819 --> 00:30:18.120
 There might be some resentment or passive aggression there.

00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:21.779
 But this is what Paul is getting at in Colossians 3,

00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:27.819
 when he says that we shouldn't work to please others or simply to make our bosses happy by way of eye service.

00:30:28.339 --> 00:30:31.859
 But instead, he says you should work as though you're working for Jesus Christ Himself,

00:30:32.639 --> 00:30:33.519
 who delights in you.

00:30:33.919 --> 00:30:36.079
 What if that was the focus of our attention and our work?

00:30:38.879 --> 00:30:40.199
 Seek first the kingdom.

00:30:41.899 --> 00:30:44.119
 Give your attention first and foremost to God.

00:30:44.119 --> 00:30:47.519
 And I guarantee you everything else will fall into place.

00:30:47.779 --> 00:30:49.519
 It doesn't mean you ignore everything else.

00:30:50.179 --> 00:30:51.559
 We're talking about your priorities.

00:30:53.019 --> 00:30:55.739
 And if this sounds hard, if you're like, oh, I don't know how to do this,

00:30:55.779 --> 00:30:56.739
 it's because it is.

00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:58.199
 It's extremely hard.

00:30:58.799 --> 00:30:59.500
 It's extreme.

00:30:59.739 --> 00:31:01.819
 You're waiting for me to say, and here's the trick.

00:31:02.199 --> 00:31:02.919
 There's no trick.

00:31:03.019 --> 00:31:04.199
 It's extremely hard.

00:31:04.699 --> 00:31:07.979
 You know, for me, it feels like being asked to go out and run two marathons.

00:31:08.399 --> 00:31:12.099
 You know, for me, it feels like being asked to lift and bench a thousand pounds, right?

00:31:12.099 --> 00:31:13.519
 It feels impossible.

00:31:14.859 --> 00:31:16.399
 But attention is a muscle.

00:31:17.439 --> 00:31:21.679
 And the more you use it, the more it will be strengthened.

00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:26.219
 And this is why, friends, Christians have developed all kinds of ways

00:31:26.219 --> 00:31:30.139
 to reorder and strengthen the muscle of our attention.

00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:32.859
 And these are the paths of discipleship.

00:31:32.899 --> 00:31:33.779
 And there's no substitute.

00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:37.559
 You're either getting stronger with this particular muscle or you're not.

00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:41.159
 But this is why the rhythm of daily prayer is so important.

00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:46.640
 This is why the church calendar can be so helpful because it reorders time

00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:52.000
 so that time itself turns our attention to God in the unfolding story of salvation history.

00:31:52.540 --> 00:31:55.900
 This is why it's so important to read Scripture regularly.

00:31:55.980 --> 00:31:59.320
 I can't even tell you how many times my spotlight was over here,

00:31:59.600 --> 00:32:02.800
 and then I sit down to read Scripture because I'm supposed to

00:32:02.800 --> 00:32:05.140
 because I've decided that I'm going to do it at this particular time

00:32:05.140 --> 00:32:07.900
 or I'm in a staff meeting or something like that,

00:32:08.660 --> 00:32:13.240
 and my attention is just gently brought around to a very different place.

00:32:13.300 --> 00:32:15.340
 I can't tell you how many times this happened for me.

00:32:15.580 --> 00:32:16.580
 And the muscle gets stronger.

00:32:17.060 --> 00:32:20.220
 This is why it's absolutely vital that we are gathering together weekly,

00:32:20.780 --> 00:32:22.220
 as hard as it may be,

00:32:23.280 --> 00:32:24.780
 if not more often,

00:32:25.300 --> 00:32:26.500
 to worship the Lord.

00:32:26.500 --> 00:32:30.380
 I mean, it's the only way it's going to happen, right?

00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:32.559
 So if all of this sounds daunting to you,

00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:35.799
 it is hard,

00:32:36.299 --> 00:32:37.539
 but it can be done.

00:32:38.700 --> 00:32:42.940
 Christians have handed us thousands of years' worth of tradition

00:32:42.940 --> 00:32:45.480
 aimed at doing this thing.

00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:49.000
 But here's the good news of the Gospel.

00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:50.740
 Verse 32,

00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:54.240
 Your heavenly Father knows exactly what you need.

00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:58.920
 And if all of this hinged only on our ability to pay attention to the right things,

00:32:59.220 --> 00:33:00.740
 the cross would not be necessary.

00:33:02.980 --> 00:33:03.380
 Right?

00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:04.579
 If we could do all this perfectly,

00:33:04.680 --> 00:33:05.660
 there would be no need for Jesus.

00:33:07.220 --> 00:33:11.240
 The good news is God is proactively trying to get your attention.

00:33:11.240 --> 00:33:16.460
 And He's the kind of God who was willing to suffer and to die for us

00:33:16.460 --> 00:33:18.599
 when the world was not paying attention.

00:33:21.319 --> 00:33:21.799
 Right?

00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:25.579
 Your life is filled with evidence of God's presence.

00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:30.660
 He is pouring grace and love and provision into your life all the time.

00:33:30.779 --> 00:33:32.240
 And it's not hard to find it.

00:33:32.539 --> 00:33:35.579
 We just have to be willing to pay attention.

00:33:36.099 --> 00:33:36.559
 Let's pray.

00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:39.299
 Lord, we thank You.

00:33:39.700 --> 00:33:40.599
 We thank You.

00:33:40.599 --> 00:33:42.439
 And I confess my weakness in this area.

00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:44.559
 I confess my struggle.

00:33:46.679 --> 00:33:48.319
 But I have tasted,

00:33:48.779 --> 00:33:51.019
 I've tasted what life feels like

00:33:51.019 --> 00:33:54.219
 when the spotlight is focused on You.

00:33:55.279 --> 00:33:56.459
 I've experienced

00:33:56.459 --> 00:33:59.980
 the anxiety being lessened,

00:34:01.319 --> 00:34:03.319
 the fear of being out of control,

00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:04.439
 being assuaged,

00:34:05.459 --> 00:34:09.279
 the anger toward my brother being evaporating.

00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:19.700
 Lord, we've all tasted and seen how our hearts are changed

00:34:19.700 --> 00:34:22.200
 when they are illuminated by You.

00:34:22.199 --> 00:34:27.519
 When the lamp of our eyes is turned toward You.

00:34:27.980 --> 00:34:29.779
 And I just pray that in the power of the Holy Spirit,

00:34:29.839 --> 00:34:33.119
 that that would be something that You give us more and more and more of,

00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:36.019
 to encourage us to strengthen the muscle of our attention,

00:34:36.659 --> 00:34:41.279
 to seek the kingdom of God and Your righteousness above all else.

00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:44.260
 We pray this for our good and for Your glory.

00:34:44.340 --> 00:34:45.540
 In Your Son's name, Amen.

00:34:45.539 --> 00:34:48.139
 For our 90s, O Max falando pubis,

00:34:48.139 --> 00:34:50.119
 to try and hear it,

00:34:50.119 --> 00:34:51.340
 to call you need ly say that you have fakult.

00:34:51.340 --> 00:34:51.420
 Thank you.

00:34:51.420 --> 00:34:52.719
 By your hands,

00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:53.679
 you have favored to expression in the spirit of your body and your ER-17.

00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:54.219
 For our ass,

00:34:54.219 --> 00:34:55.679
 a collection of full template of your life.

00:34:55.679 --> 00:34:56.159
 Watch yourself and address it even better the stock of your relationships.

00:34:56.159 --> 00:34:56.480
 To be alive and….

00:34:56.480 --> 00:35:10.320
 May out nor have you

00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:11.059
 be able toкивantly trust me