Why am I always trying to EARN Love?

Good morning. You may not like this one. I rewrote this one three times. Three times. I thought, no. That's too emotional. Too emotional for the audience. I know how it made me feel. I've read this passage, I don't know, five hundred times.

I don't know.

A lot. You've been auditioning your whole life. You've been on audition your whole life. It started with your parents. You learned early which version of yourself got the warm look and which one got the cold shoulder. Then it transferred on to your teachers. Your professors, your then your bosses. And then boyfriend and girlfriend. Then your church. And somewhere along the way, God. You picked up a belief so young you can't remember learning it. Love is a wage, man. The day you stop producing, the love stops. I call it currency when I used to counsel. I had a small counseling practice. When I used to counsel, I would say people bring a currency. They bring a currency to relationships. Boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, best friend, any kind of relationship. It always is that way. It's always been that way. And you know what? It sounds like, man, you're reducing this to something. It shouldn't be. You ever hear that? Somebody says, well, when you put it that way, it does sound bad. It is bad. But it's reality. It's reality. If we if we if we want to lie to ourselves, certainly, certainly, have at it. Lie to yourself. Hang in there, weary pilgrim, homestead. There's more to come. Buttercups buckle up. It ain't gonna get easier from here. The day, this is in your head, maybe. Some people are very, you know, evolved. By this point, you didn't come out of the womb evolved, and maybe you grew up in a really well adapted family. And everybody was healthy, mentally, emotionally, physically. They were all healthy. But maybe it didn't. Maybe mom or dad, well, they didn't have the best relationship. And everything there was conditional. Maybe among your siblings, if you had any siblings, it was all conditional. And then you start to you start to learn the currency of relationships. And the day you stop producing, the day that your perceived value dips. The love stops. So you don't rest. You can't. Rest feels like falling behind on a debt you'll never pay off. You know those credit cards, man. Make that minimum payment, you'll never pay it off. And the debt will grow.

No matter what.

Underneath the tired sits a steady fear. If anybody saw the real you, the real you, I mean the real you. The real me. Man, if they saw this, the love would dry up. God once chose an entire nation. And then when he told them why, he went out of his way to say it had nothing to do with how impressive they were. He called them the smallest people on earth, the smallest people on earth. Then he called them stubborn. Then he walked them back through their worst day. And he chose them anyway. You can stop auditioning. The part was never yours to earn. And trust me, it'll get harder from here. This will not be an easy episode. This is true word, faith for life with Dr. Sean. I'm Sean. Welcome to day, I think, 124 of Through the Bible in a year, walking the story of God. And this is the close of our week, because it's Friday. We're in Deuteronomy 7, 8, and 9 today. Three chapters that take a sledgehammer to the idea that you earn your place with God. By the way, I've written a few books. This one's my latest one. This will most likely be my last one, Miss Cullen says. It's a textbook quality book that is built to last. You might say, well, this one looks a little beat up, but that's because this is the one I use for everything. It's for people with a little bit uh older eyes, maybe. Don't want to strain so much. That book was written for people ready for God's word to make sense in real life. It's available at TruewordfaithforLife.com. True WordFaithforLife.com. Thank you, Miss Colleen, sound engineer, executive producer. I don't know whether her other title, you know, she wants a pay raise. She's fussy about that. Anyway, chilling it pain. None of us do. Anyway, I think that book will help you. It makes the word makes sense in real life. You take it in small bites. I can say stuff in there that I can't say on this on this YouTube channel. If you're not a subscriber, I'd love for you to be a subscriber. TrueWordfaithforLife.com. True WordFaithforlife with Dr. Sean S H A W N. It's the YouTube channel with just over 4,000 subscribers. We're no we're not a big deal or anything. But we'd love for you to engage. Subscribe, hit the little bell for all notifications, hit the thumbs up. While you're on your way, that's how YouTube decides whether it's worth showing to other people. I know you might not like it, but that is how it is. I fought it for a long time. It's reality. Now Sunday at 6.30. We do Monday through Friday at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and then 6.30 p.m. in the evening on Sundays. And we go through this, this whole deal. We go a little deeper. It's typically longer. Y'all have stuff to do. And by the way, Virginia Creek Campground, Virginia Creek Ministry, Surf City, North Carolina. I'll be there this Sunday, 9.30 p.m. No. No, no, no. 9:30 a.m. and uh Eastern Standard Time, if you happen to be in the Surf City. That's when we start. And I'll be preaching there. I'm privileged and honored to do it. There's awesome, wonderful people there. They're the most welcoming people you ever run into in your life. And anyway, I'll be preaching there and it'd be kind of cool to see in person if you have one of my books. I'm happy to sign it for you. Anyway. This is a difficult topic, in a way. As it whittles down to you and me and today. And I see what Weary Pilgrim Homestead said. I can read it. If it's an earned currency, it's not love. Otherwise, the Bible isn't true. Oh amen. Man, that was a good statement. Thank you for joining us. You look like the picture looks like that of a that of a uh warrior. If so, who ya? Fellow veteran. Don't know. Mongol, don't know. Mongol only pawn and game of life. Hello to everybody in chat. We treat each other very kindly here. That's just how we do. Um Sean spelled correctly. I, he asks, are you going to be streaming that on Sunday? I don't see uh um Joe on here. Joe's the the tech guy in the all-around awesome and uh there, and he I don't think he streams it because I don't think the internet signal is strong enough there to stream it, but it will be available on their on their webpage. So I'll find out what that is and and get that to you. That's a good question, though. The love you're you're you're most afraid of losing. And you know, I I ask you every day, you know, put this in the chat, put that in the comments below, blah blah blah. And I get it, it's hard to do. And we we have regulars that listen and and they're so appreciated. And they maybe they listen live, they listen on playback, and they they put it in there, they put the word in there. It's up to you. I mean, you get more out of it if you do it. The love you're most afraid of losing. I just want one word. Earned or given? The love you're most afraid of learn of losing. Earned or giving. Given. Earned or given. I'm having a little trouble speaking this morning. Don't fret about it. Um, it's just how it goes with brain injuries. Type it and hold on to it because by the end of this teaching, this morning, this evening, this afternoon, whenever you're listening, by the end of this teaching, we'll find out if it's true. And I want to ask just one quick thing. How many of you took the little sticky notes and wrote on, how many of you remember what I said to write on it? And put it where you can see it. Touch it. And say it out loud in your home, whatever door. I put it in several places. Amen, Miss Nicole Given. Deuteronomy, Ms. Cole says, Deuteronomy 8.13 is America. We have abundance and have forgotten the Lord. I'm gonna be doing a special episode, I don't know when, on replacement theology. I had a preacher tell me that, you know. He he he uh he waxed on about how he thought he was waxing on eloquent, but about how the Jews are irrelevant now. Because, you know, the church has replaced them. So I thought maybe I'll write a little thing. Maybe, maybe you're sitting under teaching that teaches you that as well, and you think, well, you know, it's accurate because the preachers teach me. I don't want to undermine anybody's preachers or teaching, but I just know what you're gonna get here is gonna be accurate. It's gonna be well supported, and it'll even have a blog post for it. Have all the annotated footnotes and the Torabian style bibliography. Watch for that coming. It's coming. So here's where we are here on Friday. We've we've made it through days day one through day five, Monday through Friday. Whatever day you're listening to, it doesn't matter. Um somebody told me the other day they on Saturdays they listen to all of them together. They re-listen to them, all of them together. Each episode, it's wild to me. They do it on the audio. Uh we're on all the audio places, Spotify through whatever. If it's a if it's a valid podcast platform, we're on. God is not through with the Jew. I think you mean the Jew. There's an H on there, but it's hard to type on that thing. Then you hit send and you're like, oh, I didn't mean to put that on there. Anyhow. So here's literally where we are in the scripture process here. Israel camped on the plains of Moab. Moab. Just east of the Jordan River. And Moshe, or Moses, as you know him, is preaching his farewell.

Man, I told you.

Guts me, man. Ladies and gentlemen, this oh, this it guts me that he never got to enter. I struggle with that every day. I have to honor him for what he did. I can't wait to meet him in heaven. I'm sure there'll be a long line. So Deuteronomy 7, verse 6 tells the children of the slaves who they really are. Are you ready? You are a holy people, he says. And God chose you to be his Segulah. Segulah. Sameh Gimel Glaumed Eh. That's how it's spelled. In the ancient Near East, a king had two kinds of wealth. There was the royal treasury, the accounts, the taxes, the tribute, and there was his segula, his personal treasure. The private collection he kept close because he delighted in it. You see it in 1 Chronicles 29, verse 3. King David gives toward the temple from his Segulah. His own treasure. Over and above what the kingdoms applied. And Moses tells their children, they're gone. Remember, I I talked yesterday about, or in the prior episode, I talked about that. Most, almost all of them didn't experience this thing. But he reminds them. So Moses tells the children of those who were slaves, he says, You're you're not an asset in God's books. You're the thing he keeps close because he loves looking at it. Here's where the working translations part ways. The NESB says, A people for his own possession. The ESV says his treasured possession. The complete Jewish Bible reaches all the way for treasure. Possession tells you who owns you. Treasure tells you how he feels about owning you. Hey, uh ball striker bandito-0-07. Okay, I know you're new here, but we just covered that. Just covered a couple episodes ago. You're on top of it. You know your Bible. Unless you were listening also. A couple weeks over, maybe you're just real sharp. Good on you. Yep, we talked about that. But still, all that work, all that dedication, all that sweat, all that sadness that Moses put in, and he didn't get to go in. I don't know, bothers me. I don't I don't either. Look, I'm not doubting God. I just feel bad for Moses. The Hebrew owns both. Right? Possession tells you who owns you, but oh, you're my treasure. And tells you how he feels about owning you. The Hebrew holds both of those beautifully. Well, ball striker bandito 007, um 007, I'm assuming. Yeah, first time here. Well, welcome. We're glad to have you. Hopefully you're nice and uh treat we treat each other with a great deal of respect here. And if it if you feel this is a good good mission, click on subscribe and hit the little bell for all notifications and hit the thumbs up maybe while you're at it. But welcome in. Wish there were some t-shirt or something I could give you. Any of you, any of you listening. So this is why I love Leshon Hakadesh, the Hebrew language, the language of God. Because it's so phenomenal. It says so much at once. For anybody who's ever felt like property, look, uh, you know. That second word changes everything. Everything. And Moses cuts off everything. Escape route. He knows the he knows the moment a human heart hears it's loved, it starts hunting for the starts hunting for the reason. Well well you love me, uh what do you get from me? He wants to be the reason. He wants to be the reason that's what's tricky, right?

Why do you love me?

I I can't figure it out. Because I gotta figure it out because I gotta keep doing that thing that you love me for, that thing that you love me about. Mom and dad, it's obedience. King of the heart, 2149. Who is any? The Islanders. I'm not sure what you're talking about. King of the earth 24, 2149. I don't see your comment, your prior comment here. I don't know. Have no idea what you're talking about. Look, on the real, when someone says, man, you're awesome, man, I I just really like you. And we get to the love word, we really start searching because we say, I gotta figure out what it is they love so I can keep doing it. I don't want to do something wrong, and then I lose that love because as human beings, we want love. You'll have to elaborate, King of the Earth 2149. I have no idea what you're talking about. This is the first comment I think I saw. Unless you were commenting as another person, um you might be uh you might have multiple accounts because some people like to come into lives and try to disrupt them because they have an agenda. I'll figure you out. So I just want you to put that reality of relationships, right? Currency. We all bring some sort of currency to relationships, and so when we think about our relationship with God, even subconsciously, and maybe like I said, maybe you're super evolved and you don't think this way, but I've been inside an awful lot of number of brains and an awful lot of number of relationships, and it pretty generally works this way. Then Moses cuts off, cuts off every escape room, because he knows, he knows, man. When you when you hear, oh, I love you subconsciously that back here, you should why? Why? Because I I need to know, I need to know the reason you love me. Is it because I'm pretty or handsome? Because, oh man, looks fade. Is it because I'm smart? Well, I could bump my head on a car going 92 miles per hour and uh and sustain a brain injury and then I'm not as smart. Is it because I can make a lot of money? Well, what happens if I can't make money? What happens if I get disabled and I can't make money? Is that the reason? Maybe I'm suave. You know, rico suave, you know? What happens if that goes away? What happens if I lose my job? What happens if what happens if I'm going through something and I'm not as strong as as I generally am, and and and I need somebody to be tender with me? What's the price on the other side of that? These are all real things. You can you can sit there and say, or stand or drive or whatever, however and wherever you're listening to this, and you can you can boldly say, oh no, not me, not me. I don't do that. Yeah, you do. It's humanity. It's humanity. Unless you're a sociopath or a psychopath or you you have borderline personality disorder, if you have BPD, that is on why? Why do you love me? Is is constantly playing in your brain, and it gets louder and louder and louder and louder. Moses, so Moses, he knocks down three reasons, right? Chapter at a time. One chapter at a time. Reason one, your size. Deuteronomy 7, verse 7. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

Set is love. The Hebrew is chatak. It's chat shin kuf.

It's the language of desire, of being bound to something. God attached himself to the smallest people in the room. Then verse 8 and gives the real reason, and it circles back on itself. It is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath he swore to your fathers. Why does he love you? Because he loves you. Love isn't the reward at the end of the reason. Love is the reason. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. Reason number two, your strength. Deuteronomy 8, verse 3. God humbled them in the wilderness, let them go hungry, and fed them manna that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Hold on to that sentence. You'll hear it again from someone else's mouth. The warning. Moses answers that he answers it just flat in verse 18. It is he who gives you power to get wealth. You didn't even earn the thing. You didn't even earn the earning. Well, reason three is the most religious one. If you're looking for religiosity, well, here you have it. Free of charge, no cost or obligation to you. Your goodness. Reason three, your goodness. Good morning, sir. Jasper Milan3640. Listening on the YouTube channel. Deuteronomy 9, verse 4. Do not say in your heart it's because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in. Verse 5 says, Those nations are being judged for their own wickedness, and God is keeping his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It isn't a trophy for Israel's virtue. Then verse 6, know therefore that the Lord your God is not giving you the good land, this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. The Hebrew is Khashe Oref, Khashe Oref, heart of neck, an ox that locks its neck and won't take the yoke. And Moses spends the rest of chapter 9 proving it. The golden calf, 40 days on the mountain receiving the covenant, while down below the people melted their gold into a god. But watch what Moses does next in Deuteronomy 9, verse 18. He falls on his face before the Lord, 40 days and 40 nights for them. On their behalf, he does this. Moshe does this. He does it for them. And in verses 26 and 27, he doesn't argue that Israel's better than it looks. Stiff necked, that's right. Ball striker. Bendito is on top of it. Somebody has been reading their Bible. He doesn't argue that Israel is better than it looks. He argues God's promise. Remember, your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, do not regard the stubbornness of this people. He knew, he knew that they were stubborn. He knew that they were stubborn. They were stiff-necked. Size, strength, goodness, Moses strips all three away. What you got left, people? What you got left? Strips it all away. One reason is left standing. God's own love and God's, actually two reasons, and God's own word. God's own love and God's own word. And that one reason is the bridge straight to you. If God had chosen Israel for their strength, they'd have to stay strong to keep them. If he'd chosen them for their goodness, they'd have to stay good to keep them. Are you hearing me? If God chose Israel because they were strong, they'd have to stay strong to keep them. Listen, as you get older, you start to lose a little bit of strength. If he'd chosen them for their goodness, they'd have to stay good to keep them. Listen, we don't always do the right thing. Yeah, you may think you do. You may look at yourself and go, well, I do. I do the right thing. I don't know what you're talking about. Good morning, Miss Tammy. I don't know what you're talking about. I always do the right thing. No, you don't. Any love that rests on your performance can be lost the second your performance slips. Now look, that's it, that's the audition that never ends. It just never ends. You are constantly having to meet a moving baseline expectation. It's always moving, always moving, always moving. You can't keep up with it. I'm not saying that we in human relationships and in our relationship with God that we don't endeavor to be all of the things. No, absolutely, you do. You do. Why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you? Right? We want to do the right things for our friends. We want to be an excellent friend. You want excellent friends? Be an excellent friend. Make the call. Send the text. You want to be an excellent sibling? Make the call. Send the text. Visit. You want to be an excellent spouse? You want to be an excellent person of faith? Follower of the way? Touch this every day. Touch this every day. Every single day. You say, well, I don't have time. I'm so busy. Well, you're busy doing the wrong things. I'm gonna tell you that right now. We need to work on your time management. Listen, we aim high. We aim high. Listen, if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. If you aim at mediocrity, you'll hit it every time. No one is no one is no one is accidentally excellent. It takes something. On the sports field, they're not accidentally awesome. In academia, they're not accidentally awesome. In medicine, your doctor, your surgeon, not accidentally awesome. That friend that you have that is just amazing. Got their flaws, hey, human, got their flaws, but on balance, they're amazing. And you say, Man, am I ever lucky to have that friend? And maybe you're sitting with your spouse and you're looking, and they're looking at you, and you're both looking at each other saying, Man, you were born awesome and gaining ground ever since.

I don't know.

But I know this. God works on another level that I know I personally. I reject it. I reject it. Miss Nicole at 437 in the morning, where she is, says, far from it. Still learning and growing to make better choices to represent him well. Amen. Amen. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God that he is a patient God. Thank God that he is the patient God. But listen, any love that rests on our performance can be lost the second our performance slips. Yeah, I love music. And I've I've heard some of the greatest musicians I think that have ever played a note of any type. I've listened to some incredible vocalists that I think I think that can only come from God. But then also they you see their practice schedule. The pianist, the concert pianist practices six, eight, nine, ten hours a day until their fingers can't shake hands with them because their fingers hurt so bad. The violinist, the virtuoso violinist, despite having immense capacity to learn, still spends hours and hours and hours a day. That guitarist that is just can make a guitar sing. Hours and hours and hours a day. I think of um David Gilmore, he's one of my favorite guitarists, Joe Bonamasa, right up there, Stevie Ray Vaughan, I pray that he knew the Lord before he died. One of the best blues, rock blues guys ever to live. And I have to say, and I'm just picking those three, because I don't have forever, neither do you, but what's interesting to me is that David Gilmore is in his 70s and he still practices hours a day. He still performs. He and his daughter, you know, they're they're doing songs together now, and he still practices his guitar hours and hours a day. And I say to me, I say to me all the time when I'm talking to me, because you know, I'm by myself a lot, and the dog, well, he he says he's tired of hearing my jabbering podcast puppy. I say to me, do I want to be a virtuoso in this? I've studied this word for decades. I hold a master's and two doctorates in theology, and I can just tell you this. Every day I do this, and every day I go, wow.

Wow.

And I'm blown away. Every day when I pray, I shake my head at God's goodness. And I thank God that his promise to me doesn't depend on me. Thank God. Two guys, one jacket. I don't know. Where did Cain's wife come from? People hit you with that little little gambit. And it's it's funny. People come into live shows, and that's all they do. I don't know. I don't know what they're about. I don't know why they do that, but did Adam and Eve have any belly buttons? That's the same thing. Just, you know. Because they think, well, haha, gotcha. You dumb bunch of followers of the way, you dumb bunch of religious people, we're the smart ones. You ever wonder if scripture tells us everybody that was there? You ever see a miracle? Something you just can't explain? I don't know. Keep going the way you're going. Live how you're gonna live. It's your choice. I'm gonna give you a better choice here in a minute. The audition that never ends. Some of you have been in relationships like that, friendships, marriages, work relationships. But a love that was never based on your merit can't be lost when your merit fails. A love that was never based on your merit, it just can't be lost. When your merit fails, when you fail, God nailed down that it was never your performance. So your performance could never uncheze you. You've been terrified. You've been terrified that if people saw the stubborn truth about you, that the love would stop. If you know the truth about me, I can't let you know me because if you know me, truly know me, you're not gonna love me. God looked at Israel's stubborn truth and said it out loud and chose them in the same breath. Thank you, Miss Tammy. Um, that's my latest composition, actually. Tammy says the music is so soothing. Love it. Thank you very much. I'm glad. This music is available on Spotify. It's free. Um, but it's available. It's about 25 minutes, and it it's designed, there's frequencies behind it that you can't hear it, but it's designed so that your mind can come to rest, but can still operate on a level where when you're studying scripture, you're praying, the effectiveness is there. Listen, God looked at Israel's stubborn truth and said it out loud and and chose them in the same breath. He's not gonna find out something about you that changes his mind. I my whole life I grew up with that, right? I grew up with that in my head. I had a I had a little bit of a rough childhood, and and I thought, man, you know, what can I do? I've done all these things. What can I do to get my parents love and my siblings love? What can I do? And what if I can't do it? And then, you know, you have your little relationships as you're growing up, and you think you know about love, but you don't. But I used to think, man, if they find out anything bad about me, they're not going to love me. Maybe it's just me. I don't know. And it was so difficult to understand God's love, God's unconditional love for me. He chose me, and yet he knew me. He chose me with the knowing built in. Here's your step today. Yesterday I said write it out. Some of you may remember what I told you to write out and put it on your doors. I talked about the mezuzah. Here's a hand. Talked about the mezuzah that Jews and observant Jews put on their doors. We get to our final house, wherever and whenever. If I live past this one, they're going to go on our doors. I'd be hunger pain again with this. You gotta find something better to do. Here's your step today. If you're a person who says, hey, okay, I'm gonna do this, pick the one relationship where you feel the audition most. You always have to be a little bit on. You have to make sure you're on. That one relationship where you're a little bit afraid that the love is on a timer or some meter. Listen, before the day is out, say this sentence out loud. Are you ready? Are you ready? God's love for me is not a wage. I didn't earn it. So I can't lose it. You ready? Here it is again. God's love for me isn't a wage. I didn't earn it, so I can't lose it. Then watch for the lie. The next time you assume God's a little warmer towards you because you had a good morning, it's just like the manipulative preachers, you know them. You know, ooh, the presence of the Lord is in this place tonight. The presence of the Lord is in this house tonight. It's always tonight, even if it's morning. I don't understand why they do that. It's just habit, I guess. God is there when you feel it, God's there when you don't. That's a manipulative thing. Ooh. Loosens up the pocketbooks. It's manipulative. Next time you assume God's a little bit warmer towards you, because maybe you got in the word and you prayed a little bit. Those are good things. I want that. Or you had a bad morning, a colder morning. You assume God's warmer towards you when you have the good. But how about when you he's a little bit colder toward you because you didn't, because you think that. It's not a wage. It's given. Are you listening? It's not a wage. God's love is not a wage. You're not getting paid back for being in the word or spending time on your knees praying. Doing all the things. I'm do all the things. God's love is not a wage. It is given. Look, it all comes home here. Through the sentence that I asked you to hold, it all comes home in that sentence. Remember earlier on, I said, remember this. Fourteen centuries later, Yeshua's in the wilderness for 40 days, echoing Israel's forty years. He's starving. And the enemy says in Matthew 4, verse 3, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Oh, go ahead on. Yeshua, perform. Earn the title. Yeshua answers from Deuteronomy 8. In Matthew 4, verse 4. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. In fact, all three times he's tempted, Yeshua answers from Deuteronomy. Did you know that? In Exodus 4, verse 22, God called Israel his firstborn son. That son failed the wilderness test. Now, the son walks into the wilderness and passes it out of this very book. Oh, you say, oh, I don't play much, I don't pay much mind to the Old Testament because you know I'm a New Testament Christian. No, no. That's the foundation of all. It is the root of our faith. You gotta know it. He earned. Yeshua earned what we could never earn. Then he gave it to you for nothing. He gave it to you for nothing. He earned what we could never earn. There's nothing we can do. No hope we can jump through. There's no prayer we we can pray and suddenly we've earned it. No, he gave it to us for nothing. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You're not righteous enough, and neither am I. But Yeshua lived the righteousness the covenant required all the way to a cross. And like Moses, face down for 40 days, he still stands in the gap. Hebrews 7, verse 25 says he'll he always lives to make intercession for those who draw near to God through him. There is nothing easy about reckoning that. That it's very difficult for us to grasp it. And the love of Deuteronomy 7 was never canceled in Romans 11, verses 28 and 29. The Apostle Paul Shawul says, Israel is still beloved for the sake of the fathers, because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. The love God won't take back from Israel is the same kind of love he won't take back from you. You say, I'm gonna look at Israel with disdain. I look at Israel with blah. That's why I wrote this um the special episode on uh replacement theology. It's a poison. The love God will never take back from Israel is the same kind of love he won't take back from you. Because let me tell you what, if he could undo that covenant from Israel, he can undo it from you. You are his segulah, his treasure. Remember that word, write it down. Maybe write this sentence down. I am his segulah, his treasure, bought at the highest price and held by the strongest hand there ever was. I have for you. In this moment, a challenge and a choice. So here's the choice. And for a lifelong earner, it's the hardest one there is. You say, Whoa, I gotta keep earning, I gotta keep earning. I gotta keep earning, I gotta keep justifying this love for me, I gotta keep doing it. You can keep auditioning because it's familiar. You're used to it. It lets you feel like you're you're paying your own way. Or you can accept that the love was given. You can't add to it, you can't lose it, and the only thing left to do with a gift like that is receive it and say thank you. I had a friend, she was she was poor, she was very, very poor. She was poor as a child, she was born into a very poor family, and she grew up poor, it was hard going the whole way. And if she had a little dress on that you know was given through some sort of charity, or maybe she bought it at a yard sale for 25 cents. Some of you folks, some of you younger folks don't know what a yard sale is, garage sale. They don't barely do them anymore, I don't think. But that's where she got her clothes and hand-me-downs. And you'd say, What a beautiful dress. And she'd always say, Oh, this old thing, no, it's 25 cents. I got it, 25 cents. Just say thank you. Ball striker bandito 007. Man, you are reading from my brain. We're the wild olive branch grafted in. The Jews are the original olive branch, both live on the same tree. We never curse the root. Amen. All you do, the only thing you can do with a gift like Yeshua gave us, is receive it and say, Thank you, Lord, and accept him. Listen, pride wants to earn it. Only humility can receive it. Oh, it's easy. And your pride to go, you know what? Listen, in a few minutes, I'm gonna I'm gonna go do this. And that's a good and and great thing. I'm gonna go do it, and and that's it. I'm doing it, and I'm gonna do it well, and uh, glory to the Lord. When you're looking around, remember I told you about if you follow this, I know this person's gifted, gifted musician, professionally trained, classically trained, phenomenal singer, musician, instrumentalist, the whole deal. Amazing. But didn't doesn't always get the lead on Sundays for the big song. Doesn't always get that chance to step out in front and be the one everybody looks at. Oh yeah. Go up to them afterwards and say, oh, that really moved me. What an anointed, we love to say that, what an anointed performance. You are anointed. Oh, um, just solo deo gloria. Glory to the Lord, for only by his grace, and then the next week when you don't get that lead, this isn't right. That's not right. They're not, why aren't they? What do they have against me? People said they liked me last week. Why didn't they choose me for this? Solo. And week on and week out. Pride wants to earn it, but only humility can receive it. Which will you choose today? My friends, prayer isn't asking for an easy journey, it's asking for a strong back. And I get it. We're tired. Let's pray, Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father. We're so tired. We are so tired. We are so tired. We've been auditioning our whole lives. Our whole lives. Afraid the love would stop the moment we stopped performing. Afraid the love would stop the moment. We thought we failed to impress you. And we made you one more person to impress. I ask that you forgive us for that. Thank you that you chose Israel when they were the fewest and the most stubborn and said so out loud. I thank you, Father, that you said that so no one could ever believe that they'd earned you. Thank you that you strip away every reason but love, because love is the one thing our failure cannot break. Teach us to stop paying for what you've already given. Teach us to receive and thank you for a son who passed the test that we failed and who still stands before you for us. I pray this in the name of Yeshua, who earned it, so we could be given it. Amen. Maybe today you finally see it. You cannot earn your way to God, and you're finished trying. Come to Him with empty hands. That one that was listening before and trying to disrupt and and create some argument that you've memorized and you've said, Well, this makes sense in humanity and in the natural, this makes sense. Because you can't believe all this silly gobbledygook. I'd hope that you'd stayed on until now and listened until now. Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. I hope that you have, because today, maybe today you finally see it. Maybe today you finally see it, and you can't earn your way to God. That's why it's never made sense to you. Because every relationship has a currency to it to you. And in the natural, it does. Maybe today you finally realized you can't earn your way to God and you're finished trying. Come to Him with empty hands. That's how He wants you. That's how He wants you. Pray this with me. Pray it right now and believe it. Yeshua, I need you. I believe you died for me and you rose from the grave, and I surrender my life to you today. Forgive me, fill me, lead me. I'm yours. In your name. Amen. Man, if you prayed that today, I want you to hear this. You didn't earn your way in. You were given a place that was bought for you. Type one word in the chat in the comments below. Given. So that we can celebrate with you. Reach out to me. Tell one person today. Tell one person the way you'd announce good news. No matter how they receive it, you have good news you tell them. Because that's exactly what it is. It's the best news ever. You can put the resume down. The one whose approval you've been killing yourself to win chose you before you had a single thing to show him. You're his treasure, his soula. Stop auditioning, come home and rest. Thank you, Miss Tammy. This week we walked from an honest map to a love nobody earned. In Deuteronomy 8, verse 2, Moses told Israel to remember the whole way God had led them. We'll do exactly that this Sunday evening, 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. We call it the Sunday summation and deepening. By the way, on Saturday afternoon, there'll be a blog post for the whole week. It'll cover the whole week, all of my resources, all of my footnotes, and my Turabian style bibliography. It's all there for you to use. You'll see blog, and then as you click on the blog, it'll be the blog post first, and as you scroll down, you finish the blog post, there'll be the study guide. You're welcome to copy it, use it for your Bible study, your devotional, whatever, uh, for your small group. As long as you copy that one last line, which is the copyright line. It's the only thing I ask you to do. I really appreciate it if you do. And you're welcome to use it. I want you to send this episode to the one person you know that never stops trying to earn love. They just never stop. I was that guy. I was that guy. I'm telling you right now, I was that guy. And you know I was right about one thing. I never could earn it. And I always said I can't be good enough to serve, I can't be good enough to preach in his name. And those of you who have known me from my childhood up, you know. I'm not just talking. It took me a long time to figure this episode out in my life. And I hope, I hope that today, in some way, this has helped you. Send this to one person you know that is struggling with this. Tell them they can stop. You don't have to do a big sermon or whatever. You don't have to sell this episode. Just give them the link and tell them, hey, this moves me, and I thought it might help you too. By the way, if you can, if you're listening and this is something that you want to be a part of, click on subscribe. It's free. Tap the little bell for all notifications so that Sundays find you and that you get reminders throughout the week. I want you to receive this blessing. In Adonai Elohim, his heavenly name. And in Lashon Hokadesh, Hebrew, the language of God. It's the language he spoke to his people in, and the language his people spoke to him. Don't worry, don't panic, don't freak out. I'm gonna pray it in Hebrew first, and then I'm gonna translate it for you. Are you ready? Receive this in his heavenly name. Yes,em. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Until Sunday, 6 30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Until then. Shalom Bashem Yeshua. The shalom elakim Shabbat Shalom.