(0:00)Morality is not Righteousness
Morality and righteousness are two different things. Righteousness is right standing with God. Morality is based off of cultural norms and standards. So what is moral in America is immoral in Nigeria. Mhm. And what is moral in Russia is immoral in Canada. Everywhere in the world, the standards of morality change. But being right with God is the same in Canada as it is in Siberia. The same in Oshubu as it is in Idaho. So being right with God is really the goal of God's word. Bring us to a place of rightness. And the only way to achieve that is through Christ unfiltered. Hello and welcome to another episode of PF unfiltered. Hello everybody. My name is Olaund Ola aka Young Toney aka T-Max aka the one who was chosen by Christ. Uh I'm joined by my co-host. What's my name? Esther Griffin. So I'm thinking back it's Esther Griffin. But that's not the right last name. It's Esther Griffin. Griffin. Griffin as in Griffin. Exactly. Yeah. Irish. And obviously we're joined by most honorable Most Honorable Pastor Femile aka PF aka Uncle PF. Uncle P. Hey guys, my name is Femaya. I don't know this folks. I I just I just come here. So for 20 something episodes, you don't know us. Clearly those strangers just show up. Hey, we just First of all, can we just clap for ourselves? 20 episodes. Yay. I think it's more than that. I think it's 23. Yeah. I mean, over 20 episodes with our busy schedules, you know, glory be to God. And can we also clap for the our PF family? Yes. Our
(1:35)20 Episodes of Unfiltered Truth
production team. Yeah. Production team doing a fantastic. And our producer. Yeah. And our producer, shout out who who you hear shouting Euroba things in the background. In the background, very Euroba guy. Extremely Euroba boy. Um, and shout out to you guys as well. Thank you for listen for watching. If you think they watching YouTube on this Apple podcast, Spotify. We appreciate it. Um, super super grateful for all the support, the comments, the follow, the subscribing again. Um, we love you guys. The sharing, right? The caring. Um, I've gotten so many messages. I mean, people have seen us in person. Yeah. Yeah. Has such good feedback. Right. I I had a few a few folks came up to me and they were like, "Really?" Very vocal. I don't want to say I'm kind of shy. Shy, but we love you guys. Vocal. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right. Um, so I know we had promised PF had promised that uh this this episode it was going to make sure we go back into the love theme track. Yeah. We had two great episodes of Q&A um which is fun. Um but we're going to make sure that we get back on track with um the love that we have for G. Yeah. Cuz last time we spoke about it or the lack of it. M last time we spoke about the love we have for each other and I believe you PF correct me if I'm wrong please I don't want to put words in your mouth you had said that love is not a feeling yes and love is an action but the action is rooted in Christ right right because again you can give your body to bond but Right okay so now we're going to take that a step further it's going to get serious yo so just FYI serious episode today no fluffing around no fing around yeah no fluffing yeah I ain't promised that. Serious. Um, can't promise it. So, I'm going to die right NPF. Uh, all right.
(3:25)Is your love for God just a feeling?
Shoot. Let's go. Do we love God? What does love mean as it pertains to God? What does that mean to love God? That's a better way to frame that question. Yeah. Because what does it mean to love God? Okay. I like I I prefer that framing. But the reason why I throw that question back at you is because the way we define love is very flawed, right? When you think about loving God, you're thinking about an emotional reaction to God, right? and a a positive emotional possibly euphoric reaction to God, right? That is marked with um levels of bliss and passion and stuff, right? And that's extremely problematic. Yeah. Because people will tell you, for example, that I am not a very um I I don't my emotions are are are kind of like here. I don't go I don't go I don't get I'm not an effusive person, you know. I'm not a hyperbolic in my expression kind of person, right? I don't started I don't get, you know, I don't I don't I don't roll on the floor and cry. Absolutely kind of person. You know what I'm saying? My wife, on the other hand, my wife is very, you know, she's very um demonstrative in her emotions, right? She she she cries, she rolls on the floor, she does all of those things. Does she love God more than I do? Right? This is what the Bible says. It doesn't say this is how you will feel. It says this is what you will do. If you love me, you will obey my commandments. And this is love, right? That you obey my commandments. So in the eyes of God, he doesn't define love as a feeling that you have towards him. He defines this as what you do relative to
(5:00)Is obedience God's love language?
him. So for God, people say, "Oh, obedience is God's love language." No, obedience is love. Then what are his commandments then? His what are his commandments? There are 613 of them. Or are there ten commandments and then the others are not? No, there's 613 commandments. There's no difference between a commandment and a law. The 10 that we call the commandments are just the initial, right? And the rest are built on them. So you can call them 10 foundational laws, but they are all laws cuz a law is a mandate enforcable by power and authority, right? So there are 613 laws in the Bible, plus or minus. And if you love God Mhm. that love is that you obey the 613 laws in possible me. So you don't love God. That this is where this is where I was trying to get to. Right. Thank you for bringing me down this path. So the question now is wait hold on before you go there. Do have you are you obeying all 630 something laws? 613? Yeah. I mean 63. Yeah. All of them. I obey him every time. Ah every single one of them. Every single one of them. Every single one. I like that. Yeah. Every single one. So
(6:10)Can you actually obey 613 laws?
you and that rich young ruler that came to Christ. You're like, you guys are like buddies, right? The only difference between me and the rich jungle is even though my attachment Okay, you're not rich yet yet. You're on you're on the trajectory. I mean, he's not young anymore. What is going on today? You are not rich. He's not young anymore. Oh man, what I was trying to get to was was that point, right? So he said that if you love God, you obey his commandments and that's actually scriptural. Yeah. And this is love and this is love that you obey my commandments. So we when we don't obey his commandments, that means we don't love him. Yeah. Then then your love is questionable. Okay. So then where do we go from here then? You I I don't you ask the question now. No, but if like has like where do we go if we if it's not that that we if we don't love God then where do we go from here? How do we because we can't obey all 613 of them. That's not true. I can't. I mean, so don't say we can say you can't. Even though I have the Holy Spirit. So like how does how do you like meet the inongruence or like the how do you rise to the conundrum? Yes. Okay. So So this is the you you hit the nail on the head. It's a problem. Mhm. Right. If God defines love not as a feeling, right, but as your actions Yeah. towards him and your actions are bound to fall short. Mhm. Right. Then what God does is that he creates another platform in a sense that solves the
(7:50)The platform of Christ
problem. Mhm. Right. And that platform is Christ. Mhm. So Christ is the embodiment of the law. Yeah. Right. The Bible says that through him through his death the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled. Right? When he came he said I have not come to abolish any of the laws. Right? I have come to fulfill them. He says not one jot or one t of the law will pass away. Right? So what happens is this. Since you cannot obey the 613 laws successfully consistently right. Then God provided an alternative expression. Right. an alternative track. Yeah. For us to love him and that is by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus. Yeah. Right. When we are in Christ, our love for God is perfect. Right. So, period. Full stop. There it is. Okay. I want to introduce a different episode is over. Yeah, the episode is over. But I wanted to introduce a a different perspective. And I guess this is where a good point could be made that this might not necessarily be scriptural but just kind of hear me out so if I told you guys that I loved God and I obeyed all his commandments. I obeyed it. Um, and then I and you guys flip around and say, "Okay, there are certain scriptures that say, you know, you obey my commandments, quote unquote, but there's still no love in you, okay? I'm track I'm tracking with you, but I want you to land. I'm tracking." But I think I get what PF is saying that that's the point of Christ. Exactly. So,
(9:35)The Rich Young Ruler's mistake
so there's a guy comes to Jesus and says, "Hey, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Yeah. And Jesus says, "You have to obey all the commandments, right?" And the guy says, "I've been doing this since I was a child." Right? Jesus didn't say liar. The other day you messed up the other. He said, "Okay, you you have done well. Now go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor." And the Bible says the guy walked away with his tail between his legs. Recognizing in that moment that he had fallen short because his heart was not where it should be. Right. And that is the conundrum that we face in our walk with God. Yeah. When your hand is right, your heart is never going to be right. And if your even with all 613 Yes. Right. Because sin transcends just the 613 laws. Sin is a consequence of who we are. It was in our nature. It's built in. Right. So if God says okay obey all the laws
(10:30)Why we are all fallen
and that means that you love me. But then the Bible also says that all of your righteousness is like a filthy rag before you. It already tells you clearly that this framework is not a tenable framework. Yeah. To deal with God. God already even before um the new covenant came into um was activated by the death by the shedding of his blood. God had already if you pay close attention you could see he was already moving away from the old covenant. He had already been prophesying the new covenant. A time will come when nobody will tell you how to worship me. A time will come when my laws will be written on your heart. I will give you a heart of flesh. you know, he had already decided to talk about it long before um it became before the old covenant became obsolute, right? And that was because the law was never meant to bring us to a place of obedience, right? So, a place of righteousness. The law was meant to show us how far we were from God. Right? The B Paul said, "If not because of the law, I would not have known what sin was." Right? My inability to keep the law made me realize how fallen I was. Made me realize how problematic I was. Right. And that then creates in me a hunger for Christ. Yeah. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. People misunderstand and think it is blessed are they that hunger and thirst after morality. Right. Morality and righteousness are two different things. Righteousness is right standing with God. morality is based off of cultural norms and standards. So what is moral in America is immoral in Nigeria and what is moral in Russia is immoral in Canada. Right? Everywhere in the world the standards of morality change but being right with God is the same in Canada as it is in Siberia. The same in Oshubu as it is in Idaho. Right? So being right with God is really the goal of God's word, right? Bring us to a place of rightness. And the only way to achieve that is through Christ. Does rightness look different for everybody depending on where God has called you? No. Right is that you are in Christ. Okay. This is what I want to ask. Down to the Okay, if God tells I'm I'm thinking about comparison, right? If God has told me to do something but didn't tell somebody else to do it, but told them to do a completely different thing that he didn't tell me to do, right? If I don't do my thing, Mhm. then I'm not in right standing with the Lord. You see, again, you're presuming that you're in right standing with the Lord because of what you do or what you don't do.
(13:20)Laboring to enter His rest
And and that's that's that's where the problem is, right? So So So we struggle, right? And this is where why um the New Testament says labor to enter into his rest. Mhm. We're so locked into this performance-based interaction with God, right? So, we we we don't know how to fit that our worldly intentionally use the word worldly mindset, right, into um um our relationship with God. You know why? Because when we feel like we're doing something outside of the will of God, I have to use quotations, outside of the will of God, we feel like we're in sin. Yeah. And you probably are. Then then how do you balance the two? How do you like how do we get congruence there? The Bible doesn't say the Bible says blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not credit sin. The Bible says if you have faith in God, your faith is counted. In other words, you say credited as righteousness. Right? So God is not crediting your actions as righteousness or unrighteousness. He's crediting your faith. He's crediting your faith. That's good. So the standard the what God is measuring, what God is checking for is your faith. If you were to check for your actions, there is no day that your actions will not fall short. So the fact that okay, he told somebody to do it, he told you to do it, the person did it, you didn't do it, it doesn't make any difference to him, two of you are the same twoens, right? What differentiates you from him is your faith. Because your faith is the connection to God. Yeah. Yeah. Is your faith the Bible says Abraham believed God and God counted it as righteousness. That is what does God does. He counts
(15:00)Why God tests our faith
things either counting sin or counting righteousness. And if you are in Christ, right? And you are in Christ by faith, not by the things that you do. Then God counts your faith as righteousness. And that automatically that faith puts you in right standing with God. Lord, so I guess how do you know that you are in Christ? By faith. What do you mean? Right. So like how do you know what you believe? How do you know you believe that? You know, you can say the word. Yeah. So let me tell you how you know. Life happens and how you react to life tells you what you believe. When the Israelites came out of um Egypt, they they they encountered different situations and different scenarios. One of them, the one that I that stuck in my mind was they came out of um of Egypt. They had just passed through the Red Sea on dry land. A few days later, they they'd run out of their water supply and they were thirsty. The Bible says God led them to Mara. H God knew the water in Mara was bitter. Well, he took them there, right? The Bible says that he might test them. Now, what was he testing for navigational skills? No, faith. He was testing for faith, right? Did God not know the state of their heart? He knew their faith level. He wanted them to know it. So that's the Sorry. Okay. So the testing is not for God. It's for you. How you know your faith level how you respond to the stuff that happens to you. Right? So in this world, classic example, oh I believe God. I believe God. I believe God. I believe that I am saved by grace through faith. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. All of my righteousness of my own hands is not is nonsense. I'm in Christ. I'm in Christ. I'm in Christ. You're driving down the road and somebody sideswipes you. How do you react? Do you react and say, "Well, you know, I am in Christ, so I am perfect." No, they're getting cursed out. It's not even that. It's not even that. You see, that's not that's not even the problem. They get the cursing them out is not the problem, right? That's fine. That's a normal human reaction. But what we do, those of us who are not in Christ, we start thinking to themselves, so did I pray this morning, is it that I yelled at my husband yesterday? You start looking for the sin that opened the door to this negative event, right? You start trying to find a reason for it in your own hands, right? If you're looking for a reason for it in your own hands, it means that you believe that your hands are the basis of your standing with God. not your position in Christ. So which is where the self-righteousness comes. Yes. So every time something happens, check your reaction to it. God already knew how you're going to react. God knows exactly what you believe. But he lets you know so that you can cause correct, right? So that you can ask yourself, okay, you know, I say that I believe, but clearly if I am having a challenge and I'm like maybe it's an ancestral curse, then maybe I don't really believe. And I say that because I I I asked the question initially. I want to kind of clarify. So you're saying that like the if you get sideswiped by someone and you Esther was like if you curse him out that's normal. Yeah. But could one say that it's also a normal human reaction to again even though it's self-righteous do that whole process? Yes. Okay. I say oh my god man you you're on point today. You're just stealing these things for me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's why I'm here. I'll be here next. So let me tell you something. Great question. It is normal because we are locked into a meritocratic system, right? A meritoc we're locked into this um I understand that like performance based the rest of us don't understand that. No, but the meritocracy the Mary gave it away. Let me explain. Let me explain. Sorry. I apologize. I have to use simple words. I apologize. Simple. We're locked into a system where we get what we worked for, right? So, you get a promotion cuz you worked hard for it. You get a job cuz you worked hard in school. Right. We're locked into a system where our experience is a consequence of our actions. Yeah. Right now, when you come to Christ, it's flipped. Our experience is a consequence of Christ's actions, not our actions. So, if something happens to me, right, I should not question my actions. I should question why is this happening? No, I should question. No, no. Okay. No, actually, no. Let me clarify that cuz that's not what I meant. Okay. What I meant was when things when when bad things Let me say that. When quote unquote bad things happen, I'm my usually my count as joy. I'm just That actually is it counted on joy. When you go through various trials and tribulations, why would you count it as joy? Right? Because in the end, it will make it will make me complete lacking nothing. It says, "Count it all joy when you go through diverse temptations and trials because this momentary suffering is working for you a far greater weight of glory. Mhm. Your belief, what you think uh determines how you feel." Yeah. So when we see your feelings, we know what you are thinking. Do you get my point? No, but you can be sad that somebody has swiped like your day is now. Why are you sad? What do you mean swipe? No. Why you say Wait, wait. Let me explain why I'm sad. Let's actually go through the process. I'm on my way home. I've got I got off of work. It was a tough day. All the things. Somebody slides swipes my cards. That my car that means that I have to call insurance. We probably have to stop and get it sorted out with the police. That's extra that's my that's extra time. The fact that I even have to go through the process of doing all the insurance stuff. The time that I have to spend doing these things is irritating. My insurance is probably going to go up. Yes, I know that the Lord is going to provide, but the fact that I even have to go through the process in general is annoying or or somebody sideswipes my car, and I'm like, why would God let that happen? I know he loves me, so maybe there's something he's protecting me from. Maybe there are robbers waiting in front of my house to attack me. Maybe, you know, all the That is true, too. M that is the only reaction that is a reflection of your faith. The other reaction the other reaction where you have this emotional meltdown of some sort. Mhm. Right. um is a reflection of your faith. It's a reflection of your lack of confidence in the idea in the thought in the truth that in all things God is working for those for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. The Bible says the thoughts that I think towards you are thoughts of good and not of evil. Right. So if anything happens to me Yeah. And I know God is all powerful. And he says, "The thoughts that I think towards you are thought of good, not of evil." Why would I think that what is happening to me is evil? Can I can I butcher that point real quick? Yeah. So like just follow me. Imagine if you found out randomly that Dangote Aliko Dangote was your dad and he had all the money. Even though I know he's not. Even though you know he's not. Just follow right. Who's Dangote? Dagot is the richest supposedly richest supposedly richest African right black or black man man in the world you guys are talking slowly I don't know I'm trying to make sure we make sure we say the right you trying to make sure doesn't say the wrong thing probably but I was I was going with that was to to to P's point like if we if you know not believe if you knew it that the richest man in the the richest black man in the world was father when you get sides swap the reasons you at least gave of like insurance or whatever they wouldn't matter they wouldn't matter so how much more knowing that God again to p all powerful owner I'm not saying this as like a like a condemnation or whatever it's just again maybe a heart check how much more so knowing that God we is our father I'll still be irritated if you if dang no I don't buy that no if even if he's going to buy me a new car so your irritation right and and that's fine but your irritation has to be based on the right thing Right. Right. You can be irritated with the inconvenience. Correct. But you can irritate with inconvenience, but if you're irritated with the the with what does this portend? What does this mean? What you know, oh my god, this this this this. Oh, this is going to be a problem. My insurance. Once you start going in that path, this is you're going off track. It's not that you're going off track. You're revealing the truth, which is good. which is a view in the sense that now you know now you know that you know what all that I believe in Christ I believe in Christ I'm still he's still cooking we honor him with our lips but our hearts are far away that's a different thing oh it's a different thing yes that's a different thing cuz we says a lot of things but our hearts reveals have I mean that's our hearts in in in this context the issue is not a lack of regard for God the issue is a lack of confidence belief yeah in in the fact that Jesus 's death, right, suffices to put me in right standing up with God, right? He says he will keep him in perfect peace whose eyes are stayed on him. He says that the life of a righteous man is like a tree planted by rivers of water. Right? There's a lot of blessings that are attached to being righteous. Mhm. When those blessings don't manifest, right, do you question your righteousness? Because when you question your righteousness, you question God's word. Cuz God says in Christ Jesus, you are the righteousness of God. M do you get my point? Yeah. And when things happen, when we don't absolutely believe that Jesus alone, right, is the source of our right standing with God. We question our righteousness, right? Either we question our righteousness. The Israelites didn't really question their own righteousness. They just questioned God and question Moses and you know and they just misbehaved like spoiled entitled children, right? But it's the same principle with us, right? That is why you count it all joy. Because think about this, right? If it is your faith, right, that that qualifies you. Every time you see that your faith is short or your faith is not where it should be, there should be something in you that says, "Wow, can you imagine if on the day that I was going to cross this great river to the other side, right, to the land of the, you know, to the to the to the other side and my faith is insufficient to carry me across that river, right? Imagine where I would be." But this test, this thing gives me an opportunity to see where my faith is at so I can shore it up. So I can, you know, repair it. So I can fix it. So I can say, okay, why am I still struggling with the idea that I am the righteousness of God? What what is it about my theology, about my thinking that does not allow me believe that it is finished? Okay, I guess. So bringing this full circle back to the love, right? Loving God. Mhm. Mhm. You said that loving God, how we know we love God is through obedience to his word. Yeah. Right. I'm sure everybody has heard this expression that obedience is God's love language. Right. We don't when but we don't obey God's word. Mhm. We try to but we just struggle. We can't. That means we can't love God outside of again the the miracle of Jesus. No. It's impossible to love God. Right. Right. Because if love is obedience, right? And we cannot. And remember Esther, right? If you stumble in one, you stumble in all. Yes. Right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Can we read a passage? Please feel free. Or two. Which one is this? Start from 10. Can we What passage is this? These guys are funny. 10 and then I think I'm going to read nine verses. But yeah. All right. Let's be going. Is this approved by production? M okay. Um John 14 Mhm. 10 Mhm. all the way through 19. What chapter? Chapter. Yeah. John 14. Uh this is the NIV version. I I was told to read this. Let's be going. Don't you believe that I am in the father and the father is in me. The words I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the father living in me who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe me on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Verse 14. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. If you love me, keep my commands and I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. The spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees them. It's a good one. Nor knows him, but you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. Verse 18. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me because I live. You also will. Okay. Okay. I feel like this is a setup for what? Sorry, I don't know. I don't really follow. It's not a setup. When Jesus says here, "If you love me, keep my commands." What is he talking about? If you love me, keep my commands. But we can't. What are Jesus's commands? You see, obviously, they're not separate from the, but I'm just saying like, you see, this is the thing that we we do. We try to pass things that don't need passing. Jesus Christ just talked about that he's in the father, the father is in him. And yet, we want to create a demarcation between his commands and the father's commands, right? Yeah. So, you're saying it's the same thing. It's the same thing even though Jesus Christ says you can't keep it, right? So, so Jesus Christ, so this is what we do. These two commands I give you. Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself. Somebody said to Jesus, "What is the greatest commandment?" And he said, "Love God, right? And love your neighbor and yourself. And on these two, rest all the law and the prophets." He summarized it. Mhm. Right. Because if you actually look at all the laws, they are branches of love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Right. And the love of God is expressed in obeying the rules, obeying the laws that God has given in relation to how you interact with him and in relation to how you interact with your neighbors. Right? So Jesus Christ is saying that this is these are my commands. Some people what they want to do is they say, "Oh, Jesus has only two commands, right? Love God and love your neighbor as yourself." Mhm. Okay. So I'm bound to obeying only those two commands, right? Fantastic. There's a law in the book of Leviticus that says that if you see your neighbor offloading his donkey and you turn your back on him, right? It's a sin. Would you feel like you have failed or disobey Jesus's command by not helping your neighbor offload his minivan? Yes. The command of love. The second one, you you would feel that, right? So, if you saw your neighbor offloading his minivan, right? Yeah. And you did not help him. Mhm. Would you actually feel that you're a sinner or floating his minivan? His minivan. Would you actually because that's the equivalent of donkey now. Would you would you would you feel like you were a sinner? If he if I knew him offloading his minivan he went to he went to Costco and bought groceries for like 2 months. No, I won't feel bad. That you see you see mini one is a little hard. Why is going to chop the food? I don't understand the donkey. The donkey what the you can see the shock absorbers on the minivan struggling. No, that's different. Like if I see him on the side of the road and he's tired. No, no, no, no, no. He's not struggling with task. Do you see yourself? Do you guys see yourself? I'm so confused. Sorry. Go explain. I might just What I'm trying to say to you is that we have minimized love, right? Or the demand of love in modern day interactions to the point where love is only when I have an opportunity to shoot you and I don't shoot you. Love is that you stand in front of me, I say, "Can I have something?" And I give it to you. Your neighbor is struggling. didn't invite you to help. You saw your neighbor struggling. Do you go and help? Yeah, if you're struggling. Yeah, but if he's not struggling, I think I think that's important. Sorry. In America, I don't know. But he's just offloading his mini like You don't think that's a struggle? I mean, offloading. Nothing in the house. Some people are struggling. If my wife, you want to carry eight cars at work? Well, I can see your groceries. The point I'm trying to make is that, right? I get I get you cannot love the way God says you should. I have another question because you said your brother asked you for your shirt. Will you give him my my blood brother? If he asked me for my shirt, we going to target, we'll just go and buy a new shirt. Okay, awesome. And how many would you buy for him? Sorry guys, I like Target. So, the point I'm trying to make is this, right? Yeah. Essa, you and I know if somebody in your neighborhood walks up to you and says, I need a blouse, right? I need a shirt. I need a coat. You're going to walk up to say, "Get in my car. Let's go to Target." Guess what I have? You You took them in your car and took them to Target. Random stranger. Yeah. The guy was like, "Oh, I need help." Something something. He was in my neighborhood. Airbnb. I even had the kids in the car and you took him to Target. Listen, I took him to the to where did I take him to? I even took him to the bank. I got some money for him. And what happened when you got home? While he abused me. Yeah. Okay. Can we So, he said he said I put our kids in danger. No, but but to your point, and I'm assuming that's your point, like if we focus on the action as what love is, then it's going to be kind of confusing. The point I'm trying for the point I'm trying the point I'm trying to make is that we consistently will fall short. And what we have done to address that issue is to minimize the burden. So we narrow the demand of obedience from 613 to two. I have a question. It keeps coming up. I eat shrimp. Okay. I love shrimp. Okay. Laps on shrimp. Is it in the Bible? You're a sinner. You're a sinner. A bottom boiler. Thank God I know you eat bacon. I eat bacon. Oh my god. You're going to hell. I eat bacon. You're going to fry. I even use the bacon oil to fry. Fry like bacon. Very sweet. You see the problem? But thank God it's not what goes in meat that defiles a man. No, you want to obey the laws down. Okay. Okay. I want to I know we got to wrap up, but I want to say something real quick. I want to get you guys perspective. M this is how I'm looking at this beacon. This is how I'm looking at this. Hell yeah. Just to wrap up this disc on love cuz I know we can be here for forever. Okay. So if I PFO Erin if I told you guys I love God and the only times I utter his name is whenever he provides something which is nothing wrong with whenever he heals me. Mhm. So my body, my car, my child, my my politics, my country, my my my my even when I practice gratitude is because of what he has done for me, which again there's nothing wrong with in my mind that shows me someone that is interested in the idea of God as all the Jehovas. However, he loves himself or he has more interest in himself than he has of God. That's how that's that's that's my I I I I love the way you framed it, but let me even take it a step further. How many times have you prayed a prayer that was not selfish? I I agree. Okay. So, basically, you have just indicted all of us. I think that's the point you were making that you cannot. Yes. We all even even prayer the Bible says that we we do not get. So, first of all, we don't have because we don't ask. And when we ask, we don't receive because we are asking for our selfish reasons. M and we all pray for selfish reasons, right? And that is why Jesus said, "Listen guys, guys, guys, the only way your mail gets into God's inbox is if it comes through my server. It has to come through me. If it does not come through me, God sees you." And what he sees is a selfish, self-centered individual. Right? But when he comes through Christ, he sees his perfect son who obeyed all the laws and hung on the cross. How do you get it to come through Christ? By praying in his name. By praying in his name. See when you pray in his name, you're wrapping your prayers in the envelope of Christ and not just Jesus because there are many people named Jesus. So how do you pray in his name in who he is in in his name? In Jesus in the B. So we say in Jesus's name, right? But of course saying it with your mouth, right? That's the part is staying with your mouth is the should be an expression of what is in your heart. Yeah. However, however, again, right, the results of your prayer will reveal what is really in your heart. If so, if I if I if I pray in the name of Jesus, right, for God to turn this ceramic thing that is green to to yellow and it does not happen. How do I react to that? Yeah. Because if I believe that my prayer was sent in the envelope of Christ, right, it means that God looked at the ceramic thing and thinks, you know what, it's better that it remains green, right? And I should be okay with that. I should be okay with that, right? I should not question whether I am qualified to pray for it to become yellow. I should not question whether I fasted long enough. I should not question whether I prayed long enough. I should not question whether oh the reason why this thing hasn't turned green is because my great great-grandfather was a participant in the slave trade. I should just believe that you know what God heard me and made a sovereign decision. Yeah. Right. To not grant that request because he loves me and he doesn't we don't need this thing to be yellow. And I move on with my life all happy and joyful. Alas, is that what really happens? the reverse more often than not is the case. Particularly when it's something serious, we start to check boxes. We start to we do like an audit. But the audit we do is of Christ. We do an audit of ourselves. And it's not an audit of our faith. It's an audit of our actions because we still think our actions are what determines the outcomes. That is how God shows you the state of your heart, right? to let you know that man you you call you're calling Jesus Jesus Jesus but really you don't really believe in him like that the blood of Jesus washes some sins maybe there are some sins that the blood skipped that is the crux of the matter how total is your confidence right that in the eyes of God you are perfect in Christ so to to answer the question right do we love God we cannot we cannot love God the way God wants us to love God. Yeah, but in Christ we not in Christ there is not a negative there is a there is a solution and can you wrap us up with that solution and and and the solution is is Christ right you know um he's he's all in all right Paul said it is in him that I live and I move and I have my being and the reason why he said that is because he realized that everything that has to do with God you have to be standing in Christm M the Bible says if you abide in me right you will ask God for anything right you will be fruitful. Everything that is positive emanates from positive in our interaction with God productive fruitful comes from our position in Christ. Yeah. Right. And that is why I for one I cling to Christ. I cling to Christ. I am not every time something happens I'm actually paying close attention to my own reaction because my heart sometimes deceives me I think and I think oh fe you you actually trust Jesus 100% and then something happens and I'm like oh my god oh my god why why why and I start that audit of my actions okay I know why it's because of that thing you did maybe that other thing maybe and then I like okay I'm sorry bring me back to that place where I trust you implicitly on every level. And that's for me these days that is that is growth. Yeah. You cannot grow without those tests. Yeah. The critical component of your growth. That's why they happen to everybody who who who call the name of the Lord. So you will be tested but always pay attention to your reaction to your testings. If your reaction is to do an audit of your actions, it says that shows where your faith is. If a rea if your reaction is to do an audit of your actions, it shows where your faith is. If your reaction is to say, okay, God loves me. What is he trying to do in my life? That shows where your faith is. Right? The latter is where your faith should be. That's good. Oh, that is so good. I mean, honestly, this guys, this episode is the reason why we wanted to do this because we think as a society, we need to start taking some time to reflect on what we believe and how we look at God and yeah, what we believe um about who Jesus says he is and and all the things. And so, um we're excited that you joined us today. Please subscribe, like, and share. Like, sub um share and subscribe. Click on the subscription button. Especially if you made it all the way to the end. Just go to your top right hand corner. Smash the like button. Smash. Yeah, subscribe. And don't give up, man. There's whoever is listening to there's hope out there. When you did the the order, then you realize that there's nothing I can do to earn that righteousness. Don't give up because Christ is that it's really hard. It's really really hard because every day is drummed into our heads at work. They do your performance evaluation before you get your bonus or your promotion. Mhm. It's a constant. It's a constant. So to separate the world from the from God is hard. It's hard. That's what makes Christianity hard. Not not 613 laws. It's separating what you have learned. That's why the Bible says do not be conformed to the world. We think it is miniscat and and and and tight clothes for shadow for the next episode. Amen. It's about the way the world works. Yeah. Merritocracy. All right. All right. Appreciate y'all. Unfiltered. [Music]