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The Two Spirits in Luke 15: Trusting the Father · Wetumpka Church of Christ Online

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Jackson Oh, there we go. I was like, I was about to say
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you lied to me. You said I pushed the button and
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it turns on. But it did still be.
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Having our own. Conversation I that's, isn't
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that what you do during every class regardless of who's
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teaching? I don't take that personally.
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That's just you. Welcome.
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It's good to see everyone again. We do still have like 25 seconds
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or something, so I'll let you get seated and stuff before we
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actually dive in. I believe in the power of
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silence, but I'm not very good at it.
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So it runs in every family in this congregation.
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Well, welcome. It's good to see everyone again.
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Thanks for for being here this beautiful sunny Sunday.
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We're looking forward to some good fellowship later on as we
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celebrate our our graduates. We're looking for forward to a
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good lesson later on. In the meantime, we'll continue
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our class that we started last week.
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This is a little mini class because Dwayne Bryant is
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actually teaching this quarter, but he's out out of town for the
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next couple of weeks. So I'm, I'm filling in for him
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and I'm taking the opportunity to do a, a very short version of
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a longer class that I, I put together last year.
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So this is, and I know this is a recap for some of you, but just
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to catch us all back up to speed, Anyone who's who wasn't
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here last week. And also, you know, it's been 7
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days, so I don't blame you for forgetting what we talked about.
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But last year I did a deep dive into Luke 15 and learned a lot.
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And I, I taught 1/4 of the teen class last spring.
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We did it all in Luke 15, taught 1/4 of the young adult class
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last fall and did same class. And so this is last week, this
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week and next week is 1/4 of the quarter.
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So you're getting 33 bits of the, the longer lesson in, in
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these three consecutive weeks. And again, I'll say, you know,
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I'm shameless. I, I, I would petition that, you
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know, anyone who's making decisions that if you want a
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whole quarter on this topic, I've got it and I would love to
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present that. So I'll, I'll, I'll hit up the
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elders later on. But if, if you, if you want to
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put in a good word too, that might not hurt, But but I
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appreciate the opportunity to, to spend a couple of weeks
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sharing some of the things that that I've, I've learned about
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this chapter. We're going to in a moment, do a
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just a quick recap of what we talked about last week.
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And then we're going to move into this week before that.
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We'll we'll start with a prayer. I'm sorry, can I put you on the
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spot? Andrew, do you mind?
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Do you want the mic? OK.
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Let's pray it again. Almighty God, we love you and we
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praise you. We thank you for allowing us to
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be together. We thank this beautiful weather.
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We thank you for the opportunity to dive into your word that you
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have providentially preserved for us.
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We praise you. We help our minds to focus, to
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be sharp, and to draw lessons from your word that you'll be
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with painting as he presents it, that he'll do so in a good
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manner that he's accustomed to. We pray all these things through
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Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.
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I also, I'm going to record, just FYI.
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So if you make a comment or ask a question, then it is being
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recorded. But I I like that recordings of
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my lessons. So start.
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All right. So today we're going to continue
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with our our mini series on Luke 15.
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The premise of the class that I stated last week is that Luke 15
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is the entire gospel distilled into one chapter.
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And as the entire gospel in one chapter, it's going to have
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echoes and connections and reverberations throughout all of
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the New Testament and and even into the Old Testament.
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So my premise is that once you really do a deep, deep dive and
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understanding of Luke 15, then you're going to start seeing it
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show up in all the other interactions that Jesus had with
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other people, all of his other teaching.
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And certainly that includes his parables.
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There is a lot of parallels and links in his parables to, to
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this chapter. So that's sort of my, my top
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down premise is that we can, by knowing Luke 15, we can start
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really understanding the gospel and start seeing the, the themes
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of this story show up throughout all of Jesus's life and ministry
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and then on into the new test, the rest of the New Testament as
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well. So last week we did the, the,
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the good overview reading of Luke 15.
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We're not going to do that again this week.
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Actually today we're not even going to be turning to Luke 15.
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We're going to be this, we're going to be going off road to
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some other passages. But last week we did the, the
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sort of the, the, the good overview.
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When I say good, I don't mean that you know, I did it well.
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I mean like we would try to do like a thorough overview of of
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Luke 15 and making sure that we understand the concepts.
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So one of the things we talked about was it showing different
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ways that people get lost just like the the sheep.
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Sometimes we wander away just like the coin.
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Sometimes we get lost because someone else has been careless
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with us, like the younger son. Sometimes we get lost because we
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just turn her back and leave. And then like the older son,
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sometimes we're lost even though we're sitting here going through
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the motions, doing everything supposedly right.
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One of the things that I pointed out last week is that the entire
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chapter is the same parable told in multiple different ways, but
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it's all told to a specific audience.
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And that was the scribes and Pharisees who were angry that
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Jesus was accepting the the people that they look down on
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that they were they were upset that he was accepting them, that
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they were coming to him. And so he spends that whole
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chapter talking to the Pharisees.
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And then he concludes it with the the meditation on the older
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brother, which I submitted to you.
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And I stand by that. That is the point of the chapter
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is that everything that he's talking about with the coin, the
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sheep, the other brother, the father, that all is leading to
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him saying to the Pharisees, this is who you are.
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And now what are you going to do about it?
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So that's my that's my premise is that this is about the
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Pharisees. And it's it's the main character
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of the story, honestly, in my opinion, is the older brother.
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That's also the one story when one part of that parable that
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doesn't have a conclusion, right?
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It just, it just ends it, it ends with the father's
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invitation to the older brother. And then that gives us room to
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meditate on what what comes next, what comes next in that
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story, but more importantly, what comes next in our lives.
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So one of the things we talked about is the ways that the
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danger that we can be in as strong and faithful members of
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the church if we are content and self-righteous by doing
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everything right. But we don't have the heart of
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service. So we're going to build on some
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of that today. And again, as I said a minute
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ago, this is a sliver of a, of a longer study.
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I have so many things I would love to share and things I would
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love to talk about. So we're, we're going to, we're
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going to limit ourselves just because we have to.
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But if you want to talk about this chapter outside of this
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class, please come to I, I would, I could talk all day
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about about this story and then these characters.
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Today, though, I want to zoom out a little bit and we're going
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to take sort of this, forgive me, this philosophical look at
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the actions and attitudes of the two brothers, the younger, the
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younger brother, and the older brother.
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I mentioned last week that a lot of my learning on this topic
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came from a handful of books. And to be honest with you, I
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don't remember which book I, I took this part from.
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So read them all. They're all good.
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Next week I'll put them on the slideshow so you can can jot
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them down. But they were will God run by
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Charles B Hodge. It's a question will God run
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question mark. The answer is yes.
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He runs out the front door to meet the the younger son.
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So Charles B Hodge will God run was one of them.
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The Return of the Prodigal Son by Andrey Newen was another one.
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And then the Prodigal God by Timothy Keller was another one.
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And I'm not here to endorse everything that those guys
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taught or believed. I don't know what all they
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taught, I believe, but I'll tell you those books were, were very
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good, insightful and helpful. OK, so today we're going to talk
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about the, the two, the two spirits that were represented by
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by the two sons in Luke 15. I call them the younger brother
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spirit and the older brother spirit.
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And I'm sorry that this is very small.
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Of course, we'll, we'll read them and we'll go through them.
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But what we we have is each of these two brothers sort of
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demonstrated a way of thinking, a way of living that shows their
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deeper motivations in their in their deeper ways, they
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interacted with the father and the ways they they saw the
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world. These two spirits are alive and
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well today in humans across the board and certainly in the in
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the church. So the younger brother spirit, I
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might have some bullet points here.
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We'll go through them, but I just want to toss it out to you
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guys. What are some things that you
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think of? You can steal from me if you
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want, or you can do your own thoughts.
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What are what are the things that you think of?
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How would you describe the way the younger brother fought and
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acted? Yeah.
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He's like, what I have here is not good enough.
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There's there's better things out there.
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Yes, Sir. No planning at all.
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It's just like feet first. Let's get out there and and do
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what we want to do. Yes, Sir.
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I think he ran into a a family. Yeah.
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Not something that was planned. I think that if he had gone and
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there hadn't been that famine, he might, he might have kept his
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wealth, he might have stayed wealthy in this other.
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Land good, good point so he had he had his desires but he didn't
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plan ahead and then that that came to bite him but also in a
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bizarre way that also is what brought him back so yes, very
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good What else? Self-centered.
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Self-centered. Yeah.
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He he's he's he would rather have the inheritance than have
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the father. He would rather be on his own
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than have the the family. Now the parable talks about the
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father and two sons it mentions A servant or two again this is a
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story like Jesus told this story.
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I don't think that Jesus is telling us like a real thing
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that happened He's telling us a story so I take it that we can
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imagine like was there a mom in there too with her other
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siblings possibly. I mean, there's a mother at some
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point, but that's beside the point.
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Yes, Sir. You.
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Know some people have said there's a difference selfishness
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and self centeredness and they define it this way I don't know
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if that's accurate but there is at least two different ways to
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be selfish. You know, 1 is I'm going to do
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something to the detriment of this other person and I don't
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care because I don't like that person whatever.
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And the other, and I think this really is more the what the
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younger and the older brother have is they literally only
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think of themselves. They're not saying this could
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hurt this person and I don't care.
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Right. Literally, they don't even think
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about what it could do to someone else, particularly both
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of them. What it might do to their
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father. Yes, beautiful.
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Exactly. Yes Sir, this this may have
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blocked. Both as well, but but I would
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say just that. That utter lack of gratefulness.
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Of gratefulness, yes, absolutely yes.
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And, and you're right, we're going to put a pin on that
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because we're we're, we're going to build on that in a moment.
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But yeah, the lack of gratitude is shocking and familiar.
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Yeah. Yeah, right.
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Yeah. He, that's a really good point
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because we always talk about like, he says he would rather
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have the money than have his father.
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He would wish his father were dead, etcetera.
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But yeah, he's he's he's presuming that he's going to get
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something right, which is based on the fact that the father
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loves him and that the father cares for him and he doesn't.
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He doesn't. OK, yes.
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He had to go through the, the, the hardship to change.
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Yes, ma'am. I feel like that perhaps.
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This is the average thing in many families, even in the.
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Church. Yes, you know.
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Maybe for a while, then maybe you're willing to come back and
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do the many prayers. I I think you are right, yes.
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Just in the end, the younger brother that took everything, he
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he was brought to his knees and he was willing to accept
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humbleness. And then I feel like the roles
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were reversed with them when he goes home and is willing to be a
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servant, willing to take his punishment, whatever it was.
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Yeah. And then the older brother is.
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Then he's the one that turns. Selfish.
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Yeah, into that. When I taught this to the teens,
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the teens have amazing insight on these things.
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I I was jotting down notes in my phone as they were, as we were
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teaching, as they, they had some great insights.
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This one of the teens said that at the beginning of the story,
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the younger brother is acting like the older brother acts at
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the end of the story where you know, it's, it's, it's a very
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similar attitude. So the things that I have listed
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as the younger brother spirit, these are things like my wants
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are the most important. Like what I want matters more
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than what you want. Anything is worth trying once.
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OK, so to some degree that might not be a bad thing.
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But if that's your attitude that you're walking through life with
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where, where it's not about what comes next or how this effects
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other people, that that's a problem.
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Other people are holding me back.
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Like I could be so much more. I could be so much better if it
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wasn't for whoever it is, but in this case, my dad who's just
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holding me back, maybe my brother who's who kind of hates
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me and he's and he's holding me back.
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My responsibilities don't matter.
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You know, at the end of it all, I just, I need to do what I need
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to do what I want to do and it's not my problem.
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Like whatever comes next is not my problem.
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I don't have a again, responsibility for the family or
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the farm. It's not my problem.
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That's your problem. You deal with it.
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Those are things that are exhibited by the younger
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brother. And again, I, I will always
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invite us to look at ourselves. I suspect those are things we
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sometimes see in ourselves. So that younger brother spirit
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is alive and well. Like we've said a couple of
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different times already. Now the older brother spirit has
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similar but different approach. And we've mentioned a few
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already. Well, I'll go and read these and
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we'll see if there's anything else that he wants to bring up.
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The older brother has the attitude of why is he getting
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praise or opportunity that I'm not right?
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Why is that person being put on a pedestal?
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Why is that person being invited to speak?
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Why is that person being celebrated and I'm not?
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I hope everyone sees how hard I'm working.
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I, I hope that everyone knows the, the, the work that I'm
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putting into the family, the congregation, the community.
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I, I hope that they see just how much I'm, I'm bleeding and
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sweating for this also has the attitude of I have to do
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everything around here like this is, this is all it all falls on
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me like nobody else is taking responsibility for anything.
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If it wasn't for me, then it wouldn't get done.
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I deserve to be treated well. OK, and again, sure, we all do,
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but it's not I deserve to be treated well because I'm beloved
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of the father. It's I deserve to be treated
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well because I'm doing everything around here and I'm,
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you know, got it all pulled together and nobody else does.
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And then the classic, at least I'm not like that guy.
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I might have problems, I might be a jerk, I might be unloving
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and hard hearted, but at least I'm not like that guy, right?
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That reminds us of a parable that Jesus taught right about
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the, the, the Pharisee and the and the publican.
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So that's the spirit that that older brother in Luke 15.
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That's that's what he's exemplifying other.
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What else would we add to that list?
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Other thoughts? Yes, Sir.
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Whoever humbles himself will be exhausted.
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I think that's kind of the moral of the story.
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I think that's, I think because it's.
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True, but rather yeah and that's this is this is what makes it so
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challenging is because we know that right?
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We, we're the, we're here on a Sunday morning at a Bible class
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like we, we get that right where we're here because we're, we're
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sacrificing time and energy to serve him.
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We understand exactly what you're saying that that to be
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raised up, you have to humble yourself.
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And yet again, I'll speak for myself.
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I'll invite you to consider yourself.
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And yet I find myself sometimes living out every one of those
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bullet points. It's, it's, it's, it's the, it's
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the same challenge and tension that we always have.
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We know what the Bible says and we also have our own feelings
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and and wants and and and the the pull to do what we want to
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do. Yes, Sir.
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When we break it down like that, the older brother looks like the
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one who would feel that he's an irreplacement.
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Yes. I I never read that into that.
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Paragraph. Before, but when I look at that,
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that's what I see is a person who feels their ear.
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That's a really great point and OK, so forgive me, we've all
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worked with the person who has that attitude, right?
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We all have that person in our office or our workplace without
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me and this and we're like, OK, we we could try though, like
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it'd be nice if we just give us a chance and we'll we'll do what
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we can. Like that's that that's that's a
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real thing. Yes, Sir.
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A. Couple of different times when
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you'd mentioned that you look at it and that's such the case
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throughout all of life. And, and with both of these,
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with both of their struggles, they're taking something good.
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The older brother's taking responsibility good and taking
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it to the extreme. The younger brother is, I don't
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know, taking forgiveness, perhaps the good, I'm not sure.
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But you know that they're taking something and then they're going
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to the extreme. And that's what we often do,
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especially in the older brother's case.
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He is doing the right thing, sort of, but he is taking it to
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the extreme, which makes it the the wrong thing.
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Very good. Absolutely.
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So I again, my, my premise is that we can make connections
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throughout the, the whole Bible. So just some, some thoughts
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here, some people in the Bible that might exemplify some of
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these things. When we think about lot, we
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think about Eve, we think about Jacob.
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I think Jacob is a really good example of that younger brother.
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Like I'm going to get what I want.
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I'm going to do what I want, whatever the consequences are
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for somebody else. The older brother's spirit shows
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up in Martha, who? OK.
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In the larger class, we do like a whole session on Martha
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because she's my favorite New Testament character.
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I identify with her a lot. I love her.
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And we don't have time to talk about her.
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So come talk to me later and I'll tell you all about Martha.
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But we see that exact, that spirit in her where she's like,
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like, won't you tell her to come help me?
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Like I'm doing everything for you and she's not doing
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anything. We see that with James and John,
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right when they they want to sit on the left and right hand of
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Jesus. They don't even know what that
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entails, but they want it. We see it with Saul who is gets,
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he gets eaten alive by his jealousy of David.
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So we see that these two, I'm calling these two spirits, these
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two attitudes, they exist throughout the Bible.
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They're exemplified in this chapter.
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They exist in our lives today, but here's like the crazy thing,
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and a couple of you already touched on this.
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They're all rooted in the same thing.
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They're both rooted in the same false premise, which is I can't
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trust the father and I have to find my own way.
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Think about that, whether it's the younger brother who's
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leaving home or the older brother who's staying home and
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is stewing in his misery. They're both having the same
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ultimate issue, which is I don't trust my father to provide for
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me. I don't trust him to love me.
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I don't trust him to take care of me.
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And that means I have to do it on my own.
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So in the younger brothers case, that means I'm going to leave,
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I'm going to take what's mine quote UN quote and go do what I
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want to do and find my own path out in the world.
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For the older brother, that means I'm going to stay and
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enjoy the benefits of living and working in the Father's Kingdom.
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But I'm not going to give him credit for it and I'm not going
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to be grateful for it. And I'm going to consider it
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just what he owes me for the work that I'm doing.
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And that that to me, and this is Peyton's opinion, that is the
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root of most of the sins that we struggle with in our lives.
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In my opinion, I can't trust him and I have to do it on my own.
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When the whole point of the gospel and what is exemplified
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beautifully in Luke 15 with the Father and the woman searching
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for the coin and the shepherd searching for the sheep, is that
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you can trust Him. He does want you and He will
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move heaven and earth to get you.
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He he will, He will come find you or in the case of the two
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sons, he'll he'll wait for you to come back to him.
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But he but the point is he wants you.
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He chooses you despite the whispers that Satan whispers in
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our in our mind in. Other.
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Words he gives us chances he he gives us opportunities yeah,
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yeah, absolutely. He gives us what we need and
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then we we choose how we how we respond.
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Does that lead us to a greater humility and service and love.
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Hopefully that hopefully that's the path that we're all on.
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Some some of us will have challenge with that and and
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it'll make us harder. I see the hands give me one
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second. We're going to we're going to
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keep moving because there's some points I want to to connect and
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then we'll we'll have time for comments in a moment.
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But you know, I, I will say as a literal older brother, I, I do
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identify some or a lot with the older brother.
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And it's very easy for me to say that, you know, 3 feet away from
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my actual younger sibling, but she can probably corroborate.
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But it's a, that's a, that's a thing.
22:51
Like that's a real thing. That's the thing in my life.
22:53
Those are, those are thoughts that I have to, to work against
22:56
both in my Christian life and in my, you know, my, my family
23:00
life. It's all the same thing.
23:02
You get what I mean? Some of those things are just
23:05
part of being human in a fallen world is that we we deal with
23:08
with we deal with that. Again, it all leads back to this
23:12
point. And this is the same trick that
23:15
Satan has always used. And in fact, it is the same deal
23:19
that Satan offered Jesus himself.
23:22
And so this is where we're going to spend most of our our time
23:25
today is Matthew chapter 3, verse 13 into chapter 4, verse
23:29
11. We're going to look at the
23:32
temptation of Jesus in this context.
23:36
So again, the premise here is that our sin is almost always
23:40
rooted in the, the feeling or the fear that I can't trust God.
23:45
He, he, he won't provide for me unless I do it myself.
23:48
I, I have to take care of myself.
23:50
And we're going to see that this is, we've already kind of
23:54
pointed out, this is how Satan has operated with all, all the
23:56
people we've already know and love in the Bible.
23:59
This how he's going to approach Jesus as well.
24:01
So let's look at Matthew chapter 3, starting in verse 13.
24:04
We're going to see here that Jesus is going to, at the
24:07
beginning of his ministry, go from the highest of highs to a
24:12
very, very low low in a matter of 40 days.
24:16
So starting in chapter 3, verse 13, then Jesus came from Galilee
24:21
to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.
24:24
And John tried to prevent him saying I need to be baptized by
24:27
you and you're coming to me. But Jesus answered and said to
24:30
him, permit it to be so now for thus it is fitting for us to
24:33
fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed him.
24:36
So we see here that Jesus is submitting himself to the work
24:41
of the Father. He he is, he's coming willingly.
24:43
This the the baptism of Jesus probably does many things, but
24:46
one of the things it does for sure is it symbolizes his entry
24:50
into the work. He is now taking on the role
24:55
that he was born to fulfill intentionally.
24:58
He's being baptized by John. He has to talk John into doing
25:00
it. So kudos to John for I think we
25:02
would all have the same reaction.
25:03
Hold on, you want me to baptize you?
25:07
And then verse 16, this is I, I, I don't want to speak for Jesus.
25:12
I'll say, if this was me, this would probably be like the
25:15
number one thing on my resume. Like this is the thing that
25:17
would be the, the, the greatest memory of my entire life.
25:21
Verse 16, when he had been baptized, Jesus came up
25:24
immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were open to
25:27
him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a
25:30
lighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from
25:32
heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
25:35
pleased. OK, pausing just to say, for one
25:38
thing, isn't that what we're all looking for, right, is is the
25:41
father, or maybe a father, even an earthly father, saying this
25:45
is my beloved son or daughter and who I'm well pleased.
25:48
Like that's that's the thing that motivates a lot of people
25:50
to do a lot of good things and a lot of bad things.
25:53
But we see Jesus is submitting to God.
25:57
He's submitting to his role. He's stepping into his ministry
26:01
and immediately he gets a very public and visceral reward slash
26:07
reaction. When you have the Holy Spirit
26:11
coming on him like a dove, you have the voice of God from
26:13
heaven saying to anyone listening, this is the guy, this
26:17
is my beloved son. I'm well pleased in him.
26:21
And if that happened to me, I would be walking on air like
26:25
that sounds that sounds pretty pretty amazing.
26:28
Of course there's all the things that we are we always talk about
26:29
where I know that this is where we see the Father Son, the Holy
26:31
Spirit all together in one place on earth.
26:34
We we see you know, we've talked about like his submission.
26:37
His obedience is is example to the rest of us by being baptized
26:41
all that's there. But if you think about it, the
26:45
Jesus, the man, he is now walking into a hard ministry,
26:51
having had the public approval of God.
26:56
He, he's, he's carrying that with him.
26:58
There's people that have witnessed it, that will be
27:00
remembering it and talking about it.
27:02
And that's, that's a pretty high high.
27:04
But immediately, immediately God takes him to a very low, low
27:11
with it. So the very next verse 41, then
27:13
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be
27:16
tempted by the devil. So God raises him up and then
27:21
God is going to take him into the wilderness to be tempted to
27:23
be it tells it expressly says to be tempted by the devil.
27:27
So he's going out into the wilderness.
27:29
And he had fasted when he had fasted verse 240 days and 40
27:31
nights afterward, he was hungry, which to me is probably the a
27:35
great understatement. He was hungry, you know, 40 days
27:38
and 40 nights later he was hungry.
27:40
Now when the tempter came to him, he said, if you are the Son
27:44
of God, command that these stones become bread.
27:46
But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by
27:48
bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of
27:51
God. So the highest of the highs out
27:54
into the wilderness for over a month.
27:57
Wilderness implies alone. It implies not a very pretty
28:01
place to be. It implies some deprivation.
28:04
The the fasting obviously says that he, he did not, he did not
28:10
have or he did not choose to partake of any kind of physical
28:13
nourishment. He's, he's out there.
28:16
And again, this is Peyton's opinion.
28:18
I always like what is happening in those forty days and 40
28:20
nights, Peyton's opinion. He's talking to God.
28:23
He's, he's, he's getting, he's getting everything set up.
28:26
He's, he's, they're walking through what's going to happen.
28:30
That that's my, that's my take on it.
28:33
But he's, he's out there. And then after 40 days and 40
28:35
nights, here comes the tempter. And what does the tempter start
28:39
with? It's fascinating.
28:40
He starts with, if you're the Son of God, command that these
28:44
stones become bread. This is a direct attack on God
28:52
as provider for Jesus, right? This is Satan directly attacking
28:57
the idea that God will sustain him and that he'll he'll take
29:01
care of him. He's saying what we've just
29:04
said. You're hungry.
29:05
You have to do it yourself if you want something you've got to
29:09
take reach out and take it. You got to you got to use your
29:12
power for your ends. Jesus answered and said is
29:18
written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
29:20
that proceeds from the mouth of God.
29:22
So so Jesus, of course, as we always point out, he has
29:24
scripture handy. He knows what to say.
29:27
But we see the point that I was making a minute ago that Satan's
29:32
attack, and we always talk about less the flesh, less the prior
29:36
to life in this passage. That's true too.
29:38
But the attack is you can't trust God to take care of you,
29:42
you have to do it on your own. He continues verse 5, The devil
29:46
took him up into the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the
29:49
temple and said to him, if you were the Son of God, throw
29:51
yourself down. For it is written, he shall give
29:53
his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bury
29:56
you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
29:58
Jesus said to him, it is written again, you shall not tempt the
30:01
Lord your God. So now the devil, he's caught
30:05
on, He's going to use Scripture as well.
30:06
He takes him to the pinnacle of the temple.
30:08
He says jump off, they'll save you.
30:11
You are too important, you are too special.
30:15
God will save you. He will not let you get hurt.
30:19
You can prove your worth in a way that the world cannot
30:23
ignore, right? That that's the temptation.
30:26
That's the offer that that Satan is making.
30:28
You can jump off this pinnacle. You can in front of all these
30:33
witnesses because you know that temple is full of people all the
30:35
time. In front of all these witnesses,
30:36
you can be publicly rescued by the angels.
30:39
And you have just had a great shortcut.
30:42
So you don't have to like go and be hungry all the time.
30:44
You don't have to go and be homeless.
30:46
You don't have to convince people to follow you.
30:48
You don't have to prove to them that you're the Son of God in
30:51
any hard way. You can just do it and God will
30:53
just take care of you. And then so be it like now, now
30:57
they know you're the Son of God. And it's interesting.
31:01
Jesus says it's written you should not tempt the Lord your
31:04
God. You know, was that a temptation
31:07
to him? What was he over the last 40
31:09
days and 40 nights coming to a full understanding of what he
31:12
was going to have to live through and then die through?
31:15
And is that a temptation to say, you know, it might be easier
31:18
just to do the the quick. I am important God, God, I'm his
31:21
beloved son. He he is, he is going to take
31:24
care of me. Maybe he wouldn't let me crash
31:27
on on the earth. Is that a temptation to him?
31:31
I think so, but it's the same thing.
31:33
It's it's the, the devil saying you're going to make God
31:40
beholden to you, right? You're going to force God's
31:43
hand. It's just like the older
31:44
brother, like, you know, my father owes me because I've done
31:47
all these things. Satan's offering that to, to
31:50
Jesus here. Your father owes you.
31:51
He won't let you die because he needs you and he owes you and
31:54
you can be famous and and powerful without having to go
31:59
through the hardships, but he's not done yet.
32:02
Verse 8 again the devil took him up on an exceedingly high
32:05
mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their
32:07
glory. And he said to him, all these
32:09
things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.
32:12
Then Jesus said to him, away with you Satan, for it is
32:14
written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you
32:18
shall serve. Then the devil left him, and
32:19
behold, angels came and ministered to him.
32:23
So now he says, you're here to be the king of, of man.
32:27
You're here to, to, to rule and, and save man that now, I don't
32:32
know if the devil knew at this point that was going to lead to
32:34
the cross or not. I, I don't know what he
32:35
understood, but the, the temptation here, the offer here
32:40
is you can do that easily. If you worship me.
32:43
I'll just go ahead and give it to you.
32:46
You, you don't have to again go through the hardships.
32:47
You don't have to go to the cross.
32:49
You don't have to sacrifice yourself.
32:51
I can give you the same thing that your father is offering
32:54
you. It's the world.
32:56
It's here. I can.
32:57
I can offer it to you right now. All you have to do is worship me
33:01
instead of go through the hardship that that's laid out
33:03
before you. Again, it's the same premise.
33:05
You can't trust God. You have to find a shortcut.
33:09
You have to do it on your own. You have to find another way
33:12
around His plan. And Jesus, of course, is strong.
33:18
It's interesting to me. I think I said it a lot.
33:21
This is also interesting to me. The way that Jesus runs away
33:25
with you, Satan is like you almost get as a level of
33:27
impatience, right? You're almost like this is, this
33:30
is real temptations. I, I think that we, we can't
33:32
discount that these are real temptations.
33:34
And he's saying, I'm finished. Like I, I can't listen anymore
33:38
because it, it's effective. We know it's effective because
33:42
we fall for the same lies, right?
33:44
Because we take the same deal over and over again in our
33:46
lives. So we know it's an effective
33:48
temptation. He says away with you.
33:52
It is written you shall worship Lord your God and him only shall
33:55
you serve. It's like full stop.
33:57
I know who I serve. I know why I serve him.
34:00
I know what I'm doing and I I'm not listening to you any longer.
34:05
And then verse 11, the devil leaves him and behold, angels
34:08
came and ministered to him. So we have the highest of the
34:12
highest public approval by the voice of God to the lowest of
34:18
lows over a month of solitude and and fasting, followed by
34:25
direct temptations by the tempter turning the screws,
34:31
twisting the very things that will matter to Jesus.
34:36
He comes through that temptation and then angels come and
34:40
minister to him. So he is then, for this is not
34:44
the right word. This is the only word I have in
34:45
the moment. He's then restored.
34:46
I don't mean he fell away, but like then he is, then he is
34:48
refreshed. He is then restored by the
34:51
angels who ministering to him suggest to me they're bringing
34:54
them food and they're taking care of him.
34:56
They're comforting him and so he now is then able to stand on his
35:01
feet and then go forth and, and do his work and, and ultimately
35:06
fulfill his role. But what we see is that Satan
35:11
was working on him, the way he works on us and the way that is
35:14
demonstrated in in Luke 15. You can't do it on your own.
35:18
You can't sorry. You can't trust the Father and
35:21
you have to do it on your own. Excuse me, that that's the
35:23
message that Jesus got three times.
35:26
That's the message that we get every day in our lives.
35:29
All right, I'm going to pause, ask for reactions and comments.
35:32
Guess Neil I. Think pride is the present, the
35:36
idea that you deserve better. Same thing you see with eating
35:41
the snake in the garden. Same thing that you see in the
35:44
prodigal son and the other son that stays home.
35:48
You know, it's like you deserve more than what you've got.
35:52
And it comes back. That's that's the devil's name
35:55
again. And Jesus, he's like, you
35:56
deserve to have this trust attempt Jesus with the same
35:59
thing. And I think that when you look
36:02
at Galatians 3, that same concept gets presented to him.
36:07
I'm sorry, Galatians 4 verse one.
36:09
I mean, the heir, as long as he's a child, is no different
36:13
from a slave. That's a tough sell, you know,
36:18
So it's like the that's what the older prodigal son saying.
36:21
I'm not, you know, I didn't go waste all your money, but I
36:25
don't have anything but the next.
36:28
And that that can be a Christian in his life.
36:30
Or you could be like the rich young ruler who's trusted with a
36:34
whole lot. You know, most people in the
36:36
Bible were rich. They were the great characters
36:38
in the Bible, but they didn't really consider it day actors.
36:43
They were a steward where you get the idea of preparing
36:46
talents. The second part of that verse is
36:49
where you can know that you have all things because this is, I
36:54
mean that the heir, as long as he's a child, is a different
36:56
from a slave, though he is the owner of everything.
37:00
So really no matter how poor you are, you, if you're with God,
37:03
you're the heir of God. That's the promise that you have
37:08
all things. And if you are rich and you have
37:12
all the worldly things, you still don't have anything
37:14
because it's all God. The cow's on 1000 Hill.
37:17
They're all gods. He's all gods.
37:20
You're just the heir and you're but you've been trusted, you
37:23
know. And then the parable, one that
37:25
has five talents, he says give him the other talents.
37:27
Now he's got things like no, but he's got, he's already got
37:29
talents and God's like no, no, no, I have all.
37:33
The time, yeah, yes, if. We can get that in our thick
37:37
stalls. Then it makes us less
37:40
vulnerable. Not vulnerable, less vulnerable
37:43
to pride. It's what the father said to the
37:46
older son at the end of Luke 15. You, you are always here, and
37:50
all that I have is yours. So, Neil, you just did an
37:54
amazing job of proving my point that like all those passages,
37:57
all those parables and teachings, they all connect back
37:59
because they're all shown in Luke 15.
38:01
Yes, Sir. Yeah.
38:04
We know that the truth sets you free.
38:05
The truth here is that you know they need to be trusting the
38:10
Father. These are kind of examples of
38:11
two sides of the road that you can.
38:12
Easily kind of fall and. It's really, you know, we really
38:17
see it in all of our lives like, you know, that that start to
38:20
slide over and then, you know, we got to we got to ask God to
38:23
help us to correct that. And Paul does a good job in
38:26
Romans 7 where he says I found the law that when I want to do
38:30
right, people lies close at hand.
38:32
And so, you know, it's kind of like his way of saying, yeah, we
38:36
are free in Christ and we do the holiness.
38:39
We do follow the board, but even when we're following God in a
38:44
really great way, it can be time to kind.
38:47
Of slide off. Yeah, yeah, very good.
38:49
And yes. And that's exactly, exactly the
38:51
point is that both of those sons had what they needed.
38:55
They could trust the father. They they didn't trust him.
38:59
And so the the question is always, I always want to bring
39:03
it back to us, to you and me. Where do I fit into this story?
39:07
Like what? What am I exemplifying?
39:10
What am I living up to? I have to answer that questions
39:13
individually. But yes, Miss Marty, just.
39:16
Another thought, I was thinking so much about trusting the Lord
39:19
God with all your heart and. Soul.
39:21
Yeah, and. In such a way that that gives us
39:24
so much, so much more freedom in a way, in patience.
39:29
But at the same time, I believe that we have to.
39:32
I've always believed that we have to work with all our heart
39:35
to do the very, very best we can along.
39:38
With. That because if we don't, I
39:41
don't think we'll we'll reach the goals that we.
39:47
Really want to reach than he wants for us to reach.
39:48
Absolutely. It's it's this bizarre sort of
39:51
paradox where it's like he requires us to work really hard
39:55
and at the same time it's always a gift.
39:57
It's like we can he he requires us to work, but we never earn it
40:02
and he always offers it and it's always available even when we
40:06
don't live up the way that we should or that we we expect to,
40:10
but it doesn't. Always seem like.
40:12
Yeah, yes, we're going to thank you.
40:15
You are. You're leading me beautifully
40:17
into my next point. So in our last five minutes or
40:20
so, we're going to shift gears and look at Matthew Chapter 11,
40:26
verses 25 to 30. Now, this passage, again, I'm
40:29
speaking for myself, perhaps most of you, all of you are, you
40:34
know, farther down the road than I am.
40:36
But I can only tell you what I deal with, and that is this
40:39
passage I have had to wrestle with.
40:42
This one has been sometimes painful.
40:45
Matthew Chapter 11 verses 25 to the end of the chapter.
40:48
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, Father, Lord
40:51
of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from
40:53
the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.
40:56
Even so, Father, for it seemed good in your sight, they said.
41:00
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight.
41:02
All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one
41:05
knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father
41:08
except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal
41:11
him. Come to Me all you who are labor
41:13
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
41:15
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and
41:18
lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke
41:21
is easy and my burden is light. Now the first part here when he
41:24
says he's sort of praying. He says I thank you father that
41:28
you have hidden these things with wise and prudent have
41:30
revealed them to babies that that can be challenging to us
41:33
just got hide his truth. But the point is, again, if you
41:36
think about who is Luke 15 spoken to, it's the, it's the
41:40
elite, it's the the smart people, It's the, it's the
41:43
powerful people. And they're not getting it.
41:45
They're they're, they're blind to it.
41:47
It's the people who have allowed themselves or humbled
41:50
themselves, allowed themselves to be changed.
41:52
They're the ones who get it. I think that's what he's talking
41:54
about here. But the point that I want to
41:56
zero in on in our last few minutes is the very in there.
41:59
Come to me, all you who are labor and are heavy laden, and I
42:03
will give you rest. Sign me up.
42:05
That sounds amazing. Like I am tired of this heavy
42:07
labour. I am tired of being heavy laden.
42:10
I want some rest. Yes, thank you.
42:12
The world is stupid. Everyone around me is, you know,
42:15
struggling in various ways. I'm hurting.
42:18
Yeah. That sounds amazing.
42:20
Next line, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
42:23
And that's where I go, I'm sorry what you just said rest.
42:28
And now you say, take my yoke upon you.
42:30
Take my yoke and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in
42:34
heart. You will find a rest for your
42:36
souls. For my yoke is easy and my
42:38
burden is light. And this is where my older
42:40
brother's spirit kicks in. Maybe some younger brother's
42:43
spirit too. And I go, I don't want a yoke.
42:47
I want to be free. I don't want to serve.
42:50
I want to do what I want to do. I want to live my life the way
42:54
that I want to live it. I don't want to be subject to or
42:58
withhold with the Holden to somebody else's plan.
43:03
I want what I want. And you're telling me that you
43:07
can take aside the heavy burden just to put another yoke on me
43:11
that that's not what I want? You know that that's not how I
43:15
want to live. I don't want to be a servant.
43:18
I want to be free. I want to be the master.
43:23
And that's, that's, that's again, that's the paradox.
43:25
That's the point is that he's telling us that's not an option.
43:31
He's saying you're walking around with a yoke one way or
43:34
another. And he says, take my yoke upon
43:38
you and learn from me because I am gentle and lowly in heart.
43:43
You will find a rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy.
43:47
My burden is light. It's still a burden.
43:49
It's still a yoke. But he's saying the yoke that
43:53
Satan offers you, that the world offers you, is going to break
43:57
you down. The yoke that Ioffer you is
44:01
going to refine you. That's where the two brothers
44:05
had so much struggle. I see the hands.
44:08
Give me just one second. The younger brother, he was
44:15
free, but then he became a he went into a harder servitude
44:21
than he had at the beginning. The older brother was serving,
44:26
but he was serving in a way that was contradictory and and and
44:32
angry and and not submitting to the will of the Father.
44:38
One master loves me and knows me and wants me and will take care
44:46
of me and we'll make sure that I'm fed and I'm stored in the
44:49
barn properly and that I've got what I need.
44:52
The other master, the other yoke, beats me and hurts me and
44:58
abuses me and tears me down. So we all have a yoke.
45:05
We get to choose whose yoke we carry on our shoulders.
45:09
Did you have a hand at them? You get the last word.
45:14
When it comes to verses 28 three, there's 2 uses of the of
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the term rest here. The first one that he uses in
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verse 28 in the Greek is the verb form.
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It needs to refresh or to refill.
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The second term in verse #29 is the noun form, and it is the
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place of rest for a final rest, and so it's the same word that's
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being used in two different forms in this text.
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Beautiful. Thank you.
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All right, thank you so much. Appreciate you all.
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We'll wrap up next week and we'll talk about the Father.
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Thank you.