Purpose
Tom Shrader introduces a life management series using Jesus as the model for purposeful living. Drawing from Matthew 1 and Luke 2, he emphasizes that Jesus never lived without knowing why He was here - every moment was in harmony with His mission. Shrader challenges listeners to articulate their own mission statement and evaluate their activities against it, warning that without clear purpose, people tend to waste their remaining years.
“Jesus never lived without knowing why he was here - every moment of his life was in harmony with his mission.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Life Management (2013)
Recorded: September 26, 2013
Duration: 38 min
Themes: purpose, mission, direction, calling, priorities, stewardship, time, legacy, feeling directionless, seeking purpose, mid life, career change, empty nest, retirement planning, new believer, spiritual mentor
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-21, Luke 2:52, 2 Timothy 4:6-7, John 1:26, John 1:29, Genesis 3
Theological Themes: discipleship, following christ, providence, gods plan, sanctification, spiritual growth, stewardship, christian living
Full Transcript
I went back on Monday and then Sandy and the girls came in Thursday. I had it set up so I had about a day and a half with a car and no obligations, so I did this driving around looking at these places from my life. It was this giant reminder of failure.
It was the most interesting thing to go and try to process. It was probably a combination—I saw my mom and she's healthy as a horse but her memory's not too sharp, and it conjured up all these things. So Jamie Rasmussen texted me and said, "How's the trip going?" And I said, "I don't know how to say it. It was emotional, it was nostalgic." Jamie's always grinding me on, "Well what does that mean?" So I sent him Webster's definition of nostalgic.
Let me start—this is a giant downer. If you're coming to be uplifted, wrong place, wrong time. Here's what nostalgic means. First one: state of being homesick. But homesickness has yearning for a place you're not there, but I was there so that didn't work. Here's the second one—this is the one I captured: "A wistful, excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of past period of"—here's a great word—"irrecoverable condition."
Reflecting on God's Grace
It was in the midst of all of that, going back and then trying to take that segment of life. I went to the grade school, I went to K through 8, and I went in and a lot of brick like this. I said to the lady, "I went to grade school here, kindergarten through eighth grade. I was standing literally right on that spot right there when I found out John Kennedy was killed." And she was like, "Well, who's John Kennedy?" This was going nowhere. The only person having an experience was me.
I got her to let me walk through two-thirds of the building. But it did a couple things. One of the things it did is—and I'm back on the steroids a little bit so there's an emotional side to it, and Sandy keeps telling me, "You got these swings." I mean, I'm having hot flashes, start my period next week. I got a lot of stuff going on. One of the things it did is it made me reflect on God's amazing grace in not just getting me out of there geographically, but what He's done to me spiritually in my life.
I don't say this often in here, but one of those things is priority living. I mean, this has been a little—we started in 1991, and we've had our flows of attendance and all the other different things. But you all have been awesome with your support, just physically, your prayer support, difficult times you're there, financial support and everything. I want you to know, because I don't do that very often, our structure is such that monies that flow in, I never see. So if you're part of this financially, I never see it. I don't know. I don't have a clue.
So if you feel like you've been snubbed because I haven't thanked you, I don't know to thank you. Or if you're feeling you're getting preferential treatment because you've been involved financially, you aren't, because I don't know. I mean, I just like you. That's unlikely. But it's all those things, and then of God's grace and what God does, and His mercy.
Wrestling with the Future
And then that moment, again, this is so indulgent. I'm watching my mom, and she's in an amazing place, an independent care living. But no matter how you dress it up, we're still warehousing people. It's put in a beautiful place. I know that that's likely part of a future. I'm not so much worried about that. I'm worried about the journey from now till then.
Someone just said to me, "I've been around here forever, and I've never seen this series." This is my least—I can't get the bar lower today, by the way. This is my least favorite series we've ever done.
Three Types of Series We Do
We do three kinds of series in here. One's a strict Bible study, and you were just in one in the book of Philippians. Open to Philippians 1, here's where we're going: Paul to the saints at Philippi. The second is more of a topical study flowing right from the scripture. So some of my favorites: the life of Joseph, life of Daniel, the study we do in the book of Ecclesiastes.
Once in a while—we did this, developed a study in 1988—once in a while, we do a study that I kind of don't like. But it's really helpful to concretely look at things. This is life management with a flinch on a business take. But it's a life take.
If you look under on your outline on the right side, under employment, it really is a powerful statement, and then I'm going to unpack it: "Jesus never lived without knowing why He was here. Every moment of His life was in harmony with His mission. Though He became weary during His career, He was never frustrated because He knew who He was and moving to fulfill His mission."
Jesus as Our Role Model
So we're going to look at life. I've done this series in 13 weeks, 7 weeks, and 5 weeks. I'm not sure what this will be. But we're going to look at life with Jesus as the role model.
So I told Jamie yesterday, he said, "What are you getting ready to do in PL?" I told him this. He said, "I hate that stuff." And I said, "Well, it might not be my favorite, but I think this is going to—I hope it's really beneficial to you." I hope it really allows you to look at Jesus, maybe from a little different perspective, in that we're going to talk a lot about His humanity versus His deity. Fully God, fully man, and yet almost all of our discussions focus on the deity of Christ. But to understand there's a human side to it.
I watched yesterday morning, couldn't sleep, and Imus was on interviewing Neil Cavuto. So they're having this moment, and Imus—I don't know what you think about him, he's humorous at least. Cavuto's my favorite of the guys. They're all done, interview's over, it's like a throwaway. And Imus said, "Did you read O'Reilly's book on killing Jesus?" And Cavuto says, "Yeah, I read it on the plane down to Washington." And Imus said, "What do you think?" Now, let me step back. Whenever O'Reilly or any of
These guys do theology, they're so screwed up. Well, Cavuto said there wasn't anything new in it. And Imus said, "Well, did you think Sammy the Bull did it? I mean, what did you think you were going to see new?" And they started to have this conversation about Jesus.
Cavuto at the end said, "Here's what I know, is that over 2,000 years, who this guy was and what He did was really significant." Now, we know, let's go ahead and define it. We know what He did. He came and redeemed His people. As I said, I had lunch with Jamie yesterday. We're getting ready to do the annual Scottsdale Bible Church men's conference. And Jamie's chosen the topic of love for this and the expression of Jesus' love.
So we get that. He was God come in the flesh to save His people from their sin. But at the same time, there's a humanity to Jesus. And from it, I think we can learn.
The Importance of This Study
Continue to just indulge me in unpacking this, because in a sense, I'm trying to sell you that this is important. Most of the stuff we're going to talk about, your immediate flinches, they're going to say, "I resolved that a long time ago," or "I'm too old for this, I don't need it. I'm 65 years old, I don't need a mission statement."
Here's what I'm learning from my own life. If you take that attitude, you're going to diddle away the time. I'm talking to somebody the other day, and they said, "I need margins in my life." And I said, "I need boundaries." Because the older you are, the more freedom you have, and the more you're going to tend to underestimate the impact you can have.
So what I'm trying to get you to do is take a hard look at your life over something that many of you, especially those of you that are highly professional, have done a thousand times, and you're going to be very dismissive. I know that. But I'm going to challenge you to do it again for your own good.
The Chain of Influence
Now, here's the big payoff pitch for the young people around you that you can affect. I stand in awe of watching Sandy navigate her life. She teaches a group of women. She has constantly an inflow of young ladies in her life. On Wednesday morning, she's in childcare at BSF. I mean, this chick is incredible. And she gets that she can influence.
She's talking all the time. I'll say, "How are the girls today?" Meaning, the girls she meets with. And she said, "They just need to be reparented. They never got it." So I'm making a heavy plea here now for you to get this so you can pass it on. So do you get the chain to examine your own life? And then to have this handy for these conversations that come up all the time.
I had a couple of conversations when I was home with a couple of different guys that honestly surprised me, the receptivity to just discussions about life. And the reason is, there you go, the Bible's true. So if my life is driven by something other than this relationship with Christ and an understanding of that, there is gonna be a crash and burn. You're gonna have a Miley Cyrus moment. You're gonna have them, because there's no grounding, everything's shifting.
The Reality of Extended Life
So here we go. We're gonna work our way through this. And again, I'm just asking you to hang in there. There was a book that came out about 30 years ago, and the name of the book was Half Time. How many of you read that book, Half Time? Like three guys. It was a pivotal work when it came out, because here's what Bob Buford did.
Buford looked demographically and said, in 1900, we died at 50. Now we're dying at 75. The latest things I've seen is that a girl being born, let's say today at Scottsdale Osborne, a baby girl born today at Scottsdale Osborne, 50-50 shot, she'll live to be 100. Now you may look around and go, "I don't know if I want that," but those are kind of statistically where you are.
So what Buford does is he comes along and he says, and in those 50 years, we were doing a lot. We were trying to figure out how to farm, how to raise kids. So by age 18 or 19, you had your spouse, you had your kids, you started a business, or you started work, you started this, and now at age 40, you're beginning to wind down, and then at 50, you die.
God's come along, and this is the issue that Buford raised, and he raised the issue, and the guys that I were around, when they read that book, went, "Wow," but he didn't give a solution. He raised the issue and said, "God's given you a second adulthood. What are you gonna do with it?"
Success Versus Significance
And so he made a distinction between success and significance, and he said, "We work this first part for success, the second part for significance." Now, I didn't like that, because it seemed to separate the two, as I'm constantly working for success and significance. So now all of these comes along, and it says, "What are you gonna do with it?"
So here's, I wrote this yesterday, which to me would be kind of a good hook. It's simple. Here's my goal for this series, that we challenge you to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reason. I love that. So we're gonna do the right thing, but I want to make sure I do it the right way. So in my commencement address at high school this year, I said, "It's more important how you do what you do than what you do."
So I want to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reason. I can be doing the right thing the right way, but my heart is wrong. So that would be the Pharisees.
The Benefits of Life Management
The benefit of this, and this is big, the benefit of this, and you ought to want this, is your life is gonna be simpler. I don't know if it's gonna be easy, but it's gonna be easier. Your life is gonna be simpler. You're gonna live more efficiently. You're gonna live more effectively. And you're gonna fulfill the Nancy Reagan call to just say no. Because now you have these limits around you.
So I get a call one day from a guy here in town, great ministry. Are you familiar with this? What do you think of us? Awesome. We're getting ready to do this. He said, "Will you be part of it?" I said, "No." He said, "Let's retrace this now. Are you familiar with our ministry?" Yes. What
Do you think of it? It's awesome. I said, I've even been involved financially. Check your records. He said, will you help us? I said, no, because it doesn't fit for me.
There's an amazing scene that Paul writes about at the end of 2 Timothy chapter four, verse six and seven, where he says, "The time of my departure's come. My life's being poured out like a drink offering." And then he says, "I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith."
When I go to a funeral, I'll hear people say, "I want at the end of my life to hear, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'" You track with me here? Those are two different things. One is God's assessment of my life: "Well done." The other—this is an amazing thought—is Paul's at the end of his life, and his assessment of his life is to say, "I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith." That's not an outside observation. That's his ability to do it.
Paul's Assessment vs. God's Assessment
I'm a John Wooden freak, and John Wooden, talking about success, always defines it as essentially the self-knowledge that you've done the best you can. So the only person that can really measure success—your success—is you. You can have a kid that's getting straight A's and in a way not be successful because they're not living up to that. There's no such thing as an overachiever. You can overachieve to a certain level.
I'm going to give 110%. You can't give 110%. Let's bag that speech. But at the end of your life, how amazing would it be along the way to be able to say—let me put it in present tense—"I'm fighting the good fight. I'm keeping the faith. I'm doing this now." Well, you can't do it if there isn't some sense, and this is what we're talking about today, some sense of purpose.
The Need for Personal Mission
I'm in a plane with a lady years ago, and we're talking, and she's telling me about her business. I said, "Tell me about it," and she pulled out a laminated card with her mission statement on one side, core values on the other, and she articulated them. I said, "Well, what's your mission statement and core values?" She read this. I said, "No, no, no, that's your company. What's yours?" She said, "Well, I never really thought about it."
Well, if Intel needs one, you need one. It's like, if Tiger Woods needs a golf coach, I'll bet you could use one. Paul Molitor, on the day he got his 3,000th hit, said this: "Baseball is a day-to-day thing. You don't have time to see the grand scheme of things." What this whole thing about today is to see the grand scheme of things, to see the story that's unfolding around you, and not to graft that story into you, but you to graft into what God's doing.
The Problem with Following Jesus as a Model
Our role models—Jesus, as I said—that's problematic. He's God, you're not. "What would Jesus do?" Problematic. He sees a blind man, He heals him. I can take him to Bel-Air Barnett or whatever and get his eyes fixed. I don't have that capacity. How should I live? What can I learn from this?
On your outline under "the essence" is a very wordy way of saying something: Initially articulating and regularly restating a life mission. What's your purpose? What are your goals, your objectives? How are you going to proceed? Are they in line with your priorities? Here's what we're saying: Figure out why you're here, capture that so that you can evaluate life accordingly.
My Mission Development Process
So when Priority Living started—this is how this started years ago, 1991—I wanted to do what Larry Wright was doing with a bit of a different flavor. It was focused, though you wouldn't know by looking around the room now, focused primarily on the business community. I started writing, because when somebody says, "Write a mission statement," I would rather get an ice water enema than have them write it. I don't do that.
So I would write paragraphs, and then I would pull words. The words that emerged were this, and it became really what I was about, what Priority Living's about: teaching the timeless word of God in a contemporary context with the end result being biblical life change. So when we started East Valley Bible Church, it was "help one another learn God's truths and live biblically changed lives."
Biblical Life Change as the Goal
I'm not interested in a Bible study for the sake of Bible study. Most of you don't need another Bible study. You need to do something with what you have. There needs to be a connect between this, whatever this Bible study is, and my life.
I'm convinced that the Bible speaks into everything. We've got a game at 5:45 this Saturday. I think my relationship with Christ affects the way I watch those kids play baseball. It affects the kind of man I am with Sandy. It affects the way you see everything. So this is about biblical life change.
Purpose vs. Goals
Also, it's about the purpose and goal stuff. Elementary to many of you, right? You've done volumes of it. Purpose is long-term, extends beyond life, unattainable goals, measurement along the way. So to know God is a what? Purpose. Read through the Bible in a year is a goal that would help me align to that.
One of the things I've found in guys' lives, using napkins in a coffee shop, is that they will have a purpose that goes like this: They'll have goals that they're achieving, but the goals aren't in line with the purpose. So you can be achieving your goals like mad and still be frustrated because they're not taking you where you want to go, or you've got stuff in your life that's competing for top priority.
I'm in a meeting yesterday, and we're sorting out a decision on something that I don't know anything about. They're laying out all this stuff, and the last line was, "This is probably a third or fourth level issue for us." So I said, "Boys, I don't know anything. I've seen the movie before, but I know how to make a decision."
But I know this: we have finite resources of time, energy, effort, and money. I can't spend a lot of time at third and fourth level stuff at the expense of first and second level stuff. So you have to figure out what's really important to you. You can't be on a plane every Monday morning flying around the country servicing clients and be gone all week and not minister to your family and think you're going to be equally successful at both. It isn't going to happen.
My grid for you, as most of you - all this does is throw guilt on you because you're like, "Well, I already screwed that up." This is your chance to pass this on.
Jesus Knew His Mission from the Beginning
If you have Bibles, open them to Matthew chapter one. We're looking at Jesus, again, from His life. He knew from the very beginning, and it worked out well for Him - He knew from the very beginning what He was all about.
Joseph is engaged to Mary, different than the way we use it. We've had a lot of girls over the years in church and poverty living who'll say, "I'm engaged." And I'll say, "Well, you don't have a ring." "Well, we don't have a ring yet." "Well, what date?" "Well, we don't have a date yet." Okay, you're not engaged. My guess is you probably were ready to dump him. He threw out a lifeline. The barber went under and you called yourself engaged. But you're not engaged.
Engagement in that context was a formal declaration. So when Jesus is using the imagery of the bride and the bridegroom in the church, and He said He's the bridegroom and He goes to prepare a place for us, in that culture they would know because they would get engaged. The bridegroom would go often to the groom's house, his dad's house, and even add on a room to that house and then bring his wife into it.
Joseph's Dilemma and God's Plan
What happens to Joseph is Joseph and Mary engage and Mary turns up pregnant. You know the story. But don't sterilize it now. Because now Joseph is faced with this. He knows he hasn't been with her. He's trying to figure out what to do.
So Matthew 1:19: "Joseph, Mary's husband, a righteous man, didn't want to expose her to disgrace. He had a mind to divorce her." He had to separate this contract quietly. He thought about it, an angel appeared to him and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary in, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Because what is conceived of her is from the Holy Spirit."
Now, we know the story so well, we can just blow right through that. But that's a tough gig. Just think, boys, think of your pride and ego. You haven't been with this girl, she's going to be your wife, she's pregnant, and this guy's trying to tell you to buy - it would be one thing if you said it's Mort, you can handle that. It's a whole other thing when you go, "It's the Holy Spirit." Because that really, you have to go, "Really?"
The Core Mission: Salvation from Sin
And He said, "Listen, here's the deal. Here's what the angel says. She will give birth to a son, and you will give Him the name Jesus, because here's what Jesus is all about. He'll save His people from their sin."
The world is screwed up - I can't imagine we have to document it - and that flows from Genesis 3. When man sinned, in Genesis 3, when man sinned, all of a sudden, alienation takes place. This is important, and this will help you figure out life. He's immediately alienated from God. We get that, right? He's immediately alienated from Eve. She blames the serpent, he blames her. He's immediately alienated from the creation, because now toil is work, and he's alienated even from himself. He starts to hide himself.
And the remedy to that - because the problem, what's the cause of that? There is a right answer to this one. This is not, "So what caused that?" Sin. So the problem is sin, the remedy is Jesus. It's not sociological, it's not economic - those are all - the problem is sin. Jesus comes and says, "Listen, I've got the antidote. I've got what you need. I can get you life, and life abundantly." Jesus comes to fulfill that.
Jesus' Human Development
Now, in doing that, He's God come to Earth. Look at Luke chapter two, Luke chapter two, verse 52. Luke chapter two, verse 52, and we're getting exposed to Jesus as He grows. Luke chapter two, verse 52 said, "Jesus kept increasing in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man."
Jesus is fully God and fully man. He takes on this human form, not subtracting from His deity, but adding to it the human side of it, and at times is omniscient, other times is self-limiting. But what we see is that Jesus is engaged in the normal process of growth: intellectually, physically, spiritually, socially.
I said this yesterday - it just popped into my mind, always scary - but He's the alpha and omega, but somebody had to teach Him the alphabet. Isn't that interesting? He's growing intellectually, He's growing wise, He's learning.
The Wonder of Learning
I watched it with my grandkids. I had Brayden the other day, and we're talking and playing, and he's talking about presidents of the United States. And I said, "Who's your favorite president?" And he said, "Franklin Pierce." And I said, "Really? Okay." I said, "He was on my top five, but he wasn't, you know." I said, "Franklin Pierce? I don't know much about Franklin Pierce." "Well, he was the 14th president." I said, "Oh, what else?" "He's born in New Hampshire."
Franklin Pierce, and I said - there's this amazing moment, and for those of you that have worked with kids or around kids or have grandkids, capture this moment. I said to him, "Buddy, what is it you want to know?" And he said, "I want to know everything." I gave up on that a long time ago. And it was so - he made me, that interaction made me go to Amazon and order presidential flashcards, because I want to feed that.
I had him at the bookstore, and I said, "Hey, bud, I'll buy you a book." He said, "Okay," and he came back with three books. He had a book on the universe, he had a book on astronauts, and he had a book on Barack Obama. And I said, "I only have enough money for two books." And these two seem related...
Understanding Jesus' Mission
Let me step back and explain this principle. There's this moment in John chapter 1, verse 26, where Jesus meets John the Baptist. John the Baptist puts Jesus into perspective. He said, "I baptize with water, but among you stands the one that you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thong of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie."
Now, Jesus' assessment of John is that nobody prior to this who's ever lived is greater than him. So think about this: Abraham, Moses, David—fill the whole list out. And John said, "Here's this chasm between me and Him because He's God." Then the next day he sees Jesus. It's John chapter 1, verse 29. He sees Jesus coming, and here's the restatement of it: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." This is what Jesus is all about.
All of these discussions—and the "Killing Jesus" book is great. As I understand it, it's historic. It's hard to argue with the history of it. Not much theology in it. All this discussion is good, but when Jesus is separated from His mission, you have a deluded view of who He is.
Jesus and His Mission at Cana
So Jesus comes to the miracle at Cana. Jesus is there, the party's going on. Mary comes to Jesus and says, "We're out of wine." Do you remember what Jesus said? He basically said, "What do you want me to do about it? My time hasn't come."
Stepping back, there's some interesting things there. I'm not sure what Mary thought He was going to do. I don't know if she thought He was going to Costco. Make a run to Costco—we're out of wine, you got this. She somehow sensed He could do something or would do something.
From that moment on, people become extraordinarily fascinated with His miracles. And the miracles, in many instances, tend to overshadow the purpose.
Playing with the Box
I was talking to a guy the other day. I said, "What are you going to do?" He said, "I'm going to my grandson's birthday party tomorrow." I said, "Are you looking forward to it?" He said, "I hate it." I said, "Why do you hate it?"
He said, "I got this present, my wife picked it out, and I can tell you what's going to happen. I think the kid's like four. I'm going to give him the present, he's going to open it, and then what's he going to do? He's going to play with the box. I know this gift—he's not going to want it."
It was stuck in my mind how often God gives me a gift, and I open the gift and play with the box. Jesus is there, and He's there in His purpose, and He doesn't deviate from it.
The Question Everyone Asks
It's important for you to be able to articulate this and to do it to the people around you. I was teaching at a place not terribly long ago, and the staff was primarily college kids. Oftentimes when I go into a setting like that, they'll have me meet with the staff. I inevitably do the stupid thing that everybody does with them. I'll be standing around having a cup of coffee, and I'll say, "Where are you going to school?" They'll tell me. "What year are you?" "Junior." And then I will say to them—what do I say then? Help me out. What are you going to say then? "What are you going to do? What are you going to do when you get out? What are you going to do with that anthropology major?"
This was really interesting, because I had one kid say, "I want to teach school, but my dad told me I won't make any money." I had another kid say, "I want to be a missionary, but my dad said it's a total waste of time." It's that spirit of purpose, of what's in place, and what are you going to do?
Four Practical Steps
Let me give you the takeaway, and then we're done for the day. I'll give you four things here.
Number one: you need to write out a mission statement. I think you're probably already defeated, but it's work. Don't make it work—just let it free flow. Here's what I'm about, here's what I care about. Look for prominent words.
Number two: you need to evaluate what you're doing based on that statement so you can invest against it. So there's goals, activities, investments along the way—time, energy, effort, money.
Number three: you need to plan changes where things aren't connected. We were in Denver flying back, and we're walking down—every time I go to Denver, it seems like you hit weather—and we're walking down the concourse, and it was like we were in a car wash. It started raining. We got on the plane, we backed away from the gate, which I think gives them an on-time departure, and then sat. The pilot said, "Because of the weather conditions, we're going to reroute the flight back home."
In your life, because of the weather conditions, you're going to have to reroute your flight. You may think, "I'm here, and I'm going to go here," and you may think it's going to be a straight shot, but it may have a whole bunch of zigs and zags in it.
Accountability and Finishing Well
The last thing is, I think it's important to share this with somebody—with a friend, spouse. You can do it if you have that kind of relationship where you can hold each other to that, to some level of measurement. But you need to have this capacity for mission.
At the end of his life, we heard Paul fought the good fight, finished the race. At the end of His life, Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished." I could be just a convergence of all sorts of things, but I'm very concerned—not how I end up, but how I get from here to there. I know me, and I think I'm not that much different.
than you. If I don't go through some version of this, I'm just going to meander along the way, and these next 20 years are going to have more regrets than the first 63.
You got a lot to offer, and those of you who maybe aren't in contact with a bunch of younger people—and that may mean people in their 40s or 30s—you've got so much that you can offer them, and they want to hear from you. They're not getting that direction. They sit around, they go down to Lux, and they text each other across the room, and they don't talk. They have friends, but the friends are lost as easy as pushing a button and unfriending them. They have nobody speaking into their life.
It's group ignorance, and the generations are pulling apart, and they value what you have to bring to them. This exercise will help you concretely begin to sit down, and in a half hour, you can have an amazing life-changing conversation.
We're going to stick right on this. We're going to talk about freedom and control and different issues for the next four or five weeks, so thanks for enduring that.
Let's pray. Thank You for the awesome truths You give us. So practical, God, don't let us waste this life, and one of the ways we can waste it is not just not doing what we shouldn't be doing, but not even knowing what we should be doing.