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Welcome to the Crazy Love Podcast.

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Imagine a life where your

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most selfless acts are done

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in private, not for

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public attention, but for genuine service

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and worship. In

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this week's message, Frances Chan

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encourages us to embrace the profound

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impact of quiet, unseen

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kindness, setting

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a powerful example of humility

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and true discipleship. Father

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help me to say

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everything you want me

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to say. Guard my

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lips from saying anything that does not

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come from you. Please

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God, take

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away my pride, any

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anxiety, any people

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pleasing, any

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fear in

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the name of Jesus. Holy

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Spirit, speak. Guide

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us Lord. May

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everything I speak be said and loved.

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God, give me a loving heart for

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every face I see. In

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Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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This is such a dangerous place

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to be. Seriously,

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no, I'm talking about

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a stage. It's

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almost like every time I step on

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a stage, it's like almost drinking a

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little bit of poison where

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you can, to really

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be thinking about God right now,

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about Him and His glory and His

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holiness and how everything needs

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to be given to Him while

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there's flesh going on and

2:30

fighting that and going, okay, well the people

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like me, how are they going to respond

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to this message? You know, the

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praise, the criticism, everything, it

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all, it can

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really mess up your walk with the

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Lord. It's

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almost like these lights are poisonous

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and you just have to go, God, help

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me get through this, help

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me get through this with my eyes fixed

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on you, not

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preaching to get the praise

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of people or preaching in such a

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way that you don't get criticized, but

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just saying, God, I'll say whatever you

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want me to say and I want

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you lifted up at the end and

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have no thought of yourself. It's a

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very dangerous place. But

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this morning, what is

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it, afternoon, I'm

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very excited to share what I'm about

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to share. I'm

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very excited. I

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was excited last night hearing,

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not just because they were Chinese, but

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it's just, it was

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powerful. It was awesome. Although

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that helped. But

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I'm excited about, I love what

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Michael was just sharing. gets

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me excited to teach on the same topic. I've

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never, I taught from

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the other side against tongues for

4:10

many years and I get excited

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to teach just a

4:15

clear exposition of scripture. And

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so thank you for that. Well,

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one of the reasons I'm very excited

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about this, it's very rare, those who

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have heard me speak, it's very rare

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that I have notes and I stick

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to the notes and it's

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more common that I put notes together

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and then I show up and go,

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yeah, I'm gonna forget the notes, God's

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giving me something different. But

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as I was praying for this

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specific gathering this week, it

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was like, boom, and this

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doesn't happen normally, just verse

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after verse, statement after statement,

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even a title, I don't

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think I've ever gotten a

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title for a sermon, seriously

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in my life. But

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this one's called The Power of a

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Quiet Life. And

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I'm gonna stick with this, I believe the

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Lord has given this to me. As I

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was praying about it this morning, I just

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felt like complete disobedience if I do not

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teach this. It's

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out of 1 Thessalonians chapter four,

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verses 11 and 12. 1

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Thessalonians four, 11 and 12, it says, aspire

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to live quietly.

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Some of your Bibles say, some of your

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Bibles say, make it your ambition to live

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a quiet life and

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to mind your own affairs and

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to work with your hands as we instructed

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you so that you

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may walk properly before outside.

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and be dependent on no one. Aspire

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to live quietly. Make

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it your ambition to live a quiet

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life. How

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many of you came

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into this day or you

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just think about life and you go, but

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my ambition

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is to live a quiet

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life? So

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I hear a lot of young people go, oh,

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I want to speak to the crowd. I have

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a message to the world. I have a voice.

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And then scripture says, make it your

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ambition to live

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a quiet life. What's he talking about here? Because

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we're living in a time when

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it's assumed that the virtuous thing

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to do is get a bigger

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and bigger crowd. And

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so you're a successful believer. You're

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a great Christian because look at

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all these people you're leading. Look

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how loud your voice is. And

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I'm not saying not to proclaim the gospel.

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And if you read 1 Thessalonians, actually in

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chapter 1, Paul talks about

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how their faith is being proclaimed all around

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the world so that he doesn't even have

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to say anything about it. But

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then in the same to the same group of people,

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he goes, I want you to make it your ambition.

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Aspire to live a quiet life. But

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I've been caught up in something

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these last few years, maybe the

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last 10 years or so. And

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there's just this assumption of I've

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got to reach more people, more

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people, more people. I need more

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people following bigger crowds. But

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let me ask you, did Jesus, can you

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show me any verse in scripture where Jesus

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pursued a crowd. Where

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he looked at his disciples and goes, let's

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get more of you. Bring a friend. Like,

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do you see that? Because

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I see the opposite. I

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see him running from crowds.

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I can tell you many verses where

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he ran from crowds and escaped the

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crowds. And so I just think it's

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unusual that we're all chasing

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crowds, more

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and more followers. And

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yet we think that's the right thing, the best

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thing to do. I mean,

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we're at Jesus 23. Let me ask you

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a question. What

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did Jesus do

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when he was

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23? Does anyone

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know? I

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mean, we know he was a carpenter. What'd

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he do at 25? I mean,

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we know he was a carpenter. 28, probably

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a better carpenter. I mean,

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we're talking about Jesus.

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How is it that we don't know what he

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was doing when he was 23? It's almost

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like he made it his ambition to live

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a quiet life and

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to work hard with his hands. You

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see, there's a principle in Scripture. In

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Luke 16 verse 10, it says

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that he who is faithful in

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little will

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be faithful in much. I'm

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just, I get concerned.

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I love the passion

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that I see in young people

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today for Jesus. That

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gets me so fired up.

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And it's out of my love for you

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that I'm saying, you gotta

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be faithful and a little before

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you can be a voice to the world.

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We have a lot of people

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clamoring to be voices. We

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need fewer voices and more examples.

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In 1 Timothy 3, he

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says in verse four, when he's talking

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about elders

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in the church, in 1 Timothy

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3, he gives this principle again,

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verse four, he must manage his

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own household well with all dignity,

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keeping his children submissive. For

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if someone does not know how to

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manage his own household, how will he

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care for God's church? He

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must not be a recent convert

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or he may become puffed up

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with conceit and fall into the

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condemnation of the devil. Moreover,

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he must be well thought of by

11:21

outsiders so that he may not fall

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into disgrace into a snare of the

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devil. Again,

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he's saying, look, if you can't

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manage your house, if

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you can't even, if your own kids

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don't respect you, if

11:37

you don't even have a right relation with your wife,

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what are you doing leading the church? And

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then he says, be careful. You don't

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wanna give too much to a young

11:47

convert because it's gonna lead them into

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this trap, the condemnation of the devil.

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It's gonna lead to this pride. You

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give a platform to a young man,

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you better be careful with it. I'm not with that.

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I became a believer when I was

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like 15 years old, and

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something in me was like, man,

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you... Like I knew

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I had something in me like I'm supposed to

12:15

be teaching. And

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I remember my youth pastor was

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so wise, he

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never let me teach. He

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seriously didn't. I

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seriously, I would listen to him teach, and in my head

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I'm going, I could say that better. I

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really just sat there as a teenager

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thinking that, and I still believe

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it today. I probably could have. But

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in his wisdom, he says, no, go clean the

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bathrooms. Go stack

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the chairs. You're

12:48

not preaching, because

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he loved me. And

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he says, look, I don't want you falling into

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this. There's something

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about these lights that

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aren't good for you. One

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of my mentors is this guy in India,

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and I remember him telling me this

13:15

story. He goes, you know, everyone's chasing

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a bigger and bigger platform. He

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goes, but if God wants to give it to you, he'll

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give it to you. And

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then he said, you know, I remember just, he

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goes, I remember my friend Teresa. I'd visit her

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all the time. We would just go serve

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the poor, do our thing, whatever.

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And then one day God decides, I

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want the whole world to know about you. So

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everyone knows about Mother Teresa. And

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he goes, you know, never

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in her wildest dreams would she

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think to promote herself.

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Just quietly do her thing and

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then God decided to

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make her a household name. And

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I just always thought that. I'm like, wow, God, if

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you want to lift someone up, you

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can do that. But

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my wife asked me something the other day. It was

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actually a couple of months ago. She

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was reading in Matthew, chapter

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6, where

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in verse 1 it says, Beware of

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practicing your righteousness before other people in

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order to be seen by them. For

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then you will have no reward from your Father

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who is in heaven. Thus

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when you give to the needy, sound

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no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites

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do in the synagogues and in the

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streets, that they may be praised by

14:47

others. Truly I say to you, they

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have received their reward. But

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when you give to the needy, do not let your

14:54

left hand know what your right hand is doing, that

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your giving may be in secret, and

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your Father who sees in secret will

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reward you. And when

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you pray, you must not be like the

15:05

hypocrites, but they love to stand and pray

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in the synagogues and at the street corners,

15:10

that they may be seen by others. Truly

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I say to you, they have

15:15

received their reward. But

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when you pray, go into your

15:20

room and shut the door and pray to

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your Father who is in secret and

15:24

your Father who sees in secret will

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reward you. My

15:31

wife was reading that and she just asked

15:33

me, she goes, Does

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anyone do anything in

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secret anymore? We're

15:43

so into posting things, that

15:46

even your quiet time is your Bible

15:48

with a coffee and a little muffin,

15:51

time with Jesus. And

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this passage, she goes, does anyone do anything in secret anymore?

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anything in secret. Sadly,

16:06

I go, yeah, sinful

16:09

stuff. I'm

16:15

not judging, and I

16:19

understand forgiveness. I'm

16:25

just saying, God, could we have another

16:27

generation rise up that has nothing to

16:29

hide? Because

16:39

we hide our sin, and then

16:41

we post our good works. The

16:45

Bible tells us to confess our

16:47

sins to one another and hide

16:49

our righteous deeds. I

16:56

mean, it's the exact opposite of what Scripture

16:58

tells us to do. He

17:01

says, man, we've got to tell each

17:03

other, confess your sins to one another.

17:06

Make it known. Look, this is what's

17:08

going on in my life. I need

17:10

to walk away from this. And then

17:13

if you're praying, then just close the

17:15

door, lock the door, pray in tongues,

17:17

pray in English. I don't care. Just

17:19

pray. And

17:23

then care for the poor. Do these good deeds,

17:25

but you don't have to tell everyone. What

17:28

if there was a generation where

17:30

when you died, it's not like

17:32

all this sin is uncovered. But

17:35

people go, whoa, look at all

17:37

the good she did that we

17:40

never knew about. Look

17:42

at all these things that

17:45

she did in private. And

17:48

now he was working hard with his hands

17:50

to give. And all his money went to

17:52

this. No one ever saw his

17:54

bank account and all of that until he

17:56

was gone. And it

17:58

was all good works uncovered. the

18:02

Bible so that the outsiders would look

18:04

upon it and have nothing

18:06

bad to say about us. We

18:10

need to confess our sins. We're doing

18:12

it all backwards. And

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we need to quietly do our works

18:17

of righteousness where

18:19

no one sees but the Father. What

18:27

if you posted your sins? We

18:31

started a sinstagram.

18:34

You know, like, just, here

18:38

it is. Here's the worst

18:40

of me. Someone

18:43

go ahead and start it. And

18:49

we just go, look, here's the truth

18:51

about me. Here's what God's saving me of. Here,

18:54

I need you guys'

18:56

prayers because here's my struggles. Here's

18:58

where I'm messed up. Meanwhile,

19:02

we just quietly do good works. We

19:07

kind of think, but if

19:09

I do something good,

19:12

I mean, shouldn't I

19:14

make it known because then that makes

19:17

Christianity look good? And

19:19

wouldn't it be more effective? I mean, if

19:21

there's a miracle that takes place, shouldn't I

19:23

just post that? Because

19:27

then more people will be impacted.

19:31

Yeah, but what this passage is

19:33

saying is it's saying that when

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we do things in secret, there's

19:39

going to be a reward. And

19:46

maybe he's not doing that many

19:48

miracles in your life because

19:51

he knows your motive is just, I

19:53

want to post it. I

19:56

want to do it. But

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what if we just. quietly. It

20:04

says when you pray, go

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into your room, shut

20:11

the door, and pray

20:13

to your Father who is in secret, and

20:15

your Father who sees in secret will reward

20:17

you. In

20:21

Mark 1, verse

20:24

35, I mean

20:26

again, we're talking about Jesus, and it

20:30

says in verse 35, rising very

20:32

early in the morning while it

20:34

was still dark, He

20:36

departed and went to a desolate place, and

20:38

there He prayed. And

20:42

Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him,

20:44

and they found Him and said to Him, everyone

20:48

is looking

20:51

for you.

20:54

You guys, do

20:56

you know it's okay to not answer

20:58

texts? I

21:01

haven't looked at my phone in a few hours. It's

21:05

okay. Don't forgive me. Here

21:09

you have Jesus, He's off praying,

21:11

and everyone is looking for Him.

21:15

How come you haven't answered me? Everyone's

21:19

looking for Him, and He's just like, that's

21:22

what I do. Go

21:25

out while it's still dark. This is

21:27

His example. This wasn't

21:29

to be seen. He

21:32

was trying to get away and just hide and pray

21:34

and be with the Father. You

21:39

know, there's certain passages in the Bible where

21:41

I just for years, I'd go,

21:43

gosh, that doesn't make sense. Like,

21:47

I'd look at all the passages

21:49

like in Luke 8 when He

21:51

raises someone from the dead, and

21:53

then He tells everyone that's sawed,

21:55

He goes, don't tell anyone

21:58

about this. Imagine

22:02

how frustrating that would be to you.

22:07

You have a prayer meeting in your house

22:09

and you know, and you know, you raise

22:11

someone from the dead. And

22:13

he goes, don't tell anyone. Are

22:17

you kidding me? Over

22:20

and over. You were healed of something and

22:22

God says, I don't want you to tell

22:24

anyone. One

22:29

of the passages that always puzzled me was Revelation

22:31

10. In

22:34

Revelation 10, you know,

22:36

John is getting this revelation from

22:38

the Lord. And then

22:40

in chapter 10, it says

22:43

the seven thunders spoke. And

22:47

so John starts writing down

22:49

what the seven thunders are

22:51

screaming. And

22:54

God stops and says, no, seal

22:57

that up. And

23:00

so you just left going, what

23:04

did they say? So

23:11

you're telling me John was

23:13

the only human being who

23:17

knew what the seven thunders said. And for the

23:20

last 2000 years, there's

23:22

one person who got to hear

23:24

it. Just

23:27

John. I

23:29

go, that doesn't make sense. John's

23:33

like, I'm just getting ready to

23:36

post it. No, it's

23:40

just for you. You

23:45

guys, here's why I want to share this.

23:47

It's real simple. I'm just about done because

23:50

Michael took all my time. But

23:59

here's what I want to say. What

24:09

if by you living a quiet

24:11

life and

24:14

you doing things in secret meant

24:21

that God would show

24:23

you miracles, more

24:26

miracles than you've ever seen, but

24:29

they were just for you? And

24:33

what if by being quiet

24:35

and seeking God, He starts

24:37

thundering messages just for you?

24:41

And He says, I've never told anyone

24:43

this and I'm not telling anyone this.

24:45

This is just for you, Francis. You

24:50

can't post it yet. I don't want you telling

24:52

people that I told you something. Have

24:55

you ever had a friend go, look, I've never

24:57

told anyone on earth this and I'm trusting you

24:59

with this. Don't you tell anyone

25:01

you take this to your grave. There's just this

25:04

honor where you're going, Oh my

25:06

gosh, I can't believe you

25:08

trust me. What if God

25:10

almighty, cause He sees you in

25:12

your prayer room and

25:14

no one knows about it and He sees

25:16

what you do with your time and your

25:18

money that no one knows about and He

25:21

just starts doing

25:23

miracles and say, that's just for you. Here's

25:28

a message I've never

25:30

told anyone. Would

25:35

that be enough for you? Or

25:39

would it drive you nuts? Because

25:42

you go, wait, I can't post that. I

25:46

can't gain followers through that. Would

25:50

it frustrate you or would you go, Oh

25:52

my gosh, that'd be the greatest honor of

25:54

my life. There

26:07

is power in a quiet life. Now

26:11

I'm convinced God has some

26:13

people that

26:17

He wants to use as

26:19

a voice and that's great. I'm

26:22

just saying there needs to be a lot more

26:24

of us that are

26:26

ambitious about living a quiet

26:29

life and excited to

26:31

live a quiet life because we

26:33

actually believe in eternal rewards and

26:35

then the very thought of, wow,

26:38

God might say something to me.

26:41

He might show me miracles. He

26:43

might do so much more from

26:46

my prayers. Because

26:54

I get it. I remember being

26:56

a young man sitting in a crowd like

26:58

this and seeing a guy up front and

27:01

going, I want to go up there one day. I'd

27:06

love to say it was all

27:08

godly ambition. But

27:12

the Bible tells us to beware of

27:15

selfish ambition. And

27:17

he says we're selfish ambition and

27:19

jealousy exists. And so will every

27:22

vile practice. There's

27:25

something about desiring this

27:32

that is a selfish ambition, that is

27:34

a jealousy, and it will

27:36

lead to every vile practice. And

27:39

I believe we're seeing that in the church. And

27:42

I'm just praying for a new generation that just

27:45

says, you know what, God,

27:47

I just want to go back to doing things in

27:49

private. I want to

27:51

close my door. I

27:53

just wonder, God, would we see

27:55

more miracles and hear more

27:57

from you if we. our

28:00

ambition to live like Jesus did. And

28:04

just work hard with our hands, lead

28:06

a quiet life, absolutely share

28:08

the gospel with everyone we can.

28:12

But we don't need to post it all. We

28:14

don't need to just let everyone know. I

28:17

really believe that the next

28:20

revival, if there is one here, it's

28:23

gonna be people like you that

28:25

are just secretly praying. And

28:28

it's when we get away from posting all

28:30

of our good deeds, that

28:32

we may see a movement of God,

28:35

the power of God. So

28:38

I wanna pray over you right now.

28:43

I hope to impart something

28:45

to you because

28:47

I get excited about this. This is not like

28:50

a bumming me out or anything. I just go,

28:52

wow, God, I wanna get away from

28:54

this poison. God,

28:58

I wanna get back to where

29:00

it all started. I

29:02

wanna see another generation just really

29:05

believe that much and just hunger

29:07

for this, just you and me,

29:09

Lord, you and me, just all

29:11

this stuff is between you and me

29:13

because I just love being so close to

29:15

you. I'm

29:17

praying to impart something like that today

29:22

and put to death. The

29:26

plan of the enemy, which

29:29

is to have more young people rise

29:32

up to fame and

29:35

fall into their sin, the

29:39

same thing that happened to the enemy. Father,

30:07

I pray for repentance in this room right now.

30:16

Repentance for those of us who can't

30:18

think of one good deed we haven't

30:20

talked about. Repentance

30:35

for the sins that

30:38

we've kept hidden and

30:40

we won't talk about. Holy

31:11

Spirit, would you just put it in

31:13

our hearts, this deep desire

31:15

to be in this secret

31:17

place with you? For

31:24

you to do greater works through

31:27

us in secret? Just

31:33

for you? Give

31:48

us new ambitions in this room, Lord. Help

31:57

us to see the merit in working with our

31:59

hands. like Jesus did. God

32:10

raised up this generation to not

32:14

just aspire to start movements,

32:17

but to work jobs. Such

32:24

a word faithfully, the menial, the

32:26

hidden. God raised up this generation

32:28

to not just aspire to start movements,

32:30

but to work jobs. May

32:46

we just desire you so much, Jesus,

32:49

like John did. The

32:55

beloved. God,

33:07

may we not be like the world. God,

33:11

may we not be like the world. Keep

33:23

us from doing things to be seen, so that we can be

33:28

seen by you, heard by you, and

33:32

may that be enough for us. God,

33:40

for those whom you've entrusted, with

33:45

a larger voice, God, would

33:48

you keep them humble, faithful?

33:55

It's close to you. God,

34:02

I pray for everyone who is going to step

34:04

on this stage, Lord, that you would protect them.

34:09

Protect them from the plan of the evil one. Please,

34:13

Lord, please,

34:16

God, purify

34:19

your bride so

34:23

that we can see your actions here on earth.

34:34

In Jesus' precious name we pray.

34:49

Amen. Thank you for listening to the

34:51

Crazy Love Podcast. Join us next time

34:54

for a new episode, but until then,

34:56

for more resources from Crazy Love Ministries,

34:58

or to support the work of Crazy

35:00

Love, please visit our website at crazylove.org.