back to index2019-03-16 Lardmines & Lions BAM Seminar
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You have no guarantee at 40 or at 50 you're going to be walking right with the 00:00:08.640 |
Lord. I don't necessarily know that either. I mean, so how do we best prepare 00:00:15.720 |
and ensure for success is what we're going to be talking about. You know, I have 00:00:18.980 |
a couple friends, they actually dated each other. They were both committed to 00:00:23.320 |
long-term missions. They're my classmates. The guy ended up going to seminary 00:00:29.680 |
but he had a problem with alcohol so he ended up just dropping out, becoming a 00:00:35.560 |
bartender, opening up a couple restaurants, failing in them, teaching at 00:00:40.400 |
a learning center and then opening up like an exercise place and then failing 00:00:44.620 |
in that. He's still single. That girl that he dated also was at the same seminary. 00:00:50.680 |
They went, they both graduated from Berkeley with me and then they ended up 00:00:54.040 |
going to the same seminary. She is currently a fugitive of the law. I kid 00:00:59.400 |
you not, she's hiding out at Indiana. Far removed, both of them, from where they 00:01:04.020 |
said they would be when we were all 20 years old. My roommate, who was also the 00:01:12.720 |
praise leader at the time, he got into a rage and just driving somewhere with his 00:01:23.120 |
girlfriend, got so mad at her he pulled the car over and physically like 00:01:26.960 |
assaulted her. And now he's not really walking well in the Lord. He has a lot of 00:01:30.840 |
money. He married well in terms of financially. So he's off and everyone 00:01:36.980 |
that, whenever we have little class reunions, we think of like what happened 00:01:42.040 |
to the fire that we saw. So the people that are sitting with you at your tables, 00:01:49.960 |
are they gonna be here 10 years from now faithfully walking with the Lord? I hope 00:01:55.240 |
so. I expect so. But knowing my own heart, I get entangled so easy and I drift and 00:02:05.640 |
I wander so quickly. And I'm realizing I'm not smarter than Satan. I don't know 00:02:13.080 |
the Bible as well as Satan. I'm not as relentless as Satan. I'm not as resolved 00:02:18.840 |
to keep myself alive as much as Satan is resolving to put me and everyone around 00:02:25.440 |
me to death. So I need help. And I know that you guys do too, right? So today, 00:02:31.400 |
we're gonna be talking about a lot of spiritual warfare-related things. We're 00:02:35.520 |
gonna look through a lot of Bible passages and we're gonna see, I mean a 00:02:40.840 |
lot of the unobvious ones. The obvious ones that you guys clearly like already 00:02:45.160 |
assume everyone struggles with, I'm not gonna spend that much time on. Is that 00:02:48.880 |
okay? I'm gonna be focusing a lot more time on other stuff. And there's 00:02:55.160 |
gonna be like—I have about 18 slides with a lot of text and information. So you 00:03:00.800 |
don't need to copy everything down. We are gonna try to record this thing and 00:03:04.880 |
I'm gonna give you the PDF version of the slides so you can see all the 00:03:08.600 |
reference verses and everything and study it on your own time. But we are 00:03:13.400 |
looking at Lard Minds and Lions. And can you turn this on? And some people were 00:03:20.920 |
very confused about the title and like all the announcements kind of kept 00:03:25.760 |
getting confused. And I'm kind of glad, but hopefully it'll help you remember 00:03:30.760 |
the Lard Minds acronym. Hold up real quick. If you have your—if you are—actually 00:03:44.040 |
you actually don't need to turn in your Bibles, I have it texted. But if you have 00:03:46.520 |
your Bibles, turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. Is this not connected in? 00:03:53.480 |
And let me give you a little context of 1 Peter chapter 2, or 1 Peter in 00:04:07.040 |
general. 1 Peter was written to an area of very diverse Gentile, mostly Gentile 00:04:15.440 |
Christians in the Roman Empire. So this is very diverse. And this is one of the 00:04:24.080 |
later letters written amongst all the letters. And there's a growth in 00:04:29.400 |
misunderstanding of and hatred toward Christians. Okay? So these Gentile 00:04:34.400 |
Christians, imagine, they're all from all kinds of different cultures. And so they're 00:04:38.360 |
bringing their cultures and values into the church, even though the gospel 00:04:43.640 |
message was the same. And they're living— some of them are rich, some of them are 00:04:47.640 |
poor. And there's a growing just confusion of what Christianity is about. 00:04:53.500 |
And would you guys agree that even in today's society, there's a growing 00:04:57.360 |
confusion in the church? Would you guys agree with that? 00:05:11.600 |
So the people in the Holy Roman Empire, they thought that somebody 00:05:19.200 |
caught wind that Christians were homosexuals because they practiced 00:05:24.840 |
brotherly love. So people were confused at this new religion, these followers of 00:05:31.920 |
the way, and they're thinking—some of them because they practiced homo—like 00:05:35.320 |
Philadelphia, they were homosexual. Some people caught wind that at these 00:05:41.200 |
meetings, when they got together, some people would eat of someone's flesh, 00:05:46.120 |
drink of someone's blood, and what would that end up making you think they are? 00:05:52.400 |
Cannibals. They thought they were cannibals. And so there was this 00:05:54.920 |
misunderstanding and growing confusion about what Christians did. And so 00:06:02.280 |
Emperor Nero hated Christians. For some reason, he hated Christians, and he 00:06:07.520 |
started severely persecuting them. He would throw them to lions. He would throw 00:06:14.000 |
them in the gladiator ring, and if you guys think of just kind of movie scenes, 00:06:17.000 |
you could picture Christians being the ones being torn to animals, or thrown to 00:06:22.200 |
animals. Christians were also like put on these giant stakes, and they served as 00:06:30.960 |
human, like, light poles. And he actually had a road that was lit with Christian 00:06:39.800 |
corpses that were burning. Is it working? Okay. Hallelujah. See, their spiritual 00:06:47.760 |
warfare has already begun. Okay? And so there's a lot of severe suffering and 00:06:54.200 |
persecution. What happens when there's a lot of suffering and persecution in the 00:06:58.400 |
church? Some people panic. Some people are thankful. Some people, like, fall away. So 00:07:07.520 |
this is a very hostile environment into which Peter writes. Okay? So we're gonna 00:07:12.680 |
read verses 9 through 12. I'll just read it for you. And so Peter talks to this 00:07:18.120 |
mostly Gentile people. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy 00:07:24.760 |
nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the 00:07:29.240 |
excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 00:07:32.680 |
For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. 00:07:37.600 |
You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So, beloved, I urge 00:07:42.640 |
you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against 00:07:47.720 |
the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing 00:07:52.360 |
which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they 00:07:56.680 |
observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." So what he is saying here is 00:08:01.080 |
you are God's wholly set-apart people, so don't give into the flesh. Because 00:08:07.840 |
especially right now, the more you give into the flesh, the more you're gonna 00:08:13.200 |
react to these sufferings and persecutions wrongly, and then you're 00:08:17.720 |
gonna dishonor God. And then chapter 5, he talks about, "Therefore, humble 00:08:22.360 |
yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, 00:08:26.360 |
casting all your anxiety on him." And their anxiety is like, imagine our church 00:08:31.280 |
is getting—we've come together, and all of a sudden, police run in and 00:08:36.280 |
take away all the pastors and leaders. How would you guys feel about that? Please 00:08:40.000 |
do not say happy. It'd be a traumatic experience. How about some 00:08:46.040 |
of you get taken away? Let's say some of the married couples get taken away. Even 00:08:50.160 |
some of the kids get taken away, because you would use kids as leverage. So 00:08:54.320 |
all of this stuff is going on, and so he's saying, "Casting all your fears and 00:08:58.940 |
anxieties on him, because he cares for you. And be of sober spirit. Be on the 00:09:04.320 |
alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking 00:09:09.280 |
someone to devour." So guess what? The devil wants you dead. The devil wants 00:09:15.840 |
the name of Christ to be dishonored, and he's relentless. He's hungry. So don't be— 00:09:22.080 |
don't be that weak prey, okay? "Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same 00:09:27.120 |
experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in 00:09:30.080 |
the world. And after you've suffered for a little while, the God of all 00:09:34.840 |
grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, 00:09:39.320 |
confirm, strengthen, and establish you." Now, landmines. If you knew—if you were in 00:09:48.120 |
battle, and you knew that there was a field of mines, how would you guys 00:09:51.560 |
proceed? You would do a little, like, a jig around it? No, you would be very 00:09:58.000 |
careful where you stepped. You would try to see any lumps in the ground, because a 00:10:03.400 |
landmine that is obviously a landmine is not going to do its job, okay? So landmines 00:10:09.680 |
kill you immediately. And I believe that sin would have fewer takers if its 00:10:14.720 |
consequences were felt immediately. So Genesis 3:4, the serpent says to the 00:10:20.640 |
woman, "You surely will not die." When God told her, "Eat of the fruit and you will 00:10:25.400 |
die." So the devil's been lying and up to no good from the beginning. So what he's 00:10:29.680 |
telling you probably is, "Oh, you do that. You watch that. You engage in that. You buy 00:10:35.920 |
that. It's not gonna harm you," is what he says. And next thing you know, you end up 00:10:42.760 |
having drifted so far away. And that's what our church is like. We're on this theme of 00:10:47.000 |
drifting, right? Sin would have fewer takers if its consequences were felt 00:10:50.680 |
immediately. Imagine if you, like, as guys in the summer, sisters or, like, girls— 00:10:58.520 |
sisters dress modestly—but girls are dressed a little bit, like, funky, and then 00:11:02.960 |
you look and all of a sudden, like, you're in jail for, like, some kind of 00:11:08.800 |
lewd act. Let's say, like, you feel hostility toward that brother or that 00:11:15.200 |
sister, and next thing you know, like, you're convicted as a murderer. Like, 00:11:20.200 |
because people don't go from A to Z overnight. It's a gradual drifting. So sin 00:11:27.400 |
would have definitely—would have fewer takers if the consequences were felt 00:11:30.760 |
immediately. But we're not dealing with spiritual landmines. What we're dealing 00:11:34.160 |
with are lard mines. Repeat after me. Lard mines. And what are these? The 00:11:41.800 |
definition I put up here. "Traps and temptations that the enemy sets to 00:11:49.280 |
destroy your prayer life, rob you of your joy, and to kill you and everyone around 00:11:55.600 |
you." So is this serious stuff? Yes, it is. "Traps and temptations that the enemy sets 00:12:00.880 |
to destroy your prayer life, rob you of your joy, and try to kill you and 00:12:06.000 |
everyone around you." You probably know this feeling. When you commit a sin and 00:12:12.000 |
you liked it, there is some shame, guilt, justification involved in your heart, but 00:12:21.320 |
what's the first thing you stop doing? You don't pray. So think through all the 00:12:27.940 |
stuff in your life that prevents you from prayer, and that's gonna be the 00:12:33.600 |
stuff we're gonna be looking at today, okay? The first thing that lard mines 00:12:39.920 |
will do is it'll take away any desire to meet God face to face. You're not gonna 00:12:44.240 |
be like, "God, search me and know my heart," because you don't want Him to do that. So 00:12:48.520 |
you're gonna not pray. But what is usually accompanied by a lack of prayer? 00:12:52.160 |
You don't want to read what? You're not gonna want to read His Word, 00:12:57.760 |
because you don't want to hear that. And if you haven't prayed, and if you haven't 00:13:00.880 |
read, but you're in a small group, what happens in a small group? You're gonna 00:13:05.200 |
have to show faith, and so you're gonna have to share your prayer requests, so 00:13:08.840 |
you're gonna make something up. And then next thing you know, you're gonna keep 00:13:12.920 |
having to come to church, and then at some point you're gonna think, "Why do I 00:13:15.640 |
keep going to church? I don't even feel God. Oh, Pastor Peters or Pastor Marx or 00:13:20.240 |
whoever's, like, message was just, 'eh.'" All he does is preach judgment. I don't 00:13:24.920 |
want to hear this anymore. And then there's a gradual drift. But the first step is 00:13:28.560 |
whatever kills your desire to pray. And he does not want you to talk to God, 00:13:34.720 |
because the more you don't talk to God, everything else is a domino. So those are 00:13:38.840 |
what lard mines are, and they kill you slowly. If I hated your guts—I love David 00:13:43.800 |
Jung, so I'm gonna use him as an example. If I hated David, okay, is it better for 00:13:51.080 |
me to, like, just chop off his head? Or is it better for me to infect him with a 00:13:57.920 |
virus that he doesn't know that is in him, and then over the course of a month 00:14:02.400 |
or so, he destroys everybody around him. All his co-workers, all his friends, even 00:14:06.960 |
the perpetrators around him, everybody. They all just get wiped out. If I was 00:14:13.640 |
Satan and I hated his soul, I would not try to kill him right away. What would I 00:14:18.520 |
try to do? It's like, you know, you guys ever see those cockroach traps? The 00:14:23.960 |
cockroach traps that just get the cockroach just stuck like this isn't 00:14:26.720 |
really effective. So over time, they've developed cockroach traps that actually 00:14:30.240 |
look like they're just eating the food, and what do they do? They go back into 00:14:32.840 |
their nest, and next thing you know, they all die, right? That's Satan's strategy. 00:14:38.160 |
You are dying, and he doesn't want you to realize it until you've killed everyone 00:14:43.040 |
around you. That's Satan's strategy. So, lard mines are very dangerous things. 00:14:48.240 |
They're not real. If you look at a dictionary, it's not gonna come up. This 00:14:51.120 |
is just an acronym, but just think like that. As soon as that kills your desire 00:14:57.500 |
to pray, that is not a good thing, okay? And so we're gonna be taking the time to 00:15:01.440 |
look on this. And so these lard mines, they prey on what your flesh desires, and 00:15:06.520 |
you instinctively believe to be good. Money, good or bad? Money, good or bad? 00:15:15.000 |
Thumbs up, thumbs down. Good? Yeah. Money is not evil, okay? The love of it is evil. 00:15:21.280 |
Sex, good or bad? Good. Friendship, good or bad? Good. I don't know. I mean, whatever is 00:15:34.040 |
good, the enemy is gonna either try to corrupt or to twist and pervert, okay? 00:15:40.720 |
That's what he's been doing from the very beginning, and we're in no different 00:15:44.400 |
situation. So, I'm gonna use an illustration that hopefully you'll 00:15:48.920 |
remember. Can you see what this is? Oopsie. Shoot. Give it away. So this is a dagger 00:16:00.800 |
dipped in blood, okay? And in areas where Eskimos live, they traditionally -- you ever 00:16:10.000 |
wonder how they got all of their furs? It doesn't look like they're particularly 00:16:13.800 |
fast. They're usually stout, right? So the way Eskimos hunt their prey is by using 00:16:20.440 |
what they call a blood popsicle. And what a blood popsicle is is -- why are you 00:16:27.380 |
moving by yourself? Okay. A blood popsicle is a dagger dipped in blood and planted 00:16:33.500 |
on the ground. So a wolf, let's say, will walk by, smell the blood, and then what's 00:16:41.240 |
he gonna do? He's gonna lick it. Tastes good. But the more he licks it, the more 00:16:49.320 |
warm it is, the more bloody it becomes, the more it tastes good. So after about 00:16:56.160 |
two or three hours, and then he'll try to bite it. And then gnaw on it a little bit. 00:17:01.320 |
And then like -- some of you guys who are visual learners are like, "Ah!" They lick this 00:17:07.280 |
blood popsicle until their tongue is shredded. Because in the cold, it's numb. 00:17:14.440 |
What happens if that wolf is doing this for two, three hours? It 00:17:19.120 |
bleeds to death. And then the fat Eskimo comes, takes it on the shoulders. 00:17:27.920 |
And sometimes, even if it's not dead, guess what it is? Stop moving by yourself. 00:17:33.320 |
It's -- I think I copied and pasted this picture, so -- but what happens? They're -- 00:17:40.160 |
they don't have blood, so they're weak. This is the enemy strategy for you. So 00:17:48.040 |
the Eskimo just kind of finishing blow. And the wolf, what's it gonna do? 00:17:52.880 |
They'll be like -- they're powerless. Satan wants to do this to you by baiting you, 00:18:04.440 |
not with stuff you don't like. Satan never tempts me with alcohol. Do you know 00:18:10.720 |
why? I don't really like alcohol. Okay? Zero desire for it. That is not my 00:18:20.520 |
weakness. I've got plenty others. I'm gonna share some while we talk about 00:18:24.120 |
this. But for you, your instinctive pleasures look very different from mine. 00:18:32.240 |
And do you think the enemy who wants you dead doesn't know what your Achilles 00:18:37.840 |
heel is? Yes, he does. Right? So that's how he wants to kill you. So the first thing 00:18:44.560 |
that we're gonna look at is El Lus. And I'm not gonna spend too much time with 00:18:48.000 |
it because you guys already mentally know where we're gonna go with this. Okay? 00:18:53.720 |
You're gonna remember your body is a holy temple. You're 00:18:57.680 |
gonna know all of these verses because you guys have already thought through 00:19:00.360 |
them. But, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from 00:19:04.840 |
flesh to lust which wage war against your soul." I'm gonna stop there. "What are 00:19:09.740 |
lusts? Whatever things your flesh craves which you know are in direct opposition 00:19:16.280 |
to God." And these are not just limited to sexual sins. Now, all of these lard 00:19:21.260 |
minds, there is some overlap. Okay? So you will see how one thing leads to another. 00:19:26.100 |
But so, for example, purity and dating engagement. Sometimes when you are in a 00:19:33.840 |
dating relationship, this gets elevated. If you're already struggling with purity 00:19:44.200 |
You know, at my wedding, so my wife and I met in '99 and then we started dating in 00:19:50.240 |
2004. We got married in 2007. The very first kiss we ever shared was on our 00:19:55.040 |
wedding day. And I actually, like, I went in for the kiss and then she backed away 00:19:59.040 |
and everyone just laughed at me. But anyway, so it was very awkward. But that 00:20:05.520 |
was our very first kiss. And Pastor Peter actually shared that. And everyone's like, 00:20:08.760 |
"Wow!" And then my non-Christian guests who had come, they're like, "So our pastor is 00:20:15.040 |
supposed to not have any, like, hormones or, like, lusts, right?" I'm like, "Nah, dude." But the 00:20:19.920 |
reason I told Becky, like, "The first kiss is gonna be on our wedding day because I 00:20:25.800 |
don't trust me. And I've made too many mistakes in college. I do not trust me." 00:20:30.560 |
And one of the benefits was, the girl that brought me to Berean, we dated, but I 00:20:36.520 |
kept that same line and we remained friends because there were no lines 00:20:39.680 |
crossed. So in dating, you have to be careful because if you engage in 00:20:46.200 |
physical, any kind of physical affection that is not healthy, you're not gonna 00:20:54.560 |
want to pray. You're not gonna want to share. Okay, so that's something you have 00:20:59.040 |
to be careful of. Sisters, my encouragement is, just generally, this is 00:21:04.080 |
not in terms of dating, please dress modestly. Okay, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8, 00:21:08.720 |
"I will never eat meat again!" if that's humble somebody. You know, girl, sometimes I 00:21:12.920 |
hear this, like, "Well, do you want me to dress like Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little 00:21:16.320 |
House on the Prairie?" No. But dress where everything is covered and you're not 00:21:22.600 |
stumbling anybody. And guys would appreciate that very much. Don't arouse 00:21:30.580 |
lust in other people. Guys, same thing. Appropriate interactions with sisters. 00:21:35.720 |
The way they wrestle with lust, there's some similarity, but there are many 00:21:39.800 |
differences. Do not interact with them in a way that causes their heart to kind of 00:21:45.960 |
long to know you better, unless your intentions are clear. Song of Solomon 00:21:51.920 |
says it three times, "Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires." So those 00:21:57.920 |
are things my encouragement, and this is the only thing I'm gonna spend—this is 00:22:00.560 |
the only time I'm gonna spend on this issue, because you've probably already 00:22:02.920 |
studied this. Some of you guys share about this regularly with people. Do not— 00:22:08.280 |
do not—just be careful with this one, because this is gonna mess you up. Okay? 00:22:15.280 |
Next, A is your affiliations. I'm gonna read 1 Corinthians 15, 33 to 34. 00:22:23.560 |
Like I mentioned to you, all of these things are gonna be put on the Facebook 00:22:28.080 |
page, the slides, so just write down what you feel like will help your discussion. 00:22:32.600 |
It says, "Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. Become sober-minded 00:22:38.960 |
as you ought and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to 00:22:43.960 |
your shame." So what are affiliations? Friendships and relationships that 00:22:49.720 |
taint, distract, or divide. Every person that you have in your life has been 00:22:58.760 |
ordained by God, for whatever the reason. And whatever that person is, is he's 00:23:05.080 |
either part of the harvest field, part of the missions field, your missions endeavor, 00:23:12.000 |
or someone who's gonna sharpen you in your walk. Any other relationship is gonna 00:23:21.840 |
make you distracted. Any friendship or relationship has to be either this 00:23:29.040 |
person is a soul I want to come into the light—that's my mission field, that's my 00:23:35.320 |
harvest—or that person is someone who's gonna sharpen you in your faith. 00:23:41.960 |
Those are the two only real affiliations you guys should have in your hearts. 00:23:49.920 |
Because friends that you just hang out with may end up killing you. I mean, not 00:23:55.440 |
literally, hopefully not. Right? They're gonna make you stray, and they may be in 00:24:00.720 |
the church. Again, either they are your harvest mission field, or they are your 00:24:09.560 |
co-laborer in Christ. If you define them any other way, that's gonna bite you in 00:24:17.360 |
the butt. It's gonna numb you, and that's a lick that you're gonna take, and then 00:24:22.280 |
you're gonna bleed out. Be careful with the affiliations you should make. So first 00:24:27.160 |
of all, Colossians 4 or 5 says, "Be wise how you interact with the outsiders," 00:24:33.800 |
non-Christians. So when you have non-Christian affiliations, you need to 00:24:40.640 |
make sure all of your conversation is seasoned with salt, that no unwholesome 00:24:43.800 |
talk comes out of your mouths, that you are expecting this person to have, like, 00:24:51.240 |
like, be bound in sin. So your interaction with that person has to be, "How do I 00:24:58.880 |
share the love of Christ with that non-Christian person?" Now sometimes it 00:25:07.600 |
takes time to build trust, right? That's why I'm actually against getting a new 00:25:11.960 |
job and cold turkey sharing the gospel on your floor to all the new co-workers. 00:25:15.320 |
You know why? That's not necessarily unbiblical. That's kind of stupid, because 00:25:19.960 |
then basically everyone has labeled you from day one, "Oh, you're the overly 00:25:25.600 |
zealous." You could tell them you're a Christian, you go to church, but don't 00:25:27.960 |
start just, "Bababababababababababababababababababa! No, no no no, no, no, no!" Right? 'Cause you're gonna be labeled. Be 00:25:34.020 |
wise as you interact with nonbelievers. I actually say, "Think twice before you 00:25:39.760 |
share the gospel." I don't ever say, "Don't share the gospel." I say, "Think 00:25:43.100 |
about how you're gonna share it so it's effective. Christian affiliations that are 00:25:47.380 |
either distracting or divisive. Some of you guys are very close and very good 00:25:52.220 |
friends with each other. Yes or no? Some of you are like, "No I don't have any friends here." 00:25:55.800 |
No, you guys are getting closer. And the closer you become, what happens? You enjoy 00:26:02.400 |
just hanging out. My best fellowship happens with church people. My most 00:26:08.600 |
favorite hangouts and my laughter is loudest with church people. And that's 00:26:14.440 |
fine. But if your relationships start to be all about just hanging out, you're 00:26:21.600 |
gonna all go down. And some friendships that are even in this room, I will say 00:26:28.320 |
right now, you guys have to be careful not to just hang out. Because the more 00:26:33.120 |
you hang out, you get addicted to hanging out and you stop hanging out with 00:26:35.520 |
non-Christians that you're supposed to try to win to Christ. Right? Whenever you 00:26:39.480 |
have free time, you're not thinking about that non-Christian that you should maybe 00:26:42.080 |
like just pursue. You're thinking, "I wonder what so-and-so is doing. Hey, you 00:26:47.120 |
want to watch Captain Marvel? You want to go eat BCG? Hey, Diamond Jamboree." And then 00:26:52.600 |
most of your waking hours become just hanging out. And that's where young 00:26:56.760 |
adults start to fall. Because you don't like work. Because everyone around your 00:27:03.080 |
work is stinky. They cuss. They make crude jokes. Their like values are 00:27:08.600 |
different. So I'm like, "Ugh, I have to endure." And then you go to your friends, 00:27:12.080 |
"Oh, I could be myself." But there is no Christ in either. You have to be careful 00:27:16.560 |
with that. And who are our influencers? Who has a hold of your heart? Good and/or 00:27:23.680 |
bad. Be discerning. Proverbs will say, "Bad company" or the like the associate--I 00:27:34.720 |
forgot the proverb--but if you walk with the wise, you will go rise. Right? But a 00:27:39.560 |
friend of a fool, something. Usually something to do with 00:27:43.200 |
disruption. Right? Okay? Who you interact with, you have to be careful. Are you 00:27:49.720 |
guys following this? Satan will let you sometimes just enjoy each other's random 00:27:57.440 |
hanging out, and he will even let you maybe call it fellowship and leave it be. 00:28:02.520 |
Because he knows where that's gonna go. Okay? So be very discerning. Either a 00:28:07.480 |
relationship is a pursuit for the soul or an iron sharpener. But if that 00:28:15.400 |
relationship is anything else, you can drift because of that friendship. 00:28:19.800 |
Not sure if this makes sense. Okay? Third, "R," religion. Here's Ephesians 2, 8 to 10. 00:28:29.960 |
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is 00:28:34.720 |
a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." You guys have 00:28:38.720 |
memorized this probably as a kid. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ 00:28:43.400 |
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we will walk in them." 00:28:46.680 |
So I love verse 10 because sometimes my people that I know who are all about 00:28:51.440 |
like cheap grace, "Oh, it's been by--we're saved by grace and faith alone." I'm like, "Yeah, but 00:28:56.120 |
for what purpose?" Verse 10 says, "Good works." But some people will skip verse 8 00:29:00.880 |
and 9 and they will focus on verse 10. I have to do good. Okay? So how does 00:29:06.120 |
religion mess me up? First, what it is is religious activity or response rooted in 00:29:15.520 |
a desire to appease God or to please man. Religious activity or response rooted in 00:29:26.800 |
a desire to appease God or to please man. It sucks sometimes to be a pastor because 00:29:34.120 |
my job is religion. Okay? It's very difficult. So pray for us. Because it's 00:29:40.800 |
not always easy having a wholehearted devotion to the Lord, because--and 00:29:44.960 |
even if you don't, you have to put up that face. And sometimes that's 00:29:48.600 |
very difficult. It's a struggle. But religious activity or response rooted in 00:29:54.240 |
a desire to appease God--and what does it mean to appease God? To pay him back for 00:29:59.640 |
something. Or he's judging me. He's about to be like--he's about to just 00:30:04.520 |
ruin my business. I'm about to get laid off. So you're trying to stop his wrath. 00:30:09.200 |
Or you're trying to impress people. Outward religion to impress those in the 00:30:15.080 |
church. The Pharisees were experts at this. So I'm not saying don't serve the 00:30:20.920 |
church. But some of you guys, if your identity is rooted in, "I want to be 00:30:26.860 |
known as that guy who serves all the time at church," you're in dangerous ground. 00:30:31.880 |
"I want to be the girl who's known as a prayer warrior, so I will pray so that 00:30:38.720 |
everyone will know that I pray." Pretense and lack of confession for fear of 00:30:45.240 |
judgment. When we sin, we're terrified to share because we're afraid of being 00:30:52.800 |
judged. So over time we start developing a habit of using Christianese and 00:30:58.640 |
sharing. Like I remember just thinking--I was sitting in a small group once. I'm 00:31:05.560 |
like, "It is so clear to me right now that none of you guys are praying. Because if 00:31:11.040 |
you were really praying, all of these prayer requests would not even come up." 00:31:15.120 |
What is prayer? Is it a wish list? "Help me to have good health. Help me to have a 00:31:20.080 |
good job. Help me to do this." No, it's not. Prayer is, "I am weak. I need 00:31:25.400 |
intercession. I need someone to come and lift up my arm so I could pray." But what 00:31:31.040 |
happens is, if we're not walking well with Christ but we feel the need to make 00:31:35.480 |
sure that we're not church-disciplined, or like the pastors call you and go, "Hey, 00:31:40.040 |
let's meet up." You're like, "Why?" Right? Sometimes you guys feel that way when we 00:31:43.120 |
text you. I texted someone this morning. Minsoo Kim. You know who he is? He has 00:31:48.960 |
three sons. I was like, "Dude, Minsoo, like I dreamt about you last night." I mean, that 00:31:53.640 |
sounds so weird. But you were--I don't remember what it was, but his 00:31:57.320 |
face came into my mind. So this morning I just texted him. I was like, "It's been a 00:32:00.240 |
while. I haven't actually--we haven't sat down for a conversation since we came 00:32:03.600 |
back from Korea. Let's get together." He said, "Oh, okay. Is it something that you need 00:32:07.840 |
to talk about?" I was like, "No, no, no, no. I just want to hang out." So I had to tell him about my 00:32:11.920 |
dream. And he was like, "Dude, you're weird." I'm like, "Thank you." So we're meeting up, okay? 00:32:15.900 |
But if you are not walking well, you're afraid to talk to a small group leader, 00:32:21.120 |
you're afraid to talk to a praise leader, you're afraid to talk to a spiritual 00:32:23.980 |
leader. True or false? Why? You feel like you're gonna-- 00:32:28.560 |
they're gonna be judged. And our pastors are not that 00:32:32.800 |
judgmental. We're pretty gracious dudes, okay? But you in your heart feel like, "I 00:32:39.320 |
have to make sure I'm in the positive with pastor. Because if I'm not, like, 00:32:46.400 |
they're gonna talk about me, they're gonna be worried about me, they're gonna 00:32:49.160 |
come after me." That's there, okay? James 3 and 5 says, "Confess your sins to 00:32:55.920 |
each other." Because we all stumble in many ways. But religion is, "I will do the 00:33:03.000 |
church stuff so that I don't have people on my case." Or the "just enough" mentality, 00:33:12.440 |
"I will do just enough where people don't call me out." And for the rest of your 00:33:19.560 |
life, you're in spiritual mediocrity and God hates that. You guys follow me? This 00:33:29.640 |
is a very dangerous thing. This is why I wanted to spend time on these large 00:33:33.760 |
minds because large minds don't--you're not--it's not decapitating you, it's 00:33:38.080 |
killing you slowly. Have you met people who've done church for a long time and 00:33:42.880 |
they've drifted, they've fallen away, now they're like, "I hate church." You know how 00:33:45.920 |
hard it is to come back after you leave the church for a while? Because you're 00:33:49.480 |
like, "Oh, I've been there, I've done that. Yeah, I've prayed. I've cried my tears at 00:33:53.760 |
retreat. I've done all that. Yeah, I'm beyond saving or reconciling." And that's 00:34:01.080 |
the hardest person to win over because they've given it a try and it hasn't 00:34:04.360 |
worked. But what they've given it a try is churchianity. They didn't give 00:34:09.000 |
Christ a chance, they give religion a chance, churchianity a chance. And you 00:34:13.000 |
know people like this. What's L? Lutz. And even for your small groups, discuss it 00:34:22.400 |
if it is something that's killing you. But try to do the other ones. Spend more 00:34:27.440 |
time on the other subtle ones, okay? What's A? Affiliations. Are all my friends, 00:34:33.200 |
brothers, and sisters in Christ? Or my mission field? Or are they just my 00:34:40.880 |
buddies? Okay, dangerous stuff. Religion is a third one. Fourth one, the D. Are my 00:34:47.080 |
duties. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to 00:34:53.520 |
bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a 00:34:57.600 |
debtor against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, 00:35:00.120 |
and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or 00:35:04.960 |
mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more 00:35:07.800 |
than me is not worthy of me, and he who does not take his cross and follow after 00:35:10.640 |
me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has 00:35:14.240 |
lost his life for my sake will find it. If this was the only Bible passage that 00:35:18.440 |
you had available to you, God would sound like a selfish jerk. But this is one of 00:35:25.000 |
the only few passages where he actually talks about how he is above your family. 00:35:30.360 |
For the most part, God wants you to have a good family, yes or no? Is that a 00:35:35.320 |
qualification even for any service in the church visible, yes or no? Yeah. And if 00:35:41.600 |
I'm honest, I'm most real with my wife. So sometimes I don't want you to ask my 00:35:48.680 |
wife how I am at home because that's gonna taint your image of me. But if she's 00:35:55.600 |
very happy with me, I'm gonna be like, "Go ask her. Go ask her." And I've like washed 00:35:59.600 |
the dishes, I've taken out the trash, I played with the kids, I put them down. 00:36:02.320 |
Even before she asked me, "Go ask her." Right? But I am the most real with my 00:36:08.800 |
family. And as my kids get older, they're either gonna be—they're gonna have to 00:36:15.680 |
love God. They're either gonna love the Lord more through my faith or despite my 00:36:23.240 |
faith. How I treat them is either gonna hinder their walk with God, or that's 00:36:30.000 |
something they have to overcome, or it's gonna bless them. Family knows you best. 00:36:34.400 |
So this is not a passage that's speaking against having good family 00:36:38.240 |
relationships. Some of you guys who are church rats, you need to be more at home. 00:36:43.240 |
Right? So there are times where I've actually told some people, "Don't serve in 00:36:48.680 |
this way. You're doing too much. Spend your Saturday at home with your family 00:36:53.480 |
who's not a Christian." Okay? And so do you guys see how these are all kind of 00:36:58.320 |
interconnected with the religion and all this stuff? Yeah. So duties. So what they 00:37:02.240 |
are are responsibilities that either become idols or smoke screens. 00:37:09.200 |
Responsibilities that either become—or actually grammatically should be "become 00:37:14.800 |
either"—become either idols or smoke screens. In the OC, family-first mentality 00:37:25.920 |
is actually a very dangerous thing. And there are families at our church that I 00:37:31.320 |
feel like are very close to, if not already idolizing their family. Happy 00:37:37.800 |
wife, happy life mentality, I ask you never to say "happy wife, happy 00:37:41.520 |
life," especially after you get married. That is actually worldly wisdom that I 00:37:49.280 |
understand. Okay? It's "worshipful couple, happy life." Doesn't rhyme. Okay? If you 00:38:05.120 |
get the happy wife, happy life mentality in your head as a girl, you're gonna 00:38:09.000 |
slowly think that your husband exists to please you. And if you're a man, 00:38:16.080 |
you're gonna slowly start to think that whatever my wife wants comes 00:38:22.360 |
first, because God said, "Love your wives as yourselves." You have to be very careful. 00:38:27.640 |
It can even be in the form of irresponsibility. Okay? And that's another 00:38:32.320 |
one, like, shirking your duties. 1 Timothy 5:8 says if a believer is not 00:38:38.240 |
concerned about his own relatives—this is about widows, okay? They're like, "Before 00:38:41.720 |
you put them on the list of widows supported by the church, make sure that 00:38:45.640 |
they have believing families. Check to see if they have believing family 00:38:48.400 |
members or not, because those believing families should actually take care of 00:38:51.600 |
those widows before the church does." Okay? So that's an—and if a believer, or if a 00:38:57.200 |
man does not take care of his own family, he is worse than an unbeliever. That's 00:39:00.520 |
what he says, because even unbelievers take care of their own. Or jobs have 00:39:04.200 |
become more than jobs. That's another duty. Okay? What is your job? I mean, I'm 00:39:11.600 |
not like, teacher. No, I'm not talking about that. Your job is your tent-making 00:39:18.480 |
industry that helps you to eat. True or false? Is your job your identity? No. 00:39:27.080 |
Especially some of you guys who are at an age where you want to be defined by 00:39:29.760 |
your career. Your job is not your identity. Your identity has to solely be 00:39:34.560 |
on the cross of Christ. But some of you, especially those of you who are more 00:39:41.160 |
successful or are smart, jobs can become more than just a job. And we're gonna 00:39:49.560 |
talk about this, but you're gonna think that the opposite of poor is rich. The 00:39:56.160 |
opposite of failure is success. It's actually not. It's freedom. The opposite 00:40:03.400 |
of poor is freedom to serve, to give. The opposite of failure is freedom, right? 00:40:10.400 |
Success is not like having a PhD or this and that. So when your job becomes more 00:40:18.120 |
than your job, be very careful because that's gonna be your pitfall. But you 00:40:24.080 |
will never say, "I think I'm idolizing my job." No, you're saying, "I'm gonna, yeah, I'm 00:40:28.480 |
gonna try to pursue my career so that I have a bigger platform to give God more 00:40:32.040 |
glory." It never works that way. Usually you bear fruit when you're faithful. You 00:40:40.080 |
don't ever plan to bear fruit. Does that make sense to you? What I've seen on 00:40:48.280 |
the missions field in different countries and many churches is you bear 00:40:51.680 |
fruit because you're faithful. You don't bear fruit because you strategize. Some 00:40:56.160 |
of the most fruit-killing people are people in churches who have PhDs. When I 00:41:02.200 |
was in Korea doing my job, I hated taking profs abroad to see the poor because 00:41:07.440 |
they're always trying to teach. They always think they know more. I'm like, "You 00:41:12.200 |
are such a hindrance to our group right now." 00:41:18.000 |
Success, don't mistake that with duty, okay? Especially for you guys who have 00:41:25.680 |
Asian backgrounds, this is a little bit tough. Your priority has to be God and 00:41:30.720 |
then family. But don't use your family as a god. So your responsibilities are 00:41:35.920 |
either become idols or things you hide behind. A lot of young couples, after they 00:41:40.080 |
have kids, they hide behind their kids' nap times. They hide behind their kids. 00:41:43.600 |
And it's hard. I will tell you, it's really hard to be a parent and to be a 00:41:47.440 |
good one and to manage everything. But sometimes as a parent, you can hide 00:41:52.920 |
behind the kids. And that's a very—and so I would encourage you guys, if you have 00:41:56.800 |
really close friends who are parents of toddlers, that's a very difficult stage. 00:42:01.000 |
Pray with them. Sometimes be like, "I will sit in the cry room with your kids so you 00:42:05.520 |
can come in to worship," if they're like one-year-old. That's really difficult. And 00:42:11.360 |
then what happens, you start developing a pattern of—you know what, I'm gonna put 00:42:15.640 |
my wife a little bit on the spot. So in Korea, we would go to a new church and 00:42:19.160 |
she would not want to talk to anybody. So you know what she would do if she 00:42:21.760 |
doesn't want to talk to anybody? Just grab one of our kids and be like, "Ahh." 00:42:25.800 |
I'm like, "What are you doing? You're feeding him a cracker. He doesn't want to 00:42:29.120 |
eat that." She's like, "Be quiet. You don't know." I'm like, "All right." You can either hide 00:42:35.360 |
behind or idolize something that is good, a duty. Okay, next thing, materialism. 00:42:44.600 |
1 John 2:15-19. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves 00:42:49.960 |
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the 00:42:53.840 |
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life." Okay, they're all 00:42:57.760 |
interconnected. "Is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is 00:43:02.400 |
passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the 00:43:06.000 |
will of God lives forever. Children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that 00:43:10.080 |
the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have appeared. From this we 00:43:14.440 |
know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of 00:43:17.480 |
us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they 00:43:19.920 |
went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us." 00:43:25.280 |
Why are these things together? If you actually look at your Bible, they're 00:43:29.120 |
separated. But there's a logical flow. Materialism often leads to apostasy, if 00:43:35.760 |
not at all, all times. Would you guys agree? The more materialistic you get, the 00:43:43.440 |
less important your faith becomes, because you stop hoping in heaven, you 00:43:46.480 |
start hoping more on earth. And that's how people drift out. 00:43:50.720 |
Verse 18 is all about Antichrist and apostates. So the more materialistic and 00:43:56.560 |
the worldly that your heart becomes—and I won't be able to tell if I'm looking at 00:44:01.120 |
you, unless you're wearing something really fancy, okay? But it's gonna cause 00:44:06.320 |
you to drift. So it's a worshipful desire for riches we hope will enable us to 00:44:14.840 |
have greater pleasures, stability, and comfort. And where does that stem from? 00:44:23.360 |
Ungrateful hearts. We feel that God—we deserve more than God has already 00:44:28.560 |
given us. So ungrateful hearts is the stem and the root. You guys know the 00:44:37.000 |
parable of the four soils? We looked at this at the retreat. The third soil—the 00:44:41.240 |
second one was where it was persecution, right? What's the third one? The worries of 00:44:45.960 |
this life—desire for riches and pleasures. They come and choke the word, 00:44:52.760 |
and so it bears no fruit. Worries of this life, riches, pleasures choke the fruit. 00:45:02.160 |
And that is not a Christian. So be careful that you are not being choked 00:45:13.680 |
and proved to be an apostate. And remember, the opposite of poor is not 00:45:19.120 |
rich. It is enough. Some people are, "Where do you get that in the Bible?" I'm like, "Alright, 00:45:23.480 |
I'll show you, okay?" I look for it—I mean, Luke 3, where the people are repenting. The 00:45:29.160 |
tax collector comes and repents. He's like, "John the Baptist, what do I do?" He says, 00:45:33.640 |
"Give to the one who has need." The guy who has the tunic. "What do I do? What do I do?" 00:45:38.200 |
If you have two of them, give one of them to that guy. So he doesn't say give both 00:45:42.560 |
away. You have one, you have one. It's to have enough. 1 Timothy 6, 8 says, "Godliness 00:45:51.120 |
with contentment is great gain." Verse 10, "The love of money is a root of all kinds 00:45:55.880 |
of evil, and many have fallen into that trap." Verse 17, it says, "Command those who 00:46:00.960 |
are rich in the present age not to be arrogant." Because people who are rich, 00:46:05.600 |
what do they have a tendency to think? They deserved it. They worked hard for 00:46:11.100 |
riches. They got it because they're better people. That's what gets 00:46:15.560 |
into their mind. So, "Command those who are rich in the present age not to be 00:46:20.760 |
conceited, nor to put their hope in God, or no, sorry, 00:46:27.480 |
nor to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who 00:46:33.640 |
gives everything for us for our enjoyment." So if you guys are struggling 00:46:37.920 |
with like, "Well, does that mean I can't watch a movie? I can't go on a vacation?" 00:46:41.000 |
No! 1 Timothy 6, 17, if you guys memorize it, first, if you have money, don't think 00:46:48.000 |
that you deserved it. Two, don't put your hope in it. Three, enjoy it. But verse 18 00:46:56.640 |
talks about, "Be generous and be willing to share." Some of you guys are rich. You 00:47:01.960 |
might not think it, but last week for our James study, if you make, how much are you 00:47:07.320 |
top 1% in the world? 40,000. If you make $40,000 per person for your 00:47:13.040 |
family, you are top 1% in the world. You are ridiculously rich. Enjoy it, but give 00:47:18.240 |
it away. Whatever you don't have it. So the opposite of poor is enough. Everything 00:47:23.300 |
that God has given you that is outside of enough, you're called to use it for 00:47:26.800 |
ministry. That's why your affiliations are important. Okay? Everything outside of 00:47:32.200 |
is enough is supposed to be used for ministry, to win these souls to Christ, to 00:47:36.900 |
feed the poor, because that's true religion. It's not supposed to be for you 00:47:40.800 |
to enjoy beyond what you can enjoy. All the stuff that you've been given, 00:47:49.720 |
everything beyond enough is for the purpose of ministry and building up the 00:47:54.920 |
body of Christ, building up his church. Orange County will tell you all of the 00:48:01.380 |
stuff that you get is so that you can enjoy ages 65 to 100. Probably not 100 yet, 00:48:09.420 |
90. Retirement? I hope none of you guys retire. I mean, you're like, "What?" No, no. 00:48:18.600 |
What I'm saying is that you're active at 65 just as much as you are now in 00:48:24.800 |
ministry. It'll look different. But with whatever you've been given, retire. My 00:48:32.000 |
hope for retirement is just that I'll have just enough where I'm not a burden 00:48:37.240 |
that I could still minister. So I'll preach till I die. Opposite of poor is not rich. 00:48:45.080 |
It's enough. And this isn't something that you guys who may be struggling with, 00:48:48.920 |
because remember, affiliations, duties, responsibilities, all of this stuff is 00:48:54.280 |
interconnected. Aye, we're almost done. Image. Do not be afraid when a man becomes 00:49:02.840 |
rich, when the glory of his house is increased. For when he dies, he will carry 00:49:06.880 |
nothing away. His glory will not descend after him, and though while he lives he 00:49:11.600 |
congratulates himself, and though men praise you when you do well for yourself, 00:49:16.000 |
he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They will never see the light. 00:49:19.600 |
Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, is like the beasts that 00:49:23.960 |
perish. For some reason, Orange County, we worry, especially in the Asian culture, a 00:49:30.040 |
lot about your image, what people perceive of you. So it is a desire to be 00:49:34.960 |
worshipped. They say before marriage, guys work out really hard to be like--to impress 00:49:44.560 |
the girls. After marriage, guys work out really hard to impress other dudes. 00:49:51.040 |
Yeah, look at my chest, right there. Right? Because then you can't impress girls 00:49:55.320 |
anymore. I'm trying to work out so I don't die. I've learned. So if you see me 00:50:02.360 |
at the gym, it's these lightweights. I'm like--I'm just trying not to die, 00:50:07.360 |
basically. And I've gone every day to the gym this whole week, except yesterday, 00:50:11.720 |
just trying not to die so I could be more effective with my time here, okay? 00:50:15.800 |
But a lot of times when people work out, it's not for health, it's for aesthetics. 00:50:22.600 |
So they'll look better in there. You know, honestly, they make nicer clothes for 00:50:26.040 |
skinny people. I hate shopping for clothes because it hurts my esteem. I'm 00:50:33.120 |
like, man, and even if I don't breathe, it still sticks out, right? I'm like, this 00:50:39.440 |
sucks. But why? For me, it's because maybe in my head I want to appear more machismo 00:50:46.840 |
or more handsome. But for what end? You know, my wife's not gonna love me more or 00:50:51.800 |
less. But we have that in us, a desire to be esteemed. Some of us want to be 00:50:59.840 |
respected as a guy who knows his theology. Some people want to be 00:51:03.000 |
respected for a guy who's really successful. Some want to be respected as 00:51:07.320 |
the guy that all the girls are like, "Oh!" over, right? You have that. Girls, same thing. 00:51:12.280 |
Some of you want to be esteemed as the girl who's such a good servant. 00:51:17.840 |
Some girls are esteemed as always being the girl that everyone comes to 00:51:23.560 |
for makeup tips and beauty suggestions and shopping. And you know, we all 00:51:30.520 |
wrestle with our perception that we want to give off to other people. Remember, our 00:51:36.080 |
identity is in Christ. We have died with Christ. We have been raised with Christ. 00:51:40.400 |
You're all just really cool spiritual corpses. Right? That's your image. But 00:51:51.500 |
anything beyond that is folly because you're not gonna take that with you. 00:51:56.040 |
Satan's favorite sin was his desire to be worshipped, his image, our ambitions, our 00:52:04.200 |
accolades, our accomplishments. Is your pursuit, your lust to be the best guy? 00:52:12.880 |
I've long since stopped trying to be the best guy at something because -- so for 00:52:18.920 |
example, I used to love volleyball and basketball because I used to jump high. 00:52:22.680 |
Now, I can't even touch the net. It sucks. So I don't play basketball anymore. And 00:52:29.040 |
then in my head, I'm still like a 22-year-old, like, young spry guy. And then 00:52:34.560 |
when I'm on the court, like, five minutes in, I strain a hamstring. It sucks. So I 00:52:39.160 |
don't play anymore. I don't play sports. I hurt my pride. Okay? There is a desire in 00:52:45.800 |
us to excel at whatever we do, not because we want to be useful to the Lord, 00:52:49.600 |
but sometimes because we want to be known as that person. So ambitions, 00:52:54.520 |
anything, accolades, accomplishments, are you in it for that? That's a lard mine. A 00:53:03.000 |
religious image that you want people to know of you, right? I worship even angels. 00:53:11.160 |
I have the gift of tongues. You want to hear me pray? It's not so much at our 00:53:15.720 |
church, but at charismatic circles, people who have the gift of tongues, they pray 00:53:19.640 |
louder. I'm like, I have no idea what you're saying, and I can't even hear what 00:53:23.520 |
I'm saying. Stop, right? Because in Korea, a lot of people pray charismatically 00:53:27.720 |
because the more passionately they pray charismatically, they want to say, "I 00:53:32.040 |
have a closer relationship with God than most all of y'all." And it's a religious 00:53:36.080 |
image you want to portray. Same thing. Like, some guys are very good at 00:53:42.320 |
pretending to be humble. Oh, no. That's all a fake show. I mean, not all, but what I'm 00:53:48.560 |
saying is, if your desire is to be known as a person who is like this, it's a lard 00:53:54.800 |
mine. Your identity is in Christ. Next, nuptials. N-words are hard. That's why the 00:54:05.440 |
R--one of the N-words I changed to R. That R used to be, I think, 00:54:10.800 |
relationships. What is it now? Huh? Yeah, it became religion, so I had to do a 00:54:16.720 |
little bit like a mix-and-match. N-words are hard. That's why you have lard mines. 00:54:19.680 |
But it works. Okay, nuptials. "But this I say by the way of concession, not of 00:54:25.240 |
command. Yet I wish that all men were even as I am. However, each man has his 00:54:29.160 |
own gift from God. One in this manner, another in that. But I say to the 00:54:32.840 |
unmarried and to the widows that it is good for them to remain them if they 00:54:37.400 |
remain even as I." So an unhealthy obsession that sees you into thinking 00:54:43.120 |
that marriage is the golden life and that you are incomplete without it. Some 00:54:48.640 |
of you guys may, in your early 20s, not really think this is a big deal. But when 00:54:53.520 |
guys hit 35-ish and girls hit 28-ish, and that's completely 00:55:00.160 |
subjective, right? You feel like, "Oh, I gotta meet somebody. Oh, I 00:55:05.400 |
gotta hurry up and settle down." And there are sisters who are tempted to 00:55:11.720 |
just settle because they feel like, "I might miss out. If I don't 00:55:19.640 |
start dating now, I'm gonna miss out." And that is a real struggle I know that 00:55:24.920 |
exists at our church in a lot of our ladies and our guys as well. Guys, "Oh, I 00:55:31.240 |
can't get married right now because I don't have enough of a stable job," or "I 00:55:34.200 |
don't have enough this," or "I don't have enough that." That's your insecurity 00:55:37.040 |
speaking. And insecurity is wounded pride. It is not humility. And yes, you do have 00:55:42.160 |
to have a degree of visible responsibility, but don't make marriage 00:55:49.320 |
ever the goal of your life. You know, one of the best words of advice Pastor Peter 00:55:55.880 |
Ayer gave me when I was 24 was this, "Peter, for 50-plus years, you're gonna be 00:56:04.400 |
married. So while you're single, just be useful." So he didn't mean it to say that 00:56:12.760 |
I'm not gonna be useful as a married man, okay? There are clearly things that 00:56:16.120 |
married men do better than single men just in terms of like their level of 00:56:20.680 |
understanding. But marriage sometimes destroys people's faith, okay? So don't 00:56:27.520 |
make marriage the goal of your life. So unhealthy obsession that deceives you 00:56:32.240 |
into thinking that marriage is the goal and that you are incomplete without it. 00:56:36.520 |
And you know what happens to married couples after two, three years? What 00:56:39.200 |
becomes the next "the goal"? Kids. So if they don't have kids, they're like, "Oh, I 00:56:44.080 |
feel so incomplete." I'm glad we didn't have kids for eight years. I mean, we 00:56:49.280 |
cried a lot, but I'm glad we didn't have kids for eight years because I wouldn't 00:56:52.760 |
have learned and experienced the things I did. The only regret is now I'm kind of 00:56:57.160 |
older, so if we wanted more kids, it's like it's less likely to happen because 00:57:00.560 |
I'm gonna be six years old when I take them to high school. No, thank you very 00:57:03.720 |
much, right? But kids is not the end goal. So marriage is good. 00:57:11.600 |
Singleness is just as good. Right now as a single, if you have a lot of money in 00:57:19.280 |
your account, don't blow it all on your wedding. No, don't do it. Travel the world. 00:57:24.320 |
And I'm not talking resorts, okay? Some people love to travel to fancy schmancy 00:57:29.880 |
places that all look the same, just depends on the food. The food is 00:57:33.160 |
different. The ocean scenery is different. No, travel to see God's heart for the 00:57:37.440 |
world. And you can't do that from a resort taking pictures of your feet with 00:57:42.800 |
the ocean in the background, okay? Do short-term vision trips with some 00:57:53.600 |
friends. You know what? Let's go visit and see what we can do about the poor and the 00:57:58.640 |
widows in El Salvador. Hey, let's check out this trip to India. Because right now 00:58:06.120 |
you don't have to ask permission on how you spend your money. Becky goes, 00:58:13.120 |
"Wait, so you're gonna take people to Haiti? Who's paying for that?" I'm like, "We 00:58:17.560 |
are." "Why?" I'm like, "Well, you end up having to have a discussion." But when you're 00:58:26.060 |
single, you don't have to answer to anybody. And you don't have to take care 00:58:29.200 |
of your kids' swimming lessons, gymnastics lessons. So while you can, money comes 00:58:34.240 |
and goes. And while you are still by yourself, this is the most freedom you 00:58:39.800 |
will ever have. This is the most, I mean, for you guys who are financially strapped, 00:58:43.960 |
I'm just generally, okay? But your single young adult age is where you're gonna 00:58:48.640 |
have the most time and money that you could spend however you want. Do it for 00:58:54.560 |
the kingdom, don't do it for you. Because marriage is gonna happen, houses are 00:59:00.200 |
gonna happen, life is gonna happen, but this period, this window of time, you 00:59:04.200 |
might miss out if nuptials are your obsession. Maximize your freedom. And I'll 00:59:10.600 |
tell you right now, if you're a malcontent as a single, you'll be a 00:59:14.420 |
malcontent as a spouse. A malcontent basically means you're always kind of 00:59:18.360 |
unhappy. You're a curmudgeon, okay? If you're an unhappy single, guess what's 00:59:24.160 |
gonna happen when you get married? You're gonna take that unhappiness and affect 00:59:28.120 |
your spouse. Work on being happy now. Yeah, this is not some prosperity gospel 00:59:33.240 |
teaching. I'm just, like, practically speaking, be delighted in the Lord now. Be 00:59:37.960 |
satisfied in the Lord now. And then be satisfied in the Lord more as a unit and 00:59:43.080 |
as a family unit. It's different, it's not better, okay? We're almost done. E, 00:59:50.080 |
entertainment. This is a description of godlessness in the last days. Treacherous, 00:59:56.280 |
reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. We will not 01:00:02.440 |
call it pleasure. A lot of us who work will call it rest. True or false? We will 01:00:09.640 |
not call it indulging. We will call it, like, releasing pressure. We won't call it 01:00:18.960 |
idolatry. We will call it, like, unwinding, alright? I know people who really 01:00:29.840 |
wrestle with video games. I know people who really wrestle with Korean dramas, 01:00:34.680 |
movies, and all of these things. And this is what Charles Spurgeon said a hundred 01:00:39.080 |
plus years ago, but it's very, very apt. If our church members fall into the habit 01:00:45.280 |
of frequenting the theater, we shall soon have them going much further in the 01:00:50.520 |
direction of vice. And they will lose all relish for the ways of God. If theater 01:00:56.880 |
going became general among professing Christians, it would be the death of 01:01:02.000 |
piety. Yet one finds a taste for such things increasing on every hand. What is 01:01:09.680 |
theater today? Is it Netflix? Before, you had to look like a gamer. If you're 01:01:17.320 |
sitting in front of a TV playing games, you look like such a loser. If that's all 01:01:21.920 |
you do. But now, I know married dudes who go to the bathroom so they can play 01:01:25.720 |
their game away from their kids. And then they're like, how many times a day you 01:01:28.920 |
gotta go poo, right? You gotta, like, you're in there for 45 minutes. It looks 01:01:35.000 |
different and it's a lot more sneaky now because you can just do it on your own 01:01:38.240 |
phone. You know, when I was wrestling with games, I hated games that you play this 01:01:43.440 |
way. You know why? Games you play this way, what happens? You look like you're 01:01:47.880 |
playing a game. But games that you play this way, I just look like I'm, uh, like 01:01:53.200 |
writing an email, okay? And I sometimes pretend. So my Becky doesn't, like, get on 01:01:58.600 |
my case. I've since deleted games from my phone because it kills me. And I try to 01:02:04.360 |
limit what I watch. I try to limit, like, even going out to a movie with my wife. 01:02:08.960 |
I'd rather, I realize it's better to take my wife out for dinner and coffee than to 01:02:13.960 |
a movie where we're both just like, right? We feel better about the evening if we 01:02:19.560 |
just engage each other. And it's not to say the movies are bad. And you guys know 01:02:24.120 |
where we're going with this. But though not sinful in and of itself, it is 01:02:31.000 |
idleness masquerading as rest. That's entertainment. And some people get 01:02:38.040 |
addicted to rest/idleness. Though not sinful in and of itself, entertainment is 01:02:46.680 |
idleness, the filling of time that is masquerading as rest. The funny thing is, I 01:02:52.840 |
know people who are addicted to shows, movies, and games. Does it help you rest 01:02:58.320 |
more or less? You sleep less when you have a game on your phone or a movie on 01:03:06.200 |
your phone. Internet -- some people's entertainment is actually reading 01:03:10.840 |
through, like, blogs. You're less likely to sleep on time, true or false? Yeah. 01:03:19.880 |
Poor stewardship of time leads to poor stewardship of everything else. Agree or 01:03:25.280 |
disagree? Yeah. Do you guys have more hours a day than me or less hours a day -- 01:03:30.640 |
a fewer hours a day than me? This is exactly the same. Okay? You have the 01:03:39.000 |
same amount of time as everyone else. So what do you do with all the time that 01:03:42.040 |
you can use freely? Do you engage your heart? Do you engage your spirit? Or do 01:03:47.440 |
you indulge the flesh? And acting our age. And men, ladies, we need to grow up. 01:03:55.280 |
If you saw me playing with Legos right now and my kids weren't around, you would 01:04:02.080 |
judge me. If you saw me playing with G.I. Joe action figures and my kids weren't 01:04:07.400 |
around, you would judge me. Rightfully so. Do not be entertained by things you were 01:04:14.840 |
entertained by at age 12, now at age 25. Grow up into him who is the head, grow up 01:04:23.960 |
into maturity. Secularism, last one. You are the salt of the earth, but if the 01:04:31.200 |
salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good 01:04:35.280 |
for anything except to be thrown out and trapped underfoot by men. You are the 01:04:38.920 |
light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light 01:04:41.760 |
a lamp and put it under a basket. But on the lampstand it gives light to all who 01:04:45.480 |
are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may 01:04:48.920 |
see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. What this is is 01:04:52.120 |
it's a call -- we are to live in the world and yet not think like those who live in 01:04:55.800 |
the world. Living in the world and not thinking like those who live in the 01:05:00.120 |
world. So how do you do your life? You lead it quietly and faithfully. Don't 01:05:07.000 |
have ambition. Be careful. Chip on the shoulder, the world may say it's a good 01:05:15.120 |
thing. Scripture will say that's folly. Life approach. 1 Thessalonians 4, 11, 12, in 01:05:23.480 |
the NIV it says, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and to mind your own 01:05:27.360 |
business and to work with your hands." It's kind of ironic. "Just be faithful" is 01:05:32.760 |
your ambition, what Paul says to Thessalonica. Ministry approach. Though we 01:05:39.160 |
walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons 01:05:43.440 |
of our warfare are not of the flesh. They are divinely powerful for the 01:05:47.680 |
destruction of fortresses. So even when we plan church growth, we don't plan like 01:05:52.440 |
the world. We don't use worldly marketing tactics to build a church. Sometimes the 01:05:58.160 |
things that you feel like the leaders may be doing may make no sense and 01:06:02.600 |
that's foolish or slow. We don't operate under worldly values of advertising, 01:06:09.080 |
church growth. We don't work under those principles. We work 01:06:19.000 |
That's why I think seeker-sensitive movement is so stupid. You don't see 01:06:25.080 |
Jesus being seeker-sensitive. Like, "Just get them fed. Just get them to follow me," 01:06:31.040 |
he said to 20,000 in the crowd. No, he actually keeps running away from them. 01:06:35.040 |
They keep following him. And your life should not be defined by social causes, 01:06:46.160 |
by your political affiliations, by emotional relativism. And what that is 01:06:53.440 |
is like, even like things like mental health issues, depression, all that kind 01:06:59.360 |
of stuff, your life needs to look different. That's why I feel so angry 01:07:05.720 |
when I read about pastors who commit suicide. But what gets me even angrier is 01:07:10.560 |
that the people who are like, "Even pastors struggle too." And for some reason that 01:07:15.040 |
annoys me so much because that guy should never have been a pastor to begin 01:07:20.880 |
with. Why did you put him there? Because he can give a good sermon? If I really 01:07:26.080 |
struggle with clinical depression, please don't let me step on this pulpit. Because 01:07:30.760 |
I need to sort some things out first. And if a pastor commits suicide, guess what? 01:07:35.960 |
He enables everyone else to do. Even if a pastor who's a man of God can, like, it's 01:07:42.240 |
okay, I guess. No. So emotional relativism. And this world is becoming more and more 01:07:49.040 |
confused. You cannot think like the world. LGBTQ issues. Scripture is very clear. 01:07:55.640 |
So there are things that are in the world that are influencing the church in terms 01:08:02.640 |
of causes. Women are precious, absolutely unequal with man. Women have dignity. 01:08:13.320 |
They deserve to be honored, and they deserve their esteem and their worth. 01:08:19.800 |
And yes, there have been many abuses for generations, and women have been 01:08:24.600 |
oppressed and wrongly abused, backed up by bad uses of Scripture. 01:08:30.120 |
That's all true. But the Bible says a man is a man, and a woman is a woman, 01:08:37.400 |
and the functions are different. Not better or worse, different. 01:08:43.640 |
So for ladies, do not let Facebook or CNN or Fox News even or whatever have you 01:08:51.240 |
dictate what it means to be a woman, a modern hip woman of God. 01:08:56.120 |
That doesn't make any sense. And guys, we need to man up because there's becoming a 01:09:03.800 |
less and less...like, we need to be chivalrous. Walk the ladies to the cars. 01:09:08.760 |
Open doors, even if they think you're weird. We need to...and I know heebie-jeebie way, 01:09:14.680 |
where you're like, "Hey." No, I don't know about that. But we need to man up. 01:09:21.080 |
Because if men man up, women naturally are...they don't have a problem following. 01:09:28.080 |
But because men don't stand up, women are like, "We got to take their space." 01:09:35.400 |
And you think they enjoy that? No. I think we need more godly men so that 01:09:44.560 |
we can have more godly women. It's just...the definition of manhood, 01:09:52.800 |
womanhood has been kind of confused because of secular thinking. 01:09:57.080 |
I mean, secularism is broad, but you guys know where I'm going with this, right? 01:10:00.280 |
What the world tells you is wisdom is folly. Stick to God's word. 01:10:05.880 |
So how do we combat this? Flee. The Greek word...okay, number one, 01:10:16.160 |
flee from. This is not on the chart. And I'm going to send this to you, 01:10:19.520 |
so you don't need to...just pay attention. You're going to write it down. 01:10:23.600 |
Sometimes you need to flee from the devil. Did you know the Bible never tells you 01:10:27.480 |
to engage the devil? "Hey, yo, Satan, I got this. 01:10:30.440 |
Jesus is behind me. I got...what's up?" You know, that's not what you're 01:10:33.120 |
supposed to do. Even the archangel Michael doesn't do that. 01:10:35.920 |
He goes, "The Lord rebuke you." No one, even in the angelic realm, 01:10:40.480 |
can face Satan alone. So for a church that actually teaches you how to cast out demons 01:10:48.280 |
and all this stuff, that is very dangerous territory because you end up possessed. 01:10:52.920 |
Okay? That's where cultish practices become very psycho and crazy. 01:10:57.920 |
But you're supposed to always be running away from him. If you see him... 01:11:01.400 |
If there was a lion that actually came into our...some of you guys are probably 01:11:07.120 |
scared of dogs even. But if there was a big animal that walked into this door, 01:11:11.080 |
you know where all of us would go? We would all go there. If the lion moves this way, 01:11:17.200 |
you know where we'll all go? We will all go here. Forget the lion, 01:11:21.960 |
maybe like a hippo or an alligator. If they were there, we would all go 01:11:25.800 |
as far away as we could. True or false? Yes. You wouldn't be like, 01:11:29.840 |
"Well, let's see how close I can get to the lion without getting bit." 01:11:32.600 |
You would not do that. Run away. Because the Greek word for flee is phwege, 01:11:36.920 |
where we get the word fugitive. What happens if a fugitive gets caught? 01:11:41.840 |
Well, today it's incarcerated. Back in the day, it was executed. 01:11:45.400 |
Phwege, run away, like your life depends on it. And flee to God. 01:11:50.360 |
Three, if you need to fight, because sometimes the Bible says you need 01:11:52.840 |
to fight, fight smart. Do you guys know what the sword of the Spirit is? 01:11:58.080 |
Like, what does it say in Ephesians 6? What's the sword of the Spirit? 01:12:01.560 |
The Word of God. Why do you need to obsess over getting the Bible in your head? 01:12:05.320 |
Because when you try to search through it and you're being attacked, it's too late. 01:12:12.200 |
So, a soldier, he goes into war. When does he put the bullets into his gun? 01:12:20.800 |
When the bullets start flying? No, they go in ready. So, the way you need to fight is 01:12:30.360 |
through his word and prayer. Fight smart. But then fight sober. 01:12:36.280 |
Because if you fight encumbered, you're going to lose. So, and what happens 01:12:42.280 |
if you lose? You die. Remember how the Eskimo kills the wolf. 01:12:50.560 |
That is closer to how Satan goes after us than most illustrations I've ever heard. 01:12:57.520 |
How does Eskimo kill a wolf? By appealing to its lusts. 01:13:01.160 |
By appealing to its instinct. By appealing to what it thinks is good. 01:13:06.280 |
So, what you guys are going to do is, I ran over about 10 minutes. 01:13:09.680 |
If in your groups...hopefully this was a helpful workshop. 01:13:15.080 |
It's not like a boring one, right? Okay? In your groups, hopefully there's enough 01:13:18.720 |
information that you guys can go over with each other. You don't need to go 01:13:22.680 |
through all the large minds because you don't have time. I mean, today. 01:13:29.160 |
But write down one trap, at least five, in your groups. Write down maybe five traps 01:13:36.200 |
that you feel like are laid out for you. And like I said, for me, 01:13:39.560 |
alcohol is not it at all. You could drink in front of me, I'm like, "Pfft." 01:13:43.640 |
I mean, don't do that because you're just going to stumble other people. 01:13:45.440 |
But I'm like, "It doesn't bother me at all." It never has. 01:13:48.920 |
But there are other things that will derail me that might not derail you. 01:13:53.880 |
Fourth season, actually, it was Legos. I have a really big Lego collection 01:13:57.400 |
at home that I'm not proud of that I'm saving for my kids. Okay? 01:14:01.600 |
But for some reason, all my free money...don't look down on me. 01:14:06.480 |
I bought the newest Legos when I was in college. Okay? Yeah, dork, huh? 01:14:11.720 |
Don't judge me, dude. All right? So what is your instinctive lust Achilles heel? 01:14:21.400 |
Write down about five. What are you inclined to pursue of these 01:14:27.560 |
lard minds? How do you think practically to battle it? It is not to try harder. 01:14:37.080 |
How are you going to flee? Who are you going to flee to? 01:14:39.280 |
How are you going to fight? Oh, sorry, I'm supposed to point here, right? 01:14:44.280 |
How are you going to fight? And what are some memory verses that you 01:14:53.880 |
can think of and you can look through the scriptures and commit to memorizing this 01:14:58.040 |
at some point that'll help you fight? The people who've done Proverbs with me, 01:15:04.280 |
I make you guys memorize one proverb per chapter per day. Why? 01:15:09.560 |
Because you usually will memorize what you feel you need. 01:15:13.080 |
So write down a verse that you need, or two, or five, and commit them to memory 01:15:18.960 |
so that all of your, like, faculties are awake so that you can fight better. 01:15:25.240 |
Sounds good? And the more honest you guys can be with each other, the better, 01:15:28.440 |
because I will guarantee you, you are not the only one struggling in this. 01:15:32.160 |
The enemy likes us isolated because it's easier to knock off somebody when he's 01:15:36.560 |
by himself than when there's a team. Okay? So share, pray. 01:15:41.400 |
And if you can get through, like, nine, I mean, I'm sure you can't, 01:15:43.800 |
but just, I mean, whatever you can do, but at least maybe five that you can share 01:15:47.960 |
with each other. And then in the back, on the bottom, 01:15:50.360 |
it says, "Even in your group, break off into twos or threes and come 01:15:57.400 |
up with some kind of system that after today, someone can check up on you." 01:16:02.280 |
How are you doing with that? "Dude, I'm struggling." 01:16:05.000 |
Yeah, me too. "Hey, let's get up and let's keep moving, 01:16:07.560 |
because struggling is better than dead." I appreciate it when you guys struggle, 01:16:12.680 |
because that means you're alive. Okay? And you struggle hardest when you're 01:16:18.200 |
at the beginning of death. You're like, "Mm," right? 01:16:21.880 |
You're fighting. Don't weaken. And help each other not to weaken. 01:16:27.520 |
Fight together. Okay? So find out how you guys can keep each 01:16:30.960 |
other accountable, pair off, and this is after you guys have a 01:16:34.440 |
group discussion. And then have lasting, like, accountability friends that will 01:16:44.520 |
help you. All right? So let's pray, and then we'll break you off. 01:16:50.720 |
And then what time did we say? Who gave the announcement? 01:16:54.440 |
Did Sarah? Marsha? What time did we say we're going to have lunch? 01:16:56.720 |
- We're going to have lunch. We're going to pick up at 12.15. 01:17:05.840 |
Then at 12.10, let's get back together, and then we'll have a time of just final 01:17:10.520 |
praise and just a time of prayer, and then we'll break it off. 01:17:15.160 |
At 12.10. Try not to come later. And if you guys are all going to lunch, 01:17:20.680 |
if you go with different people, share. Share some of the stuff that you wrestle 01:17:24.080 |
with because I guarantee you, I'm not the only one who struggles 01:17:27.400 |
with all of these. Raise your hand if you think you struggle 01:17:30.520 |
with all of them. Yeah, some of you are like, "I don't struggle 01:17:34.120 |
at all. I am saved." But just remember, Colossians 2, 9 to 15, 01:17:37.960 |
you are not condemned. He has canceled the certificate of death 01:17:43.160 |
that consisted of decrees against us which stood opposed to us. 01:17:47.400 |
He took it out of the way, nailed it to the cross. So there is no ruler authority, 01:17:51.440 |
no demonic force that is over us. But we'd like to submit ourselves 01:17:55.440 |
under them again, right? Satan has zero control over you. 01:17:59.520 |
And that's something to remember, Colossians 2, 9 to 15. Amen?