Self-Centered Living Undermines Spiritual Blessings Summary: The loss of a sense of God in one’s life leads to self-centeredness, causing a failure to appreciate one’s responsibilities and blessings. This preoccupation with immediate needs and self-interest disconnects individuals from their roles as covenant carriers and stewards under God. The modern culture promotes the idea of self-sovereignty, fostering an attitude of entitlement rather than humility and gratitude for existence. Acknowledging the divine origin of life is essential to cultivating a true sense of purpose and responsibility.
Speaker 1
There’s three things that shift in Esau’s heart that cause him to lose this blessing. The first shift is to see loses the sense of God in his life, and he puts himself at the center. It’s the self for God. The word godless that’s used here is the word irreligious, secular is a good description of what this passage is getting at. He’s a man who was preoccupied with himself and not the inheritance that he was carrying. And we can see this because he doesn’t seem to have any sense of responsibility to before God. The only thing he thinks about is his immediate needs. He doesn’t see himself as a covenant carrier. He doesn’t see himself as a man leading a family. He doesn’t see himself as someone entrusted with power under the Lord. He just thinks of himself. Romans 1 talks about this. We live in a culture of the sovereignty of self. Romans 1 says that the root of all idolatry is the refusal to acknowledge there’s a god and that he made you. By the way, you didn’t make yourself. You didn’t have a choice to be here. You went like, I’m amazing. I want it to be here. It’s like you had zero control over your existence. And so that should make you at least humble for a minute and grateful for a lot. But the modern person says, I’ve made myself. So instead of being humble and grateful, we are self-defined and entitled. This is much of the drama of modern life.The leverage of technology will have us trivialize effort and reach and what would have taken a lot of thought and introspection will become obvious. We do this reassure ourselves of our identities but the question stands whether this will seem more to us as self made, or not, because it wasn’t conceived entirely by us. We currently latch ourselves on to things in order to feel acceptance and belonging, the age of social media and connectedness that is externalised from physical presence. But as we drive towards physical alternatives, in the midst of a technology that allows us to look back and develop an understanding of who we are, what will it mean to claim credit and conceit for our self understanding? ecology-of-technology1min Snip
Speaker 1
And he has no sense of what it’s like as the oldest son, he should have been the person that steward the family’s direction, matched their resources with their calling, created a relationship With God that brought the favor of God onto their family and onto their line. And he says, you know what, I don’t care anything about that. I’ve been hunting. I’m hungry. Give me the stew. This is a man with short term thinking. And his ultimate response is to shift from caring about his soul to caring about his bodily needs, physical pleasure. There’s some weird rabbinical teachings on he was out not just hunting wild game, but hanging with a lady. So that’s why that verse on sexual gratification in there is in there. But I do want you to see this. Here’s the point. If you don’t believe that you have a spirit or a soul that is designed to know God and have communion with him, the only thing that drives you a life is your emotions and your bodily needs. And so as a result, think about modern society. It’s only driven by what I want and what I feel. And so there’s no moderation or mediation of desire through a higher sense of calling. Yeah, but what about discipline? Those people discipline themselves for the sake of themselves not to glorify God. So he’s just making a shift from actually caring about his eternal destiny to caring about his bodily needs.Illusions of Winning: The Deception of Modern Society Summary: The structure of modern gaming and entertainment is designed to create a false sense of winning, leveraging ‘almost wins’ to maintain player engagement and excitement while ultimately leading to financial loss. These carefully crafted pauses and suspenseful moments heighten anticipation and can lead to collective reactions, reinforcing the illusion of victory. This phenomenon mirrors contemporary societal offerings, which often present superficial successes that distract from genuine fulfillment and relationships. In a world where material success is celebrated, deeper connections may deteriorate, revealing that the pursuit of modern achievements can lead to profound personal losses disguised as wins.
Speaker 1
You have the feeling of winning that you lost. They’ve tricked you. And they said the longest pause, the most satisfaction in the gaming comes from almost winning. And so say there’s five numbers or symbols that all have to be the same. The first three go right and you’re like, ah, then they will slow down or extend the spin. So you’re like, come on, come on, come on, come on. Like you’re waiting for TikTok to refresh or something because come on, come on, come on, come on. You’re like, TikTok doesn’t refresh that’s Instagram. I’m old. I’m not on TikTok, whatever with your screens. Okay. Number four, spinning, spinning, spinning. And then they will play it out. And if you almost win, you can hear everyone go, ah. And they show there’s a longer pause between gaming when you almost win than when you win. They’ve rigged the entire system to rob you of your time to create a sense of winning and excitement while they’re taking all your money. Here’s what I want to say to you. Modern secular society is offering you life, but it is just losses disguised as wins. This is a parable of what is happening in modern society. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I’m making more money than ever in New York. Yeah, but you don’t know your wife anymore.Losses disguised as wins map onto the friction vs. frictionless design spectrum. The design of tools and products should be conscious of whether they nurture addiction or communion. The most interesting counter-examples are communities that deliberately create a culture more compelling than pure efficiency — where belonging to the community is the draw, not just the tool’s utility. ecology-of-technology ai-ux communityBeware the Illusion of Reinvention Summary: Short-term pursuits can lead to long-term regret, as they may cost you your deeper connections and your essence. One should not trade their birthright for fleeting wins that ultimately rob the soul. Modern society promotes the myth of reinvention, suggesting one can change their identity at will, yet the core self remains unchanged regardless of external transformations. True change requires more than superficial adjustments; the consequences of past actions are inescapable, and individuals must recognize the continuity of their identity despite societal pressures to redefine themselves.
Speaker 1
Yeah, but your kids aren’t going to want to spend time with you when you get it. I’m just going to do this for a year. You can lose your soul in a year. Do not despise your birthright with losses disguised as wins. Society has perfected the art of robbing your soul while you think you are having a good time. Next thing, one of the consequences of regret, verse 16 afterwards, as you know, sorry, verse 17, he wanted to inherit the blessing, but he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he couldn’t change what he had done. Now, here’s the myth of modern life is that you can reinvent yourself at any time and be a brand new person. In modern society, you can change your gender, but you’re still you in your heart. Go into monk mode, disappear for six months and come out as a new person. Hey, you know who’s still in there? The old person. We’ve got this sense that we can perpetually recreate ourselves and be different. But the truth is, you can’t. It’s still you. And one of the great lies is that we’re not bound by consequences, where gods who can doChoices Define Destiny, Not Freedom Summary: Individual choices shape not only immediate futures but also eternal destinies, emphasizing that we are bound by the consequences of our actions. The illusion of complete freedom overlooks the truth that decisions lead to either ‘everlasting splendor’ or ‘everlasting horror.’ True repentance differs from worldly regret by focusing on the relational impact of our decisions rather than merely feeling sorry for the outcomes. Real repentance recognizes the need for accountability in our relationship with the divine, contrasting with mere regret that lacks a sincere understanding of wrongdoing.
Speaker 1
It’s still you. And one of the great lies is that we’re not bound by consequences, where gods who can do whatever we want, change whatever you want, live however we want and be completely free, but it’s Just not true. You are making decisions now that aren’t just going to shape 2024, they’re going to shape your eternal destiny. If we just knew this is, when C.S. Lewis is walking, it’s like you guys, you’ve never met an ordinary person. You have no idea who you’re talking to. He’s not talking about Nani, you’re either. He’s like on a trajectory of time, you were either becoming an everlasting splendor or an everlasting horror based on the formative power of the decisions you make now. And so I want you to see this. The choices you make have consequences. A lot of times, and there’s a difference here. I want you to see this. There’s a difference here. Worldly regret says, I’m sorry it happened. True repentance for the Christians says, I’m sorry I did this to you, Lord. Really repentance has an outcome or consequence focus. Real repentance has a relational focus. One commentator says this, Esau stands as an example of someone who regrets what he has done but does not truly repent of his wrongdoing.-
- Secularism can reduce our perspective, making us see only what we want to see.
To navigate life’s chaos, we need to orient ourselves towards the eternal, like pilots use instruments to navigate disorienting speeds.
Speaker 1
Secularism reduces our perspective where we only see what we want to see. So what we need to do is we need to learn to orient ourselves in the midst of the chaos towards the eternal. One of my seminary classes was with a former Air Force pilot who did a career in the military that retired when he got his doctorate and became a professor. He taught us about Uda loops. How many of you live every day with an Uda loop in mind? An Uda loop is basically a term that pilots used. Planes didn’t used to be that fast and you could fly your plane like you drive a car by looking around and making sure someone wasn’t coming. Not that many things in the sky. If you’re in a battle, it was really like who could control the plane better. It was all just based on the pilot’s raw skill. You weren’t relying on instrumentation mainly except for do you have enough fuel to make it back. But during the Korean War, military’s power began to increase and they introduced jets. So here was the commands to fly a plane. They called it an Uda loop, which was observed, look around, decide and then act. But as things got faster, they realized speed would disorient to you. And you just couldn’t figure it out. So if you have been up in a jet, the pilot says to you, they fly around to you and want a moment and all that. And then they’ll say, which way do you think is up? And you’re like, that way. And they’re like, how much money would you put on? I’d be like, my Bitcoin. And then they’ll be like, OK, you’re absolutely wrong. It’s the opposite way. And they realized you could get so disoriented at the speed that you would travel, that you would fly into the ground, but swear that you were right. And so we live in a culture right now where the speed of life and the intensity of secularism is so aggressive that there’s people who are like, I swear, this is the way to life. And they are flying into the ground and killing themselves. So they came up with an Uda-
- In a fast-paced, secular culture, people can become disoriented and make destructive choices while believing they’re right.
We need external, divine guidance rather than relying solely on internal feelings or secular metrics.
Speaker 1
And so we live in a culture right now where the speed of life and the intensity of secularism is so aggressive that there’s people who are like, I swear, this is the way to life. And they are flying into the ground and killing themselves. So they came up with an Uda loop, which is this observed orient. And orient says, check the instruments. Do not trust your internal feelings. Check the instruments so you can actually see what’s happening in fly according to external true metrics, not internal subjective feelings. Illustration should be obvious by now. But the amount of people who are destroying their lives, but it feels true to me, my authentic self, your authentic self is killing you. You need something beyond yourself. You need a self that is given to you from God.-
- Unlimited sin and low accountability create a bad environment for Jesus’ disciples.
Build relationships with people who know you and can help keep you accountable.
Speaker 1
Unlimited sin, low accountability is a bad environment for disciples of Jesus. So you’ve got to get people in your life who know your story. Look at Hebrews 10. And the point here is not, it’s not fear-based moralism-
Addressing Regret in the New Year
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This time of year, people often focus on resolutions related to fitness and finances.
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However, it’s important to address the crippling power of regret before moving into a new year.
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Many experience increased depression around Christmas, feeling stuck in the “same old” routine and longing for a fresh start.
Addressing regret through the lens of Jesus’ mercy can lead to a more transformative new year.
Speaker 1
I want to read it to you. By the way, this time of year, you’re like, why are you preaching on this? This is like, why can’t you do like faith fitness and finances for a new year? Because I don’t want you to go on a 2025 without the mercy of Jesus crippled by regret. This may seem harsh. This is love. Christmas time, a lot of people, it’s one of the highest time to depression during the year because people-
- Alfred Nobel read his own obituary, mistakenly published upon his brother’s death, which labeled him the “merchant of death.”
Motivated by regret, he bequeathed most of his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes, transforming his legacy.
Speaker 1
On April morning in 1888, Alfred Nobel woke up, opens a newspaper, and learns that he has died. There it is right in front of him. His obituary. And if that sounds confusing to you, it was very confusing for him. What had happened was that his older brother, Ludwig Nobel, had died, and they’d mistaken him for his brother, but they’d printed his actual obituary. And it was a real gift because Alfred got the unique opportunity to see his legacy in print while he was alive. Can you imagine that? You wake up on down your dead, and they’ve already printed your obituary. He did not like what he saw. Here’s what it said, the merchant of death is dead. It proceeded to condemn Alfred for inventing dynamite and other explosives that were notorious for fueling worldwide destruction. They just basically sold dynamite and weapons and blew the world up. It cast him as a money-hungry, immoral man who had accumulated a fortune at the expense of others, criticizing his greed, and they celebrated his death. You can imagine he did not like this. And so he was overcome with a very potent emotion, and that emotion was regret. But rather than just pushing it off and living in a delusion like it wasn’t that big a deal, rather than moralizing his choices, he confronted the regret head on and it stirred something In his heart. And so he used that sense of, I do not want this life. I want a different life to change his life. He was never the same from that moment forward. He actually died eight years later, but when he did die, he was remembered for something else. People weren’t celebrating his death. They were honoring his death. He was no longer remembered as the merchant of death, but as a renowned philanthropist who bettered mankind. If you don’t know his story, here’s why. And Alfred’s will, he bequeathed 94% of his fortune to the creation of an now famous series of prizes to be awarded to people who conferred the greatest benefit on humanity in physics, Chemistry, physiology, medicine, literature, and peace. He went from the doctor of death to the founder of the Nobel Prize. Chances are, when you hear the word Nobel, you don’t think death, dynamite. You think the advancement of humanity. And that’s what he wanted. That’s what he got. He got this gift of his life flashing before him. And then he got the chance to live it again.
