Collierville First Baptist Church

00;00;02;25 - 00;00;27;28
Unknown
All right. Good evening. So good to see you. Didn't we have a great Easter weekend? Wasn't it so good here at the church? Can we just thank God for our pastor over here? Yes. He told me to say that. He said get them to know. Know. Hey, we've got a great new sermon series that pastor Chuck is starting this Sunday.

00;00;27;28 - 00;00;51;16
Unknown
It's first words of the resurrected Christ, and it's going to be fantastic, I know already can we go ahead and pray for that? And for this evening? Let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer. Father, just thank you so much. So we get to be a part of your family that we get to be, forgiven of our sins and adopted into the family through Jesus Christ.

00;00;51;16 - 00;01;12;12
Unknown
We thank you for that. Lord. I thank you for this church family that you bring here. Lord, this is your bride, your your church that you have, that you've redeemed and and, Lord, wash us in your word tonight. Prepare us for you to come again. Lord, we long to see you face to face until that day.

00;01;12;12 - 00;01;30;12
Unknown
Lord, I pray that we'll just be faithful to you. That we will, be faithful to one another. That will love one another. Follow your commandments. God, I pray tonight as we read your word, you'll just speak to us, that you will shape us and convict us of sin and God. I thank you for the new sermon series coming up.

00;01;30;15 - 00;01;59;18
Unknown
Lord, I pray that, just for Pastor Chuck's study this week and, God, that you will just lead him in that through your Holy Spirit. And I pray that you'll just guide him to just the right, the right understand and and words of encouragement to us as he just as he executes your word. Lord, I pray that you'll just help us to really, just grow the way you'd like us to grow.

00;01;59;18 - 00;02;29;11
Unknown
Father, I just thank you again for this church. I thank you for this evening. And I pray that you'll just be glorified in this. In Jesus name I pray. And all God's people said Amen. All right, let's take our Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter six. We're out of five. We're in six. We're making progress.

00;02;29;14 - 00;02;40;13
Unknown
Are there any hypocrites in the room? We've all got a little hypocrite in us. No way.

00;02;40;15 - 00;03;23;07
Unknown
No. You know, I think the the sermon on the Mount should be, Prerequisite steel toed shoes, steel toed shoes. So tonight, we're going to look at living under false pretenses. Matthew chapter six, verses one through seven, and then verses 16 to 18. So hypocrisy, the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform.

00;03;23;09 - 00;03;50;05
Unknown
Another word for it is pretense. Kevin DeYoung wrote an article to clarify this thorny issue for for Christians because some Christians, he said, wonder if they should still go to church if they don't feel like it. Hey, let me ask you a question. Have you ever gone to church when you didn't feel like it? Yeah. Have I ever preached when I didn't feel like it?

00;03;50;08 - 00;04;19;04
Unknown
Yeah. Is that hypocritical? Do this. No, that is not hypocritical. He said they wonder if it's right to say sing the praise songs if they are feeling worshipful that morning. Have you ever going to work when you didn't feel like you wanted to go to work? Is that being a hypocrite? Do this. Nope. That will allow you to keep a job right?

00;04;19;06 - 00;04;44;11
Unknown
And to keep income flowing in to the family. They hesitate to give generously because God loves the cheerful giver. And, well, giving doesn't make them very happy. That mean you shouldn't give? They aren't sure they should repent of their sins or work to forgive their offender unless they feel really sorry and feel like forgiving. Let me tell you something.

00;04;44;12 - 00;05;12;07
Unknown
If you wait till you feel like forgiving somebody, you will never forgive anybody. You will never forgive them. But the Bible says we are to forgive. Give. Right. Let's take what we studied the last time we met. Jesus said we're to love our enemies. But what if you don't feel loving to your enemies? Are you still supposed to love do this?

00;05;12;10 - 00;05;46;28
Unknown
Yeah, because Jesus said to right. All right. Many Christians fear that doing the right thing without the right feelings make them hypocrites. Of course, as Christians, we want to grow so that we feel good about what is good. But the Christian life is full of instances where the doing and the feeling do not exactly match. Sometimes with feelings ahead of obedience, and sometimes with obedience ahead of our feeling.

00;05;47;02 - 00;06;15;05
Unknown
You know what I've discovered? I've discovered that if I obey the Lord when I don't want to obey the Lord, eventually my feelings will catch up. They'll catch up. I think sometimes the Lord wants us to be in that, that that little bit of vice grip where we have to obey him when we don't really want to obey him, when we don't feel like obeying, but we obey him anyway.

00;06;15;05 - 00;06;54;20
Unknown
And I'm telling you our feeling, just run to catch up. You cannot look. You cannot base your Christian experience on feelings. The most shallow part of your being is your emotions. Are your feelings. If it's raining, it can affect your emotions, right? If if, if your wife burns the cornbread, it could affect your emotions, right? Your feelings are not the barometer for your spiritual life.

00;06;54;22 - 00;07;55;04
Unknown
Everybody got that? I think we have to clear that up before we move forward. Hypocrisy is not the gap between doing and feeling. You ought to underline that hypocrisy is not the gap between doing and feeling. It's the gap between public persona and private character. Have you have you ever been around somebody that's a really good hypocrite? I mean, they they I've, I remember coaching and I remember I was a, assistant coach at Columbus Lee High School, and we had a kid move in from Ohio and to hear him say, man, he was some kind of tailback.

00;07;55;07 - 00;08;33;07
Unknown
And, and he looked good. He he had the physique. He looked really good. But when we put on the pads. And Larry Andrews, it was six four, about 225 linebacker on the other side were doing an Oklahoma drill. He wasn't near as good as what he said he was, because his public persona did not match his private actions or character.

00;08;33;09 - 00;08;41;16
Unknown
Can you spot a hypocrite? It sometimes it takes a while.

00;08;41;18 - 00;09;26;13
Unknown
Listen, there's a church. I'm not going to name the church. They had a an Easter service and and they had a scripture in their worship bulletin. And there was an asterisk by it. And then at the bottom of the page where the asterisk was explained, it said this verse has been altered to make it more inclusive. So, that's a church.

00;09;26;16 - 00;09;46;03
Unknown
Now, can I tell you this? I wish I could tell you that's rare, but it is becoming more and more of a reality and more and more of, a thing that's happening in our culture today.

00;09;46;06 - 00;10;35;17
Unknown
And it's a dangerous, dangerous thing. Do you realize that churches can be hypocrites? I'm talking about church, church bodies, churches. Now, in Matthew 23, this about this whole chapter. You know, some people think that Jesus is all fuzzy and and warm and he never said anything to to put people in a pickle. But I can tell you, if you read Matthew 23, you'll notice that the Lord Jesus man, if you were an unrepentant hypocrite, he would do what my granddaddy did when we killed hogs.

00;10;35;19 - 00;11;04;13
Unknown
He would dip, that hog in boiling water, scald that hog, and then get all the hair off of it. And that's what Jesus did when he came up against the Pharisees. And the Pharisees were so hypocritical. And I want you to notice these verses. Matthew 2323 to 28. And I want you to remember who's saying this now.

00;11;04;15 - 00;11;47;22
Unknown
This is Jesus in Matthew 23 2328, Jesus said, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. What's that word? Hypocrites! He called some of the most religious people in Israel a hypocrite, and you wonder why they crucified him. For you, tithe meant dealing cumin and having neglected the weightier provisions of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. But these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

00;11;47;24 - 00;12;02;10
Unknown
You blind, you blind. A God who strained out a gnat and swallow a camel. Well, Jesus had a way with words, didn't he?

00;12;02;13 - 00;12;40;27
Unknown
You remember Jesus, talked about, shoving a camel through the eye of a needle. Right. Verse 25. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites. Sick time. You call them hypocrite. For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish. But inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind the Pharisee. First clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

00;12;41;00 - 00;13;07;12
Unknown
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you were like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Verse 28. So you two outwardly appear righteous to man, but inwardly you're full of apocrypha and lawlessness.

00;13;07;15 - 00;13;44;15
Unknown
So here's the bottom line. If you want to have the fullness of God's presence in your heart and your life, you must never stoop to living under false pretense. You got to be who you are. Now, how serious is this problem in the eyes of God? Well, in Amos chapter five, verse 21 to 24, the Bible says, here's, here's God.

00;13;44;16 - 00;14;15;04
Unknown
Here's what God says. I hate I reject your festivals. Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them. And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fat links. Take away from me the noise of your songs. I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

00;14;15;06 - 00;14;46;09
Unknown
But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. You know I hear all the time the excuse. And I will call it an excuse with a capital E that. Well, I'm not coming to church because of the hypocrites. Can I tell you that Collierville First Baptist Church is not offering us to lost people?

00;14;46;09 - 00;15;16;12
Unknown
We're offering Jesus to lost people. And we got to remember that. And so when somebody uses that cute little line with you, you say, look, look, brother, I'm not talking to you about the pastor. I'm not talking to you about me. I'm not talking to you about the chairman of deacons. I'm not talking to you about anybody. I'm talking to you about Jesus.

00;15;16;14 - 00;15;51;21
Unknown
Jesus is the only one that's perfect. He's the only one that will never, ever, ever let you down. He'll never do it. And that's who we're offering to people. When you share the gospel, you're not sharing you. You're sharing Jesus, right? And so don't be afraid. Do not be afraid to counteract what somebody says when they use the hypocrite word.

00;15;51;23 - 00;16;31;04
Unknown
I want you to know, and I've used this before. I've had people sharing the gospel with them while the hypocrites at church. And I say, you know something? Jesus hates hypocrites. Do. And I'll go to Matthew chapter 23. He hates hypocrites. He calls hypocrites. But he loves hypocrites. And he saves hypocrites if they repent. And they believe in him, just like he'll do for you.

00;16;31;07 - 00;16;48;19
Unknown
So. So what Jesus has in mind are there were basically three acts of Jewish piety. Almsgiving, prayer and fasting.

00;16;48;22 - 00;17;15;19
Unknown
And these form a unit of their own. And Jesus followed almost the same outline in discussing them. I've got it written here for you. A warning not to seek man's praise and assurance that those who do will get only an earthly reward, a command to perform such acts privately, and a promise that God who sees in secret, will reward the disciple openly.

00;17;15;22 - 00;17;42;19
Unknown
Now, in this portion of the sermon on the Mount we're going to look at tonight, Jesus nailed those number one who gave under false pretense. And Matthew, chapter six, verses one through two. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men. Now here's the key to be noticed by them.

00;17;42;21 - 00;18;08;15
Unknown
To be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as a hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full.

00;18;08;17 - 00;18;37;05
Unknown
Do you remember when Jesus was talking about the the very poor woman that gave the widow's might there in the temple? Nobody noticed her, but everybody noticed the bigwigs who came by. And they wanted to make sure that when they dropped their money in the offering box, that everybody noticed. Right.

00;18;37;08 - 00;19;12;03
Unknown
Now, who do you think? Was rewarded in that circumstance? What Jesus said. That it's the woman with the widow's might. He noticed what she gave. Because she gave in the right way. Verse two. So when you give to the poor, do not sound the trumpet before you as a hypocrite. Do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by me.

00;19;12;03 - 00;19;44;14
Unknown
And so so, look, you ought to underline that in verse one, to be noticed by them. And in verse two, you know, to underline, so that they may be honored by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. You know what Jesus is saying? He's saying that if you were to give $1 million.

00;19;44;16 - 00;20;02;21
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To advance the kingdom of God to missions, and you did it in such a way that you wanted other people to know what you gave, and you wanted the applause of men.

00;20;02;24 - 00;20;45;11
Unknown
That you would get no reward from God. Think about that. But the person who is on a fixed income lives off a meager social security check. And that little man or that little woman tithes. And gives extra to missions. I'm tell you, that little man, that little woman are going to be rewarded by God. That's what he's teaching here.

00;20;45;13 - 00;21;14;15
Unknown
Now, let's just break it down. Beware means to take hold of something and pay close attention to it. When Jesus used that word here, he he's getting our attention. He say, do not ignore this. This is important. And it carries the idea of being on guard. We gotta guard ourselves. You know, one thing that we have to guard ourselves is if you're in ministry.

00;21;14;17 - 00;21;41;18
Unknown
John Aaron's back there. I'm in ministry. Many of you are involved in ministries in this church. If we're not careful, we will find ourselves wanting to serve the Lord, to get the applause of people. A pat on the back from people. I have to really guard myself. I have to really guard myself.

00;21;41;20 - 00;22;05;26
Unknown
And every day, every Sunday, I say, Lord, just help me to please you. Help me to honor you and glorify you. And that's what it means here. The word beware, man. You got to be on guard for this stuff because I'm telling the enemy will use stuff like this to slip into your heart and slip into your life and get you off track just like that.

00;22;06;03 - 00;22;14;00
Unknown
Ooh, I gave blood. That's my finger. They stuck.

00;22;14;02 - 00;22;21;19
Unknown
All right. You have no reward with your father.

00;22;21;22 - 00;22;48;07
Unknown
Why? Because they're usurping the glory of God. Now, now, look at this. Take your Bible, turn to. Me. Find it.

00;22;48;09 - 00;22;59;21
Unknown
The Bible says everything we do should be done for the glory of God. Right. For the glory of God.

00;22;59;23 - 00;23;34;28
Unknown
And that's a principle that sort of underscores everything that we're looking at tonight. Now look at verse two. Hypocrite. The term hypocrite in the Greek language was, hypocrite was a Greek actor who wore a mask that portrayed in an exaggerated, exaggerated way, the role that was being dramatized in a play. That's where the idea of hypocrite came from.

00;23;35;00 - 00;24;11;14
Unknown
That they may be honored by men. Now, arms. Let's talk about arms for just a minute. Do you remember when, Peter and John were going to the temple after the resurrection of Christ after Pentecost? And, and then there's a there's a, poor man there at the gate. Beautiful. Remember that? And the poor man is saying alms arms to everybody.

00;24;11;15 - 00;24;14;26
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Pass it by.

00;24;14;28 - 00;24;38;19
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He's lame. He can't walk. So I have to bring him there every day so he can eke out a meager existence by begging for alms. And, he turns to Peter and John and said, alms arms. And Peter and John stopped, and they looked at him.

00;24;38;22 - 00;25;05;10
Unknown
And they said to him, hey, we don't have any money. Silver and gold, have we? None. But in the name of Jesus. Stand up and walk. I'm tell you, that dude stood up. Never walked a day in his life. He stood up. He jumping up and down. He's going into the temple praising God. Who got the glory for that?

00;25;05;12 - 00;25;32;18
Unknown
Peter and John. No. No, no. God got the glory for that. Powerful. Matthew chapter six, verses 3 to 4. Say, but when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret. And your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

00;25;32;20 - 00;26;04;01
Unknown
Now what did Jesus mean when he said, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing? It's a proverb. It's a New Testament proverb. Basically, it means to give spontaneously, with no show or no desire to draw attention to yourself. So the question being addressed here is, is the attention focused on the glory of God or your self?

00;26;04;04 - 00;26;32;10
Unknown
I remember when we were planning, and Mr. Reed was the chairman of the building committee for for our sanctuary. I mean, we got our heads together and we thought, how are we going to raise money? That kind of money. And, I went to brother Bob Israel. And asked about how do you how do you raise money in a church?

00;26;32;12 - 00;26;58;04
Unknown
He said, here's what he said. Do you want to do it God's way or man's way? I said, I prefer God's way. So you know what we decided? We decided that we were not going to ask people to make three year commitments. We decided that we were going to we're not going to have any kind of manipulation or any kind of get your leaders together, find out what the leaders are going to give.

00;26;58;07 - 00;27;31;04
Unknown
Promote that to the church. So the church would give none of that kind of stuff. You know what we did? We based our capital gains, our capital gains, our capital giving on, on revelation, giving all we did. We asked the church, you we ask you to pray. Ask God what he wants you to give. And you give what God wants you to give.

00;27;31;07 - 00;28;03;26
Unknown
Real simple. It. And you know what? We're out of that. We're out of debt. Because I believe with all my heart. That we raise money God's way. And we didn't try. We didn't pay a company to come in here and spend, $150,000 to help us raise $7 million or $10 million. No. We trusted God. And God's honored in that count stuff.

00;28;03;29 - 00;28;34;27
Unknown
Hey, when young pastors ask me, how do you raise money? I tell them exactly what we did. And some of them listen, some of them don't. But you know what? That that was a name of the Lord. Okay. Verse. Look at Matthew 516. You remember that verse? We looked at it earlier. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works.

00;28;34;27 - 00;28;43;19
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And what? And glorify your father who is in heaven.

00;28;43;21 - 00;29;05;07
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Verse four. Your father who sees in secret will repay you. Well, that's a great promise, isn't it? Your father, your heavenly father who sees you. And by the way, he sees what you give. You know that, don't you?

00;29;05;09 - 00;29;41;02
Unknown
He hears you when you pray, right? And he knows why you're fasting, right? The three key things of a Jewish mindset. And he rewards you based upon. Your faithfulness to him and your desire to glorify him. Look at verse four. Your father who sees in secret would repay. Now, now look at Proverbs 1125. There are some principles that undergird this stuff that just powerful.

00;29;41;05 - 00;30;13;05
Unknown
Proverbs 1125 the generous man will be prosperous, and he waters will himself be watered. Now that's not a promise. That's a proverb. You say, well, what's the difference in a promise and a proverb? Well, a proverb is a general statement about what normally happens if you do such and such. It's not a promise. Like train up a child in the way he'll go and when he's older, not depart from it.

00;30;13;08 - 00;30;50;25
Unknown
And so many parents beat themselves up because they believe. Or they get angry with God because they believe that that God has not fulfilled a promise. It's not a promise. It's a proverb. But here's what the proverb means. If you are sincere and diligent in raising your kids to love Jesus and follow Jesus and and know the word, do you know that most of the time, not all the time, but most of the time, that kid will grow up and at some point come back to the faith and live for Jesus.

00;30;50;25 - 00;31;15;25
Unknown
Not all the time. I wish I could tell you it was 100% as a proverb, but it's not okay. Now. Luke 638 give. Jesus said, give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure it would be measured to you in return.

00;31;15;27 - 00;31;43;19
Unknown
I'm a firm believer that you cannot out give God. I believe that with all my heart. Darlene and I started tithing when we were dating. We've been married be married 50 years this summer and and when we were day, we dated for five years before she asked me to marry her. And, Not to go over like that.

00;31;43;21 - 00;32;15;29
Unknown
But you know what? We started tithing when we were dating. About two years before we actually got married, we started tithing. We've been tithing ever since. And you know what? The Lord's been good to us. We're not rich. But we got food. We got a, a roof over here. And by the way, but pay that the house is paid off now is paid off.

00;32;16;03 - 00;32;47;27
Unknown
Praise God. Yeah. All right. All right. So Jesus nailed those who gave under false pretense. Secondly, he nailed those who prayed under false pretense. You say, how in the world can you pray under false pretense? Let me tell you, the Pharisees could figure out how to do it. Look at Matthew chapter six, verses 5 to 7. When you pray, you know he didn't say, if you pray.

00;32;47;29 - 00;33;14;13
Unknown
He said, when you pray, every believer ought to have a solid, disciplined prayer life. He said, when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full.

00;33;14;15 - 00;33;36;23
Unknown
But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, pray to your father who is in secret, and your father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you're praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they supposed that they will be heard for their many words.

00;33;36;26 - 00;34;07;17
Unknown
Now we embarked in. This commentary mentioned several problems that had developed in the prayer life of the of the very religious Jews. Their prayer had become ritualized. They would say this, Sheema. Every morning and every evening that's in, Deuteronomy chapter six. Every, every occasion had its own prescribed prayer.

00;34;07;19 - 00;34;59;29
Unknown
Prayer was limited to specific occasions. There were certain times to pray. They valued long prayers. They use meaningless repetition. They wanted to be seen and heard by others. So, Mark, let's say they had a a real problem in their prayer lives. Now, synagogues and street corners were gathering places for large amounts of people. They were major intersections. And these religious leaders would make sure that they were there for the prescribed times of prayer.

00;35;00;03 - 00;35;31;25
Unknown
But Jesus is talking to people in the sermon on the Mount, and he's using the Pharisees as a warning to not let that kind of stuff seep into your prayer life. Now, does he mean that we should never pray in public? No, he doesn't mean that at all. We have a pastoral prayer every Sunday morning, and we pray for sick people, and we pray for people who are grieving.

00;35;31;27 - 00;36;13;24
Unknown
And we praise God. And that is perfectly fine, because that's glorifying the Lord. It's not trying to draw attention to ourselves and get a pat on the back from people. So when you pray, gives great freedom about the timing of prayer. The Bible says, listen is pray without what? Pray without ceasing. And that that does not mean that you're in 24 over seven praying all the time.

00;36;13;27 - 00;36;43;13
Unknown
It means that you're in a spirit of prayer, and the Holy Spirit can lay something on your heart to pray as Holy Spirit ever laid a burden on your heart to pray for somebody. He done that to me, and I bet you he'd done it to most of you in this room, or the Holy Spirit reminds you to pray about the Easter service that we just had, or to pray about.

00;36;43;15 - 00;37;19;21
Unknown
What this person is going through, what that person is going through. See, that's not a prescribed time of prayer, is it? That is a very spontaneous prayer availability that we have as believers. Verse seven do not use meaningless repetition. This refers to intimate communion. An intimate communion model of prayer. Listen. Okay. Can I just. I want to set you free this this evening.

00;37;19;23 - 00;37;50;28
Unknown
So me, if I were to go to to somebody and ask you to pray. Here in just a minute. Some of you would swallow your tongue because it would mortify you to get up and pray before people. But I want you to remember something. God's not impressed by how flowery your words are. God doesn't expect you to pray like John Aaron, okay?

00;37;51;00 - 00;38;21;02
Unknown
He just expects you to love him and talk to him in a river way. And follow the lead. The Holy Spirit will help you. You don't have to try to impress people with the words that you use when you pray. God just wants you to pray. Let me ask you, when you talk to your wife.

00;38;21;04 - 00;38;26;12
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Do you say, dear wife?

00;38;26;14 - 00;38;55;15
Unknown
Will you please get me what they wants me to have? You don't do stuff like that. You talk to her because you're in love with her and you're in a relationship with her, right? And that's the way we talk to the Heavenly Father. Now, I have found that the more I study the Bible, the freer my prayer life becomes.

00;38;55;17 - 00;39;22;04
Unknown
Praying scripture is a powerful way to pray. You know. You know what I often try to do? I'll try to take the text. I'm going to preach on Sunday morning, and before I go out and preach it, I want I sit on my floor in my study. No, no windows. Nobody can see. And I get out my Bible and I look at my text and I pray through the text.

00;39;22;07 - 00;39;51;07
Unknown
I turn the text into a prayer. Okay. And it's just a way to get it deep in my heart. And it's, it's a you ought to try that when you read the scripture. Practice praying the scripture. I promise you, if you pray the scripture, you going to pray in the will of God because the Word of God is will of God, right?

00;39;51;10 - 00;40;16;02
Unknown
All right, all right. So Jesus nailed those who gave under false pretense, who prayed under false pretense, and finally nail those who fasted under false pretense. Matthew chapter six, verses 16 to 18.

00;40;16;04 - 00;41;03;10
Unknown
Jesus said, whenever you fast. You notice Jesus did and did not say, if you fast. He's talking to disciples. He's making disciples. And he said, when? Whenever you fast. So what does it take? Fasting should be a part of our spiritual disciplines. If we if we're healthy enough that we can go without food for a meal or two meals, then we ought to incorporate fasting into our prayer life.

00;41;03;12 - 00;41;40;06
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Look, there have been times in my my life when we've had some really big issues. And and I'll fast for 24 hours. And fasting doesn't mean you just don't eat. It means that you take the times that you would normally eat and you and you use it in prayer, in Scripture. It's a powerful thing. I think the the longest I've ever fast.

00;41;40;06 - 00;41;46;21
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It would like three days.

00;41;46;23 - 00;42;03;11
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So when you have a a big issue in your life, don't don't do this. If you're diabetic or something. I don't I don't want a lawsuit come back on me. Well, pastor said I need it now. Don't do that.

00;42;03;13 - 00;42;35;11
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You make sure that you're healthy enough, but y'all just try it for one meal. Just give up one meal and focus on praying and being with the Lord. Write out what you'd like to see God do. Keep a journal. All right. Whenever you fat, do not put on a gloomy face as a hypocrites. Do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men.

00;42;35;12 - 00;42;45;17
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See, there it is again. Every one of they. They'll be noticed by men. Be noticed by men.

00;42;45;19 - 00;43;01;26
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So they'll be noticed by men when they're fasting. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.

00;43;01;28 - 00;43;22;06
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So that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

00;43;22;08 - 00;43;59;04
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Many Pharisees fasted twice a week, according to Luke chapter 18, verse 12. They fasted twice a week and they were good. They learned how to make sure that people would notice their fasting. The gloomy face, the neglect of their appearance point to their motives. They wanted people to know their fat. They wanted people to pat them on the back.

00;43;59;07 - 00;44;19;12
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Verse 17 when you fast again indicates that this should be a normal part of a believer's life. Fasting. If I'm if I'm correct, fasting is mentioned approximately 30 times in the New Testament.

00;44;19;15 - 00;44;33;07
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30 times? That's a lot, isn't it? Nearly always, it was carried out in times of testing, struggle or trials.

00;44;33;09 - 00;44;45;19
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Let's say, for instance, that that you have a child that has become a prodigal.

00;44;45;21 - 00;45;09;27
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And your heart is so burdened. I tell you, that might be a great time to fast and to pray and seek the face of God. It may be one meal, it may be two meals. It may be 24 hours. I don't know.

00;45;10;00 - 00;45;30;00
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Anoint your head and wash your face. Or refers a good grooming of obviously. Verse 18 MacArthur noted that the one who sincerely wants to please God will studiously avoid trying to impress men.

00;45;30;02 - 00;46;12;10
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So the message is clear in what we've setting out. The message is clear. Jesus could not stomach public, sanctimonious displays of a person's religion. God hates hypocrisy. What Jesus preferred was a life where we live out our faith with integrity. And we do so for the glory of God. I've jotted down some ways to avoid hypocrisy. Number one, focus on God, not your self.

00;46;12;12 - 00;46;35;29
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Number two, live for God's glory. Make that your goal every single day. I've shared this with you so many times you're probably sick of it. But when I was reading through John, I was preaching that series through John. I read through the Gospel of John every week, 21 chapters. I read every week.

00;46;36;01 - 00;47;10;22
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Multiple weeks. And there was a verse of Scripture in John, I think it's 432 where Jesus, the disciples came back from Sychar where they had gone to get some food. And and Jesus had met with a Samaritan woman. And, the disciples said to Jesus, master, you need to eat. Here's what Jesus said. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

00;47;10;24 - 00;47;43;28
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I cannot tell you how God has used that in my life. It's really simplified ministry for me. And just about every day I pray, I pray that prayer. I say, Lord, help me to do your will. Today and help me to accomplish your work. Now see, what am I? I'm praying Scripture right? And I promise you, I don't have to wonder if that's the will of God for me to pray that is right there in the Bible.

00;47;44;01 - 00;47;53;28
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I know it's his will for me to do his will, and I know it's his will for me to accomplish the work that he's given me to do that day.

00;47;54;00 - 00;48;14;18
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And so glorifying God is where it's at for us. Believer number three value God's reward. Listen. God's reward is infinitely more precious than any pat on the back of any human being.

00;48;14;21 - 00;48;25;18
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And number four. Know that God knows. He knows.

00;48;25;21 - 00;48;58;29
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You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you'll never be able to fool God. He knows what you do when you do. Why you do? He knows the motives of your heart. You can't fool God. So this has been a great text about something that all of us deal with at one point or another in our lives.

00;48;59;01 - 00;49;26;27
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Let's just let's just make a commitment to each other and to our Lord that we want to honor him and that we that we want the Holy Spirit to make us super sensitive to any form of hypocrisy that pops up in our lives so that we can confess it and forsake it immediately. Okay, that makes sense. All right.

00;49;26;29 - 00;49;54;07
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Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for our time together. Lord, I do pray that you would protect us from the desire to for the applause of people. I pray, Lord, that our one goal in life would be to do your will and to accomplish your work, and to bring honor and glory to your name. Lord, we love you.

00;49;54;09 - 00;50;17;20
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We thank you for the privilege of being your children, Lord, in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you.