WEBVTT - The Secret Scoreboard 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.680 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:18.919 in your life. Enjoy the message when we say game changer. 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.840 You know, every year I pick a word several months 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:26.280 in advance and try to really build my teachings. Really, 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:28.479 rather than pick the word, I try to see what 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:30.760 God is speaking and then find a word that describes that. 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:32.080 It works better that way. 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:34.680 And I thought it was a little corny game changer, 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.760 you know, you hear that like three times a day ESPN. 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.239 But it sounded like a Gatorade commercial to me more 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.440 than a sermon series. But it really, Uh, it'll mean 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:46.879 something different when we're done with the series than it 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:47.879 does going into it. 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:48.919 And you'll see that. 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:53.319 And today it's wan lea Foundation from the Pulpit from 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:58.440 Matthew chapter six. And last year's series was called Waymaker, 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.000 And so apparently I'm on the like a Waymaker game chang. 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.679 I'm gonna do Cake Baker in twenty nineteen. See how 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:08.040 if I could make a trilogy out of it. But Matthew, 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.240 chapter six will be a good place for us to 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.039 start from. The Sermon on the Mountain. This is my 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.479 dad's favorite scripture. He used to read it every day, 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.040 and then I would use it against him when he 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:21.160 went acting right, I'd be like. 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:22.840 You read it, but are you living it? 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:26.840 So I've used the Bible against him as a as 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.479 a weapon, all right, Matthew Chapter six, verses one through four, 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.440 And I can't wait to share this with you. Very 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:38.800 powerful principle. It's practical, but it's also on another level, 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.800 very profound, and I think the best lessons are that way. 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:45.880 And so here's what Jesus said. 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.320 Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:57.120 others to be seen by them. So this might mean 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.480 you have to delete some apps on your phone, do 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:06.000 you know what I mean? Well, if you do practice 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.360 your acts of righteousness in front of others to be 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:14.799 seen by them, you will have no reward from your 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:16.280 Father in heaven. 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:19.000 That's scary. 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.320 So when you give to the needy, for instance, do 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:25.600 not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:30.160 the synagogues and on the streets to be honored by others. Truly, 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:34.200 I tell you they have received the reward in full. 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:38.079 But when you give to the needy, do not let 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:43.799 your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.400 That your giving may be in secret. 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:52.040 Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:56.120 will reward you. And the title of this message is the 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:03.560 Secret Scoreboard. When when my kids first started playing recreational sports, 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.840 I went out and I turned to the person next 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.240 to me and said, hey, they need to turn on 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.560 the scoreboard. And Elijah was playing T ball at the 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:21.000 time for the Mudcats of Mint Hill. I said, they 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.160 need to turn on the scoreboard. It was his first game. 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.560 Brother looked back at me. He had several kids that 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:28.640 already played T boy. He said, they don't keep score 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.960 at this level. And when Elijah got in the car 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:37.600 after the game, I said, congratulations on your first win. 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:44.200 He said, win. They didn't keep score. I said, I did. 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:51.520 The first thing I did when that man said they 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:52.960 don't keep score at this level. 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.000 I found an app on my. 0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:01.960 Phone and I decided every game that he played, I 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.600 was going to score it myself. And I told that 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.800 boy this the following I said, when you get in 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:14.040 this car. After the game, you ask me if you won, 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.400 and I will tell you whether or not you won. 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:22.680 I am your official scorekeeper. I believe God wants to 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.480 look at somebody today, y'all, Uncle, help me preach after 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:32.600 three weeks off. And one of the first things that 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:38.200 God does when he assumes control of your life is 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:43.400 he becomes your scorekeeper, because by default, we tend to 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:45.599 let everybody else keep. 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.680 Score, and it's hard to know. 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:53.240 Am I winning in real life, especially in adulthood, Am 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.719 I winning? I wonder that all the time. I feel 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.799 like in some areas it's the weirdest thing I will 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.000 win for a season. And while I'm winning in those 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.560 areas for that season, the other areas that are also 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.880 important to me suffer, and I can't keep up because 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.880 it's like I'm playing five sports at once, do. 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:13.440 You know what I mean. 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.960 It's like the family thing and the financial thing. Those 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.880 don't always work together. Sometimes those seem to compete against 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:25.120 each other, and it's hard to keep score, especially because 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.720 now we live in a world where there are permanent 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.520 reminders of everybody else's score, and even though they're not 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:34.880 playing the same sport, they don't have the same calling 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.480 the same circumstances, the same situation. We're all living on 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.680 the same platforms, being fed the same false images, and 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.520 wondering is their life really that much better than mine? 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.200 Or are they just a better photographer? The game has 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.599 changed because back in the day, you used to compare 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.400 yourself to a really small circle of people, whoever was 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:54.960 around you. 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:56.760 And that's why I grew up thinking I was. 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.440 A good guitarist, because I didn't have any real good 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.919 guitarist to see on YouTube, and so you know, whoever 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.479 else played guitar, all three of us, that was my 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:07.680 standard of comparison. 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:11.760 But the game has changed now. 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:16.560 It's it's no longer possible to feel really good about 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.479 yourself for any length of time because the standards have 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:24.679 shifted and the game has changed. 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:26.400 Touch somebody say the game has changed. 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:32.920 When Jesus preached this sermon, the Bible says at the 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.120 beginning that he went up on a mountain side and 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.279 sat down, and his disciples came to him, and he 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:42.080 began to teach them, and began to teach them. So 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:48.560 like the text speaking physically has Jesus in a all right, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:51.920 let's say physically, the text is describing elevation. He went 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.159 up on a mountain side, sat down and began to 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:54.800 teach them. 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.200 That is the physical motif of the text. This is 0:06:58.200 --> 0:06:59.400 the beginning of it. 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.240 But really what he was about to do was more 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.680 like excavation, which is that he was going to dig 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:10.120 out beneath the surface. And I'm not changing the name 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:12.320 of the church, but excavation would be a good church 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.600 name too, because when you have a really good encounter 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:19.679 with God, when you really really meet Jesus, the first 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:20.840 thing that he begins to. 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.120 Do is challenge your values. 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:26.440 And we want him to build our life up and 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.679 build us and raise us and all of these wonderful 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:32.680 promises that are indeed in his word. But if he 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.720 does not first dig out a deep enough place in 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.880 our hearts and a foundation that is steady and stable enough, 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:42.520 then even what he builds in our life will be 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:46.520 subject to situations and circumstances. And so the first thing 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:51.200 that proves the presence of God in your life is 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:55.360 that he will begin to challenge your values. You know 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.640 how you can know if you if you met with God, 0:07:58.920 --> 0:07:59.920 were your values child? 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:03.880 And I'll prove it to you when he. 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:05.760 Started preaching, because you look highly skeptical. 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.040 Right now, I won't lie. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:09.640 I thought you're going to be more energetic with an 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.040 extra hour of sleep, but apparently not. 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.880 It's all right, it's all right, i'llstle down a little bit. 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.200 When you started teaching, he said, Blessed are the poor 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:24.200 in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:29.160 are those who mourn, for they'll be comforted. Well, right 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.800 off the bat, I'm kind of confused because Jesus is 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.960 telling me that it's not those who look like they're 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.840 winning a lot of times who are really the most blessed. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.360 Blessed or the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.280 Bless for those who hunger and thirst. What's a blessing 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.480 about being hungry and thirsty for righteousness? 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:53.520 For they'll be filled. And with each of these statements is. 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:57.199 Commonly called the beatitudes, Jesus is giving a new definition 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.280 of blessing. And one thing that you'll notice about it 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:04.200 when he defines it, it's very contrary to the cultural values, 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:08.160 which are very external. You know, everything is about how 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.800 you look. If God blesses you, it is going to 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.360 show up as a physical manifestation. 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:13.440 In your life. 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.920 But when Jesus showed up, it changed the game because 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:22.920 in a religious system that was corrupted by the elevation 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:29.040 of appearances over the real condition of the heart, Jesus 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:32.080 begins to challenge the values not only of the world, 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.680 but of the religious not only in the streets but 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:38.960 in the synagogues. I've noticed the church is really good 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.960 at challenging the values of the world when it comes 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:47.559 to sexuality and entertainment and Disney. That's twenty years old, 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:49.440 but some of y'all will remember when the Church was 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:52.320 really good at challenging the value system. 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.240 Of the world. But the first thing that Jesus did, 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:55.360 seems to me, is. 0:09:55.320 --> 0:10:00.240 To challenge the value of the church, and so in 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:04.200 order to do that, he begins to dig. And it 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:08.479 really changes the game because it seems almost like an inversion, 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.800 seems like something is being flipped upside down. It's almost 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.400 as if when Jesus comes on the scene, he's less 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:20.440 concerned with playing the game right and more concerned with 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:26.240 playing the right game. Some of us are playing the 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:30.840 wrong game, and we spend a lot of our lives 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.480 trying to figure out how to play the game right. 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:37.720 But the question becomes this is the game changer. Not 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.640 are you playing the game right? But are you playing 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:44.679 the right game? And sometimes it takes us half our 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.240 lives to realize I've learned to play the game. 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.000 Right, but I wasn't playing the right game. 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:56.000 Wouldn't it be tragic to spend your whole life to 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:59.320 get good at a game that you weren't even supposed 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:04.520 to play, to win the approval of people who don't 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:08.640 sit on the throne anyway, to get really good at 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:13.200 something that isn't good for you. And I see this 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.160 more and more, more, more and more, as it becomes 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.720 easier for us to get sucked into systems of comparison 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.480 and analysis that have nothing to do with real value. 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.840 We start, we start getting good at winning, but winning 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:32.959 at what? Winning at what? And the game has changed. 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:34.800 It's changed so much for. 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.040 Young people, you know, Like when I was growing. 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:41.000 Up, it was different in terms of social media. 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:43.719 Even the games that I. 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.160 Played as a kid, the video games I played as 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.720 a kid, were much different than the games I see 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:53.240 my kids playing today. It was an entirely different level 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:57.480 of nobility involved in When the games I used to play, 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:04.400 we were doing real things, important things, like when I 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.760 was when I grew up playing games. We were we 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:15.920 were saving princesses. We were training to win heavyweight titles. 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:20.079 In order to do that, we had to we had 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:26.000 to face opponents like Soda Popinski and King Hippo from 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:30.880 Don Flamenco and the second Don Flamenco and Piston. 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:32.680 Honda and the second Bald Bull. 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.720 Real stuff, you know, things that that that that transposed 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.880 into actual life skill. But the other day, I was 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:45.200 watching my kids play game on their phone and all 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.720 they were doing and it was very it was very 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.080 fascinating to me. I just watched them for like five minutes. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:56.240 All they were doing was tapping the screen, and I 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.360 watched for a little while before I realized, there's absolutely 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.760 no strat to what they're doing right now. I didn't 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.320 know the game that they're playing because I don't play 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:06.840 games on my phone. I read my Bible because I'm 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:11.480 a pastoring. But I walked over said and I said, 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:12.800 what is that game? 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.360 What are you doing? And they said it was called 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:16.160 Cookie Clicker. 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:21.200 They said it's old, Dad, it's an old game, not 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:23.000 as old as your games, but it's an. 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.760 Old game for us. I said, Cookie Clicker, Let me 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.959 see it. How do you play? They said, you click 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:30.559 the cookie. 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:39.960 I said, all right, and then what like up up downtown, left, right, left, right, 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:40.520 ba star? 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:43.320 Is that the They. 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:47.840 Said, no, you just click. You just click the cookie. See, 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.360 these kids don't have to think like we had. Depend 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:54.480 They said, you clicked the cookie. 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:55.200 I said, all right. 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.080 And then what they said, then you get more cookies. 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.440 When you like the cookie, you get more cookies. I said, 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:04.400 And then after you get more cookies, what. 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:06.320 Do you do after you get more cookies? 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:08.400 They said, well, the more cookies you get, the more 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:11.480 the more cookies you can get each time you click. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:18.720 That's what y'all been doing over here for the last 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:27.360 thirty minutes. No Princess Zelda, no Princess Toadstool, just clicking 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:34.280 cookies to get more cookies, to get more cookies, to 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.480 get more cookies, to get more cookies. 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.440 I said, let me try that. It was addictive. I 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:48.520 loved it. Five millions of cookies and I couldn't need 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:52.720 any of them, but I had fun clicking. Let me 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:53.680 ask you a question. 0:14:54.040 --> 0:15:00.720 Have you been clicking on stuff playing a game without 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:04.600 asking the question, what is the goal of this game? 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:09.720 Have you ever argued with somebody and then you realize 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:13.560 that even if I win the argument, even if I 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:17.880 win your approval, even if I win your friendship, it's 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:22.520 not worth winning if I have to win it, even 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:33.000 if I make you like me. And that's what he 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.360 was doing. He was telling him quick clicking. Jesus was 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:39.280 saying this. He was saying, quick clicking. Tell somebody quick clicking, 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:46.440 quick clicking, and ask a different question. It's not am 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:47.520 I playing the game right? 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:49.600 You know? 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:54.280 Because you can get that right and succeed materially relationally, 0:15:55.640 --> 0:16:00.720 you could get status, you could get power and get position. 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.480 You can even be a really good preacher. But if 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:06.280 you don't do it. 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:15.040 For the right reason, you can get all the cookies 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.760 that you want, but you can't dunk any of them 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:24.840 in milk. If it's not real, am I preaching? 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:25.680 Okay? 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.800 Everybody over fifty that ever clicked on worthless stuff and 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:31.720 found out it wasn't worth clicking. 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:36.680 On makes some noise. God, the church is old. Did 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:38.640 you hear that? That was a roar? 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:42.360 Twelve and a half years ago? If I'd asked that, 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.320 it wouldn't have been. Oh that made me feel weird. 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:44.960 But it's good. 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:51.240 It'scar it's multigenerational Amen, there's some wisdom that you get. 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.560 Jesus gives it on multiple levels. And six times he 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:57.080 does this thing in the Sermon on the Mound. I 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:58.280 wish I had time to show you all of it. 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:01.600 He said, what's up a construct like this? You have 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:06.200 heard it said, But I say to you, you've heard 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:10.080 it said. And then he would quote from the Rabbinic 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.560 tradition that they had been handed through the Law of Moses. 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:14.120 But I say to you. 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:19.240 Then he would correct the values because he was speaking 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:24.919 to people who had perfected the appearance of religion. But 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.320 he understood that if the behavior is right, but the 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:31.720 belief that is beneath the behavior is not right. If 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:40.680 your values are shallow, your victories will be empty. And 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:42.600 why didn't you write that down? I worked all week 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:46.000 on that, Guston. I know you've got your pens out. 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.120 I have faith in you. If your values are shallow, 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:54.280 your victories will be empty. So I'm winning at what. 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.280 I'm winning at what? And Jeez went up on a 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.520 mountainside and he sat down. But then he began to 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:08.359 teach them He's digging beneath the behaviors to identify the 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.879 beliefs like one of them that he said he said, 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.919 you've heard it, said, don't murder. But I'm telling you, 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:19.120 if you're angry, even if you don't murder, you will 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:23.480 suffer the consequences of that anger and eventually will either 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:25.600 lead you toward taking action on it, or it will 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.800 deteriorate your spiritual condition to the point that you might 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:30.560 as well have gone ahead and done it because you're 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:32.680 living in a prison of hatred, And whether or not 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:36.200 you acted out doesn't matter, because beneath the behavior is 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:40.199 a belief that led to the behavior. This is what 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.359 we mean when we say Jesus was the game changer, 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:46.440 because he didn't just play the game. 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.919 That's why they killed him. 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:53.520 He touched lepers that they wouldn't touch. He spoke with 0:18:53.760 --> 0:19:01.280 women who they devalued. He challenged their social value by 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:05.320 associating with people who ethnically and religiously had nothing in 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.520 common with the Jewish people. And that's what they hated 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:13.560 about him. He didn't endorse their values to run his campaign. 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:16.119 He challenged their values. 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.960 He got beneath their actions and challenged their values. As 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.640 a matter of fact, he did it not only in 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.920 terms of hatred, and murder and adultery. But he did 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.359 it in terms of other areas. Like one thing he 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.680 said was you've heard it said love your neighbor. 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:36.320 But that's easy. 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:39.120 I say love your enemy. 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:45.520 See that changes the game. Grace changes the game. I said. 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.200 The grace of God is a game changer. 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:54.000 When the grace of God really becomes operative in your life. 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.480 What Jesus is saying when he says love your enemy 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:02.240 is you can't insist on God relating to you one 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:05.960 way and then you turn around and relate to people 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:07.760 another way. 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:10.000 So if you want God to. 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:14.400 Be gracious to you, that grace has to flow not 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:18.439 only to you, but through you. And if it's not 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:23.120 flowing through you, it didn't really flow to you. If 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.359 you don't give it, you don't got it. 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:26.439 Now. 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:29.560 I'm sorry for my grammar, but my theology is spot on. 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:32.800 It's a game changer. 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:36.159 And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.879 only begodden Father, of the Father full of grace and truth. 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:43.639 So when grace shows up, it changes the game. 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:45.840 And the Bible actually says. 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:49.240 That when Jesus finished teaching all these things, the people 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:53.000 were amazed at his teaching not because he was so funny, 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:57.240 not because he was so succinct, not because of the 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:00.600 human wisdom. But he taught as one who had authority, 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.080 and not as one of their teachers. 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:03.200 Of the law. 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.280 Well, what was it that the teachers of the law 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:08.240 were teaching that had no authority? 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:11.080 They were teaching on the basis of appearance. 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:17.520 And that's what he's correcting in Matthew chapter six. It's 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:24.960 not a giving scripture. It's a scripture about intention. So 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:27.200 when you give, he assumes that you're going to give, 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:34.840 not if when he's making the assumption that your actions 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:41.399 will align with your values. And I've learned that the 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.719 greatest way for me to know whether I'm winning in 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:48.840 my life is not to ask people you know, or 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:53.000 not to consult certain external scoreboards that can tell me 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:56.560 how I'm doing, because my bank account is a bad 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:02.560 indication of whether I'm winning, or the car I drive 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:09.000 or any of that. But when my actions match my values, 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:11.720 I'm winning. 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:19.960 And it's cool when you can get. 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:23.040 To that place, not that I live there all the time, 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:25.680 but when i'm there, I know it and I can 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:28.800 feel it. And when I'm living from that place, I 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:30.000 don't need others to. 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:34.840 Notice because my father is keeping score. 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.720 We need to shut down some scoreboards that are visible 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:47.720 in our life for a little while and get in 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:51.280 the car. Like Elijah got in the car for me, 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:53.240 and he would ask me every game did we win? 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:56.040 And I never lied to him about it. 0:22:57.000 --> 0:23:00.760 I always told him sometimes I said no, uh yeah, 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:01.760 played terrible today. 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:06.440 Honestly it was. It was painful to experience. I love 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:14.560 you anyway, but that that was awful. Am I am? 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:15.000 I winning? 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:19.760 And the game has changed now, I mean, it's it's crazy. 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:26.800 It's crazy. It's crazy because now can somebody please explain 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:28.680 to me what are v Bucks and what do they do? 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:32.280 Right? 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:34.120 Well, that's what I thought at first, like they buy 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:37.880 stuff like Okay, so my kids are playing Fortnite and 0:23:38.000 --> 0:23:41.840 they asked me will I will I give them V bucks? 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:46.160 Graham asked me, will you buy us some v Bucks? Now, 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:50.520 my first hurdle was that real world money is now 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:54.359 being exchanged for I'm telling you, man, these these games 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:59.560 have changed for money on a game. And so I 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:02.560 told Grant then I would buy him some v Bucks 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:06.240 and I think I bought him, like, you know, five 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:08.600 billion v bucks for ten dollars or something like that. 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:10.040 I don't know the system, but I bought him some 0:24:10.119 --> 0:24:12.320 V Bucks and then I went in and I said, 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:14.359 let me see what those V bucks do that I 0:24:14.440 --> 0:24:15.119 just bought you. 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:17.720