From Corruption to Conversion

That was beautiful, and that's what we're here to do, is to worship God, understand His ways and how He thinks. It was really inspiring. Thank you. He sets up and He sings. He's got both. I think He's a little short-handed here. We've got people coming back from the feast. Well, it's great to see you all. I've been gone six, seven weeks now in France, in Africa. It's great to be back, see all of you. I look forward to, you know, talking afterwards. And in the next few weeks, we had a wonderful feast of tabernacles in Saint-Rafael, France. We had, I think, a high attendance of 250. As I tell you, my daughter calls it camp for adults. We literally had high ropes course this year. Yeah, yeah. We had family day.

We had zip lining, high ropes course for our family day. Of course, there was kayaking and stand-up paddle, too. The weather held up. It looked pretty threatening in terms of rain, and we prayed that God would hold off the rain. And sure enough, we ended up still having our family day. So we had a lot of inspiring messages. I think we had the highest offering we'd had probably since we started the feast in United 20-plus years ago. And we also were able to do every other day in French, which was the first time we've been able to do that.

We were blessed with, I think, the largest number of French speakers who we had a lot of Canadians there that helped us. So really good feast. I love to hear your stories. I enjoyed seeing the posts on Facebook, if you're posting on Facebook, to see your pictures. And so we're forward to talking more about the feast with you. Before the feast, I went to Cameroon, which is in Central Africa, and then I also went to Benin, which is in West Africa.

I was in Benin for the Feast of Trumpets. I gave you a little update, I think, that was hopefully read so you heard a little bit about my trip. But for today's sermon, I want to talk about some things that I see firsthand when I travel in Africa. What I see firsthand are the impacts of corruption on individuals and on the nation at large. In 1996, the former World Bank President James Wolfson made a groundbreaking speech where he talked about what he called the cancer of corruption. The cancer of corruption. And if we have that up here, I want to start by just showing you a video.

I'm going to talk a little bit about this video. This is a video that shows miles and miles of trucks lined up at the border with Zambia. Okay? Now, every single truck here is waiting to cross the border from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into Zambia, and all these trucks are headed to South Africa. And once they get to South Africa, then they are going to be put on. All this stuff is going to be put on boats, and it's going to go to China, and it's going to go to South America and North America, and it's going to go to Europe.

You're hearing a little commentary from our pastor. Our pastor, Moiz Mahbu, who visits this area, this is in the extreme southeast corner of Congo, took this video. Every single truck pays $300 just across the border. And what he described is that these trucks are lined up this way every single day.

365 days a year. And this, what you're seeing here is a five-minute video. He sent this to me on WhatsApp just to show me kind of the wealth that's moving outside of the country. This is about 15 miles of trucks. Okay? You're seeing only, probably in this time that we're looking at here, probably only about a mile or two. Almost every valuable natural resource that exists on our planet exists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Whether it's diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt, tin, ore, coltan, timber, oil, some of the major elements we need for our batteries that we use today and our laptops and our cell phones all come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It should be one of the richest countries in the world bar none. But instead, its wealth has led to nothing but endless misery and suffering for its people. And it is one of the poorest countries by GDP in the world.

The money from these resources that you're seeing here is funneled directly into the pockets of politicians and the elite. And it does not get to individuals in the country. In fact, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is so famous that for a while the SEC actually had something called a conflict minerals law that all US companies that were listed on the stock exchange had to show whether or not their minerals came from conflict regions or not.

It was that serious that they addressed it. Congo's most infamous leader is a man named who was named Mobutu Seseiseiko and he ruled the Democratic Republic from 1965 to 1977. I'm sorry, 1997. Before I talk about Mr. Seseiseiko, I just want to give you an idea of how big the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This should give you an idea. It's a huge country, about a quarter of the size of the US taking into account Alaska, about a third if you take out Alaska.

So it's an enormous country that has these resources. And Mobutu Seseiseiko, who I have pictured here meeting President Reagan in 1984, he amassed a fortune of, it's estimated anywhere between 5 billion and 15 billion dollars, a personal fortune during his 30-plus year reign as the dictator of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During his reign, he built one of the largest palace complexes in the world. He built it in his hometown and this palace complex was, it had everything, including a 3.2 kilometer, it's about a two-mile runway, where he could have the Concord land at his personal palace in case he needed anything from Europe. At the time, it cost about 400 million dollars to build and it was called the Versailles of Africa.

During that same time when he was building this palace, his country went into an enormous amount of debt, hyperinflation, massive currency devaluations crippling the country. And yet, while this was happening, he was known for his extravagance. One time during his birthday, he asked for one of the leading pastry chefs of Paris to bake him a cake and then get on a on a chartered Concord and fly it to him in the Democratic Republic of the Congo so that he could enjoy this cake.

That's the kind of excess that Mabuto Sesiseko was known for. 20 years on, in 1997, he fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo for Morocco where he died shortly after of prostate cancer. He was buried in Morocco and he, about 20 years later, we're about 22 years after he died, this is what his his palace looks like.

It's in ruins. It's completely in ruins. So all of that money, all of the money that was spent to provide all of these things for him, it's just gone and it's wasted, right? Because that's what corruption is all about. Corruption is about, as we're gonna see, is about decay and eventually it catches up with you. I think Mabuto Sesiseko, and of course we have members in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I should mention it's also, that country is listed as among the top most dangerous countries in the world, typically, as well, and it is one of the few countries in the top ten list where we actually do have members.

We don't have members in Syria or Iraq or Afghanistan. Those also make the top ten, but we do have members in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And I think Mabuto Sesiseko offers a vivid picture and a vivid metaphor for corruption. Corruption, and once corruption takes hold, it is like a cancer on a country and on an individual. And before we start throwing stones at Mr. Sesiseko, we have to ask ourselves, would we be any different?

If we had the opportunity to have billions of dollars available to us in riches beyond our wildest dreams, and we had the power and the influence to rule a country like that, would we also be tempted to do something similar? Would we also be tempted? How would we act if we had that chance for power and wealth, and if all of our deepest desires could be fulfilled, and all we had to do was maybe just make a few compromises along the way?

If our path towards God is called conversion, and we talk a lot about conversion, then I think our path away from God is called corruption. I think it's the opposite of conversion. You have conversion and you have corruption. If you turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15 verse 50, I think Paul actually makes this point. 1 Corinthians 15 in verse 50.

1 Corinthians 15 in verse 50. This is a scripture that I think ties in well as we come back from the Feast of Tabernacles, and I shared this message in French. I assume you wouldn't want to listen to it in French, so I'll give it to you in English. I shared this message at the Feast on the last Sabbath.

It says verse 50, Now this I say to you, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit in corruption. Corruption cannot inherit in corruption. This is the distinction between our current human condition, where we are right now, which is about corruption, and our future spiritual state, which is about incorruption. And we are in this state of corruption. Our very nature is one of corruption. And we are moving from this state to a future state, being in God's kingdom, being not in the flesh, through a process of conversion.

That's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to move from this current state into a different state. And that process of conversion, the process of building character, the process of understanding who God is, and God understanding who we are, and being tested, and looking for signs, as we heard about in the sermonette, or not looking for signs because they're all around us. That process of conversion moves us to a point where God believes that we can rule with Him. And that is all made possible by the death of Jesus Christ.

Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have the grace to receive God's Spirit that He might dwell within us. And through that power and through that grace, we become a new creation. And that new creation, then, can inherit the kingdom of God. And the title of my message today is Moving from Corruption to Conversion. Moving from Corruption to Conversion. And I want to talk about this idea of corruption, and I've listed my three points up here. What is it? I've kind of introduced a little bit of that idea. How does it affect us in God's Church?

We don't live in the Democratic Republic of the Conga, but we certainly see corruption around us here as well. And how do we move from corruption to conversion? How do we move that? We're going to talk about repentance. We're going to talk about our personal desires. We're going to talk about setting priorities. We're going to talk about personal transformation.

And most importantly, we're going to talk about breaking free from the temptation to participate in corruption, which is, as we'll see, all around us. So let's start by defining what we mean. Just looking at this term here in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 50, this word for corruption is the term in Greek, and I've spelled it up here, fitora.

P-H-T-H-O-R-A. Fitora. And it refers to what we classically think of as being corrupt. Some translations actually translate this word as decay. So you might have a translation that says decay because it also means decay or decomposition. It describes something that moves from a state of purity or properly functioning to that of slowly decomposing or slowly destructing over time. So when we talk about decomposition, we're talking about a process. We talk about the process of conversion. That's kind of where we want to go.

But corruption is a process, too. It's a process of decay. It's a process of slowly destructing. And we sometimes can see this sort of self-destructive sort of things that happen. Often we see it in other people more than we'll see it in ourselves, but it happens in ourselves clearly. And so this slow process of destruction is what this word, fatora, describes. And I carry inside me, and I'm sure you carry inside you as well, stories of those who used to be among us.

They used to be among us. But there was this process, and eventually they're not here. Stories of friends whose marriages have fallen apart, or maybe we ourselves have suffered divorce. We carry the stories of broken promises, betrayals at the hands of friends and family. We carry inside ourselves the disappointments of leaders who we looked up to, who told us things. And then they didn't follow through on those things themselves, and they seem to have self-destructed. And they're just... we have these stories that we just walk around with.

And I think all of these stories, as I think about them, the thing always comes to my mind is, what happened? What happened? How did that happen? You know, that couple seemed so, you know, together, or that man seemed so this way or that way. What happened? And I used to think that these things happened suddenly. You used to think, like, you know, when was that moment where that person woke up that morning and said, you know what? I'm gonna lie to my boss today, and you know, because I need this or that.

You know, what was that moment? But what I realized is that it's not a moment. It's kind of a thousand moments. It's this process that goes... that it starts really small. It's just sort of like, oh, you know, it's not a big deal. I'm gonna just kind of, you know, this is a small thing, right? And then the next thing's a small thing. And the next thing's a small thing. And they always seem like small things, but they're adding up, and they're cumulating over time.

Until pretty soon you don't recognize who you are, or you look at somebody and you don't recognize who they are, because it's this process. It's this process of conversion. It's this process of destruction. And so then one day the couple's grown apart, the pastor's bitter, the, you know, the child doesn't want to spend time with his parents anymore.

I mean, whatever it is, it's this process that has led to some sort of decay. It's one bad decision at a time. And eventually that just leads to something that had value to something that doesn't have value. And that's what this word, fatora, means. It's the state of being in decomposition or slow destruction. It's a state of being that, in some instances, relates to moral decay.

Sometimes it just relates to being in that state. You know, beginning in the 1600s, I'll take you back a little ways, beginning in the 1600s, scientists began to study physics, the world around us, what is the world made of, what does all this relate to. And eventually, over time, scientists came up with what they call the three laws of thermodynamics. Three laws of thermodynamics. And one of these laws, the second law of thermodynamics, is a little complicated, but I'm going to describe it in ways that I can relate to it.

Okay? If you, you know, you can look up, what is the second law of thermodynamics? Right? But I'm going to give you the very definition for dummies, okay? Because this is what I can relate to. A very simple definition of the second law of thermodynamics is that over time, things become more disordered. Over time, things become more disordered. Disorder and decay are unfortunately built into the physical world around us.

That is, that is something that we just understand about our world. Paul makes it clear that human beings, as described in here, are in this state of becoming disordered. And this state of becoming disordered is not something that can inherit the kingdom of God.

So we've got to break out of the state of disorder and progressive decomposition and disordering, and move into a state of incorruptibility. Look in verse 49, right, just above. He says, And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, that's Adam, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man, that is Jesus Christ. So we bear this state of dust, this disordered decay, corruption, and we call by God's grace, given the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, given His power, we can then move to this higher state, to this different state.

We're going to bear the image of Jesus Christ. And that's why I believe decomposition or corruption is indeed the opposite of conversion. It's that other side. Conversion is the process of drawing closer to God and preparing to be part of His kingdom, which is what Paul talks about. And decomposing is the process of moving away from God and leading to dropping out of the race. And of course, that's what our adversary wants us to do. He wants us to drop out of the race.

This is too hard. It's too difficult. There's an easier way. Don't listen to God. You're not going to die. No, He's got it all wrong. You know, you're God. You don't realize it. You're really smart. You can do this on your own. You don't need all this other stuff. You don't need to listen to Him. Pay no attention to God. Right? That's what the adversary wants us to hear. But in actual fact, that's just the process of decay.

Now, this process generally occurs inside. It's generally an internal thing. Generally, you know, like again, you look at somebody like, oh, they got their act together. Well, but inside, something else might be going on. Let's look over in Matthew 23, verse 27, because Jesus Christ really nailed this with the Pharisees. Because again, if a Pharisee, if you think about a Pharisee, if a Pharisee was resurrected, walked into church today, I think He'd be a pretty impressive figure.

I think you'd like, you know, I think a person be well-dressed, very well-mannered, certainly very conversant with the law, certainly somebody, you know, you'd probably go to and say, well, you know, what do you think about doing this on the Sabbath? What do you think? And, you know, there would be all of these things, and, you know, He'd know His Scriptures. But Jesus Christ, in Matthew 23, verse 27, talks about the outside and the inside. He says, "'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.'" So this was the issue, is that this process of decay, this is an internal process, until it gets so bad, then, that it's sort of, you know, you see what's happening.

But in the beginning, it's typically an internal process. And in verse 26, He says, "'Blind Pharisee first cleans the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.'" So Jesus is saying, hey, focus on what's inside. Yeah, it's great. I mean, you know, we come before God dressed appropriately, because we feel that, you know, that's what we read in Scripture. We see that the priest, priestly class, had to wash, they had to put on good garments, they went before God. We believe we're coming for God's presence. So there's nothing wrong with, you know, looking good, right, being external.

But if that doesn't reflect what's inside, then that's where hypocrisy begins to kick in. And so if we're going to talk about corruption, we have to talk about things that no one else can see, at least with their eyes. We have to talk about what's going on inside. I think I've quoted before from Antoine Sant'Exuparé.

You've probably some of you might have heard of the book, The Little Prince, a very famous book. It's actually one of the most translated and printed books in the world, The Little Prince. And in the book, one of his characters has a very famous line. It said, it is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye. And I think that really describes this process of corruption because it's really invisible to the eye, certainly in the beginning. And at some point, like I said, it gets so bad that we finally see it.

So that's what we're talking about when we talk about corruption. It's an internal process. It's a slow process. It's a process that leads ultimately to dropping out of the race and not inheriting the kingdom of God. So let's go to the next point here, which is, how does corruption affect us in God's church? And I'm just going to leave this one up there. I think we'll just keep the camera here, but you can follow the points for those in the room. How does corruption affect us in God's church? Let's go over to Romans 7, verse 15. Romans 7, verse 15.

Paul says, for what I am doing, I do not understand. Romans 7, verse 15. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do. This is the Apostle Paul we're talking about here. I think it's a powerful insight about our nature, who we are. We are corrupt. We do things we don't want to do. We do things that, well, we want to do them. That's why we did them, but we realize we hate ourselves because we did it. Because we see the evil of it. This is what he's describing. We are corrupt. We talk about a computer file. It becomes kind of, you know, unusable. Now, you know, this means that we're going to be tempted to cheat. And sometimes we're going to cheat. It means we're going to be tempted to steal, and sometimes we're going to steal. And when we do, we're going to hate ourselves. If we're really combating it. If we're not, we're going to think, oh, that wasn't too bad. You know, that was just small thing. That was a minor thing. It means that we're going to be tempted to lie. And it also means that if we aren't seeing that we have these temptations in our lives, then we're blind to our own corruption. And that's actually a really significant point. Because if we're blind to that, if we think, oh, we're doing okay, I'm not too tempted by things. I'm holding it together. I'm not really tempted to sin. That's really not... No, that's... I'm doing okay. Thanks. Well, then maybe Romans 7 verse 15 doesn't apply to you. Maybe the Apostle Paul didn't have his act together, but you do. Right? Let's go to 1st Timothy 1 verse 15, because this is where he really makes the point. 1st Timothy 1 verse 15. We have to ask ourselves, you know, are we better than the Apostle Paul? Is sort of our life so together that, you know, maybe we should be writing things in Scripture? 1st Timothy 1 verse 15. He says, this is a faithful saying. This is, again, Paul writing to 1st Timothy. This is a faithful saying for 1st Timothy 1 verse 15, and worthy of all acceptance. So he says, I'm gonna tell you something that is true, and worthy of all acceptance means that you need to share this with others. This is something that other people, you should tell people, and they should accept, because this is a true statement. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Okay. Right? This should be the foundation of what we are. We understand that by God's grace, we have this ability to be converted into inherit God's kingdom, and to be in God's kingdom, because by His grace we are saved. Jesus Christ came in the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Okay. So is this an exaggeration?

What he's saying is, He is the chief sinner. Now, He didn't rule the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and amassed a five billion dollar fortune on the backs of a hundred million, or I can't remember how many people, hundred, you know, millions of people, literally causing people to be killed. He's not trafficking like, you know, he's not trafficking children and women, you know, for sex trafficking, which is a major issue in Africa. You know, he's not a corrupt politician, he's not a corrupt sort of business executive taking advantage of people, but he says he's the chief sinner. So you have to step back and say, wow, the Apostle Paul, if you think about all the people he knew in his life, maybe not new personally, but knew of, right, the emperor of Rome at the time, I mean, those people, you know, that was, there was pretty serious corruption, pretty serious sin going on.

He said he was the chief sinner. Again, is an exaggeration. So if Paul says these things about himself, what should we say about ourselves when it comes to corruption? If we can't see where we're being tempted, if we can't see where Jesus Christ needs to be active in our lives, where God's Spirit needs to be active in our lives, because there's something that Satan's picking away at. There's some sort of weakness that he's got a hold of and that we have got to manage, and we need God's Holy Spirit, and we're asking for God's guidance through that.

If we can't see that somewhere in our lives, and again, it doesn't have to be that you're, you know, you're building a runway for the Concord, right? A lot of times it comes down to relational issues. It comes down to how we how we act on the job.

We're lie to protect our reputation. We cheat on an exam so we can get to the next level in our studies. We pretend to be something we're not. We don't really, we're not open and honest about who we are at work, about our faith, because we don't want to be looked down on, because we really care what people think about. It can be a lot of different things, but unless we understand sort of where God wants us to focus, then we're actually better than the Apostle Paul, and I don't think that's true.

So we have to really look and see where it is that we are affected, and that's how God's Church is affected by corruption. Each and each and one of us individually, just like Paul understood, are the chief sinner, are the chief sinner. So that brings us to the third point, which is how do we combat corruption? How do we combat corruption? And I've got three points I want to share here under this. Three things that we can think about that can move us from corruption to conversion. Let's start here with the concept of repentance, and let's go over to Acts 2, verse 37. Perhaps a basic point, but if we're going to understand it, it starts with repentance.

Who are we? We are a chief sinner. We are tempted. We have made mistakes. We are going to make mistakes. Without God's Spirit, we are going to fail. We need God's Spirit to be effective. We need God's Spirit to be able to address the things in our lives that we need to address, and it all begins with repentance. If we look at verse 37, a very famous verse, because Peter has just preached this sermon, and he has just shared with people that they have personally responsible for the death of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind that God sent to the earth. And they, as we've heard described here in verse 37, were cut to the heart.

They were convicted. They were convinced of what they had done that was wrong. And so they said to him and the rest of the Apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Okay, I know I'm corrupt. I know I'm responsible for this. What do I do? Verse 38, Peter said to them, repent and every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

That's it! It starts with that. It starts with repentance. It starts with recognizing our personal responsibility towards the death of Jesus Christ, the fact that we are a sinner, a chief sinner, as Paul says, and that we repent and are baptized. Our sins are forgiven, and we receive power of God's Holy Spirit. It begins with that. I think there's a reason that Jesus taught his disciples, and by extension us, that when we pray, we are to pray, forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Because we sin every day, and we need God's forgiveness. And when people offend us, because people hurt our feelings, people offend us, people do things to us, we are to also forgive them. And we are living in a state of forgiveness. We are living in a state of repentance. We are living in a state of peace. And I think that's why Jesus taught us to pray that way, because he knew we would need to learn to repent daily. And again, if we can't see what we need to repent of in terms of sinning against God, then perhaps that rottenness has grown to a point where it's out of control.

So that's the first way we move from corruption to conversion, is through repentance. The second way that we combat corruption and we move to conversion is that we re-examine what we want out of life. We re-examine what we want out of life. What do we want out of life? Let's go to 2 Peter 1 in verse 2. 2 Peter 1.

2 Peter 1 in verse 2. Apostle Peter says this, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue. So we've repented. We have asked for God's Holy Spirit. We've received God's Holy Spirit and now we have this divine power that pertains to our life. And it says in verse 4, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, that is that we can put on incorruptibility, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now this is interesting because what this tells us where corruption comes from. It comes from lust. What is lust? Lust is desiring something you can't have or you shouldn't have. It's about our desires. Our desires lead to corruption. Our desires lead to corruption. Corruption comes when we want something that we can't have and so we take an inappropriate or maybe even an illegal action to get what we want. And so the key to combating corruption comes down to understanding and managing our desires. Our desires. Let's look back in James 1 verse 14. It's just a couple pages. We'll see that James picks up on the same theme. James 1 verse 14. It says, but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. So we're tempted to sin because of our desires because we're enticed by those things. Do we want to be respected? Well, then maybe we'll lie about something so that we don't look bad because we want to be respected. Do we want a bigger house or a nicer car? Well, then maybe we'll cheat on our taxes or we'll cheat our neighbor in some way to get what we want. That's what people typically do. They'll say, well, everybody's doing it.

You know, I mean, I'm not dumb here. You know, this is how it is. I mean, this is, you know, this is how people get ahead. If I don't do this, somebody else is going to do it. So why not? Why can't I take advantage of it? And we go through these justifications. Do we want to fit in at school or work? Well, then maybe we'll hide something about our religious beliefs.

Maybe we'll compromise God's law somewhere so we don't kind of stand out.

Are we afraid that we won't get the grades we need to stay in university? Well, then maybe we'll decide to not keep the feast because, you know, that'd be, you know, that'd be too hard.

And maybe we might fail a class. And so, you know, we can't go and be away for the feast.

Do we want a promotion on the job, which means maybe a few extra work hours?

Well, maybe we'll sacrifice time with our family, you know, because those are the things we have to do.

See, it all comes down to covetousness. It all comes down to desires. It all comes down to wanting something.

Let's go over to James 4. Just turn the page. James 4, verse 1.

Where do wars and fights come from among you?

Do that come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? Desire for pleasure. That's lust.

That's covetousness. That's... see, our conflicts with people, these are just symptoms of our desires for something. We have desires which are in conflict.

And that's where problems start. We want something. They want something else.

We can't figure out how to make that work.

When a man becomes unsatisfied with his wife, it is a mental state. It is an internal state.

It's not rooted in objective reality. There's no objective reality to that. It's a feeling.

And when we start being ruled by our feelings, that's when corruption has really taken a root in us. Oh, you know, I feel this way and that way. Well, I just feel like it's not going to make sense anymore, you know. When we start being ruled by our feelings, that's when we're in big trouble.

Let's go to 2 Timothy 3, in verse 1. We'll see the same notion of desires.

2 Timothy 3, verse 1, talking about the end of the age, it says, but know this, that in the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves.

Lovers of themselves. Some translate this as sort of egoists or, you know, egocentric.

They're going to be lovers of themselves. And that's because there's feelings. We have feelings and, you know, this isn't going to work for me anymore. I just don't feel this is the right thing. Well, why not? Well, I just feel that way. Well, what's the why? Well, it's just, it's what I want.

It's what I want. And if we all walk around with what we want, then we're down that path of conflicts and wars and lust and corruption because we're just trying to get what we want. And we're not thinking about what God wants. We're not thinking about what our neighbor wants. We're not thinking about what our family members need. And that's why Jesus said that that's how he would tell who his disciples were because they would have love one for another, which is not love for yourself. That's the other side of it. Let's go back to James 1 verse 14 and follow this process along. James 1 verse 14, we read the first part that each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. But it continues, and then when desire has conceived, so okay, you're going to take action. You're going to cross the threshold. You're going to go where you know you shouldn't go. The disorder is begun. The corruption is begun. The decomposition has begun.

Then when desire is conceived, he gives birth to sin, and sin, what it is full grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights, from whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. It's interesting that he brings this up right there. Why is he bringing this up? He's bringing it up because he's contrasting how we think about what we want versus what God gives us. So we want these things, but James says, yes, but God is going to give you the perfect gift. He's going to give you exactly what you need.

Every perfect gift, every good gift, is from above. So think about what God wants to give you.

Instead of what you want to get. That's, again, that contrast between corruption and conversion.

So instead of pursuing your own desires, ask God, well, God, what do you want from me?

What's good for me right now? What makes sense for me right now? And God will give that gift to you, and that is the perfect gift. That's the right gift. That's a good gift that comes from God.

If we want to make more money, well, ask God to lead us to find a legitimate legal way of doing it, and then follow his lead. You know, if it involves doing something inappropriate, it's probably not a good and perfect gift that comes from above.

You know, if we live here in a Western country, it means giving ourselves over to God. It means asking for favor from our boss. Not asking a favor from our boss, okay, but asking for favor. God, give me favor with my boss. Help me to figure out how to solve his or her problems so that I can have favor in his or her eyes, so that I can do well in my job. Maybe get a promotion, maybe get a raise, maybe be able to move to another position. It might mean leaving your job for another one. It pays better taking a risk because you got counsel, you asked for advice, you thought about pros and cons, you were able to go beyond the comfort zone because you were looking to God to lead you as opposed to, I'm afraid to move this, or I, well, you know, I'm older, and we just put ourselves in God's hands. And a lot of this comes down to priorities. It's our priorities. What are our priorities? Go over to Galatians 6, and let's see what Paul talks about when he talks about priorities. Because what we're talking about is what is our priority? Our priority is making more money. Well, maybe our priority should be helping our boss be more effective on the job. Maybe that should be a priority. As long as that doesn't cause any problems with following God's direction in our life, maybe that should be a different priority. And maybe that would lead to something that eventually would be a blessing to us. Galatians 6 verse 6, let him who is taught the word share it in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to this flesh will reap, will of the flesh reap corruption. If you go down this path of crossing a line, yeah, okay, it's a small thing, but it's still crossing a line, well, yeah, you'll get a reward. You'll reap the reward that comes from that.

And sometimes there is a reward. It's not the greatest reward. I think I might have told this story before. I remember when I was 10, my mom was working in a bowling alley, and I would hang out in this bowling alley, and you know in the arcade back then you had to put quarters in the machine to play in the arcades. And I remember this guy used to change the bucket of quarters, and I, you know, when you're 10 years old, you see a big bucket of quarters, you're like, you think you're like a millionaire, right? And I said, well, aren't you afraid someone's gonna like rob you? This is my 10-year-old brain thinking. He's like, son, it ain't worth it. You know, like, don't try and steal a bucket of quarters. That's just like really stupid, you know? But that's what we think. I'm gonna get that bucket of quarters. It's gonna be great. I'm gonna play arcade games all afternoon. Oh, it's gonna be great, right? It's like, okay, you get your reward, right? But maybe that's not what God has in mind. Maybe he has something much bigger, much more important. So, you will reap of the flesh, reap corruption. But he who sows to the spirit of the spirit, reap everlasting life.

So, there's something else that's more important, something bigger. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

So, Paul's talking about priorities. He's talking about our reward. I worked for a successful businessman for a number of years, and I learned a great deal from him. After decades of leading large successful businesses, he looked at his life and he realized he had paid a terrible price for his success. He had gotten his priorities wrong. And from that point forward, he began to look at his priorities differently. He began to act differently. And during this time, he wrote an article titled Confessions of a CEO, which was the cover story in Forbes magazine in 2011. Had his picture there on the cover. And I met him shortly after he wrote this this article, and I found his insights very profound. And I'm thankful that we're still in contact and have maintained that friendship, even though I stopped working for him a few years ago.

And in this article, he talked about coming to see that he had made some really poor choices in his life in terms of his priorities. And he talked about coming back from a business meeting he had left early in the morning. It was dark. And so he got in his car and he and he drove to his business meeting. And he got out of the car and he went in and he came back out. And when he came back out, it was light. And he looked at his car. I can't remember. I'm pretty sure it was a nice Porsche. And it was all dented, terribly dented, like it had been in a hailstorm or something. And he was like, what is up with my car? Well, what he realized later was that his son had taken a baseball bat to his car and taken out all of his frustrations on his dad through the car.

And he realized that his relationship with his son was not what it needed to be.

He realized that his marriage would not survive. He realized that he had really made some very poor choices with how he was using his time. And he talked about how he started to come back from that.

He started going to therapy and he started trying to rebuild the relationship with his son. He's not in God's church, but his principles exist. He reaped his reward, but he also reaped some pretty serious consequences that he didn't appreciate. And that's why he wrote this article, Confessions of a CEO.

Are we focused on other right priorities?

Are we focused, in this case, Paul was talking about service. So if we think about this, are we focused on having a lot of fun? Or are we focused on serving in church? Are we focused on serving our fellow brethren? Or are we focused so much on serving others that we are neglecting our family? Sometimes that's an issue. Are we focused so much on serving that we've burned out? That's what it describes here, right? It says, don't lose heart. Don't grow weary in well-doing. That's kind of, I think, an ancient way of saying burnout. Have we lost sight of the meaning of service? Now that's what this scripture specifically is talking about in terms of priorities, is talking about service. But the implications and the principles are there. Where are our priorities?

Because if we have our priorities right and we understand what our desires are, then we'll say, you know what? That's just me just being a little vain. That's me just kind of getting a little carried away with things. Where I really need to focus is over here.

We're called to serve and we're called to get our priorities right, and we're called to understand what our desires are and recognize whether they are from above and good and perfect, or whether they're from the adversary. Finally, how do we combat corruption? I think we need to re-examine our very identity, and I've talked about that here already. Galatians 3 verse 28, we talked about our identity neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither slave nor free, right? We've talked about that. But let's look over at Ephesians 4 verse 22. Ephesians 4 verse 22, I don't have time to talk about a very interesting comment in Exodus about Moses, about who he was, but let's look at Ephesians 4 verse 22 and see what Paul describes here. He says that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt. That's what the old man does. That's that process of corruption, that process of being disordered. According to deceitful lusts, there it is again, it's our desires that lead to that corruption. Instead, we are to be renewed in the spirit of our mind and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Verse 23, that you put on the new man which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness. We have to put on a new identity, a new person, a new person that we're completely taking the old person and saying, done with that. Now, when we greet somebody, hi, you know, my name is Tim Petworth.

That's typically how you'd start, right? My name is. And then you might say, well, where are you from? Oh, I'm from California. And where do you work? Oh, I'm a pastor. Maybe later you might ask, well, you know, do you have children? Are you married? We have these ways of defining our identity. And like I said, I've talked about some of those things before, but you know, the first thing we typically think about with our identity is our name. And the interesting thing is that God is going to give us a new name. He's going to give us a new name. And I think that ties in very well to the fact that we're going to be truly a new creation. Look over in Isaiah 62. Isaiah 62.

This notion of identity and who we are, I think, just so goes to the core of what conversion is about. And moving from this old person, which goes into corruption and decay, to a new person, which draws closer to God, is so fundamental. Isaiah 62, verse 2, the Gentiles shall see your righteousness. This is speaking about this future time.

And all kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name, a new name which the mouth of the Lord will name. God is going to give us a new name.

What's your new name going to be? You know, if I think about what our new name is going to be, I think it has something to do with what we're doing now and what we're going to do in the future.

I think we need to ask God, what's my new name going to be? You know, is it going to be, you know, the person who's cranky all the time? You know, the cranky one, the irritable one.

You know, the bear that gets poked. Let's go poke the bear. I mean, what is our new name going to be? Or maybe it's the one who resisted corruption, the hardworking one, the one who weeps with others, the one who smiles in the face of fear, the kind one. Hopefully that new name is going to be something that we're proud of because God said, yes, I saw what you went through, and I'm going to give you that new name. Courageous, bold, right? Outside your comfort zone, whatever it is.

I think we need to ask God what that new name is going to be and help us to be that he would lead us to what we need to be doing now, what our priorities are, how we serve, how are we tempted? What is that issue that God is trying to get across to us to make clear? So those are three ways I think that we can move from corruption to conversion. What is corruption? How does it affect us? How do we combat it? I think these are fundamental questions that we've got to ask ourselves if we're going to move from the state we are in now to being able to inherit the kingdom of God. That's what 1 Corinthians 15.50 says. But God gives us another promise in Romans 8, and I want to conclude with Romans 8 verse 18. Romans 8 verse 18 to 20.

You know, we live in a society which I think the book of Revelation describes as Babylon, and the merchants of the earth mourn the fall of Babylon, which, you know, they mourned it because why? Because they were making a lot of money probably through corruption, like a line of trucks, right? You know, coming out that nobody was getting properly, you know, paid for. We live in that world, but God gives us a promise in Romans 8 verse 18. He says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So whatever we're going through right now, it is not even going to be compared with what's ahead. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

God has a plan, and He's waiting for us. For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. We're part of that plan. We're part of this plan that God set in motion years ago. We can claim this promise that we can move from corruption to conversion to being part of God's kingdom. It starts with repenting, examining our priorities, examining who we are, and determining where our loyalties are.

Our loyalties to our plan for our life, and we're going to make it happen, and we're going to get what we need to get, and we're going to get what's coming to us because we deserve everything, you know, and so forth. Or is it asking God for that perfect gift that comes from above? We have a great promise. Let's claim that promise that we can move from corruption to glorious liberty of the children of God.