Latest / Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland / The Gospel in a Tech World

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The Gospel in a Tech World · Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

0:01
Speaker 1: Purposely Your life, God's Purpose. Listen at purposely dot com.
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Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Gospel Tech Podcast. My
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Speaker 2: name is Nathan Sutherland and this podcast is dedicated to
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Speaker 2: helping families love God and use tech. Today, we are
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Speaker 2: pivoting a little bit from our conversation on how do
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Speaker 2: we raise kids in a world that involves pornography and
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Speaker 2: how do we talk to them about it. If you
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Speaker 2: haven't listened to those last two episodes, please go check
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Speaker 2: them out. We talked with Kristen Jensen, author of Good Pictures,
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Speaker 2: Bad Pictures. She does a great job and that resource
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Speaker 2: is life giving. We're pivoting from that to just a
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Speaker 2: focus on the gospel. In the way I have it
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Speaker 2: written out is how does apply for us for our kids?
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Speaker 2: And then like to our tech. But that's a little
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Speaker 2: too clean cut because obviously we're going to talk about tech.
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Speaker 2: So my hope is over the summer break, as we're
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Speaker 2: thinking through in a different rhythm of life. Yes, there's
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Speaker 2: some tech questions that are still popping up, and that's
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Speaker 2: all very important, but like I want us to get
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Speaker 2: down to brass tacks, and I really want to focus
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Speaker 2: on three verses to do that. And this is just
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Speaker 2: stuff God's doing in my heart, and so I'm going
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Speaker 2: to share with you. And oh also, if you're watching
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Speaker 2: on YouTube or social media anywhere, you will see that
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Speaker 2: I'm back in my car office. That's because well, there's
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Speaker 2: family around, so I don't know what people are doing
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Speaker 2: behind me. I do apologize in advance for that. If
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Speaker 2: there's something super distracting that happens. I'm literally just holding
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Speaker 2: my microphone and working in my car. On the regular,
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Speaker 2: I can listen to my own music and like say
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Speaker 2: words out loud and go on a walk whenever I want.
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Speaker 2: So don't judge me. It's great, but that kind of
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Speaker 2: judge me because this is my life right now, all right.
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Speaker 2: Gospel for us Galatians five to one. We are told
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Speaker 2: for freedom. Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore,
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Speaker 2: and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
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Speaker 2: Galatians five to one is such a beautiful reminder to
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Speaker 2: us when we think about parenting, but then we think
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Speaker 2: about being the parent, so like we're not talking about
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Speaker 2: how does this apply to our kids? Like for us,
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Speaker 2: as followers of Christ, in who our parents, we put
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Speaker 2: our faith in Christ, which sets us free from sin.
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Speaker 2: And that's a beautiful reminder, because it isn't that we're
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Speaker 2: set free for license, Like God's paid our tabs, so
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Speaker 2: just ring up whatever you want and He'll make sure
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Speaker 2: to cover it. Instead, we are told that we are
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Speaker 2: set free for freedom. And the context of this verse
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Speaker 2: is Paul talking to the Galatians saying, hey, if people
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Speaker 2: are coming to you saying that's fine that you believe
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Speaker 2: in Jesus, but you have to be circumcised or your
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Speaker 2: righteousness doesn't count, then you're not saved because you're trusting
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Speaker 2: in a physical act to save you. Now, this, remember,
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Speaker 2: is the same Paul who does get a Greek Timothy
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Speaker 2: circumcised so that he can show his Jewish audience like, yes,
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Speaker 2: we still believe in the traditions and we recognize the
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Speaker 2: promise given through circumcision, not because Timothy is now saved.
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Speaker 2: That wasn't what his Jewish audience believed. They didn't believe
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Speaker 2: that Timothy was saved because of the Holy Spirit either.
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Speaker 2: They were actually going and proselytizing and saying, hey, Jesus
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Speaker 2: is how you get saved. And in order to be
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Speaker 2: able to share that message, they had him so culturally.
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Speaker 2: So keep this in mind that he's not against tradition,
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Speaker 2: he's not against culture, he's not against actions writ large,
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Speaker 2: he's against actions you believe bring you righteousness other than
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Speaker 2: faith in Christ when we live our lives than as parents.
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Speaker 2: If we believe that being a bad parent makes us
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Speaker 2: worse than good eyes and being a good parent makes
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Speaker 2: us better, that's our righteousness. And Paul is saying, you've
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Speaker 2: been set free from that. Quit looking to your good
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Speaker 2: action to make you good enough to be loved, because
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Speaker 2: one hundred percent of the time it will either lead
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Speaker 2: you to you've been doing really good. I saw a
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Speaker 2: famous Christian the other day, which is a weird phrase
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Speaker 2: to say anyway, a famous Christian, but this person's legitimately famous.
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Speaker 2: And he said he hasn't sent in eleven years, which
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Speaker 2: when I hear that, I hear I haven't repented in
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Speaker 2: eleven years. And that's terrifying. Like, that's a terrifying statement
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Speaker 2: to make, that you have not repented in eleven years.
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Speaker 2: We must watch ourselves because if we do it well,
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Speaker 2: we will believe we are crushing it and that we
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Speaker 2: have no space and no need for repentance. Which actually
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Speaker 2: I'm gonna skip there right Now in First John, he
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Speaker 2: says God is light, and in him there is no darkness.
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Speaker 2: And then he goes on to say, if we say
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Speaker 2: that we are without sin, we call God a liar,
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Speaker 2: and then we do not have Him within us. That
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Speaker 2: is not to say we're habitual sinners and Christ. That's
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Speaker 2: again we're trusting on God to just pick up our
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Speaker 2: tab and like, well, God forgives me, so I'm just
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Speaker 2: going to keep doing this. But you have a regular
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Speaker 2: need for repentance, just because the more repentance you have,
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Speaker 2: the more need of it you realize you have. And
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Speaker 2: there is no promise anywhere in the Bible that we
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Speaker 2: will achieve Christ like perfection on this side of the veil.
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Speaker 2: So if we live our lives rightly on our own strength,
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Speaker 2: trusting in our actions. So I don't swear like I
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Speaker 2: used to, I don't eat like I used to. I
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Speaker 2: don't have rage like I used to. I'm free from
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Speaker 2: these habitual sins because Christ has set me free. I
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Speaker 2: walk in the spirit. I have gifts that I can
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Speaker 2: that are very practical, tangible fruit and gifts that people
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Speaker 2: can see and point to that was God working in
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Speaker 2: your life. I have all these things God so pick
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Speaker 2: me for your kickball team. We end up on the
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Speaker 2: I haven't repented in eleven years trade Like there's self
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Speaker 2: righteousness where we go, well, why aren't you guys on
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Speaker 2: my level? Then there's the other side where we will
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Speaker 2: make a mistake, maybe even habitual mistake, a mistake God
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Speaker 2: set us free from, and we went back to because
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Speaker 2: maybe we were celebrating how great we've been doing. But
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Speaker 2: a point of pride or a point of shame, or
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Speaker 2: a point of anxiety or stress got us back into
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Speaker 2: a rut. We made a mistake, and now we're in
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Speaker 2: the I just outsend God's grace, like I know he
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Speaker 2: says he loves me, and I know that Christ died
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Speaker 2: for my sins, but like I somehow have sinned enough
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Speaker 2: that God can't forgive this one. And I know when
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Speaker 2: I say it like that, all it's tongue in cheek,
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Speaker 2: it's a little bit light, but there's weight to that,
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Speaker 2: and there's reality. All of us have committed a sin
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Speaker 2: at some point where we're like, no, I already asked
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Speaker 2: God to help me with that, or I already ask
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Speaker 2: God to forgive me for that, and I can't go
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Speaker 2: back one more time, and if we pull on that
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Speaker 2: thread enough, we won't go back, or we can't go
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Speaker 2: back because we won't go back, because we won't admit
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Speaker 2: that we still are making mistakes and we still need
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Speaker 2: a savior. We wanted God to fix us so that
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Speaker 2: we can carry it from here, which is the whole
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Speaker 2: problem in the first place, which is what Paul was
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Speaker 2: talking about. Galatians five to one says, for freedom, crisis
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Speaker 2: set is free. Stand therefore and do not submit again
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Speaker 2: to the yoke of slavery, the yoke of slavery, of
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Speaker 2: works based rightness with God, of being before God and
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Speaker 2: saying when God says, why are you in front of me?
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Speaker 2: If you go because I'm good enough, because I've worked
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Speaker 2: hard enough, because I don't sin as much as the
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Speaker 2: other guy, because you should be impressed with me God,
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Speaker 2: he says, get out of here. I've never known you.
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Speaker 2: If you say because Jesus, he says, Welcome, good and
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Speaker 2: faithful servant, He says, welcome, child of mine. You are
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Speaker 2: a child of mine because my son has covered you
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Speaker 2: in his wedding clothes, and you are now righteous. You
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Speaker 2: have rights standing before me. We're free from the slavery
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Speaker 2: of having to earn this. So today, if you and
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Speaker 2: your mind are like, oh, I just needed to get
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Speaker 2: my parenting in order, that might be true, but that's
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Speaker 2: not a salvation issue. First, you need to get your
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Speaker 2: identity in order recognize that you are a child of God,
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Speaker 2: that you are saved by grace through faith, and that
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Speaker 2: that salvation now changes your heart to have new desires.
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Speaker 2: So this is where repentance comes in, and this is
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Speaker 2: where right action comes in, where you go, oh no,
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Speaker 2: this produces bad fruit of me. This game, this movie,
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Speaker 2: this music, this hobby, this device, It produces anger and
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Speaker 2: hate and dissension and jealousy and envy and lust and greed,
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Speaker 2: and like it produces bad fruit. I go to it,
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Speaker 2: and one hundred percent of the time this comes out
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Speaker 2: of me. I'm gonna cut it off and gouget out.
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Speaker 2: Why not because I think I'm now saved because I'm
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Speaker 2: cutting it off. Instead, I do it because I love
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Speaker 2: God and I want to look more like Jesus. So
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Speaker 2: in my life this is video games. I don't think
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Speaker 2: I'm better than anyone because I don't play video games.
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Speaker 2: In fact, I acknowledge this is a weaker brother situation.
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Speaker 2: My conscience and my frail little pea brain can't handle
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Speaker 2: the input of video games without turning to them for joy, hope,
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Speaker 2: and purpose. So then I just go without video games
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Speaker 2: because I can't use them well. And if the decision
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Speaker 2: is play video games in an unhealthy way that distracts
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Speaker 2: me from God or don't play video games, like that
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Speaker 2: decision for me is easy. Doesn't mean it's always fun,
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Speaker 2: doesn't mean I'm always pumped ten out of ten, like yeah,
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Speaker 2: no video games, but it does mean, like I recognize
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Speaker 2: what's on the line, and I want to live in freedom.
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Speaker 2: I'm not going back to the slavery of Oh I'm
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Speaker 2: stressed today, I need to turn to video games to
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Speaker 2: feel okay. Instead, I'm turning to Christ and going be guys,
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Speaker 2: this is this week like my anxiety of like work,
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Speaker 2: and when I say anxiety I mean sit down to
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Speaker 2: produce something that will help people and my own self
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Speaker 2: loathing of like there's no reason you should be doing this,
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Speaker 2: Like come on, Like there's plenty of talented people with
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Speaker 2: bigger platforms and more words and YadA YadA. You can
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Speaker 2: go through the thing Who've done it better, who've done
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Speaker 2: it longer, who've read more Like these people should be
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Speaker 2: saying the words quit doing it. That anxiety, the anxiety
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Speaker 2: of there's so much work to do and this can't
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Speaker 2: possibly be worth my time and I have to go
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Speaker 2: be doing more. What more? I don't know, just more,
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Speaker 2: like the idea of more. I fall asleep with it
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Speaker 2: and I wake up with it. That kind of anxiety.
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Speaker 2: And third, and finally, to be outdone by my other anxieties,
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Speaker 2: the anxiety of no matter how much I do, it
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Speaker 2: never can be enough, because yes, I'm not good enough,
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Speaker 2: and because I haven't done enough. More but the pit
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Speaker 2: in your gut like before a test, like the anxiety
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Speaker 2: of the unknown, because you can't see how it works out,
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Speaker 2: so you don't want to start until you have a
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Speaker 2: final answer, which you always go to God and prayer.
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Speaker 2: I'm like, God, please explain where this is going before
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Speaker 2: I trust you enough to actually act on it. Those
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Speaker 2: are just some of my anxieties. I treat them with exercise,
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Speaker 2: I treat them with food. I treat them by just
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Speaker 2: worrying about them and beating them with my time and attention,
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Speaker 2: and in prayer I give them to the Lord and say, Lord,
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Speaker 2: I'm not going to turn to video games with this
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Speaker 2: even though my brain's like today's the day to break
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Speaker 2: a fifteen year streak, you should probably start again. I'm
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Speaker 2: not just going to distract myself with social media or exercise.
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Speaker 2: I'm not gonna eat my feelings. I'm gonna come to
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Speaker 2: you in prayer first, and then I am going to
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Speaker 2: faithfully go out and I will exercise, I will go
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Speaker 2: on a walk, like I'll do these things that are healthy.
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Speaker 2: Why Because I want to walk in the freedom crisis
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Speaker 2: given me. And I want that for you as a parent,
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Speaker 2: or in your singleness, as an employee, or in between jobs,
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Speaker 2: wherever the Lord has you in this season. Remember that
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Speaker 2: he has died. Well, he sent his son to die
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Speaker 2: so that you can have righteousness before him today wherever
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Speaker 2: you're at. And if you don't trust Jesus yet, if
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Speaker 2: you're listening to this going, I don't have freedom in
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Speaker 2: Christ yet. I'm actively earning my keeping. Frankly, I don't
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Speaker 2: like what he's promising, this whole death to self and
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Speaker 2: life again, please hear me. That is freedom, the freedom
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Speaker 2: of not having to earn your own righteousness, of being
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Speaker 2: good enough, of earning your own keep in the cosmos.
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Speaker 2: Instead to be made a child of the King of
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Speaker 2: the Cosmos, the one who made everything at a word
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Speaker 2: and to be saved by his son, the word that
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Speaker 2: was spoken to create all of it that's available to
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Speaker 2: you today. In Christ you must repent of running your
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Speaker 2: own kingdom and put your faith in Him, leaning into
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Speaker 2: what he calls you to do next. Because there's faithfulness
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Speaker 2: required of you. There's things you're gonna lay down and
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Speaker 2: things you're gonna pick up. Parents, as we strive to
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Speaker 2: kids who love God and use tech, it's intimidating to
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Speaker 2: look at this next stage of life and think about
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Speaker 2: what academics may look like for them. When you're thinking
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Speaker 2: about college, considered George Fox University for your children because
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Speaker 2: of three things. First, it's going to give you a
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Speaker 2: more intimate, known environment where they have a focus on
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Speaker 2: being known personally, academically and spiritually. Your child will grow
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Speaker 2: in their faith. Ninety three percent of undergrad students at
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Speaker 2: George Fox last year through the twenty twenty five academic
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Speaker 2: year said that being at George Fox has helped them
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Speaker 2: grow in the relationship with Jesus. We also want them
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Speaker 2: to grow academically, which means being a part of the
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Speaker 2: university with rigorous academic standards and opportunities to be engaged.
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Speaker 2: They have a nationally recognized engineering, nursing, and education programs,
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Speaker 2: as well as chances to study abroad here within the
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Speaker 2: US and then internationally and finally personally, to be part
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Speaker 2: of a vibrant campus atmosphere where you can play intramural
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Speaker 2: sports or part of their NCAA Division three athletic programs
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Speaker 2: with twenty three sports available. The goal here is to
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Speaker 2: go to a place that's going to support your goals,
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Speaker 2: not try to make you support theirs, to have that
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Speaker 2: goal be to raise you up to be all God's
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Speaker 2: called you to be, and to truly equip your young
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Speaker 2: person with my in my case my sons or my
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Speaker 2: daughter to love God and then from their love of
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Speaker 2: God to go wherever God has called them, and that
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Speaker 2: includes being equipped with a degree that'll help them do that,
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Speaker 2: to be missionally equipped to love and serve others, to
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Speaker 2: lead where God has planned the man, to know the
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Speaker 2: Gospel for themselves to be able to share it with others.
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Speaker 2: So George Fox University is an amazing resource for our kids,
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Speaker 2: for our community here in the Northwest, and for anyone
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Speaker 2: who's looking to raise up a young person who can
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Speaker 2: love God and from that love others. So remember that
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Speaker 2: this summer we have the grace to be present with
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Speaker 2: God even in our anxiety. And he doesn't promise to
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Speaker 2: make it go away immediately. He promises to be good
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Speaker 2: in it. And I can tell you, man, we're running
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Speaker 2: on probably day five. Like as I'm recording this, today
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Speaker 2: was a pretty good day. But like some of those days,
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Speaker 2: I wake up and it's not the weather, and it's
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Speaker 2: not my family, and it's not anything specific. It's just
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Speaker 2: like you wake up wearing a heavy jacket of anxiety
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Speaker 2: and it just you can make it go away if
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Speaker 2: you do the right things. But like you sit in
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Speaker 2: a quiet space and try to do hard work, like
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Speaker 2: it'll probably show up, And like, how are you building
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Speaker 2: through that? Recognizing the Lord's enough? And today just might
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Speaker 2: be a day you don't get as much done. That's okay.
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Speaker 2: God didn't say achieve X amount, so I can love you,
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Speaker 2: says I love you, and from that go walk forward.
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Speaker 2: Here's why this all matters already, stole my Like God
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Speaker 2: is light. We're gonna expose our sin. We're gonna walk
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Speaker 2: in the light. But he says, if we walk in
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Speaker 2: the light. We have fellowship with one another, and the
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Speaker 2: blood of Jesus, his son cleanses Us from all sin.
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Speaker 2: So the blood of Jesus being shown there as an
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Speaker 2: example of the Lambs from Passover. That Jesus is the
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Speaker 2: ultimate passover Lamb and the ultimate high Priest. He is
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Speaker 2: the ceremonial sacrifice, the one who died to forgive all
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Speaker 2: sin for all who put their trust in his name,
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Speaker 2: that all who repent and believe in Him will be saved,
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Speaker 2: saved now good works and say forever for eternal life
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Speaker 2: with Christ. And he's the high priest. He's the one
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Speaker 2: giving the offering and reminding the Father every single day
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Speaker 2: that we are loved, that we are kept, that we
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Speaker 2: are close, that we are forgiven. Not because God is forgetful,
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Speaker 2: because it's an active worship. Right, God didn't forget that
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Speaker 2: Israel was his people. It was an active worship. It's
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Speaker 2: an active submission. Was an act of giving acknowledgment to
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Speaker 2: the all powerful creator of everything. And that is this
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Speaker 2: constant relationship that we see in the trying nature of God.
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Speaker 2: So I get, I pause because I can get in
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Speaker 2: the weeds on this and it won't help any of us.
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Speaker 2: It's just good biblical truth, and then we move on
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Speaker 2: and go, all right, I see no way that that
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Speaker 2: applies to our life. So I don't want to do that.
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Speaker 2: And I also don't want to get so applicable that
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Speaker 2: I forget to bring up Bible verses because then you
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Speaker 2: just hear Nathan speaking Nathan wisdom, and we're all in
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Speaker 2: trouble at that point. So here's what I want to
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Speaker 2: go into. When it walks in the lot, when we
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Speaker 2: here walking the light, what does that actually mean to do?
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Speaker 2: Jesus tells us. Jesus actually tells us that the entire
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Speaker 2: law is sunned up in this. So this is Galatians
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Speaker 2: five fourteen, but referencing back to what Jesus says in
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Speaker 2: the Gospels twice. But the law is summed up in
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Speaker 2: love your neighbor, or sorry, love the Lord your God
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Speaker 2: with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love
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Speaker 2: your neighbor as yourself. And I'm going to take them
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Speaker 2: in reverse order, love your neighbor as yourself. This summer,
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Speaker 2: as we think about how we're using our tech and
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Speaker 2: what our walk with the Lord looks like. At the gospel,
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Speaker 2: is the good news that God saves sinners, of which
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Speaker 2: we are foremost. Then loving our neighbor means we have
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Speaker 2: to understand love. Well. We are told in Galatians that
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Speaker 2: love actually ex sees me one Corinthians thirteen four through eight,
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Speaker 2: that love is patient. So just right there, we can
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Speaker 2: run this self check like, okay, well we told to
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Speaker 2: love our neighbor, like sure, I love them, I am
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Speaker 2: not meaning to them, and I keep my lawn mode,
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Speaker 2: like okay, do you interact with them at all? Because
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Speaker 2: it's very hard to love someone that you do not
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Speaker 2: have any interaction with. Including our Lord and God, we
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Speaker 2: cannot love him unless we have a regular, prayerful, deliberate
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Speaker 2: interactions with him. Is patient. God is patient. We're told
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Speaker 2: that he is slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love,
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Speaker 2: the patient kind of love that doesn't just take what
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Speaker 2: is his right, but patiently lets sinners repent and come
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Speaker 2: to him. Are we patient with our neighbors? Are we
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Speaker 2: patient with our kids? Are we patient with ourselves to
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Speaker 2: recognize that we're in broken flesh? And I don't mean
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Speaker 2: this in like a hippie way of like just you're
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Speaker 2: becoming new to you? No, no, you're dead. In Christ,
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Speaker 2: Praise the Lord my flesh is dead and I still
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Speaker 2: live in it. So I am not achieving righteousness by
16:31
Speaker 2: fixing this thing. But like, there's stuff that has to
16:33
Speaker 2: go on, and am I patient with it? Whether it's
16:36
Speaker 2: little things with my work progress where I can get
16:39
Speaker 2: super impatient and then blame God that I'm not turning
16:41
Speaker 2: out the way I think I should, But am I patient,
16:44
Speaker 2: trusting the Lord is finishing a good work that won't
16:46
Speaker 2: actually be complete until I cross over, till I see
16:48
Speaker 2: him face to face, because then there's Love is kind
16:52
Speaker 2: Kindness is the withholding of words that are probably worthwhile
16:56
Speaker 2: but not helpful, sorry, not worthwhile, that are true but
16:58
Speaker 2: not helpful. We get a lot of this, like honesty talcolic, well,
17:01
Speaker 2: at least this person's honest, Like that's not actually one
17:05
Speaker 2: of the fruit of the spirit, or anything about love.
17:07
Speaker 2: It's not love is honest all the time. There was
17:10
Speaker 2: a lot of true things that Jesus didn't say. In fact,
17:13
Speaker 2: we never see Jesus call Judas on his lies or
17:17
Speaker 2: his stealing or his betrayal, other than a call to repentance,
17:21
Speaker 2: gives them the bitter herbs and says, Judas, what you're
17:24
Speaker 2: about to do, do quickly. That's far from a resounding
17:27
Speaker 2: moral indictment. That's a well, he says elsewhere, it would
17:31
Speaker 2: be better for this person to not have been born,
17:34
Speaker 2: the one who is going to betray me. So he
17:36
Speaker 2: does state truth, but it's a very deliberate repentance restoration
17:41
Speaker 2: focused truth, not restoration. And I don't know if this
17:45
Speaker 2: is helpful one. By the way, on a tangent, when
17:48
Speaker 2: I give these like asides, because I don't want to
17:50
Speaker 2: be misunderstood as a sound bite. But when I say restoration,
17:53
Speaker 2: sometimes people say, so bring them back into the fold,
17:54
Speaker 2: no matter what. That's not biblical. There needs to be
17:57
Speaker 2: repentance on their end. But there's also a seeking after them.
18:00
Speaker 2: There's a treat them like an outsider. And some people
18:02
Speaker 2: are like, yeah, we'll never talk to them. That's not
18:05
Speaker 2: what we do with outsiders. We seek them and remind
18:08
Speaker 2: them of their sin and call them to the God
18:11
Speaker 2: that loves them because they can't save themselves. S galicians
18:13
Speaker 2: five to one, you've been set free from the slavery
18:16
Speaker 2: of trying to save yourself, So call them back to repentance.
18:20
Speaker 2: So when I say restoration, it's that kind of It's
18:21
Speaker 2: what Jesus did to Judas restoration, Judas repent. This is
18:25
Speaker 2: not the road that is going to bring you life
18:28
Speaker 2: or a better king. It's going to give you and
18:30
Speaker 2: you forever, which is hell. One point zero h. It's
18:35
Speaker 2: not arrogant or rude. It does not envy or boasts.
18:37
Speaker 2: This is love. It does not insist on its own way.
18:40
Speaker 2: I mean, just reflect on any YouTube comment list and
18:45
Speaker 2: check is it envy, does it boast? Is it arrogant?
18:48
Speaker 2: Is it rude? Doesn't insist on its own way. It
18:51
Speaker 2: is not irritable or resentful. By the way, it doesn't say.
18:55
Speaker 2: It is not irritable or resentful except when tired or hungry.
19:00
Speaker 2: Sometimes if I'm a little angry. God gets it. Love
19:04
Speaker 2: has a standard. God is love. These are all character
19:07
Speaker 2: traits of God. Then, from eternity past to eternity future,
19:11
Speaker 2: God is patient, God is kind. God is not envious.
19:14
Speaker 2: God does not boast. God is not arrogant. God is
19:17
Speaker 2: not rude. God does not insist on his own way.
19:20
Speaker 2: How do you're like, yeah, But he has a standard. No, no,
19:22
Speaker 2: those standard is God's reality, and he allows us to
19:26
Speaker 2: walk our paths of rebellion. Like we see that repeated,
19:29
Speaker 2: like the father in the Prodigal Son's story that Jesus
19:31
Speaker 2: was very much using as an allegory to talk about rebels,
19:35
Speaker 2: both righteous rebels and rebellious rebels, and a loving forgiving
19:40
Speaker 2: right righteous fathers who owns all the property in land
19:43
Speaker 2: that he's lending to his children. Anyway, Okay, love bears
19:47
Speaker 2: all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,
19:51
Speaker 2: and does not end, and it goes on to more
19:55
Speaker 2: amazing promises about the future. But we're talking about loving
19:57
Speaker 2: our neighbors, so let's lean into that. I'm gonna go
20:01
Speaker 2: ahead and say I don't do this for my neighbors.
20:03
Speaker 2: I don't do this for my physical neighbors. I don't
20:04
Speaker 2: do this for my neighbors in my house, my own
20:06
Speaker 2: children in life. I don't do this well for my community.
20:09
Speaker 2: I don't do this for the church capital see Church Global,
20:13
Speaker 2: the other nations who put their faith in Christ, and
20:16
Speaker 2: the locals small seed church. In mind, I show up,
20:22
Speaker 2: I work hard according to my own efforts. I ask
20:24
Speaker 2: God for forgiveness, and my standard of love does not
20:30
Speaker 2: look like this love. If we're gonna live in the light,
20:32
Speaker 2: what we do then when we recognize that is not
20:35
Speaker 2: double down and go, well, then I'm just gonna I
20:37
Speaker 2: had this this last week when I was feeling pretty low,
20:39
Speaker 2: like I'm just gonna be more positive and I'm just
20:41
Speaker 2: gonna say yes to things, and like there isn't there
20:44
Speaker 2: is a value in this, So please don't hear me
20:46
Speaker 2: saying there's not. There is value to setting my mind
20:49
Speaker 2: on what the Lord has done in choosing thankfulness and
20:52
Speaker 2: great gratitude. And there is a limit to how much
20:57
Speaker 2: mental positivity can carry us, because at some point we
21:01
Speaker 2: either become cynical or become self righteous, and so and
21:06
Speaker 2: I opt towards cynicism. I get so happy that when
21:09
Speaker 2: things start to go bad, I use a smile, but
21:12
Speaker 2: I'm dark humoring the whole thing and it's coping mechanism.
21:15
Speaker 2: But that's instead of doing that, I take it to
21:17
Speaker 2: the cross. Sad, Lord, this frustrates me. I'm mad about this.
21:20
Speaker 2: The world is unfair, our world is broken. These people
21:23
Speaker 2: are evil. I need to, you know, pray through some
21:26
Speaker 2: psalms about breaking the teeth of the lions that come
21:29
Speaker 2: after us to consume the weak and the young, like
21:32
Speaker 2: I need, That's what I need. Instead, I turn on
21:37
Speaker 2: my own righteousness, so when we love our neighbor, we're patient, kind,
21:40
Speaker 2: we do not envy your boast. We can reflect on this,
21:43
Speaker 2: ask the Lord to expose in you where we're not
21:45
Speaker 2: doing this well, because that's what we do. Then we
21:46
Speaker 2: turn to learn and say, Lord, I can't do this well.
21:48
Speaker 2: I need to look more like you. Forgive me in
21:50
Speaker 2: my business practices. Forgive me in the way I talk
21:52
Speaker 2: to my spouse. Forgive me in the way I talk
21:54
Speaker 2: to my kids. Forgive me in the way I think
21:56
Speaker 2: about our world. Forgive me and the way I run
21:57
Speaker 2: away from the anxieties of this world by ignoring them
22:01
Speaker 2: or by stuffing them with distractions. Lord, forgive me and
22:05
Speaker 2: give me your heart. Help me love these people both
22:08
Speaker 2: in the way you love them and with the attitude
22:10
Speaker 2: with which you love them. Today we can look more
22:13
Speaker 2: like Jesus through the Gospel, the promise of the Good
22:17
Speaker 2: News that God saves sinners. Because we've been saved for freedom,
22:19
Speaker 2: we do not have to fight for our salvation today.
22:22
Speaker 2: We let Jesus do that. What we fight for is
22:25
Speaker 2: to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector
22:27
Speaker 2: of our faith. We fight to set our minds on
22:30
Speaker 2: the things of the Spirit as Romans eight reminds us
22:32
Speaker 2: that those who set their minds on the things of
22:34
Speaker 2: the flesh do the things of the flesh, and they
22:37
Speaker 2: cannot love God. It's impossible for them too, because God's
22:40
Speaker 2: an obstacle to overcome. Instead, we set our things on
22:43
Speaker 2: our mind on the things of the spirit, and the
22:45
Speaker 2: spirit of God is love, and love is patient and
22:48
Speaker 2: kind and well, all those things I just read through
22:51
Speaker 2: so one Corinthians thirteen. This, folks like go reflect on
22:55
Speaker 2: that to get ourselves to reflect on how little we
22:57
Speaker 2: look like that, to help ourselves realize how much we
23:00
Speaker 2: need repentance. Don't go eleven years thinking that you're crushing
23:04
Speaker 2: the love of God just because you're not aware enough
23:07
Speaker 2: of your own sins. God is more than happy to
23:10
Speaker 2: expose us on our need for Him and drive us
23:13
Speaker 2: into a greater love for His Church and his work,
23:15
Speaker 2: so that we recognize our weakness and inability to accomplish it,
23:18
Speaker 2: so that we repent and can look more like Jesus.
23:21
Speaker 2: Because Galatians five to one reminds us that for freedom
23:24
Speaker 2: Christ has set us free, we're going to stand firm. Therefore,
23:28
Speaker 2: stand firm in the freedom we have, not pursuing righteousness,
23:33
Speaker 2: not pursuing action in order to be good enough, but
23:35
Speaker 2: instead not submitting to yoke of slavery of right action,
23:38
Speaker 2: and instead waiting and giving the Lord. The anxiety that
23:42
Speaker 2: comes up, the shame that comes up, the blame that
23:44
Speaker 2: comes up, the repeated sins that come up, the new
23:46
Speaker 2: sins that come up, and the fear we have that
23:49
Speaker 2: we're just letting everyone down because we are and that's
23:53
Speaker 2: not the standard we're given for salvation or for work
23:55
Speaker 2: in Christ. Instead, we are told we're saved by grace
23:58
Speaker 2: through faith. This is Ephesians two through ten. That we
24:00
Speaker 2: were sinners pursuing our own kingdom, and that God saved
24:04
Speaker 2: us by grace through faith, not of our own work.
24:07
Speaker 2: So that we can't boast and tell other people be
24:09
Speaker 2: more like me, and said, we say, God save me.
24:11
Speaker 2: If he saved me from this, he can save you
24:13
Speaker 2: from whatever. I don't know how it's going to work.
24:15
Speaker 2: That's not my job. My job is to pray with
24:17
Speaker 2: you and for you, to show you the loving kindness
24:20
Speaker 2: of Christ that He's put in my heart, and then
24:21
Speaker 2: to extend that to you, and then Ephesians two ten
24:24
Speaker 2: to do the good works God's prepared beforehand for you
24:26
Speaker 2: to do the good works of being present in a
24:28
Speaker 2: broken world wherever He's planted you. Today, Christian, you've been
24:32
Speaker 2: planted in a family, either the family that brought you
24:35
Speaker 2: here or the family God's given you, your community, the
24:38
Speaker 2: one you live in in a broken world, like a
24:40
Speaker 2: mustard seed cast into a garden. Let the Kingdom of
24:43
Speaker 2: God grow in you and through you, so the birds
24:45
Speaker 2: of the air will flock to it in your own
24:47
Speaker 2: children and the ministry you've been given there, in the
24:50
Speaker 2: workplace He's put you into, and wherever else he sends
24:53
Speaker 2: you by his spirit. Know that God is doing good
24:55
Speaker 2: work in you and through you. Repent today of the
24:58
Speaker 2: sin that you're holding on to because of shame or pride.
25:01
Speaker 2: Repent today of the work you cannot possibly accomplish in
25:05
Speaker 2: how it's paralyzing. Repent of that anxiety, because at the
25:08
Speaker 2: end of the day, that's us not trusting God to
25:11
Speaker 2: be good enough to do the good work he's promised
25:13
Speaker 2: already to do. So now we're calling him a liar again.
25:16
Speaker 2: We're not walking in the light. And we regularly expose
25:18
Speaker 2: our sin and the sense of others, not to shame them,
25:21
Speaker 2: but to call them to the beautiful freedom that is
25:23
Speaker 2: repentance that God called us to in Christ. And we're
25:26
Speaker 2: going to stand firm on that because we believe what
25:29
Speaker 2: Jesus said is true. We're not going to call him
25:30
Speaker 2: a liar. So I hope this is encouraging to you
25:33
Speaker 2: and just a reminder. Take it into your tech, take
25:36
Speaker 2: it into your family, take it into your free time,
25:38
Speaker 2: take it into whatever you are currently running to to
25:40
Speaker 2: cope with the anxieties of this life like I do
25:43
Speaker 2: in all the manifold ways that I find to run
25:46
Speaker 2: away from the stress of real life and take it
25:49
Speaker 2: to the feet of the cross. Make time today to breathe,
25:51
Speaker 2: to pray, and to get your brain and heart focus
25:55
Speaker 2: on the things of the spirit, because it does take time, space,
25:58
Speaker 2: and discipline, and it's fully worth it, even if it's
26:02
Speaker 2: thirty seconds. Being in the presence of the God of
26:05
Speaker 2: the universe changes you. So make time for that today.
26:08
Speaker 2: I'm going to close in prayer Heaven, the Father Lord,
26:12
Speaker 2: thank you for a chance to be your child. Lord,
26:15
Speaker 2: for those who believe in You. Would we make space
26:17
Speaker 2: today to turn our eyes to You, to get our
26:21
Speaker 2: hearts set on you, to remind ourselves of what is
26:23
Speaker 2: true about our world, our reality, our condition, in our future.
26:26
Speaker 2: We are loved children of yours, and you are a good,
26:28
Speaker 2: heavenly father. If we do not yet trust in you, Lord,
26:31
Speaker 2: would we repent today and give you the faith we've got.
26:34
Speaker 2: And Lord, you are faithful and just. You give wisdom
26:37
Speaker 2: to all without finding fault. You save all who call
26:41
Speaker 2: upon your name and faith. And so Lord, I pray
26:43
Speaker 2: that those who are current rebels would bend their knee,
26:46
Speaker 2: would worship you, and would receive in you, from you
26:49
Speaker 2: the fullness of life that you have set them free.
26:51
Speaker 2: For that they would not turn back to the yoke
26:53
Speaker 2: of slavery, of trying to be good enough, trying to
26:55
Speaker 2: earn their keep, of trying to be smart enough, righteous enough,
26:57
Speaker 2: the progressive enough, whatever the word might be. Instead, Lord,
27:01
Speaker 2: they would be humble enough to seek a good Father
27:03
Speaker 2: who can then make them more than they could ever
27:05
Speaker 2: have done on their own. Lord, we praise and thank
27:07
Speaker 2: you for the good work you've done through Jesus, and
27:09
Speaker 2: we thank you that we get to be a part
27:11
Speaker 2: of your work and kingdom in Jesus name. Amen, I
27:14
Speaker 2: hope this is encouraging to you, if it was to
27:15
Speaker 2: share it with someone either in word or just send
27:18
Speaker 2: them a link. I hope that you give space today
27:22
Speaker 2: to pray foreign with your family, to pray by yourself,
27:25
Speaker 2: to seek the Lord, and to walk in the freedom
27:28
Speaker 2: has given you. And I hope you join us next
27:29
Speaker 2: week as we continued as conversation about how we can
27:31
Speaker 2: love God and us tech. I'll talk with you