Passions of the Heart - Part 3

I know everyone's not here yet, but again, if we can start as close to on time as possible,

then we'll be able to get through the material a little bit easier and give you some time

! for discussion, which is really what trying to set the table for good discussions. All

right, let me open us up in prayer and we'll get going. Father, we're so thankful for the

Word of God. Thank you for how you instruct us through this living testimony, the Word

of God that was made flesh and dwelt among us and that what we read here is meant to invite

us to enjoy the same life that you imparted to your disciples and your followers in the

first century. Lord, you have given us directions on how to live and those directions aren't

to box us in and to make our life seem unbearable, but those boundaries that you've put in place,

those standards that we see are meant to be life-giving. They're meant to be empowering

and to keep us from the danger that we want to walk into day by day. So, Lord, I pray that you'd

help us as we look into your Word this morning to learn from your truths and to delight in the

standards that you've set. Help us as we impart this into our own lives. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Good. Come on in. Come on in. I hope you have all been able to grab one of two versions,

the one for teens that will always have kind of a yellow banner on it that says, hey, this is the

teen version, and then the one that doesn't have the banner is the version for everyone else.

Okay? So, I hope you'll pick that up. If we need extra copies, I have at least one apiece that's here.

We've been working through Passions of the Heart, and any of you who are kind of reading through

this book, and anyone reading? Any adults reading through the book? Okay? There's several of you that

are reading through the book. Today, we're going to be on chapter five, and we're going to be kind of

taking it chapter by chapter now. Last week, we worked through chapters two to four, and so there

was a lot of ground to cover, and now we kind of get to take it one chapter at a time, which I think

would be beneficial to press in and to think more deeply about the subjects. Okay? But as we've been

talking about passions, of course, the words that maybe come to mind are desires or the things that

we really want, and so we talk about passions, and we talk about what is it in your heart, in your life

that is driving you, and our desires always drive us to an action, good action or a bad action.

And so, while even our passions may drive us to things that we know are not right for our lives,

passions and desires in and of themselves, we said, are neutral. They're neutral in that they're designed

to help you understand what you value, help you understand what you worship, help you understand

what's important to you, what matters to you. And the thing we've been seeking to learn is,

what do we do with our emotions? How do those emotions become godly emotions as they're directing

us to the Lord himself? And so we find throughout Scripture that apart from God, we're always trying

to handle and cope with our emotions. We're always trying to deal with them in some respect.

And unchecked emotions have a way of controlling us, don't they? Unchecked emotions have a way of

carrying us and ruling us. Bad emotions like anger and depression and fear have a way to paralyze us

and to keep us from doing what God wants us to do. I love how the Apostle Paul addresses Timothy,

where he says, Timothy, God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of what? Of power and love.

And a sound mind. You don't have to succumb to these inner desires, these inner emotions. They don't

have to control you. Timothy, learn to give your emotions to God. Learn to trust him when you're

feeling afraid. Learn that he's dependable and trustworthy. Learn not just to find that you can

trust in God, but he's going to lead you to a healthy kind of life, a life that's full of love

and sound mind. That's what God wants for us. But even good emotions are strong. And even good

emotions can be controlling. And we saw a couple of weeks ago the example of a very popular,

contemporary song by Teddy Swims that says, I lose control. And that's really us, right? We,

if we're run by our emotions and our passions, we find we just can't help ourselves. That's so often

the nature of our condition. And so as we evaluate our emotions, we need to come to a place of realizing

not only that they can be useful and helpful to steer us to God, but that even our heart is deceptive.

Like we think we have things in check. We think we're doing okay. We think we finally maybe overcome

and arrived in some ways, but what we found the testimony through scripture, the heart is deceitful,

right? The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Your heart tricks you. My heart

tricks me. It deceives me to think that I'm doing much better than I am. And so we need to come to

understand that. And there are two remedies. There's two strategies that we need to put into place.

One that we looked at a couple weeks ago. One that we looked at last week. And I just want to touch on

them briefly. That first strategy, that first solution is to take your emotion to God. Take your

emotion to God by way of repentance. Recognize the significance of that reset that needs to happen

on a continual basis. Realigning, recalibrating your heart so that it is consistently in tune with God.

And I love what the hymn writer says. Tune my heart to sing your praise. That needs to happen. There's a

tuning process. And those of you who are very musical and I am not know the significance. It happens at the

very beginning of every worship service. You're going to hear our musicians. They're tuning to a standard, but

they're also tuning to one another. There's a tuning process. And if I didn't get that right, then you have to

correct me later. But that's what I think happens. There's a tuning process. Something along that lines.

Okay, at least I'm close. You guys got the picture, right? There's a tuning process that must happen as

we're tuning our lives to God. And, you know, there are times where our passions get the best of us, right?

And then in that moment, what takes place is now you find yourself and others find you. You're exposed.

Your sin, the way that you've wandered away from the Lord has been exposed. And now people see it.

It's public. You've gone public, okay? And there's one of two ways that we can deal with our sin once it

goes public. We talked about the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow, didn't we?

Let's just pause for a moment. Help me out here now, okay? This is discussion time. What are some

indicators, some characteristics of worldly sorrow? What does worldly sorrow do?

I'm sorry I got caught, okay? Good. But what else do we say about worldly sorrow?

Anyone else? Timothy. Okay, sometimes worldly sorrow drives us to bitterness because you've gotten caught

and now there's shame, right? There's shame for the consequences that you're experiencing. What else?

I heard something over here. It's all about me, right? I got caught. I feel ashamed. Now I have to

to deal with whatever consequences there are and it's very self-serving. Worldly sorrow is self-serving

sorrow. Temporary sorrow. Good. Steve. Okay, it's somebody else's fault, okay? Like if it hadn't been

for that person, then everything would have been okay, right? And so now you kind of place your blame

on somebody else. So often that's what happens in worldly sorrow. How does it? Yes, Matt.

Okay, fantastic. Okay, so even if you feel a measure of guilt, okay? And sometimes when people feel

guilt, it can lead to this bondage and slavery of self, of staying there, this self-doom as it were.

And if it doesn't take us to God, then it's worldly in its effects, right? Good. Now let's transition.

What about godly sorrow? What are some of the differences then with godly sorrow?

It's kind of all the opposite of what we have said. So what are some of those things?

Great. It understands who the offense is really against. It's really an offense towards God, right?

And so instead of that sin and getting caught turning me inward, that sin is meant to help

turn me outward, turn towards God. Now there is a sense in which I come to terms with the gravity of my sin

and there is being sorry, there is being grieved over sin, but that doesn't end there.

It takes me to the solution. That solution is with the Lord. What else?

What else about godly sorrow? How is it different? Heart change.

That's good. I hate this sin. I don't want this to be true of my life ever again.

Because not just that I don't ever want to get caught again, but I realize that what this has done

is brought reproach on the name of God and I don't want to hurt this relationship with God again.

What else? Anything else?

Great. Instead of blaming people, it wants to restore those relationships that were broken.

We'll do whatever it takes to restore those relationships.

I will accept those consequences. I will do what it takes to restore the relationships that were broken.

That's the first solution. Repentance.

Repentance that comes to terms with the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.

The second remedy that we talked about a little last week was understanding the course or the path that sin takes.

And we looked at James 1, verses 12-15, and we kind of saw the progression, this four-stage progression of sin.

James 1:12–15

We saw that, first of all, our desire is stirred.

We see something like, oh, wow. Well, that's interesting. I kind of like that.

And it doesn't just get stirred, but it tends to want to dwell on that.

It's not just like a fleeting glance, but it's a turning back.

Whatever that is, that it's stirred your affection, you want to see more, you want to know more, you want to kind of experience more.

There's that desire that is stirred.

Then step two is, desire is awakened to the point where you say, you know what?

I think I would like to have that.

And in your will, your will decides, you know what?

I'm going to start making plans now to go after that sin.

Step three is, your desires grow into sinful acts.

That now what you have seen and what your will says, you know what?

I want to go after that.

Now you are actually taking the steps.

You are going after it.

You are pursuing that sin, whatever it is.

And finally, sin takes over and leads to death.

And this is really the theme that we pick up today.

We understand that sin starts somewhere.

And sometimes the sin that starts doesn't seem so bad.

It's not so bad for me to do this.

And so we take a step in the direction.

We begin to move our life in the direction of sin.

And in our time today, we're going to talk about this as being a gateway.

This is a gateway.

This is, you kind of walked through that gateway of temptation.

And now you are taking action to sin.

And whatever stage that that action is taking is beginning to condition your heart to do the same kind of thing the next time.

You are conditioning yourself to now respond in this way on a repeated basis.

I wrote a little parable.

Okay?

And you have a picture of that parable.

And I want to try to make this a little bit more visual for you.

So let me read this parable and you can kind of see how it takes off.

There once was a traveler who came upon a stone gateway in the middle of a barren plain.

Vines climbed its pillars.

Warm light spilled through the opening.

And carved into the arch were three words.

Satisfy yourself here.

He stepped closer and saw what looked like a valley on the other side.

Green and alive.

He could hear water running.

He could smell bread.

Fruit hung heavy on branches.

The air itself felt like music.

He stepped through.

At first, it was exactly what he hoped.

The valley stirred the senses.

Every taste felt bright.

Every sight felt richer.

The traveler thought,

This is everything I could ever need.

But after a while, something changed.

What thrilled him yesterday felt ordinary today.

So he went further in.

Looking for the next experience.

Something stronger.

Sweeter.

Louder.

And the valley provided.

There were stands with delicacies.

There were rooms with dazzling colors.

There were cups that promised deeper pleasure.

And every time he took another step inward,

The valley softly beckoned him for only one more thing in return.

One more step inside.

But the further he went, the less satisfied he became.

And the more he consumed, the worse he felt.

The thrill that was once so present now seemed so distant.

So empty.

So far away.

He was finally coming to his senses, recognizing the trance-like pull this realm had on his life.

It was an illusion.

He turned around, finally resolved to go back.

But the path behind him didn't look like the path he remembered.

What had once been a simple trail now looked overgrown and treacherous.

Brambles hooked like claws.

Vines braided into thick ropes across the way.

Thorns hidden under leaves.

The air behind him felt colder, darker, heavier.

While the path behind was not impossible to travel, it was surely painful.

The road demanded pain and tears and humility, step by step.

Oddly, the road ahead still looked bright.

It was still lit, open, wide.

Not as beautiful as the first rooms of the valley, but it promised something easier.

Keep on going.

Don't stop.

Don't face the thorns.

There's still something out there for you.

And standing there caught between a bright road that would only take him deeper,

in a dark road home that looked like thorns,

he finally understood what the gateway never told him.

The entrance seemed free and exciting,

but the exit would cost him dearly.

And that's the gateway that all of us are learning about this morning.

It's exactly how sin works.

That's the desire.

The desire that grips.

It looks enticing.

It looks exciting and thrilling.

And it moves you in.

But every step you take will be a step in the direction of the rest of your life.

And little by little, the heart learns to give way to the subtle demands of wanting more,

yearning and craving.

And ultimately leads to bondage.

We saw that a little last week in Romans chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Bondage that happens because of sin.

But it's a decision that we can make.

We can either choose to be slaves and bound to sin,

or we can choose to be slaves and bound in freedom to righteousness.

Paul says in Romans 6, 16, he says,

Do not you know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,

you are slaves of the one whom you obey,

either of sin, which leads to death,

or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.

But thanks be to God that you,

who once were slaves to sin,

have become obedient from the heart

to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.

You see, to walk in the way of sin is to choose the path of idolatry.

That's the end of this road.

The values and the things that you desire

show where your heart really is in terms of worship.

What you value, what you worship,

what matters to you.

And ultimately,

it's equated with idolatry in the scripture.

But everywhere we see idolatry in the New Testament,

and I just want to touch on this briefly

by giving you a couple of verses

that are there in your study guides.

Everywhere we see idolatry in the New Testament,

there are ten of them.

Ten times idolatry is mentioned in the New Testament

every single time

that idolatry is equated with sexual impurity.

It's equated with impurity.

Here's a couple of examples.

We're not going to go through them all.

Ephesians 5, 3 to 5, says this.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness

must not even be named among you

as is proper among saints.

Let there be no filthiness or foolish talking

or crude joking which are out of place,

but instead let there be thanksgiving.

For you may be sure of this,

that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure,

who is covetous,

that is an idolater,

has no inheritance in the kingdom of God and Christ.

Colossians 3, 5.

Put to death what is earthly in you,

sexual immorality, impurity, passion,

evil desire, and covetousness,

which is idolatry.

On account of these,

the wrath of God is coming.

And finally, 1 Peter 4, 3.

For the time that is past suffices

for doing what the Gentiles want to do,

living in sensuality,

passion,

drunkenness,

orgies,

drinking parties,

and lawlessness,

or lawless idolatry.

And what's also interesting

as you walk through this list,

and it's almost common in every other verse,

is that when idolatry is mentioned,

not only is it connected to impurity,

but it's often connected to covetousness,

to greed.

And we're going to look at a little bit more

these gateway sins.

What are the sins that entice you initially,

that lead you to some of these ultimate sins,

these sins that become absolute bondage for us,

and how is it that we can be alert

to materialism,

consumerism,

the desire for more,

the lack of dissatisfaction.

And by the way,

we're all there.

We're all dissatisfied in some way

with something that we don't have,

or that we have,

but it's not good enough.

It's not as good as so-and-so's thing.

And these are the gateway sins

that entice our heart

and fuel greater dissatisfaction

in a want for more.

And so it's easier then for us

to then fall,

or run after maybe,

is a better way,

run after impurity.

How do we check our hearts?

So,

the end of all this

is found in Ephesians 4, 17-19.

It says this,

Now this I say,

and testify in the Lord,

that you must no longer walk

as the Gentiles do

in the futility of their minds.

They are darkened in their understanding,

alienated from the life of God

because of the ignorance that is in them

due to the hardness of their hearts.

They have become callous

and have given themselves up to sensuality,

greedy to practice

every kind of impurity.

Okay.

I want to just pause there for a moment.

What are the adjectives

that are used to describe

a heart that is totally given over?

What do you see here?

Ephesians 4, 17-19.

How does Paul describe that heart?

What words does he use?

Callous.

Okay.

And what is,

when you think about being callous,

what do you think about?

You think about hard work

that puts calluses on your hands

so that you can do more hard work, right?

But along with having calloused hands,

to put it on a calloused heart,

it means that you are training yourself

to not feel anymore.

That,

those feelings

of conviction,

those feelings

of sensitivity,

of shame,

now aren't

feeling that way anymore.

We've trained ourself

to be callous.

We've trained ourself

to not feel.

We've allowed

the rhythm of that

to land on us

enough

that now

we're not feeling

the impact of it anymore.

Or as much

as we once did.

Good.

What other adjectives

does he use?

Ignorance.

Okay.

And when we think about ignorance,

what do you think about?

Being oblivious.

That's great.

Great,

great definition.

Being oblivious.

Just being out of tune.

They're just

not thinking anymore.

They're so blinded by it.

And it's created

this hardness,

this darkening,

this alienation

from God

that's happening

in their life.

And notice,

they want more.

They're greedy

to practice it again.

Over and over

and it leads

to impurity

of life.

So we need

to understand

and recognize

that sin

follows this road.

sin follows this road.

No one wakes up

out of the blue

one day

and I think

particularly about

Philip Yancey.

Those of you

who are familiar,

anyone,

everyone know

who Philip Yancey is?

Okay.

Philip Yancey,

he's a prominent

Christian

author.

He's written

I don't even know

how many books.

He is kind of

one of the,

at the forefront

of our attention

and somebody who

has at least

thought

very deeply

about the things

of the Lord.

Well,

just last week

Philip Yancey

had to admit

that he's been

in an eight year

long relationship

with somebody

not his wife.

Okay.

Philip Yancey

didn't wake up

one day

and said,

you know,

I think I'm going

to ruin my marriage

today.

He didn't wake

up one day

and say,

you know what,

I have a good idea.

I think I'm going

to destroy

my credibility.

I know

it would be

really good.

I'm going

to obliterate

my integrity,

my reputation.

I'm going

to absolutely

disqualify myself

from ministry.

I think that

would be a great

idea.

He did not

wake up one day

and say that.

It was this

slow,

gradual

chain

of walking,

years of

cultivating,

months of

excusing,

small private

compromises,

moments of

saying yes

to sin

so that

once what's

shocked

is now

feels normal.

That's the gateway

we're talking about.

And we're going

to just spend

a few moments

introducing

some of those

gateway sins.

What are some

of those things,

those sins

we kind of give

a pass to?

What are those

things that

that we kind

of say,

you know,

this isn't

so bad.

We know

it's wrong,

but it's not

as bad

as such

and such.

And that's

what I want

to kind

of address

a little bit

in the next

few moments.

These gateway

sins of

anger

and self-pity

and discontentment

and fear.

And before I

introduce them

from the

scripture,

I have a little

inventory there.

I want to give you

just a few

minutes to

think about

these gateway

sins and

just kind of

evaluate your

own life.

Where are you

in relationship

to this?

By the way,

this is not to

make you feel

bad, but it's

just, again,

it's just kind of

the dashboard

lights to help

you see for

yourself.

This is private.

This is for you.

This is not meant

for you to share

necessarily unless

you want to,

but just to check

yourself and

where you stand

with these sins.

Okay?

I'll give you a

couple minutes

to go through

that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

How's it going?

Almost there?

Okay.

Okay.

What'd you find?

What were some of

those, any of those

that stood out and

said, uh-huh,

yeah, that's me.

Anything like that?

You'd be willing to

share?

How about this one?

I replay what

someone did to me

and build my case

in my head.

Anyone do that one?

I can totally

resonate with that

one.

That's me.

Oh, Lord, please

forgive me.

How about this one?

When I'm mad, I say

things I wouldn't say

if Jesus were

standing next to me.

Oh, boy.

Oh, boy.

I feel out of control

when I'm angry.

Spike, slam,

explode, rant,

text, yell.

Wow.

That was just the

first category.

How about, I

constantly compare

my looks, my

popularity, or

stuff to others.

Here we can kind

of see how, how

much we permit

sin in our life,

don't we?

We give it a pass.

It's, it's, it's

kind of like, like

those, it's those

permissible sins in

that they're things

that everyone

struggle with, so

obviously, it's okay.

I know it's not

okay.

I need to know, I

know I need to do

better, but, you

know, everyone else

struggles with this,

so, you know, if I

put this off till

tomorrow or next

week, it's okay.

God will forgive me.

But if I do this,

then, yeah, that

person is a

scoundrel.

The problem is

that these are the

kinds of sins that

move us in that

direction, they sweep

us up, and then you

have the Philippians

that all of a sudden

they turn around, and

they just can't even

describe how they

ever got to the place

where they are.

How did I get here?

How did I allow my

life to walk that

road for so long?

And so we do

ourselves a service by

recognizing these

gateway sins at the

beginning, and we

cut them off so that

we can continue this

road to repentance,

and starting over,

and recalibrating our

heart so that we are

in tune with the

Lord and enjoy the

benefits of slavery

to Christ and to

righteousness and the

freedom that comes.

There is freedom.

We talk about, it

talks about slavery, but

to be bound to Christ

as master is actually

freedom, right?

It's freedom in so many

ways.

So let's talk about,

just briefly, just a

couple minutes here.

I want to touch on

these, kind of lay them

out briefly so you can

see them, and then I'll

let you discuss them in

your groups.

The first is anger.

In James chapter 4,

James 4:1

verses 1 and 2, it says

this, what causes

quarrels and what

causes fights among

you?

Is it not this, your

passions are at war

within you?

You desire and do not

have, so you murder.

You covet and cannot

obtain, so you fight

and quarrel.

You do not have

because you do not

ask.

And you ask and do

not receive because you

ask wrongly to spend

it on your passions.

You adulterous people,

do you not know that

friendship with the

world is enmity with

God?

Therefore, whoever

desires or whoever

wishes to be a friend

of the world makes

himself an enemy of

God.

And do you see kind of

how James interplays a

lot of these things that

we would say, well,

this one's not so bad,

but that one, oh,

yeah, that's a big

deal.

And we talk about, he

uses fighting and

quarreling in the same

sentence where he uses

murder and coveting.

And in his mind, they

are synonymous because

one just leads to the

other.

One is the entryway.

It's the beginning of

the road that will

eventually lead to the

end of the road.

If it's not cut off,

it's not stopped because

it's coming from the

same heart.

I may have mentioned

this already at some

point, so if I have,

just forgive me, but I

can't, I just can't

forget about an

interview that was

happening between two

pastors at a conference.

And one pastor asked the

other one, he says,

now, pastor, you have

said that you honestly

believe that you're the

worst sinner in the room.

Yep, that's what I

believe.

And this pastor said,

I can understand that

theologically, but I know

your church.

You've got a big church

and you've got a lot of

really rotten people in

your church, people who

have done pretty

despicable things, things

that we can't even

mention.

How is it that you might

say honestly that you

believe you're the worst

sinner when there's a

room full of those

people?

And his response was,

because I know my heart.

And that's true.

You see, the problem is,

the things that lead me

to lying, lead me to

covering up, lead me to

even discouragement, or

to lead me to certain

forms of leisure, and

those kinds of things,

those same attitudes lead

other people to sexual

sins, and to greediness.

And it comes from the

same heart.

It comes from the same

place.

It looks different, but

it's coming, it's the

wellspring of the same

desire.

I want something that I

don't have.

Now, it's taken some

people a little further

down that road, but

inevitably, we're all on

that path the moment we

choose to have our own

way instead of God's way.

And anger is probably

something that many of

us, we look in the

mirror, and we know we

struggle with this at

times, either privately

or publicly.

And we need to recognize

that the end of this

unchecked anger leads not

just to murder, but it

leads to being cut off

from the Lord.

That's what he says

here in verse 4.

Do you not know that

friendship with the

world is enmity or

hostility against God?

You have become an enemy

with God.

And as Ephesians 4 has

said, you have been

alienated from him.

You've been cut off from

him.

Oh, may God help us to

check our anger.

Self-pity.

Self-pity.

And you all know the

story of Jonah, right?

And it begins very early

in chapter 4, where

Jonah finally gets to

the right place.

He finally preaches

this, I think it's a

five-year word sermon

in Hebrew.

In 40 days, you'll be

destroyed.

That's kind of five

Hebrew words.

There's no offer of

repentance.

There's no even

indication that things

could be different.

And God shows up and

rescues the whole city.

It's incredible.

This massive revival that

takes place on five

words.

But how does Jonah

respond?

Well, Jonah 4.1 opens

this way.

It displeased Jonah.

What?

It displeased Jonah?

Are you kidding me?

How does the...

By the way, this is

probably the greatest

revival ever captured

in the Bible.

It's happening here.

Literally hundreds of

thousands of people.

Not just 2,000 on the

day of Pentecost.

And then 5,000 a little

later.

We're talking about

hundreds of thousands

of people are committing

themselves to God.

And Jonah is displeased.

The greatest revivalist

in human history

is angry.

Well, he's angry

and God begins to

reveal where it's

coming from.

And God creates this

object lesson.

He gives him a little

plant that grows in

this very hot, arid

weather.

And so the Lord says

in verse 4,

Do you do well to be

angry?

And Jonah went out of

the city, sat to the

east.

And of the city, he

made a booth for

himself there.

He sat under it in the

shade till he should

see what would become

the city.

Now the Lord God had

appointed a plant and

made it to come over

Jonah so that it might

be a shade over his

head to save him from

his discomfort.

So Jonah was

exceedingly glad.

Okay?

He was really happy

about the plant and

very displeased about

the saving work of God.

And you know the story.

It's identified his

heart.

This self-serving,

self-pitying heart.

He didn't really want

what God wanted.

He wanted what he

wanted.

It was just indicated

by this response to

the city and this

work, this mighty work

of God among the

Ninevites.

Third is discontentment.

Discontentment says

I'm not satisfied with

what God has given me.

And a lot of these

kind of come out of

the same seeds or

kind of bearing fruit

just in different

ways.

And Paul addresses

discontentment in

Philippians chapter 4

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

when he says,

Not that I'm speaking

of being in need,

for I have learned

in whatever situation

I am to be content.

I know how to be

brought low.

I know how to

abound.

In any and every

circumstance, I have

learned the secret of

facing plenty and

hunger, abundance and

need.

I can do all things

through him who

strengthens me.

That's what we all

need.

We all need the help

of God to learn to

be content.

That's a hard one.

And it happens in a

lot of different ways,

doesn't it?

Learning to be content.

The secret of joy and

thanksgiving.

finally, fear.

Fear is I might lose

what I want, so I have

to protect myself

against these things.

And Jesus addresses

this in Matthew chapter

Matthew 6:24–26

6, verses 24 to 26.

He says,

No one can serve two

masters.

Actually, backing up,

he begins this whole

dialogue with,

Don't be anxious about

your life.

And I'm sorry I didn't

include that part.

Don't be fearful.

Don't be anxious.

Don't allow this grip

of fear to control you.

Instead, do this.

Realize that no one can

serve two masters.

He will either hate the

one and love the other,

or will be devoted to

one and despise the

other.

You can't serve God in

money.

So I tell you, don't be

anxious about your life.

What you will eat or what

you will drink or about

your body, what you put

on.

Is not life more than

food and the body more

than clothing?

Look at the birds of the

air.

They neither sow or reap

or gather into barns,

and yet your heavenly

Father feeds them.

Are you not of more

value than they?

And that's where we

have to come back to,

is recognizing that

whatever fears we feel,

whatever insecurities

we have, whatever

anxieties are coming to

the table, that God is

bigger than those

things.

He can provide, he can

help, and even if bad

things happen, no one

can separate us from his

love, right?

And we might be severed

from this life, but we're

not going to ever be

severed from his love.

And we have to hang on

to that.

We have to remember

that, okay?