In this sermon, the preacher addresses the tiredness and frustration that people feel towards their sinful nature. He emphasizes the importance of prioritizing one's relationship with God over seeking recognition from others. The preacher shares a personal anecdote about playing golf and wanting his good shot to be noticed, highlighting the human desire for recognition. The sermon then transitions to discussing the fundamentals of living a quiet and faithful life with Jesus in public, focusing on the topics of giving and fasting.

Matthew chapter 6 tonight. We're just flying through this sermon here. Already in chapter 6. Take heed that you do not do your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise you have your reward of your father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret. And thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Father, we want to thank you again for this sermon. Lord, we just thank you how powerful it is. What a wonderful, practical, in-depth, Lord, message this is on living and walking before you. So many of the practical, real issues, Lord, that are before our lives day after day. Areas, Lord, where we struggle and if we but learn your word and what it is that you have to say, the liberating experience it can be to us. So we just open our heart and we ask that your word would just set us free. Even in areas of our life tonight that we didn't know why we struggle. The Lord may you minister to us in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, remember, of course, as we now going through here, the Sermon of the Mouth, that this is obviously all, all of his sermons, of course, are tremendously spiritual. But the message here is a tremendous message of the Lord giving to, given to us, essentially to the soul. The human soul that longs for a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. For somebody that wants a living, abiding, continuing relationship with Jesus Christ. For somebody that wants to see him enthroned within their life, that is poor in spirit, mourns over their sin, mourns over their own self, their own arrogance, their own pride, their own self-sufficiency. They vacated the throne, turned their life over to Jesus there in the Beatitudes as we went through them. Seen to it that he, that he's being enthroned within our hearts through that. And then the sermon goes on to tell us now once you give him the throne, here's, it's one thing to get the throne for the Lord to get it, but it's another thing for him seemingly to maintain it. Now in chapter five, it's really a section of the sermon unto itself in the sense that it's really a, it's a powerful message of course all by itself, but it is one that is primarily in chapter five, it is all about me and my relationship with God. It's just the two of us essentially in the room, you might say. It's just the Lord just wanting to talk to me about my heart, my life, my thoughts, and, and things there that under my own skin and my own human experience that once Jesus is really Lord, I put him on the throne, the things that can happen in, in my own heart, under my own skin that dethrone him. Where my flesh comes back and it takes the throne. That's why after the Beatitudes and, and my life is given to him, a transference of authority essentially is happening in there. But then he goes on and he said, now there's some things you're gonna have to look out for because if you don't, under your own skin and your own heart and your own thoughts, uh, he'll drive me right off the throne and you'll take it over again if you find there where, you know, if a man, you have, you've heard that has been said by them all time, thou shall not kill, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother, he said, if you're under your own skin, if you have the luxury of being angry at people, if you think anytime you want, you can just take off and your hostilities, your anger, he says, you want to know me how to get me off the throne, that'll do it. But then he goes on and he says in another area, you drive me off the throne of people's lives all day long. He says, you have heard that has been said by them all time, thou shall not commit adultery, but I say unto you that whosoever looks at a woman with lust after in his heart has already committed it. He said, you want to get me off the throne, you're, you want to let your flesh take over, there's where he'll do it. That's how he'll get right back on when you decide under your own skin, in your own heart, and then you can, you can take over and you can do, you can think what you want to. You can run your own heart, run your own life, you'll be amazingly lonely rather rapidly and wondering what went wrong. Then he went on and he talked about marriage, he talked about the commitments in life and maintaining a vow, in a sense, maintaining a heart that is pure towards the relationships we have. He said, you don't, you don't keep those relationships pure and You'll find once again, you're shoving me off, you're taking on, on again and Jesus is such a gentleman, he won't fight us for it. You want your own flesh over me, you can have it, but then you gotta live with the consequences of it too. The loneliness of it, the struggles of it, the burdens of it, the guilt of it, till you find yourself running back to me, getting it right. If you make an oath, then keep it. And there he says, you, you, you give somebody your word and you don't intend on keeping it in your own heart, your own life, you're going to have trouble. You'll find me once again being shoved aside. And so, thus in chapter five, as he goes and he deals there with, you know, walking a second mile, churning the other cheek. If you've got pride, if you've got that ego that just has got to be in control. These are areas, he says, you've got to deal with these. These are the great battlefields of the Christian life. These are the great areas that, that the Spirit of God longs to rule and reign in. And when you see a Christian that is having victory in their life in these areas, you're seeing somebody that God has done some rather, you know, awesome and wonderful things within. And where there's also been quite a few battles in order to get there. And, uh, but they've, they've fought them and they've longed for them and they've prayed and they've sought and said, Lord, I want you so much on the throne of my life. I'm willing to give up anger and to keep you on the throne. Now stay here instead of letting my anger drive me away. I want you on the throne so much of my life instead of going off and coveting and living lustfully. I want you now here, set up your throne instead of being distracted. These are all under our skin. But now when he gets to chapter six, he's now moving into a new area, essentially another area of matters, you might say. And now, uh, areas you might see outside of our skin, I suppose you say, public matters. And, uh, he says a whole new area in a sense there, things to be aware of that now when we are in society, when we're living with other people in chapter five, again, it's just me and the Lord. But now it's as if, okay, he says, now I'm going to take you out in public. Now I'm going to try out some of these things in you and I'm going to take you out and I want to see how you learn to live and see if you still want me on the throne that bad. If you still want me to be Lord, because here are some of the areas where you're going to have some struggles, you're going to have some, some, some battles. And here in a sense there, there's some public, you might say, pitfalls that happen that now they're to, uh, that we've got to deal with. If I want to stay in a wonderful communion with my Lord. And that's what it's really all about here in chapter six. Let me just run through a few of the verses to give you a general idea of what we're going to be seeing as we go through it. But it's all about maintaining a relationship with God. Notice in verse four, and I'm just going to run through, you'll catch the drift of it. It's all about it with God. But in verse four, that thy norms may be in secret and thy father would see it in secret. In verse six, he says, and when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door, pray unto thy father, which is in secret and thy father would see it in secret will reward the openly. Verse eight, be not therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of. Verse nine, and after this manner, therefore pray our father, which aren't in heaven. Uh, verse 14, if he forgive men, their trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive you. Verse 18, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy father, which is in secret. Verse 26, behold, the fowls in the air, they sow not, neither do they spin nor gather into barns, yet your father feedeth them. And then verse 32, for after these things did the Gentiles seek, but your heavenly father knows that you have need of these things. Here, Jesus over and over here in chapter six, he's going to look there and he says, we're going to deal with some issues in life, but all behind it, it's going to be a clear choice between you and your father or you and another world. Do you want to maintain? You really want that living relationship that you could have privately, personally, wonderfully under your skin with your father. Now, do you want it in public? How do you want it in the rest of the areas of your life? And the first, and this is what he's talking about here because he lays it and then in opposition to a whole nother force there in verse two, he says there, he says, therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. Verse five, he says, when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the street that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. And verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. You see here, Jesus in this chapter, he's saying, okay, in chapter five, in your own heart, your own life, the battleground under your own skin, in your own heart, in your thoughts, in dealing with anger and with lust and with your, your word and with honesty and integrity and your pride and other matters as we looked at in that chapter there, he says, we deal with that. But now in chapter six is saying he's taking us out in public where now he says, I want to know is it still you and your father that's really important to you or is it being seen of men? Is it how you look? You see, Jesus knows as well as anything and is better than even we do ourselves how much we love to be seen. How much we love recognition. We seem to love it as much as anything I suppose in all the world. We just love recognition. We love to be seen of men. One time years ago, my boys were young and we were off on a vacation somewhere together and where we happened to stay, they had this little par three pitch and putt course and they were off doing something. And so I had a couple of clubs and I took my clubs out and early in the evening and no one was there and I just started shooting around. I teed a ball up on about 120, 130 yard hole and I took a shot and think, man, it went off wonderful, just a beautiful shot. Went right up on the green, rolled up on the green and then next thing I know, it disappeared in the cup. And immediately, I was immediately, two things, I was absolutely thrilled to death and absolutely frustrated at the same time. I took a couple steps, I was so excited and then I just stopped right there. My hands literally dropped down, I'm holding on to the club. And there as I'm just thinking about this thing and as this is happening, off in the distance, a fella is over there and he actually saw me do the shot and knowing exactly, he could read my countenance. He knew exactly what was going on and over there, there's a and he said, I saw it, I saw it. He knew exactly what I needed. I did something and nobody saw it. I mean, there was nothing so pathetic in all your life when you're a hole in one and nobody saw it. And as soon as he said it, I lifted up the club and victory and yeah, like, yeah, just another hole, you know, or something as if, you know, but on how we love that. It's our nature and to have the opportunity to be seen. It's something that is so much a part of the, of the Adamic nature, of the fallen nature, of our own self, our own pride, this whole thing that we spent an entire chapter wanting to see destroyed and obliterated. We're tired of its anger. We're tired of its lust. We're tired of its inability to make and maintain a relationship or keep its vows or we're sick and tired of its pride and its ego and its lack of care or concern for anybody else. And we spend an entire chapter wanting to be done with it and now the Lord, he wants to take us out in public. Realizing there, he says, now listen, when we're out here, I want to know what's important to you. Is it your relationship with God, your Heavenly Father, who knows what's going on, who sees in secret, or is it being seen of men? Is it being noted? Is that what is important? And the great tendency is that this is what we have, the fallen nature, this pride, this ego, there's something there that he'd give it a chance to come back and get on the throne, give it any opportunity to take over and that's, that's its nature. Desperately wants to find a way, once it's been driven out, to get its ugly head back in and stick it up and say, here I am. And in chapter five, again, we saw the fundamentals of the living quietly before Jesus. And now in chapter six, we see some of the fundamentalities, fundamentalities, some of the basic stuff about living quietly with Jesus in public, about maintaining that quiet experience in that quiet life. And to where, you know, hopefully in chapter five, it was just, Jesus, I just want you, I'd please anything to have you take over my life, to have you be enthroned. I'm tired of all this stuff and I can't stand it, I'm so exhausted, please come and take over and rule and reign. But here in chapter six, now after all this has, you know, been, been dealing with it through chapter five, now he says, let's take a public, you know, check of some things. Let's go out here in public and see how you do now with all of these other egos and all this other vain and corrupt and selfish and conceited and, and angry and lustful and lying or whatever else. Let's take you out there in the midst of all of this other thing and now let's see if what you chose in private, you still want in public. If you really want an end to self and an enthronement of me, that's essentially what's happening here in chapter six. Years ago we had a dog, a Doberman, I said little things about the dog, but one of the things, anybody ever takes a dog and you want to train it, one of the first things you do, you'll take it in the backyard, you'll take it away from everybody else and then you'll sit there and you'll go through, you know, sit down, you know, roll over, stay, you know, and you put it through and give it some rewards and it's just you and the dog and just keep it there while it's simple and then you go through the fundamentals of obedience just there, but just doing it and then you go over it and over it and over it until it's kind of got it and then once you think it's got it, the next thing you do is you do what? You take it out in public and now you let the thing there with all the other, you know, things around. Now it's got the distraction and it's got other dogs and it's got kids and it's got noises and it's got all this other activity going on around it and then you, you say, tell it to sit when nobody else is sitting, it to stay when nothing else is staying anywhere. When you say, you say it down, when nothing else is down, it's looking around, it sees the kids and other dogs, everything else is doing it, then you're up here trying to get attention. Here I am, look at me, but you're, the dog's looking, well what about nobody else is sitting, you know, and what's going on here? Everybody else gets to run and play, this isn't fair, this isn't right. And this is what's happening here, essentially in a broad strokes of what Jesus is doing. It's kind of like, you know, here we come to church and we sit here in church and we're just quietly, hopefully just before him, his face and ours, we're just looking up and it's so simple, it's so easy to be a our hearts drawn to him and we pray and we open our heart, we take communion. We get this wonderful experience with him and our love is fresh and his touch is there and it's real and oh Lord, this is how it ought to be. And it's so wonderful, the love. We love him, we love each other. You probably all look around here and say, can't you just feel the love? It's so wonderful. I love you, a bushel and a peck, bushel and a peck and hug around the neck or whatever, you know, and we get all, we can, in church it's so easy, hi brother, hi sister, and we can hug and do all these things. And then we get in our car and he says, now let's try all this stuff out in the real world, where instead of hugging you, they have other gestures for you. You know, there's other noises, the song isn't the same, the feeling, everything is different and now you're sitting there and he says, now sit down, roll over, roll over, heel, sit. What about attack, you know, kill, you know, you know, we're looking there, come on. I mean, I like that those words are fine in church, but then when we get out and in the rest of the world and this is what he, when Jesus is saying there's a world there, do you want to live before me? Really, and truly, and when we realize these here in this chapter, these are the pitfalls, these are the things, the life that we tend to live before men. And these three things that we'll be seeing here in the next few weeks, one of them is giving, another is fasting, and these are broad strokes, I think have much deeper meaning than just the obvious initial one there, there are whole areas of our life and of prayer, but there's something there that when essentially, if I'm going to be living my life before men, to be seen of men, and there when I would go to give, God has done something to me, I become his child, he bought me, paid for me, died for me, he took me through the Beatitudes, he loved me, redeemed me, he forgave me, he comes into my heart in life, he takes over the throne, wants to make me salt in life, he helps me get victory over anger and over lust and over all these other things, and what's the response of the heart, you're going to want to give back to him, you're going to want to respond, there's going to be something that the heart's going to happen, have happened within it, but then if I begin to respond to the Lord in a public way, what I'm doing, I do before men, Jesus said here, if what you do when you respond to me, and then you're putting yourself where you're, you can be immediately in trouble again, I may go do something, but, and nobody sees it, nobody responds, nobody likes it or something, all of a sudden I'm hurt, my service, my gift, my labor, my effort, my ministry, and it wasn't appreciated, and God, I poured my heart into that thing, and the next thing you know, I'm in trouble, and I'm angry, and I'm hurt, and I'm wounded, and I find myself there, to where, you know, and then worst of all, Jesus said, not only you're that, you're hypocritical too, that's what he says here, some three times, notice verse two, he says, therefore when thou doest thy norms, do not sound the trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do there in, as he said in the synagogues, in verse five, and he says, and when thou prayest, thou should not be as the hypocrites do when they pray, down in verse 16, moreover when thou fast, be not as the hypocrites, Jesus said, if you allow yourself to respond to me, and my lordship, and my life, in you, in a public way, you do it before men, to be seen of men, not only you're going to get hurt, not only you're going to be frustrated, not only you're going to feel slighted and ignored or something, you're also a hypocrite, you're allowing yourself to do it for the wrong reasons, it's like Jesus saying, I thought it was me you loved, I thought it was me you were serving, I thought it was me who took you through the beatitudes, I thought it was me that was changing your heart under your skin, I thought it was me you wanted to respond to, then respond to me, don't do it for others, and for the benefit, and for the sake of others, otherwise it's hypocritical, like most any other real precious relationship, like a marriage, if I find, you know, that with Jean, if Jean, she wants me to do things to her, for her, privately, and I mean, imagine that, can't figure that out, but she does, I mean, but if I'm only nice to her in public, if I'm only warm and loving, you know, in public, and caring towards her in public, and then I ignore her, in private, she's got this nasty little way about her, she'll get upset, and she thinks I'm a hypocrite, so I'm nasty to her everywhere, so, and you know, I'm, but, but the thing is, is in a relationship, it's, if I'm really the, if this whole business is me before God, if it's really my life before God, here Jesus said, then let's keep it before God, because one of the things that'll sidetrack it, is that when you find yourself doing something for another reason, there's another motive, and you allow that to happen. You see, there's two sides, I suppose, in balance to things. Back in chapter 5 and verse 16, Jesus did say, he said, now you let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. And now here in chapter 6 verse 1, he says, take heed that you do not, you do your alms before men to be seen of them, and now those can appear somewhat, I think, to be in conflict, I don't believe they are. On one hand, he says, let your light so shine, let them see, let everybody know, you know, what's, what's going on, but here, and then in chapter 6, he says, now don't do things before men, but essentially, what I believe here, Jesus said, is that anything that Jesus has done for me, let it shine. That's what's happened thus far in the Sermon on the Mount, when he said, let your light to shine. Anything of his love and of his mercy and of his grace and of his goodness, of his benefits towards me, shout it out, let it shine, let the whole world know who he is and what he's done for you. In chapter 6, though, he says, now however, what you do in response to what he's done for you, you keep that between you and him. You let that be something there in your own intimacy, in your own love, in your own affection. Lord, this is that which I want to do for you because of what you've done for me. I don't do it for them. I don't do it for them. I do it for you. And I think there's a number of reasons that it ought to be for him. Number one, it's all of him anyway. You'll notice there in verse, uh, 2, when it says, therefore, when thou doest thine alms, that word thine is in italics. In other words, it wasn't there in the original, they just dug it in. It's just alms. We don't have any alms. We have nothing. What does a man have? Paul says that he hasn't received it from God. And if he's received it from God, why do we boast as if we haven't? Everything that we ever have came from God in the first place. And so anything I give back to him, it's always less than he gave to me. You know, you can't outgive him. Can't give more than I've received. You can only give up to, and then he never asks us even to come near to up to what we've received. But he does say, you can respond out of what you've received, and you can serve, and you can give. But it isn't yours. It's all his. All of our life, you know, belongs to him. And it's something there that when we realize there that God, he's merely looking at us now, wanting to take us out in public and let us live. And for me to think I have done anything, even when I give, is foolish anyway. On Wednesday morning, we have a staff meeting, and this morning John was sharing with the staff a little story about how that when his son Peter John was young, and he'd go out to mow the lawn. And there that Peter John, who could kind of almost at the time reach up to the lawnmower handles. John would mow the lawn, and Peter John would reach up and grab on. And John was doing it all, but Peter John would hold on and kind of hang on and dragged around the yard. But you know, but at the end, Peter John helped mow. So we thought. But in reality, as John pointed out, John mowed the lawn and dragged Peter with him. You know, or something. I didn't say that, but that's pretty, any of us that have taught our kids, that's how we all learn, isn't it? But that's exactly the way that God is anyway. Anything that he ever allows us to do that we may even think for a moment, I mowed a lawn, you know, or something there to realize, no, the Lord did it and just kind of drug us with him and let us walk along with him while he was doing it and share fellowship. That's honestly what the Christian life is all about. The fact that Christ so loves us, not only loves to do things in our heart, but he also loves then to say, here, while I'm mowing, I'll let you here, if you can reach up and just hold on to the bar, you know, I'll drag you with me and in spite of you, we'll get this thing mowed for the most part. I mean, but the tragic thing is if after it's mowed, I go and call the neighbor and, hey, come see the lawn I mowed. Then at that point, as when I think the Lord says, you know, we need to have a little chat in the backyard, you know, and sort of a thing because we've got some things way out of order. And the worst part of this whole thing is, is that we're putting our own flesh right back on the throne. The very thing that we spend an entire chapter wanting to be rid of. The thing that we ought to hate in all the world more than anything. You know, a lot of the world today, we look at, you know, Saddam Hussein is some great error, you know, a great enemy, great, you know, somebody we ought to hate. And I, or hate what he is or what he does or whatever you want to do with it. And I, I suppose there's a lot of feelings that could be directed that way, but I don't think there should ever be any stronger hate or distaste that anybody should ever have in all the world than, than for themselves. Whatever Saddam Hussein has ever done to my life, I can tell you, he has never messed it up as much as I've done it all by myself without even knowing the guy's name. Isn't that true? Pick anybody. Pick anybody in the world that you could ever be unhappy with and what person has ever messed with your heart and your soul more than you. And when we sit there and then decide, I don't want to rule, I don't want to reign. And then Jesus said, well, now I want to take you out in public and I want to use your life to serve me. I want to use your life to represent me. I want to use, I'm going to give you capacity. It may be alms. It may be ministry. It may be service. It may be one thing or another, but for one moment, if you think it has anything to do with you, and if you allow that to be something where you think you're somebody, you're wrong. And the tragic thing is, is that Jesus, he's not going to compete for the throne. If we want it, he says you can have it. But if you really want me on it, then when we go out in public, then you got to want me to be on the throne there. And I think one of the great tragedies in the church today, even in the church world, in church, a lot of church teaching sometimes, is that the very thing that we're trying to destroy, we actually enthrone many times in ministries. Sometimes, you know, you see churches, you know, they got their thermometers out there. Who's going to give so and such and such? Because the people that give the most are the most spiritual, obviously. That's the way, I mean, if you say that, you know, and, you know, and who will give and who will do? And there's just something about, well, you know, I'll do something. And we make the flesh a very motivator. We almost motivate the flesh. We almost tease it and say, come on, come on, take over the throne, pull out the big bucks and let everybody think you're spiritual. And the very life that we've vowed when we came to Christ that we, that we wanted to see destroyed, oftentimes in the church, it literally coddles it, comforts it. You know, it's sort of a thing, you know, I go to churches sometimes, they'll be, have you ever seen in a church bulletin? And the lovely flowers this morning on the altar were donated by Sister Hilda, you know, in memory of her dog Fluffy, you know, or whatever, you know, sort of a thing. And something there, wouldn't you like to donate next week in memory of your dead dog or whatever, you know, but something there that, that people, you know, wow, I want to give flowers all of a sudden and it appeals to somebody. And we want to thank Brother So-and-so who gave us the organ and his name is on a little plaque here in loving memory of his mother, you know, or somebody, you know, but on, on all these things in there, they're designed for people that the very life that we ought to look there and say, Lord, I don't want to rule. And otherwise, you know, we'll be right back and hear Jesus simply saying, when you give and when you love and when you serve and when you minister to people, don't do it to be seen. Don't do it for recognition. How many times in our life, how many times in our, in our marriages, how many times in our home, how many times with other people do we do something and we don't get the recognition for it? Here you went and you got your wife that stone there and that ring and you took her out and you even took all your buddies and hey, look at this, look at this, look what I got, Matilda, you know, or whatever. And you're pulling your wife and her hand over there and, you know, and say, what'd you get her? Well, here, here, you got to get in the light, turn over here, just okay there. See, now you're looking, see there, there's a stone there, you know, or whatever. Wow, what a guy, you know, and then you go do something and your wife says, you know, you got to give me a bigger pair of glasses to see it, you know, or something. And all of a sudden you're crushed. You gave or you did something and you didn't get a response you wanted back. You did something and you said something or you helped or you, in some way, something was motivated to come out of you and when it didn't get a response, you're angry and hurt. And all of a sudden the very nature that we buried in the last chapter, we're, you know, we're giving artificial respiration to in chapter six to revive it and say, I've heard, I know you poor thing. I don't know why you did it. Don't ever do that again. No siree, they'll use you and abuse you and kick you out. That's what you get for loving them. And how many people, that very thing happens. Sometimes it's interesting to me, I mean, it can happen in all sorts of service. I ministered in church one time. There was a pastor and there was a fellow in the church who loved to sing. He loved to sing. And the problem was he loved to sing too long. Every service, we'd, this guy, everybody would sing and when the notes stopped, he always, I don't know whether you call it a beat or what, you know, it was, he felt beaten when he did it anyway, but there was another beat. He always, you know, you could always hear his voice just a little every, after every little thing, there would be, you know, him. You'd hear his voice. Carrying on. You know, and the people, you know, they were wanting to worship, but then it's hard to worship. I mean, we'd, we talked about committees and, and how we, you know, and Christian vigilantes to go rip his lungs out or something, you know, I mean, things, but the, and you were somebody, there's something, you just got to do it. And next thing you know, it's a distraction to others around. And so there's something about our nature when in some form of service, we love recognition. I never understood, but sometimes, you know, people come in the service here and then we'll have a wonderful service. Then somebody will stand up. They just stand up. And now they've never been here, maybe they just think, well, I just love God and I just want to stand up and they'll stand up. And the next thing you know, the worship, I wish everybody could have a turn sitting up in front, because anytime somebody stands up, everybody else stops worship and they're looking over. What's he doing? Well, he's standing. He's singing. He likes to sing. I wonder if he's good or whatever you're thinking about. And the whole thing, but it's something there with the nature of our flesh. We want to do something. Instead of Lord, I want my service unto you to be unto you. Otherwise the flesh, otherwise the pride. And then we can get into this thing where this unending battle, you know, where as soon as you get into that realm, you, you, the flesh is back. And then you never can get enough. You never get enough recognition. When somebody wants recognition from man, they'll never get enough. Just like pride, they'll never be satisfied. No matter how proud somebody is, there's always room for more pride. Have you noticed that? And however proud we are, I like the story of the fella who bought himself a brand new Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. And he knew this was the most beautiful car in town. He had the greatest car in town and he paid a lot of money for it. I think I'm supposed to be done by now, but anyway. But, uh, he got that thing and he's going home and he is so excited about this Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. He just thinks he's the cat's meow going home boy. And as he's going along though, he comes up to a stop sign and there's this beautiful little sports car with tinted windows that pulls up next to him. And the window comes down and he figures, well, he's eyeing the car. But the guy looks at him. He says, I bet you think you're pretty neat in that. He says, you're not so cool. And the guy looks over at him and he says, no. And he says to him, he says, do you have a cell phone in that car? And he said, yes, I have a cell. I have a cell phone in my car. Do you? He says, yep. Do you have a fax machine? He said, yes, I have a fax machine in my Rolls Royce. Do you? And he says, yep. Yep. Do you have a TV? He says, yes, I have a TV. Color TV. Do you? And he says, yep. And he says, do you have a bed? A bed? No. He said, I told you. The window rolls up and off he goes. Well, all of a sudden this guy is so upset. He turns right around. He goes back to Rolls Royce. He says, I want a bed in this thing. I got to have a bed. You make a bed somehow or another in this thing. And so they did. They went and built a bed in this thing for him. And next thing you know, he's driving all over town looking for this guy. He's going to find him. You know, let him know he's got a bed in his Rolls Royce. And finally, after a few weeks, he sees the car in a parking lot and he pulls in and he goes over and again, does that smoke windows, but he could hear music. So he knew the guy had to be in there. He goes over and he starts banging on the window. He didn't let him know. And he hears nothing. He bangs another little longer. And finally, the guy comes, the window comes down a little bit. The guy says, yeah, what do you want? He said, do you remember me? And he says, who are you? I'm the guy with the Rolls Royce. He said, oh yeah, I remember you. He said, I just want you to know. I got a bed in my Rolls Royce now. The guy looks at him and he says, you mean to tell me you got me out of the shower to tell me that? But so often, that's our nature. We get something and then as soon as somebody has more recognition or more something, we're depressed. We're upset. That's the nature of the flesh, isn't it? And here, Jesus said, live quietly before me. When you give to me or you serve me or you give, do it to me. When you do it, whether unto another, you do it unto your wife, you do it unto me. When you give a cup of cold water to somebody in my name, it's to me. When you serve your wife, when you serve your children, when you minister to other people, do it to me. I'll reward you. I'll work. But if you're going to sit around and wait for recognition, then hypocrisy is getting in and your heart is going to be in trouble. And as we close tonight, maybe some of us, we realize, Lord, this is no small thing with any of us. How often are we hurt? How often are we, you know, I don't need this any longer. I'm tired of this woman. I'm tired of this man. I'm tired. I do this and I do this and I serve and I give and what do I get for it? Nothing. But when we determine, Jesus, I want to live before you. I want to serve before you. I want what I do because of all that you have done for me. As you tell me to give it, as you tell me to pour out my life or my energy or my efforts, I want it to truly be for your glory and I want to be able to live quietly, continuously before you. Amen? Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your love and your desire, Lord, to help us, Lord. And I pray that as in this chapter, you kind of take us out in public and then you put other people around us. And then you tell us and you give us opportunities to say, do you love me? We'll serve them and help and give. And as you serve, make sure it's me you're serving. And do it as unto me. And I'll help you mow the lawn and I'll drag you with me. We'll stay in fellowship all the way through it. It won't be you doing these things anyway. Everything you've got, every accomplishment, I'm doing it. Every blessing that's in your life. And so when you take something out that I've given to you and give to another, don't use it as an opportunity to think or anything. Lord, I pray that we would value more just walking across the grass, cutting the lawn with you more than anything that's accomplished by anybody walking down the street. That we would look and say the great thrill in life is living in communion with Jesus Christ. The great thrill in life is the fact that he has so loved me and blessed me and has changed places with me and is giving me victory over my own heart and my own life and my own weaknesses, my own flesh and my own carnality. And then as I learn to give back and respond, Lord, may I now, with other people in the room, so to speak, may I now live quietly before you still, Jesus. May it be before my heavenly Father who seeth in secret. Teach us these profound and yet so simple lessons. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.