Motive Matters // Matthew 6:1-18

Join us as we continue our sermon on the mount series in Matthew 6:1-18.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So you guys, unfortunately, I was raised a
Cowboys fan and I've never beenable to shed that.
Look, brother, pray for usDallas sports fans.
All right, first Luca, thenBrian Schottenheimer.
Just pray for your Dallassports fan friends, because we
most definitely need it.
And so, yeah, I'm a Cowboys fanand it was super sweet.

(00:23):
A few Christmases back,christine knew that I've always
wanted a custom Cowboys jersey,and so she knew that the Color
Rush one was my favorite, and soshe searches all over the place
and she had trouble finding one, but she finally found one and
she ordered it.
And this is it, and it lookedreally great.
Right, I unboxed it.
It's awesome, I'm super excitedabout it.
But even though it lookedreally great, as I started to

(00:46):
look a little bit closer, therewere a few details, like if you
look, the swoosh on this arm isbackwards, so that's a thing.
And then you would notice a fewother things, like there was
some cardboard and all this sortof stuff.
And what happened is, eventhough it had the appearance of
something real, when you startedto dig down underneath it was

(01:06):
actually fake.
And now I'm very grateful formy jersey.
I love it.
It's the best babe, you're thesweetest.
But why am I telling you thisstory?
Well, because that is wherewe're at as we continue our
series on the Sermon on theMount.
Jesus is going to be dealingwith a similar situation, except
instead of a jersey or faith ora walk with God.
Maybe is a better way tounderstand it.

(01:27):
But the point is he's sayingthat, hey, there is a way of
doing things that is going to bereal and there's a way of doing
things that's going to be fake,and he's going to look at the
differences between the two.
And, as we've been trackingthrough this series, we've seen
Jesus talk about a greaterrighteousness, that they needed
to have a greater.
His followers needed to have agreater righteousness than the
Pharisees.
And then, as he pivots to thisnext section, he's saying, hey,

(01:50):
there's actually a motive behindthis that matters, right?
The righteousness I'm tellingyou about is not a list of rules
to just check boxes, butinstead we want to follow God's
heart.
And he's going to talk aboutthat fake religiosity that we
mentioned and a truerelationship with God.
And, just like the jersey,there's a kind of religiousness

(02:10):
that looks good on the outside,but when you pull back the
curtains it has no authenticity,it's not real, it's fake.
But how can you tell?
Well, there's no swoosh to lookat.
But what Jesus is going topoint out tonight I always try
to say this morning is thatmotive matters.
In fact, he's going to usethree examples to show us that
fake righteousness is motivatedby status, recognition and an

(02:35):
image, while true righteousnessis motivated by worship,
relationship and dependence.
And we're going to walk throughall of those if you didn't get
to write them down.
So, that being said, we're goingto jump into verse 1, matthew,
chapter 6, verse 1.
If you have your Bible, you cango ahead and flip there
somewhere in the middle.
Perfect, all right.
Be careful not to practice yourrighteousness in front of

(02:56):
others to be seen by them.
If you do, you will have noreward from your Father in
heaven.
And so I'm just going to stopwith that verse for now, because
that's like the thesisstatement for this, and so at
first glance, it might seem likeit contradicts something that
Jesus said earlier in Matthew 5,because, if you remember, from
a few weeks ago, he says in thesame way let your light shine
before others that they mightsee your good deeds and glorify

(03:17):
your Father in heaven.
But he just said, don'tpractice your works in front of
others.
So what is it?
Should we hide our good worksor should we let people see our
good works?
Well, here's the difference.
It's all about motive.
In Matthew 5, 16, jesus sayslet your light shine before
others and then here's the pointso that they may see your good
deeds and glorify your Father inheaven.

(03:38):
Right, the purpose of peopleseeing what you're doing is so
that they would see God andthey'd be hey, he's really good,
like there's something goodabout the God this guy follows.
Your works should help peoplesee God's goodness.
He's the one who gets the glory.
But in this verse Jesus says becareful not to practice your
righteousness in front of others, to be seen by them.
And so here Jesus is warningagainst doing good things so

(04:01):
that you get noticed.
So people think a lot about youand who you are.
It's not a contradiction, it'sa heart check.
Jesus is saying there's thisway of looking righteousness, of
doing a lot of spiritual things, but with the wrong motive, to
impress people instead of honorGod.
It's worthless, there's noreward, it's fake righteousness.

(04:23):
And here's the scary part, asJesus says that there is no
reward from God, that it's empty.
So you have these twocategories of a true
righteousness and a fakerighteousness, but still that
begs the question how do youknow?
Like?
What are the signs?
How can I know which side ofthe fence I'm on?
Well, jesus actually uses thosethree examples we mentioned

(04:43):
earlier, and so we're going toread through some of the text.
This is going to be like a longtrunk, so stick with me, and
then we're going to walk backthrough it.
Verse two so when you give tothe needy, do not announce it
with trumpets, as the hypocritesdo, in the synagogues and on
the streets to be honored byothers.
Truly, I tell you, they havereceived their reward in full.
But when you give to the needy,do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing,so that your giving may be in

(05:05):
secret.
Then your father, who sees whatis done in secret, will reward
you.
And when you pray, do not belike the hypocrites, for they
love to pray standing in thesynagogues and on the street
corners to be seen by others.
Truly, I tell you they havereceived their reward in full.
But when you pray, go into yourroom and close the door and
pray to your father, who isunseen, then your father, who
sees what is done in secret,will reward you.

(05:25):
And when you pray, do not keepon babbling like the pagans, for
they think they will be heardbecause of their many words.
Do not be like them, for yourfather knows what you need
before you ask him.
And here I'm actually going tomove forward a little bit,
because this is where Jesusgives his followers a model for
prayer.
We call it the Lord's Prayer.
You could do an entire sermonseries, just don't have time for
that.
And so we're actually going tosee how that fits within the

(05:47):
greater movement of what's goingon in these 18 verses.
So we're going to move pastthat to the next part.
In verse 16, he says when youfast, do not look somber as the
hypocrites do, for theydisfigure their faces to show
others that they are fastingTruly.
I tell you they have receivedtheir reward in full.
But when you fast, put oil onyour head and wash your face so
that it will not be obvious toothers that you're fasting, but

(06:09):
only to your father, who isunseen, and your father, who
sees what is done in secret,will reward you.
And so that seems like a lot ofunrelated text, like he's
talking about prayer, he'stalking about giving and then
he's talking about fasting.
Like what in the world doesthat have to do with true and
fake righteousness?
But remember, these areexamples.
So he's saying, hey, don'tpractice your good deeds to be

(06:30):
seen by others.
Don't be this fake faithperformative.
Don't be that.
And then he gives these asexamples for what not to do and
what to do.
So he goes on either side of thecoin and as we move through
them, we're going to start withthat fake righteousness and
we're going to think throughthree things that are indicative
of this fake faith.
It looks real but at the end ofthe day, there's actually

(06:52):
nothing there.
And so Jesus starts with giving.
He says when you give to theneedy, don't announce it with
trumpets, as the hypocrites doin the synagogues.
And so did people really blowtrumpets before they gave?
Probably not.
And some commentators thinkthat he's talking like
metaphorically here.
Like don't be.
Like.
Like look how much money I gave.
Like look at me, I'm so awesome.

(07:13):
Other people believe he'stalking about these metal
receptacles that were in thetemple and the synagogue,
basically what people wouldthrow coins into to get money.
And they're metal, so they makea lot of wealthy person coming
up with their big old coincollection and making it rain,
dumping them all in there makesa ton of noise.
So people look at them andthink, oh man, he's really holy.
And Jesus says that's notgenerosity that's showing off.

(07:34):
Their motivation wasn't to helppeople, it was to be honored by
others.
And that's at the heart of fakerighteousness.
It's doing good things to getstatus, to impress people, to
elevate yourself.
And we see this all the time,and especially in church culture
.
Right, and I'm not trying tocall anybody out, I'm not being

(07:56):
pointed.
I think I believe our churchdoes a great job of this
actually.
But you see the big givers inchurch, they get a little bit of
extra attention, they gettreated a little bit differently
.
You know, when you knowsomebody has money, you kind of
cozy up to them, like maybe Ican get a favor or whatnot, and
we get this status that we giveout to people based on how much
money they have or they give.
And look, I understand that as astudent in Bernie, like y'all

(08:17):
probably aren't trying to flexyour bank accounts, like you're
just trying to see like do Ihave money to go to Canes after
this or not, like I have no clue, like I get that right.
But look, this isn't just aboutmoney.
Here in Bernie it is just aseasy to chase status in ministry
as it is to chase social statusor athletic status.

(08:38):
There's towns that do a greatjob, there's other well-known
ministries, there's otherwell-known student leaders, and
it's really tempting to starttrying to climb that spiritual
ladder, to do things so that youget noticed, not out of worship
, and that's fake righteousness.
It might look good on theoutside, but the motive is
messed up and if that's yourgoal, getting noticed is the

(09:00):
only thing you're going to getout of it.
And it's the same type of thing.
When Jesus talks about prayer.
He says when you pray, don't belike the hypocrites that pray
to be seen by others, but whenyou do pray, do not keep on
babbling like the pagans, forthey think they'll be heard
because there are many words.
So I'm skipping around a littlebit there.
And what's going on that Jesusis referencing is it was very
common for Jews to pray threetimes a day, and so oftentimes

(09:29):
they would kind of know whenthese times of day would be, and
they just make sure that theyjust happened to be in a very
public place when that time toprayer came, and they just
happened to make sure to prayvery loudly and very like, use
all the big words so thateverybody hears and thinks like
how holy I am.
And Jesus calls them hypocrites.
But that word didn't mean thesame to him as it does to us
today.
We think of hypocrites as, likesomebody who says something and
does something elseintentionally, but here it's
actually talking about like.

(09:50):
That word is related to theGreek word for actor, so it's
like putting on a mask andplaying a part right, the Greek
word was actually the same word.
And actors would perform on astage and they would put on this
big mask to play differentcharacters.
And actors would perform on astage and they would put on this
big mask to play differentcharacters.
And so Jesus, when he callssomebody a hypocrite, he's not
saying that you're inconsistent.
He's saying that you'repretending You're playing a role

(10:14):
to impress an audience.
And these people were puttingon a show in order to gain some
recognition for how spiritualthey were.
They have this religious maskon, like I want everybody to
think that I love Jesus, tothink I've got it all together,
but it's really just a show,it's just an act.
They're after applause, notauthenticity.

(10:36):
And so the last example he usesis fasting.
He says when you fast, do notlook somber as the hypocrites do
.
They disfigure their faces toshow others they're fasting.
And so, out of the three,fasting is the one that's
probably the most foreign to us.
We don't necessarily practicethis regularly.
If you do, that's amazing, it'sa great practice.
But fasting is this practice ofgoing without food for a period
of time, and sometimes you canfast from other stuff.

(10:57):
But the point is to encourageprayer.
So every time I feel hungry,I'm going to pray to God, or I'm
going to encourage dependenceand willpower.
I'm not going to depend on myown strength, but I'm going to
depend on the Lord.
I'm going to learn that I cango without what I want so that I
can have him.
And this was a common practice.
A lot of Jews would probablyfast twice a week.
But again, there had been apractice where, when people were

(11:19):
fasting, they'd make themselveslook all miserable, like they'd
drag their feet.
They'd make their face look bad, like they would look like
death walking around.
And the point was so everybodywould see them and be like man.
His fast must be crazy.
Like he loves God so much, likehe's the Lord.
And look, they weren't fastingfor God, they were fasting to
create an image.

(11:40):
Look, they weren't fasting forGod, they were fasting to create
an image.
And in a world that is allabout creating an image, we are
so in danger of falling into theexact same trap.
You might not fast twice a week,but we give things up.
We might take a break fromsocial media or step back, but
you have to ask yourself thisquestion what's your motive?
Remember, motive matters Likeare you doing something?

(12:05):
Are you giving something up sothat you can press into God or
so that people would notice howcommitted you are?
And we've seen this before.
We all know the people whoannounce their social media fast
, right, like you make postsleading up to the social media
fast that are actually longerthan the social media fast
itself.
It's like three weeks oftelling everybody you're about
to log off for two days ofactually logging off, right,
you're like putting your addressup there.
It's like all right, guys likewrite me letters, you know.

(12:26):
And then, two days later, itwas so refreshing and I'm not
trying to make fun of anybody,I'm just as guilty as anyone
else.
But the point here is, if you'regiving something up just so
that people think you're holy,you've already received your
reward.
There's no growth in that.
It's all for appearances.
And so when you look at thesethree examples, you start to get
a pretty good picture of thisfake righteousness.

(12:47):
It's a spiritual life devotednot to God but to your own
status, your own recognition andyour own image, and it might be
bold of me to say this, but Ithink this is one of, if not the
biggest issues that you as astudent could face here in
Bernie Church, because we'reblessed to live in a town where
it is easy to be Christian.
I say easy meaning we don'tface persecution, we don't have

(13:09):
people running us out of ourchurches, we have lots of
amazing organizations here, andso it's easy to identify as a
Christian.
In fact, being a Christian cankind of be advantageous here.
It can get you into the rightsocial circles, it can get you
into the right Nueo group orYoung Life group, it can get you
into the right friend group,and none of those things on

(13:31):
their own are bad.
But you have to ask yourselfwhat is my motive?
Am I trying to use myspirituality to just climb a
ladder to be popular, to beaccepted, because there's no
life in that, it's fake.
Motive matters.
And here's the thing Jesusisn't saying don't give, don't
pray, don't fast.
He's saying do it in the properway, with the proper motive.

(13:54):
And so then the question iswell, what in the world is that?
How am I supposed to?
And so now we're going to goback through and look at the
positive examples, starting withgiving.
Jesus says when you give to theneedy, do not let your left
hand know what your right handis doing.
And so this hand illustrationis kind of confusing and people
have debated it and like, howserious is it?
Like, is it a sin to tellanybody that you're giving?
It's not right.

(14:15):
We give in community.
I think it's helpful for peopleto know how you give.
The point is that when you dogive to somebody, it should be
like low key, it should bediscreet, you shouldn't be
trying to make a show of it, andnot only that, but you
shouldn't be showing off toother people.
You shouldn't get right.
Sometimes we might keep it insecret, but we really are
patting ourselves on the backLike we're going to throw our

(14:37):
shoulder out like man, come onand you start to kind of buy
your own steam, and it's justnot how it should be, because
true righteousness is motivatedby worship.
Why do I say worship?
Because worship is a responseto God, and so when we're
generous, it, yes, to someextent, is to help people.
We want to help people.
It is because it's healthy foryou to give things away, but at

(14:59):
the end of the day, we aregenerous because we serve a
generous God that everything wehave our bodies, our lives, our
experiences it's from Him right.
None of it's our own.
You think, well, I work to earnmy money.
Well, who gave you those legsright?
Who gave you the breath in yourlungs?
It all belongs to God.
And so we are generous becauseGod has been so generous to us.
And children look like theirparents, and so if we are

(15:22):
children of God, then we shouldreflect that to those around us.
And so true generosity, truefaith and righteousness is
worship.
It's responding to who God is.
It's not caring about whatanybody else thinks, simply
living out our faith and livingout who God is to us, to other
people.
And so chasing status blessesyou, but worshipful giving

(15:44):
blesses others.
Moving on to prayer.
Jesus says, when you pray, gointo your room, close the door
and pray to your Father, who isunseen.
And so in one element, jesus istalking about hey, you should
go practice of, I'm going to getaway from all the noise and all
the distraction.
I'm going to spend time talkingto God.
Right, we shouldn't be goingout and thinking about what
other people are going to thinkabout me or how I say things.

(16:07):
But it's also not saying thatyou should never pray in public.
Jesus prayed in public, right,but he's saying if your prayer
life is all about being seen bypeople, you're missing the point
, because prayer is not meant tobe a performance.
And you can see this becauselater in that command, he says
hey, don't babble.
Like the pagans and what he'sreferencing is a lot of pagans
who worshiped other gods duringthat day would just say a bunch

(16:29):
of words, like, like.
They would just ramble on andon and on and on, thinking that
maybe I'll get God's attentionright, maybe I can get him to
listen to me, because theyviewed God as this distance.
Just hey, he set the world upand then he let it run or he
doesn't care about us.
And Jesus says hey, you don'thave to fight for your father's
attention.

(16:49):
He sees you, he knows you andhe loves you.
So why do we pray?
Because he's your father.
Because prayer is not aboutimpressing someone, it's about
knowing someone.
It's about conversation withGod.
Like I want my kids to talk tome right Now.
Imagine if Leighton, every timeshe came up to me, started with
this like Dear Father, o mostgracious Abba, father, who sits

(17:16):
on high of the throne of ourfamily, who inhabits the realm
of 157 Sycamore, you discipline,you lay me down for naps.
Would thy grant me a fish stick?
Like it would be.
No, I'd be like stop, that'sweird.
Quit.
Like don't do that, don't talkto me that way.
Right, that's just that's weird.
Stop it.
But see, if she would continueto talk to me that way at a

(17:39):
certain point it would saysomething about how she sees me
as her dad, that she needs touse fancy words to impress me,
that my love can be bought byher performance.
And see, I don't want that.
I don't want her performance, Iwant her heart.
Do you see it?
Prayer is not about trying toimpress God and it's certainly
not trying to impress the peoplearound us.
Rather, prayer is time for youto have a conversation with the

(18:02):
God who made you.
So you don't need fancy words,you don't need a formula, you
just need to talk.
And can I say this is an areaI've been convicted and as I'm
prepping for the sermon, likeI'm trying to pray to prep for
this, and like, lord, would yougive me the words to say, and I
was like, why do I say Lordevery five words, like I don't
go?
Hey, sam, could you help me toget Sam?
Will you really go help me out?
Like Sam, please, sam, like youdon't do that in conversation.

(18:23):
So I'm like, all right, evenmyself I'm like, hey, I have
room to grow here.
But this is where life is found.
When that prayer turns fromsomething that's performative
and it becomes personal, that'swhere intimacy, you really get
to know God.
And then, finally, fasting.
Jesus says, when you fast, putoil on your head and wash your
face so it will not be obvious.
So again, people were making itshowy and Jesus saying, hey,

(18:43):
this isn't about the show, don'twalk around looking miserable
so that everybody knows howspiritual you are, because the
point of this it's not aboutimpressing the crowd, it's about
denying yourself and lookingtowards God.
Fasting is an act of humility.
It's a way of saying God, Ineed you more than I need food.
I am not self-sufficient.

(19:04):
I cannot do this on my own.
I am dependent on you.
That's true righteousness.
It's not about building yourspiritual image.
It's about building reliance onhim.
It's about getting to a placewhere you realize I can't go one
moment without you.
I need you 24-7, every secondof every day, because here's the
reality.
You don't need the applause ofthe crowd when you're walking in

(19:26):
the presence of the Creator.
And I remember in high school Ihad a friend on the football
team and I envied him because hewas good.
But it wasn't because he wasjust good at football, it was
because he was just sounbothered.
And you know how it goes ifyou've been on a sports team or
if you've been in activity.
There's usually a lot of peerpressure to do dumb stuff.
You know you're joking around.
Everybody's ragging on eachother.

(19:47):
And this guy was differentbecause he was just unfazed by
it to the point where peopleeventually just left him alone
because he was so unbothered.
They respected him, thosethings and so.
But I knew that that wasn't goodfor me and I wanted nothing
more than to be able to be freefrom that fear of man.

(20:08):
And so I go up to him and like,bro, like how in the world?
Like how do you just not carewhat people think about you,
thinking he was going to give mesome like crazy answer or
whatnot?
But I don't care about approval, I just know whose approval
actually matters.
I'm like all right, yoda, likewhat does that mean?
Like that's not helpful.
What kind of Jedi mind trickLike come on, help me out.
He's like well, think about it.

(20:29):
Why would I chase the approvalof people when I already have
the approval of the God who madeall of them?
And it stuck with me because heunderstood something that most
of us miss.
We are wired to seek approval.
Like approval itself is not abad thing, but it's all about
where you seek it from.
You were made to have theapproval of the God who made you
, but if we try to go anywhereelse for that approval, it's

(20:52):
going to leave us down becausethe crowd's fickle, they move on
.
But your Father in heaven, hesees you, he loves you dearly
and his presence is far betterthan the applause of any man.
Or you don't need the approvalof the crowd, when you're
walking in the presence of thecreator.
So who are you living for?
The crowd or the creator?
And Jesus says, hey, live forthe creator.

(21:14):
And that kind of life it's notflashy, it's not loud, it's not
going to get you a ton offollowers on Instagram, but it's
where true life is, it's truefreedom and that's the kind of
faith that Jesus is after.
And so, to sum up everything Iknow we just did a lot of
information.
There's a lot of verses Truerighteousness is motivated by
worship over status, byrelationship over recognition

(21:37):
and by dependence over image.
Thank you for putting that upthere.
And unlike fake righteousness,which Jesus says over that,
there's no reward in that it'sworthless, it's pointless.
There's a reward with this one.
What's the reward?
Well, the Bible is clear forone.
We actually receive eternalrewards in heaven, and I don't
know exactly what that's goingto be, but it sounds pretty sick

(21:58):
.
But I also believe that thatreward actually starts here and
now, that that reward is thatyou get to live a life that
matters.
Because here's the truth.
Many of you here tonight livefor the likes.
You build a profile that looksflawless perfect outfits,
perfect friends, perfectcaptions.

(22:19):
You spend your days trying tobe funny enough, hot enough,
smart enough or chill enough forpeople to think that you're
somebody.
You make the team.
You date the person.
You go to the parties.
You get the recognition.
Maybe people know your name atschool.
You're funny, you're well liked, you're in the in crowd.
Maybe you're even doing whatyou're supposed to do Schools.
You're making the grades.

(22:40):
You just got into the schoolthat you want to get into sports
friends, even some church stuffon the side.
From the outside, your lifelooks good, but if you're honest
with yourself, you're tired,because every day you wake up
wondering if it's enough, ifpeople really like you or just
the version of you that you'veput forward, and no matter how

(23:01):
many people notice you, it neverfeels like it's quite enough.
And then one day it all fades.
The trends shift, the followersstop paying attention, the
relationship ends, thepopularity dies and the days on
don't last.
And what are you left with?
You climbed a ladder that wasleaning on the wrong wall.
You spent your whole lifetrying to matter in the eyes of

(23:25):
people who don't even rememberyour name a year later, that
you're never going to see afteryou graduate high school.
You lived, but you left nothingthat lasted.
You existed, but you didn'tmake a dent in eternity.
A life that looks full but endsup empty.
It's a life that doesn't matter, but Jesus is inviting you into

(23:46):
something that's so much morethan that.
A life that matters, becausethe truth is you were created to
know him.
That's your purpose forexisting, that's the purpose for
all of this is to glorify him,to know him.
We're made for relationship,yet we took our free will
because God didn't want us to berobots.
So it gave us the opportunityto choose, and we chose to try

(24:08):
and put ourselves in the seat ofGod.
That whole tree of the knowledgeof good and evil.
It's not that they didn't knowgood and evil existed.
It's that they said, hey, Iwant to define good and evil for
myself.
I'm the boss here, I'm going tobe my own God.
And every single one of us havemade that decision.
And because God is good andjust, he has to punish evil, and
we want that when it's someoneelse's evil, but what do we do
when that's ours?

(24:33):
But God didn't want us to beseparated from him, from our
sins, so he sent his son, jesus,who lived a perfect life, but
at the end of his life he diedon the side of the road,
suffering, suffocating to death.
It wasn't a mistake, it was awillful choice so that we could
be reconciled to him, becausescripture says on that cross he
became our sin, that that wasn'tjust a random death, that that
was the father's wrath beingpoured onto Jesus because our

(24:56):
sin had to be punished.
So when we say the words thatJesus forgives your sin, he's
not just sweeping it under therug like it didn't happen.
So you think, hey, you don'tknow what I've done, you don't
know how far I've gone.
You're right, I don't.
But I can tell you that it waspaid for by the God who does?
It was paid for so that if weplace our faith in him, that we

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confess with our heart, believewith our mouth that Jesus is
Lord, we would be saved.
And so the truth is, if youmake that decision, you place
your faith in him, you becomehis child, you become adopted,
you become redeemed and youreceive the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit starts toclean you up from the inside out
and you have a role to play inthat of surrender More and more
of your life how I talk, myrelationships, my job, how I
spend my time, how I spend mymoney.

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I'm not trying to earn my wayinto heaven, I'm not trying to
earn God's love, but I alreadyhave it, and so it changes
everything about my life.
And then, guys, you get to be apart of building God's kingdom.
You're not working a job justto make money.
You're working a job to go intoa broken world and beat back
the darkness, to be a part ofseeing salvation.

(25:58):
It's a miracle from death tolife, that one day at your
funeral, they're not going tostand there and say, hey, he
made a bunch of money, like heearned a lot of stuff, he did a
lot of cool.
No, I was in heaven because Godused him in my life.
I'm in heaven because she toldme about Jesus.
You get to live a life thatactually matters, not just go to
school to get a degree, to earnsome money and retire in Port A

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one day, to actually make adent in the darkness in this
world, to play a part in thatand the darkness in this world
to play a part in that.
That's a life that matters andit's available to you, every
single one of you, and it justbegins with a choice which

(26:41):
righteousness do you want?
Who do you want to live for?
Yourself, the crowd or theCreator, the one you were made
to know?
If you want true righteousness,if you want to live a life that
matters, it all starts withsurrender.
So, real quick, everybody, justgo ahead, bow your head, close
your eyes.
I just want to give you thatopportunity to respond.

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Tonight we're not going to haveyou stand, I'm not going to
have you walk an aisle, I justwant it to be you and the Lord.
Maybe you say, hey, I'm lookingat my life and I fall squarely
in that fake righteousness camp.
I've been living a lie, I'vebeen putting on a show to
impress my parents, maybe tojust get my parents off my back,
but if I'm honest, I've nevermade that decision.

(27:22):
It's my faith in Jesus.
Let me tell you, tonight can bethe night.
Let me tell you tonight can bethe night.
You don't have to live on thathamster wheel of fear, of man
trying to live for people'sopinion.
Say, hey, that's me.
I've never made Jesus my kingand I want to do that tonight.
If you just slip your hand upreal quick Nobody's looking
around you say I want to placemy faith in Jesus for the first

(27:44):
time.
Cool, I see you.
I see you, you can put yourhands down.
Look, here's the thing.
Maybe you didn't pray thatprayer, maybe you didn't want to
raise your hand.
You're afraid of what peoplemight think.
Let me tell you that's okay.
But I just encourage you.

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If you raised your hand or ifyou know you need to make that
decision, go find a leader afterthis and have that conversation
.
I just want you to be able towalk through that with someone,
because you don't have to settlefor that type of life.
You can be set free through arelationship with the one who
created you.
And so, guys, I'm going to prayreal quick, and then we have

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one short thing we're going todo afterwards and then we're
going to small group.
All right,