Matthew 23:13-36 (#81.2024.01.14)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:03

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. We are On a journey through the book of Matthew. And this kind of reminded me of when I first got into the Planning business, I was taught by a number of Christians, Christian Financial Planning, Ron Blue and company, and Larry Burkett, who has got a ministry about, stewardship and all of those folks, and I actually bought a business called Steward's financial planning, and I did Christian financial planning. I did that for a while, and then when I realized that the The only Christians who came are the ones who were deep in debt and had no money to pay. I realized it was not a fruitful it's a good ministry, but not a fruitful business. Right.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:12

So I, took a job, went to work, and then I rebooted, and I started again in 1994. So we're coming up on 30 years God called us out of, employment to to give it a whirl again. And one of the things that I really struggled with was whether to hang the moniker, because I really thought about that business model of hanging the moniker that I'm a Christian doing work, And I did not feel comfortable. I did not wanna trade on being a Christian, right, using the gospel, if you will, Or for purpose. Nothing you can't. It was just something that the Lord really convicted me of, and so I didn't tie that. I wanted people to discover it. Not I'm not, you know, kinda balancing.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:59

I didn't wanna trade on the gospel. At the same time, I wasn't hiding my light under a bushel. So I wasn't afraid of it, but I didn't want I didn't wanna use it as a moniker. So one one of our, clients said, oh, I'm so glad you're a Christian. You know? The I'm I'm I'm glad about that. And I said, no. No. No.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:17

No. I said, if you have a brain tumor, you should hire the best surgeon And then get your friends to pray. If they happen to be the same, that's a really good thing. But you should hire me because my work really models the gospel. Our work, the work of our hands should model the gospel. Right? I said Jesus wasn't carving, You know, exodus into his you know, I'm I don't think he was putting exodus versus on his stonework or his Wood woodworking. You know? I think by the nature that God is a designer and a worker, Our work should be a model of that. That that makes sense.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:59

Right? And then our our light should shine. We should be the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him. That at least for us, that's where we got comfortable around that, and people discover, you know, not have long with our, you know, stories and what we do. And one my My best for me, my best compliment was an attorney we work with out of Chicago said, it's like In your stuff, I'm reading the book of Proverbs. So our the way that we work should demonstrate wisdom. Does that make sense Right. So that was that was really, really clear because I I was always cautious about trading on spirituality or Christian faith, right, as a as a reason to grow. So we're now at a place in scripture where, Jesus is Proclaiming no longer blessing, but he's proclaiming woe.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:52

And he's proclaiming woe because there's a group of people who are trading On on spirituality, hanging, you know, Yahweh, signs on themselves in order to grease their own skids, in order to feather their own beds, and he is proclaiming woe to them. Right? And, of course, this is the group of Scribes and Pharisees. And I used to think that Pharisee was equivalent to workspace righteousness. But if you study it, it's worse. It's not just workspace righteousness because there are there are people who are who are just Confused and in darkness, believing that works will get them to heaven. But the this group was worse because they were trading on the moniker of of spirituality in order to benefit themselves. Does that make sense? So Jesus says, woe to you. Woe to you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:51

And that's where we begin. Woe to you, and these are the woes. But he says, but woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, and particularly woe to you because you are the teachers and the spiritual leaders. You have, you have a calling on your life that puts you, Therefore, to be in a position to have the anointing of god, and you are you are using it for wrong, for no good. And literally, the Greek word means woe for you, not just woe to you, but woe for you Woe for you. So it it it has this idea of grief as well as denouncing what they're doing. So it's both sorrow for them and indignation. So he says, woe.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:45

So it's not woe is me. It's not woe to you. It's really woe for you. And so here, we have 8 woes, right, along with 8 blessings. Right? Because in the in the beatitudes, he said, blessed are here's he saying, woe for you. Right? And so interesting because god is both Blessings and woes. And I quote one of my favorite quotes from Lion Witch in the wardrobe, right, where she asked Beaver is, is he safe? Is Aztaline safe? And she said, no. Who said anything about safe? Of course, he isn't safe, but he's good.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:25

He's the king. He's the king. So is God safe? No. He isn't safe, but he's good. And so we see woes and blessings. And so I put on their warnings and condemnation are not new. He talks in Isaiah 5 about the vineyard of the lord of hosts And how the, the people of Israel wore his vineyard and how they were not Responding appropriately. The vineyard of the lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and he says his delightful plan.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:58

He's chosen them. Thus, he looked for justice, but what did he find? But behold, he saw bloodshed or, yeah, bloodshed for righteousness, but he saw cries of distress. In other words and then he began to say, woe to those. Same way. So this is nothing new. But he lays out why there's a woe, woe for you. And he begins by the fact he calls them, you are hypocrites. Hypocrites.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:35

And the word, as you probably know, literally means the Kinda mask they would put on if they were doing a play. Right? So you wear a mask. In other words, hiding who you are. And one of the pictures we have in, In our business is the wizard of Oz. And you remember the part where they're standing before the great ancient powerful Oz is on here and it's, you know, those crashes and lightning, and Toto sneaks over, and he opens up the curtain, the black curtain. And he says, pay no attention So the man behind the curtain. And so our picture is that man appeared better be the same as the man behind the curtain. Oh, it doesn't mean we don't fall.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:18

That doesn't mean we don't mess up. That doesn't mean I don't sin all of those things. But For us, those 2 things should be the same, who we are, right, the public image. And we live in a time where you can shine up You can shine up your picture. Right? Because everybody has their own branding agency. Right? It's called social media. So everybody spends a whole lot of time branding themselves on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn and all of that. They put this branded image about themselves, which is okay.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:52

You just wanna make sure those match, that they're pretty close. Again, not that we don't fall. So a hypocrite isn't someone who speaks the truth and falls because a righteous man falls 7 times and rises again. That's not the same. A hypocrite is somebody who on purpose who on purpose. So I put in there spiritual show offs. And underline that spiritual show offs, and they have deliberate and ostentatious displays. When they do that, I thought how many metaphors could I have to hog the spotlight, grease your skids, and feather your own nest? In other words, in order to increase your social standing and literally to line their own pockets.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:46

So it's hypocrites with an agenda, and it's a personal agenda while they're harming others. So as you take a look at each one of these woes, you can see that there is an agenda behind them. So the first well, he says, you shut off the kingdom of heaven, and therefore, you shut out others. And how do you do that with your made up Traditions and rules because he says, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven for people, And he says, you do not enter yourself, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. In other words, so those who are are are spiritually sensitive. Those who are god is initiating something, they would come to the scribes and pharisees, and they would Essentially, not allow them in the kingdom. He says you shut it off and you, therefore, you shut them out of the kingdom. He said you tie up heavy loads and you lay them upon men's shoulders.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:51

Not the same, but I remember when the couple came, You know, they there's now an x on our house, but they would I think these were, the Jehovah's Witnesses. You know, and they had a real they had a real heart. I said you have a lot of zeal. Right? You definitely have a lot of zeal. I said, however, you know, if you're wrong, Jesus said it's better that you tie a millstone around your neck and be thrown into the lake than to teach what is wrong. And I said, you're teaching what is wrong, so be on notice. Be on notice. Right? So you're teaching what is wrong, keeping out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:32

They were they were darkened in their understanding. Right? Darkened. But these are doing it For their own purposes. And he hearkens back for he says the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction From their mouth. Who? The priest. Why? Because they are a messenger. Messenger of whom? Yahweh of host, the lord of hosts. They are to be god's messengers.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:57

You're to be speaking my word and my truth out to people. You were to stand between, if you will. Right? The in between, god. Right? Bring the things of the people to god. Bring the things of god to the people. You are to be a priest. So he says you shut off the kingdom of heaven, and you shut out others. You do that with your made up traditions and rules.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:28

Number 2, he says you steal. Who are you stealing from? Widows. He says, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, Because you devour, eat up widows' houses, and for a pretense, Gerlina, for a pretense, you make long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation. In other words, I thought, what does that mean? So he's not just saying when you pray, don't pray long prayers to be noticed by men. He's saying They devour widows, houses, and you use long prayers to disguise your motives. In other words, to to to to show the fact that you are really spiritual. So they use long prayers to disguise your motive.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:23

It's worse. It's not just to be seen by men, but they're doing it In order to, to take, literally, take from, take from widows. And those widows We're vulnerable widows. Why? Because widows are vulnerable. Right? In other words, In in that world and even today, widows lose their protector, if you will. Right? Husband is there to protect Their wives who'd lost their natural protector, they became their prey by flattery and fraud. They persuade them to Support them with their wealth using prayers to show their righteousness. In other words, they they prey on them, Going after them, right, and using their long prayers to disguise the fact that I wanna take the wealth that you have and use it to support me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:19

And Jesus said it's not just condemnation, but it's greater condemnation Greater condemnation. The good news is if you're a widow, and we have widows in here, god is the god of the orphan and The widow. Mhmm. God is the god of the vulnerable, isn't he? He protects and he preserves The vulnerable, and he executes justice. And he puts into the hands of the church The, the responsibility to make sure, widows are cared for. Right? So if you're if a widow has has As an issue, they need to come to the church and say, I need help. I need financial help. That's okay.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:08

That's a good thing. Greater condemnation. Spurgeon said, This shows there are degrees of punishment as there are gradations in glory. All the ungodly will be judged, but the greater condemnation will be reserved For the hypocrites. And, again, understand this is hypocrites, those who prey Upon widows and other people. In other words, disguise their motives. Then he says, what would you because you travel around on sea and land to make 1 proselyte, and when he becomes 1, you make him twice as much as son of hell As yourself. One thing was clear about the lord Jesus, he is the way, the Truth.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:56

He speaks truth. He says he says, verily, verily, truthfully, truthfully, amin amin. He speaks truth Even when it's hard, you make them a son of hell. So I said, 3rd, you have great zeal To convert others. But you convert them to what? Your opinions, your traditions, and your rules. So I put they have misplaced zeal. One who had great misplaced zeal was the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul had great misplaced zeal, and he came to a knowledge of the Lord when the Lord, showed himself to Paul He said, why are you kicking against the bricks wall? Right? I am the one.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:55

I am the one. So he would go on to say, They have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. So zeal alone. We should be convicted about one of my Business coaches is a Mormon. He's a moor yeah. Mormon. And they they I think he would yeah. They do 2 years they do 2 years of missionary service.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:17

He said the the greatest help for me learning marketing was to go door to door, talking about a religion where you can't drink coffee and you can't drink alcohol. He said, what's the deal with that? I mean, think about that. Right? I mean, first of all, it is kinda funny to think about that. Right? Because you're talking about, let's, you know, come on board here. But he he had a great zeal. They have a great zeal, don't they? They have a great zeal, but a zeal without knowledge. Right? Not the same as, as this. These these had a zeal with a purpose.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:52

And he says, you not only yourself, But you make them twofold sons of Gehenna. Holy smokes. Worthy of hellfire, the place of everlasting punishment. He did not mince words, did he? These were the leaders. They were the teachers, those who were entrusted with the spiritual, Essentially, the spiritual health of God's people, and they not only had a misplaced zeal, it was way out of whack. He said you're a son of hell, and you are making people twice as much. Then he said, woe to you blind guides. Why? You say, whoever swears by the temple, that's nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:46

So start to think. He says, so you can't swear by the temple. In other words, I'll do this. Swear by the temple. No. Swear about the gold of the temple. What? And he says, you for bulls and blind men. Which is more important? The gold, or the temple that sanctified the gold.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:04

Therefore, whoever swerved by the altar, swerved by the altar And by everything on it, whoever swears by the temple, swears by the temple, and by him who dwells in it, whoever swears by heaven, swears by both the throne and God, by him who sits upon it. You're thinking, what the heck is he talking about? What they did is they had an elaborate and inter inventive system that allow them to break their word if they wanted to. Right? Because there were unbreakable vows, Then there were breakable vows, and they had they invented ways to break your word. Right? He said, you invent ways to break your word for your own benefit. So if you swore by the gold in the temple, it's unbreakable. But if you swore by the temple, okay, you can get out of it. So growing up, the kids would say, oh, yeah. I said I'd go to that thing, but I got a better offer.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:59

Or, oh, yeah. I committed to pay that, but, Oh, now I found a better deal. Oh, yeah. I signed a contract, but now I wanna renegotiate my contract. Oh, now it's okay today. When we see athletes to do that, we see people committed. Yeah. I committed to pay that, but now I find out that I can So Jesus said, let your yes be yes.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:25

And the Old Testament in Proverbs, He asked this question, oh lord, who may abide in a tent? Who may dwell on thy holy hill? In other words, who gets close to you? And he lays out a number of things. But one of them, he says he swears to his own hurt and does not change. He swears to his own hurt and does not change. So growing up, what that meant is this. You'd shake your hand and what you said you'd do even if it was costly. So he's saying you have this elaborate system. You invent ways to break your word. Jesus said, let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:05

Anything beyond these is of evil. As Christians, we say we should do, Not invent ways to get out of it. Clive, he says, you tied the mint and dill and cumin. So start with that picture. Mint and dill and cumin. How big are those? Not very. They're minuscule. He's now I'm thinking tithing mint.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:38

Now imagine that. Okay. Where's a tenth of this thing? Where's a tenth of a seed? Where's the tenth of a who is saying, You tied these things and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law. What are those? Justice and mercy and faithfulness. These are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. In other words, the small are not to be neglected, but certainly not neglect The weightier in favor. Right? And so you're obsessed with the minuscule, and you disregard the mighty. You're obsessed with the minuscule, and you disregard the mighty.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:19

And it sure looked like Jesus was quoting from Micah. What does the lord require of you, old man? You to do justice, love, kindness and walk humbly with your god. To do justice, Love kindness and walk humbly with your god. Then he says you clean the outside of the cup and up the dish, But inside, they are full of robbery and self indulgence. Blind pharisee first cleaned the inside of the cup and of the dish. Earlier, he said for out of the heart out of the heart, close evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornicating, and thefts, and more. So he says you ignore the heart and you focus on You ignore the heart, and you focus on looking like mister clean, righteous mister clean. Then he said, I thought, first, this is kind of the same thing, but a little bit different.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:27

He said you whitewash the outside to appear super saintly. So this is bigger to whitewash the tomb than just cleaning the cup, isn't it? It's a lot of effort to whitewash the tomb, Right? Which is a big branding. You're like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful. Right? And you brand yourself as super saintly, but inside, they're full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly, you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. And god reminds us that He doesn't see like we see. It's our nature to look at the outside. Look at the outside.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:16

But he says he looks not at the outward appearance. The lord looks at the Heart. And the dang thing is, scripture says the heart is deceptively wicked, Deceptively wicked. Dang. Look inside. 20 this, in his seventies is a friend of a friend came and and sharing price with him. And He said I I 2 woke up 2 o'clock in the morning, and I I prayed to receive Christ. And he said everything went dead.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:53

No more feelings, silent. I heard nothing from the lord. I felt totally alone. He said, what's up with that? Laura? I said, well, my friend, Ed Rush, flew f 16 fighter jets in the air force. And he said there are only 2 countries in the world where people are insane enough To to launch a jet off of a ship and land it again. And he said, when I was landing the one time, I went Just total fog, probably 1,000 feet from the ship, right, when I hit the 1,000 foot. He said it just went totally blank, and everything in me was crying To BankRight. BankRight.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:40

He said, just felt like BankRight, BankRight, BankRight. But he said, I trained hard To look at the instruments, not my feelings. And he said, I held on to everything into he was Screaming to bank right. And he said, all of a sudden, I came out of the fog, and she said there's the ship. Bang, bang, bang. You're right. I'd land. So I said to quirky, I said, so the lord is showing you that if you live by feelings, you're in deep trouble.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:13

That if we use our feelings to navigate life, right, he calls us to live by faith, not by Sight, not by feelings, not by what I hear, see, and feel. That's hard. Right? Because I I'm screaming like this. So John f Kennedy junior didn't learn how to do that, Didn't learn how to fly that way. So he banked literally into the ocean because everything in him when he got in bad weather was screaming bang to the right, bang to the right. So I said, court, lord's gonna teach you, right, not to live by feelings, but to live by faith. It's different, isn't it? It is different. He said, because I always taught.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:50

I was taught all these years. I mean, my seventies, I was taught to trust my Feelings to look inside. I said, I've looked inside myself. You don't wanna look in there. It's not a good place to look. Right? The heart is Deceptive. That's why scripture is so important. I said, any other book you read is interesting, helpful, but it's not the same.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:12

The word of god is living and active. It is sharper than any 2 edged sword piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and is able to judge, what, the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Woo hoo. Sometimes that doesn't feel so good, but it is the level. It is the level. Because I've said, you know, I'll look at that painting, and I'll say, I'm sure that's level, and that's to say, no. It's not level, and her sense is better than mine. But At the end of the day, we stick the level upon.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:48

I said the Bible is the level. It's living inactive, but it's also the level for you to lay truth upon. Right? Is the hardest, deceptively wicked. So he says you whitewash the outside to appear super saintly Super saintly. And lastly, he says, woe to you for you build tombs of the prophets. You adorn the monuments of the righteous, and you say, oh, we've been living in the days of our father. We wouldn't have been partners with them in Shedding of blood of the prophets. So Jesus said, you testify against yourselves, for you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:27

Holy smokes. What an accusation. Jesus said, I don't make the accusation. You make the accusation. Right? In other words, you testify against yourself. You said this is what we do. He said you testify against yourself. You are sons of the murder of those who murdered the prophets.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:48

Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers, you serpents, you brood of Vipers, Paul. What? How will you escape the sentence of hell? And he said, worse, here's what you're gonna see. I'm gonna send more. I'm gonna send prophets and wise men and scribes, And here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna kill them. You're gonna persecute them. You're gonna scourge them. He says there is a so that that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood that's been shed on the earth From Abel and beyond.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:27

He said that will fall upon you. All these things will come upon this generation. Now think about that. You're standing there, scribe and a pharisee. Jesus says this. Won't you be thinking? Like, what? And he had said earlier, you are you're you're your father is The devil, your sons of the devil. He says, your sons of those who murdered the prophets, you are murderous Sons of the devil, murderous sons of the devil. You're not just sons of the devil.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:06

You're murderous sons of the devil. So this is more than just your hanging on works righteousness. See that? You are knowingly, purposefully, right, displaying righteousness in order to Feather your own nest, reach your own skids, whatever you wanna say. But but then it it rises or falls to the worst level. He said you will scourge and murder those who I whom I send, right, whom I send. It's hard to reconcile that those who are giving the the favor Of bringing the word of God to his people, those who had were given the anointing in the favor of God had earned it and now use it for their own benefit. In other words and are willing to protect it even to, to murdering. And, of course, he said, some of them you'll kill and you'll crucify even as they would the lord Jesus himself.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:12

So I said, well, that's pretty heavy. Pretty heavy because of their sin. So, Doug, what's the principles for us? Well, certainly, James three one says, let not many of you become Teachers, my brethren, as I stand up here and teach, he says, don't don't think about that. He said, you will we will learn. So James says we, because I include myself in that. We will incur stricter judgment. So God holds leaders and teachers to a higher standard, For sure. Well, he may be bleeding.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:55

Oh, he holds he holds us to a higher standard for sure. And then I started to think about this. In Backache, he says, lord, I've heard the report of you, and I fear. Is that a good thing? Yeah. For sure. The fear of the lord is the beginning of Wisdom. Fear the lord. Is he is he safe? Of course, he's not safe.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:16

But he's good. Of course, he's not safe. Our god is not safe. He's the lion. Right? And so he prays, and wrath remember mercy. So we're we're seeing wrath, God's wrath, God's righteous judgment, God pulling away from the world, our nation and the world, and see what the hell. God says, you want sin? Go for it. Right? So he pulls away.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:41

We see the reality of that as things are spiraling downward, not out of his control for sure. They're spiraling downward. That's his because when we think wrath, I think wrath wrath is really the idea of fierceness. Fierce. God is fierce. When I start to think about that, at first, before wrath, it's justice, It's judgment and its wrath. God's mercy proceeds. God's mercy proceeds.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:15

What's it proceed, though? Justice, judgment, and wrath. And god's wrath is real, and it's fierce. And that's what the word wrath means, but we have to remember, it's justice. It's justice. You go through the Old Testament, and you think what the people did to the Canaanites when they went into that land. They were god they were court appointed They were court appointed to bring god's justice on the Canaanites who had had time had run out for them. God gave the Canaanites Hundreds of years of mercy, and when there was no repentance, right, they were the court appointed who brought about God's justice. So we think about his wrath.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:01

It's his fierceness, but it's his justice as well as his judgment, but his mercy precedes it. So at the end of that, where he said, woe for you, if you were sitting there and you're a scribe and fall to your knees and say, woe is me. Woe is me. In wrath, remember mercy. Right? They could cry it out at any point along the way, and we saw some that cried out along the way. But god's mercy precedes his justice, his judgment, and his wrath. And I put in there that he's coming again, bowed in a robe, dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of god. And he will tread he will tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of god.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:50

Scary verse. Very verse. He treads the winepress in tears wrath of god. He's coming again. What's that mean for us? It's coming again. He will he will take care of. Right? Talk to people who worry about this one and that When they're conspiring and I have to understand who the enemies are, no. God will take care of all of them.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:13

He will take care of all sin either at the cross Or he'll deal with people directly. God will take care. Six things which the lord hates, yet 7 which are an abomination to him. Know what the first one is? Faudy eyes. Faudy eyes. Faudy eyes. Dang. Got me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:35

God hates pride and religious show offs. God hates pride and religious show offs. Again, the Pharisees took it to the point of harming others, but there's, you know, a bit of that in all of us, aren't there? We wanna be religious show offs. We wanna show forth our righteousness. We wanna remind people of the things that we do that are So saintly, you know, because we like it. We like it. That's our pride at work. So he's just saying for us, watch, Be attuned.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:17

Lord, search me and know me. It's a good prayer or pray. Lord, search me and know me. See that the evil and hurtful way in me and lead me, where, in the in the righteous way. Lead me in the way everlasting. The lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:38

He restores my soul. He guides me In the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Isn't that good news? He didn't just do it for me. He does it for his name's sake. Lord, guide me in the path of righteousness for your name's sake for your name's sake. Then he says watch over your Heart. Right? Focus on your heart. We talked about this.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:07

Live inside out. Inside out. You live inside out and worry about the inside of the cup. The outside of the cup will do okay. You worry about what's in the tomb. The outside of the tomb will be okay. Right? Don't worry about whitewashing, cleansing the outside. Worry about inside out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:26

Does That makes sense? Focus on the heart. Focus on the heart. Lord, create in me a Clean heart and an upright spirit. Sustain me with a willing spirit. Right? Create in me a clean heart. Unite my heart to fear your name. Incline my heart to thee and to thy testimonies. Oh, lord.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:47

Strengthen me with power so that Christ might dwell in my heart. Right? Those are all all heart prayers All heart prayers. And lastly, a reminder well, I'm glad I'm a driver or pharisee or old time pastor or in one of those positions, but it reminds us we're all leaders and teachers. There's no asterisk on leaders. We're all leaders and teachers, aren't we? So Paul says, be imitators of me, but not just me as I imitate Christ. Right? Not perfect examples, but we're all leaders. We all are influencers. We're all our teachers.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:34

Though I say I'm grateful for, you know, the way if you think about, you know, your your career, your the the work of your hands, it gives you a platform To be able to speak and teach, right, what we believe. If you will interact with people you would never interact with in a social setting and with more regularity than you ever would. It it's the best platform to me to be able to interact with folks. I don't have to go out looking for them. You have opportunities to display who you are inside in the way that you operate day by day. Right? It's a, it's definitely a place where you can prove out who you are, both in family and friends and work. So it says be imitators of me. So here's the question.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:22

Who are you leading in teaching? Who who are you leading and teaching. So he says beyond just family. Who are you leading and teaching? Who's who to who are you who you just said, you know. And the fact is There's always someone who isn't as far as you are. There's always someone who you can say, I'm a little further along Than you than you are. Who is it Andrew that said, you know, come. I've I've I've met the messiah. That's all I know.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:52

Who is he? What else? I don't need all the answers. Just know. I met the messiah. There's somebody who isn't as far as you are. So there's always someone that we can lead, teach with our lives. No principles That are not 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, but actually 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. My mistakes. Whenever people point them out, I remind them only god is perfect.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:26

I don't have to be. So this is my gift to you, the reminder only god is perfect. Right? There's, you know, there's there's fun ways to testify all the time. And mostly, when I show my, my own vulnerability. I show my own sinfulness. I show my own brokenness. I don't need to whitewash it. In other words, I can show it to folks.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:50

I can show it to folks. My, my I don't know. It's my favorite example. But certainly one one of the examples was when, Josh was in the a shape and race, And we did a car, and we worked on it together, and, he won that year. And then the next year, same way, and we did what I would do in business. Right. I go out. I said, you go out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:15

You find somebody who has plans, who's already won it. You you buy the plans. You model. I mean, you, like, get serious. You know? So the next year, they in the middle of it, we're working. They said, bring your cars in because we wanna watch you make the cars. And, in the middle of it, they changed the rules. So we had to throw it all out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:34

And 1 night, I was so tired and frustrated. I I screamed at the leader. You know? And then I walked out, went down the hall. We were in the old building with Josh, and I said, that didn't work out too well. He said, no. Yeah. That was not too good. So I said, so here's the question, Josh.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:53

Can god only be glorified when I get it right? Or can he bring glory out of my sin, out of my brokenness? Right? So I said, if not, we're done Because, you know, it won't it'll happen soon, and it'll happen often. Right? So the next week, I'd I said I'm gonna get up front. I had I said I blew up in front of everybody. I mean, I need to apologize in front of everybody the same way. But the fact is often in our brokenness, we can see The mercy and the grace and the glory of god more than we can by whitewashing our cup or whitewashing our tunes. That make sense? Alright. Write down the insight from the woes. Woe is mean.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:34

Fortunately, in Christ, it's not woe for you, but it is blessed be. Amen. And may the god who can cleanse you inside and out, may he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his righteous countenance And give you shalom in your soul. And may the grace of the lord Jesus Christ, the love of god the father, And the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you now inside and out and always. Amen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:06

Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May god bless you and keep you.