The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - 3 Powerful Ways to Beat Sin

Episode Date: June 23, 2017

Did you know that Genesis reveals to us the three main categories of our sins, and that Jesus reveals to us three antidotes to help us overcome them? Jeff explains how we can discern the roots of sin in our lives, and how we frequently make idols out of created things instead of putting our Creator first. Jeff then reminds us of the three keys Jesus gives us to help us put God first in our lives.

You're listening to the Jeff Kavens show. Episode 21, three powerful weapons to beat sin. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show.

Welcome to the show. Glad you joined me. I'm Jeff Kavins. And once again, we gather to talk about all things Catholic, all things Christian, our relationship with the Lord, what it means to be a disciple, looking at everyday life and trying to figure it out. And I think I've got something for you today, something that would interest you, and that is why you do what you do in the area of sin. How do we, how come we operate this way? How do I end up going down the same path time after time to try to fulfill something in my life, but find myself in sin? Today Show is for you because I am going to give you, my friend, three major weapons to fight three major categories of sin in your life.

But even deeper than that, I want to talk a little bit about why you do what you do and what's behind it. What are you really searching for in your life when you sin? And when you sin, what are you looking for? And what is God's solution? So this show is going to be really valuable for you, particularly if you are struggling in one of these three areas that I'm going to be talking about, which is common to all of us. Hey, it's also good to have your feedback on the show.

I was on iTunes the other day looking at some of your remarks. Really appreciate your remarks and encourage you to go to iTunes. and leave your remarks. Rank the show. It actually, it really does a lot for bringing the show to more people. It's not just me. It's you.

We're a team in doing this. And be honest with your remarks. I appreciate that. If you have any questions, you have any shows in the future you want us to cover, you can do that by simply sending me an email. It'll come to me.

It's the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. And for example, I got a letter from Kevin. Kevin is over in Michigan, and Kevin is really interested in going deeper into Lexio devena. Lexio de Vina is this wonderful four-step method of praying scripture on a daily basis. Kevin, we're going to do that. We're going to be doing that very shortly, actually. In the next few episodes, we're going to talk about Lexio-Devina, and I'm going to give you some insights into how you can hear God on a daily basis, because that's what we're really looking

for, isn't it? Direction and consolation and correction in our life. And that's what God will do when he talks to us on a daily basis in Scripture. Got another nice letter from John. John, you are so kind. You are kind. You're writing about show number 19, where we're talking about, so you want to be a writer, you want to be a speaker. You can check that out. John, your comments were so kind. And normally I wouldn't read a comment like this, but I just have to beg for you to do something for me, John. John writes, he says, I just subscribe to your podcast on iTunes. I was blown away by the wisdom and practical advice you have to offer after listening to a few episodes of your show. Very kind, John.

I'd just ask you this. Could you write a letter to my children and tell them that that would be really helpful? In fact, I might even pay you. Who knows? He says, regarding the most recent show, which is, show 19 I personally want to be a writer and a speaker and he says I resonated with tons of what you had to say in particular particular the piece of advice be careful who you share your ideas with since I feel that at a few different times in my life John says I've been ready to really dive in

and devote time to speaking and writing and then lost the creative drive and enthusiasm at the last minute. Some of the people close to me have come to think about my discussions of starting a business or becoming a speaker writer as pie in the sky, but I know I can do it. John, you can't. And if God has called you to this, you stick to it. That's one of the keys, I think, to being a good writer and being a good speaker is tenacity, you know, which we've also spoke about, you know, on the show as tenacity. Just keep going at that. By the way, Maria and another John, I got your notes about your spiritual posse. Thank you so much. And we did a show earlier on creating a spiritual posse. Those are the saints that you ride with. Those are the saints you walk with. Those are the

saints that you learn from. And you ask them to pray for you. And people are sending me a list of their posse. Some of them, though, I've got to tell you, it's not four or five. It's more like a football team. You know, they got a whole bunch of saints that they're walking with, and that's good. And there are times in my life where I need that as well. Well, turning to our subject at hand today, we want to talk about sin, and we want to talk about one aspect of it. I'm going to do some shows in the future about the DNA of sin and how sin operates and so forth. But today, what I'd like to do is to give you some tools to deal with some major categories of sin that you might experience in your life. Nobody knows you like you,

except God. I mean, he knows your heart very, very well. Nobody knows you and the things that you struggle with like God. But what I have found over the years is that the categories of sin that we deal with are not new. They're actually common to everybody. And what I struggle with, you probably struggle with. What your neighbor struggles with, you probably struggle with. And I think there are things that men and women have in common that they struggle with. And the Bible talks about them. And basically, it comes into three categories. And you'll find it at the beginning of the Bible, Genesis you'll find it at the end of the Bible in 1 John chapter 2 which we'll go into and then I want to talk about Jesus solution on how to deal with these three areas because they're right in

front of our eyes these solutions but I got to tell you a lot of times what's right in front of our eyes we don't necessarily do it you know we know it we know the principle but we don't put it into practice and that's what I want to focus on today is putting some simple principles into practice when it comes to struggling with our sin. So let's go back to all the way to Genesis and let's look at the three major categories that all of us struggle with in one way or another. And we'll try to flesh this out and then give a simple solution to it. Simple meaning simple in presenting it a little bit more difficult in putting it into practice. I don't ever want to give you the impression that fighting sin is just a simple thing. It's a war.

It's a war and you need weapons and you need some tenacity and fortitude to go ahead with it. In fact, that's one of the things, to be honest with you, before we get into this, that's one of the things that I have, I guess, against pop formators on television and radio is that in a one-hour period after you take away the advertising, they're left with about 35 minutes of content for that hour. And so often they're giving very quick, simple solutions to very deep and complex problems in life. and that isn't life. Oftentimes when we get ourselves ensnared by sin, it's a process that we have to work at to find this freedom in our life and continue on to where we are at a point where we can start to live our life once again in a holy normal fashion. So let's go back to Genesis and let's look at the origin of sin. There's going to be three things that were brought up in the Garden of Eden that are common to all of us. And you know the story of creation. We talk about it often. in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 we have the two various stories of creation and the main characters

are God and then Adam and Eve and Eve is created from the side of Adam by the way all these all these things I'm going to share with you as far as scripture they're in the show notes they're in the show notes and you don't have to pull over for this so we have we have in chapter 3 after after God has made clear to Adam that these are the ground rules for the garden. He said to them, he said that you can eat freely of any of the trees in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you can't eat of it. For in the day that you eat of it, you will die. You will die. And here's how it sounds. I'll just run this real time, okay? Genesis chapter 3, now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature

and the Lord that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, did God, do God? say you shall not eat of any tree of the garden and the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die and listen to what the enemy says at that point the enemy the serpent said to the woman you will not die for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. Okay, so you get the picture there. God says you can't eat, you can eat

freely of all the trees in the garden, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall die. The serpent says, is that true? Woman says, yes, it's true. We can't even touch it. And then the serpent comes back with, that's not true. That's a lie. No, no, no, no, no. You can eat of that tree. Now, here's what's happening at the very beginning is that Adam and Eve are created in the image and likeness of God, and the enemy is saying that if you eat the fruit of the tree that God said you shall not eat of, you'll be like God, knowing good and evil, the difference between good and evil. So what he's doing, what the enemy is doing is he's selling a bill of goods to Adam and Eve,

because they already are created in the image and likeness of God. but the enemy brings an element of fear in here there's there's hints of a of intimidation from this serpent in hebrew we'd say nahash this serpent leviathan and uh there's a little bit of intimidation going on there but there's also the introduction of this concept of a lack of trust of god uh trusting god that you can't trust him he's not telling you everything he's He's withholding information. He knows that if you eat of that tree, you're actually going to be changed. And you're going to become like him.

And by the way, he doesn't want that. See, that's the Bill of Goods right there. So there's always John Paul II. St. John Paul II said one time, he said that, you know, at the heart of sin is always this enemy getting in the way of the filial relationship between us and our Heavenly Father. That is the family relationship. We're sons and daughters, okay? And we see that in the temptation of Jesus in Matthew chapter 4, where the enemy says, if you are the son of God, then you'll do this, all right?

Well, let's look at what Eve's observation is back in Genesis. This is kind of the heart of what I want to get to today. Here's what Eve says. After the enemy says, you will not die, because God knows that when you eat of the fruit, you'll be like God. You'll know difference between good and evil. So when the woman, get this, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, number one, and that it was a delight to the eyes, number two, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.

Number three, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. And then they were changed, weren't they? That's what the enemy said, so you'll change. well they did the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons and then when the lord came looking for him in verse eight what did they do in the cool of the day they hid themselves and they realized that they were naked they did change sin original sin moved in concupiscence big fancy word for inordinate self-centeredness moved into their into their lives everything did change, but not for the good. It changed for the bad. And you have these three major categories. Number one, it's good for food. It's number two, a delight to the eyes. Number three, it makes one wise. But let's back up just for a moment here, because if you share this with people and you say all of humanity is in trouble due to the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve. They're going to go back and read this story, and here's how they're going to read it.

They're going to read it as the first parents were wandering around in a beautiful garden, and there was really beautiful, tasty, desirous fruit on a tree. And God said, don't eat it. They ate it. Then death moved in. So why did our first parents start dying? They ate fruit. Now, that's a hard one to sell. That's hard to sell out there. Someone's going to say, Are you kidding me? They ate fruit? And now we're all in trouble and destined for hell? That's going to be a hard one to sell. So it isn't as simple as it was the fruit that was the problem. In fact, I heard one person say it wasn't the fruit in the tree. It was the pear on the ground. That was the problem. That was the problem is Adam and Eve and what the fruit represented.

Now remember, God created Adam and Eve in his image and likeness, and his goal for them was for them to follow him, walk with him in perfect obedience. Because that's where life is, is walking according to the Word of God, according to the way that we have been created, and according to the relationship between God and man. The enemy came in, and he disrupted this relationship. Now, to illustrate what I'm talking about here, I want to tell you just a quick little story. maybe you've heard it before, but it will do you well to hear it again. It's the story of St. Augustine, who wrote a book about all of his sins called The Confessions of Augustine. You should read it. It's actually very interesting. He starts as a little baby, a little boy growing up, and he chronicles all of his sins growing up. And he did some doozies. But there was one that really bothered him, and it's not the one you would have picked out.

If I said, here's his 800 sins, which one do you think he's going to talk about? He said, one day he and his friends were walking down the road, and they saw a pear tree at a farmer's place. And he said, we reached out, we stole the pears, and threw the pears at a bunch of pigs. That was the sin that tripped him up. He couldn't figure out why he did it. It really bothered him. Why in the world did I steal the pears? I don't like pears.

I don't need pears. why did I do it? And his first answer, which was wrong, was, well, I guess I did it just to do something evil. And then he stopped and he thought, wait a minute, wait a minute, that's bad philosophy. Good theology is built on good philosophy. He said, we don't do things because we're going to get hurt. We don't do things because we're going to get in trouble. We do things because we're searching for happiness. My friend, that's key in this show. We do things because we think we're going to be happy. And so his conclusion finally was, I stole the pairs because I was looking for happiness. Well, what in the world could you possibly be looking for in the stealing of a pair when it comes to happiness? Here's his answer.

I wanted the affirmation and the affection of my friends. I wanted to belong. I wanted their friendship. I wanted to be one of the guys. Now, is that bad? No. We are created as social creatures, you know? It's natural for us to want to be liked by our peers.

Check out your Facebook. How many times do you look at it every week? You got more friends? Your Instagram posts. Are you being liked? You have Twitter followers? See, that's where we're at even in today. People want to be liked.

And St. Augustine said, I was willing to do something wrong. I was willing to pursue friendship to the point where I did something wrong. So we look at these three major categories. When they saw the fruit, they saw three things. Now, were they bad or were they good? You think about it for a second. It was good to the taste. It was good to look at beautiful and it made one wise. You would think if it was just pure sin on the tree. There would be things like bank robbery, adultery, murder, tax evasion. No, it was beautiful. It was tasty. It made one wise. These are things that we would naturally pursue. But the problem is, is that they put the created thing, the tree and the fruit,

above the creator. That's the nature of sin. Is that they put the fruit, the beautiful things that God created as number one. And my friend, that's called idolatry. And we do it in spades. We do it all the time, don't we? We do it all the time. Think about every sin that you can come up with typically will fit one of these categories. And that is that it's either good for food, consumption, it's a delight to the eyes

or it makes one wise. These three major categories are really common to all of us. They're common to all of us, literally. Okay? So what do we do about these three things? What do we do about them? You know, the sins that we commit, if it's dealing with overindulging,

that is it's good for food, or if it is a delight to the eyes, the lust that we might be experiencing, you know, and then the third one, it makes one wise, it's self-improvement, it's really focusing on ourself and lifting up our own agenda, building our own kingdom. All the sins that I can think of kind of fit, you know, in one of those three categories. Those three categories were common in Scripture. they were common in the Old Testament in the Judaism of Jesus' Day

these three categories were also recognized. In fact, John talks about these in John chapter 2. First John chapter 2. John has a gospel and then he has three letters right before the book of Revelation

and it's in that first letter, chapter 2. Guess what he does? He revisits these categories. He revisits these categories. it's the categories of it was good for food. That's the lust of the flesh. A delight to the eyes, the lust of the eyes, and makes one wise. He calls it the pride of life. The pride of life. So let me read it to you. It's in 1st John chapter 2. I'm going to read verses 15 and 16. Do not love the world, John says, or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world,

love for the father is not in him. Man, doesn't that describe Adam and Eve? Let me read it again. I could write this, Dear Adam, dear Eve, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in him.

Wow. If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in him. Notice the word love. We're not talking about like or just participating in beautiful things and tasty things on earth. You're talking about love for the world. For all that is in the world, and then he gives the three categories. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world. And the world passes away and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. So at the beginning of the Bible, we've got these three categories, which are the three things that Eve experienced when she

saw something that God said, no. She noticed three things about it, and they were all good. My friend, if you want to understand yourself and you want to understand how you operate, you have to begin to recognize your patterns. You have to begin to recognize what you are really going for, right? And at the end of every sin and the DNA of every sin that you've ever been caught up in is the intrinsic search for happiness. And happiness does not come by settling for the created things beautiful tasty makes one wise but it is found not in the creation but the creator and Jesus said this is life that people know the son they know the father they do the word of God they're obedient to our Heavenly Father that's where life is

really found and I know that in my life when I get caught up in sin it's because I have settled for the creation rather than the creator. And in an attempt to be happy and go after that created thing that's beautiful, tasty, or makes me wise, I end up sinning. And that happens to all of us. In fact, John says, if you say you're without sin, the truth is not in you. You're a liar. He says, I didn't say that. He said it. You're a liar. And the truth is not in you. Now, if you're struggling with the lust of the flesh. When I talk about the lust of the flesh, I'm talking about, and I'm going to take a break in a moment, because I'm going to come back with the solution, but let's just set this up, when we talk about the lust of the flesh, which is a, it corresponds

to the, it was beautiful to look at in the garden. The fruit was beautiful to look at in the garden. First John chapter two says it calls this the lust of the flesh. What do we mean by the lust of the flesh? Well, one of the obvious ones is, yes, sexual lust in our lives, common to both men and women. But there's also a lust of the flesh that is different than a sexual sin. It's an eating, consuming, a consumer society where we've got to constantly be filling our lives with things the lust of the flesh and the second one the delight of the eyes that corresponds with what john is saying is the lust of the eyes the lust of the eyes and we experience this in a lot of ways men struggle with their eyes lust of the eyes go to the mall some people they'll say

let's just go shopping isn't it fun to just go shopping and they will walk around the mall and they will lust after things they want that have you ever experienced this, where you got your mind so locked on something that you wanted to buy, that you went online and you were investigating it, you're searching for the sales, you're looking for the various colors and sizes, and you begin to imagine yourself with that new suit, that new Armani suit, or the Louis Vuitton purse, or the new shoes, or the boat, or the car, whatever it might be. And you are totally caught up in this. It becomes your passion. in your focus, to where you can hardly even think about other things.

What's interesting is that once you do get it, you'll move on to something else. Because the truth is, we are not created. I'm going to go to my break in a moment here, but listen, we are not created for simply good, beautiful things. That's part of life. We're not created simply for things that are beautiful or tasty or make one wise, even though those are all part of our life, we're created for more than that, which is God.

And we will always be disappointed if we settle for the created thing. We always will. We'll get into traps. You know what I'm talking about. I've been there. You've probably been there too. The third category is to make one wise,

and that is I'm going to become a better me, you know, best version of me. I'm going to become the best in the world at this. I'm going to have no languages. I'm going to be a good. good at this and that. Is there anything wrong with wanting to be smarter, wiser? No. But if that is your goal, if that's the end place in your life, my friend, you are going to be so disappointed. You're going to be so empty. If just going after the beautiful things and the tasty things

and the things that make us wise, if that's your goal in life, welcome to America. Have a good life. you see we're living in the midst of it some people will say to me wouldn't it be great to go back to the garden of eden and to be able to live in the garden of eden to which i say where do you think you are you can have anything within 30 40 50 miles from your house you can and if you got an account at amazon you can certainly order it but you get you have access to anything that is beautiful and tasty and makes you wise. You can get your degree online. You can do anything. Now, before I go further, let me say this. I am not against beautiful things. I am not against tasty things. I am not against things that make one wise. I like all those things. But everything in moderation and everything

needs to be lining up with the number one priority which is walking with God. It's obedience to the Lord. It's to be a disciple. And when you are a disciple of the Lord and everything is in line, you will enjoy them. Get this, you'll enjoy them even more. You'll enjoy them even more. Just like a man or a woman who's married and they're faithful to their spouse, they will enjoy their spouse more than if they had gone out with multiple partners. I guarantee it. It's the nature of who we are and how we are created. And if you give your heart totally to Jesus Christ, you'll enjoy the beautiful things of this world. You will enjoy the tasty things of this world. You will enjoy improving your life even more. Now, we're going to take a break, and when we come back, I want to talk about

Jesus' solution to these three categories that we so struggle with. We'll be right back. The Bible is such an important part of our Catholic faith, but it's not always easy to understand. There are 73 separate books and so many names, places, and events that sometimes we just stop trying to figure out how it all fits together. The good news is, the Great Adventure Bible studies make it easy for you to understand the Bible. By focusing on the story that ties all of Scripture together, the Great Adventure Bible studies give you the big picture of the Bible. And once you see the big picture of salvation history, the Mass will make more sense. the Catholic faith will make more sense, and you will see how God has a loving plan for your life. The Great Adventure Bible Studies have helped hundreds of thousands of people to understand the Bible and grow closer to Christ.

There's no other Catholic Bible study series like it, and you can get started on the Great Adventure today by creating your free account at ascensionpress.com. Welcome back to the show. We're talking about the three months. major categories of sin, the sources of sin. And we've been looking back at Genesis chapter 3 and verse 6 and how Eve looked at the fruit on the trees. She saw that it was a good, good to taste, beautiful to look at and made one wise. And we see that John, in 1 John chapter 2 verses 15 and 16, corresponds with this by saying that the things of this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are not of the father.

They're of the world. And so there you and I are in America where we're surrounded by the tasty, the beautiful, and opportunities to make ourselves wise. How do we deal with it? I'm going to give you three atomic bombs to just blow this up and to really deal with this in your life. But I've got to tell you, they look simple. And they look like, they don't even really look like weapons, to be honest.

with you, but once you see what I'm about to say, you will put these in your back pocket and walk with them and begin to do combat. But the number one thing is you've got to start with recognizing the traps that you're in right now. The traps you're in right now when it comes to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, and then move on with these. Now, the answer is I actually found in the sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter six. And it's the three forms of piety. Now don't let those words water this down to sound like, oh, that's how I do it. Jeff, I thought you were going to give me some amazing, amazing revelation. They are. They are amazing revelations, amazing powers to fight these three categories. In the Judaism of Jesus Day,

these three forms of piety were really, really important. Now, as I go through these three forms of piety. I'm going to, I'm going to match them up with one of the three problems that Eve was facing and that John spoke about in 1. John chapter 2 verses 15 and 16. Now the key to these three is that every one of them that you can do, which are alms giving, fasting, and prayer. Almsgiving, fasting, and prayer. Or we'll say fasting, almsgiving, and prayer in that order. Fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. All three of these, if you do them, they are going to be effective at fighting these three categories. But here's the key. You cannot do them for other people. You have to do them, keeping in mind your Heavenly Father. Remember the problem with Adam and Eve is that they

settled on the creation rather than the Creator. And the remedy of these three forms of piety cannot be for the creation, others, but once again, back to our father. The problem with Adam and Eve is that they made an idol out of the creation rather than serving the creator, and the solution must be geared towards and aimed at the father. The father is the one that's going to reward you. The father's the one that's watching this, not your neighbors, not your neighbors. So number one, let's look at this. number one was it was tasty for food back in the garden. Eve said this, boy, this is, mm, taste good. In 1st John chapter 2, John says he calls it the lust of the flesh.

How do you deal with the lust of the flesh? Well, the first thing you need to do for the lust of the flesh is fasting. And this is in Matthew chapter 6 starting in verse 16. Jesus says, when you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward, but when you fast, anoint your head and wash your feet, that your fasting may not be seen by men,

but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Are you struggling with food? Are you struggling with the lust of the flesh? How do you deal with it? I'll tell you how not to deal with it. And not to deal with it is to sit around and just simply try to will yourself through this.

I'm not going to eat, I'm not going to eat, I'm not going to eat, I'm not going to eat. You can waste all of your energy on just simply willing it away. And what people find is that doesn't work. Listen, use your energy, your physical, your spiritual, your mental energy in the way that Jesus prescribes fast. You want to defeat this? You want to defeat this lust of the flesh? Become disciplined at fasting.

and oftentimes people say okay jeff i'm going to try that i'm going to try it and they'll say i'm going to fast for three days no no no no no don't start off that way just give up a meal just give up a meal maybe tomorrow you say i'm going to give up lunch why because i'm struggling with the lust of the flesh in my life and when you are fasting don't just have void space there all right i went out with I went without food, but I'm still struggling. No, you spend that time that you would not be eating by going to God's word. By prayer, adoration. You fill yourself up with the Creator rather than the creation. If going without food changed the world, Africa would be the greatest spiritual haven in the world. And you know all the poverty and all the star

that's going on there. Simply going without food doesn't make you holy. It is, I'm going to fast, I'm going to fill myself up with God. That's how you battle the lust of the food, lust of, you know, the food, the deliciousness of everything. And number two, how do we deal with this? Eve noticed it was beautiful to the eyes. First John calls it the lust of the eyes. Guys, are you struggling with the lust of the eyes? You're struggling with the lust of the eyes? You're struggling with the lust of eyes, here is Jesus' solution to those who cannot seem to stay away from the sales at the mall. You know, you can't, you know, when Amazon came around, it was kind of a gift to people, but for people who struggle with the lust of the eyes, oh, did this make it easy? You know,

three or four years ago, you had order from Amazon and get it in two or three, four days. And that was quick, but now you can become, and I don't know, I don't know in stock, I'll tell you that. You can become a prime member, get it the next day. And they're talking about now getting it same day. You see, America is hard to be a Christian in. Because access to these things, these creations, rather than the creator is so easy. It's so easy. So the delight of the eyes, the lust of the eyes. How do we deal with it? Here's what Jesus says, almsgiving. In Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 1, beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your father who's in heaven. And then we jump into

this almsgiving, okay? Almsgiving. And almsgiving deals with the lust of the eyes. So he says in verse two, thus when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your alms may be in secret. And once again, your father who sees in secret will reward you. Are you having a problem, my friend, with the lust of the eyes? Whether it's desiring things or desiring someone or some experience, here's what we do. We divest ourselves of things.

We give away. We give away one of the greatest things that you could do if you're struggling with the lust of the eyes is give away yourself. Give alms to the poor. Give alms to the poor. This is a powerful weapon to give away. are you struggling with with constantly having to get new shoes you might actually want to go through your collection your amelda marcos collection of shoes and where you have a you know 90 110 pairs of

shoes give away 30 pair give them away to the poor fight this thing don't just resist don't waste your energy just resisting do something this is what jesus is encouraging us to do and number three makes one wise in Genesis 3 the fruit she says it made me wise and John says he calls this the pride of life it's the American I can pull myself up by the bootstraps I can make something out of my life

now once again is there anything wrong with that no there's nothing wrong with wanting to achieve but if it's your God and it's the center of your life it's called sin it's idolatry it's the elevation of the creature rather than the creator so how do you combat pride of life. How do you combat it? Prayer. Jesus' weapon is prayer. You'll find it in Matthew 6 there in the sermon on the Mount, verse 5. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites,

for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who's in secret, and your father who sees in secret will you. Now, do you know why I think Jesus said that prayer is the battle for the pride of life and the puffed up attitude, arrogant attitude? I think he said prayer because the foundation of prayer, the catechism tells us, is humility. You see, humility is a proper assessment of who you are in relationship to God and who you are in relationship to others around you. So, If you think that this issue of you becoming wise

and building your kingdom is the most important thing, then your relationship with God is out of whack. You're not walking in humility. Your relationship with others is out of whack. We think we're better than we are. And so humility, which is the proper assessment of who we are in relationship to God and man, is the foundation for prayer.

What is the solution for this prideful attitude? I need to go to the Lord. The Lord has the answers. My ways are not your ways, said the Lord. My, you know, my thoughts are not your thoughts. We need to go back to the Lord in prayer and in humility and listen to him and what his will is and how to conduct our life. So you can see there three major weapons. They look small. They look insignificant. We might have even tried them in the past. But my friend, they are affectual. They are powerful. They will deal with your heart at a level that you've never been able to deal with before. But the key is this. Tenacity, faithfulness. Don't just try it once. Make it a lifestyle. And guess who's going to try to stop you?

The same one that tried to stop Eve. Did God say that fasting is productive? Hmm. Did God say that almsgiving will set you free? Hmm. Did God say that prayer was necessary? Gee, you have a lot of potential. You could go a long way. You don't need prayer. You're an American. You see, the enemy is going to come at you, too. He's going to say, these are not going to work. You can take the bull by the horns yourself, and you can become who you know you are without God. Don't do it. Grab a hold of these three weapons. Fasting, alms, prayer. Write them on a card. Put them on the mirror in the bathroom. Make yourself little notifications in your smartphone to remind you throughout the day. Jeff, fasting. Jeff, alms, Jeff, prayer. Talk to your kids about him. Talk to

your spouse about them. Make these like the ingredients of warfare in battling sin in your life. Well, that's what I wanted to share with you today. Been on my mind. I always need to think about it. hope that it's been helpful for you. Let me know. Send me a note. You can email me at the Jeff Kaven's show at ascensionpress.com. I'd like to know how you're dealing with this and how effective these three tools are and will be in your life. And once again, if you have a topic you'd like me to talk about, I would love to hear from you. Now let me close in prayer and ask God to bless you as you go out today, mindful of who you are and the pitfalls that we fall in and the gifts that God has given us. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Lord, we thank you for

showing us how we have been made and why we have been made and the problems and the hindrances and the hurdles that we face in walking in our calling as sons and daughters. Lord, give us a real clear picture of our heart and where we're at right now in relationship to this lust, of the eyes and the lust for food and the delight in the eyes and making one wise help us lord to see our own lives and our own downfalls and give us courage to pick up these three weapons that you've given us the fasting and the alms and the the prayer i pray lord that you would help us as we take our step forward to battle these things and to truly walk with you and to become like you and lord remind us once again every day of Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. And it's no longer

I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Lord, reigns supreme in me today. Help me to walk in victory today. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. You go out there, soldier. Talk to you later. Thank you.