The More I Seek, the More I Find — Shane Idleman

Matthew 7:6 and the Warning About Holy Things

We're still in Matthew. We're going to be in here a while. I took a kind of a detour for Christmas. But if you have your Bibles, you can turn to Matthew 7. Matthew chapter 7, verse 6. It's going to be one of the challenging scriptures that people are kind of, I don't know if they're not challenged by it, but it's kind of the meeting.

If you look at different commentaries, there's some division there. But let's look at this real quick. Matthew chapter 7, verse 6. Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces.

That's a pretty strong warning from Jesus himself. And then he goes on to say, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds.

And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asked for bread, would give him a stone? Or if he asked for fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good gifts or good things to those who ask him?

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you also, or whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. Basically, Jesus is saying this is the law. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, the prophets, the prophetic books of the Bible.

This is everything. Everything stands on this point that we're to do to others as we want them to do to us. But let's look at the first part there. Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces.

Now what's interesting here is the main candidates for what is holy, when we're talking about what is holy, what's he talking about? What's been proposed, it's a gospel message, or it's a sermon on the mount, or it's Israel, or it's the Eucharist, or different things.

Theologians are divided on what exactly is holy. What is this? And then the main candidates for dogs, obviously, instead of being just dogs, the Bible refers to dogs as dogs. But when Jesus is mentioning the word dogs here, it's been, I guess, probably people have guessed it's either the Gentiles, the Romans, unbelievers, heretics, Christians not living up to their profession.

So that's the challenge. What's holy? What's not? And what are dogs? What's he talking about? Well, what I usually like to do on a text or scripture where you're not too sure on the meaning, he says this, they say this, this person says this.

What I usually try to do is talk about what we do know and start from there. What we do know is holy, and I'm going to read from the Erdman's Dictionary of the Bible. This is powerful. If you want to know what holy is, grasp this meaning.

The root idea of holiness is that of separation or withdraw. It's a divine quality, part of the intrinsic nature of God, but absent from a fallen world. The basic theological problem is that this holy God desires to have fellowship with sinful human beings in a fallen world.

Since God cannot become less holy in order to fellowship with humans, they must become more holy or sanctified in order to fellowship with him. And this holiness can be contaminated. It can be lessened or it can be increased by contact with various things that the Bible talks about, and feeling and thinking or acting in ways that God has forbidden, which are sinful.

So if I could sum that up, holiness basically is God can't come down and dethrone himself and become a little bit more sinful so he can fellowship with us. He's a holy, righteous God, and we are sinful, human, fallen men.

So in order to have that fellowship, that genuine relationship with God in a deeper, more impacting way, he calls us out of those things. Come out from among them. Be separated. And we'll never be perfect.

We know that. However, the Bible talks about being holy in many different scriptures. Paul says, be obedient, obedient children. Do not lust after the Gentiles. So once our lifestyle begins to draw closer to God through holiness, we become more holy and be able to relate to him more.

Now, do you ever realize or do you ever wonder why some scripture seems to jump out at people, why they have such a passion, devotion for God, and a lot of other Christians don't? They could care less about church.

They could care less about the Bible. They're saved, but they're not having a walk with God. A lot of that depends on being filled with the Spirit of God. Are they holy? Is their lifestyle reflecting a holy, righteous God?

And it's interesting because we're not, let me make a clarification or two. When it comes to salvation, there's nothing we can do. It's what Jesus did on the cross, that atoning work of Christ. Now we're in right relationship with God.

Now we're holy. But then the Bible talks about another holiness. God's continually calling his people out of the world. Come out from among them. Be separate. Don't go live out in a desert and never talk to anybody.

But he says, go and be holy. What we watch, what we view and listen to, who we associate with, what we feed our mind in the Word of God, all these things, there's a distinction. There's a difference. And to have a passionate relationship with God, it takes spiritual disciplines.

It's interesting. Jesus said, when you give, when you pray, and when you fast, these different spiritual disciplines. I'm going to talk a little bit more about that later next week. But there's this idea of holiness is we make certain lifestyle changes.

We turn from what we know to be wrong. We fight the flesh. We don't give into it. And as a result, we become more holy or drawn to Christ. Does that make sense? Fill with the Spirit of God. That's why some people are more filled with the Spirit of God and some aren't.

Nine times out of 10, and I'd even say 10 times out of 10, look at their lifestyle. There's a big difference there. There's a disconnect. There's no difference. There's no distinction. They look just like the world.

So there's no holiness there. There's no desire for God. So that's what we do know. We know that what is holy is what is good, what is God given. Now, what are dogs in Scripture? What do we know? They're always hostile.

They're always aggressive. And they're always angry. Anytime he's talking about dogs in the Bible, you dogs, this, this, this, throughout Scripture. It's aggressive. It's hostile. It's angry. So to me, it would seem to be that Jesus is saying, don't give what is holy and good and righteous to those who are angry and aggressive and hostile to the message.

Discernment in Sharing the Gospel

However, how does that play out? Because we're supposed to bring the message to a hostile world and to an angry world. So I think the key here is the takeaway that I want to get from this is we're to be wise as serpents, gentle as doves, Jesus has said before.

We are to judge because we just talked about judging in the beginning of Matthew 7. Judge not, lest you be judged. It's this whole discourse on judging, removing the plank from your eye before you can see the speck in your brother's eye.

And then he goes right into do not give what is holy. So in my opinion, there's some aspect of judging there. We have to judge. We have to differentiate between right and wrong. Should I invest my time?

In other words, I thought I was going to help this person, but I ended up getting hurt. How often have we said that? So I think there's a, there's a plea there to be careful, be careful. And you look at all of us have neighbors.

I'm hoping, you know, you live, there's somebody and there's people on my street that unless God prompts me, I'm probably not going to take what's holy to the dogs, to swines. And that I'm not saying it in a mean way.

I'm just saying what the Bible says, because we're being, you got to be careful there. I just know they're not open for it. I'll pick up their trash. I'll invite them to dinner. I'll wave. I'll offer to mow their lawn.

But until God prompts me, I'm not going to give all of myself, invest and try to put this gospel message in front of them. If I have this discernment about, you know, it's not the right time. This isn't going to be pretty.

It's not going to be good. Because some people have the shotgun approach instead of the 30 -06. You know what the shotgun approach is? In a shotgun, it has a shell, two and three quarter, three inch shell, depending, depending on what type of magnum it is.

But inside that shell is 200 or 250 little BBs. So when you shoot a shotgun, you're hoping, I hope about 50 or 60 of those little guys make their target. But the rest, I don't care where they go. And sometimes Christians have that approach.

We're going to tell everybody about Jesus. We're going to, we're going to, and I want to be careful here because even saying that sounds a little bit, well, aren't we supposed to do that? Yeah, we are.

But what do you do with scriptures like these? Be careful that you don't cast your pearls before a swine or they'll trap you down and basically, I don't know exactly what they'll do, but it sounds, tearing you in pieces is not a good thing.

So we have to use discernment there. Obviously, they're not going to kill us. Obviously, they're not going to do this, but sometimes they do. I mean, I've just been looking at pictures in Nigeria and it's, churches are burned down.

Christians are, their charred bodies are there with a little baby next to them. This is serious stuff. And we think in America, oh, I'm being persecuted because somebody took our parking spot or we don't have a seat.

I mean, we have no idea what real persecution is. So I think Jesus is just saying, be careful. Don't use a shotgun approach and just shoot the gospel to everybody and you're going to upset, you know, nine times out of 10, you're going to, you know, gay people are going to hell and this and this, all this stuff that doesn't, is not productive.

But the 30 -06 is what is that? You have the scope, right? You line it right up on your target and you pull the trigger and you hit it. Next, next, next. That's the difference here. So I believe, again, look to the scriptures yourself, run it through, see what you think.

But I think we just need to be careful here. Answer not a fool according to his folly, Proverbs would say, right? Answer not a fool according to his folly. Do not answer that fool according to his folly or I'll fall into that same trap.

But then we read the next verse. Answer a fool according to his folly. What's going on here? Because see, these aren't absolute blanket statements. You can't say, never answer a fool according to his folly, because sometimes we need to.

But they're saying, be very careful. Do you ever get tricked into those conversations? I get them sometimes on email. I mean, these guys just want to blast me and critique and just nail and nine times out of 10, I'm thinking, I don't need to go there.

I'm not going to sit here and invest time. A lot of this, I think, has to do with time as well. See, time is not like money. You can't earn it, you can't save it. All you can do is spend it. So you have to spend wisely.

And if I'm going to invest my time into other people at the expense of even my children or my wife or my walk with the Lord, you've got to be careful there. Because people can drain all of your time and just take it from you.

You're giving things of God. You're giving these things that are holy and right. You're giving these and they just keep draining you. They have no intention on listening. They have no intention on changing, but they're draining all of your time and all of your resources and your energy.

And he's just saying, be careful here. Use wise judgment. Don't cast what is good before those who are going to trample it under their feet and just tear you in pieces. And you've seen people like this, right?

We refer to them or the world does as doormats. They just let everybody take advantage. They just let everybody run a mill and tear them to pieces. Their whole ice and shambles, it's falling apart. Why?

Because they didn't use discernment in that area. And pearls, of course, are great value. Swines are dirty. And you have this imagery there of you're taking what is beautiful and pure and these pearls, this gold, this whatever it is, and you're putting it down there for the pigs to run in it and trample it under their feet.

So that's why people are divided. Theologians are divided on what exactly is this? Well, all I know is I don't want what's holy being trampled by the pigs. And in the context of judging in Matthew 7, we're to use righteous judgment and avoid pitfalls whenever we can.

It kind of reminds me of walking circumspectly, as Paul would say, walking carefully because the days are evil. Why walk carefully? Because I can fall in here, I can trip there, I can get hurt there. So we use discernment.

Christians should be very discerning people. They should not be gullible. I had a family the other, probably a month ago, you know, she's out with her kids and stuff, and I actually didn't have any money, but she said, hey, I need some, we need some help with our family.

We lost this. And I'm like, oh, I'll tell you what. And I gave her the postcard. It's Friday. I said, tomorrow, be at the church, 5 .30 service, and we'll take, we'll make sure you're taken care of after the service.

We'll get dialed in. I'm on my way out the door. Well, guess who never showed? It's got her phone number. It's got her email. It's got everything. Never heard from them. So it's a good little test if you want to see their sincerity there.

You know, a lady yesterday, she's out of gas. I filled up her gas thing at Shell and then gave her a card, said, hey, we'd love to see you at church. And okay, you know, maybe we can give you, fill your tank up, get you some more gas.

I just like to test the sincerity here because not everybody holding a sign is in need. That's the hard part. I'll just be honest with you. Sometimes they go get a hotel, they go down and get their Mickey's Big Mouth 40, and then they get drunk, and then they start over again by the freeway.

It's a rotating thing. So how can you best help those people? They'll all say, God bless. They got it down. But my heart breaks, and I want to help them. Hey, here's a five, here's a 10, here's a 20. You know, I want to help them, but there's discernment there because I don't feel good about it all the time.

There's something, I don't know. You look like you can work pretty well. Let's put you to work. I've given people contractors phone numbers. Hey, they can put you to work Monday. They never hear from them.

So you got to wonder if somebody's that desperate and despair. I mean, if your family's in need, she would have been here. Probably. I mean, I'm assuming, I'm hoping nothing happened. They had our email, they have our phone number, and we would have definitely helped them.

But that's just one way I try to use discernment because you have to in church because everybody, we get calls every week for this is going on. We need this, and we need this, and we need that. And so you've got to use discernment in this area.

I think that's what this boils down to. Be wise as serpents. Use discernment. Don't throw things wholly to the dogs and let the pigs trample under your pearls. So you guys can take all that and say, I wonder what Jesus was talking about.

Asking, Seeking, and Knocking With Persistent Faith

And then you'll be joining the rest of us because nobody's really clear on what this has to do with. The next verse, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives. And he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

The obvious answer is nobody, right? I mean, okay, I don't want to fill in the blanks on that one. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?

Therefore, whatever you want men to do, do to them also. For this is the law and the prophets. And I find it interesting that this isn't just asking. He's not saying, ask and it will be given to you. You want something?

Ask, ask. Ask, seek, and knock. This scripture seems to indicate that God has things, blessings, and open doors available. But we have to ask. We have to contend. It's one thing to ask. It's another thing to seek.

I have to find something and knock. Lord, open this door. I was reminded of when we decided to plant this church. I prayed, Lord, if it's your will, if it's your will, Lord, I'm asking. Show me. Let this happen.

And I just didn't leave it at that. I had to do a lot of knocking. I had to try to find buildings. We looked at buildings every week, going searching. God, if basically your prayer has some footprints on it.

What was that famous saying? I'm going to work as if it's all up to me, but I'm going to pray as if it's all up to God. And I think that's healthy. You get on one side or the other and you won't get a lot accomplished.

If it's all about me doing, I got to do this, I got to do this, I got to do this, God will say, okay, mister, let me show you who's really in charge. You're not going to accomplish anything. You need to rely on me.

But if all I do is sit at home and kick my feet up on the thing and got Duck Dynasty on and, you know, and, okay, Lord, you're going to do this. Yeah, I know I need to do this, but, Lord, you're going to do this.

I'm just going to wait. I'm not going to do anything. God's saying, come on, seek, seek, look, look, look for, look for what I want you to knock. And it's that persistence because one thing to say something and it's completely, it's something completely different to actually go and back up your words with actions.

What we're saying is I'm in pursuit of God. The more I seek him, the more I find him, just like that song said. The more I, do you realize that the more you seek God, the more you will find him. And the more you find him, the more you want to seek him.

And that's what I want to tell young adults a lot of times. Listen, you've got to seek God with all your heart or old adults. We all need to hear it. You need to seek him because the more you find, the more you seek, the more you find.

Matt, you might remember this if you're back there, but I think when we first started coming here a few years ago, we couldn't find his son. Remember that? He was gone. And finally turned into panic mode.

I'm getting ready to come up here and start the service and we're out in the lobby and we don't know where he's at. We have no clue. And so I'm, okay, getting ready to shut down the church service. We've got everybody looking, about 10, 15 people looking.

I'm running out to the back on the grass, hopping the wall, see if he's at the school. And everybody's just in panic mode. We're seeking. Why? What's that parallel? I have to find what is lost. I have to seek.

So it should, our hunger for God should parallel that. And then of course we find out he was, I think he's sitting up here on the front row or laying down and Matt was on the piano and he knew it all the time, but we're all scrambling out there.

And it was pretty chaotic. And I've told you before, I've accidentally misplaced my son at the fair or different things where it's like, I can't find him and everything changes. Everything changes. I'm not hungry anymore.

I don't care when we go, you get out of my way, drop the food. I'm finding him. Wherever he's at, I'm finding him. And that's what this word, we think, oh yeah, when you seek God, it's not just come to church and well, okay, Shane said some things and I think I'll pray on my way home.

There's a passion there that drives everything. Everything is driven by this passion to find God. So because I want to find God, I'm going to watch what I watch and what I put into my mind. I'm going to be careful of who I associate with, who I hang out with, what I'm allowing to influence my spiritual side.

I'm going to be very careful. Why? Because I have to seek him at any cost. Very important. The takeaway from this, my seeking and knocking must align with my prayer life. Your seeking and your knocking must, must line with your prayer life.

When Asking Does Not Lead to Receiving

Now here, I can't avoid this topic. So we have to talk about what about when asking leads to receiving, but what about when asking doesn't lead to receiving? Well, James 4 .3, when you ask, you do not receive.

Wait a minute. Jesus just said, ask and receive. Is James in contradiction here? Well, of course not. We know that all of scripture is interwoven. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Now what he's doing here is he's contrasting, Jesus is contrasting earthly fathers. As much as we want what is good for our kids, God knows even better. He's saying, listen, if you know how to give good gifts to your kids, don't you think that God in heaven is going to give good gifts to his children, to those who ask?

And I thought I often give gifts for selfish reasons. God doesn't. Happens every Saturday night when we get home from church. My kids want candy and I cave in. Fine, just take it. Let's settle down. Let's settle down.

You're all wound up. Take it. You can have it. You want this? Yes, have this. And you want this? Yes, have this. And we give into that, don't we? Why? Because now life's more comfortable for me. Now I can sit down and relax because I gave them what they wanted.

But really, is that what they needed? No, they don't need candy. They need an organic apple cut up with some organic peanut butter. Just slice it. That's what they need. But why don't I want to do that?

Because it's selfish. I got to get up and cut apples and make this. So see, a lot of times they ask and I answer, but it's not good. God never says, ask and I'll answer, and it's bad. God doesn't do things for selfish motives.

So a lot of times when we're asking and asking and asking, we have to say, Lord, what's going on here? Would you show me? Would you reveal your will to me? We often want out of challenging situations.

Many times too I've noticed, Lord, get me out of this. And Lord says, oh, I'm going to keep you there until you learn why I've put you there or until you can develop trust. We want the easy way out all the time.

Me too. We want that. But Jesus is saying, listen, this is a good God. Nobody's going to ask for a stone. You give them a fish and vice versa. God gives good gifts to those who love him, who follow him.

James 4, Worldliness, and Spiritual Adultery

Now I want you to hold on and buckle up because we're going to put James 4 in context. You lust and you do not have, so you commit murder. You're envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

But when you do ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses and adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of this world makes himself an enemy of God. That's the context of the scripture. You might say, well, adulterous, what's he talking about? Anytime when God talks about adultery in context with him, he's not talking about the sexual sin of this.

He's talking about breaking the commitment. And a lot of times we see the parallels of intimacy with marriage and paralleling with God. Adultery is idolatry, basically. If you think of idolatry to God as idolatry, we're following something else.

We're breaking the commitment with God. And really, it's interesting, although in the act of adultery that married couples commit, it's really not, even though that's wrong, it's the commitment's been broken in the heart.

They're just acting out what has already taken place in the heart. The commitment's gone, I'm giving into these selfish needs, I'm committing adultery. So the same thing when God talks about it in the Bible, that these things are going on in my heart, I'm drifting from him, I'm breaking off this relationship, I'm going to seek the world.

And James says, listen, the world, the carnal mindset is at enmity with God, is at war with God. But I'm going to run away from God and run to the world and basically commit idolatry, spiritual idolatry, because I'm breaking that commitment.

So that's what he's saying here, you are committing adultery, there's a friendship with the world and you're hostile toward God, and you think that I'm going to answer your prayers? But at this point, there is a prayer that God will answer.

Lord, I want to get back on track. Lord, help me get back on track. I want that intimate relationship with you again. The more I seek you, the more I find you. And the more I find you, the more I'll seek you.

And drawing back, he wants us to answer those prayers. He wants to answer those prayers. When asking doesn't lead to receiving. Let's talk about this for a minute. When asking doesn't lead to receiving.

When we say, God, I really want that. He says, often, no, that will destroy you. See, we don't know that, do we? My kids ask stuff all the time, saying, there's no way. I'm not going to explain myself, there's just not going to happen.

You're literally, spiritually, emotionally getting hurt. God, I really need that. Don't we say that? I really need that. And sometimes his answer is, in my time, there's more preparation needed. I said, God, I really need that.

Hold on, in my time. See, we forget that God's got a timetable. It's not, doesn't align with ours very often. Why? Because by nature, we always want the quickest route, the quickest, the fastest, as soon as we can get it.

Impatience, rules, and reign. So God has to sometimes pull those back, and then in his time, or we pray, God, heal me. God, heal me. I can't continue. And he says, my grace is sufficient. God, I don't understand.

He says, trust me. Trust is faith. It's impossible to please God without faith and trust. You can't have faith in God and not trust him. And you can't trust him unless you have faith. They're interwoven.

So think of faith that way. Faith is trusting. Lord, I know. I know you're in control. I know you're going to see me through. Lord, help my unbelief. Help my lack of faith, Lord. But I'm trusting you.

That pleases God. And you can even say, Lord, I don't like how this looks. I don't understand it. But I'm going to faithfully follow you. Come hell or high water, I'm going to follow you, and I trust in you.

I trust that you have my back. I trust that you're going to open doors that no man can open and shut doors. Lord, I'm giving you everything. I'm allowing you to guide my life. And of course, many people pray, God, why did this happen?

God, why did this happen? Don't quote Romans 8, 28 to me tonight. Why did this happen? Oh, brother, all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes. Just a bit of advice.

If anybody's going through anything dramatic or traumatic, don't quote that scripture. Let God slowly plant that scripture into their heart later on maybe. But I remember I was reading, you know, Greg Laurie when he lost his son, or Rick Warren, or all these things in the news, and how many people they had just, you know, sending support, oh, you know, don't worry about it.

You know, God's got your back, and all things work together for good. And you can't lose a child and then hear that scripture. That takes time for the heart to be fixed and mended. God, why did this happen?

People say, why did this happen? Lord, why did this happen? I don't understand. And they get mad at God, and it's okay to get mad at God from time to time and be confused. He says, take everything to me.

Take your burden. My burden is light. Give me everything. My child, I can't explain everything now. Just trust me. Because a lot of times we want God to answer this, and this, and this, and this, and this, answer, answer.

I want answers. Why? My kids say, why, Daddy? Why can't we go there? Why can't we do this? Why? Just, we're not going to happen tonight. Just trust me. Why? I can see the big picture. You can't. I don't like it any more than you don't like it.

But here's the two options. Either you draw closer to God and you trust Him, or you become very bitter and very angry, and that's not a good direction to go. Think about, that's our only two choices when it comes to difficult things.

Either trust Him, or get mad at Him and stay upset, and allow that bitterness to come in and make. I've talked to many Christians whose hearts are as hard as stone, and when you unpack it, unpack the present, open it up, they're mad at God.

How could He allow this? But understand that it's okay to have those feelings. We all do. That's why you work through them, and you take them to God. Lord, I'm feeling this way, but I don't want to feel this way.

Lord, help me. Or people say, God, I keep asking, and asking, and asking. Nothing happens. Sometimes God will say, my spirit keeps convicting you why there's no answer. You need to remove that besetting sin that is constantly at your door.

Besetting Sin and Hindrances to Prayer

See, we can't ignore this point either. Let's just turn the page real quick. Did I just say that? I sure did say that. Besetting sin, continual sin, will hinder a prayer life unlike anything I've seen before.

It's like a big rock in the road. Move this out, God, move this out. No, no, no, no, no, no. Besetting sin. God's convicting us of those areas that we know this is hindering my prayers being answered.

I mean, I could just sit here and just fill in the blanks for the next half hour until the next service comes in. But you know, and I know, if he's convicting you. I mean, I've been convicted before about people come to mine and, Shane, I just got to call them, ask for forgiveness.

And oh, there's no way, God, there's no way. Do you know what they did to me? They need to come ask me. And then I'll get into praying that week. And like, oh, man, there's no way. There's no way. That's wrong.

I'm not going to apologize to them. Hopefully that'll go away soon. And then you get, and then here it is just eating at you. It's just eating at you. All right, I submit. But how many prayers and trying to seek God were hindered because of that?

I won't even get into how much pornography's captured the minds of many of the men in our culture. And they think they're going to come and pray, God, do this. And God, and bless my business and bless to this.

When you're looking at filth at home, do we really think that we're going to come in and sing holy hands, right? Lifting up holy hands, Lord, bless your holy name. And then go click on it tomorrow. Like we've got this, we've got this down.

It's a, you know, it's a, yeah, I know it's bad, but it kind of, I'm stuck in this habit. All these things, these attitudes. What about judgmentalism and arrogance and bitterness and gossip? And you're, and God's convicting you of that.

Week in and week out, week in and week out. Stop that. Stop it. No, no, no, no, no, no. And we wonder why our prayer life isn't flourishing. So I truly believe that besetting sin, and that's why we use the word besetting, I'm careful, is all of us sin.

All of us sin. It's funny, I'll tell you a story. Last Saturday, I don't know if this would be considered a big sin, but anything I think that God tells you to do. But I was on my way to church last Saturday, I was in a hurry, and I see this guy walking up the street that I've known about for 10 years now.