Dear Family,

I pray a LOT. . . in front of people. But my private prayer life could use some serious work. Honestly, I get bored easy and distracted. And sometimes I wonder if it really accomplishes anything. Sometimes I am pretty sure God isn’t even listening. . . and I know He isn’t acting.

We all know God calls us to pray and my guess is that most of you struggle with it. I am praying that God speaks to us from Matthew 6:5-6 as we close out this series on hypocrisy.

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Pastor Jace.

I am just going to go ahead and admit this: I like it when people see the good things I do. If I do the dishes, I want people to know it. If I visit someone in the hospital, I want someone to know. If I give extra to the church, I hope someone will tell me “good job.”

I struggle with pride and with hypocrisy. I think a lot of us do. That’s why social media is so great. We can talk about ourselves in positive ways and it’s perfectly acceptable We can toot our own horn.

Jesus has some things to say about tooting our own horn. Maybe we can wrestle with this together this Sunday from Matthew 6:2-4. Take a look if you have the time and let’s ask God to show us what we need to follow him better.

Dear Family,

Bill Hybels.

Mark Driscoll.

Tony Evans.

Steve Lawson.

James McDonald

Carl Lentz.

Bruxy Cavey.

Brian Houston.

Ravi Zacharias.

Maybe you know their names.

Famous pastors, speakers, apologists who did not live what they preached.

And every time one of them falls, the internet goes wild.

“Christian hypocrites!”

We all remember Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert. We remember Robert Tilton. Christians have been giving Jesus a bad name for as long as any of us can remember.

But it’s not just them.

It’s us. We have been invited into a new life and far too often we refuse it. We are hypocrites. We are treasonous.

But there is hope once we admit it. We can take a step closer to the abundant life we are offered. Read Matthew 6:1 and try to prepare yourself to hear what God might want to say to you.

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Pastor Jace