Finding Peace In What You Have: Exploring The Christian Perspective On Greed

Ross Sawyers: [00:01:07] We've been taking a look at the Ten Commandments for the last several weeks, and we come to the 10th one today. A few weeks ago someone sent me a list of the Texas Ten Commandments, and I love that we make so many things Texas. One time I asked my dad when I was growing up, I said, what are we like? You know, what's our background, you know, our nationality, whatever it is? My grandmother was Polish, so I knew we were Polish on one side. But I asked my dad, and he said, we're Texans. I said, good enough. So I don't know what we are on that side of the family, I've never asked since, so I just assumed we're Texans. So I love things like this. But I wanted to pass on to you the Texas Ten Commandments, this is a good summary of them. They're not exactly in order, so I don't know how that happened, but here you go. this is a good kind of message version of the Ten Commandments. Just one God. Honor your ma and pa. No telling tales or gossiping. Get yourself to the Sunday meeting. So good job today. Put nothing before God. No fooling around with another fella's gal. No killing. Watch your mouth. Don't take what ain't yours. And don't be hankering for your buddy's stuff. We're going to hang out on that one today, so don't be hankering for your buddy's stuff.

Ross Sawyers: [00:02:37] In Exodus chapter 20, verse 17, it is the second book of the Bible, if you'll turn there, we're going to hang out for a little bit. Just a quick summary of the Ten Commandments. As we come to the end of the series, I hope, this is certainly not the end of their impact in our lives. When we walk through things like this, then the hope is that God so gets hold of our hearts and that there's a change that's happening from his word. And when we see the Ten Commandments, we realize that they are actually some specifics, to the two greatest commands that God gives us, which are to love God and love our neighbor. The first four commands are more related to God and how we love him, and the next six are about how we love our neighbor. So when we think about the Ten Commandments, think about love God, and love our neighbor, and here are specific ways to do it.

Ross Sawyers: [00:03:32] Now, what we know is that Jesus Christ is the only one who's perfectly fulfilled all the commandments of God. He's the only one that's been able to fulfill them. We come up shy of them, therefore, our hope today, is in Christ himself. And then for those who know Christ through the Holy Spirit of God, to actually be able to keep the commands of God where they're not a burden to us, but they're a joy to us because of our joy in the Father himself. We see the character of God, all throughout these commands, when we think about there's to be no other God before God himself, we think about the worthiness of God. When we think about there's to be no images made of God, we think about the jealousy of God. When we think about the respect of God's name not being profaned, we think about the holiness of God. When we think about God's, work, rest, rhythm, we think about God as a God of rest. When we think about honoring your father and your mother, we think about God as a God of authority. When we think about not murdering, we think about God as a God of life. When we think about no adultery or sexual immorality, we think about God as a God of purity. When we think about God in the command of you not to steal, we think about God as a giver. When we think about not bearing false witness, we think about God as a God of truth. And so the character of God flows through the commands of God. They come out of who he is and his character.

Ross Sawyers: [00:05:15] We've tried to teach you a discovery Bible study method in these weeks so that you would have a confidence, when you're studying God's word or you're reading God's Word. This is a method, a way among many, that you could use to actually ask the Holy Spirit to be your teacher, and just with God's Word, ask these questions will work through today, and you can do the same thing I did. We'll come to different things, that's a cool part about it is when we're studying God's Word, he'll teach us and show us aspects of these things that one person might not see that another will, and then we're able to share those with one another.

Ross Sawyers: [00:05:53] I want to ask a question, as we dive into this particular command for us to consider the rest of the morning. Are you, and I'm asking myself the same question, increasingly covetous or increasingly content? Are you on a trajectory of increasingly being covetous, or are you on a trajectory of increasingly being content? Let's see what God has to say to each of us, and to us as a whole, as we work through it.

Ross Sawyers: [00:06:34] Exodus 20, verse 17, the first question we want to ask in this kind of Bible study is what does it say? We want to look at what's the obvious meaning of what the Scripture is saying. so verse 17, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” So you should not covet, let's talk about that for just a moment. The word covet means to crave, and it's to want something, the way I'll talk about it mostly this morning is with the word desire. So the word covet carries with it that craving or that desire. In some earlier translations centuries ago, the way this was spoken of, in coveting, is it's a dishonest gain. So when we think about coveting as a desire, it's a dishonest gain or a craving for something that is not rightly aligned with God. And all desires are not bad, and what I would say, is that desires are either good or they're bad. Some would say they're neutral, but I would not say that today, I would say that sin has affected our emotions, it's affected our feelings, it's affected our thoughts, it's affected our actions, it's affected our attitudes, and it's affected our desires. So when we think about desires, then they can be redeemed and fixed by God so that they're good desires, or we're walking in a way that they are sinful cravings or sinful desires. So they're either rightly aligned with God and His Word, or they're wrongly aligned with God and His Word. That's some thoughts about coveting and desire.

Ross Sawyers: [00:08:35] We see, in this verse, that what God is saying here is you should not covet. And then he puts an object to the coveting, so we know here that he's talking in a way that these are wrongly aligned desires that were not to have. So you're not to covet your neighbor's house? That word house carries with it the whole idea of a household and the family. So it's all the property of the house, it's anything someone owns, and it's their family as well. And then you should not covet your neighbor's wife, and so the wife. And the other side of that would be true, you should not covet your neighbor's husband. So there are direct objects of how these things are wrongly aligned, and this is a prohibition God has given against these things. Or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, and that would actually imply the wealth of a person. So you might have read that and thought, well, good, I haven't coveted my neighbor's ox recently, but you might have coveted your neighbor's car recently. So it's the wealth of someone that he's saying. And then, just to give it a really good summary, he says, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. So there's got to be a coveting or a desire for something that does not belong to you, it belongs to someone else. When we covet or desire what is someone else's, what that is saying is, is that we are dissatisfied with God. We're dissatisfied with what God has given us, we have our eyes fixed on what he's given everybody else, and then we begin to covet.

Ross Sawyers: [00:10:41] In Genesis chapter 3, we see this unfold. We go back to the garden, and everything was made perfectly in Genesis 1 and 2. We enter into Genesis chapter 3, and a serpent comes on the scene, we know later that that serpent is described as Satan himself. And he asks a question of Eve and says, "Has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” So he just kind of raises a question. The woman says to the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you should not eat from it or touch it, or you will die. She did not say what God said, she added to it. But in this dialog, the serpent has created a little bit of doubt for her, and then she responds. Then the serpent takes advantage of this little moment and says, "You surely won't die." And then in verse 5, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So the woman saw that the tree was good, Genesis 3:6, "The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." Genesis 3:6 is a great summary of the pattern of the way Satan uses, and the way our flesh has within it to rise up, coveting. She saw, and it was desirable to her, so she took it. And then oftentimes, it's not enough that we do the thing that's disobedient to God; then she gave it to her husband. We get others in on it with us. We see this pattern again and again and again.

Ross Sawyers: [00:12:53] Last fall we studied Joshua, and in Joshua chapter 6, God is bringing the people in, he's brought Israel out of slavery, and they've had a long wait before they would find themselves in the Promised Land, he's delivering them to it. In chapter 6, he takes them to Jericho, and he tells them they're going to take Jericho, but there's a ban on certain things they're not supposed to take. And they go, they conquer Jericho. In chapter 7, Joshua has no idea that someone has violated that ban, and they take a group to fight Ai, and they find themselves the losers in that battle. And I love things like this, it's helpful for me when I get kind of down and complaining and whining. And in Joshua 7, Joshua's kind of going before God and saying, hey, what happened here? He's kind of whining and God says, get up, there's a problem, go take care of the problem. There's sin in the camp, and a man named Achan, it's discovered, actually violated the ban. He took some things he wasn't supposed to take. Verse 20 and 21 of Joshua 7, "So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.” Verse 21 reads like Genesis 3:6, he saw it, he knew he was not supposed to take it, but he coveted it. His desire was for it, but it was a misaligned desire, and then he took it. And Joshua said to Achan. Why have you brought this trouble on Israel? Now God's going to bring trouble on you. There are consequences to the breaking of God's commands and his law.

Ross Sawyers: [00:12:53] I want to just in sum answer a question in this verse as well that I think helps us understand the coveting idea. But who is our neighbor? That's who he's talking about. Who's our neighbor? We are not to covet our neighbor's house, or our neighbor's wife, or our neighbor's stuff. So who's our neighbor? Jesus tells a story in Luke chapter 10 about our neighbor, and an attorney comes to him and says, hey, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life? He talks about how he's kept all the commands of loving God and loving his neighbor. And then it says he wished to justify himself. He said, who's my neighbor? It's kind of like, yeah, I've kept these, I've loved God, and I've loved my neighbor. It's almost like I better clarify who my neighbor is to make sure I've really done this. And Jesus tells a story. Three people, two religious, a priest and a Levite, and then a Samaritan who would be hated by the Jews. There's a man who was beaten, and robbed on the side of the road, and the two religious people pass him by, and the Samaritan comes and actually offers the help. Jesus is the Samaritan in this story. The unlikely person is the one who's actually helping. He takes the person to an inn, to somewhere to be taken care of, and gives them the money. I mean, this guy goes all in to care for this guy. But then Jesus changes the question, he doesn't answer the question the attorney asked, who is my neighbor? He said, which of these three proved to be a neighbor? The one who showed mercy. See, all of you are my neighbor, the question is, what kind of neighbor am I? Am I a merciful neighbor towards you? Whoever you run into this week, whoever you're online with this week, that is your neighbor. What kind of neighbor are you and what kind of neighbor am I?

Ross Sawyers: [00:17:41] And the question we want to keep asking as we think about what kind of neighbor we are, is are you and I increasingly covetous or increasingly more content? And I would say a way to help with that question is to do something Henri Nouwen said. Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite authors, and this is from The Way of the Heart. And he said, if we're going to love our neighbor, we first have to die to our neighbor. I can't love you the way God intends me to love you, unless first I die to you, meaning, I need nothing from you. I cannot simultaneously covet you, your family, your stuff, and your circumstances, and love you well; so I die to you that I might love you. And when I'm increasingly more content then I can die to you so that I can love you.

Ross Sawyers: [00:18:46] This is what it says, what does it say about God? And this is God's story, the scriptures, and so we want to ask the question, what does it say about God? And one thing it says about God in Philippians 4:19, Paul writes this, he says, "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." What this says about God is that God is a provider and that his provision is sufficient for each person. So when we think about the character of God, this is at least one thing this verse says that we don't have to covet someone else's stuff or their relationships or their circumstances, instead, I can lean into God as my provider. One of the things that Timothy Keller said years ago that I locked on to that is really helpful to me, sin has layers. Rarely is it ever just here's one sin that I'm confessing, that sin has layers to it, and the layer that I think is probably deepest underneath is related to the first command that our ultimate devotion is to God Himself. And whenever that is not the case, then there are all kinds of sins that will follow. And when I'm coveting or desiring that which is someone else's, I'm not content with what God's given me, in that moment what I know is that I'm not believing that God is the provider. It's not just a sin of coveting, it's underneath an unbelief that God himself is a provider. So what does it say about God? It says he's a provider.

Ross Sawyers: [00:20:25] What does it say about us? If we know what it says about God, and this is what the command is, what does it say about us? And there are a number of things that we could say when we think about coveting, and who we are as humans. Someone has said this, and I've read it so many different places where ones have quoted it, that I don't really know who said it, so I'm just going to say someone, "Comparison is the thief of joy." And we end up coveting when we find ourselves comparing around us. Coveting destroys the heart, it damages relationships, it unsettles the spirit, and it keeps us out of balance, it keeps our spirit in an uproar. Our desires again are corrupted by sin, and when we covet, what we're saying is we believe if we have blank, we will be happy. I think biblical counselors will give that kind of a question to fill in, it's a good one to test our hearts today on this. If I have blank, I will be happy. What do you believe will make you happy if you have it? One of the challenges if we don't find our happiness and joy and God Himself is it will never be enough. This car won't be enough. This house won't be enough. This furniture design won't be enough. The latest design, for whatever's trending won't be enough. The travel won't be enough. Retirement won't be enough. It will never be enough. That's what coveting does to our hearts. Our status is not enough. James and John, they were asking Jesus in some of the end days of their time with Jesus. What were they concerned about? Who's going to be on Jesus's left, or right? They wanted status. I wonder if that would have been enough. And so we just kind of have to ask about the human heart today, will we have enough? Will we ever have enough?

Ross Sawyers: [00:23:08] And I'm afraid today that relationships are getting missed because of the pursuit of having as much as you can possibly have on money and resources. There's not time to nurture a marriage relationship, there's not time to nurture relationships with kids, there's not time to nurture relationships with people that are following Jesus because we need to keep up and be over here. So we want to be honest in our own hearts today about what we're chasing, and what is the motivation for that? There can be good desires, by the way, there's nothing wrong with desiring to have a good place to live with, desiring to have good food to eat with, desiring good health, there is nothing wrong with that. It becomes a problem, though, when I start coveting and desiring because I don't have the health of this person, and that I stay discontent because I want to be like them. It's a continual searching of our hearts on what is the desire.

Ross Sawyers: [00:24:24] We find in First Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 and 10, and I've referenced this 2 or 3 times in this series, and there's a number of things in this list. But Paul writes it this way and says, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals (Let's go to verse 10), nor thieves, nor the covetous." We can get stuck in verse 9 and say, oh, yeah, that's not me, but let's head to verse 10, and are we in the covetous? So Paul speaks plainly. And then in Colossians he says that coveting is actually idolatry. Andy Stanley, in his book Enemies of the Heart, talks about the root of greed, which I think would be another way to say these wrongly aligned desires, the root of that is I owe me. So another question we can ask when we're desiring that which is not ours, we're not content in God himself, somewhere down there, I'm saying I'm owed and I owe me this, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get it.

Ross Sawyers: [00:25:45] Well, what does it say about Jesus? Because we want to keep asking, right, are we increasingly more covetous or increasingly more content? And I have deliberate reasons for that language. But what does it say about Jesus? Jesus is our only hope today in any of this, all Scripture points us to Jesus. And we know in Luke chapter 12 that Jesus taught, he had this brother come to him, and they were dividing out their inheritance. It wasn't going so well, and so he wanted Jesus to take care of dividing it so it would be a fair division in the inheritance. And Jesus just says, you know what? This isn't really my job, with you, but he goes ahead and makes a statement in Luke chapter 12, verse 15, and he says, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed." This guy is just trying to, he thinks he's just asking for his inheritance to be divvied out correctly, but instead, Jesus says, "Be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” So Jesus said, watch out, watch out for greed in the heart, and he talks about possessions and the danger they are.

Ross Sawyers: [00:27:02] I was reading this book, and this is a statement that was made, "If the possession of things brought happiness and content, then this would be the happiest and the most contented age in history, for never was there such material well-being, and never were this world's goods more widely distributed in Western civilization.", 1973. This isn't a do you have a lot of wealth or do you not have much wealth question. This is a question of the heart, and what is the heart's desire?

Ross Sawyers: [00:27:50] Jesus brings us relief in Matthew 11:28-30, where he says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Now he's referencing the burden of the law when he talks about that. But in Jesus, we actually can find rest from the burden of everything, and the burden of coveting and greed. Jesus would say in Luke 14:33, “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." What Jesus says about our stuff is to lay it out there and it's all his. Now, God, what do you want to do with this? And I cannot be, there wasn't like middle ground here, I cannot be a disciple follower of Jesus if I don't give up all my possessions and lay them out before him.

Ross Sawyers: [00:28:58] First Corinthians 6:11 is an encouraging word for us after the dire remarks in verses 9 and 10 about who cannot inherit the kingdom of God, which I suspect somewhere in that list would include most of us. But verse 11, "Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." You were. So in Jesus Christ and in faith. We trust and believe what he did on the cross, he took on all our sin, including covetousness. He took on our sinful desires, on himself, on the cross. And what he did, among many things at the cross, is he then gave back to us his perfect righteousness, which would include his desires. So the possibility for us to actually walk in good desires are in our relationship with Jesus Christ who was crucified and resurrected? Freedom and forgiveness come in Him; we're set free.

Ross Sawyers: [00:30:12] And then the reason I've written this and asked the question, are we increasingly growing more covetous or increasingly more content? In this life, we will not ever be perfectly content. There is a war that's going on within us, Galatians 5, between the Spirit and the flesh. And there will be times we lose to the flesh, and we're not walking in the Spirit. When we lose to the flesh, we're going to walk in a covetous way, a greedy way, with wrong desires. When we yield to the Spirit of God, we have the power to actually keep the law with joy and to follow in a way that is honoring to God, and that brings a life and a joy and a peace into our own hearts. So the hope would be that today if you have known Christ for a while, that you and I are increasingly more content people in the fight against the coveting sin that can rise up within. If you don't know Christ, you can know today that in faith you trust Jesus for your salvation. When you come into a relationship with him, then you know you have the actually the ability to walk in contentment and to not be walking in the covetousness.

Ross Sawyers: [00:31:44] So what do we do with this? I would speak today to Christians in this response. If you're not a Christian, then I would say that the first thing to consider is, why not Jesus? And it starts with him, so what do we do? Here are some thoughts. We want to ask God to help us walk with right desires that are aligned with him. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He'll give you the desires of your heart." So we find ourselves that that's the space where we actually begin to conform more like Jesus. And can I just say this? I'm not saying everybody, this isn't everybody, there are so many people here and online that you are hanging out with Jesus, you've carved out space, you're spending time with him, you're in God's Word, you're praying, you're being shaped into his image. And then I would also say that probably a large number of people that I speak with have no space to spend with God. And the way that we will actually transform from being a covetous kind of person to a content person will be in relation to how much time I'm spending alone with Jesus himself, in community, with other people that are following Jesus, studying his word, gathering and worship like this, using our giftings the way he's called us to serve, that we're actively engaged in every aspect of what God's called us into. And I would say today, more than likely, if you're too busy to be able to have time with God, to be in a small group community, to be able to gather in worship, to use the gifts God's given you to serve in the church, you might have a coveting problem. Because the big rocks God sets in place first, and that's him. There could be a lot of things in there, by the way, I'm just suggesting a possibility. But delight yourself in the Lord, we can't find delight in him if we're not abiding in him.

Ross Sawyers: [00:34:03] The second thing we can learn of what we could do is in Hebrews 13:5, "Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU.” So there's a contentment. Money is not the problem; money reveals the problem of the heart. It's the love of money that's the problem. It's when we love it, and that's what we're chasing and pursuing and all that it can get us, that's the problem. Money is a great resource to be used for the things of God, for our families, and for what God intends, but we bring it before him.

Ross Sawyers: [00:34:44] So content, we're asking him to give us contentment. A test on this one could be, if you have a lot and you don't seem to be able to give it away, then give it away. One of the ways that you can become content is to get rid of that that has a hold on you. Try God out and see what happens. Jesus said, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap." I don't know how to give it back, it might not be in money, so please don't give it so you get more money back, that's false doctrine. But try giving stuff away, if you feel like something has a hold on you, give it away and see what God does with that in your heart. First Timothy 6 verses 6 through 10, "Godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment." So we're talking about godliness and contentment, that godliness comes as we're spending, and growing relationship with Jesus, and then we grow more and more content. Let me encourage you to read verses 6 through 10, it talks more about love and money, again. But with godliness and contentment, that's actually where great gain comes.

Ross Sawyers: [00:36:17] Philippians chapter 4, verses 10 and following Paul writes, and this is actually a real encouragement, I find all of this encouraging, really. But this gives us an encouragement here that contentment can be learned, it can be learned. In this set of verses, verse 13, a lot of us know Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I had grown up as a baseball player, I played baseball, and I had a baseball player. I can still see the picture, and it's a player like this, and in the Scripture that is Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I want you to know today this verse was probably not for my swing. Verse 11, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Verse 13 goes with contentment, I've learned to have little, and I've learned to have a lot. In all those things, I'm content, and the way I can be content is through Christ Jesus, who strengthens me to be content, whether I have a lot or little. So we find that we can learn content, he learned it, he learned how to be content. That's good news for us, we're learners, we're always learning.

Ross Sawyers: [00:38:09] And then First Thessalonians 5:16-18, how can we learn to be content as we delight in the Lord, by rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Everybody's kind of in that whole gratitude journal thing today, right? That's like one way you can be happy is just to talk about what you're grateful for. So I started a gratitude journal about four months ago. Let me tell you about the problem with secular thinking on the gratitude journals that's going to phase out, and we're going to lean into something else that will help us be happy because most of the time, there's not a gratitude to God in the journal. Where we'll find contentment is when we continually come to God and express our gratitude to him for who he is, for what he's done, and for whatever he has for me in this moment. For some reason, this is what I have, am I going to be grateful and content, or am I going to be covetous and greedy?

Ross Sawyers: [00:39:38] So we were in Colorado for a bit, and on the day before the last day I was there, I was on a walk, hiking, and came back up and I saw this and just thought, oh, man, I love that that shot. And I love it because it's a narrow path, and that's the path of Jesus. It's a narrow path, and a picture is never going to capture it, although I think this one comes awfully close to how stunningly beautiful the mountains are in the distance. And the Scripture tells us that there's a day we're going to go into the new heavens and the new earth. And I, just in moments like that, I'm in awe of God because it is glimpses to me of what that's going to be like. And what I would say today is if we'll just get on that narrow path and keep our eyes on what's ahead, there is something perfect and beautiful and unifying for the people of God that sits in front of us, and we ask for God's help to walk that narrow road until we arrive, until I don't have to fight the sin anymore. I don't have the world's images coming at me anymore. I'm just present in the perfection of God, and all the people who've said yes to him.

Ross Sawyers: [00:41:34] So I'd like for us to pray, and then we want to respond in a song. But I want to pray the Ten Commandments for us. And I've made this a common prayer for the last several weeks, and I hope to continue to do so. Let me cheer you on to do the same. To not let these go, but let's pray that God will do this in and through us. So, Father, today I pray that 121, that each of us, God, would have an ultimate devotion to you only. And, God, I pray that when something competes for that, that we'd quickly kill it and die to it. And Father, that we just walk in devotion to you. Father, I pray that at 121 all of us would be a people who do not try to make images to shape you into what we want you to be, but instead, God, we would allow you to shape us into your image. And Father, I pray for every person in the room and online today, God, that we would respect your sacred name in the way we speak and our actions that follow, and we not profane it. And Father, I pray that we would walk in a way that we're in your work rest rhythm, not our own, but God in yours, that we'd not make excuses, but we'd get it right. So will you help us, God, to work in a way, and to rest in a way that honors You? And Father, I pray we would be a people who are known for honoring our father and our mother, and for honoring authority, God. I pray, Father, that we would be a collective people that rally for life and not for death from conception all the way until the days are up. Father, I pray we would be a people today that walk in purity, that will not commit adultery, that will not walk in any kind of sexual immorality but will walk as a pure people. And Father, I pray we'd be a people that don't steal from others, their reputation, or their stuff, but instead, God, that we'd be a people who are givers. And God, I pray we would not gossip, slander, bear false witness against others, that we would just keep our lips tight and as the proverb says, to restrain them so that we don't speak poorly of someone else. And Father, help us be a people that in our hearts are not greedy or covetous. And where our desires are wrongful, I pray, God, that you would bring us to places of repentance so that they would be right desires that desire you, that desire good things, desire things aligned with your Word, God. So let us be a Christ-honoring people in the power of the Holy Spirit, living out these commands with joy, not as a burden today. Father, where we need to repent, help us not be afraid of that. You've given us that gift to be able to repent before you, so, God, I pray today where we need to say I'm sorry and I turn from that, that we would say that to you, God. And Father, I pray as a God who loves your children, that we would just hear your affirmation and your will done today in the places you want us to be encouraged in that way. And so we thank you today that we can rest safely in the love of God, and that we can walk boldly on that narrow path as we look towards the beauty of who you are, and that one day we'll have in perfection. I'll pray in Jesus' name.



Recorded in Grapevine, Texas.