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Welcome to Unpacking the Mass with Keith Nestor. On this podcast, we dig into the week's readings for the upcoming Sunday for the Catholic Church so that when you go to Mass, you are ready to hear what God has to say to you through the Scriptures. So grab your Bibles and let's get digging. Hello friends. Welcome to Unpacking the Mass. My name is Keith Nestor. I'm so thankful that you've taken the time to walk through the readings and for the 14th Sunday in ordinary Time with me, friends. It's a an incredible text that we're going to be looking at this morning. An incredible idea, and as I was looking at it today, man, there were so many things about this that rung true for me in terms of my own experiences in life and in ministry, and I can't wait to dive in with all of you. So let's take a look at the first reading. It comes from the Book of Isaiah, chapter 66, verses 10 through 14. Thus says the Lord, Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her. All you who love her, exalt. Exalt with her all you who were mourning over her. Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, that you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts. For thus says the Lord, Lo. I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent. As nurslings, you shall be carried up in her arms and fondled in her lap. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you. In Jerusalem you shall find your comfort. When you see this, your heart shall rejoice and your bodies flourish like the grass. The Lord's power shall be known to his servants. This is kind of a cool text, really. What we have to recognize is this a prophetic text given to people who had been used to a lot of disappointment, who had been used to the the history of Jerusalem and Israel going through this crazy cycle of seeing the blessing of God and then over time rebelling against God's commands, being punished, greatly kicked out of the land or occupied in some way. And then they go through this period of recognizing what they've done wrong, repenting, and it all kind of starts over again. Well, what Isaiah is doing is he's prophesying about a time when God is going to do a great work and that all who have been mourning are going to be nourished and are going to be provided for. There's going to be this period of prosperity and wealth, and God himself is going to comfort and nurture people through Jerusalem. Now, ultimately, what's this talking about? This is talking about the birth of the church. This is talking about the coming of Jesus Christ, who through Jesus, of course, God will reconcile the world unto himself. So ultimately, the plan is not necessarily about Jewish nationalism, which I know was hard for them to understand because they read this, are like, all right, we're going to be back on top someday. But that's not what Jesus came to do. What this is ultimately about is God's power shall be known to his servants. And of course his ultimate power is revealed in Christ and in the establishment of the church. And as we think about the church getting its beginning there in Jerusalem and spreading out to the world, we see the provision of God going out. We see this beautiful prosperity, not necessarily financial prosperity, but prosperity of forgiveness and grace overflowing into the world. Carried in the arms, fondled in her lap as a mother comforts her child. So I will comfort you. The Lord says, you will find your comfort. Now what's interesting is when you think about Jesus who weeps over Jerusalem and he says, if only you would have received me. But you didn't. Basically he. He says, this is what could have happened to you. You could have had this incredible experience, but no, you would not have it. And then those prophecies that Jesus gives about the destruction of Jerusalem and Matthew 24 and other places all came true when in 70 AD the Romans came and destroyed the city and destroyed the temple. And it appeared as if maybe all these promises were unfulfilled. But that's not true at all. Because even though the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed and the temple had been knocked down, the provision by God to comfort the world through Christ was already beginning, my friends. And that's what we see here in this text. Let's look at our response. Oral Psalm now, of course, in this text we're going to see a fulfillment of this and how it begins later in our gospel. But let's take a look at our responsorial psalm. We're looking at Psalm 66 here. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy Shout joyfully to God all the earth Sing praise to the glory of his name Proclaim his glorious praise Say to God how tremendous are your deeds. I love that. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you Sing praise to your name. Come and see the works of God his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy he has changed the sea into dry land. Through the river they passed on foot. Therefore let us rejoice in Him. He rules by his might forever. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. Hear now all you who fear God while I declare what he has done for me. Blessed be God who refused me, not my prayer or his kindness. Let all the earth cry out to joy with God. Lots of good imagery there. The whole earth. The idea isn't just this little group of people in Israel. The vision that we see for the worship of God in, especially in the Old Testament isn't about just one group of people. It's the whole earth. And we have to remember that ultimately God's design and God's plan is to redeem the world, not just one nation. It was through that one nation that the Messiah would come. For what purpose? That all the nations of the world should be blessed. That was the covenant that God made with Abraham. I will make you into a great nation. And through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed. That's because Jesus comes through the people of Israel into Jerusalem and then out to the rest of the world. And that's what we see Jesus focusing on with the apostles, with the church. Go and be my witnesses out into the world. Fulfill this prophecy. Fulfill my plan so that all the earth can cry out to God with joy. It's beautiful, my friends, absolutely beautiful. And I love this line that closes it. Blessed be God who refused me, not my prayer or his kindness. He doesn't refuse your prayer, and he doesn't refuse you his kindness. He hears us and responds in kindness, my friends. All right. Our second reading comes from the book of Galatians, chapter 6. St. Paul writes these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation. Peace and mercy be to all who follow this rule and to the Israel of God. From now on, let no one make troubles for me. For I bear the marks of Jesus on my body. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. He closes with that. Now, there's a lot of things going on here. Of course. Now, who is St. Paul? He is. First and foremost, he's a Jew, He's a religious teacher, he's a rabbi. He knows the Old Covenant. Backwards and forwards. And he lived as a blameless Jew who rigorously kept the law. So St. Paul knows a thing or two about Jewish nationalism, about the idea that the Jews have this understanding that they are the chosen people of God. But yet what does St. Paul also understand? He understands that none of that stuff means anything when compared to the plan of Christ. That's why he says, look, I'm not going to boast in how I've been able to keep the law or in all the great stuff I know, or in all the great stuff I do remember that I'm going to boast in one thing, the cross of Christ. Now, why is. I think it's interesting why he says that. Why do I boast in the cross? Why doesn't he boast in all of the miracles or in how he's been personally enlightened by Jesus? No, he boasts in the cross because he recognizes, he says, says this through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Basically, what he's saying is through the crucifixion, we lay down ourselves and we are no longer the point. The world has been crucified to me and I to the world. And I think it's interesting that he says, let no one make troubles for me, for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body. You know, some people speculate that St. Paul might have had the stigmata like others. St. Francis, we'll talk about him in a few minutes. But think about what this means. St. Paul is identifying himself not with this imagery of a Messiah who is to come and dominate the world and restore Jewish greatness, but rather he identifies himself with the wounds of Christ which indicate humility and his identity being given up to Christ. You know, in chapter two of Galatians, says, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, for I have been crucified with. With Christ in, in Galatians, St. Paul recognizes that his identity is not wrapped up in the things he knows or the things he does. It's wrapped up in Jesus Christ and in the, the. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ specifically. That is so important for St. Paul because he recognizes what Jesus was doing through the cross when. What he reconciles the world to God. And St. Paul recognizes that that's ultimately where all of these things that he'd studied his whole life in Judaism, all of the prophecies, all of the promises, Paul recognized they were fulfilled in the crucifixion because all of the things that the law the Jews believed could fix for them. Right? We just keep the law perfectly, then God will love us. If we just keep the law perfectly, then God will deliver us from our enemies and will cause us to have dominance in the world and will cause our nation to be great if we can just do the right things. That sounds good, doesn't it, my friends? It doesn't sound bad. But what Paul understood is that none of those things could, could be possible. Why? Because we can't keep the law. St. Paul would tell us that the law was given to us to reveal our need for a savior and not so that we could know the right rules to please God. We. The law was given to us so that it would reveal to us that we are sinners in need of a savior. So that's why St. Paul wants to identify himself in that salvific recognition of the cross of Christ, not in some type of religious formula. It's important for us to remember this stuff because we can fall into some of these same traps that the Jews fell into just with Christian ideas, can't we? And I know that might sound kind of contradictory, and it is, but we still do it, don't we? Some of us, we believe that if we just keep the right rules that Jesus has given us, then that's going to lead us to dominance in our life and in our culture and we're going to win. And what St. Paul is saying is, look, this doesn't happen that way. There's no, there's no prize here on earth other than Christ. Our, our life isn't about the things of this world. It's about heaven. Jesus is going to talk about that in our, in our reading today. But another thing that's interesting to think about here, this is why Paul, St. Paul says neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation. That is a powerfully bold statement that St. Paul makes here to the church there in Galatians. Why? Because the Jewish identity was wrapped up in circumcision. Circumcision was given in the first covenant as a way to identify who was of the nation of Israel and who wasn't. No other nations did this, right? And I, you can probably understand why. I don't think nations were like, lined up going, hey, this would be a cool way to set ourselves apart. This was something unique. And this was the defining characteristic of how you became a Jew. You were circumcised. That was the identifying mark, right? What does he say? I don't bear that mark anymore. I bear the marks of Christ on my body. You gotta remember that. I bear the mark of Jesus on my body is a reference to the circumcision of the heart. He's saying, what. What identifies me isn't the mark of circumcision anymore. It's the mark of Christ. That's huge. Don't miss that, my friends. But for this early period of time when most of the people who were Christians were Jews, there were a lot of unanswered questions that the church was grappling with at first. Now, of course, they would answer them about, well, what do we need to do here? Do we need to become. And make. Of course, the Gentiles become Jewish before they can become Christians. And. And what is the importance of our Jewish heritage and our Jewishness as. As partakers of the new covenant? And Paul basically says, okay, look, here's the deal. Nothing. It doesn't matter anymore. Circumcision doesn't mean anything. But nor does uncircumcision. He's not saying, oh, the Gentiles have it better off. Because there could have been some people who said, well, yeah, you Jews are excluded because you rejected the Messiah. Basically, what St. Paul wants to do is say, you've got to quit dividing yourselves up into these worldly categories. None of that matters. The identifying mark that's placed on us, the only mark that matters is the mark of Jesus Christ. That's the mark. And he's talking about the crucifixion. That's why he says, I'm not boasting about being a Jew. I'm boasting about being a Christian. But not in like, hey, our team's better than your team. No, he's saying, let's forget about the teams. Let's look toward Christ. Very important stuff here, my friends. Alleluia. Alleluia. Let the peace of Christ control your hearts. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. I. Alleluia. Alleluia. Our gospel today is From Luke, chapter 10, verses 1 through 12, and then 1720. At that time, the Lord appointed 72 others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. So ask the Master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way. Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money, bag no sack, no sandals, and greet no one along the way into whatever house you enter. First say peace to this household. If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink whatever is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you and cure the sick in it, and say to them, the kingdom of God is at hand for you. Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, the dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you. Yet know this, the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town. We all know what happened to Sodom. The 72 returned rejoicing and said, lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name. Jesus said, I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy, and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Wow, heavy duty stuff happening here in the gospel. Now, a couple of key points I want to talk about here. Now, first of all, the general idea is to recognize that this is God's plan, to send out his servants into every place that he intended to go. To do what? To declare the kingdom of God. God's plan begins with sending out people to declare the kingdom. Why? Because God wants to redeem the world. This is the way that this comfort comes that we read about in the first reading to the world. It comes through Jesus followers. Now, of course, we know about the 12 apostles, but we also see that he calls 72 others and he sends them out. Now let's talk about what happens when they go out. This is kind of interesting. I think it's interesting. He sends them out in pairs. Why does he do that? Obviously, because the work of the kingdom of. Of God is. Is oftentimes easier when you have people working together. He didn't intend for people to be these little isolated islands working on their own. He wants us in community. And I love what he says here. He says, I'm sending you out as lambs among wolves. Let's talk about that for a minute. What does that look like? What does that mean? Why does he say that? I think it's interesting when I think about lambs among wolves, of course. What this means is they're going somewhere where their message is potentially going to be received negatively. Okay, so there's a problem there. But why does it. Why doesn't he say, I'm sending you out as warriors into. To battle? You know, that's the imagery that sometimes we like as, especially as men, we're like, yeah, we're warriors for God and we're going to go out and take the city and we're going to do battle against evil and. And there's going to be all this milit. Kind of imagery or whatever. And I understand all that. But it's interesting that Jesus says, I'm sending you guys out as lambs among wolves. And I think that's important because what he's saying is, look, you're supposed to be meek and humble. Why does he do that? Because he doesn't want their personality to be the focus, but rather the message. You know how that can happen? Some people, the message that they bring may be a good message, but you just can't hear from. Because they're so obnoxious or they're so, like, just over the top. And, you know, some people may say, keith, that's what you are. You're crazy. We, you know what? But I get it. And, and, you know, maybe I need to learn from this because I can have a tendency to be like, overbearing sometimes with some of this stuff with people. But think about this. He's saying, I don't want your personality to be the point. I want the message to be the point. And I think sometimes that's. That's a message that we need to hear, especially those of us who, who are inclined to have big personalities. We can sometimes see good things from that, but we can also see damage from that. We can, we can be so over the top that people are prevented from hearing the message of the gospel because someone may be too loud. I mean, I mean, how many of you guys have ever seen the guy on the street corner yelling through a megaphone? I just saw that the other day. There's a guy down in our city who's out there on Sunday mornings and he's just like with a bullhorn yelling out at people. Now maybe the things that he's saying is actually good turn from your sin, follow Jesus. But these guys by nature have to be kind of over the top in order to get attention, because what they're after really is an audience. They want to say things that are so dramatic that people will come and listen and then they can continue to do That I always think it's funny when they strap GoPros to their chest so then they can broadcast it on their YouTube channels later, like, hey, everybody, look at what I just did. But they do that. I mean, you've seen these guys. You don't see too many Catholics doing that, but you do see a lot of fundamentalists doing this where they're like. And then they make those videos where they're like, oh, I'm going to confront, you know, like, Ray Comfort and those guys, they go confront Catholics. But the people that they go confront, the Catholics that they always confront are like the college kid who doesn't know anything but went to, you know, says he's a Catholic. Anyway, I digress. But the. The point is, what Jesus is saying is, look, I want you to act like a lamb, not like a wolf. I want you to be humble so that nobody can say, well, we're not listening to you because you're such a jerk. And if there's a message in there for you, if there's a message in there for me, then maybe we need to listen to that. Now, let's talk about this other thing. He says take with you. He says, carry no money, bag no sack, no sandals, and greet no one along the way. Okay? Now, greet no one along the way, I think means don't get distracted. Don't get hung up in who you're seeing on the ways. You got a mission. Go to these towns. But what's the deal with. With all of this poverty, right? I mean, what does this. What does this make you think of? It makes me think of. Of, you know, the Franciscans who, Who that. This is what St. Francis was basically calling his people to. I found a couple. A couple things from. From St. Francis's rules that I thought really were relevant to here. Here's. Here's what he said, right? He said, none of the brothers should be administrators or managers in whatever places they are staying, among others, to serve or to work. Nor should they be supervisors in the houses in which they serve. Basically saying, be a lamb, don't be the boss, be the servant. Instead, they should be the lesser ones and sub. And subject to all who are in the same house. And they may receive for their work everything necessary except money. None of the brothers should in any way carry, receive or have received any money or coins, whether of clothing or books or payment for any of the work. If by chance some brother has collected or is hoarding money or coins, all the brothers are to consider him as a false brother, an apostate and a thief and a robber. Wow. I firmly commend all the brothers that in. No. That they in no way receive coins or money, either personally or through an intermediary. The brothers shall not acquire anything as their own. Neither a house nor a place or anything at all. Right. These are the rules of. Of St. Francis. Now, that's kind of foreign to us today, but this is. This is an interesting point, because what Jesus is saying to his disciples is, look, you need to be completely dependent on what will come to you through the ministry that I'm sending you into. Now, this doesn't mean that these guys can't eat or that they can't be taken care of. They're not called to be starving or to be sleeping on the streets. No. What else he say to him? He says, look, he says, eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. What he's basically saying is you should be dependent on God to provide to you through your ministry. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that it's okay to, you know, be like these televangelists these days and go buy a jet because your people gave you $65 million. That's literally what happens. Okay? But what he's also saying is you don't need to get so wrapped up in your own personal provision that that stands in the way of the work that you're trying to do. Let God provide for you. This is the message when you're going out doing ministry. Let God provide for you. And even though I'm not a person, I'm not a Franciscan, and, and all of this, there's a part of me that relates to this because I remember when I made the decision to quit my job and to become a pastor, and then ultimately to quit my job and try to do ministry in this way full time. I kind of felt like this. Now, some of you might say, Keith, yeah, you have stuff. I've seen it. Yeah. Where. Here's where I relate to this. When you basically say to God, I'm gonna. I'm gonna start off with this as my core value. I'm going to do ministry. And then whatever comes to me through that work is basically eating and drinking what is offered to me through the house that I have been received into. And that's kind of how I feel about you guys, right? You, my online audience, and the people that bring me to your churches to, to preach and things like that. You know, I. I look at it like That I. I didn't show up to this with a bunch of money and a bunch of stuff and said, okay, I have to have all of these things in order to do what I do. I kind of showed up to this with nothing and said, whoever's going to receive me is going to receive me, and I'll eat and drink whatever is offered to me. And that's kind of the way I live right now. Whatever is offered to me through the house that, you know. And that's kind of. You guys, right? That's what comes to me for. The laborer deserves his payment. But what I didn't do was say, all right, I'll go into ministry in this kind of online way or however we want to talk about it. Only if I have X, Y and Z. And if all this stuff is lined up and figured it all out and, and I know that everything's going to be super awesome and I'm going to be, you know, rich. Okay, that ain't happening. Now. Through the generosity of. Of many people and through the. The provision that God has provided for me, you know, we're able to do what we need to do. And we're not starving to death. We're doing okay. And I'm eternally grateful for all of that. But that's kind of an interesting parallel to make here. And I. I'm in no way casting aspersions on people who do ministry and, and have to work other jobs to make money. I think we all have to do what God's called us to do. But even though it might not seem like it, this is. I kind of feel like I relate to this. Into whatever house we enter. Peace. Hey, when you come to my channel, when you, when you watch my stuff, read my books, I say to you, peace. And if you're a peaceful person and you receive that, then you'll receive the peace of what God's doing through this ministry. And if you say, keith, you're an idiot, we don't like you, and, you know, I don't want. You can just not do anything, and that's up to you. Now, I'm not going to sit here and say the kingdom of God is coming against you because you. You don't participate in what I'm doing. But I think ultimately the message here, and I think there's a message for you in this, too, is that in whatever way the Lord's called you to go out and preach the gospel, you need to do so with it with open hands. We need to do so being light on your feet, being, being able to. To do what God wants you to do. And maybe, maybe you're going to be provided for. Well, maybe you won't be. And, you know, we've had seasons of that too, where it's kind of like, all right, how's this going to work? I don't know. You have to be okay with that, though. You can't say, I will only do what the Lord wants me to do. If I can bring all this stuff with me. You can't do it that way. You got to be willing to do the work of the kingdom of God and whatever payment you receive, that's what you deserve. And I love how he says, don't move about from one house to another. Eat what's before you, stay there and do the work. You know, we shouldn't be just always jumping around from thing to thing. Sometimes you got to just put down some roots, take a. Take a stand and say, this is what I'm doing. And if you're not received, then. Then you move on. I think it's cool. Anyway, this is, you know, the other thing to think about is, you know, these guys didn't have families to take care of either. So when they were able to just take off and go, I'm talking about the Franciscans, you know, that was the, that was the way they lived their life. Pretty cool. Now why does he say to them, if they don't receive you, then move on? I'm talking about Jesus here. Because they didn't have time to get into these lengthy arguments with people who didn't want to receive them. They didn't have time for that. They got people that they're supposed to go meet. And what Jesus is saying is, look, you're going to have so much ministry to do. There will be people that do receive you. I'd rather have you go to them than sit around, waste time with people who don't want to receive you. I can relate to that. Maybe you can too. When people want to argue with me and say nasty things and get in big fights with me, I just tend to move on because I don't have time for that. Why? Because there are plenty of people who are like, hey, I want to become a Catholic. How do I do that? I'd rather spend my time talking with that person then arguing with some anti Catholic hater who wants to reveal to me this profound truth that the Catholics took the second commandment out of the Ten Commandments. As ridiculous as that argument is, I don't have time to Argue with, With. With people like that. Because there are so many people that say, hey, I. I really want to find out who God is in the Catholic faith. Can you help me? That's where I want to spend my time. Consequently, that's why I also don't get into the weeds with people who are like, super divisive in the Catholic Church and want to argue about all these other issues, you know, and of course, that comes to me a lot as well. Hey, Keith, did you hear this? Did you do that? You know, I don't. I just don't have time for that, friends. Just like these guys didn't have time for people who didn't receive their message. And the same is true for you. Now, there's a tension here between persevering with someone and not giving up on them versus wasting your time. And I think the way that you tell is this. If you're talking to someone about the faith and they're willing to listen to you and have a meaningful dialogue with you, but they haven't yet been convinced, but they still are willing to listen, then that isn't the kind of person where you go, I'm shaking the dust off my feet and moving on. But if the person that you're talking to, they don't care what you say, they don't listen to you, all they do is throw their talking points at you. And whenever you bring up something that can answer that talking point or rebut what they're saying and they refuse to interact with it, just move on. There will be people that will respond, and that's important to know. Okay, last thing I want to highlight on this, which is a pretty important thing. I think it's interesting when they turn, when they return back and they're like, these guys are rejoicing. They're so excited because even the demons are subject to us because of your name. They're blown away by what they've been able to do in this ministry. And I can relate to that. I'm just like, wow, sometimes I can't believe the things that are happening through what we're doing here. And Jesus says to them, don't get caught up in that. Rejoice because your names are written in heaven now. Is Jesus a killjoy? Is Jesus raining on their parade? I mean, these guys just want to celebrate a little bit. It's not what he's. What he's doing necessarily, but what he's doing is giving them a warning. And he's giving us a warning, too. And what he's saying is this. Look, don't rejoice about what's happening here. Rejoice because you have salvation. In other words, always remember your ministry serves a greater purpose than just what you're doing and how you feel about it. Your identity is. Is not wrapped up in the things that you can do for God. Your identity is wrapped up as a child of God. That's the lesson. And this is a huge trap for people in general, but especially people who do ministry. So I want to talk just for a minute to anybody out there who's trying to do any kind of, like, public ministry. Maybe you're a podcaster, you make YouTube videos, you. You speak to people or whatever. Let me tell you, this is a trap you have to watch out for. And I have to be reminded of this all the time, because it can be so easy, especially in the world of Internet ministry, social media, YouTube, all of that, to view your worth as a person through the lens of how many views you get, how many subscribers you get, how many likes your posts get, how many people invite you to come speak, how popular you are in the world. And when things are going great, you can be like, yeah, awesome, that video did this or that talk was this or whatever this or that. And you see it. You see people who get really, really jazzed up about what they're doing, you know, and, I mean, I know it's my personal pet peeve, but you see, you see it when people are like, hey, congratulations to myself. I have X number of subscribers. Aren't I amazing? I got this little plaque in the mail from YouTube. Check me out. I'm in the whatever percentage of awesome people in the world because of my amazing ability to attract people. I get the idea of, like, being blown away by that. I'm blown away by. By that. But sometimes we can get too wrapped up in that to where that becomes our identity. Now, maybe you're not a YouTuber or a podcast or whatever, but you still feel like that. You still feel like the things that you do for God is what makes you important and what makes you valuable. And, you know, those are great things. But you can never let the stuff that we do because God has sent us out in the world become more important than our identity as children of God. This happens, my friends. See, when you think you are valued more for what you do rather than your relationship with God, you've messed up. And I can speak from personal experience. Just in my life as a pastor, I mean, I went through a really dark period of. Of life when this big youth ministry that I had built back in the late 90s, early 2000s, began to shrink. And when the ministry was growing large, I felt like I was on top of the world, you guys. I felt like God loved me better than everybody else. I mean, I never would have said it that way, but I just. I felt special. I felt valuable to God, and it was a good feeling. And I used to be like, wow, did you see all the great things that happened in our minute? And it was, like, great. And. And I really did believe that that was the thing that made me matter to God, as messed up as that is. And when it started to fall apart and tank, guess what happened? I started to fall apart and tank spiritually. And it was bad, you guys, and I'm not going to get into all the ugly details of it, but I went through a really dark, horrible season of life that. That was super destructive and, you know, nearly cost me everything. And it was rooted in my identity crisis that I was having. And I, you know, I share this with you because I kind of feel like unpacking the mass I'm sharing among friends. I don't talk about all this stuff out in the, you know, the huge world. I recognize this is on the Internet and podcast, but I know that, you know, unpacking the mass isn't widely consumed. So, like, we can. We can have this little talk between friends here that it's destructive when we do that. And I've not just in my own life, I've seen it happen countless times, and so have you. I mean, we all see these. These people in ministry who have these incredible platforms, but then they have the catastrophic fall, and you wonder, how did that happen? I know exactly how it happens. That happens because people get full of themselves, because God uses them, and they think that their worth is based in what they can do. Now, keep this in mind. When we looked at our passage from Galatians, what did Paul say? May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the lesson for all of us. When. When we think of the great things God is doing through us, that doesn't give us the right to boast. You can have a million followers. You don't get to boast about that. You boast in the cross of Christ. You don't look at yourself and go, wow, aren't I amazing? Isn't it great? All the things that God does through me and aren't I awesome? Friends, the minute that we start looking at ourselves like that and thinking we're great is the minute that we've lost the plot, the minute that we've taken our eyes off the cross, the minute that Jesus would say to us, hey, don't rejoice about all that. Rejoice because your names are written in heaven, at least for now. Amazing things will happen if you let God do amazing things through you, but never believe that. That's the point of it in and of itself. You're part of a bigger picture, God's bigger picture. It's not about you, it's about what God wants to do through and in you. And when we think that we're the center of it, we can go, wow, look at us. Aren't we amazing? Didn't everybody react to what I said or did immediately? Jesus looks at you and he rolls his eyes and he says, get your focus off of what you're doing and get it back on what makes you my child. What makes you reconciled to me. As St. Paul would say, I bear the marks of Jesus on my body. That's what we're to boast in, my friends. We got to all remember that. We gotta all remember that now. Why? Because if you step out in obedience to Christ, with total reliance on him, amazing things will happen. Are you ready for that? I hope that you are. Because through you, God wants to do incredible things. He wants to reconcile the world to himself. He wants to comfort people as a mother comforts her child. From our first reading. If you only knew, my friends, the amazing things that are in store for you as God works through you and in you, you'd be blown away. But some of us will fail to catch that for a number of reasons. Because some of us aren't, aren't willing to go out as lambs among wolves. We want to go out as warriors, we among wolves. And we're not going to get very far in that because people aren't going to listen because they're going to get too distracted by our big personalities and our style, right? Others of us are going to be hung up because we're going to be like, look, I got. I can't just go out empty handed. I got to bring all this stuff with me. I got to bring a money bag, I got to bring sandals, I got to bring all this stuff. That's a picture of all the things that, all the conditions that we think we need in order to do what God wants us to do. Jesus said, you don't need any of that. Just follow me and I'll take care of the rest. You'll be fine. But don't act like you got to have all this junk with you in order to do what I've called you to do. Right? We could go into that a lot. It's not what it's about. And then others of us just need to remember, look, don't get hung up on those who are unwilling to receive the message. Spend your time with those who will. And then when it all happens, don't let yourself get caught up in all of that from a personal standpoint and think that you're something great because of what you can do. Remember, it's God working through you. And if you want to be excited about something, be excited that he's prepared a place for you in heaven, because that's awesome, right? And that's where your identity lies. All right, friends, thank you so much for joining me here on Unpacking the Match. And thank you for allowing me to just kind of share some personal things with you guys. I know that for some of you, maybe that's a little more than you want to hear. That's, you know, that's why the fast forward button's a thing. But I appreciate those of you that did listen and those of you that did allow me to do that. When I look at the readings, I don't want to just give them to you in some sort of impersonal, mechanical way. I want to share with you what they're doing in me as a way to help them have meaning for you. And I hope that's what. What's happening. So God bless all of you. Thank you so much, my friends. I really appreciate you doing this. If you're listening on a podcast, will you do me a favor and just leave a review or like this podcast? Because we're trying to get this out to the world. And if you're watching on YouTube, of course, share the video and like the video and make sure you subscribe. Some of you going, keith, aren't you contradicting yourself when you're all like, we shouldn't worry about all that stuff? I don't do that because I have some subscriber goal where if I get it, I'm going to jump up and down and tell everybody how great I am. I do that because I want this to get out to people, and that's how it happens, okay? Or I could just spend a bunch of money on paid ads, which I don't do. So that's how you can help, and I hope that you will. God bless you all, my friends. Take care and I'll see you next time. Here on unpacking the mass.