1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,200 Well y'all can turn to Romans chapter 5. 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,080 That'll that'll be where we start today. 3 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:17,120 Let me get this real quick. We'll play this in just a little 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:18,200 bit. Anybody remember this game? 5 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:21,800 Anybody ever get into a fight with a sibling over this game? 6 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:29,080 Wow, I heard a lot of regret in that response. 7 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,920 Before we get to any sort of game time, I'll just I'll say 8 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:38,600 this while you're turning to Romans 5, some books, they 9 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:40,720 entertain you and and others change you. 10 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,440 And one of the most powerful novels I ever read. 11 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,720 I I read it back in high school and I was so inspired by this 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:48,880 idea that I started reading it again recently. 13 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,960 It's called East of Eden by John Steinbeck and anybody here ever 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:54,480 read East of Eden by John Steinbeck? 15 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,760 It's like 600 pages. So I mean, it's it's pretty old. 16 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:02,600 It was written in 1952, but at its core, it's like a modern 17 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,080 retelling of the story of Cain and Abel. 18 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:08,960 You got two brothers there and we'll read that story in just a 19 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:11,840 bit, but you've got one that's desperate for approval, and then 20 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,000 you've got another brother that seems to be favored for no clear 21 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:16,840 reason. Really. 22 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,160 What haunts the story and what gives it a lot of emotional 23 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,280 weight, kind of the ache that a lot of us carry as well, is the 24 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:24,920 fact that there's this underlying question that says, 25 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:26,840 what do I have to do to be loved? 26 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,080 This is a question that really manifests a lot for us in a 27 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,360 variety of ways. If you've ever been in a longing 28 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,960 for a romantic partner and said, what do I have to do to find 29 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:39,560 somebody who will love me for me? 30 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,320 That's part of it. If you've ever just wondered 31 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:48,520 with a parental person, you know, what do I have to do to 32 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,120 earn Dad's love? We'll get to that one next week. 33 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,520 We'll cry together. If you've ever been in this 34 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:56,680 place where you're like, why can't I just have a good friend? 35 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:58,600 Why can't I have friends like other people do? 36 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,680 Why can't I be worthy of love? Then you get this ache. 37 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,200 And that's the ache that happens in the story of Cain and Abel. 38 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,600 And that's the ache at the core of John Steinbeck's book as well 39 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:13,080 because in his book, you have two brothers and a father. 40 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,920 By the way, the father's name is Adam, so he was not very subtle 41 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:19,560 about it. But this father seems to love 42 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,040 one more than the other. The favoured brother seems to do 43 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:25,000 everything right. But the other one, his name is 44 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,680 Cal. And he seems tormented by that 45 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:29,520 same question we just talked about. 46 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,520 What do I have to do to be loved? 47 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:35,880 And that question actually becomes his obsession. 48 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:38,960 He starts believing that there's something that is wrong with 49 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:40,360 him. I'm not going to ask for a show 50 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:42,240 of hands, but I want you to think, if this has ever been 51 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:44,560 you, is there ever been a moment in your life that you started to 52 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,400 think there's just something inherently wrong with me? 53 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:49,320 That's why I'm not worthy of love. 54 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:52,200 That's why people won't love me. That's why I can't find this 55 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,520 kind of love. And so Cal starts to believe 56 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:57,400 that even if nobody else can see it, there is something dark and 57 00:02:57,400 --> 00:02:59,840 something heavily flawed inside of him. 58 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,160 And if he could just fix it, his father would see him. 59 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,160 And then maybe one day, he would hear his father say, I love you 60 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,800 and I'm proud of you. And so Cal works harder. 61 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,520 And after his father has a financial loss, Cal sacrifices 62 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:14,640 even more. And he pushes himself beyond 63 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:19,120 what anybody asks. And he brings a really big 64 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,160 financial offering to his father to try to replenish what he 65 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:24,320 lost. It's a very costly gift. 66 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:28,320 It's the most vulnerable thing he's ever done. 67 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,120 And instead of receiving it with joy, the father brushes it aside 68 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:33,160 and then turns around and praises his other brother 69 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,600 instead. And in that moment, Kale breaks 70 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,720 and he realizes that no matter what he does, it will never be 71 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:43,520 enough. And that story really wrecks me 72 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:49,160 because I see myself in it. Most of us, we found ourselves 73 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,640 in that story of Cain and Abel. We'd like to be able, although 74 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:53,200 the end of his story is not so great. 75 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,160 But what is it about Abel that was acceptable? 76 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,000 And what was it about Cain that was so unacceptable? 77 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,640 A lot of people feel this same thing. 78 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,080 They're not just seeking love, they're stressing over it. 79 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,160 It's not just, well, it'd be great if I found a good friend. 80 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,400 Well, it'd be great if I found someone to spend my life with. 81 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:14,280 Well, it'd be great if my dad finally did affirm me or my mom 82 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:16,760 affirmed me. A lot of people are actively 83 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:21,959 spending mental energy and hours and days thinking about this, 84 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,560 trying to be good enough to earn their place in somebody else's 85 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,000 life, to finally feel like they matter. 86 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:31,760 And deep down, a lot of us believe the same lie that Cal 87 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,240 believes, which is that if I could just get it right, then 88 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,800 I'll be loved. And of course, the harder 89 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,320 thought after that is I'll never get it right though. 90 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,360 And so for a lot of us, that shows up and how we relate to 91 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,720 God as well. God was here before we were. 92 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,520 But our human relationships often inform us of how we 93 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,960 actually feel about the Father. And that can be encouraging to 94 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,560 us or it can be alarming to us. It just depends on where we are. 95 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:00,600 We'll never say it out loud, but somewhere deep inside, many of 96 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,480 us start to think things like, well, if I'm good, God will love 97 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,360 me more. And if I mess up, he pulls away. 98 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,200 Or we think if I pray enough or serve enough or do enough, then 99 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,760 maybe I'll finally feel His presence because I don't feel 100 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,520 him. Or if I fix this one part of me, 101 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:16,720 then maybe I'll feel like I'm closer to Him. 102 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,080 It's a flawed way of thinking because the Gospel tells us a 103 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:24,520 different story. It's not about how good you are. 104 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,000 It's about how good He is. It's not about your love for 105 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:29,520 Him. A lot of times we want to do 106 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:32,200 things for him to prove how much we love him so that he'll draw 107 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,080 closer. It's about the deep love He has 108 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:37,880 for you. And that's what today is about. 109 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,000 Before you did anything, He loved you. 110 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,280 You didn't earn it. Since you didn't earn it, you 111 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:49,040 can't lose it. This love didn't start the 112 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:50,360 moment that you got your act together. 113 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,320 It didn't start upon your salvation prayer. 114 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:54,440 It didn't start the first time that you took communion. 115 00:05:54,440 --> 00:06:01,480 Let me show you this in Romans chapter 5, right in the first 116 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,760 verse. Romans 5, first verse. 117 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,280 Therefore, since we've been made right in God's sight by faith, 118 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,600 we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord 119 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,000 has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has 120 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,280 brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we 121 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:22,600 now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to 122 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:25,680 sharing in God's glory. Just want you to know I wish 123 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:30,120 every believer could say I confidently and joyfully look 124 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:31,520 forward to sharing in God's glory. 125 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,640 But too many of us, we still struggle wondering what God 126 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,280 really thinks of us. Verse 3 Paul says we can rejoice 127 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:41,400 too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that 128 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,880 they help us develop endurance and endurance develop strength 129 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,320 of character, and character strengthens our confident hope 130 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,080 of salvation. And this hope will not lead us 131 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:54,000 to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us because 132 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,640 He's given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. 133 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:01,120 A lot of us, we read these verses, we can rejoice in trials 134 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:06,120 and things like that. We say yay, God, but most of us 135 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:07,720 don't pray for it. You ever sit down, Lord? 136 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,080 I just pray you'd give me some significant trials over the next 137 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:12,240 year. Pray that it would grow my 138 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:14,560 character. You don't have to ask God for 139 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:15,320 it. They're coming. 140 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,000 But here's the cool thing for those of us that say that we 141 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:23,760 wish we had more joy, It comes when our character grows, and 142 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:25,560 our character grows when the trials come. 143 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:28,640 So even in those trials, there's purpose. 144 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:30,920 Listen to what he says in verse 6. 145 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,880 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right 146 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,800 time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be 147 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,760 willing to die for an upright person, though some might 148 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:44,400 perhaps be willing to die for a person who's especially good. 149 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,840 But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die 150 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:49,920 for us while we were still sinners. 151 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:53,280 And that is the heart of the gospel. 152 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:55,760 This is not really a message about your salvation. 153 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,000 This is a message about how much God loves you. 154 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:01,040 I believe the scripture is accurate when it says it's His 155 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,160 kindness that draws us to repentance. 156 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,680 If you understand how kind and how loving and how good He is, 157 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:11,440 He is irresistible. While we were still sinners and 158 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:16,000 helpless, while we were a mess, He loved us and He died for us. 159 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:21,880 When He hung on that cross, He wasn't obsessed with thinking 160 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:24,760 about how much it hurt. Not saying he wasn't aware of 161 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:29,680 it, He clearly was. But the key thought was you. 162 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:33,200 And that's whether you know him or not. 163 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:35,559 That's whether you have had a salvation prayer. 164 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:37,720 That's whether you've accepted His lordship yet or not. 165 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:47,280 John 316 God so loved, not the believers, the world, that he 166 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,320 gave his only Son so that everybody would have the option, 167 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:51,920 everybody would have the opportunity. 168 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,200 And whether they say yes or no to that salvation offer, it 169 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:57,680 doesn't change how much He loves them. 170 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:01,720 That's deep love. Most of us can think of somebody 171 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,400 from the past that's wronged us, and as time went on, we don't 172 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:06,800 have love for them anymore, though best we hope for some 173 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:09,080 sort of apathy. Well, now when I think of that 174 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:15,600 person, I think nothing of them. It's not God, you could spend 175 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,720 your entire life running from Him, deny him up to your last 176 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,240 breath, go downstairs instead of upstairs when it's all said and 177 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:28,400 done, and he'd still love you. He'd still be there, but he'd 178 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,400 still love you. Do you understand how powerful 179 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:35,040 and how deep his love is? You don't, I don't, but I'm 180 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:38,600 learning more all the time. So the truth that I just want to 181 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:41,160 start with today, before I give you any steps on how to grow, 182 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:43,680 before I give you anything to apply to your life, before I try 183 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:45,440 to give you any visual illustrations. 184 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,280 It may sound like the most overused sentence in the 185 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:56,920 Christian vernacular. God loves you and you didn't 186 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:02,960 earn it, but there it is. He doesn't love a future version 187 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:04,280 of you. He loves you. 188 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,200 And yes, sin causes separation, and yes, there's real brokenness 189 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,320 in your life and my life and our stories are messed up, aren't 190 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:14,200 they? But that never diminishes His 191 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:16,440 love. Because from the very beginning, 192 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,200 from the first breath in Eden to the last drop of blood on the 193 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:21,720 cross, God's heart has always been love. 194 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:26,080 And that love is directed towards you can be difficult for 195 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:28,160 us sometimes to read through the New Testament and all these 196 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,720 teachings of peace and love and unity, and then see God the 197 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,920 Father in the Old Testament and see how sometimes he did things 198 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,480 that are hard for us to reconcile in our mind by today's 199 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:39,760 standards. But one thing I think is worth 200 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,560 noting is the Jewish population of Jesus's day had no problem 201 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:46,440 reconciling this. They understood that sometimes 202 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,680 there are things that have to be done and have to happen. 203 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,720 And I don't want us to fall into what CS Lewis would call 204 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:55,680 chronological snobbery, which is where you look back on these 205 00:10:55,680 --> 00:10:57,560 poor ancients. Oh, they thought that they 206 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:00,320 understood God. But now we have this. 207 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:02,920 No, no, no, God doesn't love you more than he loved them. 208 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:06,200 He has given us everything we need to understand him in his 209 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,520 fullness. Who was given authority over the 210 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,720 earth in that garden? It's Adam and Eve, right? 211 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:16,600 It's the people, human beings. So we've been given authority 212 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:20,400 and God now constrains himself and binds himself by his own 213 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:23,400 laws and allows us to have dominion on this earth. 214 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,800 But what do we do? We couldn't even control our 215 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:34,200 munchies in the garden and we let sin in. 216 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:38,760 So many of us. We think, well, if I were God, 217 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,280 which any sentence that starts with that, it's a little scary. 218 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:45,280 Most of us have some sort of sense of if I were God, I would 219 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:48,840 have stepped in right there. I would have been like smited 220 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:53,800 serpent, get away, maybe smite Adam and Eve and start over 221 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,640 again. Or how about this? 222 00:11:57,640 --> 00:11:59,000 Nobody's ever had this thought before. 223 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:00,880 Why do you even put those trees there? 224 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:04,640 That's what I would have done if I was God. 225 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,040 We have these thoughts. It's not the way that it works. 226 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:09,920 His ways are higher than your ways. 227 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,080 His thoughts are higher than your thoughts. 228 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:19,320 And it would only be true, true free will to allow them the 229 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,400 opportunity. See, we would say we love people 230 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,040 enough that we would take away any opportunity they had to do 231 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:26,280 the wrong thing. That's not love. 232 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:29,560 That's called control. When that is manifested in a 233 00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:31,600 human relationship, it's generally not healthy. 234 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:36,120 But that's a different sermon. God loves you enough to not 235 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,960 control you even though he can. So as time goes on now we have 236 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:42,760 replicated and this sin nature has been passed down throughout 237 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,240 all of these eras. And we sit here and we say, why 238 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,040 would a loving God allow blah, blah, blah. 239 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:51,200 Meanwhile, we say it on our Facebook account or tweeting 240 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:54,480 from our couch while we're binge watching the 7th episode of 241 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,080 Something. I wish God would do something. 242 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:04,960 I'll go back to my notes. Before we talk about how we 243 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,360 change from this mindset, before we talk about Our Calling, 244 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:09,720 before we talk about what it means to have this as part of 245 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,320 your identity, just remember this. 246 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:17,400 You are what I want to show of honesty real quick because I 247 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:18,720 think you'll encourage other people. 248 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,400 How many people in here have struggled with what it feels 249 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:25,160 like to truly believe that you are loved by God? 250 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:29,200 Is this not a room full of Christians? 251 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:33,080 Welcome to the struggle bus. All aboard. 252 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,440 All right, the first thing I need you to know, as simple as 253 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:38,080 it sounds, is that God sees you already. 254 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:40,680 A lot of us feel like we need to get his attention. 255 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,240 Here's how I know this. I have children. 256 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:48,080 They are 8 and 10. It's amazing. 257 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:50,320 If I come home and I want to spend time with them, they're 258 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,080 disinterested. And as soon as I open my 259 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:53,200 computer. Hey, dad. 260 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,520 Look. Hey, Dad, watch this. 261 00:13:57,960 --> 00:13:59,680 I'm watching. Why did you wait? 262 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:01,800 Why did you wait until right now? 263 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,400 There's something about it when they feel like their father 264 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,720 doesn't see them. Same for their mom too. 265 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,720 But I can't speak for her. I've actually never been a 266 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:19,360 mother, so as a dad, I know how much it means for them to know 267 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,160 that I see them and that I approve of their drawing or 268 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,880 their game or their craft or that I hear what they're talking 269 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:26,560 about. It matters more. 270 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,120 I'll talk a lot more about this and dad issues next week, but 271 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:34,840 father's in here. You have no idea the influence 272 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,920 you have on your kids. Even if you think your kids hate 273 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:42,440 you, they probably don't. Even if you think that you have 274 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:46,520 no idea the amount of influence you have on their lives, make 275 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:51,320 the most of it. They want to see that I approve 276 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:53,960 of them. That's what I wanted as I was 277 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:55,680 growing up. I didn't really have any solid 278 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,120 good dad figures growing up. And in this book, The East of 279 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,600 Eden by John Steinbeck, he spends a lot of the story 280 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:04,920 circling around that ancient question from Cain and Abel. 281 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,440 What made one person accepted and another feel rejected. 282 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,520 One of the worst things you can do if you have multiple kids is 283 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:15,200 to look at one of them and say, why can't you be more like and 284 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:19,520 you fill in the blank, by the way, it's not healthy or good 285 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:23,600 for either one of them. I remember, I remember staying 286 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:27,000 the night at my friend's house growing up and him telling me 287 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,000 that his mom said why can't he be more behaved like me? 288 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:33,040 But the reality is when my friend was at my house, he was 289 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,240 the well behaved 1. When I was at his house, I was 290 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:39,000 the well behaved one. It's meant to be something that 291 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,520 inspires you to do better, and all it does is make you compare 292 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:44,520 yourself and it breaks down friendships. 293 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:48,520 This is what happened in John Steinbeck's book, and this is 294 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:49,640 what happened with Cain and Abel. 295 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:51,320 We'll be in Genesis 4 in just a moment. 296 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:55,720 But the word that becomes central to the novel is a single 297 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,080 ancient Hebrew term from Genesis 4. 298 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:02,480 It's not even used in modern day Hebrew, and it's actually sort 299 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,240 of misspelt when you really do a deep dive into it. 300 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,080 But the word that they use is this word Tim shell. 301 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:16,000 TIMSHELI never do this. So forgive me because a lot of 302 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:18,680 pastors like to do this, but say it with me, would you, Tim 303 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:20,960 Shell? That was awful. 304 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:23,560 Ready. 123 Tim Shell. There we go. 305 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,040 OK, if you don't remember something else, I want you to 306 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,760 walk out today remembering Tim Shell because it means thou 307 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:33,680 mayst or modern you may. Here's what this means. 308 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,560 We're going to read the scripture, but it talks about 309 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:40,240 sin crouching at the door and how you must overcome it. 310 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:45,280 You must subdue it, right? The heartbeat of this whole 311 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:50,120 story is the fact that Adam teaches this concept to his kids 312 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,400 in East of Eden. Tim Shell send crouches at your 313 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:55,080 door. Many of you have heard that 314 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,320 preached before. Has anybody heard that preached 315 00:16:57,320 --> 00:16:58,560 before? That sin crouches at your door, 316 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:01,640 but you must subdue it. Oh, man, that's a big message. 317 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,920 OK, you have to subdue it. And sometimes that feels like 318 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:06,839 pressure. Oh, man, sins coming for me. 319 00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:09,720 Sin is right at my door. That's so close to me. 320 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:11,640 It makes you feel stressed or scared. 321 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,520 What am I going to do? Well, you have to overcome it. 322 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:18,079 Let's go to Genesis chapter 4. It's talking about Adam and Eve, 323 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,920 and this is later she gave birth to Cain's brother and named him 324 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:25,680 Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a 325 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,880 shepherd while Cain cultivated the ground. 326 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,720 In other words, one was working with animals, one was working 327 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,600 with growing things. When it was time for the 328 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:39,040 harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 329 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,600 Abel also brought a gift, the best portions of the first born 330 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:47,000 lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his 331 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,320 gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. 332 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:53,800 This made Cain very angry and he looked dejected. 333 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,800 Why are you so angry? The Lord asked Cain, why do you 334 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:03,080 look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do 335 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:06,800 what is right, but if you refuse to do what is right, then watch 336 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:08,680 out. Sin is crouching at the door, 337 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:13,000 eager to control you, but you must subdue it and be its 338 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,000 master. Now we've all been there, and we 339 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,320 know what it feels like to wonder if God sees us at all. 340 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:21,240 And not only have we struggled to wonder if God sees us, we've 341 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:22,600 all been in that place, have we not? 342 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,120 Where we say that person must be God's favorite because they seem 343 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:27,720 like everything good happens to them. 344 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:31,880 And to me, I feel like birds fly overhead and they sing a song 345 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,160 for that guy and they leave a souvenir when they fly over me. 346 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:37,840 That's what it feels like sometimes. 347 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,520 It's comparison. My wife and I, when we kept 348 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,240 trying to have a child for the first time, it was hard to 349 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:47,360 celebrate every time somebody else got pregnant. 350 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:51,480 Because comparison. Comparison really is a killer. 351 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:53,760 It's worse than we know that it is now. 352 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:58,120 That being said, God's words to Cain actually show that this 353 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:01,080 issue was never about rejection. It was about relationship. 354 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:04,520 Where was this conversation with Abel? 355 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,840 If Abel's the favorite one, why didn't he get to sit down with 356 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,640 the Father? He sat down with Cain and he 357 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:11,200 said, I noticed you looked dejected. 358 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:13,640 Is that not what I do with my kids? 359 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:15,080 Is that not what we do with our kids? 360 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:17,400 When you see them and you can tell something's heavy on them? 361 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:20,440 Hey, what's going on? That's what he did. 362 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:25,000 He sat down with Cain and he said, what's going on? 363 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,600 Why are you so downcast? He said, if you if you do what's 364 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,840 right, won't you be accepted? And God was not mocking him. 365 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:34,760 God was trying to invite him back into a conversation so that 366 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,320 he would know that he was seen. But Cain's problem wasn't that 367 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,240 God failed to see him. It was that Cain wanted to be 368 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,600 seen for what he did. He wanted recognition, not a 369 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:46,800 relationship. And this is most of us, whether 370 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:49,720 we know it or not. At some point he thought love 371 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,360 from God was a reward. And because of that, he missed 372 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:55,280 the truth that was standing right in front of him. 373 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,160 God's love was never based on that offering that he brought. 374 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,800 God's love preceded the offering that he brought to him. 375 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,120 And that's the same lie that we keep falling for. 376 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,240 Because we convince ourselves that if we can pray harder or 377 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:11,600 serve longer or sacrifice more than God will finally notice us. 378 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,000 And we start to turn worship into a transaction and service 379 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,600 to other people as an audition for His elite. 380 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:22,000 We start to think, if I can get it right, maybe then God will 381 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,880 love me more. But God saw you at your best 382 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,200 already, and He's already seen you at your worst as well. 383 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:29,680 He's seen you when you've been at your strongest and when 384 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:32,720 you've been at your weakest. And He's loved you in every 385 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,200 frame of that story. You didn't have to earn the gaze 386 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:37,720 of the Lord. It was already on you. 387 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,880 And the tragedy of Cain's story is that he never believed it. 388 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,440 He couldn't imagine being loved without proving himself. 389 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,400 And so because of that, he couldn't receive grace from the 390 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:51,600 Lord. He tried to create his own. 391 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,520 Think about it like this. Instead of letting God define 392 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:56,680 him, he defined himself by his offering. 393 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:00,760 How can you not accept this? God? 394 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:04,440 Look at what I've done for you, and I've been there more times 395 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,160 than I care to admit, where something bad happens. 396 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,440 And then I have the thought, well, my family loves you, we 397 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:11,320 serve you, we're in church, we do all of this. 398 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:14,600 How can you let this happen? And what that really reveals 399 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:19,280 about me and us is we feel like if we love God good enough, well 400 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:21,680 enough, nothing bad will ever happen to us. 401 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:25,000 And that's actually the opposite of the gospel. 402 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:28,680 Sometimes we think God is just waiting for us to show Him our 403 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:31,720 best side so He can finally approve, and we forget. 404 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:35,760 There's nothing that we can prove to Him that's going to 405 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:38,960 impress him. One day my kids will be old 406 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:44,720 enough and I'll be older enough that they'll be faster than me. 407 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:46,640 They'll be better than me at a lot of different things. 408 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:48,720 Right now, I'm enjoying this time that I can beat them in arm 409 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:50,040 wrestling and all sorts of stuff. 410 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:55,600 Teach them humility, and one day they'll beat me at everything 411 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,480 and I'll be OK with that. That's the way the time goes. 412 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,280 Unless you're God the Father, you're never going to get to a 413 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,120 place that you impress him. Hey, God, look what I figured 414 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:07,320 out. Look what I can do instead. 415 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,680 It's not the same with him. And we lose that Tim shell. 416 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,080 Well, what does Tim shell mean? Tim shell means more than just 417 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,680 you may, if you actually go into the ancient Hebrew rendering of 418 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:19,960 that sentence, it says send crouches at your door. 419 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:25,880 It's desire is to control you, but you may subdue it and become 420 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:30,000 it's master. And it doesn't mean maybe you'll 421 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,520 do it. It's permission. 422 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:36,400 Do you understand how good God is that? 423 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:39,000 He sat down with Cain and he said I can tell something off 424 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,680 what's going on? And he said if you do the right 425 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:45,920 thing, you'll be accepted. Listen, Cain, sin is here. 426 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,200 Be careful. But you have permission to take 427 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,880 dominion over it. You can become its master. 428 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,880 It's at the door. Should be easy for you to catch. 429 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:02,720 And Cain said, yeah, forget that. 430 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:04,480 I'll just go kill my brother. I'll just get rid of the 431 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,120 competition. Oh, OK. 432 00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:08,800 So sin. Got it. 433 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:15,960 Thou mayest Tim Shell. So when you're in that struggle, 434 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,640 you need to know believers, children of God, you may 435 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,320 overcome it. You have been given authority 436 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,920 over it. You may decimate that sin in 437 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:30,280 your life and He backs you up on it now. 438 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:35,320 When He formed you in His mother's womb, He was not 439 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:37,560 calculating your worth by your future achievements. 440 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,560 He was delighting in the simple fact that you reflect His image 441 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:46,200 and you carry His glory. Remember that Scripture every 442 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,000 single day of your life was written in my book before one of 443 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:53,120 them came to be. His book is the only book that 444 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:57,680 matters, and He wrote your name in His book and gave you 445 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,200 purpose. And every time we try to find 446 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,040 purpose outside of that book, we're going to be disappointed. 447 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:06,960 Now, some of that's a little heavy, and I get that. 448 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,360 And so today, before we talk about how to change and what we 449 00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:12,920 offer the Lord, we need to just pause and rest in the truth that 450 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,800 God didn't start loving you when you performed well. 451 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:17,640 It started when He dreamed you into being. 452 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:20,840 And because of that, we're talking about identity. 453 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,440 We spent five weeks before Pastor Carl was here talking 454 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,600 about spiritual warfare. What y'all think about Pastor 455 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,160 Carl, huh? Yeah. 456 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:31,840 Yeah. I think you'll see him again. 457 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,280 Pastor Carl, he knows how to preach and preach. 458 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:39,920 And and I'll tell you this, it was an amazing service. 459 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,440 But we spent five weeks before they were talking about how to 460 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:44,560 combat the enemy. But the best weapon you could 461 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:46,480 have against the enemy is to know who you are. 462 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,360 If you really know who you are, you know the armor you've got 463 00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:51,760 access to, you know the Father who's backing you, and you know 464 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:55,280 that you may overcome any tactic or scheme of the enemy. 465 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,000 One of the coolest things about last week is before Pastor Carl 466 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:04,160 preached, we, we were like the living embodiment of like trying 467 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,800 to outdo one another and showing honor because I thought I had 468 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,880 some surprises planned and other staff members thought they had 469 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,400 surprises planned and we just kept out honoring each other 470 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,640 with videos and all of that. Poor Pastor Carl, we went so 471 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:16,960 long before he even got to start. 472 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,360 And I'm glad we did a lot of honoring last week because this 473 00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:23,040 might be a little different. Pastor Autumn, would you come up 474 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:28,480 here, please? You know, we talked about the 475 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:30,400 Devil's playground, man, they cheer for you. 476 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:32,160 They love you before you did anything. 477 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:37,160 Thanks, guys. So, so I figured since we talked 478 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,120 about the Devil's playground for over a month, we're I'm just 479 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,760 going to play some games with the staff this month and we're 480 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,360 going to start with perfection. Have you ever played perfection? 481 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:49,280 I play. It every day. 482 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,720 She said she plays it every day. How? 483 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:53,960 How many days do you win? Oh, not often. 484 00:25:55,360 --> 00:26:01,400 No, not often. Well, OK, here are your pieces. 485 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:02,640 Don't open it yet. Don't cheat. 486 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,400 Here's how perfection is played. Look at all these cool little 487 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:10,440 shapes, Right? Every time I look at these, I 488 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,400 think of Care Bears. I'm a child of the 80s. 489 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:17,080 Anyway, think of the Care Bears. So what's going to happen is 490 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,440 we're going to set this timer. You've got a minute to fit all 491 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,840 of those shapes into all of these holes. 492 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:27,320 Do you think you can do that in a minute? 493 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,600 That's the spirit. Why don't you think you can? 494 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:35,800 I've never done. This. 495 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:40,840 Before you said you play it every day. 496 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,080 A different kind of perfection. Oh, do you win at that one? 497 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:45,040 No. No. 498 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,600 OK. All right. 499 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,280 So sorry. This side of the church always 500 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:52,320 gets love. Let's. 501 00:26:52,360 --> 00:26:53,280 Let's be over here. Come on. 502 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:54,840 Can I open this? You can open it. 503 00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:56,920 Wait when? Is my timer. 504 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,120 Starting as soon as I hit the start button right here, right? 505 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:03,240 You think you can do this? No, Some of them are a little 506 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:05,440 confusing. OK. 507 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:09,200 I believe in you. I don't. 508 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:10,440 Oh, look at that. You ready? 509 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:12,400 Go. Wait. 510 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:19,840 Stop. No, you can do this. 511 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,080 OK, I'm. Going to the worst parts is the 512 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:24,280 sound. Can you guys hear this? 513 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:25,200 Really. Hard. 514 00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:28,120 I got 1. Yay. 515 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:36,560 Can you guys see it? Well, want to make sure you can 516 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:46,050 see it? That's not really wait. 517 00:27:46,530 --> 00:27:47,450 Stop. I was trying to help you. 518 00:27:47,450 --> 00:27:49,290 Oh, thank you. Yeah, you're welcome, I thought. 519 00:27:50,010 --> 00:27:52,690 I did this. Yeah, it fell out. 520 00:27:53,570 --> 00:27:57,280 I didn't do that. Is this how the game is? 521 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:00,920 Played. They can't really see it. 522 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:02,160 Guys, do you want to see this, you guys? 523 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,280 Freaking stepped on. 10 she used. 524 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:15,400 She used my real name. Let's see how many you can do. 525 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:18,440 I won't. I won't move it all again. 526 00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:23,000 I would. Have gotten more than that. 527 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:24,680 Would you have gotten all of them? 528 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,360 So you would not have gotten perfection? 529 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:36,600 Give me my pieces back. Listen, yeah, I want to thank 530 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:42,240 you for coming up and showing everybody here how exhausting 531 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:47,800 this is because the truth of this is this is what it feels 532 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,920 like. I have got to get my finances in 533 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:54,000 order. I need to be more involved in 534 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:55,680 the church. I need to learn how to be a 535 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,080 better friend. Why can't I be a better partner? 536 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:00,920 Why does the animal keep messing on the carpet? 537 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:05,080 Why am I? Listen, yesterday we were at a 538 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:08,680 baby shower and and they were like, hey, guess how many little 539 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,640 pacifiers are in the jar? And I said, did you go and guess 540 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:13,040 the number? And she said, no, because I 541 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:14,640 can't afford to lose at something today. 542 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,440 Is that not how we feel? All of these are something we 543 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:21,920 have to do. And it feels like this goal is 544 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,960 constantly moving. I'm already trying to work at 545 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:26,640 it, but the world around me is shaking. 546 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:28,640 Everything is changing. And then you go home and you're 547 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,120 like, I just need to relax. Let me turn on the news. 548 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,800 We do it to ourselves, and it's exhausting. 549 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,840 And I would challenge you and dare you to find one scripture 550 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,800 that supports that lifestyle. Thank you for helping us. 551 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:52,000 Thank you. I'll challenge a different staff 552 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,280 member next week. What you need to know is that 553 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,520 God's love is not waiting for you at the finish line. 554 00:29:57,720 --> 00:29:59,960 We all want to hear well done, good and faithful servant, but 555 00:29:59,960 --> 00:30:02,520 we're already in a relationship with Him before we get there. 556 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:05,440 His love was with you before you could even train to be at the 557 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:09,600 starting line. There's no record in Genesis 4. 558 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,480 I want to go ahead and talk about this because this is a 559 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,840 piece that is sometimes debated. There's no record in Genesis 4 560 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,360 of God giving specific instructions about how to bring 561 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:24,280 an offering. So I have heard some people give 562 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:27,760 their different theories about this, why Abel as the shepherd 563 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:30,760 was accepted and Cain as the farmer was not accepted. 564 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:33,600 I actually heard somebody who's being serious one time and he 565 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,000 said, I think it's because God likes meat. 566 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:44,400 And I thought, while that is funny and I too enjoy meat, I 567 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:46,120 don't think that's what it was getting at. 568 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:48,760 So freedom for any vegetarian here. 569 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:55,520 But what I will tell you is this, It does say that Abel 570 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:57,160 brought some of his first fruits. 571 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:03,080 In other words, before I had anything to fall back on, I 572 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,080 brought it back to the source. This is not a message about 573 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:07,480 giving, by the way. I'm just telling you what to do 574 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:11,240 with your life with the Lord. And it says that Cain brought 575 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:15,800 some of his crops. So a lot of times we rationalize 576 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:17,360 things. Well, once my life looks like 577 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,480 this, once I do this, then I'll be ready to do that. 578 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:22,280 I remember people asking me for a while, when are you going to, 579 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:24,080 when are you and Cassie going to try and have a kid? 580 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:27,480 And I'm like, I don't feel ready to be a dad just so I can give 581 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:29,480 you some more freedom. You'll never be ready to be a 582 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,160 parent. And if you have multiple 583 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,560 children, the first one doesn't really teach you how to handle 584 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:42,240 the other ones. They're all different from a 585 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:44,520 young age. My daughter, if we just said 586 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,080 Emma Lynn, she'd just go, I'm sorry. 587 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:54,280 Timothy was like, whatever, and you may judge me for this, but 588 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,240 we had to use a little squirt bottle because he didn't like it 589 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,120 if we squirted him with water. And somebody's like, that's what 590 00:31:58,120 --> 00:31:59,960 you do with animals. And I'm like, does it work? 591 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:03,320 It's only weird if it doesn't work. 592 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:06,600 They're really good kids. They are good kids. 593 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:08,640 I'm just saying that they they are different. 594 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:13,840 What is important and what kind of is a hint to us is the book 595 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:16,520 of Hebrews. It talks about how Abel brought 596 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,560 his sacrifice and his offering through faith. 597 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,160 Whatever it was that Cain did, it wasn't through faith. 598 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:26,200 And since you do see the distinction of a first born 599 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,760 versus no distinction of a first fruit, I can only assume that 600 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,480 Abel said I wouldn't even have this without the Lord. 601 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:34,960 So I'm bringing it right back to him. 602 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:37,680 And whatever else he wants me to have, he'll bring it to me. 603 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:41,640 Cain probably stocked up, was wise by our standards, and said 604 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,400 I'm going to bring a lot of what I have and it'll be impressive. 605 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,720 And God didn't accept it. And even after he didn't accept 606 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:51,880 it, he sat down with Cain and showed him kindness. 607 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,200 Tim Shaw, this wasn't right, but guess what? 608 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:58,320 You can do better, you can handle this, you can master it 609 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,040 moving forward. In case you haven't gotten the 610 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,040 message, God is never really interested in religious 611 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:06,640 transactions. The same God that saw Abel's 612 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:08,880 faith also saw Cain's frustration. 613 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:11,560 And instead of shutting him down, he spoke to him. 614 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,320 He was gentle with him. He asked him to look inward and 615 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:15,720 to choose differently and to grow. 616 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:19,280 And you know what that's called? It's called grace before that 617 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:20,720 word was ever on a page of the Bible. 618 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,600 And freedom, freedom is really important too, because when you 619 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,160 know that everything you do operates from a place of love 620 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,120 rather than trying to earn his love, you have a lot of freedom. 621 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,600 And so when he gives him permission by saying Tim Shell, 622 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:38,840 it's more powerful than he ever could have known. 623 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:42,520 That's why John Steinbeck built that book East of Eden around 624 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:44,240 that word. Because for someone like Cal who 625 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,040 had spent his whole life feeling unloved or unseen or second 626 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:50,040 best, that single word cracks our hearts open. 627 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:55,040 So how do you begin to receive this love and to recognize that 628 00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:57,240 God loved you before anything else ever happened? 629 00:33:57,880 --> 00:33:59,680 And I'm sharing this with you because this is one of the 630 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:01,520 number one issues with Christians today. 631 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,240 Got some things for you if you want to go ahead and go to that 632 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:08,760 next slide. How do you start to receive that 633 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:10,080 love? The first thing is you've got to 634 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:14,719 end the performance. Talked about masks not long ago 635 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,040 in this church, but I'm being serious. 636 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:19,440 Not just in one area. No more show, no more 637 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,000 pretending. You start by giving yourself 638 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,760 permission to slow down. Don't just do more. 639 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,800 Don't just give God some. Don't just give God a lot of 640 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,000 your life. Give him the best of it. 641 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:36,239 Be with God more. I went on like a two week streak 642 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:38,639 of of just having something going on every night. 643 00:34:38,639 --> 00:34:39,679 And I told the Lord, you know what? 644 00:34:39,679 --> 00:34:41,400 Saturday, I'm going to take a few hours, I'm going to leave my 645 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:42,520 house and I'm going to go be with you. 646 00:34:43,639 --> 00:34:46,800 And I did, I went, I drove around, I spoke with him, I went 647 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:48,719 to the gym, I went, I took myself out to eat. 648 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,040 I used to see people that ate alone and I felt bad for them. 649 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:52,960 And now I, I long for those moments. 650 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:56,280 And that's what I did last night. 651 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,040 Ran into multiple people that I knew, but you know, it was cool. 652 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,520 One of the, one of the couples that I ran into, they were like, 653 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:03,800 do you want to sit with us? And I said, that's really kind 654 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:05,440 of you. But I actually promised the Lord 655 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,160 tonight. And because they love the Lord, 656 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,640 they said absolutely we want to get in the way of that. 657 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,840 It's not weird, guys. It's not weird to prioritize him 658 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:17,200 in a way that other people can see. 659 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:20,400 You're going to have to stop the performance. 660 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:22,320 Oh, but people are the mission, right? 661 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:24,720 I see people that I know if I don't, if I don't go over and 662 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:27,240 tell them how much I love them, then I'm letting God down. 663 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:32,120 No, just go be with him. I wonder, I wonder if Cain had 664 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:36,600 spent more time with the Lord than he had trying to put all 665 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,520 those crops together for the Lord, what that story would have 666 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:42,040 looked like this week. I would dare you to try to wake 667 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:45,320 up at the beginning of every day and don't look at your To Do 668 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,760 List or social media or news feed or e-mail first. 669 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:52,280 Start by just saying God thank you that you already love me. 670 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:56,200 Don't rush to try to achieve anything that day. 671 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,840 That moment's going to come. Start your day just by receiving 672 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:05,160 #2 ask yourself honest questions about your motives. 673 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:11,840 And just in case you're good at lying to yourself, as some of us 674 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:17,360 are, ask people that know you well and they'll answer it for 675 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:19,200 you too. Like Cain, we all bring 676 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,520 offerings to the Lord, but God cares more about why you're 677 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:23,920 offering something than He cares about what's in your hands. 678 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:27,640 And So what you need to do is ask yourself, am I doing this to 679 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:30,120 be seen? Am I doing this so that I have a 680 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:32,200 certain perception? Am I doing this so that I'll 681 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:34,760 feel a certain way? Or am I doing this because I'm 682 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,120 trusting that God already knows what is in my day? 683 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:40,120 You don't need to spiral into shame if your motives are off. 684 00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,280 You can just call yourself a human being and call it a day. 685 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:44,920 That's not the point. Just bring your motives into the 686 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:46,680 light because God will purify them. 687 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:50,760 Now let me explain #3 let love rewire your thinking. 688 00:36:52,240 --> 00:36:54,520 You're going to have to repeat the truth more than once. 689 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,880 These thoughts that we've bought lies into, they're like bricks. 690 00:36:57,880 --> 00:36:59,880 And you have built up walls of belief here. 691 00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:01,360 I need to do this. I need to work harder. 692 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:02,800 If I don't do this, it's going to fall through. 693 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:04,120 If I don't do this, the kids won't eat. 694 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,360 The kids will eat. If I don't do this, if I don't 695 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:08,680 do this, if I don't do this, stop it. 696 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:10,720 You're not the one holding the universe together. 697 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,400 And the more that you stop and you allow these moments of 698 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,600 gratitude to just receive His love and His guidance and His 699 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:20,480 care and His counsel, it will rewire your brain. 700 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,240 My favorite scripture is Romans 12/2. 701 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,280 Allow God to transform you by renewing your mind. 702 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,320 That's part of how you do it. You submit it to Him every day, 703 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:36,520 not just asking for things, but ingratitude as well. 704 00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:39,160 The other thing I really just want to get across to anybody 705 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,240 who needs to learn how to receive God's love is this. 706 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:43,880 He actually has nothing to give you. 707 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:46,920 You can't receive what is already yours. 708 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:52,680 Hey, here we go. Michael. 709 00:37:56,600 --> 00:37:58,240 That's all right. He'll give it to you. 710 00:37:58,240 --> 00:37:59,760 All right. Can you hold that up so people 711 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:01,760 can see it? Do you want me to? 712 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:03,080 Do you want me to give you that bottle of water? 713 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:05,640 Oh, you do. OK, great. 714 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:07,160 Can I have it back, though? Because that is my water. 715 00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:14,760 Oh, that's all right. Thanks, Jesus said on the cross, 716 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:16,960 Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. 717 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,800 He asked for your forgiveness. And so many of us spend the rest 718 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,680 of our life begging and pleading for this salvation because we're 719 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:25,080 afraid that we've lost it. He already asked God to give it 720 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:28,120 to you, and he knows you well because what did he say? 721 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:30,000 Hey God, they don't even know what they're doing. 722 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:32,960 They ain't got a clue. They don't understand the 723 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:36,840 gravity of this. Please forgive them. 724 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:42,080 So the only thing you can do is receive something that's already 725 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,440 been offered to you. I've been reading a book by 726 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,320 Francis Chan lately, and the series is partially inspired by 727 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,200 it, but the book itself is called Beloved. 728 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,360 It's a very personal and vulnerable book. 729 00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:55,800 It's very short. But what really struck me wasn't 730 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,560 the theology he lays out there, it's how honest it is. 731 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,040 Anybody ever hear of Francis Chan? 732 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,600 He's kind of like a big name as far as Christian speakers and 733 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:04,560 authors go. He had a mega church in 734 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:07,000 California and then felt like he was supposed to lay it down, and 735 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:08,440 he did. And he went on the mission field 736 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:09,560 for years. And when he came back to 737 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:12,160 America, he just started a system of house churches. 738 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:16,280 And when you go to his website, if you go to, like, book Francis 739 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,680 Chan for your event, if you go there, it says on his website, 740 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,880 Francis Chan rarely does public speaking engagements because he 741 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,640 has serious concerns about celebrity Christian culture in 742 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:30,920 America. Hard to argue that Francis Chan, 743 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,080 though, he writes a book probably every five or six 744 00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:36,560 years. And in this, he talks about how 745 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,640 much of his life was spent struggling to receive the love 746 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:42,720 of God. He said, I didn't struggle with 747 00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:44,080 the idea that my parents loved me. 748 00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:46,720 I didn't struggle with the idea that my wife loved me. 749 00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:52,640 I knew mentally that God loved me, but I had trouble receiving 750 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,400 it and feeling like I'm truly his beloved. 751 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:59,240 And so at the age of 50, after all he had accomplished, he 752 00:39:59,240 --> 00:40:02,480 asked for people to sit down and pray for him and intercede for 753 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:05,640 him. And I read that and I just 754 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:11,280 thought he struggles with it. How am I supposed to receive it? 755 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,720 And you know what? That's called comparison. 756 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:18,760 Comparison. Isn't that nasty? 757 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:20,160 How the devil slides right in there. 758 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:22,400 Because that's not your words, that's his. 759 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:24,560 Well, Francis Chan can't get it. What makes you think you're 760 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:29,880 going to get it? Francis Chan is not any better 761 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:31,280 in the eyes of God than you or I. 762 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:36,960 So that being said, in the book, he talks about how easy it is to 763 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:39,600 talk about God's love in theory, like it's something that is 764 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,040 reserved for other people. And he could preach it. 765 00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:45,160 He could serve the poor, He could disciple people and still 766 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:48,080 feel like he was never quite enough to simply just rest in 767 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,080 that love. Not as a pastor, not as a 768 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:53,280 husband, not as a son of God. And his admission of guilt there 769 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:56,520 really just messed me up because I know that a lot of us are in a 770 00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:58,600 similar place. We try to earn what was meant to 771 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,360 be received. And the gospel doesn't start 772 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:02,960 with what you do. It starts with what you've been 773 00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:06,240 given. And that's why now, after all 774 00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:09,080 these years, I actually love what the apostle John describes 775 00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:13,760 himself as, the one Jesus loved. I remember reading through those 776 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:15,480 gospels. Anybody else read that and 777 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:17,080 think, oh, somebody thinks highly of himself? 778 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:18,840 Was I the only one? OK. 779 00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:21,520 Like, like, I mean, you read that, You're like, wow. 780 00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:23,480 I mean, John says some interesting things, too in 781 00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:25,800 there, you know, that seem like they're comparative statements. 782 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,320 He's just very blunt. But he would always refer to 783 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:30,880 himself as the one that Jesus loved, even as he describes 784 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:33,000 himself resting his head against Jesus's chest. 785 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:38,800 Took me until this year to really understand. 786 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,920 I think that he referred to himself that way because that 787 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:46,920 was his identity. And just in case I'm wrong, I 788 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:48,880 want you to know here are some other options that he could have 789 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:50,320 called himself. He could have said John the 790 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:51,960 fisherman. He could have said the son of 791 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:53,600 Zebedee. He could have said one of the 792 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:55,600 12. That would have been impressive. 793 00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:58,520 But he chose to be known as the one thing that can never be 794 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:02,120 taken from him, that he was loved by Jesus. 795 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:04,800 And I think that's the kind of confidence that you and I are 796 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:07,880 missing as Christians today because most of us are trying to 797 00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:11,840 build our identity through things that change our careers. 798 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:16,960 We ever do that any Marine ever struggle with that? 799 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:21,120 It's hard figuring out if you're a Christian that's a Marine or 800 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:24,440 if you're a Marine that's a Christian because they do a lot 801 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:25,800 of building your identity for you. 802 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:29,840 How about how well your family does, finding our identity 803 00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:32,600 through that, through the accomplishments of our children, 804 00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:36,080 our abilities, our reputations, our behavior. 805 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:41,120 But kids grow up, jobs end, seasons change, and the love of 806 00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:43,560 God doesn't. And so you can see this kind of 807 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:46,000 love that's unearned in one of the more quiet moments of 808 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:47,920 Jesus's ministry. It's going to be in Mark chapter 809 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,400 1. It's it's like right at the 810 00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:52,760 beginning of his public works. It's not one of his cool 811 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:55,160 parables or anything like that. It's just a really simple 812 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:57,120 interaction. And what happens here is you 813 00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:01,280 have a man with leprosy show up. It was brought to my attention 814 00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:03,040 the last time I preached on a story that had a man with 815 00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:05,160 leprosy that not everybody knows what leprosy is now. 816 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,000 And I suppose that's good because you don't see it too 817 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,240 often, but leprosy is kind of skin condition where pieces of 818 00:43:10,240 --> 00:43:12,880 the skin actually start to rot or decay and they can detach 819 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:14,640 from you. And really, according to 820 00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:17,640 Levitical law, it was so severe that in Jewish culture, you had 821 00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:22,320 to be outside of the camp. And so this man was literally 822 00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:28,440 severed from everything important to him to tell you 823 00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:29,920 this. He couldn't be at the temple. 824 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:31,840 He couldn't worship with other people that were worshiping. 825 00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:33,840 He couldn't be with his family or his friends that were in the 826 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:35,920 town. The only people who could be 827 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:37,880 around are the other people that had been rejected. 828 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:41,160 Many of us have been in a season like that before. 829 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:45,640 And this man walks up to Jesus. And this is towards the end of 830 00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:50,240 the chapter in Mark 140. He says, does he say Jesus, will 831 00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:51,440 you heal me? For those of you that are 832 00:43:51,440 --> 00:44:01,040 reading along, what does he say? If you're willing, you have 833 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:05,240 already received something that you're still going to him for. 834 00:44:06,720 --> 00:44:09,960 And this man walks up to Jesus and he says, if you're willing, 835 00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:13,280 I don't want to get my hopes up. Everybody else has rejected me. 836 00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:17,040 In fact, I've broken rules and Levitical laws to even be this 837 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,680 close to you. But I know that if you're 838 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,600 willing, you can give me what I need. 839 00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:25,720 And to me, that's a heartbreaking sentence. 840 00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:27,160 It's not can you? It's will you. 841 00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:30,440 He believes Jesus has the power. He's just not sure if Jesus 842 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:32,280 would use that power on someone like him. 843 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,880 And that's the fear that a lot of us live with is that God is 844 00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:37,400 able to love us. We're just not convinced he 845 00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:40,160 wants to. We know that he can forgive us. 846 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:42,800 We're just not sure he'll choose to. 847 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:44,920 And Jesus doesn't even flinch when he says this. 848 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,760 He doesn't shrink back from him. He doesn't say, oh, gross, what 849 00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:51,320 is that? Listen to this in 41. 850 00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:54,240 It says moved with compassion. Jesus reached out and touched 851 00:44:54,240 --> 00:44:57,680 him. I am willing, He said, be 852 00:44:57,680 --> 00:44:59,880 healed. And instantly the leprosy 853 00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:01,240 disappeared and the man was healed. 854 00:45:01,560 --> 00:45:04,200 That sentence I am willing is the heart of Jesus. 855 00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:07,760 It's the heart of the gospel. And he wasn't waiting for the 856 00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:10,160 man to earn his attention. He hadn't done enough prayers. 857 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:12,480 He hadn't been holy enough. He hadn't done enough outreach. 858 00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,480 He just showed up and he said, I really need you. 859 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:18,120 Are you willing? Of course he's willing. 860 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,280 He's Jesus. And so that's not about what you 861 00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:23,120 bring to the table. It's about the fact that he set 862 00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:25,920 a place at the table before you even knew you had an invitation 863 00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,520 to it. So one of the most influential 864 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,360 figures in church history is John Wesley. 865 00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:31,800 Anybody ever hear of John Wesley? 866 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:37,080 John Wesley struggled for many, many years of his life to feel 867 00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:39,840 like God loved him. This is another reason why I 868 00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:42,240 know it's OK to be on this struggle bus because many of us 869 00:45:42,240 --> 00:45:45,600 are. He, he earned a lot of degrees 870 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:48,400 in theology and he was ordained as a priest and he travelled 871 00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:51,840 across the ocean as a missionary here to the American colonies 872 00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:54,360 because he wanted to convert the Native Americans. 873 00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:57,400 And after all of that, he confessed that he still didn't 874 00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,560 know if he was truly saved. This is his quote that was 875 00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:02,240 written in his journal. He said, I went to America to 876 00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:05,600 convert the Indians, but oh, who shall convert me? 877 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,680 John Wesley. See, he had the head knowledge. 878 00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:14,320 And then one night he went and he heard somebody prepare a 879 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,440 message that they were preaching. 880 00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:18,880 And they started with the personal study notes of Martin 881 00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:22,320 Luther before they went into the book of Romans. 882 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:24,760 And even though he had studied it and preached it himself, 883 00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:28,360 something happened that moment where all of a sudden he 884 00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:32,320 realized I am loved. And this is what he also said in 885 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,880 his journal about that night. I felt my heart strangely 886 00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,560 warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, 887 00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:41,680 Christ alone for salvation. And an assurance was given me 888 00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:45,480 that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the 889 00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:49,160 law of sin and death. And because of that, it didn't 890 00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:51,160 just change his life. It launched a movement. 891 00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:54,040 John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist movement, all 892 00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:57,760 thanks to a Lutheran. It's a big Kingdom, isn't it? 893 00:47:00,240 --> 00:47:02,880 But he had been doing all the right things without learning 894 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:04,760 how to receive. And once he learned how to 895 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:09,840 receive, a movement exploded. I want you to know you might do 896 00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:12,560 good things for the Kingdom. You might do good things for 897 00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:14,640 your community. But until you learn to receive 898 00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:18,280 the love of God and operate from His love, from a place of being 899 00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:20,680 loved, it'll never be what it could be. 900 00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:24,400 And if you're doing good things for people, I thank you for it. 901 00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:27,280 But I'm telling you, it's easier and lighter to do it when you do 902 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:28,520 it under the power of God's love. 903 00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:31,800 So what can you actually do today to stop chasing what is 904 00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:34,760 already yours? How can you stop living like a 905 00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:37,120 servant trying to earn a spot at the table and start living like 906 00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:39,960 a son or a daughter? Well, I got a couple things that 907 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:42,400 I want to challenge you to do today, and I mean that today 908 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:44,560 because a lot of times we look at these, all those are good 909 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:45,600 things. I'll do them someday. 910 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:46,600 Nope. Do these ones today. 911 00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:50,960 OK, say it out loud. Literally the the enemy thrives 912 00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:54,200 in silence and shame always gets louder when you don't speak back 913 00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:56,440 to it. So today, in fact, I'm going to 914 00:47:56,440 --> 00:47:58,920 challenge you right now. Would you say this with me? 915 00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:00,720 I am the one Jesus loves. Are you ready? 916 00:48:01,720 --> 00:48:06,440 I am the one Jesus loves. Hopefully most of us believe it. 917 00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:09,960 Keep saying it. Don't let this be the only time 918 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:12,680 you said it today. Walk out there, get in the car, 919 00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:15,480 look at your spouse, look at your kids, call a friend and say 920 00:48:15,480 --> 00:48:17,280 it. I feel like I'm just very 921 00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:18,240 antisocial today. Cool. 922 00:48:18,240 --> 00:48:22,040 Say it yourself. Say it a few times today. 923 00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:27,840 Set a 5 minute grace timer. I'm going to challenge you to 924 00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:31,120 this, some of y'all, if you're willing, message me. 925 00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:35,000 Let me know if you do it. Find 5 minutes today. 926 00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:39,800 Literally set a timer on your phone or five of these. 927 00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:44,360 No you don't. You don't want to take this home 928 00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:45,680 on them. OK? 929 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:51,360 When you set that timer, be strategic about where you are. 930 00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:54,400 Don't get distracted. Do nothing but sit in God's 931 00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:57,480 presence. Hear me when I tell you this. 932 00:48:57,640 --> 00:49:01,800 No worship music, no prayer requests, no journal. 933 00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:07,440 Just breathe. Let that silence settle in. 934 00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:11,000 And the only thing that you can say is just thank you for loving 935 00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:15,680 me today before I did anything. You need to hear it, you need to 936 00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:17,520 say it, and he deserves to hear it. 937 00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:24,160 But if you think that's hard, practice receiving help without 938 00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:27,280 apologizing. Here's what I mean by that. 939 00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:30,840 Exactly what you think. At some point today, you'll 940 00:49:30,840 --> 00:49:32,520 probably have a chance to let someone help you. 941 00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:34,000 Maybe they'll just hold the door for you. 942 00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:35,560 Maybe they'll pay for your lunch. 943 00:49:35,560 --> 00:49:38,440 Maybe they'll compliment you or encourage you instead of 944 00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:41,240 brushing it off, instead of saying you didn't have to say 945 00:49:41,240 --> 00:49:42,680 that or you didn't have to do that. 946 00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:46,080 They know that. You know what? 947 00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:52,160 You could say thank you when somebody says, oh, you look so 948 00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:55,080 beautiful today, ladies, you don't have to say girl, no, you 949 00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:57,920 do. It's not a competition. 950 00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:00,920 You know what that is? Comparison. 951 00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:04,560 Stop it. Say thank you. 952 00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:08,680 That means a lot to hear that even if the inside of you is 953 00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:12,600 screaming no, I don't accept that compliment. 954 00:50:12,600 --> 00:50:14,600 Learn to receive help without apologizing. 955 00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:17,960 Why? Because the way you interact 956 00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:20,560 with people often shows the way you interact with the Lord. 957 00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:24,360 If you can't receive a compliment from somebody on this 958 00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:27,960 earth who loves you, how will you receive from the Lord who 959 00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:31,880 created you and built you to be in community and gave you a 960 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:34,560 whole book full of familial terms like father and brothers 961 00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:37,840 and sisters? If you have trouble receiving 962 00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:40,760 compliments from people, you will probably have trouble 963 00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:44,960 receiving the love of God too. So Start learning to receive 964 00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:46,800 good things and don't be sorry about it. 965 00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:48,760 Just make sure you're giving people good stuff too. 966 00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:52,320 If you haven't noticed, these are not deep theological 967 00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:53,920 lessons. These are soul habits. 968 00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:56,760 They are small choices, but they'll start to break the lie 969 00:50:57,040 --> 00:50:59,640 that you have to earn something that's already been spoken over 970 00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:01,880 you and offered to you. So where does that leave us 971 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,840 today? I would just tell you this, if 972 00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:07,920 everything that we've seen in Scripture is true, if God has 973 00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:12,400 already seen us before we did anything, if we can't earn what 974 00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:15,800 He's already spoken over us. The question isn't whether or 975 00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:17,320 not you're loved. The question is whether or not 976 00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:20,040 you'll stop trying to earn it long enough to actually receive 977 00:51:20,040 --> 00:51:21,680 it. We're so busy trying to do the 978 00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:25,600 right thing, and the busier you get, the harder it is to receive 979 00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:27,840 it. I found myself in my own habit 980 00:51:27,840 --> 00:51:29,800 where I try to multitask everything at home. 981 00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:31,640 We'll put on ATV show with the kids. 982 00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:33,360 I'll have the laptop in front of me. 983 00:51:33,360 --> 00:51:36,720 I'll have my iPad open here. I'll be working on a sermon or 984 00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:39,200 typing up a message or something while I'm doing something with 985 00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:40,840 the family. And I find that I'm not fully 986 00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:44,080 present in either one. Just because I can doesn't mean 987 00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:48,280 I should. It's time to slow down. 988 00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:52,360 It's time to rest in who we are. I'm a dad, I'm a pastor. 989 00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:57,160 But you know what? I'm the one Jesus loves first 990 00:51:57,640 --> 00:52:02,560 and foremost. The same piece that John gave 991 00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:04,600 himself when he called himself the one that Jesus love. 992 00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:07,480 It echoes in his own book. There first John chapter 3, the 993 00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:09,640 first 3 verses. Listen to this. 994 00:52:10,840 --> 00:52:14,840 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his 995 00:52:14,840 --> 00:52:17,400 children and that is what we are. 996 00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:20,560 But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that 997 00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:22,560 we are God's children because they don't know Him. 998 00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:25,120 Those are the ones we compare ourselves to and then talk 999 00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:28,600 ourselves out of good things. Dear friends, we already we are 1000 00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:31,360 already God's children, but He has not yet shown us what we 1001 00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:33,000 will be like when Christ appears. 1002 00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:35,960 But we do know what we will be like. 1003 00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:42,280 Sorry, but we do know that we will be like Him, for we will 1004 00:52:42,280 --> 00:52:45,320 see Him as He really is. And all who have this eager 1005 00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:48,200 expectation will keep themselves pure, just as He is pure. 1006 00:52:50,080 --> 00:52:52,320 He doesn't say we're on our way to becoming his children. 1007 00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:54,800 He doesn't say eventually we'll qualify if we behave long 1008 00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:57,440 enough. He says right now we're the 1009 00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:00,040 children of God. And if that's the starting 1010 00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:02,360 point, then it means you don't have to keep struggling and 1011 00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:04,880 striving your way into it. You don't have to build a 1012 00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:06,920 version of yourself that finally feels worthy. 1013 00:53:07,080 --> 00:53:09,040 And you don't have to fight for a place at the table. 1014 00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:14,400 He saved you a seat. That's why next week the message 1015 00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:16,600 is going to matter so much. Because if that's true, if you 1016 00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:19,000 really are beloved, then we're going to talk about what kind of 1017 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:22,200 Father would love you like that? What kind of God calls you his 1018 00:53:22,200 --> 00:53:24,040 child before you even knew how to walk? 1019 00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:27,720 What kind of grace prepares a place for you before you even 1020 00:53:27,720 --> 00:53:29,800 said yes? Next week the message is called 1021 00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:34,160 the Father you've always wanted. Not the one that you feared and 1022 00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:37,720 not the one that was absent, and not the one that hurt you, but 1023 00:53:37,720 --> 00:53:40,680 the one Jesus came to reveal. The one who runs to you and 1024 00:53:40,680 --> 00:53:43,640 restores you. But before we look ahead, I just 1025 00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:47,040 want to pause and sit with this. I don't ask people to close 1026 00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:50,760 their eyes when they pray because shouldn't be embarrassed 1027 00:53:50,760 --> 00:53:54,320 about it. I'll just tell you if you need 1028 00:53:54,320 --> 00:53:55,920 to Start learning how to receive God's love. 1029 00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,040 Would you stand up while I pray this over those of us who need 1030 00:53:58,040 --> 00:53:59,280 it? If you don't need it, just pray 1031 00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:14,960 for me. I'd invite you into this moment, 1032 00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:16,480 Father, but I know you're already here. 1033 00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:19,560 I know you see your kids, you see all of us. 1034 00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:22,680 Thank you for making us your sons and your daughters. 1035 00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:26,760 We don't understand how much you love us. 1036 00:54:26,760 --> 00:54:29,960 And while some of us understand it more than others, we don't 1037 00:54:29,960 --> 00:54:31,480 really understand the depths of your love. 1038 00:54:33,080 --> 00:54:34,560 So I guess we'll just start with thank you. 1039 00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:38,240 Thank you for loving us enough to give us this opportunity to 1040 00:54:38,240 --> 00:54:40,280 bring us into a family to bring us together. 1041 00:54:41,240 --> 00:54:44,320 Thank you for giving us opportunities to not just do it 1042 00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:47,320 better, but relieving us from the pressure of having to do it. 1043 00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:52,720 We'll take you up on your offer. He sent Jesus, and Jesus said 1044 00:54:52,720 --> 00:54:55,680 that if we take His yoke, it's easy and we can give Him our 1045 00:54:55,680 --> 00:54:59,400 burden so Father could be exchanged that today. 1046 00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:03,880 That would mean a lot that as we walk out of here, we know that 1047 00:55:03,880 --> 00:55:07,000 we would be the son or the daughter that you love and rest 1048 00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:07,920 in the peace. That you don't have 1049 00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:09,880 grandchildren, you just have those that love. 1050 00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:16,000 You just have your own children. Father, would you just let that 1051 00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:20,320 sink into us, that our identity belongs to you and in you the 1052 00:55:20,320 --> 00:55:22,240 rest of this day? Could everything that we do be 1053 00:55:22,240 --> 00:55:26,880 done through you and in such a way that you get the glory and 1054 00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:29,640 we get the peace? It's all that we ask for in the 1055 00:55:29,640 --> 00:55:31,800 name of Jesus, Amen.