There's something absurd about the people of God feeling the need to do dog tricks.

Anybody know what I'm talking about?

Run after the ball.

Jump for the bone.

Roll over.

Performing for one person after another, so they will approve of us. We'll approve of us. You may be seated.

I want you to turn with me, if you would please, to first Thessalonians chapter 2.

And then I would like for you to also get Galatians 1 in your hands so that you are ready to go back and forth between the two.

Hold at first Thessalonians chapter 2.

I'm going to be reading verses 1 through 6 in just a moment, but let's pour a little bit of foundation and get us ready.

So the title of our event is rehab for approval addicts.

And here's what I think.

I think that maybe our first response might be, you know, that's really not my life because

I don't live out in the public

world. That really doesn't apply to me. I'm not even in all that social media stuff, but I want

you to understand something. Approval addiction has been with man since the earliest days on this planet.

It doesn't have to do with numbers, though numbers would certainly complicate it.

Numbers could certainly make it chronic.

And we'll see that, and we certainly see it in the culture we live in.

But we can be as addicted to one person's approval

or one people group's approval

as we could be to a large public approval

...