(audience chattering) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) Hello, hello, everybody.

Let's take our seats, and we'll get started with worship in just 30 seconds. (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) Okay, everyone, please join with me in a word of prayer. Our God and Father, we are so grateful to you. Thank you, God, for all that you provide into our lives.

Lord, your fatherly provision, your instruction for us daily, and, God, just the simple fact that you sustain us in Christ. And, Lord, we are always grateful for the privilege of coming together as a church. We're grateful, God, for the body. Lord, we know this is all part of your plan.

Lord, it's your grace, your ordained body that we've come together. And we pray that when we come together in faith, looking to you, desiring to learn and grow into the image of Christ, that all this would be honoring and pleasing in your sight. We thank you, Lord. It's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen. (gentle music) ♪ This life is an altar ♪ ♪ This life is an altar ♪ ♪ I want to offer my soul ♪ ♪ My mind and strength ♪ ♪ Cleansed by your mercy ♪ ♪ To live a life worthy of the one ♪ ♪ Who called my name ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Let me be a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Here on the altar ♪ ♪ My life is in offering ♪ (gentle music) ♪ How could I not love you ♪ ♪ How could I not love you ♪ ♪ You authored my rescue ♪ ♪ You raised me up from death to life ♪ ♪ Your spirit is in me ♪ ♪ Revealing your glory ♪ ♪ Oh, what joy as I give my life ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Let me be a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Here on the altar ♪ ♪ My life is in offering ♪ (gentle music) ♪ I choose to lose my life, Lord ♪ ♪ And find it in you ♪ ♪ I choose to lose my life, Lord ♪ ♪ And find it in you ♪ ♪ I choose to lose my life, Lord ♪ ♪ And find it in you ♪ ♪ I choose to lose my life, Lord ♪ ♪ And find it in you ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Let me be a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Here on the altar ♪ ♪ My life is in offering ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Show me nothing of our efforts ♪ ♪ Show me nothing of our efforts ♪ ♪ Stand, no legacy survive ♪ ♪ Unless the Lord does raise the house in vain ♪ ♪ Its builders strive ♪ ♪ To you who boast tomorrow's gain ♪ ♪ Tell me, what is your life ♪ ♪ Amidst the vanishes at dawn ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ All glory ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ, our King ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ His rule and reign we'll ever sing ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ His will be done ♪ ♪ His will be done ♪ ♪ His kingdom come ♪ ♪ On earth as it is above ♪ ♪ Who is himself our daily bread ♪ ♪ Praise him, Lord ♪ ♪ Living water satisfied ♪ ♪ But thirsty without price ♪ ♪ We'll take a cup of kindness yet ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ, our King ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ His rule and reign we'll ever sing ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ And on the day ♪ ♪ The great I am ♪ ♪ The faithful and the true ♪ ♪ The lamb who was for sinners slain ♪ ♪ Is making his name ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, our God shall live with us ♪ ♪ In heaven our steadfast light ♪ ♪ And we shall e'er his people be ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ, our King ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ His rule and reign we'll ever sing ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ, our King ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ ♪ His rule and reign we'll ever sing ♪ ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, God, we thank you for every good gift that you've given to us. We thank you for every breath. God, I pray that you wouldn't waste these breaths that you've given to us by living for ourselves. But Lord, I pray that you'd help us to live by your spirit.

God, I pray that as we read from your word tonight that you would continue to convict us and help us to understand what you have in store for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We'll start our table discussions now and reconvene at eight. (laughing) (chattering) (laughing) Wait, what happened?

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(audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) (audience laughing) - Is it coming?

Oh, sorry about that. (audience laughing) All right. I wanna encourage those of you guys who are in the rooms to make your way on into the main meeting area so that we can do our review. (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) Okay.

All right. (audience chattering) All right, if you would, please take a moment to join with me in a word of prayer, and then we'll start the review portion. Let's pray together. Our God and Father, we take a brief moment to request, God, that you would grow our faith. Lord, we pray that you would do such a spiritual work, God, that every time your word is opened up to our eyes, and God, every time we can hear the scripture, Lord, that you would help us to both understand, gain insight, feel the conviction, just really lay down all of our lives and be open to the scrutiny of your truth so that, God, we'd be able to put off that which is earthly and continue, Lord, to pursue after the image of Christ.

We pray for that kind of spiritual blessing in our life, Lord, that the fruit of your word will take its effect, and, God, we would see the character that you long to see, Lord. We thank you in Christ's name, amen. Okay, so, you know, by way of review, it is to us Christian maturity to be able to tell the difference, and what I mean by that is for us to have our senses so refined by the word of God that we can see that which is earthly, fleshly, carnal, and just even what the world may presume neutral, but still, nevertheless, just temporary, right, here on Earth, like that kind of stuff, versus the things of the spirit of God, that we wanna be able to sense that which is heavenly, that which is spirit-wrought, right, because in many ways, two people can do the exact same thing.

They can work hard at planning an event. They can work hard at even teaching. They can work hard here at the church, but there is a huge difference between he who is working by the inspiration, the motivation that comes from Christ and a relationship with him, walking in the spirit, versus one who is just doing the deed, and so the scripture had for us this admonition that every single one of us walk by the spirit of God, and then after commanding us to do so, he was giving us various, very specific things that are indicative of the spirit versus indicative of the flesh, and then at the beginning of this chapter, he gave us the exhortations of how to deal with one another and to say that we ought to restore really gently those who are spiritual, if we are spiritual, that we should do that, and the letter B, that we should bear the burdens of one another, and then, by way of humility, be open to the scrutiny of the scriptures that we would examine ourselves.

The passage that we have today is a continuation of the thoughts of the fruits of the spirit telling us that we should share all good things and to persevere in doing good, amen? So have those things in mind that there is these commands in there for us to do.

Within this passage that we have for today, then, I would say that there are three distinct sections. Doesn't have to be seen this way, but verse six, there is this concept here that the one who is taught on the receiving end of ministry should share all good things, so that's a first principle that being filled with the spirit has this element of reciprocating the blessing you receive, and then, verse seven through eight, clearly shows us this other operating principle which is in the realm of God, where God says that whatever a man sows, this he will reap, okay?

And then he talks about how if you sow to the flesh, there you will reap from the flesh corruption, and if you sow to the spirit, you will reap from the spirit eternal life. Then, in verse nine through 10, we have this exhortation and command to not lose heart, to not grow weary, but to persevere in doing good.

So, as a brief just kind of snapshot of the paragraph, this is the way I broke it down, and I hope it matches perhaps all the work that you guys have done in preparation for this lesson. And so, here we are in part one, where we look at the general principle, okay?

And I will tell you honestly, looking at this passage, I started giggling as I was preparing for this lesson, because, you know, it sounds so self-serving, so I'm just gonna say it from the get-go. After the lesson, I will walk around your table and tax your snacks, okay? (laughing) Especially the ones over there, and Richard's in the back, okay?

I mean, obviously, this is kind of interesting to think about, but the whole idea is, what is, we have to ask the question, okay, like, is this just a random thought he had, you know? And because there was a lot of sarcasm, and Apostle Paul's like, dude, the more I love you, I mean, am I being hated more now, because I'm coming after you, I'm pursuing you?

Am I to be hated, you know? Is he like, remember? (laughing) Is he having that sentiment still? What is he expecting? But again, my thought is, not making too much of it, but in the vein of being a spiritual person, if you're a thankless person, I don't think you're a spirit-filled person, right?

You have no appreciation for the people, but rather, you have such an entitled mentality, it's like, you know, the people, especially young children who look at their parents, like, of course, parents are supposed to sacrifice, right? As soon as they gain their independence, the parents are so far behind them that they don't even give them a second thought.

If you have been blessed, the spiritual model typically is, you should be an incredible blessing, right? The thought here is, the general principle is, that the one who is receiving ministry is expected to respond with an open-heartedness, with also a reciprocating generosity, right? And obviously, this passage has been really, really misapplied by the prosperity gospel people.

It's like, show me the money. You gotta share with me the good things. I'm sure you guys sat there, oh, thank you for laughing, I'm not gonna joke. But you know, I'm sure you guys sat there and wondered, like, what are the good things, you know? I don't think, obviously, he's thinking about one thing.

Why? Because in the text, the idea for share is really broad, okay, is really broad. The term for share is essentially the verb form of the noun we use for fellowship, koinonia, okay? And so that's why there's like a broader sense of being associate with us, like, open your life up, and let's run this race together, is almost a mentality that you have within this verse.

That kind of mentality is shared in a lot of different passages, but one of the passages I want to highlight for you guys, it's not here on the PowerPoint, but just listen. When Apostle Paul was talking about his ministry, he said to the church in Thessalonica that we prove to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.

Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. So from the ministering perspective inside, you have to have an open-hearted, generous love in your heart that comes out of a thankfulness for Christ in order to do ministry like Apostle Paul's doing, right?

Not a selfish one, but such a selfless one. And essentially, Apostle Paul then requests the same of the church. So here's an interesting passage in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 11 through 13. Paul says, "Our mouth was spoken freely to you, "O Corinthians, our heart is open wide, "and you're not restrained by us, "but you're restrained by your own affections.

"Now in like exchange, I speak as to children, "open wide to us also." Okay, open wide to us also. Later, he's going to, just in the next chapter, 2 Corinthians 7, he says, "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, "let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh, "and then of spirits, perfecting holiness "in the fear of God.

"Make room for us in your hearts. "We wronged nobody. "We corrupted no one. "We took advantage of no one. "I do not speak to condemn you, "for I have said before that you are in our hearts "to die together and to live together." What an amazing kind of mentality and attitude, right?

And so again, I think what is expected is not just simply a ministry is hard, make sure you remember and provide like material goods for the pastor. That's included in other passages, right? Here, I think Apostle Paul would have just loved it if they opened up their hearts, because so far, it seems like reading in between the lines, they weren't actually receptive of the kind of heart he was showing them, which was trying to correct and bring them out of the deceptions that they were in, right?

So in that way, I think this idea of sharing all good things really is inclusive of a general openheartedness, general receptiveness, mutual encouragement, and maybe even just the thought of being in this ministry, being in this kingdom work together, okay? Moving forward to verse seven and eight, the second part.

The second part that we described as, hey, there is a universal principle, whatever you seed and plant and sow, you're going to get the fruit, right? And it should be so plain and obvious that it doesn't require like, okay, what's happening here? There are consequences to your decisions, your thoughts, your words, everything.

That's the principle, right? But what's really interesting is he says, do not be deceived and God isn't mocked. And as soon as he says that, we're like, whoa. The tone of that takes it to a whole nother level. So then we have to ask the question, who is being deceived and what kind of deceptions are they being deceived by?

But also, why is God being mocked by their decisions? Why is God being mocked by their deception, right? We have to ask those questions. Now, what's very clear just from the end of verse seven where he says, four, because whatever man sows, he will also reap, he gives us this principle.

If you think that because you are free, that you can do what you desire and then simply escape the consequences, you're dead wrong, right? That's the deception. He said earlier in the previous segments of the passage or the chapter that those of us who feel like, now that because we are free, we are children of God, and then all of a sudden, we take full advantage of it to the point of cheapening his grace, we 100% offend God, we mock him, right?

And just the sheer deception that sometimes people have, which is, I know this may be compromise, I know this may be sin, but I'll just repent of it later and get back on track. I'll give in now, but I'll do better later, right? What kind of crazy deception for a slave of God, a child of God, in that moment to think he can disobey?

Right? There are constant deceptions all around us, but one of the egregious deception is to think that there is no consequence. Why? Why? Take a moment to think about that, and as you think, think about this photo, okay? What is this little boy doing? He's doing the nose up and doing the na-na-na-na-na thing, right, okay?

He's mocking somebody, and the scripture says, if we ask the most important question about any decision you make, what does God think about this and how does he see you when you do it? Is he pleased? When you act like there are no consequences, you mock him. Why? Because you're testing him.

You know what you're doing is, literally, the Greek word, it comes from this Greek term, mutsterizo, which comes from a root term that we now use for the term mucus, okay? Back then, can you imagine somebody who scoffed, right? Or if you imagine somebody who's very disrespectful, you imagine them, like, spit on their shoe or whatever.

Back then, they used to do the runner thing where they put their thumb on one nostril and clear it, and that's the literal term. Or you stick your nose up out of disrespect. I guess, to make it even more modern, it's like this guy. What you gonna do, okay?

I wanted you to remember the thought the next time you are tempted to compromise, okay? For us, in our selfish, childish mind, the moment of compromise is chock full of risk and benefit analysis. But am I gonna enjoy it? Am I gonna miss this opportunity to have this da-da-da-da-da?

I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm just gonna do it once, and you're just constantly calculating risk, but we're not thinking about the picture God sees of us, which is, I'm gonna do this thing, what are you gonna do? Have you ever considered that you test God each time you compromise?

You're not gonna punish me now, you never have. You're not gonna do anything about it, you never did. When we do that, we mock God as inconsequential to our decisions. And scripture says, don't be fooled. Whatever you sow, does it take time? Yes, because God graciously gave time. But trust me, you will reap what you sow.

That's how the passage comes off, okay? So, when we think about that then, what arrogance, what pomp to challenge God? And I just wanna make mention of this idea again, that for us, we want to today talk a bit about the idea of motivations in our heart, yes? And let this be a motivation to us, that when we compromise in our hearts, we absolutely look like this individual, where we offend, where we act as though God cannot do.

Okay, so then that being the case, we come back to this passage of the kind of universal principle that exists, verse eight and nine, where it talks about that if you sow to the flesh, you will reap, right? From the flesh, its corruptions. And then, those who sow to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life.

Here is a powerful cross-reference in Proverbs, chapter one, verse 28 through 33. Proverbs one, 28 through 33, it says, "Then, they will call on me, but I will not answer." But, "And they will seek me diligently, "but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge "and did not choose the fear of the Lord.

"They would not accept my counsel. "They spurned all my reproof. "So, they shall eat the fruit of their own way "and be satiated with their own devices, "for the waywardness of the naive will kill them." Wow, "The complacency of fools will destroy them, "but he who listens to me shall live securely "and be at ease from the dread of evil." Did you see that?

In our passage, it talked about how, when you sow to the flesh, from that flesh, you will reap the consequences or the corruption, right? The destruction and the decay, et cetera. This passage, what he's saying is God, in his own might and will, will cause us, as a kind of the regular wrath, the regular consequences, the judgment to come, we are going to be bound by those same devices.

If we think, even just a sin of, let's just throw a bit up there, laziness. You hear something, and in your procrastinating heart, you just say, "Later." Do you not think that that seed will also bear its fruit in due time? Interesting and convicting to think about, right? If we have, in here, this passage is challenging us, if we have an unresponsive heart to truth, we have a lackadaisical attitude to God's commands, do you not think that that will bear its rotten fruit?

And God says it'll be so rotten that by that kind of naivety, that kind of ignorance, you will be bound. Another passage, in Hosea 10, verse 12, it says, "So with the view of righteousness, "reap in accordance with kindness. "Break up your fallow ground, "for it is time to seek the Lord "until he comes to rain righteousness on you.

"You have plowed wickedness, and you have reaped injustice. "You have eaten the fruit of lies, "because you trusted in your way in the numerous warriors." The whole rationale here is this, God often works by way of just desert. What's really strange throughout the, like a thematic thing of scripture, you will find if people, this passage in Hosea, he's talking very specifically to Ephraim, which essentially played a hand in the destruction of Israel, right?

And he says, "Because you were merciless, "because all of their cries for help "was fallen on deaf ears, the same happens to you," right? And so God has essentially, like a theme of just deserts and irony. Those individuals craved meat and nothing but selfish desires, they died by it and choked.

Those individuals who gave themselves and trusted other nations, they died by the betrayal of those nations, right? And then likewise, the same way in Romans 1, what does God say? You long for these? You want this to be your idol God? Then here, have it. Let me give you over to that which is your idol, okay?

So with that said, I just wanna make mention of this kind of thought here, which is here, by way of application, we have a couple things to kind of think about. One is the thought of clearly then, if we are wise, we're wisening up to the idea that even small seeds of the flesh, small opportunities and provisions for the flesh will have its growth to the fruit, right?

And so here, there's probably something you guys have come across before, written by this British author, Samuel Smiles, "Sow a thought, reap an act. "Sow an act, you reap a habit. "Sow a habit, and you reap character. "Sow a character, and you reap destiny," right? Quite profound. In the counseling world, this is very, very helpful, okay?

You may find an individual who is just like, let's say, for example, there are many sins we could fall into and have a moment of passionate sin, whether it's lust, and you give into pornography or something, or like a burst of anger, a fit of rage, right? So let's say an individual, all of a sudden, they just blow up at the house, they scream at the kids, they scream at the wife, they punch a hole in the wall, and then once they go outside, they're like, "Oh my goodness." They come in for counseling and they say, "I'm not even sure what happened.

"Something just snapped," they'll say. But as a counselor, what do we say? Why don't you tell me the whole story? Did you have a fight with your spouse? It's like, you know, two weeks ago? How did you reconcile that? You know we didn't. You didn't reconcile that. How were your, what was your thought life like then in the last two weeks since you haven't reconciled?

You know, we're just going back and forth. Was it cold in the house? Like, yes. Did you ever lose sleep over it? Yeah, at night I was just kind of wondering, like, why would she say that, and da-da-da. It's like, so, essentially, in the evening, at night, you're preparing to fight.

You put words in your mouth. You're getting ready, right? Another way to say it is, people say this kind of idiomatic wisdom, which is, you don't go from zero to 100 just like that. What you have is you have a moment of compromise, and even though maybe in your mind, it's like, I went to the family retreat.

They said reconcile, but I didn't, right? Why did you make provision for your bitter heart to get ready for a fight? There are earlier compromises to trace. You don't think that little seed of disobedience when God said, we'll go reconcile, and you didn't, that it would not bear its ugly fruit later?

Of course it does, yes? It's the same, even for, again, instinctual, like, lust sins, or things that we feel like it just happened. It's like, no, most likely, you made compromises and provisions. Why did you spend three hours, like, just filtering through the videos that Facebook feeds you? Why did you go watch that, I don't know, whatever thing it is that was just provocative?

Why did you, there are little trails, is my point, and it's wise for us to trace that. But the second part, too, the second part, is this passage is trying to show us, by way of motivation, you know there are consequences. And yet, in our, just like, volition to sin, we don't want to see it, right?

And to quote our pastor, one time, I remember he just gave this hilarious, it's an axiom that we have, right? It's like, you wanna have your cake and eat it? And then he added to it, said, you wanna have your cake and eat it and not get fat, right?

Like, all of this is in our hearts. The desire to have everything and its benefits, too, even in scenarios where, yes, you can't eat the cake and then save it for later. You either eat the cake or you save it for later. But we also want to eat it, save it, have it, and not have any of its consequences.

Is that at all in your heart, right? Is that at all in your heart? Okay, with that said, let's move on to the last portion of it, which is part three, okay? Which is let us not lose heart in doing good, okay? Let us not lose heart in doing good.

Here, he essentially gives us such encouragement. If some of you have been getting weary, if some of you have been feeling fatigued, he gives us challenge and encouragement in due time, right? In due time. And what's more, this passage is, in some sense, very sympathetic, challenging us not to lose heart, not to grow weary, et cetera, but that while we have this opportunity, he gives a sense of urgency and motivation, saying, "Listen, this life truly is short, "and we have this season, yes?

"On this side of heaven, we have this season "to do the work of God, to invest into the kingdom, "and he wants us to bear good fruit "and to do good works," right? And what I wanna say is, this part of it, it's chock-full, it's within so many different parts of scripture, that our ability to meet the needs of the people around us, to love the brethren, is going to be our definitive marker as a child of God, amen?

And we have to ask the question, is that something that I am growing in right now, or is that something I'm getting tired of, right? And it's just an honest, genuine question for you guys. Some of you guys, I believe our church is active. Whenever we have sign-ups, like right now, this past weekend, we had VBS Workshop for Volunteers.

On the volunteer roster, there are over 140 volunteers. To me, incredible encouragement. The worry is that people will grow tired, yes? Okay. But when we think about that, we have to ask the question, what's the problem? It's just too hard. It's like, well, technically, we've done VBS every year.

I mean, it's not something that's so hard, it's gonna kill us, you know? Et cetera, et cetera. It doesn't have to be VBS, other things too. For us, most likely, the trouble isn't just the nature of the work itself, the trouble is motivation, right? The trouble is motivation. Are we actually having the vision, are we having the goals, are we having the hope, are we having the kind of future hope of reaping, are we having sight and mind of what God has in store, what he's able to do?

If we're not, of course we're gonna grow tired. You know, just talking about the topic as an example of ADD and ADHD, or like the attention deficit or even the hyper portion of it, what's really interesting is if you look at the CDC or even the NIH, et cetera, they'll just describe and say, you know, individuals who have a hard time at work or at school because they're short on attention span.

More recently, they have been doing other kinds of studies, and those other kinds of studies, they would take these children and they'd put 'em in a room when they're watching Star Wars. Guess how they did? Perfectly fine. Not only that, but if you take a student with ADD and then you put them in a room just with the video game and leave them without their parents on their own, they could last for hours on end.

As a matter of fact, they won't even take a pee-pee break. Why? Part of that is because for video games, the reward is instantaneous. When you're working with a piece of paper, the rewards are super delayed. You don't get 'em until the end of the semester. Does that make sense?

They have found that giving immediate reward for individuals with ADD, ADHD, et cetera, drastically changes all of their behavior, all their capacity. Why am I talking about this? It's because here we're looking at motivation. The scripture is challenging us. We have motivation in Christ. We have His pure blessings.

How does the Galatians, how does the book of Galatians tackle the problem of perseverance? He says you're free in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says you're part of this grand promise. You're children of promise. You have not just simply Mount, you know, like Mount Sinai to look for. You don't have an earthly mountain to look for, and you definitely don't have just simply a system to look for.

You have the heavenly one, right? He gives you identity. He gives you hope for all eternity, and then He says you're actually free to love. You're free to serve the Lord. So concluding with this kind of cross-reference here, it says 1 Peter chapter two. For such is the will of God.

For us, the motivation, internal to the will of the Lord, that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of the foolish men, act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the king.

If, if we tackled, let's say for example, attention deficit and told a young student, "Dude, grow up. "You have to be self-motivated. "You have to want to succeed in life. "You're never gonna succeed like this. "Do it for yourself," right? What do you think would happen? Honestly speaking, what do you think would happen?

Likewise, I hope, I hope you know that within the Christian faith, trying to motivate you, it's like, "Hey, just do it for yourself," or just simply, "You can do it," or something like that. If you were to find a source of energy and motivation deep in your heart, Scripture literally says, "This would be an impossible task." But for every single one of us, we have hope, hope in our Savior, hope in His promise, hope in the mighty hand of God to accomplish everything that He said He will do, not only in all of history, but in your specific private life, amen?

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the encouragement and challenge of your word. God, we do have tendencies, Lord, to sometimes be so self-focused, insulated, always preserving and protecting self. But God, we know that you have called us, God, to express what you have given to us in the fullness of Christ, in an outward working of love, a power to be vulnerable, a power to give, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, grace, and God, even good intention.

So I pray, Lord, that you will encourage and challenge us to do so. God, that we would bear good fruit to your glory. We thank you in Christ's name, amen. Thanks, everyone. (audience applauding) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) and God, we thank you for the encouragement and challenge of your word, in an outward working of love, a power to be vulnerable, a power to give, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, grace, and God, even good intention.

So I pray, Lord, that you would encourage and challenge us to do so, in an outward working of love, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy, in thankfulness to lavish others with mercy.

Thank you for joining us, and I'll leave you to your groups. Thank you for joining us, and I'll leave you to your groups. Thank you for joining us, and I'll leave you to your groups. Thank you for joining us, and I'll leave you to your groups.